We are alive!

I know, I know...it has been over a year. But what can I say. Life got busy? I got married? We had no internet connection for over a year? No excuses but laziness. But my sister in law saved the day and made me a new header for the blog, so it no longer says the soon to be Chavez family. No, we are now the Chavez family and we are going on one year!!! Wow!!
In a nutshell...Moved from Logan, Melissa student taught, Mario worked full time and did military duties, Melissa graduated from Utah State University with a degree in Early Childhood Education, Mario completed 2 semesters at Weber State, we lived in a fun apartment in Layton, went on a cruise with our friends, I spent 4 months looking for a job, 13 interviews later found one, we moved in with my parents, decided to buy a house, with my brothers great help we bought one, moved out of my parents, Mario now goes to SLCC, Melissa is teaching in Jordan School District, we still have a fish, we now have an mortgage and thus no longer enjoy luxuries such as food and water, and we will be married a year this month! A lot has happened very quickly, so we feel rushed somewhat, but blessed to have found a home and have everything work out OK.
We LOVE our new house, and while there is still a ton of work to do, we are enjoying it. It was nice to spend some time with my parents. Mainly because my mother helped keep me somewhat sane while I started my first year of teaching. We're grateful for them letting us crash their empty nester pad for a month while we transitioned. We love family!!

Pictures of the house to come....I have to get it looking organized first. And it won't take me a year, but I'm a first year teacher, so don't blame me if it takes until Thanksgiving. ;)

Fourth of July Weekend

The weekend was fast, fun, and family filled. We spent thursday and friday nights at the cabin, with family coming and going. On friday morning, we had the entire family there (Ken and Jen came from Colorado too!), minus Mario. I missed him a lot, but I'm extremely proud of him for serving our country, and I think there is no better place for him to be during this holiday. (Except home with me of course.) We then went to my parents house saturday night, had a barbeque, and made our own little fireworks show. Then Sunday was Spencer and Sara's baby blessing. It all went by very fast, but I loved spending the time with family.

Just some thoughts I've been having...I felt a particular pride this year knowing that my fiancee is doing his part in serving the country, and I feel like I somewhat have a part in that even though I'm not actively serving. I've grown a greater love for the military families all around the world, and the sacrifice they make by sending their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and any loved ones away. I have a greater respect for those men and women who leave their families in order to make our country a safer place to live. I hope those serving understand how much that means to those left here. All those who are actively serving, and who previously have served are fulfilling a role that Americans either can't, or simply won't fulfill, and they deserve a great amount of respect for that. I feel it an honor to be numbered among those families who are sacrificing, and I realize that I have it a lot easier than most. Mario and I are very blessed right now to be where we are, and the have the things we do have. I'm extremely grateful and proud to be an American, and live in a country where we have such great opportunities and freedoms.

I wanted some pictures of Mario and I on our first fourth together...here they are! I wish we could see his face better, but he is happy. I brought "him" out on the lawn to enjoy a few fireworks with the family. I was hoping it wouldn't make him too homesick, and it didn't. He said he loved it and it gave him the taste of home that he needed. I sure love him!

Trying this out...

We've decided to try the whole blog thing. I don't know how I'll like it, or if I'll even keep it updated. But it's worth a try, right?

I'm doing a summer semester in Logan, and it's finally starting to settle down a little bit. Mario is serving our country in Iraq, and is eagerly waiting to come home. But that is still a few months down the road. Yes, we are getting married eventually, hopefully no later than Thanksgiving. Here are a few of our engagements that were taken about 6 months ago, who knows if we'll use them for our announcements when it gets down to it. I see that posting pictures is part of the blogging thing, so I will follow suit. Oh, our "plan" is that both Mario and I will update our blog from where we are, and Mario will try to post some pictures of his current events. We'll see how that goes.