Okay I was dragging my feet

I don't know why I have such a hard time posting. It seems like a lot of nothing goes on and then all of the sudden a zillion things happen at once. Here is what has been going on lately.
In my life (Cherie) I've been starting at In-n-Out. Sometimes I really like it and other times when I'm training how to chop onions for the tenth time it's not so great, but overall it's a good job. The people I work with are really nice and the customers are happy to be there too. It's good to work in a busy place because there's always something to do. I feel like I'm finally getting a hold on things and even though I can't do everything yet, I can do somethings without supervision well. So, that's the biggest thing for me, starting a new job. It's good to finally have a job, but I kind of got used to not having a job, even though it was semi-depressing to be unemployed, it's nice to be home, but I know I'll get more used to working. I need to!
Eli has been working really hard at school. It's finally finals week, for which I am grateful because it seems like this has been the longest semester ever! I know he's going to do really well on his tests. He hasn't gotten less than an A- on a test all semester! I married such a smart man! I'll be so happy when his finals are over and we'll have a few weeks without the stress of studying and tests hanging over our head and we can watch a movie without guilt because there won't be anything to study!
For the two of us together we have been very busy. For Thanksgiving we were going to go to Mesquite with Eli's parents to visit his aunt, but the day we were going to leave we found out that my grandfather passed away in Missouri. So, instead of heading south, we headed east. We drove out caravan style with Annie and Cindy. It was a long drive, but we arrived on Thanksgiving day to a Belcher Thanksgiving where everyone was there. That hasn't happened in a long time. It was a pretty emotional trip, with Grandpa's funeral. I will miss him very much. I know everyone loves their grandparents but I think I really have the best. Grandpa was a huge part of my life and it's sad to think I won't see him again in this life. But, even though I will miss him I know that I will see him again and I can be hopeful and happy with that knowledge. These past few weeks and the Christmas season has made me even more grateful than ever for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I don't even want to think about what kind of miserable, hopeless world we would be living in if it weren't for Him. I'm sad and I miss Grandpa, but I am happy in the knowledge I have of the next life. It was also a fun trip. We got to see everyone and Eli hasn't been to too many Belcher get-togethers. We got to spend a lot of time together on the drives there and back.
The day we got back from Missouri we started packing up our apartment to move. It took two non-stop days but we did it. We are now living at Eli's parents house. They are so generous and offered us a big bedroom and a chance to save money. We're really liking living here. It's fun to be around family and their house is very nice and comfortable. I love cooking in the kitchen. Two words: double ovens! Going from a tiny oven with one rack to double ovens, each with two racks is heaven! I can make TWO trays of cookies or I can even bake my whole batch of rolls at once. It's pretty much my favorite thing! Dinners can be made more evenly with everything coming out at the same time! It's great!
So, that's about all. I feel like the semester was pretty slow going until November and then it's non-stop! We're really excited for Christmas and the new year! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Employment!

I'm so happy to finally title a post that. I have recently been informed that I am hired to work at In N' Out's new Orem restaurant. I've never been so happy for a fast food job! The company is great and takes really great care of their employees. It is such a huge relief and load off my shoulders to have a job now! Next week the orientation begins. I'm so glad to let some of the pressure off of Eli's shoulders. We're both very pleased. Now I can breathe a little easier! Thanks, InN'Out!

Updates

Alaina has informed me that she is sick of looking at my "unemployment" post. But I say, I'm still unemployed, so what else is new? Apparently there still are new things; such as pictures from the MLS soccer game we went to, a beautiful hike I went on, pictures from Eli and I carving pumpkins the other day, and....Eli's in school. Here are some pictures.

So, the hike was beautiful. I went with Eli's Dad and step-mom and their neighbor, who brought his dog Lacy. We started at South Fork, past Vivian park, and followed the trail all the way up the mountain, then over the other side through rock canyon. It was about 8 miles. The coolest part, I thought was that I've always wanted to go up to the mountain behind Rock Canyon where the horizontal lines are, people familiar with Provo, do you know what I'm talking about? Well, we walked across those terraces. It was so awesome. It was a beautiful hike, the trees were changing colors and were so lovely. It was good that we went when we did because the next Saturday the weather finally turned to fall and it snowed up the mountain right where we were. Eli had to study for his tests that week, so he did not get to go. We missed him though.

