Christmas is over...

We had a wonderful Christmas! Our trip to Las Vegas was fun before Christmas. Even though Eli had warned me, I still wasn't prepared for all of the blatant pornography that was there. People work standing on the sidewalks handing out little cards of girls hardly dressed. But, if you can somehow block that out, it's kind of a cool place. It's not really one that I want to return to over and over, but I'd love to go back to Boulder to visit the family that's there. Eli and I went down to the strip by ourselves on Friday night and met up with Tom and Whitney there. It was fun to see them and to have a friendly face in Vegas. We watched three of the water shows at the Bellagio, which was my favorite thing there. One of the songs was "Sleigh Ride" and another was a Rachmonivof piece which is one of my favorite classical songs ever, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It was cool. Then Eli and I went into some really fancy stores there. At Armani they had a mens tee shirt, just a cotton shirt, nothing special on it at all. It was $300! Then we saw some beautiful dresses at Prada, yeah, those were about $4,000. Yikes! But Saturday in Vegas was really fun because it was a fun family day. Eric took us all to breakfast at a buffet, and then we went to Mikey's baptism. That was really nice, he was so excited and it was such a nice time. Then we had a lunch/dinner thing after that. It was fun and the food was so good. The guys went to the BYU game and I stayed and napped and then we took the kids home, looked at lights, and then we went to a walk through cactus garden that was decorated with lights. It was really neat. We had to go home the next day though, so it was a short trip. I'd like to go back and visit Lisa, Eric and the kids for longer. They're really fun and the kids are so cute. Anna slept with me and Eli the first night we were there at the hotel. She's so cute and Emily the little baby has grown a lot since we saw her in the summer.
Well, I think in order to use my time at work more effeciently, and to keep lengths of posts down and readers interests up, I will do another post tomorrow chronicling our Idaho part of the trip! It was so much fun. Here's what's in store: treacherous roads, fun family times, a sledding accident, and our first Christmas!!!!!!
Until tomorrow!
Cherie

Finally Finals!

Christmas is here and we are excited! I finished my finals yesterday, it was so great! Nothing feels better than being done with a class you never enjoyed(cough..english 364). Eli has one more left which he may be taking at this very moment. I think we've both done well on ours. I got a 96% on my marriage one and Eli has gotten probably an average of 95-98% on his finals. We're happy. Today I am at work for an eight hour shift, which seems really long because there's not much to do today. Most students are done or almost done with their finals, so no one is asking for help with research. Too bad. But I was excited last night because I cleaned the whole house and finally put up some of our wedding pictures in the frames. I love having a clean house and it is kind of nice to clean it. I just didn't vaccum because it was after 11 and I didn't want to wake up any of the neighbors. I'll do that today.
Yesterday marked a momentous occasion in our lives. It was the one year anniversary of our first kiss and when we decided to officially be a couple. It was fun to remember that evening and see how far we've come in just a year. I must say that my sisters were right, when I told them about Eli they all said we'd be married by the summer. I denied that we would, but I guess I'm eating my words now. I don't mind though, I love being married to Eli!
Let me tell you our fun plans because I probably won't be able to post soon:
Tonight I get off work at 7 and then we're going on our annual finals are over date! Last year was great, we went to the Bombay house and gave each other Christmas presents, Eli even wrote me a cute poem. This year we're going to La Dolce Vita, our favorite little Italian place, and then we're going to watch White Christmas and pack for....
Las Vegas tomorrow! We're going down for Eli's cousins baptism. We're excited. We're going to stop at the big swap meet, eat at a big buffet, spend a lot of time with the cousins, they're so cute, and play around in vegas. The guys are going to go to the BYU bowl game and us girls are going to go shopping. The only thing I regret about not going is that David Hassselhoff is going to be singing the national anthem. I can't believe I'll miss the Hoff. But I told Eli he can record it on his phone for me. I was really excited about the warm weather, but it's snowing in Las Vegas! Good thing our hotel has a massive hot tub outside!
After we get back we're going up to Pokey-tello! Hopefully the roads will be good and all the snow we got today will be cleared up. We're going to stop all the way at the Bountiful temple and spend the week up there until Christmas. I'm excited. It's always so nice and relaxing up there and it's fun to see Eli's mom, grandma, niece, siblings, and other family. I think we want to go to Lava Hot Springs while we're there and play in the snow and read. I've got my books for the break all check out and ready to read. Last year I made the mistake of only bringing one book. I love to read on the break! We'll stay there for Christmas morning then...
come back to provo and have a Christmas dinner with Cindy and Kurt. It would be fun if Kristin and Cody could come too. It will be fun to see AJ with his new toys and all that. Then Eli and I will come home and have our own Christmas at our house and open our presents and our stockings.
The day after Christmas is Christmas II with Eli's dad and siblings. That will be fun too to see the whole family and get to play with Rustin and see everyone.
Then sometime after Christmas we'll get to see Annie and Chad and the kids. I'm excited for that. Annie, call me or Cindy so we can discuss and plan on when you guys will come down, I need to know for my work schedule.
So, that's our break in a nutshell! Yay for Christmas and for being done with school. I am so excited to only have one semester and one term left!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love,
Cherie and Eli

