I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T

So... hello again. 

I've been pretty bad about blogging this summer. 

I've been filling my time with worthy pursuits though, one of which was the bright idea to memorize Macklemore's song, "Can't Hold Us." 

If you know it... it's like ridiculous to try and memorize... impossible. The first time I heard it I kind of fell in love with it though, and declared to Taylor that I was going to memorize the whole thing. 

So... that didn't happen. Not even close in fact. But I DID finally master the I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T part, which I'm quite proud of :) 

Anyways, 

Let me catch you up on the wonderful summer we've had! 

We were able to go to Island Park with Taylor's family over the 24th, which was a great time. The most notable thing that happened is that we almost died. 

You see, Taylor's family owns a few rafts that they like to float down the river. We start at the dam and raft for about an hour down the river. It's not exactly a roarin river... so Taylor and I went down once without even close to a mishap, just enjoying the lazy ride down. We decided to do it again, so we went back up to the top and started all over. With one successful ride under our belt, I guess we got a little too comfortable with the river, cause we stopped paying attention and started singing Chicago animatedly ("You bring meaning to my life! You're the inspiraaaaation") 

And after it was too late, we noticed we were headed straight for a big fallen tree that was covering about half of the river. Taylor started yelling, "PADDLE.. PADDLE!!!" So I furiously paddled, but we got nowhere. We slammed into the tree, and it immediately popped a gigantic hole in the raft. I was seriously amazed at how fast the raft lost air and started folding in half, sinking into the river with Taylor and I still trying to sit in it. Now I did say this river was lazy.. and it was.. but at this particular spot it was FLOWIN! I started getting sucked underneath the big tree branch, and I started to panic. So Taylor is yelling for me to perch myself on the tree, which luckily it was big and sturdy enough to do. We both got on the tree, and our raft went under, where it received more holes. So here we are.. no raft, no one around that we know, and nowhere to get off at the banks and just walk down. We were totally stuck. I was trying to move myself towards the bank anyway, but the log was so slippery every time I made a move I slipped in a little, and I was NOT about to take a ride down the river raftless. 

There are 3 rafts in the picture...the top and bottom rafts are inflated, and the yellow and blue pancake in the middle is our totally shot raft. Unrepairable. Whoops.

At this point, I was so panicked I started laughing, hysterically. It all became extremely funny. Other people rafted by us and didn't even bat an eye. We sat there on the log for probably 20 minutes wondering what the heck we were going to do, when a fishing boat finally took pity on us and rescued us. We kind of felt like idiots, but they informed us they have to rescue people fairly often.. so... I still felt like an idiot, but a little less so :) 

So maybe we didn't ALMOST die. But who doesn't exaggerate a little when telling stories? 

Had to get a picture in our randomly matching hats and black jackets. 

The next weekend we went camping with my parents at Massacre Rocks, where we got in some quality boating time. Taylor got pretty comfortable on the slalom, and when I say comfortable, I mean he got up on the first try and is starting to cut a little bit! It's very fun for me...I want him to be as passionate about waterskiing as I am and it's becoming a reality. 

Here is the tent my parents gave us for our wedding! First time trying it out and we loved it! 

Don't be fooled by the short shorts... this is Taylor. 

We also had a fun time running a Pocatello Fun Run Series race. We did the Heinz sponsored race out by OK Ward Park. I ran the 5k, and Taylor ran the 10k. He won it by like 6 minutes and set a new course record. That's my boy! I, on the other hand, got like 50th. Hopefully our kids get his genes :) 

Other than that, we've fit in a little work and serious stuff this summer too. School starts after Labor Day for Taylor, and I dread it. The amount of time we'll get to see each other will go WAY down, but I suppose that's real life. Taylor is at cross country camp this whole week, so I'm getting an early start getting used to it. He's enjoying a lovely cabin in the mountains above Ogden with his team until Saturday. At least he left me with some mementos though! 

What a cutie. 

