Let marriage begin

Hey everyone! I can't believe it's been over a month since I've updated. Things have really been busy since school started. Malone and my schedules have been crazy!

Malone is still working at Broulims in the dairy department. He's off track so working is pretty much all he does now. His schedule has allowed him to finally get a few more hours, which has been a blessing. Work has been busy now that school is back in. He also has weekends off so we can spend time together. During the week, we usually only see each other at night when he gets off work. He works in the afternoon from about 3 till 11 or so. He's been able to fit in some time to exercise with the extra time he has in the morning. Recently Malone has been working on keeping our second car running. I'll explain more about that later, but it's been quite the hassle lately!

I have been in school since the beginning of January. It's been a few weeks in now and I have been kept pretty busy! This semester I'm taking about 13.5 credits. I'm taking Intro. to Illustration, Building Eternal Marriage, Aerobics, Medieval Art History, Oil Painting, and Art Seminar. All of my classes are pretty hard except the marriage class. Generally my classes have been pushing me further and harder than any of the classes I've taken so far. Especially Intro to Illustration. I realized that this class would have benefited me more if I had just taken one or two more classes. I feel really unprepared and inexperienced for this class. Luckily I have a friend from the ward in the class with me. She's really good!
My aerobics class has literally made me work my butt off! The first day we basically checked to see where we were at physically with a few different exercises. Since then we've been doing alot of really fun stuff. I haven't taken aerobics since High School, so I feel like I'm a bit out of shape! I really like the class though. I feel so much better afterwards, even though I do get a bit tired and sore. I've been able to tell a little bit of a difference already.
Speaking of exercise, I wanted to mention that Malone and I have a goal to get in shape this year. Which is why we have both been trying to exercise this semester. I hope that this aerobics class helps!! It's only about 2 days a week, so I have to work out more outside of class...

The last class I wanted to mention was my oil painting class. It's been a challenge! I like the challenge though. It's like a puzzle. Trying to figure out colors and how things work together. The only thing I don't like about the class is 1. trying to clean after using oil paint. It's hard to clean up! and 2. standing on a hard concrete floor for 2 hours and 45 minutes kills my knees and feet! But other than that it's been good.

To be honest, I have been really frustrated with school this semester. There have been times I just wanted to quit. Two of my classes I'm taking needed some, basically, prerequisite classes taken first. So because I haven't taken those classes yet, it's making these classes alot harder. The teachers expect me to know more than I do... which is frustrating! But after looking at how far I've come and how much more school I have, I know I have to stick with it. I really only have about 2 semesters left ( if everything goes as planned ). So I can't quit now! I wish I could start school over and start in the direction I think I should have gone in the first place.... (did that make sense?). I think I should have gotten and associates in like medical assisting or something first. Then at least I could get a good paying job to help me afford this art major. I think I would have minored in Art. But, at this point I am majoring in Art with a cluster in Health science and possibly music. Oh well. I'm almost done and that's all that matters!

So, you might be wondering why I made the title to this "Let marriage begin". haha. Well, it's been 5 months since we've been married. And I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we have both learned alot! I undersestimated just how hard marriage can be sometimes. We are still trying to get use to living with each other. We are very opposite in many ways so both of us have really been trying to change our ways a bit... if that makes sense. Right now we're figuring out our tight budget and trying to make sure we are both on the same page as far as where our money is going. It's hard trying to share money!

We've also been trying to save enough money so we can eventually afford a car. We've been using the old Honda CRX ( for those who don't know about that honda, it's about the same age as I am and is basically falling apart now...). Luckily it's been working pretty well for us the past few months. These past couple weeks it's been giving us some trouble. The brakes were having issues, which we got fixed, and now the battery is bad and the alternator is going out. We are hoping it'll last just a bit longer so we can save some money for another car. Because with our schedules, sharing one car is going to be a huge hassle. So... if anyone knows of someone who is selling a decent car for relatively cheap, let me know!

But all in all, Malone and I have been very blessed in so many other ways. Even though money is tight, we have always had enough to support our needs. And I think that is a huge blessing. We still have 2 cars that run (barely haha) and take us where we need to go. We're both in good health, and have been able to receive a good education in a good school, in a good area with a beautiful temple only a couple miles away. And we have family nearby if we ever need anything. Thanks to everyone who has supported and helped us out.!We love you all! To be continued...