We're all a bunch of Quirks!!

Annie tagged me, so here it goes.

My 10 ONLY quirks (just kidding, I have way less)

1. I wash my hair almost everyday.  I hate having dirty hair.  I hate not being clean.

2. Like Annie, I need to have white noise at night.  I used to have it as a novelty, but now it's a necessity because Eli is a loud breather and an occasional snorer.  I turn the fan on every night, even though our house is a cold one.

3.I can't pay attention in class unless I'm doodling or something.  I don't like school much, and it's hard for me to pay attention unless I doodle.

4. I love to play solitaire on the computer.  Seriously, if the computer is in front of me, I'll play it, but kind of unconsciously, because I can still carry on a conversation whilst playing.  I love solitaire.

5.  Eli says one of my quirks is how I "vehemently defend inanimate objects or things that aren't real."  It makes me really worked up when he makes fun of Harry Potter or jokes about tricks he'll pull on our future kids.  I just don't like him to make fun of stuff he has never taken the time to read!

6. I love to have ice water all day long.  Usually I fill up a bottle with a whole tray of ice so it will last me through the day.  Eli says its silly because it's 90% ice and 10% water, but give it 5 hours and it's perfectly iced water!

7. I've recently discovered a love for beef stroganoff.  I want to make it all the time in my crock-pot.  It's so good!  I don't know why, I guess because we never had stroganoff growing up, so I never got to have it as just a regular food.

8. When I'm in school, I have to have a book to read for fun throughout the semester or I get really stressed out.  It must come from Mom, because if I don't have that escape and release I get too bent out of shape.  It's stupid too because most of my classes are literature classes, but I still need to read on my own.  

9. I love surgery shows and medical shows.  If they're showing a live surgery, you can bet I'm there.  I love that stuff.  I'm really excited that Eli wants to be a surgeon, because I hope someday I'll be able to come and watch them (that's probably against hospital policy).

10.  I love Neil Diamond.  He's the best!  I love his music and his movies (Everyone go rent the Jazz Singer) and he's great in concert!!  Man, do I love Neil Diamond.  I wore my Neil shirt today.  I even love his Christmas c.d.'s even though he's Jewish.  Some might call it an unhealthy obsession, but I think just because I threw a birthday party for him last year doesn't mean I'm obsessed.  Everyone had fun at that party, and it was highly attended too!  Neil Diamond forever.  P.S. I want his new album "Home Before Dark" for Christmas.  Pass it on!

Cherie

That was kind of fun.  I tag Laura and Ashley!

Favorite Wedding Pictures!

Sorry this is a lot of pictures at once, I actually have access to a computer with my pictures on them, so I'm taking advantage of them.






















Here are some of my favorite pictures from our wedding. Russ Dixon was our photographer and he did an amazing job. I love them so much!










































































































Merry Christmas everyone, and good luck on finals those who are in school!

Eli the Physics Master!!

I just want to say that Eli got 100% on his physics test today!  He's so smart.  I've seen the stuff he studies for that class, it makes absolutely no sense at all!  I'm really proud of him.  In other news, he will work tonight, and while he works I'm going to split a Cafe Rio salad with my friend Ashley and we are going to finally see The Dark Knight at the dollar theater.  Dinner and movie for $5 each.  Tomorrow morning I'm going birding again.  I love being out in the cold, that was sarcasm.  Other than that, I don't think we have that many plans for the weekend, just cleaning the house and getting ready for finals.  

