Our First Holiday Season

It's been over a month. I'm an awful blogger. Now where to start.

Beginning of November:
We had an awesome visit with my parents. They loved Tucano's and we enjoyed getting to spend non-stressful time with them. They even brought up a matching coffee and end table to add to our home decor (thank you Sally Edmunds for the donation).

Middle-end of November: We managed to make it Idaho for Thanksgiving and then spent the rest of the weekend in Park City with Braden's family. We played games, at good food, and watched plenty of Glee (Did we mention we bought the first season of Glee for $20 on Black Friday? Ya, it's normally 47.) I think it takes Braden back to his show choir glory days. We loved spending time with Braden's family, and were sad that we couldn't just hang out with them the entire week. Good thing we lived close enough that driving there and back wasn't too much of problem. Thanks Mom and Dad for the super fun week!

Beginning of December:

Braden has officially started teaching at Snowbird and is loving it. I am anxiously awaiting tax season. Bring on the tax returns! It's going to be awesome! We are so blessed to both have jobs that we love.

Braden got me my Christmas present early and it had to be good since his was a $600 camera. So I got a Droid since I was due for a new cell phone aways. Lucky Braden got to mooch off my Christmas gift because they had a buy one get one free promotion. That kid gets everything he wants. So now we have matching Droids and we've spent the past two days oooing and ahhing over all the amazing stuff we can do with them. We also finally decorated our fabulous Christmas tree! and decorated our gingerbread house that we bought last year. The icing just needed a little nuking in the microwave.

Here's a picture of our gorgeous Christmas Tree:



I call it the Brittany Tree because all the Christmas ornaments on it are mine from growing up. My mother had a tradition that each year we got a christmas ornament representing something that we were involved in that year. I have cellphone ornaments, a laptop, ice skating, beanie babies, Harry Potter themed, Wicked, and even a luggage ornament (depicting my trip to Europe last year.) Some years I got two ornaments because my mother just couldn't decide. There's also about 6 or 7 on there from my dear friend, Jamie. Part of her Christmas present to me each year was an ornament, so she too is well represented on our tree. We're still looking for the right star to put on the top of it, so it's not quite complete yet.

And here's our slightly ghetto gingerbread house...they definitely don't give you enough candy to decorate it so it looks like the one in the picture on the box!



We're very excited to head California for Christmas this year. It's weird that I haven't been back in 6 months. It'll be a different Christmas this year for my family, but not in bad year. It's the first year that all the siblings have significant others. My brother Scotty got engaged this past week to Kayla Hyatt. It will be a little while before they get married, but we're excited for them nonetheless.

Last weekend I went and saw Savior of the World with my previous roommate, Kamrie. It really helped me realize how unfocused I was on the true meaning of Christmas. Yes, I was excited about getting our tree and decorating it, and lights, and snow, and gifts, and everything that tends to be involved with the Holiday season, but I had forgotten the real reason we celebrate it. The birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ is really what this season is about. It is through him that we can return to live with him and our Heavenly Father after this life is over, and if he had not come to earth, born like any other child, we wouldn't ever be able to make it back. I'm so grateful for him and the sacrifices he has made for not only myself, but everyone on this Earth. I hope that even among our other holiday activities, we never forget what it's really all about. Oh and if you've never seen Savior of the World, I highly recommend you do so. It will truly touch your life.

Well there's a brief synopsis of the past month. I'm betting that my next post will be about Christmas since we leave in 9 days! Tomorrow we're going to Temple Square to enjoy the lights!

1...2...3 JOBS!

I don't mean to brag here or anything, but my husband is amazing. It's more of a fact than opinion. Braden got a third job this week (keep in mind he is going to school full time as well). Most know he's main job is working at the MTC twice a week from 7 1/2 to 9 1/2 hours at a time. He also recently got hired at Snowbird as a ski instructor which starts in a couple weeks. He'll be working about 12 hours a week. Last week he got hired doing free lance Dutch translation work for an engineering company. The hours on that vary, but he can do it from home in his "free" time (what free time!). Looks like we'll actually have money for Christmas presents this year!

