Thankfulnessssss!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I missed my family terribly! Luckily Mitch and I made with what we have and took off to Charleston South Carolina! Before I give a play by play about the trip I want to give a list of a few things I am grateful for:
    The Serious List: A husband who loves me and treats me like a I would    never have dreamt.
                              A family who I seriously consider to be my best friends.
                              Being so blessed as to have coworkers that have become a family away from my own.
                              A ward that has helped strengthen my testimony in my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
                              To be in a Relief Society that has so many strong women and mothers who I can look                                  to and learn from!
    The Extra Little Perks!: A gorgeous commute to UNC!
                                        Snow!
                                        Phone calls from my mom!
                                        CHOCOLATE
                                        Fall leaves!
                                        Mountains and the Ocean
                                        Super neighbors!
                                        Passing my classes!
                                        Hot Chocolate (my new obsession)
                                        Grey's Anatomy!
                                        Snuggles with my best friend!
                                        Fuzzy socks!!
                                        Chap stick!
                                        DR PEPPER
                                        and SO SO much more
Alright! That was fun but here is my trip! The Wednesday before thanksgiving Mitch and I left for Charleston, a 4 and a half hour drive. BEFORE the drive however, I spent four hours at an auto shop fixing the jeeps tires, and all worth it too! An hour into the drive our tire pressure was already leaking.... the good news is, that was the only bad part of our trip!

We arrived in Charleston around 9 pm to our gorgeous hotel! I am sure their are plenty of people who have seen nicer than this but I felt super spoiled in our room! Here is the bathroom, yes, the bathroom. I am in love with the mirror and I don't care who knows it!                                                                         

After checking in, we headed to the room and relaxed. yup. We didn't head out for the town or hot tub or anything. We sat. It was perfect. Mitch and I have been seeing just about nothing of each other or sleep for quite a while and sitting is exactly what we needed. We went to bed early and watched TV until we fell asleep.

The next morning (Thanksgiving!) we went on a horse drawn carriage tour through the historical city of Charleston. It was also perfect. The city was buzzing but not super busy because of the holiday. Their were three different tours that the guide could have taken us on and we got the one that included Rainbow Row, Steven Colbert's house, and the beautiful historical house in which The Notebook was filmed in.

 

These houses were incredible, most would cost around 3 million dollars. They are hundreds of years old and have so many stories. Mitch and I both are nerds when it comes to this stuff. If you don't want to hear the juicy history stop reading now, I may or may not tell some interesting little facts.

Interesting factoid #1: Fire Insurance! Back in the day Charleston had a lot of fires burning down houses and churches due to indoor kitchens and such. Some entrepreneur began the first insurance company in Charleston. It was a little different than today's though, people who paid for the insurance were the only ones who had fireman put out their fires. The rest of the people's houses would be left to burn. People that paid for it received a little plaque to be put on their house.

Interesting Factoid #2: On some girls wedding day she woke up to find an envelope from her father on her pillow. The note said something like this: On the first day of the rest of your life, you should build your dream house. Inside the envelope was $75,000 dollars. She built the house next to her fathers (the one in the notebook). Dad's house is on the left and the daughter's is on the right.

Factoid #3: This is a crooked house because of over tightening of the little rod irons they put through the houses as a defense against hurricanes.

Factoid #4: This is the dungeon where signers of the declaration of independence were held.

Factoid #5: George Washington stayed in this building while visiting Charleston.

After our adventures in Charleston Mitch was DYING to go to the beach. No it was not super hot outside but it was warm enough and Mitch is very persuasive. So I caved. We spent half of the day boogie boarding on Thanksgiving. I don't know when that is ever happening again but it was great! No one else was swimming so we had the waves to ourselves and had a warm shower afterwards.

When we were warm again and ready, we headed downstairs to the Hotel's restaurant. They were having a Thanksgiving buffet so we luckily got turkey, yams and mashed potatoes for the holiday! After that we digested in the hot tub and again went to bed early. I can't believe how much we slept, loved it!

The next morning we got up early and had a tour of the Boone Plantation, a 700 + acre old south plantation. At one point in time they had 28 slave houses, These people were crazy rich back in the day. My favorite part was the row of oak trees. They were beautiful!

Next we went on a harbor tour to see Fort Sumter and some battleships. Our trip was exactly what we needed and I am so very grateful for the time I got with Mitch. We needed a vacation and he planned the absolute perfect break for us. Next on our to-do list are finals and then CHRISTMAAAS!! We are in Utah from the 20th to the 30th for much needed family time!

Blog Fail.

WOW do I fail at blogging. I realize it has been way too long since I have blogged but my life has been super busy and it is impossible to find time even to fold clothes, let alone blog! I feel like procrastinating today so I am blogging!