Have a good weekend!

Thanksgiving Break

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving break!  Man, it was hard coming back to school.  Here's how our week went:

Tuesday was Friday class, but my classes got cancelled, so Eli went to class, I cleaned up the house and cleaned out the car then we were on our way to Idaho!  We stopped in Salt Lake (it was our four month anniversary) and went to the Tracy Aviary so I could get more birds for my biology class.  It was so cool and we had a blast looking at all the birds.  Then we ate at a restaurant in the avenues, Su Casa, but it tasted just like our Mexico mexican food, bland and kind of gross.  It made Eli sick.  We rolled into Pocatello at about 5:45.  We went to eat with Eli's mom and we rented Wall-E and watched it.  It was really fun.  We all really loved the movie!  On Wednesday we kind of slept in, then we went to lunch at a really cool Indian restaurant in town, then we went to the store and got groceries, and then we made pizza for dinner and Gabe, Lisa, McKenna, and grandma all came over for dinner.  It was really fun too!  Then we all went to see Mama Mia.  It was a fun movie, very silly, and I love Colin Firth.  But here's a warning: Pierce Brosnan can not sing!!!!  We had fun though.  Then we came back on Thursday, because Eli had to work.

Now our Provo part of the break:

I dropped Eli off at work, there was a line all of the way out of the restaurant!  Then I went to a dinner at Kurt's sister Kristen and her fiance!  It was such a great meal, they made a ton of food.  It was fun to see Cindy and Kurt and AJ.  Then I made noodles, (which didn't turn out well so we didn't eat), a lemon meringue pie (which did turn out well!) a chocolate cake, and banana bread!   Then we took all that stuff over to Gary and Karen's and spent the night.  We got up on Friday and Kimmy and Rustin were there.  He's such a cute little guy, he's only 1 1/2!  Karen, Kimmy, and I cooked all day, then we ate at about 3:30.  It was a really good meal.  We had two turkey's and a ham.  Cindy, Kurt, and AJ came as well, which was really fun.  AJ and Rustin had a hard time, both of them are used to being the only child and not having to share, so that was funny to watch.  Eli said they would race each other across the room to get to the toy they both wanted.  After dinner we all went for a walk to feed the ducks at the pond.  Saturday was fun too.  Kimmy, Rory, and Rustin were still there, so we all went bowling, then me and Eli and Kim and Rory saw the movie Four Christmases.  It was all right, more of a dollar theater movie, I think.  So, that was our really fun week!  I loved being able to visit with all of our family for a good amount of time.  We had a really good time in Idaho too, it's so nice to see Eli's mom, Grandma, and siblings.  We always have a good time up there.  But now we're back to school.  I've already written one 11 page paper this week, and Eli has a physics test this week, but I know he'll do well on it.  I'm going to see Batman Friday (finally) at the dollar theater with my friend Ashley, and we had the first Christmas Hour last night with Amber, Janae, Emily and Kyle!  We're all excited for Christmas.  I've got our decorations up, I'll take pictures and put them up once I clean the living room, hopefully tonight!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Cherie and Eli

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!!!!!!

