November

Well November definitely flew by for us. Its going to be nice to have some time to spend together after we finish finals this week. Who knew only working full time could be such a wonderful vacation?:) Anyways, here's our month of November in review:)

For Thanksgiving we headed down to San Diego with my Dad's side of the family to celebrate my grandparent's 50th Wedding anniversary. It was a blast to see cousins who we hadn't seen in a while, and to just get to play and relax. (If you want to see any pictures of that portion of the trip you can visit my mom's blog here)

We forgot to take out the camera for most of the trip. But we definitely did not forget it at the Midway. It was an aircraft carrier that we visited on Wednesday in San Diego before we headed up to the house in Oceanside.


It was heaven for my husband, I don't think I'd seen him this excited and happy since.... oh wait, when we went to disneyland for his birthday two weeks before. November was a good month for him;) They had lots of airplanes that you could sit in and play with all of the controls.... I think Justin sat in all of them:)

Me and Justin on the top deck of the carrier by an airplane..... his favorite picture of us. He could tell you what kind of a plane it was, and a lot of different things about it, but I can't:)

Just before we left for Thanksgiving we decorated our house for Christmas. I got really lucky and married a wonderful man who loves Christmas and Christmas decorating as much as I do, I still need to get a picture of our outside lights, but these are our inside decorations. This are my cute little bookshelf decorations.
.... and our tree that we had room for in our living room this year. We bought a big tree last year and had to sit about a foot away from the television to fit it into our living room, this year everything fits and it is so beautiful:)
After we had finished moving around furniture and decorating.... it definitely puts us in the Christmas Spirit to have our house like this:)

Just before thanksgiving I also finished my Phlebotomy class. I'm still waiting to hear back on how I did on the national certification test, but I'm feeling pretty confident about it. :)

At the beginning of November we got to go to Disneyland for Justin's birthday. Thanks to a wonderful Aunt Diana and Uncle Derek who made this possible and let us hang with them at their house, we had a very wonderful trip:) The hat in this picture is a birthday cake hat. It has candles hanging off of it and lights up. Justin loved it. My cousin Haley and my Uncle Derek picked it out.... very fitting I think;)
I had to DRAG Justin out of Disneyland and California Adventure to get him to come check out Downtown Disney shopping with me. He ended up loving it after he found a store with a bunch of model airplanes and a LEGO store. He realized that this was really one of the happiest places on earth... even when your wife drags you shopping.

This is us in front of Main Street USA! We definitely are Disney people and love going there as often as we can. I love being married to a guy who begs me to plan trips to Disneyland rather than dreading it every time I want to go. Justin definitely had a very happy 24th birthday:)

We're getting excited to head into December here. We're jumping in head first with finals this week, going home in about two and a half weeks, and just taking it easy after we get home from work for Christmas Break! We love you all and hope you are having a very Merry Christmas Season!

This Saturday the love of my life turns 24. We're headed to Disneyland and to visit my Aunt and Uncle to celebrate. Justin had never been to Disneyland and absolutely loved it. I'm so glad that I have a husband who loves to go do fun things with me.

I married my best friend in the entire world, and it shows. There are so many things that I love about him. The best thing I have ever done in my life is marry this boy. Marrying your best friend is something that I strongly suggest:)

He is such a stud that I am so grateful that I caught him. When we were younger we used to refer to him and his brothers as the "Skinner boys" because they were the incredibly cute nephews of my neighbors the Skinners. We would all make sure we were looking our best when they would come visit, and sometimes I still can't believe how lucky I am to have married a "Skinner boy."

He is the kindest and greatest husband I could have ever asked for. He love to surprise me with a clean house, and he knows exactly how to make me happy and how to de-stress me, and that is no small feat. He puts up with all of my craziness, knows everything about me, and loves me anyways.

He is my rock. It takes a lot of guts and a lot of strength to marry a girl with my health issues, and to put on a happy face about it and assure me constantly that everything will be OK. He is always the tough one during hospital visits and keeps us realizing that life can still be happy, even at the hospital.


He loves to take me out on dates. He makes me feel so great about myself, and I love that he wants to be with me all the time. I am so lucky to have a husband who adores me so much.He is up for anything. Anything I feel like doing, he wants to go along. Anything I ask him to do, he is up for. When I am crazy and change my mind about stuff every ten seconds, he thinks all of my ideas sound great and he believes that I can do anything.
He has the greatest sense of humor. We spend most of our time together cracking up. Even when I don't think something is funny, his laugh is enough to get me rolling on the floor laughing. He has such a happy-go-lucky disposition that I consider myself incredibly lucky to get to be around him all the time.
He is easily the most handsome man that I have ever seen in my life. I love to be able to look at him and know that I totally scored. I lucked out being able to find a man so good looking and wonderful who loves me too.
He is incredibly driven and smart. I am so excited that he is getting to do what he loves every day and excelling at it. He knows what he wants to do the rest of his life and he is going after it. It won't be long before he'll be flying the skies and be the best pilot the world has ever seen.