Parents are coming tomorrow for the weekend! We're going to a BYU football game (cross your fingers that they win!) and going out to Tucano's for my dad's birthday which is on Saturday. I won't disclose how old he is, just that he looks much younger than he actually is. I'm way excited to see them.

Halloween was pretty uneventful (Note for all people outside of Utah: Utah celebrates Halloween on Saturday if Halloween falls on a Sunday). Not a single trick or treater. We did go to Snowbird and took the tram up to the top of the mountain again like we had done a few weeks ago with Braden's nephews and niece. It was snowing like crazy at the top! So as we were getting on the tram to go back down, the dude in charge told everyone they had to get off because there was lightning in the area. I had no idea that lightning could occur while it was snowing. So we were stuck on the top of Snowbird for another half hour. It was crazy! Then we went to TGI Friday's for date night/in celebration of Halloween and also because we hadn't come up with costumes for the ward Trunk or Treat.

Looking forward to our first thanksgiving together!

I kind of suck at blogging...

So I've been slacking a bit. Partly laziness, partly too busy, partly procrastination...I guess that goes along with laziness. My apologies to all my avid readers out there.

Probably the biggest news to date since I last posted something is: WERE GOING TO CALIFORNIA FOR CHRISTMAS! I've never been much of a white-Christmas girl. I prefer palm trees and sunny, warm weather. I get my wish this year, much to Braden's dismay since he's never not had a white Christmas.

We babysat the nephews and niece last week. Since our apartment is not quite baby proof, much less toddler proof, we had to think of something that would keep them entertained. Braden is quite brilliant when it comes to things of this nature and thought of taking them on the tram up at Snowbird. They loved it and kept calling the tram a rollercoaster because whenever we passed by a tower it swung a little bit more than usual. And they'd go WHOAAAAAAA. Super cute.

My parents are coming up in a couple weeks for a BYU football game and my dad's birthday. I admitted to my mom the other day that I gave Braden permission to buy me University of Utah t-shirt. She accused me of being a traitor. It's just not any fun rooting for a team that just isn't really any good this year. Sorry mom.

Sorry my thoughts are random and sporadic. Work is good. Braden's work is good. No car problems. Well unless you count the whole trying to officially change my name so I can register my car in utah since my registration is up at the end of this month. I've kind of procrastinated the whole changing my name thing...not because I don't enjoy being a Turner, just because the last name "Rabjohns" is so unique and awesome-sounding. I think I'm having an identity crisis.

As for weekend plans, Braden is taking his Dutch test at BYU on Saturday so he can get like 16 credit hours for taking a two and half hour test. What a deal. I'll be spending the afternoon with my lovely freshmen roommates, some who I haven't seen since before my wedding. Then were going to Cornbelly's Corn Maze for some Halloween fun!

I need to go clean the house now, and put the laundry away, and do the dishes. I never thought it would be so hard to keep this two bedroom apartment clean. I promise were not slobs...were just busy!

Costco and Malfunctions

Costco is located two blocks away from us. Costco is one of my favorite places in the world and of course always has the cheapest gas. My wonderful parents added us to their account and now we are proud owners of a COSTCO MEMBERSHIP (Business Gold Membership to be exact)!




So on Friday night, our date night consisted of grocery shopping at Costco, and trying the samples, and buying Braden a new office chair so he can comfortably study. We had way too much fun. It was beyond ridiculous.

So earlier last week, Braden's lovely Oldsmobile Bravada had a malfunction. At least that's what I would call steam coming out of the hood of the car. We knew the engine had been coming close to overheating a lot lately, but of course procrastinated dealing with it because the farthest we ever drove it was 3 miles to my job. We got estimates for how much it would cost to fix it: 600 dollars! Totally out of our budget. But once again we have fabulous parents who help us out. Braden's parents came down from Idaho so his dad could help Braden replace the water pump. Mom Turner and I hung out in the apartment and took an exciting trip to Costco. Man I love that place. And I love my in-laws even more!

It was the week of malfunctions, but surprisingly didn't cost us nearly as much as we thought. My computer has been flashing for like a month that the hard drive is about to fail. So I finally got around to calling Dell up to replace it. They replaced my hard drive, my RAM, my webcam, and something else important. Cost - $0. I basically got a brand new computer for free. Thank you extended warranty. You were well worth the price. Don't worry, I was able to back up everything from my old hard drive. Nothing lost. Now I just need to replace the battery which has been dead for almost a year. I just saw no need to replace it til now.