I make good, realistic turkey noises. I'm not kidding! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm so happy right now because in 1 1/2 hours, my shift will be done and I will have no more work this week, nor shall I have any classes. I mean, I still have to write a paper before Monday and read a book for class, but the paper is only 8-10 pages and the book is fiction, so I can totally do that! We're really excited for this week. Eli took a physiology test today and he got a 97%! He studied for over 8 hours! I guess it paid off. He was really happy about that. We had a great weekend! Friday night was our ward Thanksgiving dinner. We got there at 4 to set up and get ready (we're on activities committee). It went very smoothly, but making gallons of gravy, stuffing, and mashed potatoes made me really grossed out. I know I'll be over it by Thanksgiving though, because we won't be making things by the gallon and it won't all be from mixes. I won't even tell you what gallons of stuffing look like as you're mixing it together. Saturday was a fun day too. Eli played basketball in the morning with his friends and I went to enrichment and made myself a cute plaque that says Merry Christmas, some ornaments, and some magnets. It was fun! Then I ran errands while Eli studied, then we went to his friend Eric's birthday party/football game watching party. It was harsh. I fell asleep right as things started to go under. Then we went to another birthday party for Eli's old roommate Thomas, it was really fun. He was really surprised. I think that was the first surprise party I've ever been to where we actually were in the dark and yelled out "surprise" and have it work. Sunday was fun because I went to dinner with Cindy and Kurt at Wyndham and Melinda Reeve's house in Eagle Mountain. We picked up Chelsea and Brighton and her husband and little boy came. It was a lot of fun to catch up with everyone and see all the kids. I thought it was weird because, other than Brighton, the other ones were older than me and I never got to hang out with them as peers, but now we're all grown up so it doesn't matter. It was funny.
Tomorrow I have no class, so I'm going to take Eli to class, clean out the car, clean up the house, pack for us, and then pick him up and go up to Idaho. We're excited for the break and a little get-away. I think we might stop in Salt Lake for lunch and to go to the aviary so I can add more birds to my list for my biology class. Tomorrow is four months married for us. Not such a big feat to those of you who count your marriage in years, but still exciting to me!
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Eli's sister finds out tomorrow what she's having (I predict a girl, but that's what I predicted for Cindy) and then Alaina finds out in a few weeks. Here are some pictures from the summer and the last two are from last Thanksgiving at Alaina's. What a spread!!!

Fun weekend

Well, we've had a fun weekend thus far. Last night Eli had to work and I went to a student produced movie on campus with Janae. It was pretty good. There's a girl in her ward who was one of the producers. Guess who sits behind us? Our old Bishop. He's the best. Eli and I both loved the singles ward it was in so it was good to see him and his wife. They told us that at 10 their stake was having an ice skating party. He told me to bring Eli when he gets off of work and we could go ice skating for free. So we did. It was so much fun. We got to ice skate together (and I have to brag and say it's the one sport at which I am better than Eli), talk to all of our friends from the ward, and use the word zamboni in regular conversation. Then we went up to the lab so Eli could get his lab hours in for the week. I worked on my own project of typing up the recipes I have that are handwritten and just floating around and saving them all to my flash drive. I'm going to print them out and put them in a master cookbook that Eli's aunt gave me. I was happy to get that done. I had over 20 pages of recipes. Now I have more ideas for dinner, and if I ever bring something somewhere, and people ask for the recipe, I can just pop in my flash drive and print it for them right there.
Today, I am at work, I switched shifts with a coworker and now I won't have to work Monday night. I'll work until 2. Eli is here in the library studying. At four we are going to watch AJ so Cindy and Kurt can go see the new James Bond movie, then Eli's lab buddies are having a Chuck Norris party later tonight. It should be a fun weekend. I cleaned the house yesterday. I should go to the store today too. We're having a nice time. Eli had a physics test this week that he did really well on. This upcoming week he has a Personal Finance test and Physiology test. I have a paper due this week that I had better start on.
Have a good weekend everyone!!

