As of Lately...

Oh hey blog.  It's been a while.  We've been married 3 months today.  That's Jordan and I.  He's pretty cool.  I'm so thankful for him putting up with me constantly talking about school, being a bad cook, and being forgetful.  I love him forever.  All I do is school but it's good.  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in studying that I forget the world around me but when I stop and take it all in it's good.  OH so good.  It's amazing how much I've learned in school and overwhelming how much there is yet to go, but you know what they say about eating elephants...well if you haven't heard you have to eat them one bite at a time.  Who eats elephants anyways?  haha I just saw the last Twilight movie with my girlfriends.  It was much needed stress relief!  Here's a couple things I'm grateful for lately:

1.  My loving family.  I have loved the little moments I've had with them.  It's amazing how they have helped me strive to be better every day through their examples.  I'm especially grateful for Grandpa Woody and the little bit of time Jordan and I have had the opportunity to serve him and spend time with him.  I wish I had more.  I also have loved getting to know Jordan's family and feel privileged to be a Liljenquist.

2.  My body- seriously being in nursing school makes me grateful that I don't have hypertension, morbid obesity, stage 3 renal failure, chronic pain related to osteomyelitis, pneumonia, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, or being addicted to drugs.  I'm grateful I have legs to walk on.  So many people have such serious conditions in the hospital right now and it just makes me want to treat my body the best I can and be grateful for it.  

We are liking our ward and making friends.  We have to speak in church next week.  Next semester I work a 12 hour shift every Wednesday.  People say it's the hardest semester so we'll see how it goes.   Love you all and have a great Thanksgiving!

Laughter is the best medicine

We are halfway through the semester!  Which means for me that the second half will be harder.  Next week we are learning IVs!!  Yikes!  haha I am actually really excited though.  Jordan is such a good student and a great husband.  The picture at the top was when he was going to fix a fence in Filer.  He is so hardworking and optimistic all the time!  He always has a way of catching me off guard and making me laugh.  The Stolworthy girls gave us that sign that says "I love you because...".  It's been a fun adventure for us!  I seriously don't know how I got so lucky to be married to Jordan.  He is very easy to live with and treats me like a queen.  My dread for cooking is actually slowly turning into excitement!  Especially when Jordan recommends things he really likes.  Today I made bacon wrapped chicken and Jordan said, "If you ever have any questions of what to cook me, wrap it in bacon and I will love it".  So there you have it.  It actually turned out pretty good!  It kinda tasted like chicken cordon blue!  Last night we had some of our friends over.  Actually Caleb is Jordan's friend from his chemistry class.  He is a Dad to twins!  Their names are Daxton and Kiyah.  He has been over to our house studying with Jordan 3 times and went golfing with him twice.  We decided to have a barbecue (on our grill) so we invited them over so we could meet his wife and kids.  I really liked her and their kids are adorable!  They have really high values so we want to hang out with them lots before they move in January.  Also, my friend in the nursing program is really nice.  Her husband served in Hungary so we are going to get sushi with them this weekend!  They have 3 kids too.  haha it's pretty funny because the first day in Relief Society I announced that I have a little bit of free time to babysit and I already have 2 offers.  One mom is getting her masters in nursing and the other works full time so I will be getting lots of baby time!  Another exciting happening was going to the refugee center for our nursing service project.  Lauren, Terry, and I were able to put together 60+ hygiene kits with donations from Walmart, the dental hygiene program, and local hotels and give a presentation to refugees who have been kicked out of their countries.  Our teaching had to be really basic because there were 5 interpreters who interpreted our presentation.  The people were from Iraq, Iran, Burma, Eritrea, and Nepal.  It was amazing because a lot of the people didn't know how to floss their teeth so we had to teach them.  They were a little bit afraid of hand sanitizer and thought their hair would fall out if you shampoo it.  Oh the things we take for granted.  Life is so great.  Hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
The Lilys

ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY!!  I love this man sooo much!

Nursing not interior decorating

I forgot to post these sweet little booties Jordan hand made for me so I wouldn't get cold feet.  He's quite the handyman. 

Our kitchen- We are planning on taking out the carpet floors and putting in hardwood, refinishing the cabinets, and putting in new cabinets.

Living Room

Bathroom

Well there's the grand tour of the house!  We also have a grill that goes in the back yard and a one car garage!  If you have any suggestions of how to decorate cute let me know!  Last week we went to Crystal and Ryan's ward.  It wasn't ours but it was fun to see them.  We are excited to go to the right ward this week and hopefully meet new friends!  Love you all!

The Lilys

Wedding Extravaganza

The day we stayed in Pocatello we left the car unlocked and someone got into it and stole my i pod, straightener and blowdryer, and my journal!!  Can you believe that?  I feel like I can live without the monetary things but my journal is priceless.  I'm excited to start this blog as a sort of journal of all the memories Jordan and I will have together.

My wedding day was a marathon from 6-9!  I had to have a reminder to wake up and get married!  