Since my last blog MUCH has happened! I will go over some highlights of the past few months! First, my favorite sister in the world visited me in August!! It was such a great week, we took her (exhausted) straight from the airport to the beach and it was perfect! We hit some traffic on the way but the weather was great, parking was horrible and the waves were perfect for boogie boarding!! I had to work a few days while she was staying with us but I got to show her my new campus at UNC and we visited Franklin Street, Duke campus and ended our week together at Bright Leaf Square with lunch. I miss her already, and anyone who wants to visit... come on over!! We LOVE company. :)

Mitch really only got to spend our beach day with us because he started his first rotation the next day in Medicine. His next rotation is surgery (he is real excited for this one) and it starts next week! I can't believe his first rotation is already over, these first two (Medicine and Surgery) should be the hardest for us, with long calls and the required schedule. Come Christmas break we should be somewhat out of the weeds, and maybe we will be able to see each other more than between the hours of 10pm to 6am. Tough times I tell you what!

Every once in a while we will get a day to spend together and we try to make the best of it! On Labor day we went to our very first Durham Bulls game! It was a day game and wow was it hot. We were dripping by the end of it but it was fun! We went with our friends Logan and Christine and after the game we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then had a few games of Badmitten. :) Mitch and I are not the greatest players but it was a blast!

Last week Mitch and I celebrated our 6th MONTH ANNIVERSARY!! :) We both worked all day on the actual 27th but we got to go out the next night to celebrate! Mitch came home from the hospital with a rose for me :) and I surprised him with his favorite treat and a card. Then we went and splurged at PF Changs, it was seriously amazing and it turned out perfect. I am so so lucky to be married to my best friend. We may hardly see each other right now, but it just makes me that much more grateful that I have eternity to catch up on the time we don't get together now!

Oh the Places We'll Go!!

Since my last post (which was way too long ago) we went on a lot of mini trips and one BIG one during Mitch's 3 weeks off of school. We started at Falls Lake where we ate Chipotle and Noodle's and Co. to please both of us. The lake was beautiful and we got to see a gorgeous sunset there.

Our next trip was to The Outerbanks. The Outerbanks are islands surrounding the North Carolina coast. We visited Jockey Ridge State Park, which is the largest natural sand dune on the east coast.

    

We also went on our very first Mini-Golf-Date ever together. I always complained to Mitchell that he was too creative on our dating before we got married to do the Have-to's like mini golfing and ice skating and crap. So we went in the Outer Banks and it was great, and I won.  

The Outerbanks have beautiful lighthouses. We saw two of them, Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke's. Cape Hattera's is the tallest on the East Coast and Ocracoke's is the oldest. 

                                                                                                

To get to Ocracoke Island we had to take a ferry, Ocracoke is tiny populating only 500-700 people year-round. There are ZERO gas stations (which everyone failed to tell us), and we almost ran out during our day there. While we were there a rainstorm came that made the island even more beautiful.

We had some beach days on our trip to The Outerbanks and camped while we were there. We absolutely loved it!

Our final trip was to Utah. It was sooo good to see the family and I really needed the visit. We went camping up at Pine View Dam and rented jet ski's while we were on the lake.

I had two hours to spend with my girlfriends back home and oh my how I missed them!! I need their beautiful faces in my life! My bff Heidi treated me to a my first pedicure ever, Jenessa joined and it was so good to be with them! Then we joined our other friends for dinner at Red Robin where Ness treated me to a super good sandwich. Love you guys!!

Next we drove down to Mitch's family to spend some time in the mountains I LOVE! We went canoeing at Tibble Fork in American Fork Canyon. It is gorgeous up there and the 30-year-old canoes were super fun!

I miss Utah, but it was good to get back to real life and into the rhythm of things again.

Bugs

Mitch and I live right next to Duke Forest, it is great for a view for our deck and makes a great trail for running whenever I feel the need. However.... it does make some big scary bugs get way too close to us! We have spotted two cockroaches since we have moved in. Granted that isn't a ton, but it is two more than I wanted to see ever! Next move of action is buying roach houses and getting sprayed. There are a few spiders and ants and what not, but I can handle the little guys okay. Things got out of hand last week though when I came across a massive spider on the way up to our apartment. Which i am thinking means there are more and possibly bigger IN the forest a hundred yards away! I guess bugs are to be expected with the beautiful trees and warm weather but I can only handle so much!! So... it is, the first spider sighting!

Also I'll tell you about our pet Eno the frog. He has moved out of the pickle jar I was keeping him in and now lives in a tank with a cute lil' water dish and a vine he likes to sit on. :) Here he is!

The Little Things

Growing up a half hour away from the beautiful Rocky Mountains I figured that mountain biking, uphill rocky hiking, and camping in high altitudes were a blessing to everyone. I learned to take it for granted and did not always hike with my dad when I should have. But I will not make the same mistake twice.

Now, living only two hours away from the Atlantic Ocean, with endless amounts of opportunities to boogie board, fish (added in for the sake of my dreamer of a husband), and lay on one of the many edges of our continent, I WILL NOT take the ocean being so close for granted. I miss my mountains in Utah. Which gives me all the more reason to sunbathe on the Carolina Beaches while I am here. My family made our second trip to the beach together last weekend and loved every minute.

