Colby and I have been missing in action for quite sometime (since halloween) that I have decided I should finally update our blog! Yeah! Once again, I am a terrible blogger and have not gotten into the whole thing, but I am trying and it is a nice way to stay in touch with friends and family. Colby and I are now in Colorado for the summer for Colby's paid internship which is so nice! I have not been home for a full and whole Colorado summer since I started school in Idaho in 2010! It has been nice being back and there are no wild fires Hooray! The weather has been perfect not to hot or cold which is how I am been acclimated my whole life! If it gets above 75 degrees I want to die it is too hot for me. We are currently living with my parents for the summer which means Colby has an hour commute and if there is traffic, then it is about an hour and half; however, we did try to find somewhere in Denver to live, but no one wanted to give us a 4 month lease. So here we are and we love it! Colby said that he is so use to the drive that it does not bother him anymore and he gets to listen to whatever music, talk show, or anything he likes since I am not in the car :) For me, I have been helping my parents out with my siblings and working as a nanny here and there (look below for a funny video of my little sister). I also will probably get a job with an in home senior health assistant a couple times a week. So I have been keeping busy too!
Colby and I can't wait for all the summer plans this summer! Colby gets every third Friday off so we are coming for the Hazard Reunion and we are both so excited! We missed the first one in California and can't wait for this July to see everyone especially the new babe, baby R Hazard! For memorial weekend we went to South Dakota with my family to see Mount Rush-more, Crazy Horse, Reptile Gardens, Black Bear Country, the Needles, Custer State Park, Devils Tower (in Wyoming), the cosmos, Mammoth sites, and had fun swimming! I will post some pictures because it was so much fun! Also, this June I am leaving after Colby's birthday to see my sister in Boston and helping her move to Las Vegas! I am so happy she is moving back to the west she has not been this close to us for 6 years and we are so happy! I am going to drive across the country with her and then hopefully see there new built home soon. I am excited that when Colby and I go back to Utah she will only be 5 hours away about the same to Rexburg so we will be making trips down there for sure. I am sad that my other sister won't be in Rexburg anymore after this summer because they are moving to Texas, but I am so happy that we still have tons of Colby's family there because we love seeing them and I love Rexburg! We are so excited to see everyone soon and are sorry that we will miss Kl and Taylor before we get there, but we wish them the best of luck in Washington D.C and hopefully we will see them soon!
This huge guy was crossing the road and I am glad we were in a even bigger truck! He looked mad...hehe
Oh no! The snake has them!
Carsten is super happy and amazed because this huge tortoise is moving, but Jonathan looks concerned...
Just chillin in Black Bear Country
Jonathan wanted a turn to carry Carsten so we let him try haha
Oh, and a quick update on my sister Felicia. For those of you who do not know she is serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She will be serving and teaching others the gospel of Jesus Christ for 18 months in the Temple Square, SLC, Utah mission! She will also study sign language so she may teach those who are deaf in their own language. She has been in the MTC for since April 24th and will go into the mission field from the MTC on June 12th! She is doing well aside from some minor medical issues, but is fine! She had her 21st birthday on May 20th and she wrote to us about it was one of the best birthdays she ever had!
We decided to pack the kids up and ship them right to Filly!
Felicia is 21 years old!
Felicia and the other sign language missionaries
Also, Sierra, I want you to update your blog! If I can do it then you can too! :)
Talk to you all till next time...which hopefully is not another 7 months! Oh and below is a funny video of my little sister Katie being a goof!
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.
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!
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
16th, 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 20th,
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 28th 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!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Hello my friends. It has been an eventful and satisfying week for us.
Bad news story: On Thursday, I dropped off MyKel for class and then was on my up to the free parking lot near the temple. Suddenly, I heard a siren and I was pulled over. AHH!! MyKel and I were in a hurry that morning, so I scraped a large hole out of the frost on the front windshield and rolled down my window. Everything seemed to be fine, until I got a fine. $85. As it turns out, ALL of your windows must be scraped and clean in order to be on the road. I learned my lesson...the hard way.
Good news story: The geology museum on campus receives many of its rocks and minerals from a couple that lives in Colorado Springs. They wanted to make another donation, and the geology department was trying to figure out how they could transport all of the samples back to the school. Somehow they found out that MyKel is from Monument (right next to CO Springs), so they asked us to pick them up. They are letting us take a school vehicle out to Colorado, paying for the gas, and paying us $$ on top of that!! Aw ya...talk about blessings. We are very grateful to have been given this opportunity. As Bishop Wrightson would say, "oh, the blessings of being a full tithe payer." :)
We are excited for Christmas this year...and a break from school! We had an amazing ward Christmas party last night, complete with waiters, delicious food, ballroom dancing, and live music. The funniest part of the night was when the fire alarm went off during the elegant dinner.
Here is a random picture with Santa Claus that we got on campus Thursday afternoon:
Merry Christmas!! From the Hazards and Santa Claus
It has been an exciting 2 weeks for us. Sorry for not posting last week. We had Wednesday through Friday off from school last week, and hitched a ride up to Helena, Montana for the break to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma Sager, Bobo, Jaren, Braden, Krystalee, Sierra, Hannah, Monica and some of Jaren's and Braden's friends. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of food! Grandma made 2 turkeys!! To keep with tradition, we went to see Twilight. We also played football on Thanksgiving and on Saturday. We had an awesome dance party with DJ Braden, soaked in the hot tub, read books, did some homework, and played Super Smash Brothers on the Wii. Overall, it was a great break from school and we all had a lot of fun.