Jordan's friend Jordan was kind enough to take notes during our sealing so we can look back and remember what he said to us:

Hey guys, you had a beautiful sealing. Many people can't remember their sealing, so I took the liberty of writing down these points. Years from now you can look back on this beautiful blessing our Father in heaven had sent especially for you. 

1 - Expectation. Thank everyone in this room who helped you get here today. It was because of their expecting you to always make right choices that you got yourselves here.

2 - You two are a team now, a team of 5 you two and the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost. You guys are the minority on this team and don't forget it.

3- You are starting a family a few years ago the prophet with the quorum of the 12 came out with the Proclamation to the Family. When you get home I want you to find the most expensive frame that you can afford and hang that document on your wall in your home. Read it often, take it down every once in a while and use it as a topic of discussion for family home evening.

4 - Marriage is a covenant between you two and Jesus Christ.

5 - This ceremony only takes 2 min but it's most important 2 min of your life. There are 3 parts to the prayer that I want to mention.

6- ( part 1 of prayer) In the world when someone gets married they say " do you take this person to be your lawfully wedded?" in the gospel taking is not something we do. You will notice we recieve one another. That means we have to willingly give ourselves to each other.

7 - Jordan she is a gift from her parents, from herself, and from heaven, treat her like that.

8- Katie it seems like it is not fair that you give yourself even though he doesn't. Remember Eve, she messed up and then made a promise to keep commandments and hearken to husband as he harkens to the Lord.

9- ( part 2 of prayer) sealed for time and all eternity 1 person holds the sealing power that is Thomas s Monson. He gave Packer and Packer gave me the sealing power. Now you two will be seal to each other for eternity by that sacred power.

10 - ( 3rd part of blessing) Lord promises blessings to you but they are predicated on your righteousness. Listen to the last part of the ordinance that promises blessings.

11- He mentioned section 88 of D&C-

12- Your sealing is a key. Just like baptism. The key makes it possible to get into heaven but you have you use it to open the doors.

-> you were then sealed<-

13- you guys kiss over the alter he says " he will get better" at that.

14-Look in the mirrors he says how you an see you wife but you can't see yourself because you are in the way. "Remember to always focus on your spouse"

Our wedding day was so wonderful.  I'm so grateful to my wonderful family for all the nice things you said about me at the luncheon and for always being such a great example to me.  It was a day I will never forget!    

I was really excited to get snapshots of when Jordan and I first saw each other so thank you to Haylie for taking the pictures!  He looked so great and made me feel like a queen!

 The Black Swan Inn in Pocatello had a beautiful Romeo and Juliet room!  Here we are by the knight in shining armor!

We took off to a cruise to Mexico.  I've never eaten so much in my life.  It was so fun to have everything paid for, your bed made every day, and even breakfast in bed.  The entertainment was fun and there were a lot of really diverse people on the ship.  We even met lots of other honeymooners!  I highly recommend cruises!

These pictures are in Cabo San Lucas.  This is my friend Juan at a real Mexican taco stand.  I looked like Mufasa the entire trip and loved it.

   Snorkeling is so fun!  It's kind of an adventure to bargain with people on the streets.  This guy with the iguana just walked up to me and put it in my hand and then asked for 2 dollars to hold it.

 

 Our formal dinner night.  We always came back to our room with different shapes of animals made out of towels on our bed.

 

These are the famous arches.  The tour guides were pretty funny.

Here are a few good times on the ship.  I'm going to go through sushi withdrawals.  We had it almost every day!

I overdosed on chocolate at the chocolate bar.  I've never seen that much chocolate in one place. 

We met this hilarious newlywed couple on their honeymoon and we came up with this crazy idea to walk around the ship with only our robes on.  We mini golfed, went to the casino and a fancy restaurant, and even learned to disco dance.  It was such a fun goofy memory.

Our next stop was Puerto Vallarta!  The highlight of the trip was definitely zip lining through the forest.  It was really high over a beautiful river but we felt safe and the people who took us were hilarious.  We even hung upside down!  On the way back home we saw a place to go bungee jumping...it was 135 feet and you are only attached by your feet or waist over the ocean.  We were so excited to go but no one was there.  We definitely want to add that one to our bucket list!  Jordan is so fun to travel with!

 

Such a beautiful trip.

It's a tradition in Jordan's family to have both sides of the family there when the bride and groom open their presents!  We got some real treasures!  We are so grateful for the support!

So now real life begins......

Jordan and I started school this week.  It seems like his classes are pretty hard but he likes to study and he is a great husband.  We are trying to figure out how to make our house look cute and I'm figuring out how to be a home maker and take care of mentally unstable patients at clinicals at the same time.  It doesn't seem like there is enough time in the day.  However, we are very happy.  He longboards to class and lets me have the car and we have slumber parties in the living room and study together. I will post more pictures as soon as we get our house all figured out!  Love you all!