When I say "my family" I mean of course my husband.... but then this past weekend I include the medical student families in those two words as well. We spent the day with two adorable kids and a few of Mitch's classmates and their wives who have become my friends here :). We bought boogie boards on the drive down and throughout the day I learned to succeed at the sport somewhat... while Mitchell "attempted" to do the same. (Love you babe :))

After a day of laying on the beach and dissecting jelly fish we drove to a campsite with Logan and Christine. We then pitched our brand new tent for the first time, roasted marshmallows and had a great nights sleep on our yoga mats we purchased for the sake of camping, while Logan and Christine slept horribly and woke up hours before us. All in all it was a success of a camping trip with our visit to some Venus Fly Traps and other carnivorous plants later that morning, and a DELICIOUS breakfast from my personal fave, Chick-fil-A. Which sadly I had to look up how to spell. It was a great end to the weekend.

On a side note I now have two jobs and start training for both next week!! I enjoyed my last week of boredom/free time to watch Lost and am looking forward to being somewhat as busy as my husband :)YAY for busyness!

Moving is a Strange Thing

When Mitch and I got engaged, moving away seemed so far into the future that it didn't occur for a long time how much it would affect my life. I was so excited, and with good reason! When we got engaged we had six months until we would be with eachother every day, all day so the only thing keeping me motivated while we were apart was the fact that soon, I would be moving away to be with him. All in good time, I would be with my best friend for eternity. It was such a comforting thought to have found my eternal companion, and that in time I would get to be with him, that moving did not phase me.
The first time I moved in my life was just up the road from our original home in South Weber. Not a big change. The second time I moved was when I moved for school up to Logan. That was a bit of a bigger change than the first. It was a new chapter in my life in which I gained my first real testimony of attending church on my own. I grew in a lot of ways from moving to Logan. No, I did not learn to cook, like I thought I would. But I did learn what made someone a good room mate, and what habits made people harder to live with. I learned how to depend on myself for things, and I learned that I could be an independant, happy person, away from my family. It prepared me in a lot of ways for what was to come with me moving to North Carolina.

My latest move was from Utah to Durham, North Carolina. It is an exciting adventure that I have looked forward to for the past 6 months and it is everything I though it would be, plus some things I did not expect. For example, I didn't realize how afraid of leaving the apartment I would be. I have lived in a new town before, so what makes Durham any different? To me, it is a scary though that I have no idea where I am if I leave the apartment complex. I don't know my way around town and I am never going to run into anyone I know because I know so few people here. My family is not an hour away like they were, though they are a phone call away (which does help!), and I was thrown completely out of my daily activities that I was so used to in Logan. Moving here, for me was literally like moving to a different planet. Some people are great at moving and changes and crap like that. I am not one of those people. Change freaks me out. I like things to be what they have always been. Moving here is a very different adventure than I ever planned for myself.

Although scary, moving can be a very positive thing. It has thrown me past my comfort zone (with the love of my life, thankfully), and onto a path I never planned. This path is making me better though. It is already making me a stronger person than I was in Utah, and it is a pleasant trial that I get to go through. Yes, as soon as I drive past the "Welcome Home" sign at the front of our complex, I experience a small anxiety attack that makes my heart beat too fast and I begin to slightly panic, but in time I think I will drive with the comfort I used to know in South Weber, or at least the comfort level I had in Logan. I will begin to know more people here and maybe even run into someone I know at Kroger. Once I have a job hopefully I will get back into a routine that settles my life down and gives me structure; I need structure! The point is, everything that we as indivivuals struggle with, gets better in time. Our human nature is to adjust and I trust myself enough to know that I can find normalcy in this new beautiful town.

Moving is a change that forces us to do new things, meet new people, and change our routines. It pushes us out of our comfort zone, and leads us to become better people. Some changes in life we chose, and others we don't. I think we can turn any change or challenge we face into a positive influence on ourselves. It is up to us!

Married Life Thus far...

Wow... Married Life :). To sum it up, married life is pretty much bom.com. Seriously lovin it! Granted we have only been married 12 days, but no complaints so far! To explain marriage in a simple way, it is like playing house with your best friend all day, every day, and don't say you have no idea what that's like because we have all been there. Even boys. And yes, you liked it. ;)

When we arrived in North Carolina, Mitchell carried me through the threshhold of our third floor apartment in Durham, to the living room. Which consisted of a card table, a camp chair, and an ironing board. We are living the life I tell you what! ;) We purchased a couch the other day though, and are going to pick it up tomorrow, and we are in the market for a washer and dryer on craigslist... fun stuff. Seriously though, this is a very fun part of life we are going through, being happy with nothing is a great sign for our marriage I think!

Among other things, my parents ended their trek across the country in a moving van, towing my car yesterday! So tonight my husband (love sayin that!) and I will enjoy sleeping in a queen bed rather than the curry/smoke smelling, twin mattress that we have lived on the past few days! Marriage is really an adventure... but one dang good one.

I just want to say thank you to my husband for the amazing honeymoon trip he planned for us, and for the beautiful, safe, clean apartment he found. He really is my best friend and I feel so lucky I found him. Love you babe!

And to everyone else.... I'll let ya know when things get rough here in the beautiful Carolinas! ;)

Listen to love songs for the best day ever