There is also, finally, a picture of the headboard that I made, and Mom and Dad kindly hung it up for me. I think it turned out turned out well. I really like it with our bedding. I made a pretty cake too. I found an angel food cake pan at DI and I really wanted one, so I made one from scratch and it was awesome. I tried making Grandma's frosting, but that just ended up in a messy corn syrup-y mess. I ended up making a different icing. The family thing Karen made for me at an enrichment and we put the scrapbook paper and different frills during the priesthood session of conference. It was fun and I really love it. Sometime when we have a house with a lot of wall space I will hang them with ribbons and put family pictures all around it. Eli and I had fun carving pumpkins for family home evening on Monday. I went with the basic jack-o-lantern, while Eli found his had a perfect face for an old man. His is called Grumpy Grampkin. He thought about making a Hitler one and call it "Mein 'kin" but he decided it was too offensive, I thought it was funny though. We aren't as good as Cindy and Kurt are at pumpkins though.

Well, that's about all. I had one interview today and another one tomorrow. Hopefully something will come of one of those. Tonight for dinner we're having chicken tetrazinni and mashed butternut squash. I think it will be good, I may make some rolls to go with it too. I finally bought a three tier oven rack today because my narrow little oven only has one rack, but now I am able to cook more than one thing at a time, and that makes me really happy.

I hope everyone is doing well. Eli's doing well in school. He got 100% on his first statistics test. He's pretty busy because he's working and going to school too. He's a hard worker! We're excited for Annie and Chad and family to move here next week, just in time for Annie's birthday. And tomorrow is Jonathan's birthday. I can't believe that he's going to be 9. I was there when he was born, and now he's such a big kid. He's a good boy too. I miss him. Happy birthday Jon!

Love ya!

Cherie

Unemployment

So, today is my last day of work here at the library. I will miss it. This has been the best college job I could have ever had. I loved working here. I learned a lot and I made a lot of friends. It's sad to go. If it weren't for the hiring freeze I could probably keep working here, but, alas, it is not to be. Oh well. I'll have to find my fortunes elsewhere. I am looking and applying at a lot of places, so if anyone hears of anything, please let me know. I feel pretty confident that I will find a job soon. Things just need to pick up. Although, I think Monday will feel pretty good. I'll get Eli off to school, and I won't have to go to work or school. That's really nice!!! Eli's excited for this coming semester. He's got a lot of hard classes, but he is really smart and I know he can handle it. I was feeling a bit nostalgic for school earlier. I do love the fall when school starts. Well, I love the first week of school, then I'm over it. The thing that cured me of my nostalgia was getting Eli's books at the bookstore. Yuck! I'm so glad I didn't have to buy some too. Anyway, that's about all. I'd appreciate prayers for me to find a job.
Oh, the other exciting thing is that Eli and I are going to a soccer World Cup qualifying game next Saturday. It's El Salvador v. USA at the Real Salt Lake stadium. It's Eli's birthday present from me, just a little late. He's been wanting to go since he heard about it, I think he's pretty excited. We got good seats too, it should be a lot of fun. Even though I'm not a big soccer (or sports) fan, I think the excitment and enthusiasm of the crowd will make it really great.
That's about all. We're going to a birthday party tonight and then I think we'll go see Julie and Julia this weekend. Maybe I should be a blogging chef. I could blog about how to cook in a tiny kitchen with no air conditioning in the summer. I guess that's a pretty small niche group, huh?
Have a good weekend everyone!

Big Events!!

So, since I last posted we've had a lot of big events. We celebrated our one year anniversary, Eli's 24th birthday, and my graduation from BYU. Here are a lot of pictures.
For our anniversary we went back to the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake where we spent our wedding night. It was so much fun. We went swimming, ate a nice dinner, and even got room service. I got Eli a soccer ball and he wrote me a poem and sang me some songs. It was a great anniversary. I can't believe we've been married a year. It went by really quickly and it seems like we've been married for a lot longer than that.
For Eli's birthday we had an awesome Nacho Libre party. We dressed like wrestlers, nuns, or orphans, ate a lot of food, had a wrestling contest, and watched the movie outside. It was a lot of fun.
I graduated on Friday. It was really nice, short too. My mom and dad came out for it. We had a really good time with everyone. On Friday night we had a nice barbeque with all the family that was in the area at Eli's parents house. It was a lot of fun. Now, I'm just looking for a job. Eli's working and getting ready for school to start. It's kind of strange to have a fall without starting school. But, nice.
Here are our pictures:

