Best Reaction to a Surprise!

So my uncle gets the best husband award for the year. He found a truck in Utah to buy for my aunt for Christmas and her birthday, then he had my dad drive it to California for him. Then he waited 2 or 3 weeks (I could never keep a surprise that long), and then gave her the keys when there son Jason was in town. Even if you don't know my Aunt Kandy, it's still so much fun to watch. So enjoy and be jealous that you aren't get a new truck for Christmas. P.S. She's from Texas which explains some of the excitement for a truck.

Still Here Part 2

Sorry for the inactivity on the blog part, but I've been so busy doing this...

And a lot of this...

that I haven't had any free time. Eleven more days, 5 more test and then I might be able to think about blogging. Thanks for being patient and plan to hear from me in two weeks!

We're still Here!

So you may, or may have not noticed that I've been quite the slacker on blogging, but I do have good excuses for my laziness. So let me just give you a quick update on what we've been up to.

I started school at UVU at the end of August which keeps me really busy. I'm STILL working on finishing my pre-reqs for dental hygiene and I'm happy to announce that after 3 years I will FINALLY be finished with my pre-reqs next semester, if I can pass my courses this semester and next semester. This semester I'm taking Microbiology and Chemistry. Both are difficult but thankfully I'm only taking these two classes or I would be really drowning. So far I'm doing ok and hopefully I can continue to do well in those classes.

I have also been working part time for my Dad and Uncle at their metal casting company, Intermountain Precision Casting. I LOVE working there, I just wish I could get some more hours, but all is well. I do receptionist work and other random duties to keep me busy.

Clint got a job at Property Solutions In August (maybe it was the end of July, I can't remember). It is a software company that makes software for management companies like apartments and stuff like that. He works with customers on getting their website set up and helping with software problems. He likes it, but just wishes it would pay more. He is currently working on trying to find a part time job so that SOME day we can move out of my parents house and go back to school, so if any of out there in the world needs a smart, reliable, great worker, give him a call!

We also have been called as the Webelos leaders in our ward. Working with the 10 year old's has been lots of fun (most weeks). They are great boys and have already earned a lot of badges. We meet once a week so it's not too time consuming, which is good because I feel like we are already short on that.

My little brother Scott got engaged in August so I have been able to throw Andrea one shower and have one more in a couple weeks. We just LOVE her and couldn't have been happier with Scott's taste in picking his wife. She kind of likes me despite me being very rude to her the first time I met her :). I wasn't trying to be rude but I was asking her all of these questions about herself and was amazed at how wonderful she sounded and I said, "Andrea I think Scott is too good for you!" But what I meant to say is, "Andrea, I think you are too good for Scott," but of course my "Jen" brain messed up and she was rather shocked that I would say something like that to her. Well after millions of apologies I think she has forgiven me and not we are BFF'S!

And that foke's, is how we have been spending our time for the last 4 months that we have been in Utah. Now of course there has been other things like how Clint and I both turned 30, but those things will have to wait for a day when I have access to my pictures and a spare minute. Thanks for being patient and hopefully you'll hear from me soon!

Blake

After we got back from Bear Lake we had some extended family come over so we could say goodbye to my cousin Blake who was leaving on a mission to Johannesburg South Africa. It was good to see him and spend some time with some of our family that we don't get to see too often. Good Luck Blake and we'll miss you!

Bear Lake

For the 4th of July weekend our friends the Jensen's invited us to Bear Lake with them for their family reunion. We had a great time and even though that water was ice cold and you couldn't stand to be in it, we still enjoyed the sun and company.

Robin has been going to Bear Lake with his family since he was young so we had to make stops at all of his favorite places. Le Beau's was our number one stop. I was shocked to see Robin eat a milk shake and greasy food because normally he stays very far away from that stuff. It's amazing how tradition doesn't keep you away from the naughty stuff.

Robin and Teresa in front of the cup.

Clint and me in front of the famous cup.

For some reason it's not as cute any more when our husbands feed us. They aren't quit as nice as they were when we were dating.

He was trying to shove it in my face, point proven!

Us with a gorgeous sunset.

The four of us.

Here we are half way on our drive around the lake. We were on the north side of the lake humongous lake.

Sunday potluck dinner.

Robin eating! AMAZING!

The girls relaxing on the sand bar on the beach.

Before he froze himself.

Clint and Robin were really brave and actually got into the Lake. This is them diving in! Burr!!!

Here they are afterwards looking for Clint's glasses that had fallen off after the dive. Good thing the water is so blue and clear so that they could see.

They came in shortly after this.

Teresa enjoying the rays.

Teresa lost one of her flip flops, so Robin was kind enough to carry her back.

View from behind. How sweet!

And us carrying all the crap we took down to the beach.

Taking a nice walk.

I was really bad at taking pictures the first few days. We also went in the canoe a bit and I tipped Clint over in the water. He wasn't too happy with me. We rode our bikes into town and had pizza. Rented wave runner's (I have pictures on my phone but I don't know how to get them off :))Read books, watched movies and watched the worse Firework show I have EVER seen. It was such a fun time getting away and just enjoying ourselves.

Moving Day # 2

After we got back from Utah we were kind of lost. We didn't really know what our life was going to look like for the next couple of months. Since Clint had to take a medical leave he couldn't go back to school until January and we were really having a tough time finding jobs. We had thought about going back to Utah until January, working, and spending time with our family and friends that we REALLY missed, or just staying in Ohio and hope that we both found jobs.

Well about a week after we got back my dad called me and said that if we came back to Utah that I could have my old job back working for him. So we talked about it and decided that Utah is where we wanted to be. We had such a good time while we were there and we were the happiest that we had been in months so in a weeks time we packed up all of our belongings and were on our way to Utah.