I love you sweetheart. I hope you have a very very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Becoming a Vampire....

Surprisingly, this post has nothing to do with the Twilight series, although I will say that I am getting pretty excited to see the new movie. Nope, this has to do with something that I will be taking a course for in November.

It all starts with my Doctor's appointment (in which we found out that I am Cancer free.... Hooray for 3 and 1/2 years!!) when I had the greatest phlebotomist of all time draw my labs. She was wonderful, she got a vein on the first poke, and even though she went into my hand, it hardly bruised at all! (Usually my entire hand is black and blue when they do that)



Now, I had thought to myself before that if there was anything I was interested in in medicine, it would be phlebotomy, don't ask me why.... it's rather creepy I know.... but an interest none the less. But over the past few weeks since the appointment, I have not been able to get it out of my head. I now passionately want to be a really good phlebotomist. I know what kind of a difference it can make in a hospital visit when your phlebotomist is good, and I want to be that kind of person.

So I signed up for the November night course in Ogden. I am super excited and I am really looking forward to having this skill, and hey..... being a vampire wouldn't be that bad right?:) Isn't that what reading Twilight tells us?:)

Oh no!

Our Idaho registration expired on our Carolla yesterday, so now we are officially utah drivers. Both of our cars will soon have Utah license plates, and I was informed yesterday at the DMV that we need Utah licenses. We're trying to embrace our Utah lives, but we're still Idahoans at heart!

Much needed update

Well, I finally have a couple minutes to update. Our lives have gotten even crazier since school started (we had no idea that that was possible!) Justin is working at the airport and going to school, and I am working at the doctor's office and doing online classes. We have early mornings for work and late nights for homework. Oh the joys of being students!

Before school started we got to go up to Moscow for a long weekend, and it was wonderful! We really miss our families when we are away from home. We got family pictures with the Schwartzes (see the post below) and family pictures with my family (more to come, I'm sure) :) There were a couple of pictures of Justin and I that I LOVED. (Thanks Annie!) It's fun because both families got them taken at the same place, so that will make my decorating so much more fun with all of the "matchiness."



This is one of my most favorite pictures that we got taken. I adore it! It's so fun to have such a cute husband!


Our first anniversary was while we were in Moscow. We celebrated just the two of us before we left. We went to the Salt Lake Temple to do sealings and then had lunch at our most favorite restaurant called Tucanos. We have had such a wonderful and eventful first year. I am so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man:)

On our actual anniversary in Moscow we went to Gracie's baptism. It was so fun to have the family all together. My cute husband got me a dozen roses, and we ate out with the fam after the baptism. It was an awesome day.

We ate the top layer of our wedding cake that we had kept frozen. The whole family was completely grossed out that we would even think about eating year old frozen cake, but it wasn't bad. I kept trying to tell them that it is a long standing tradition. I don't think they cared.:)

We got home and started right into school, and had my family come down to Logan and stay with us for a couple of days while they took Lauren to BYU. It was so much fun to have them here and show off our new townhouse a little bit.

And now we've been in school for almost a month! It's crazy to think about for me. The semester is flying by way too fast. I've been doing homework for a couple of hours a night to keep up with my online classes, but I am lucky enough to get Saturdays off of work. Since my hubby usually isn't home for most Saturdays I use it to get lots of homework done and some fun projects.

Once I finish my homework, I like to have projects to do that have nothing to do with school. This has been my most recent one. I've worked on it for the past two Saturdays and it is finally finished and will be moved inside our house this evening!


I found this solid oak coffee table at DI. Yes, it was very beat up but it had a lot of potential. I spent last Saturday sanding it down and staining the top. I put one coat of black on the legs, and that is all I could get done before it got dark. This week, I put two more coats of black on the legs, and put a gloss stain on the top. It looks great and I am so excited to move it into the house!


My next project includes these. I got them this morning at the farmers market in town for $1! I was so excited, they look delicious. I think we may have quite a bit of zucchini bread in our future:)

Schwartz Family Pictures

Someday I'll actually get around to talking about our wonderful anniversary trip, when I get the pictures from the camera loaded up. We had an awesome vacation home, it was great to be able to see our families and not have to WORK! We also got to take pictures with BOTH families, and here are the results of one of them!

