So far so good

My job is good so far. Maybe a little slow, but good. Its hard when first starting a job because I can't anticipate the needs in the office and stay busy. We do a lot of phone answering, data entry, and scheduling. I have Microsoft Outlook and Access open almost all day, and another medical program called nHome. I am learning about all sorts of drugs and what cannot be taken together, and I'm busy memorizing coding for illnesses and medications. I am learning all sorts of medical abbreviations too! It's pretty cool to track patients and kind of get an idea of what the worst/most painful illnesses are so that I know better what to pray for! Or what to pray NOT for is more like it! Anyway, I'm 2.5 days into the job and so far, so good! I love coming home for lunch and leaving just about 15 minutes before I need to be sitting in the conference room ready for our morning teleconference to begin. Can't wait for my first paycheck!

I got a TABLE, and a JOB!

So, its official. We are the luckiest. I was on the phone with our landlord the other day and mentioned that we are still looking for a kitchen table. Well turns out they had an extra (new, might I add) black table with six chairs and a leaf just cluttering up their basement. The next thing we know, we have the table and all six chairs in our front room. Can you believe they are loaning it to us for free?

And...

I got a job :)

That's how I feel about that!

I'm going to start tomorrow morning with an organization called Hearts for Home Health. It is a home health program, believe it or not! I will be a "team coordinator" which at this point seems like I'll liaise between the hospital and patients/families as they adjust to living with their condition at home. Part of it is also a hospice program.

Here's what I like about the job:

1. It is about 6 minutes from home, saves on time and gas!
2. It is 4 minutes from Scott's work, which makes for great lunch breaks!
3. I will work in a nice office environment and wear professional clothes (Maybe I won't like that so much two weeks in...)
4. The pay is descent. Not great, but good.
5. I am already scheduled to get 2 weeks off in July for the cruise (and hopefully 1 day of Snowbird :)

It took a while, and I am kind of crazy after having spent 3 months bound up in the apartment, so I am glad to get going! Hopefully I will pick up on the medical terminology quickly!

lately... in pictures...

The next item on our list is to get night stands for our lamps!!!

We put together the food portion of our 72 hour kits this morning before church. Our cupboard used to have food in it. Now all the food is in backpacks...

Scott thought our 72 hour kit planning was much like backpacking. He LOVED it.

Last night we went to Park City with James and Kylie :) Scott found the most deals- his favorite were new work shoes and a nice button-up that goes with his work pants.

Dane and Korine met us in Park City for dinner. The pizza and pasta place was delish!

Last Monday we hosted fondue FHE. It was a great time, people stayed until 11:45 just chatting and playing games after FHE was over. It was so nice to finally have it at our place- we're used to using their homes!

Kylie liked the strawberries. She's so great! Kylie and James are getting married May 7th! Yeah!

This was a great opportunity to use our new 3-tier platter from the wedding!

Oh, and speaking of wedding, look how many whisks we got:

This was Scott's congratulatory cake after his first day of work :)

Scott on his first day of work :) (this is for you SueAnn!)

Settling into the kitchen wearing our "Bride" and "Groom" hats.

The Last time I had my closet color-coordinated was when Noelle did it about 10 years ago...

And last but not least, JOEY! This is kind of how the whole dog-sitting situation went:

Palm Sunday

I woke up this morning feeling both excited and reverenced for today to be Palm Sunday. The day when Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem days before His crucifixion. My thoughts immediately turn to my experiences 1 year ago when I participated in the festivities of Palm Sunday along the Via Dolorosa in Israel. Here are my thoughts from last year:

"Easter is the center point of our theology, but in LDS culture, we tend to play it down, or get distracted by other good priorities. (General Conference) We participate in Christian inventions like egg dying and hunts, but perhaps forget to celebrate or place emphasis on Christ's triumphal entry and resurrection.