Well, that's all for now. This post is long and I have an exciting tennis match to watch. Hooray for the U.S. Open keeping me company this week! 

Here's the fellow I'm rootin for

Go Rafa!! 

ooo I wanna take you to Bermuda, Bahama..

Come on pretty mama! 

So as facebook or insta may have informed you, last week we went on a 5 night cruise to the Bahamas. Best.trip.ever.

We flew out of Salt Lake early Sunday morning, changed planes in Chicago, and flew on to Orlando, Florida. We looked all over for an alligator, but sadly weren't rewarded by the sight of one. Everyone told us how common they are though and how they're dead on the road all the time. Instead of Idaho's deer or skunks, their roadkill is alligator. Apparently the locals of Florida routinely go boating in lakes where alligators reside, they just stay away from the weeds at the side, because that's where they lurk. Sorry, but if I knew there was one single alligator in the same lake as me, I would never even think of dipping a toe in. 

On Monday morning we boarded the "Ecstasy" and began a blissful 5 days at sea, besides the sunburns that awaited. Tuesday we arrived in Freeport, the first island on our stop. We went to the Junkanoo beach club, where we kayaked, swam, sunbathed, and ate a delicacy known as "Conch Salad" pronounced konk. 

We were told it's a natural Viagra, the Bahamian alternative. Which is not why we tried it...ok maybe it was.... but everyone else was doing it too, aLright? 

We watched this man cut out the muscle which released it from the shell, then he made Taylor eat this nasty, clear, stringy thing out of it, and then he set to work cleaning it out and cutting it up. 

It was pretty chewy and pretty tasteless. But once he mixed it with onions, peppers, tomatoes, and a bountiful amount of fresh squeezed lime and orange juice, it was actually fairly good. And I detest most sea-food, so it was a pleasant surprise. Plus he gave us the conch shell as our souvenir! 

The second day, we went to an island called Half Moon Cay (pronounced key). It's a private island owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, but they let Carnival stop there. Nobody lives on it, it seriously is a remote island in the middle of the sea, with the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The water was like a swimming pool. So warm and clear. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. 

I don't know how Taylor could do this. Any dunk underwater brought me up gagging on the salt water,  and eyes burning unless I was extremely vigilant about keeping my mouth shut and eyes closed until my eyes were practically dry. It was SO salty. 

 

That was the name of the bar.... but it was definitely applicable to the whole island :) 

Such a perfect day. 

The last excursion day was a stop on Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. It was well inhabited and bustling. This day we really wanted to go snorkeling, and we found a great deal. A big boat took a bunch of us out to a reef, and we were able to snorkel for an hour around it. They dropped some food into the ocean so the fish were swarmin. I kept trying to touch one but those darned things are so fast! 

 Look at my left eye... This snorkel gear did a number on it. 

So I know this post is getting a little lengthy, but I just gotta finish up with a few more pics and my favorite moment of the trip... :) 

One morning we went up to get breakfast, but Tay and I wanted different things, so we had to go to different lines. My line was longer, so Taylor went and put his breakfast on a table outside on the deck overlooking the ocean, and came back in to find me. Once he found me he was all excited, saying, "Look! I put my breakfast on that table outside so we can eat out there this morning!" As he was saying this, he pointed to the table, and what we saw made my whole week. There were probably 7-8 seagulls having a feast on his breakfast! It basically went like this: "Look! I put my breakfast on that table outside so we can eat out.... OH NOOOOO, THE BIRDS!!!!" And he starts running outside to rescue his waffles and eggs, which were already long gone in the seagulls beaks. I laughed so hard, I wish so much that I would have gotten a picture of it. Needless to say, Taylor didn't have any waffles or eggs that morning.  