Fun with Family and Friends!
Time to Eat!!
This week just flew by. Besides the normal schoolwork, we went to a play on Tuesday night entitled "The Drowsy Chaperone." It was very funny and I feel like the school always does an awesome job on their plays. One of the main actors, the drowsy chaperone herself, happens to be in our ward.
Thursday afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa Sager came down to our apartment. Krista, Hannah and Monica all played in an orchestra concert that evening, so we celebrated by going to Taco Bell before the show and G's Dairy afterwards. They all play the violin. Then, we all played "Werewolf." It was a lot of fun. Grandma and Grandpa stayed the night at our apartment, and they brought the biggest cinnamon roles I have ever seen in my life...as big as a dinner plate!!
Today I gave the lesson in Priesthood meeting on being a righteous husband and father. For men, this is truly our greatest duty, and it is the only calling that we will have forever.
Well, this has been a pretty uneventful week for us here in Rexburg, but I have committed to keeping a blog, so I will write a few words.
Friday night, I took a remote sensing test and then we drove to Costa Vida (Cafe Rio) for boy Taylor's birthday party. The line was so long that by the time we got our food, everyone else was already done eating. So we took our food to Taylor and Crystal's house to eat and party. We had a good time hanging out and playing games.
MyKel woke up Saturday morning with a tingling on her second little toe. She went to the bathroom to get a better look, and upon examining her toe, she discovered a small bite mark. She promptly marched back into the bedroom and threw all the blankets off the bed in an attempt to discover the culprit. A shocked Colby awoke wondering what was going on, only to be recruited in an all out effort to locate and destroy whatever had bitten her. We did not have any success, and instead began to try to figure what had bitten her. After a few hours, we came to the conclusion that it was a spider bite that didn't hurt. We continued to check on it throughout the day to make sure it did not swell or anything. Unfortunately, she did not gain any superpowers.
The beginnings of spider woman!
Another big event of the week was when it snowed yesterday. I went into the plasma center at around 11am. There was not a flake of snow to be seen anywhere. About an hour later, I walked out of the plasma center into a flurry of snow with about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground! We spent about 45 minutes shoveling snow with non-snowshovels after the snow slowed down.
Last night, we played games with boy Taylor, Crystal, Denton, and girl Taylor. Denton and I were roommates last fall at the same time that MyKel and girl Taylor were roommates. Crystal (MyKel's sister) and boy Taylor were also in the ward. None of us were engaged last fall, and now all of us are married. Around this time last year, we all went sledding together at the sand dunes. It is hard to believe that a year has passed since that night at the dunes. It has been a great year! We had a great time last night just being together again.
Today and last night was stake conference. We heard some great messages and felt the spirit and our leaders instructed us from the scriptures. We have a great stake presidency and great leaders, and they shared some powerful stories and we realized, once again, how very blessed we are to have the gospel.
We had dinner at boy Taylor and Crystal's basement apartment tonight. We were joined by Felicia, Rachel, and Heather. Afterwards, we played a game called Farkle and then looked at pictures from Crystal's wedding for a while. This was the first time that we didn't go to Greg and Nancy's house for dinner in a long time. Right now, MyKel is making pumpkin spice cookies. They smell good!
YUM!
I didn't write about anything else this week. It seems that all of the event's worth mentioning occurred over the weekend. The rest of the week was spent working hard at school and enjoying each other's company. I am also reading a book right now called "In the Heart of the Sea." It is a novel based on the journals of men working on a whaling ship that was attacked by a monstrous sperm whale in 1820. Overall, we are loving life and loving each other.
Sorry we didn't post anything last week. I worked on a new post for about an hour, and then saved it, or so I thought. As it turns out, everything was lost. After that, I just gave up and figured I would just write a blog for this week instead. I will start with a quick summary of last week (of what I can remember):
We served for about 4 hours at the cannery in Idaho Falls canning chicken noodle soup for people in need around the world. We were there from about 4:20-8:30pm. It was a lot of fun. MyKel and I were in charge of making the broth. I can still remember the ingredients: 42 pounds of chicken soup base, 12 pounds of salt, all poured into a 60 gallon pot of water. I was in charge of putting together the ingredients and dumping them in the pot, while MyKel controlled all of the buttons and levers (the complicated stuff).
On Saturday night, we went to a ward activity. MyKel was Dorothy and I was the tin man (wrapped up in tin foil) from the Wizard of Oz. It was a lot of fun. Later that night, we went to Greg and Nancy's to carve pumpkins. I carved a cyclops pumpkin, and MyKel cleaned a big pumpkin out for the pumpkin soup that Nancy would make for Sunday dinner (which was SUPER GOOD!). MyKel was mostly just excited about baking the pumpkin seeds.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road!
Halloween was a good day for us. We went up to the Hazard's again and took some of their candy. Then I tried to scare some of the little kids, but I wasn't very successful, so I just put a wig over my entire head and made weird noises at the door while passing out candy.
Cyclops Pumpkin!
Yesterday we worked for a few hours in the geology lab. We both have jobs reorganizing the entire lab and a ton of geology publications. I actually enjoy it, but I am not sure MyKel does. She isn't as interested in all the articles and pictures that we stumble across as I am. Later on, we went to the temple and then attended the Golden Dragon Acrobats show, which was completely and utterly incredible! We couldn't believe some of the stuff that they did. Our hearts were pounding the whole time, and we were hoping that nobody would die. Thankfully nobody did, so in the end, we really enjoyed the show.
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