Here are a couple of pictures of our apartment in the disaster that it was in. I've decided that I hate packing and moving, but we are getting REALLY good at it.

We had everything all organized in two rooms. One room was stuff that would be put in storage so it needed to go in the back of the truck and the other room was stuff that needed to be with us while we were living at my parents so that was at the front of the truck.

We left on June 9th and made it to Lindon Utah on June 11th at about 6:30pm. Since we left Utah in May for the first trip and by the time we went back in June, we had put over 6000 miles on our little Jeep. Of course a couple weeks after we got here the water pump went out, but can you blame it with all the use we put it through? If you are really interested in hearing about our boring drive you can check out my earlier post, "We made it!" There isn't any pictures because we were too busy driving to worry about that, but it's there if you're really bored.

I started work right off the bat on Monday and Clint started intently looking for a job. It took him some time but about a month later he found a one! He is working for a company called Property Solutions. It is a software company that makes software for apartment management companies, hotels, and lots of other companies so that people can bay bills on line and all sorts of stuff that I don't understand. So Clint's job is to help customers with problems and questions with the software and help them set up their web page. He seems to like it and we both LOVE having income again. It's not much and we still feel poor, but it's better than nothing.

I'll try and post more about some of the things that we've been up to since we've been here, but for now, so long!

Cedar Point

Before we moved to Ohio I checked the area out on line and found that they have an amazing amusement park called Cedar Point that is about an hour and half away from us. So I was really excited to go check it out. When we got back we decided to pick a day and go because we knew there was a possibility that we wouldn't be staying in Ohio for the summer and I really wanted to go. So we went on June 1st. It was a perfect day because school hadn't gotten out yet so there wasn't a ton of people there. Now granite it was High School day so there was quite a bit of teenagers, but not the loads of crowds that could have been there.

They have SOOO many rides there and a ton of big fast ones too. Unfortunately we didn't even get to go on 1/4 of the rides because their was too many. Also when we reached the other end of the park there was one of those old wooden roller coasters that is really shaky. Well after the ride Clint could barely walk because it hurt his back so much and I'm pretty sure I had whip lash, so we decided to just leave because there was NO way we were going to be able to do anything else.

We had a good time though and I'm glad we went. Hopefully we'll be able to go again, I'll just have to make sure we don't go on any of the old wooden roller coasters.

This ride looked supper fun but Clint was too big of a chicken to go on it and I didn't want to go by myself. But it pretty much goes straight up 420 ft at 120 pmh and straight down. Doesn't that sound like fun! Maybe next time I'll get to try it!

Trip from Utah to Ohio

On the way back to Ohio we decided to take a different route than on the way out to Utah so that we could see a different part of the country, and so we could stop at some of the church history sites in Missouri. It took us a lot longer, but was worth it.

We left on May 24th and this is what the weather was like, pretty crappy. Thankfully, by the time we hit Price everything had cleared up, and we had blue skies most of the way back.

We couldn't have picked a better traveling buddy. He is SO good in the car. He just goes in the back and sometimes sleeps in his kennel and other times in his bed. He doesn't even whine to go potty. We needed more breaks than he did. Isn't he just the cutest!

After we left the pretty mountains of Utah and Colorado this is what we saw after Denver. It was nice and green but boy was it FLAT!

The first night we drove until we couldn't drive anymore, and ended up in a small town in Colorado called Statton. Not too exciting.

The next day we drove to Independence Missouri and got there around 5:00pm. We checked into our hotel and then decided we would head off to the LDS Visitor's Center in Independence.

Across the street is the Community of Christ Temple.

Here are a couple of pictures inside the LDS Visitor's Center.

We made it there before the busy season and pretty much had the place to ourselves. The parking lot was so dead we thought they might be closed, but they were happy to see us and share their testimonies with us.

The next day we headed off to Liberty Jail.

I can't even imagine what it must have been like to live in a tiny cellar for 5 months and not even be able to stand up straight.

I had been to Independence two other times, but Clint never had. He wanted to go through the Community of Christ Church the night before but they were closed. So after Liberty Jail I said that we really need to go back so you can see what it's like.

We had Jax with us so we couldn't leave him in the car on such a hot day, so Clint just toured the temple, and Jax and I walked around the block and took some pictures of the area.

Important intersection.

This is where our temple will be some day.

After Independence, we took the long drive north-east to Far West.

Jax liked it because he was able to run around the fenced-in area where the corner stones for the Temple are.

And our last stop was Adam-ondi-ahman. It's such a peaceful and pretty place.

By this time our day was almost up, I think it was about 3:00pm, so we knew we couldn't get too far, but that's ok because we weren't in any hurry to get home.

One thing about going east is that the gas got cheaper and cheaper. This is in a tiny town near Adam-ondi-Ahman. It was a good 80 cents cheaper than it was in Utah.

The first time that I went on a church history tour with my parents we went to Hannibal Missouri where Mark Twain grew up. Here is Clint in front of his house, and the white washed fence he convinced boys to paint.

Becky Thachter's place. We didn't get to go in because everything was closed by the time we got there.

Here is a view of the Mississippi River from Mark Twain's house.

Some pictures of us and the river:

That night we made it to Springfield, IL around 2:00am. We were SO tired!

The next day we made it home. We stopped for a bit in Indianapolis and took a picture of the house my sister moved away from a couple years ago. They were pretty excited when we texted them the picture of it.

Right before we reached Ohio we hit this massive rain storm! I was driving and was going about 10mph and could barely see in front of me. I just kept following the truck's lights in front of me and hoped we wouldn't crash.

We finally made it home to Akron around 9:00pm. It took us a day longer than planned, but we also go to see so much more! Thanks again to my family for putting up with us for two weeks!