Separate Vacations

Well, we have almost been married a year and we already started taking separate vacations. I went home last week for my friend's wedding. We couldn't afford two plane tickets. Eli stayed home to find a job (he got one the first day, while I've been looking for almost a month, no fair!). He's now working at Stonehenge Rehab as a CNA. Thanks for putting in the good word, Emily. But, his job didn't start until the next week, so he got a ride with his brother to the family cabin in Island Park, ID, right outside of Yellowstone. I don't like separate vacations. I missed him so much. But, we both did have a good time on our respective trips. I just wish we could have taken each of them together. Oh well. I had a great time in Missouri. Joanna's wedding was beautiful. It was a lot of fun and I saw some friends that I hadn't seen for a while. Then I got to go visit Alaina, Roland, Milo, and Oliver (whom I had never met before). I love those two boys. Oliver smiles so much and Milo gives the best kisses. Then I spent time with Paul, Cheryl,and their lot. They were fun to hang out with too! And I got to see Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Michell, and Mom and Dad. It was a great trip. Then the day I got back was fun too. Annie and Lia Belle picked me up. Then we all went to Provo where I got to see Eli again, then we all went to Cindy's and ate lunch, then we all went swimming at the Orem pool. It was a lot of fun. After that, Eli and I went to the airport to pick up Ronda's oldest three. I even got to see Ronda and Romey. Romey couldn't be restrained from seeing Eli so I had to take her back through security again. The most amazing thing about the whole trip was that I got to see all 16 of my nieces and nephews all in a week's time. I don't think that's ever happened before! I'm happy to be home now and back with Eli. I missed him a lot. Hopefully, separate vacations won't happen again. Here are some pictures!

No Fireworks for us...but we did see a bear!

So, we had a very interesting Fourth of July. Cindy, Kurt, AJ, and Lars came over for breakfast and then we all went to the parade. It was very nice. Then we just hung out, Cindy and Kurt got sandwich stuff for lunch and we had a very pleasant time together. Then they went home to nap and Eli and I napped too. When we woke up we went and saw the movie "17 Again." I loved that movie. Eli liked it too. It was really funny. Then we met up with our friends Tom and Whitney to go cook some hotdogs at Tom's family cabin in Provo canyon, by Vivian park. We were excited. The street the cabin is on has three or four other cabins, most of them had people at them. When we pulled into the driveway, Tom started to get out of the car but the neighbor yelled, "stay in your car! There's a bear by your cabin." So, needless to say, we stayed in the car. Tom's neighbor is a vet. By that I mean veterinarian, not a vet from the armed forces, although I don't know if he was in the army or something or not, he did have really good aim. Anyway, the vet shot a gun a few times to scare him off. He told us the bear wouldn't be back because he was too scared. So, we went back and started cooking our hotdogs. The neighbors came back and told us to get off the porch because the bear was back. We could see it running between our cabin and the neighbors. It wasn't huge, as far as bear standards go, but it was powerful. So, it's running around and then we heard a really really loud shot. Just one shot. Then the neighbor who's a vet said, "He's dead." He shot that bear in the head with just one shot. So, we got to go up and see the freshly killed bear. It was still pretty big and powerful looking to me. We all felt kind of bad for the bear. He was just curious, maybe he even got scared by all the fireworks and that's why he came down. But he was just being a bear, not really harming anyone, and then bam, he's dead. At the same time, there were a lot of kids around and the next day a lot of Tom's little cousins were going to be at the cabin, so you can't just have a bear running around. But we still felt sad for it all the same. The pictures are pretty cool. Sorry if I got repeats of some pictures. Also noteworthy that night was the biggest moth any of us had ever seen, it was about the size, if not bigger, of a hummingbird. And when we were leaving, a huge, probably half-ton bull moose with giant antlers ran out right in front of our car and we almost hit it. That was more of an experience with nature than I was looking for, but it was pretty cool. It was certainly a night we'll remember. Happy Fourth of July! And R.I.P. big bear.