Pumpkin Head

Hello again. I, Colby, am writing this time, at least for the moment. The first snowfall of the season arrived on Friday, leaving about five inches of beauty all around us. I made snow ice-cream three times already, and look forward to many more bowls of this cheap and delicious treat. I am still trying to get MyKel and Fili into it, but they just aren't catching on. I have been spoon-feeding it to MyKel as she blow dries her hair, cleans, etc.

It has been pretty cold here lately (19 degrees F right now), but we still haven't used our heater at all. Our original goal was to not use it until November 1st, but our new goal is to make it until Thanksgiving, when we will have family here (we don't want to scare them away!) We live in a basement apartment so it is pretty well insulated, and we think we are getting some of our warmth from our upstairs neighbors.

MyKel has been enjoying her new calling in the primary. She teaches the Valiant 9-10 year olds. She even has some children that aren't members of the Church, so she gets to be a missionary at least once every week. I have been called as a district supervisor for home teaching, and am enjoying it. We like our new ward, and are meeting a lot of new people every week. On Friday, we had a ward talent show. I did beat-boxing and tops, the usual. It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of great talent. Tonight we went to a baptism. The spirit was very strong and they served dinner afterwards. We had a great time eating ham and socializing with people in the ward.

MyKel has been taking piano lessons. She has only had three lessons, and is already playing out of the Hymns Made Easy book. I am very impressed with her dedication and willingness to learn.

The best news for this post is that I got an internship offer from an oil and gas company called Enerplus. It is a Canadian-based company that has offices in Calgary and Denver, so I will be in Denver next summer working as a geology intern. We are so grateful for this opportunity and know that all the interviews and prayers were worth it.

I will now summarize some of the things we remember doing over the past few weeks.

1. We made Nancy's famous pumpkin stew using the recipe book that she gave us for our wedding present. We also made salsa and potato soup from said book.

2. We carved pumpkins a week before Halloween. I carved a large pumpkin from the bottom so that MyKel could use it for her costume (see picture). By the way, MyKel got a haircut, in case you are wondering who that girl with the short hair is.

The future "pumpkin head" Try to imagine the picture rotated. The computer would not let me turn it! 

Left to right of amazing pumpkin carving (Colby, MyKel, Filly, Jay) 

3. Ward trunk-or-treat. MyKel got a lot of strange stares from the younger children. I don't think they had ever seen a walking jack-o-lantern.

I (MyKel) was not originally going to put the pumpkin on my head, but then I was  bribed.  Hence, the candy in my hand :) 

4. Halloween!! We went rock climbing in Rock Canyon. Donny let us borrow some climbing gear, so we used it.

Matching  Free "google" sunglasses! 

5. We smashed a pinata! Tyson and Cambria came over with their kids and had dinner with us. Afterwards, we let everyone hit a pinata.

The kids are really excited about the pinata. 

6. We went geode hunting with MyKel's great uncle. We found lots of geodes about 100 miles away in the west desert.

Lately we have been watching a lot of BYU's "Divine Comedy", and "Studio C," a new show on BYU TV. They have some funny videos on YouTube. If you have seen Harry Potter, you might enjoy the video below. 

New School, New Friends, New Adventures

I decided to finally post something! We have been busy and we have not developed the habit of updating our blog. Sad thing is...it is not a priority, but I want it to be one day. I just have to get past the "I don't like writing all the time." Then again, I love reading everyone's posts, so I hope everyone else somehow thinks it will be enjoyable to read mine. However, I am beginning to think differently in the sense writing a blog should be fun and enjoyable--not a burden. It is not some paper for class that is due in a few days that I have not started. I don't always do that, but it happens more often than it should.

Anyways, Colby and I are great! We just celebrated (not really celebrated, but it was still a day to remember, especially as a newly wed) our one and a half year anniversary! October 9th, 2012. Colby surprised me with red roses. He is so sweet. I can't believe how time flies. It just seems to float right over our heads so quickly. Now back to updates! Colby and I are now at BYU in Provo. We live in Orem and get to drive to school together every day. I love spending this time with Colby. I know when we have a family and get jobs that we won't have some of these simple moments together with just us. And then when we get to school I get to see him for lunch. Colby is getting his master's in Geology and grad students get there own office area. It is quite nice. Its actually really nice for me because everyday at lunch I get to see my husband. For me, I am now getting my bachelor's degree in Human Development. I get to study family and children everyday. I love my classes and I am learning a lot about the most important thing...becoming a mom. However, I plan to get my master's in Social Work and become certified to be a play therapist for abused and neglected children. After my immediate family adopted three children through foster care I learned about play therapy and the importance that it plays for crucial development during childhood. Not only can I focus my attention of being a mom someday, but I can help other children who, unfortunately, don't get that special love and care from their parents.