This last picture is of our dinner group. We were at a table with 2 other newlyweds and 2 engaged couples. Everyone was very fun and we had a great time with them. It was such a memorable honeymoon and we feel so lucky we were able to take a trip like this now, because we probably won't have another chance to for a looong time. 

my favorite, and not so favorite happenings

Hello friends, 

so life has been crazy since getting married. But I don't want to forget this time of my life, so I'm writing it down here. Also, going to change the look of my blog (and the name... cause it's not just about a girl named Jill anymore!!...) but today is not that day. So here are the good happenings with us lately..

1) I got a job filling in for a girl on maternity leave at an office 10 minutes from our apartment. And I kind of love it actually. Everyone is so friendly at work and it's very low stress. Unfortunately, it ends in two weeks when she comes back. And then, back to the job search. 

2) We bought a Macbook right before we got married, and I LOVE it. Except that I am currently unable to access iPhoto or iMovie on it, hence why my posts haven't had pictures lately (sorry). But we are working on that. There is hope.

3) In 2 weeks from today, we leave on our honeymoon! Since Taylor had to be back for track practice right after we got married, we took a shortie honeymoon to Park City for 2 days and then it was on to real life. So we booked a cruise for the middle of June after track ended and it is nigh upon us, people. We fly to Florida, where we get on the boat, and then cruise for a week in the Bahamas. You could say we're a little excited for this event :) 

4) Utah is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE IT! My nose is constantly bombarded by the best smelling environment I have ever had the pleasure of being in for an extended period of time. Seriously... every time I walk outside I just have to comment on it. Taylor probably gets tired of the topic, but it's just too exquisitely good not to comment on. Idaho smelled good at this time of year too, but not to the degree it does here. 

5) I am married. And it is the best. Taylor is the most helpful, most considerate, easy going husband and that is the kind of person I love to be around. I didn't get to be around Taylor constantly when we were dating, like most couples get to be. We would have a weekend together and then it was back to long distance. We never fight, we rarely disagree, and when we do it ends up turning into a joke and we just laugh all the time. The month and week that we've been married have served to confirm just how right the choice was. 

And now on to things that are NOT my favorite..... 

1) Taylor went out of town for 4.5 days for track regionals in Austin, TX. I was so lonely, it was 100x worse than when we were apart dating. 

2) It just so happened that while he was gone, my car died and I had to get towed. Thankfully Juline was able to come rescue me, but seriously. Terrible timing. So then I had to pay them to fix it, and $360 bones later I had a beautifully running car again. 

3) One time I almost ruined my car because I didn't change the oil for MANY MONTHS. The engine was making sounds and the mechanic gave me a talking to. Ever since then, I have become an oil changing nazi. Taylor's oil light came in, so after taking care of my car, I got the oil changed in his. You are welcome Taylor, hope you had fun in Texas while I slaved over our cars here :) 

4) Stools that we ordered came in the mail while Taylor was gone, so I thought I'd surprise him and have them all put together when he got back. Sadly, the stools were smarter than me and I finally gave up, utterly frustrated and annoyed at the whole weekend. I was lonely, our cars suck, I couldn't put together some dumb bar stools, and all the neighbors were off doing fun things for the holiday weekend while I sat around bored. I was definitely having a pity party. 

Buut, I got over it. Taylor got home. Life became great again. With Taylor's help we put together the bar stools (only to have one of them break so we had to take it back... but that's besides the point) and our cars are great and we are very lucky to have them, plus a kick-a scooter :) We are so lucky to have a nice apartment, food to eat, but mostly just to have each other. 

We are happy! I hope if your'e reading this, you are too. Happiness is definitely a choice. As one of my favorite men, Gordon B. Hinckley, said, 

“Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth

Well folks, I figured it was about time for an update. I have thought about blogging many times and just never quite got around to it, ALL-RIGHT? :) Here is a very succinct list of the top ten goings on lately. 

1. I am now Jill Farnsworth. And not just on Facebook, nooooo, I am Jill Farnsworth according to the United States of America.

2. I love being married, and I got myself a real great husband.

3. We went to Park City for a few days after our marriage, stayed in the Farnsworths' family friend's condo fo free, hit up some tasty restaurants, rode bikes, etc. etc. etc. It was an excellent vacation.