Considering that today is Palm Sunday, I would urge you to evaluate how you can welcome the Lord into your heart and create an opportunity for the Spirit to testify to you that Jesus is the Christ. I don't know where I was when Christ entered Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday, but I know that I am here now; and I want to be His witness.

I believe in Christ as the Son of God, and as the Savior of the world. But do I believe the Messenger while rejecting His message of good news? Do I fail to trust Him when He says that He can make me pure, clean and worthy now? Because I have lofty goals and high expectations for myself and my future, it is easy for me to see where I fall short and hold onto my guilt. I believe in Christ's identity as the son of God, and I'm now learning to trust in His ability and power to cleanse me, heal me, forgive me, and make me a worthy today, even as I make mistakes and lead an imperfect life.

Christ redeems us from the curse of the law -the immoveable demand for perfect performance- by offering justification by faith in Christ instead of by law. What a special gift the atonement is to me. My quest for perfection goes from an overwhelming, unfulfilled demand, to an incomparable blessing of love and companionship through our Savior's infinite gift of sacrifice and love. Let's celebrate His triumphant entry to Jerusalem this Palm Sunday and truly repent for the sins He has already vicariously suffered for us. Our Savior, the divine victim of the new covenant, answered the demands of justice in the garden of the "oil press" and on Calvary, and He suffered alone for you and for me."

What is love?

Scott likes 1% milk. I now buy, and drink Western Family/Lucerne 1% milk. I don't complain.

If you know my love for Smith Brothers Non-fat milk, you will know that this is true love.

PHOTOS- the new place!!!

The long awaited pictures of our new place!!!

The kitchen is probably my favorite :) Any ideas for how to decorate above the cabinets?

The guest bathroom is nice! There is a linen closet in that bathroom too!

The Master bathroom! It kind of merges with the bedroom... it just switches from carpet in the bedroom to wood floor in the bathroom.

Check out the jetted tub :) Scott's favorite feature of the entire place! (But it only shoots out BOILING hot water for now.)

This is our new couch, which, may I say, I put together all by myself :) We got it through a vendor who ordered it from a warehouse in California.

Our bathroom is a separate little room as part of the Master bath. I love the plantation shutters throughout the townhome.

Our pantry is looking pretty full. The next purchase item on my list is air-tight containers for the flour, sugar...

The townhome came with a brand new washer and dryer! How did we get so lucky!?!

These arches are probably my favorite feature. They are incorporated throughout the house and it just looks really good!

We feel SO BLESSED to have gotten this townhome! The ward is great too, we felt so welcome on Sunday! Also, we are 4 minutes from Scott's work, 3 minutes from the freeway, and about 2 minutes from a Redbox :)

The Oscars

I have never before watched the Oscars straight through. But this year I did. The only reason I lasted through all 3 hours was because Scott and I and the Dellenbachs filled out our own ballots! We made up our own scoring system and really had a fun time! The TOTAL HIGHLIGHT of it all was the winner for Leading Actress:

SANRDA BULLOCK!!!

Have you seen her performance in Blind Side? Well if you haven't its a must. She is absolutely phenomenal. Sandra usually leads in romantic comedy films, but this dramatic role was really a good fit. When she received her oscar, she immediately praised the other nominees individually. Classy. You should have seen us cheering in that living room. Wow. What a moment!

Disregarding the fact that Sandra Bullock is an incredible actress, I think there is another reason why she is so popular. Her persona resonates with the general population. She is beautiful, but her appearance is very real. Brunette, not too much make up... you know. (According to the news) Sandra leads a normal life. She takes her kids to school and does the grocery shopping. Even after she received the oscar, she is quoted as saying, "Now I can look back and think, ‘Wow, this is a little piece of history.’ I’m glad I got to share this time and exhilaration with extraordinarily beautiful and talented women." I like Sandra because she is so REAL and so humble. She knows her limits and has a personal life, while still being a celebrity.