In two years we will finish our degrees and be on our next adventure...which no ones know where that is yet. Currently, Colby is interviewing for internships and waiting for a call for an internship. This is crucial for his field and we pray that everything will follow through so we can take the next big step of having a regular job with a regular income. That would be nice. :) So pray with us!

We are adjusting to Utah and enjoy it, but we really miss Rexburg and the small town feel. Sunday dinners were the best in Rexburg with Greg, Nancy, and the gang! We will always miss those times. But Utah is still fun and I will show some pictures of all the great and beautiful things we have done. However, we really enjoy having a lot of family nearby.

Also, we have a wonderful apartment and are enjoying our extra space and amenities. We welcome family and friends to stay with us whenever! We would love to have you over! Grandma and Grandpa Sager stayed with us over General Conference weekend and it was great to see them. Speaking of General Conference it was amazing and I am so happy to hear from prophets in our day and to learn "line, upon line," just a little bit at a time.

Right now, we hope you have enjoyed this little endeavor and we hope you will join us next time (whenever that will be)!

Here are some of the highlights of the year:

Colby turns 26 years old! I have a video, but I don't know how to upload it, yet.

 Manti Temple Pageant.

Krystalee and Taylor at Sundance when they invited us to go mountain biking. 

 Colby and Donny climbed Box-Elder Peak. On the right is a bunch of smoke from a fire. 

Our drive through Sundance into American Fork Canyon. We went to the Timpanogos caves

The "Heart" of Timpanogos Cave

On the way down from the caves. The colors were so beautiful!

Colby showing off his amazing super human strength! 

I married such a handsome man! Ow Ow! 

Meet Some New Additions!

So a lot has happened since we last updated or since Colby has last updated. This is actually my first time writing a post. I only add the pictures. So I am taking advantage of some of my free time to write.

First off, Colby and I graduated from BYU-Idaho on December 16^th, 2011!! Colby received his B.S. in Geology, and I received an A.S in Health and Wellness. However, Colby has one semester left here in Rexburg that will allow him to spice up his resume! The classes and projects he is participating in are very important and he would have to take them in Grad school, but we decided to do it at BYU-Idaho instead because the school allowed us too. So we thought cost wise it would be better to stay here in Rex. Grad school is still in processing. Colby has only one more school to apply for and then we just have to patiently wait and see what happens. We are both very excited to see where we will be next!

Now, if you are curious about the title you are in for a treat! I have wanted to share with family and friends just how excited our family has been in Colorado about the new additions we have made to it! I know it is January now; however, Christmas 2011 was a very special time of year for the John family. The whole John family was home for the Holidays. Also, some very important foster children joined us. But as of December 20^th, 2011 our family had the ultimate Christmas gift. The three most adorable children—Johnny, Carston, and Katie were legally and officially adopted into the John family. Our long two-year journey with these kids was finally over and our new chapter began! Katie came near the end of this two-year adventure, but we are all so happy she did! She is now the sixth girl and has five older sisters who all absolutely adore her! And now, Spencer, who originally had been the only boy, now has two little brothers that get to look up to him. Now that the kids were legally adopted it was just not enough to us! So on December 28^th at the Denver LDS Temple, Johnny, Carston, and Katie were sealed to our family for time and all eternity. They are now officially part of who we are! Our family has been so blessed these past years and especially within the last month. We are all so happy and our family is finally COMPLETE! We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives and to know that we will all be together forever!

I’ve included pictures of not only the special events I just talked about, but also of some of the great times we had together! I tried adding a little movie my sister (Crystal) made, but it is not working. I will have to add it later when I figure out how it works.

Johnny copying my parents! 

December 20th. My Family and the Judge after the adoption!

Jonathan Elias John (Johnny), 4 years old

Carston Jamel John, (Carston) almost 3 years old

Kathleen Elise John (Katie), 15-16 months

Certificate of Family Membership! 

December 28th. Our Family after the sealing! 

 It was also my dads birthday on December 21st. He turned 49, but the candles on the cake were the only ones I could find. So I had be creative :) Colby and I also made his favorite cake, German Chocolate Cake. I know it is not much to look at, but we did make it from scratch and it tasted so delicious!!! So I guess that is all that matters!

Now a few more pictures of my family's new additions!