Life as a Deason

October 28, 2015 Well hey everybody! It has seemed like decades since I have written a post. Brennen and I are both in school and it is very stressful and busy all day every day. Whether we are doing homework, going to school, cooking dinner (or a late lunch…), or trying to catch our breath while watching a show together or playing a game, we are constantly busy. Brennen works when he isn’t going to school and I am currently apartment hunting. We are trying to get ahead of the game. We have already been living in this complex for 6 months (we have been married for 6 months too! Crazy how time flies!) so we are looking for a new place to live when our contract is up in 6 months. Probably planning a little too far ahead but better to be safe than sorry. If any of our Rexburg friends or people who have lived here before have any recommendations please let us know! We love hearing about other people’s experiences! Time is passing quickly and our lives are going to be even busier as th...

August 19, 2015 These past couple of weeks I have realized that I have been homesick. I didn’t realize it until Brennen asked me if I missed my family. That was when it hit me and I realized I really do. Getting married to Brennen was the best choice I have ever made in my life. I would never change that. Realizing that my family is so far away isn’t the coolest thing, but Brennen reminds me that one day they will be out here in the west again and we are both sealed to our families forever. Having that knowledge is more of a blessing now than it has ever been before. I don’t like being away from them, but it is part of life. We grow up with our parents and they teach us all this awesome stuff and then they send us off to live the rest of our lives. Not everybody is blessed to be able to live close to their families, but families are still forever. With the past couple of trips we have taken to Nampa, I have realized how much Brennen’s family feels like family now. It is so awesome...

June 29, 2015 Brennen is finally home and it is so fantastic! We had the chance to get away from Rexburg together last weekend and go camping with his family up near the Cascades in Idaho. It was so much fun and despite the car sickness, we both had a really good time and it was so nice to get away for a little trip together. We got to go canoeing, kayaking, and hiking with his siblings. It was so much fun and we can’t wait to go again! We managed to get a couple pictures.  Sitting around the campfire…before it got dark obviously  A slight view of what we got to drive through…so beautiful! On the way there…such a fun ride! On the way to Nampa. Vacations are always fun and we are so excited for 4th of July weekend! So glad to have Brennen home. He is extremely tan (if you couldn’t tell the difference in the pictures…I am albino). He also thinks Rexburg is nothing compared to Death Valley…I wouldn’t know the difference. We have been struggling ...

June 14, 2015 When I was in Young Women’s, we would have these “dating” lessons. It was typically when you got closer to the age of 16 and were about to start dating. We would list qualities in the men we wanted to marry. Back then I didn’t think much of it. I was just trying to make it through high school and get on with my life. I tried to embrace my time as a youth, but in reality as I got closer to 18 I just wanted to run for it whenever “marriage” was mentioned. It’s weird to say that and now two years later I am married to the man of my dreams. It was fun to hear what everyone else had to say about who they wanted to marry, but my list was pretty simple: had to be taller than me, musically gifted, and loved God. When I was 16 I remember having “RM” listed. This changed drastically as I got older. I hit 17 and that quality was gone. In its place was listed “worthy priesthood holder”. So many times in my life I have been taught that just because someone does not serve a missio...

June 3, 2015 I swear, we are not normal humans. (Update here: IN NO UNIVERSE WOULD I EVER CHEER FOR THE SEAHAWKS EVER! GO PATRIOTS!!!) I think the first time we took serious pictures was at our wedding. But let’s get real, we fell in love with each other’s faces…basically. Brennen is a really great guy. I don’t know how I got so lucky. Everyone jokes that he would never find a girl to marry, but I always thought – and I still do – that I was really lucky to be the girl that he did find to marry. He gets me in so many ways and I did not have to change anything about myself to coax him to fall in love with me. It just happened. The summer we started talking was the first time in forever that I had actually felt a strong connection with someone that I could honestly say I would never think I could lose. To this day I still find myself wondering what it was that made him love me so much – and still does. The answer is quite obvious: it was my facial expressions. ...

June 1, 2015 “Let me close by bearing witness (and my nine decades on this earth fully qualify me to say this) that the older I get, the more I realize that family is the center of life and is the key to eternal happiness. I give thanks for my wife, for my children, for my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren, and for all of the cousins and in-laws and extended family who make my own life so rich and, yes, even eternal” (April 2015 General Conference) Elder L. Tom Perry (1922-2015) Quorum of the Twelve Apostle I have been thinking a lot lately about the meaning of life and death. Since this terrible illness took Elder Perry so fast, I have been reminiscing through his talks and pictures such as the one taken above. It is no wonder the man had such a huge influence on so many people. His words always stung so true to me. He is a man that will never be forgotten upon this earth, and I think God must have needed him pretty quickly up there because he left so quickly from ...

May 23, 2015 Thursday night I sent this guy off to go learn how to save the world. Well, that’s how I like to put it. Brennen is heading to California for pre-deployment training. That does not mean he will get deployed, but it makes them eligible to be deployed if they need to be. There is a ton more training that goes into it if he does end up having to leave. This guy makes me so proud to be his wife. Everything he does for me and for others always manages to leave me speechless. I got lucky when I found this man. He means the world to me and is my life. I wouldn’t be who I am today without him, that’s for sure. This next month without him by my side will be hard and different. I was just getting used to living with him, but I am so excited for him to come home already. I am so proud of him. Thursday evening was when he left and we decided that called for pizza and a Friends marathon…one last time. He had to get his fix in  The Army can have him for now, but I get h...