Catching Up and Gratitude

It's been a while. I feel like all of my posts start the same way, not much new, just school and work. But basically, that's all it is. We had a good Halloween and are excited that Thanksgiving is almost here! We get to go to Idaho on Tuesday to visit Eli's mom, grandma, sister, brother, niece, and other family for a couple of days! I'm excited for that! We'll come back on Thanksgiving Day, but Eli has to work. But I get to go to Kurt's sisters and her fiance's for Thanksgiving and Cindy and Kurt will be there. Then on Friday we'll have another Thanksgiving with Eli's dad and step-mom and I get to help make it and Cindy and Kurt will come to that one too and Eli will get to be there. What a nice Thanksgiving week! I do have a couple of papers due before that, so that will give me something to work on until then. Eli's been working hard, as always. He has a physics test to take tomorrow morning. He did really well on his practice M-Cat. He got a 24 without even studying, so I know that once he takes the prep course, his score will be sky-high. He is a genius though, so I shouldn't be suprised. Cindy's birthday was this weekend. It was fun. We had a good time. She gets to see what the sex of her baby. I'm vehematley predicting a girl. I can't wait to have that little baby around to play with. Maybe it will postpone some of my own baby fever that I only get at church when I see all of the cute couples with their cute tiny babies. Sigh. I still have to graduate! I really only get that way at church, so don't think I'm wanting a baby immediately. Eli and I have so much fun together, it's hard to think of drastically changing our way of life yet. But, someday! Anyway, I will follow Annie's lead and say some things that I'm grateful for, although in one post, not a lot of different ones. (these are in no particular order)
1. Being married to Eli. He's the best and it's so much fun and I'm learning so much. Marriage is the best way to learn how to love, serve, sacrifice, forgive, repent, and gain patience. I don't think there's anything better than being married.
2. My family (old and new). I'm so grateful for my parents, for my sisters, brother, and all my in-laws, my cousins, grandparents, nieces, nephews, and all relatives. It's been really fun getting to be a part of a whole other family and feeling loved and accepted from them too. I love spending time with family! I just wish more of you guys lived closer. The Belcher compound sounds pretty good, although none of us are Belcher's anymore.
3. Being at BYU and graduating soon. I still think the reason I was supposed to be here was to meet Eli, because I'm not as academically motivated as most of my fellow cougars, but BYU is definatley a great university and I am getting a wonderful education.
4. Being a member of the church. I love the gospel so much and it means so much to me that families can be together forever. I am so grateful for the Savior and all that he's done for us, that's a pretty sweeping statement, huh? Being a member of the church has been the greatest blessing of my life and it's led me to places that I never would have been otherwise and it's given me so many wonderful opportunities.
5. Friends! I have so many wonderful friends. Missouri friends have been so great. There are some that I don't get to see very much, but they are still close to me. I know that Laura and Joanna are some of the best friends I will ever have. Their friendship means so much to me. My college friends have been so great to me. Amber, Emily, Janae, Michelle, wow, there are too many to name. My sisters are my friends too. Eli has so many wonderful friends as well. There's nothing better than having a friend that you know you will have for the rest of your life!
6. Having our needs met. Although we are not rolling in money, Eli and I are both blessed with jobs that give us enough money to pay our rent, buy groceries, and pay for other necessities and even sometimes to go out and have fun. We're so grateful for government grants too. We're very lucky to have been able to qualify for them.
7. Our apartment. I think it's so cute and it's such a nice place to call home. It has it's flaws, but it's our own little place and when we move, we will have so many great memories. I know I already do!
8. Good books. Eli and I both love to read (although we read very different things), there's nothing better than reading a good book!
9. All of the new babies in the family! From March to May, there will be three new babies! My sisters Alaina and Cindy are both pregnant, and Eli's sister Kim is pregnant as well. We're really excited for all of the new babies, and two of the three are in Utah!
10. A bright future to look forward to, knowing that there will be hard times, but there will also be so many amazing things. Who knows where we'll end up or how many kids we'll have or what careers we'll have? It's so much fun to do your best and trust in the Lord and see where He takes you.

That's all. Sorry if it was kind of sappy or whatever. Holidays bring it out in me!
I hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
Cherie and Eli!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone, a day early! I guess I'm excited for it. Eli has to work, which is a bummer. But we are having a ward party/Halloween Carnival/Chili Cookoff that we get to help with, and by we I mean me because as I mentioned above, Eli will be at work. It's only for a couple of hours anyway. I am excited for it though, and I've never made chili before, so that will be fun. I need to have a costume though, and I have no idea. Cindy's Dorothy costume was too short on me, and I was counting on it. Maybe I'll go the way of Roland and be static cling.
In other news, it's been a pretty good week. I've had a good week in school, there have been lots of serendipitous class canceling and homework extensions which have left me with extra time to sleep in and a lot less homework. Tomorrow I only have one class and it's not until 10! And then I have a work party, so free lunch! Eli's week hasn't been as easy as mine though. He has a physiology test tomorrow and he's been studying for it all week. He also had a big 5 hour assignment for personal finance that's taken up a lot of his time. We're saving watching the season finale of season four of the Office until he's done with his test! We work on a reward system.
This week was fun because it was Kurts birthday and even though he was tired and didn't have the ideal birthday, his party was fun I thought. Happy birthday Kurt.
The other exciting news in my life is that I only have Winter semester and Spring term and then I'll be done with school! I kept thinking I had to take Summer term, but I don't. I'll get to graduate in August. Knowing that I only have to make it through 2 semesters seems reasonable. I can't wait. Everyone is invited to come out in August to my graduation celebration!
Tonight, we're makin burritos (my favorite) and going to the temple!
Have a happy Halloween everyone!!!
-Cherie and Eli

Three Months!!!