The Schwartz Family:)

All of the Schwartz boys..... or "Skinner boys" as we used to call them:)

Me and the Hubby:) I LOVE this new picture!

Livin' it up in Logan

We're doing well here as the summer comes to a close. Justin passed his third stage check today and will have his final check ride on Tuesday. Then I will officially be a pilot's wife:) I'm really proud of all of the hard work that he's put in this summer. When I got home from work last night he still had his books and charts and flight stuff spread out all over the floor making a flight plan. It's pretty cute.

We've got a couple of changes coming up soon. I put in my notice at Sports Authority because I am moving to Full TIME at the Doctors office after we get home from Moscow. I am very excited. I could not ask for a better job. It will be a lot to handle working full time and school full time, but I think I'm up for the challenge.

Justin will hopefully be changing jobs at the airport and working at dispach where he will only be taking care of the Utah State airplanes. They would be better hours for him, and a lot less stress which he'll need since he'll be working on TWO ratings in the fall. He'll be taking instrument ground school at the same time he's finishing his intermediate hours. The instrument rating kind of scares me because they put him under a "hood" and it covers his eyes so he can't see anything but his instruments and he has to fly using only those. Should be an adventure for him this fall!

We're getting excited to go home in just over a week. We have lots of family pictures to do, lots of visiting, and lots of mom time to get in. We're both feeling a little bit deprived way down here in Utah.... we need our moms!

Grace is coming home with us after we go visit because my family is coming down here the day after we come home to take Lauren to BYU. I'm excited to have her closer, and excited that BFFs Justin and Grace will get some quality time together. They have a very special bond, and Justin's been missing her a lot! It will be fun to have her all to ourselves for the drive and that Monday.

Well that's an update on us! I should have pictures coming sometime next week.... we're doing an early anniversary celebration in Salt Lake. We're planning a little bit of the Temple and Tucanos. Should be some good times! We love you all!

My life = explosion

I don't think I have ever been so busy in my life. It's a blast, but definitely taking its toll. I'm sitting here at the doctors office at the end of my 12-13 hour day (we have yet to see which one) and I realize I've only seen my husband for about 9 hours in the past three days combined. Its a bummer. But between both of our two jobs, and him going to school it makes sense that we would never see each other. Which is why we're actually looking forward to school starting. Weird.

The upside of this current explosion of my life is that I was finally able to afford the graphic design programs that I had been yearning for for the past six months. I plan on churning out masses of invitations, business cards, programs, announcements and everything else I've wanted to make. I am excited. So if you know anyone who need wedding invites, party invites, baby announcements.... anything, let me know!

Wishing everything in the world was digital.....

I was recently called to be the "technology specialist" in our new ward. I thought, SWEET! I love to do stuff on the computer. The computer is where I can be very creative. I can make the picture in my head become a reality. Now, I have done almost everything this calling requires I have all but three couples pictures uploaded to the ward directory, I have made the website look in tip-top shape, and the ward e-mail with announcements goes out for the first time next week. All of these things I can do. We may even have a ward blog soon where announcements get posted, posts about all of our wonderful, successful ward activities, as well as the weekly e-mail.

Yet, I can't seem to bring myself to do what I have decided should change the name of my calling. The ward bulletin board. You know the one with all of the pictures of everyone in the ward that had USU 62nd Ward across the top? Yeah. It is defeating me. What does that have to do with technology? As you can tell by my backgrounds, digital scrapbooking has recently become a passion of mine. I love to make my own cute little pictures and post them for people to see. But to do it for real? I don't know. I think it may end up looking like a 2nd grader did it. But here I go, headed to Michael's to buy scrapbooking paper, trying desperately to come up with a design in my head and coming up blank.

Wish me luck.

Flying high and our new {used} car:)

Last Monday I got the chance to go up with Justin on one of his flights. It was my first time up in a little plane, and I was amazed how smooth it was, I was totally expecting it to be really bumpy. But it was very relaxing and I got to see how beautiful Cache Valley is from the air, its pretty incredible. I loved it:) So here are some pics:)

Taxiing to our runway

Looking at the Logan Airport from the sky

My hubster in action flying around Cache Valley! He did so well! I don't know how he remembers everything all the time, he's definitely catching on fast!

View from the Sky:)

Our other big news recently {well, today} is that we bought a new car! It is a used car... but it's new to us:) We're really excited. Between the two of us working two jobs and Justin going to school part time, I was doing a lot of walking around Logan. So we finally did it. It's our first big purchase together, and we LOVE it! It is a 2004 VW Passat, and it's GORGEOUS!! I'm love it!