We tried out disc golfing for the first time this labor day weekend. First of all, I'm horrible at it. Second of all, don't go to a disc golf course on a holiday. You will be waiting for each hole for about 15 minutes. And of course, you'll be trailing little kids who can only throw like 5 feet in front of them. So you'll be there a while. We're going to try again on a day where it shouldn't be as busy.

We're busy as always! Braden got to start work last Thursday which will be a nice additional income. But we're still loving life and still love each other. Once again, the Lord has truly helped us out financially this week. We are extremely blessed.

Back to School, Back to School...

Braden started school last week. And like most students, by day 2 his class schedule has totally changed. He's excited for some things and not so excited for others. But I know he'll do great!

We sort of, kind of finished unpacking this weekend. The office is now a lot less cluttered, cardboard boxes are in the trash, and you can actually see the "desk" (aka an extra dining room table). I still need to put up decorations, but it looks loads better than it did. I didn't realize how hard it would be to keep a two bedroom apartment clean.

So I came down with some horrible virus last week. Sore throat, nausea (IM NOT PREGNANT), fluctuating fever, and hives which then turned it to more cold-like symptoms such as a hacking cough, stuffy nose and sneezing. It was weird and kept me out of work for a day and a half. Evil!

So I thought it would be a good idea that while Braden is studying, I have something school-related to study too...to make me more sympathetic towards how awful homework is. So I bought a GMAT prep book. I've been working on their diagnostic tests which basically just shows you where you would score right now. I'm average, at least when it comes to math. I hardly remember any geometry and I don't like their sufficient data section at all. This test is going to be harder than I thought. But hopefully worth it! Hopefully grad school next year...if not, the year after.


Other than the above, not much excitement in the Turner home. We are very proud of ourselves though of finding ways to reduce our bills. Instead of purchasing tv for 25-40 bucks a month, we purchased netflix for 10. We're almost done with season 3 of SVU which was pretty much the only show we ever watched on tv anyways.

Graduation and a visit from both parental units

I graduated this week! Braden's parents came down for the occasion and my parents came up for the occasion. It was quite the grand weekend. I was kind of dreading the actual convocation ceremony since I've had to sit through a couple previously due to my job in college and they seem to take forever. However, to my surprise, this one took under an hour and a half. Apparently there were over 1100 graduates in April graduation for the Marriott school. In August graduation, there was 200. I don't want to think how much longer graduation would have been with an additional 900 people whose names had to be read and they had to walk across the stage. What a blessing I decided to graduate in August! We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Thank you Joyce for introducing us to such a wonderful place! Their rolls are to die for along with the creamy cinnamon butter. Ooo delish. Well worth the wait. I did feel bad for parents since they still had to make the drive back to Burley and didn't leave til about 9 PM. Mom and Dad Turner got me a graduation doll that Mom Turner personally painted (and it looks fabulous) in BYU's colors and a decoration for our wall that has the 10 commandments of a happy marriage listed. It's super cute! I can't wait to find the perfect spot for it in our apartment. Mom and Dad Rabjohns got me several little things for our apartment which are all adorable! My mom gave us a blender since for some surprising reason nobody gave us one for our wedding! And we also ended up with only one toaster! However, my favorite gift was the "Hopes and Dreams" jar. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen and it's a good reminder that just because we're a newlywed couple with not very much money doesn't mean we can't dream and save for special things we want to do. We have two trips we'd really like to make in the next couple years that we need to save for: a trip back to Braden's mission in the Netherlands and a trip to upstate New York so my Grandpa Rabjohns can meet Braden since he wasn't able to make it to the wedding.

It was awesome having both sets of parents around. We had an awesome day today while my parents were still in town. We made them a delicious breakfast of french toast with strawberries and real whipped cream. Then we went to the park and played games. Then to costco for pizza and some groceries. And then back to the apartment for delicious cheesecake that Braden made. It was a really good day. I love having my parents around. I wish we could see both of our parents more often, but with work and soon to be school that will make things a little more difficult.