4. Moved into our cute little apartment last Tuesday with lots of help from my parents, and then the Farnsworths came down later in the week and helped us decorate.

5. Taylor is internshipping it up, doing a little research for one of his favorite professors, running, and studying for the GRE.

6. I am learning about wifely duties, and waiting for a lady to have a baby so that I can start working. I got a temporary job filling in for a hygienist who is going on maternity leave any day now. It will carry me partially through the summer and then I will have to find something else. Don't you just love job searching?

7. We love riding Tess, my scooter, around town. And I mean we really love it.

8. Realizing that stocking an apartment with little necessities and food stores is an expensive task.

9. Tonight we are having chicken, baby reds, and tasty green beans for dinner. And today I made banana bread. This is what not having a job yet does for me. I am continually amazed at how much Taylor can pack in-- I should expect it by now. I mean for crying out loud, he does run 10 miles a day at least. But a few days ago I made a dinner that would feed a family of five normal people. The entire pan was gone except one lone pork chop and a bit of rice. Gotta keep this fellow full! :)

10. Our first trip to the grocery store was an interesting experience. Let's just say we did not agree on anyyything. Honey ham? No, black forest ham. Oranges? No, Tangelos. Cap'n Crunch? Sure! However when we got to the check out, I realized Taylor had gotten PLAIN Cap'n Crunch. NO BERRIES! I was like oh my goodness, are you serious? It's way better with the berries, to which Taylor adamantly disagreed. We had a good laugh about it on the way home, and we've made so many jokes about, "NO BERRIES?!" Being married is so fun.

As for our wedding day-- it went perfectly. Remember how I wrote that I was going to read the Book of Mormon before I got married? Well it took some doing, but I finished Moroni 10 on the way to the temple that morning. I love that book. I know that it's true. The sealing was short and lovely and we had lots of family to celebrate with us. Our luncheon was so fun, there were lots of speeches and a couple musical numbers and delicious food. And then the reception went by so fast and even though my feet were killing me I had the best time. Thank you everyone for coming to support us!! I have started thank you letters and already gotten entirely overwhelmed.. but don't worry. I'm working on it. And I would post some pics but they are all over Facebook so I will refrain. Until I get the rest of the wedding day photos back, and then be prepared :) 

the truth

So I've decided to put to rest a question I have been hearing over and over the past few months. 

...........

"Did you and Taylor meet in a laundromat?"

And the truth of the matter, is no we did not. Sorry for fooling you all!

You see guys, we were asked to be the models, if you will, for a laundromat photography session. 

It was free, there were 9 photographers, and we thought what the heck. 

A laundromat engagement session is never what I pictured wanting, and we had already lined up Taylor's cousin to do all our photography (including engagments) at a later date. Now I did like a lot of our laundromat engagements quite a bit, but we just got back our real engagements and I must say I am pretty excited about them :) Do you want a sneak peek? I knew it. Ok here we go. Just a few.

K this dog was loving us. And I had quite the little soft spot in my heart for him in return. Just showing you this one for fun :)

OK THAT'S ALL!! I want to put a million on but I'll refrain. I haven't even put any on facebook yet so you are a privileged crowd. Gotta let the announcements be a little bit of a surprise :)

YAY for Thursday!

now would you rather..

Spend all day every day planning a wedding,

OR,

eat dog poop from your backyard? 

Seriously. Ok not seriously :) I am having a lot of fun planning this wedding. And I don't do it all day every day, even though sometimes it feels that way! It NEVER ENDS. There is always more to be done, more decisions to be made. For the most part it's pretty exciting, but sometimes I just think wow.. I need a break. Props to you brides who planned your reception in like a month or two. Cause I have no idea how. 

While we are on the subject of would you rather, give this one a whirl. It's a doozy.

Would you rather....