At the dealership:) Justin's brother Tyson is here visiting, he's the other tall one.... makes me feel a little short between the two of them.... ;)

Double Date Day

We had one of Justin's best buddies from Moscow and his girlfriend up in Logan with us for the day, it was a blast! We went to lunch, hit the driving range, and then got some frostys at Wendy's before Justin and I both had to work. A wonderful day all-in-all. These are some pictures from the day. (I promise I was golfing too! I was just the picture taker too:))

Logan River Driving Range

My honey and his beautiful swing:) His always go so much further than mine.... it makes me jealous sometimes.

I just had some really good shots (pictures I mean;)) today that I was so proud of!

Enjoying a chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough frosty at Wendy's.... they're incredible by the way, in case you were wondering:)

June!

Well June has flown by and we finally have some internet up and running at our apartment. We're so excited! Which means I can finally blog all of the exciting happenings in our lives. We have been running around like crazy people working, schooling, and working some more. Justin started flight school and is loving flying every day. He's aced all of his tests so far and I am so proud of him. He really seems to have found what he loves to do, and I am excited for him. We got to go home for Lauren and Niks graduation, and it was fun to be there and spend time with our families:) After we got home I got another job at a doctor's office so I've been turning into a work-a-holic, and I definitely look forward to just spending time with my husband after I get home.

Me and the sister on Graduation Day! I can't wait until she lives by me!

Me, Lauren, and Anne, I love those girls!

Me and the Hubster at Lauren's Graduation BBQ

Me and Justin and his brother Nik! Hooray Graduates!

Justy doing his pre-flight

Just after the pre-flight getting ready to go.

Taxiing to the runway

More taxiing

And a beautiful take off

Look at him go!

Stay tuned for more pictures! I'm trying to get the courage up to go up with him sometime next week, and that will make for some really fun ones!

We're not dead! I promise!

Just running around like crazy people without internet:) We've been pinching all of our pennies following our move to make sure we could pay rent before we were getting full paychecks, but internet should be coming shortly after we go home for graduation! HOORAY!

We are doing wonderfully in Logan. We love it and it is actually starting to feel like home for us. My cute husband hasn't mentioned how much he misses our little Rexburg apartment in over a week.:) Life is good.:)

Since our move, we have purchased a washer and dryer. (Yes, I finally have one in my house and it is the most incredible feeling! I never imagined I would count my blessings and be so excited about doing laundry.... hooray for being poor students;)) I got a job at Sports Authority and Justin has a job at both TJMaxx and the Airport. Can you guess which one is his favorite?;) He is hilarious:) He doesn't even feel like the airport is work, he's getting paid to hang out out there and he can't even believe it. He is refueling planes and such.

We head home for graduation for Justin's brother Nik and my sister Lauren next week. We're excited to be home and be a part of that. As soon as we get back Justin starts flight school, and our debt for education begins in a big way. Justin and I keep reminding eachother that the Prophet said it was OK to go into debt for education.:) It's the only thing that keeps us sane taking out so much in Loans.;)

We're missing everyone and just wanted to let you know that we're not dead, just internetless and that will be changing soon.:) Love you all!

Finals, Moving, Easter, Home and Cancer Free!

Its been a busy couple of weeks at the Schwartz home:) Including the Schwartz home changing locations. On April 9th I finished my one and only semester at BYU-Idaho with flying colors and picked up my long lost hubby from the airport. He had been at home for two weeks to see his brother who just got home from a mission. The next morning, we picked up a U-haul and packed it up, drove to Logan, UT and unpacked it. It was great:) When we picked up the U-haul it had airplanes on it, which is the reason for our move to Logan, so Justin can learn to be a pilot. He took it as a sign and happily moved for the rest of the day.

Our Airplane U-haul

Our new townhome in Logan

Easter Sunday happened to be the very first holiday that Justin and I had ever spent not at our families' houses we enjoyed ourselves and dyed eggs the night before and went grocery shopping for our new place. On Sunday we went to our new ward for the first time, and made mini southwestern egg rolls. DELICOUS.... maybe a new Easter tradition for these Schwartzes:)

This would be the first shot of a video that I need to post, my husband's virtual tour of our new place in Logan. Such a cute man:)

We then headed home on Tuesday to make it back in time for a doctor's appointment. We go the all-clear on Friday evening so we're cancer free for another 6 months. So that's a quick update. We miss everyone! Love you all!