Today Braden and I were talking about how blessed we are. Seriously, Heavenly Father has taken very good care of us. Money is tight right now, but we can't think of a single thing we need. In fact, not all of our stuff fits in our apartment. We're still working on organizing it. We have our challenges, but we aren't lacking anywhere.

On a totally different note, my first week at my new job went great! I'm still a little nervous about talking on the phone so much doing tax plans, but I'm sure I'll get more comfortable with it soon. But everyone is super nice and helpful, and I know it's a good place for us right now. I'll take any tax experience I can get! Braden and I were laughing at how boring we were getting since we go to bed between 10 and 11 each night. No more late nights once you're married!

Thank you everyone for all that you've done to support us and help us get where we are today. We are so blessed and so thankful for all that we have and all the wonderful people we know. The Lord truly does take care of us when we live His gospel. Maybe not necessarily in the way we want, but in the way we need.

It's been an interesting week...

So life has been pretty crazy lately. Good and bad, but mostly good.

First of all, Braden went to his weekly meeting at the MTC for all the referral teachers to find out that he's worked over the allowed limit of hours for the fiscal year. So for the rest of the month of August, he's not allowed to work. Which made me worry since now we have no source of income.

Thankfully, the next day I got a call for a job interview that morning for an interview the next day for a job that I was really interested in when I first applied. Interview went well and I got a phone call a few hours later with a job offer! I'm working for Precision Corporate Services which is a National CPA firm. They have a very small branch in Murray and I'm their new Junior Accountant. I'll be doing tax planning and some tax returns. I'm greatly looking forward to it and it will count towards experience hours I need for my CPA license. Another perk, is it is seven minutes away from our new apartment and no freeways are involved. As Braden likes to say, what a blessing!

Another exciting event that happened this week is that I took my last final of my undergraduate career. Graduation is next week and my parents are coming up from California and Braden's parents are coming down from Idaho.

To top off our week full of surprises, we're going to Idaho for a family reunion tomorrow! It'll be a nice break before I start my job on Monday with no stress of school.

We've been greatly blessed this week and finally recognized one reason why we were supposed to move Murray. The Lord truly does know best and will lead the way if we trust in Him.

So a lot has happened since our lovely wedding day on June 18, 2010. To keep everyone updated on what is going on in our crazy lives we decided to start this blog since everyone else seems to have one.

So a month and a half later we can proudly say:

1. We've both been to Maui and were actually old enough to appreciate how lucky we are to be able to go to such a beautiful place.

2. I moved into Braden's old apartment just to move out a month later into our fabulous new apartment a week ago. I absolutely love it! It's so cute. Still not quite organized.

3. I'm finishing college this week! I take my last final on Tuesday and hope that my grade gets into the system in time to graduate this month. I should make it.

4. Our new apartment is within walking distance to a HUGE park, the murray rec center, the police station, the place where we had our first date (blind), subway, the hospital, and our church building.

5. Our new apartment is a five minute drive or less to Wal-Mart, Costco, 24 hour fitness (I get to go back to the gym!), del taco, wendy's, and I'm sure some other places we have yet to discover.

6. We have a new appreciation for air conditioning since our old apartment did not have any and was on the top floor. We so believe that the people below had their oven on 24/7. Our new apartment doesn't have any either, but its on the bottom floor, partly below the ground and is MUCH cooler.

7. We're becoming domestic! We made an amazing chocolate-raspberry cheesecake yesterday.

8. We traveled to Idaho for our 2nd wedding reception that went wonderfully much thanks to Braden's parents. I must say I quite like Idaho. It's very different from Orange County.

9. I acquired a curling iron from Braden's sister, Shalise that actually keeps my hair curled ALL DAY LONG! I'm pretty sure that's a miracle. I always though curling my hair was a hopeless cause. Although Braden did make fun of me today that I had the curling iron out and the straightener. He thought it was counterproductive. The straightener was just to smooth the frizz on top of my head. But I can't expect any man to know those things.

10. We're still married! Just in case any of you doubted it. =)

Life is wonderful. Braden's job is wonderful. I hope to find a job's that wonderful. We've truly been blessed. Hopefully I can remember to write on this more regularly than my previous blog. =)