Well, it's been a while. We've had some fun lately. Last Saturday we went to Lagoon with our friends Emily and Kyle. It was really fun. They have this great roller coaster called wicked. You seat in a row of four, you shoot straight up at a high speed, go over a hill and do a straight vertical down. It was fun. I am sad to report that I did get sick this time at the amusement park. I've never gotten motion sickness in my life, but I did this time. I think it was due to my UTI, yes, another one, that had been making me sick all week. It was still fun though. We love to do things with Emily and Kyle. Emily is my old roommate and Kyle is Eli's old roommate. It's funny because when Emily moved in, I told her that she should date Kyle, and she started dating him then she told me that I should date Eli. I guess we're really good at picking out husbands for each other. This week has gone by quickly. The best things of the week were hanging out with Cindy, Kurt, and A.J. last night, going to enrichment and making cute stuff with Karen, and Eli breaking the couch. Yes, he broke our couch. He stood up to jump and pretend body-slam me, he's not immature I promise, and as he was about to lift off, we heard a big crack. The wood frame cracked in the middle. Now it sags. It was really funny though because he got a really hilarious look on his face. But, even though we will probably have this couch for years to come, it's better now and more comfortable. The cushions always would slide out from under you and it was pretty uncomfortable to lay on, but now that it sags a bit, the cushion sits differently and doesn't fall out from under you. So, although he broke it, he also fixed it!
I had to go to a urologist, but all they did was tell me that if I got another UTI to come back to them instead of the health center. I don't know why I keep getting them. I do everything I'm supposed to in order to prevent them. It sucks though because they make me feel nauseus and exhausted. I missed a lot of class this week because of the tiredness.
Last night I was at Cindy's. We watched a good movie, Dragonfly, I did laundry, and we played with A.J. Also while I was there I cleaned out and washed the car and went to wal-mart. We've been really busy these past few weeks and I have gotten out of the habit of meal planning and not stocking up on staple items. So it was good to get all of that taken care of.
Today is our three month wedding anniversary. I know some of you who have been married for longer may scoff at a mere three months, but I'm excited. It feels like it's been a lot longer, but it's great. I really like being married. It's fun to have someone there all the time who's your best friend. It's great to have our little jokes and things that only we would laugh at. I just love it. Eli's really good at helping to keep the house clean and letting me knowhe appreciates me. It's so much fun. Friday nights are always really fun because I'll pick up Eli when he gets off work, we'll come home and eat something and then we'll watch The Office on the laptop in bed and it's just so relaxing. Marriage is great! I just feel bad sometimes that Cindy's the only one in the family who actually knows Eli. You'll all get a chance I guess. Tonight we're going to go to dinner and a movie. I think we'll eat at Red Robin and probably see Wall E. at the dollar theater. We have a gift certificate to Red Robin. Anyway, I really like being married. It's better for my health, wealth, and academic success.
That's all!
Cherie

Apartment Pictures

As per Alaina's request, here are pictures of our apartment. We've cleaned it up nice, havent't we sisters!

Wedding Pictures!

My apologies to everyone for the last post. I wasn't trying to be gross and I really didn't think anyone would take it that way. I just thought it was funny. To make amends, here's the link to our wedding pictures. http://russdixon.smugmug.com/gallery/6166691_WTomo There's 324 of them, so don't feel like you have to look at them all!
Cherie

This is the scariest thing I've ever seen. It's at Thanksgiving Point. Please look.
http://www.cornbellys.com/cornfieldmaze.htm
cherie