I was rooting for Morgan Freeman for best actor, but Jeff Bridges won for "Crazy Heart." We all wanted Matt Damon to win supporting actor for "Invictus," but Christoph Waltz won for his performance in "Phenomenal _______." We wanted Avatar to win best movie, but "The Hurt Locker" won. Maybe I would have guessed better had I seen the R rated movies.

Our favorite movies last year were:

Blind Side (Both)

Invictus (Scott)

Julie and Julia (Stef)

What was your favorite from 2009?

Movin' in TODAY!!!

We are moving into our new place TODAY! I can't believe we really have somewhere of our own to live! It will be so nice to be just us, in the same place, every day! Wow, the little things! Anyway, we were laughing so hard today thinking about how yes, we are moving in, but we don't even have a bed, couch, kitchen table... none of it! The only furniture are the 2 barstools that come with the townhome :) So if anybody in Utah county has ANY furniture, let us know, we are on the hunt!

We ended up going to St. George Saturday to meet John and SueAnn. They were SO NICE to pack up a bunch of our boxes in the truck and meet us halfway so that we actually have some things to move in! That made for a full day of driving! The truck we drove only has a cassette player, and we only have the first 2 tapes of the Gordon B. Hinckley biography, so we listened to that twice on the way down. If I was getting sleepy, Scott rolled down the window and the snow came in to liven me up!

Dane and Korine had us over for dinner and an Oscars party last night! Our friends take SUCH good care of us. I can't wait until we have a place of our own and can begin to return the kindness! Scott is starting work on Wednesday, and yes, I am still searching. I've been a little busy finding a place to live and watching craigslist for mattresses and things, but hopefully I can focus more on getting a job! Our goal was to have a job and a place to live by March 5, which is the day we accepted the job offer, and signed the contract, so we are HAPPY and recognize the many blessings which are ours.

And in the meantime, we've been dog-sitting Joey. I never thought I would share my pillow with a puppy, or wake up to a dog licking my face. We take her out to go potty several times a day and bring her on outings so she can get out of the house. Wow. I've never met such a high-maintenance dog. Whenever Scott talks about wanting a dog I tell him "you got me!"

Lots of love!

Stefanie

HAPPY news :)

We are SO excited!

Having been married for 2 months now, we are moving on with our lives :)

This picture is actually from our toast after 1 month of being engaged... but hey, we look happy and celebratory

Scott accepted a job offer today in American Fork, Utah! We have been house hunting for 2 days now, and we are hoping to move in within the week. We have one place we LOVE, but it will take about 3 days to know if that will work out. It is a townhome in Pleasant Grove. The owners are looking to sell, but we are trying to convince them that letting us rent until it sells will do nothing but help them! They are paying mortgage on a vacant place! It has already been on the market for 2 years, and is only 3 years old. So anyway, hopefully that will work out, if not, something else will.

In other news, it SNOWED today! Kind of a fun novelty since its just our first snow of the year. We are having good times with all our friends, but we are READY to have jobs, routines, and a place of our own.

Still bedless...

Well, here we are in Utah. We are staying with Vess and Angie (They are TOOOO good to us!) and interviewing all over the place. We got here Friday, and Scott and I have both had promising interviews here since then. In fact, my best interview was with an orthodontic office this morning, and Scott is at a follow-up interview with a marketing company in American Fork right now! We are just getting as many interviews/opportunities as possible so we can choose the best offer from there.

But anyway, this was a good weekend to come up! Here is Whitney at her dress-up kickball party:

Yeah, she's intense!

Then Sunday was my friend Valorie's mission farewell. She did such a fantastic job! Her talk on charity made me want to be the best missionary I can be wherever I am. Thank you Val. I just love all my Jerusalem friends!

We had dinner with family last night, and got to visit Scott's mission president and family up in Bountiful too! Tonight we are looking forward to Vess' birthday dinner and party. We are blessed to have such supportive friends and family who love us so much!