Well, it's been a while since I've written. You would think more has happened in the amount of time between posts than actually has. We've just been busy with school and work. We're both on campus pretty much from 8-5 most days, then we come home, eat dinner, and study/read books. Pretty boring. Eli's had two big tests so far. He got a 97% on his PD Bio test! He's so smart! This week is kind of a breather. I only have a 5 page paper due on Friday (I should start that) and just readings to do. Hopefully, Eli can get work off on Friday so we can go to his mission reunion in Salt Lake. That would be fun. Last time I went with him I was the only girlfriend there, it was kind of strange, but now I'll be a real wife and I won't have anyone asking me if we're going to get married when we've only been dating for a couple months. People will ask. Trust me. This weekend was really nice though. Eli worked on Friday night. I got to have fun though and went to dinner at the Olive Garden with Emily, Kyle, Megan, Greg, Deena, Jeff, Bianca, Amber, and Janae. Then we went back to Megan and Greg's and had lots of fun conversation about babies and all the weird/gross stuff that goes on with pregnancy and birth. Saturday was such a nice day! We went to help with the Bulldog Breakfast at the high school for the booster club, then Janae came with us for breakfast there. Then Eli and I cleaned the whole house! It is so nice! I love my vacuum, and I love our apartment. It's so nice to have the house completely clean. And it only takes a couple of hours to clean it, deep clean it, because it's so small. I know once we have a real house with a few kids it won't be that easy. Eli always cleans the bathroom and he did the kitchen too. Then Saturday night was the Relief Society Broadcast. I went with Amber and Janae and watched it in the Marriot Center. Then Eli got me and we hung out with his parents and watched more of the office. We're almost done with season 2. We were doing laundry on Saturday and I had it all folded in the basked downstairs with my bra drying on top of it, but no one was there and it was just Eli and I watching T.V. Then we heard a knock at the garage door and we opened it and in piles Josh and about 15 other teenagers back from the homecoming dance. We didn't know they were coming over. They went downstairs and then I realized my bra was sitting right on top of our laundry basket. I was upstairs and I remembered my bra and I tried to make Eli go get it, but he said, "No way, it's your bra!" So I went down and faced the teenagers and they were all saying, "Josh, why did you leave your bra out?" and things of that nature. I swear I heard one of the boys comment about the size. I was blushing, but I grabbed the basket, made a joke, and came back upstairs. I was blushing. Eli laughed a lot.
Can I just say that I love Sundays? We don't have church until 1, so we sleep in, laze around in bed for a while, then I can cook a nice meal, or start something for when we get home, and take my time getting ready. Yesterday we had Eli's parents and Josh over for dinner. I made broccoli and cheese soup in the crockpot, homemade rolls, cooked carrots with honey, salad, and apple dumplings. It was sure good, if I do say so myself. Now I really want an apple dumpling. It was a very nice weekend and I think this will be a good week!

Funny Things

Here are a few funny things that have been told by my biology professor. I must confess that I love this biology class. Even more than one of my English classes. Who'd have thunk it?

"My wife made a new jam this year. Strawberry-Rhubarb. I'm telling you, this jam is so good it makes you want to be celibate. It makes you want to stay home and eat jam all day long."

This semester we're learning all about birds. It's pretty funny. He's shown us clips from Shakespeare in Love and Amadeus, movies that seemingly have nothing to do with birds, but he'll pause it as people are writing with quills and say, "See! We would not have Shakespeare's Sonnets or Mozart's music if it wasn't for birds!!!"

He's fun and it makes biology really interesting and fun. The other day he brought in peaches off his peach tree and threw them out to students and I caught one. It was great! And I get to go birding at 7 in the morning on Saturday. Yay! (That was sarcasm.)

One more thing about this class: one of my "text-books" for it is like the childrens book with the buttons you can press on the side to play sounds, only this plays bird calls that correspond with the page number. Yeah, Eli made fun of me for that. He's lugging around these giant physics and neuroscience text books, and I have a book that plays bird calls. I love being an English major!

Our week of discontent

So last week really sucked for us. Sickness ruled the land of the Rhoads. Not only was it bad being sick, but it was the first week of classes! We were both able to make it on Tuesday, but Wednesday hit us hard and we both stayed home. We had really bad colds. Eli toke the gold in the sneezing and coughing department, but I won in the fever and fatigue category. I was able to make it to work on Thursday and to class on Friday, but poor Eli was out for the count. A fun thing was we both got to take a trip to the health center together last Thursday. We even got matching prescriptions. Awwww! We did get to have some fun this weekend because we started feeling better. We got to see the Indiana Jones Movie at the dollar theater. Awful. I'm ashamed of Indy. And we got to watch the BYU-UW game at Eli's friends house. That was fun. Yesterday they had a regional stake conference for all the stakes in Utah Valley. It was broadcast at all the stake centers, it was really nice. So, today is really our first week of class and we have to get all caught up on what we missed last week, but the first week of classes aren't that hard to catch up to. Well, I'm going to go now! See ya!!!!

Pictures

My awesome sisters and mom all took me to lunch at Sundance the day before the wedding. It was really fun!