Eat a handful of black hair that you pulled out of your drain,

OR,

Lick the toilet clean?  And I'm talking a dirty one. 

I really can't make a decision on this one. I think nothing nauseates me more than hair from the drain though, so I'd probably have to lick the toilet. AH! Don't you love this game? 

Ok I'll stop being gross now and I'll be honest here. I don't have much of a direction with this post, I was just in the mood to blog. So forgive my ramblings. But basically my life is great right now. Besides the fact that I haven't seen Taylor in 2 weeks, and I won't see him until Valentines Day. That's the longest we've ever gone without seeing each other! He raced in New York last weekend, and in Seattle this weekend and even though I'm totally bored without seeing him on the weekend, I'm proud of him and glad he has that talent! It's given me a chance to catch up on my reading. I just started a new book called Leviathan. It's by the same author who wrote the Uglies, Pretties, and Specials books. I liked those pretty well, and so far this one is good too! Good books that are series just get me excited. 

We also had an awesome lesson on Sunday about the Book of Mormon. At the end they handed out this 90 day reading schedule. I realized that day that my wedding was 83 days away. I figured that was close enough, and I made the goal to read the BOM before I get married. So far it's going awesome, and I don't know if I've ever been so excited to read the Book of Mormon. Or to get married. And you know the cool thing? That was fast sunday, and that was exactly what I'd been fasting about that day, was how to prepare for the wedding. I am so grateful for that book. 

I also need to give a shout out to these cuties:

 CONGRATULATIONS!! Of course I've already told them that, but I am just so excited about this marriage. We love hanging with Emily and Alex. They are getting married 3 weeks after Taylor and I. Emily and I have been friends since elementary school, and really good friends since high school. This girl is a gem and has been there for me when times have not been as good as they are now. We watched a lot of our friends get married and would talk about how we had to get married at the same time or else we would just be too lonely without each other. My other close friends were either in a different city or already married. It was all in kidding, but it was kinda serious too. The twin part didn't come true, but Taylor and Alex get along great and the timing part DID come true. Tender mercies :) 

Alright I think this gets out most of my feelings for the day, so I will wrap this up. I just have to put in a plug for my latest obsession, Imagine Dragons. Their CD is so great. Check it out. And tonight I'm going to Life of Pi with one of my favorite girls, Lisa. Hopefully it's as good as the book!

Happy Saturday!

the story..

I know I love a good engagement story, so for your fun and my future fun when hopefully this blog is printed into a journal and I read it back in 20 years, here we go.

I had the BEST Christmas break ever. 

And I have the BEST fiance ever. 

Before I go on, here's a fun fact. Did you know if you are the fellow in the relationship and you're talking about your soon to be bride, you refer to her as fiancee? But if you're the gal in the relationship, you're supposed to refer to your fellow as your fiance. One E. My fiance taught me that :) 

Anyway, I digress. Back to Christmas break. We went to California where it was beautiful and a whole heck of a lot warmer than Idaho.  I pretty much knew an engagement would occur sometime on the trip, but the question was when? I had my sights set on Disneyland... New Years Eve... under the fireworks. But oh how much more clever my fiance is. When we arrived at our destination on December 30 (which was Mission Viejo) it was raining cats and dogs. We had wanted to go check out the beach and watch the sunset, but Taylor was so smooth and made it seem like he didn't really want to go, especially if it was raining. I really did want to go, and when it stopped raining I was all for it. So we went down to Laguna Beach and got there just as the sunset was in all its splendor. Taylor told me he had one more Christmas present for me that he hadn't finished in time for Christmas, so he brought it down to the beach with him. At this point I was a little suspicious, but the present wasn't shaped like a ring box... so I was still pretty unsuspecting.

We decided to sit on the boardwalk and I could open the present. I unwrapped it to find a picture book of us. It had pictures of our dating life and told our story. Then there were a few pages saying why he loves me... and then he stopped me before I turned to the last page. He was acting more and more nervous the further I got through the book, so I had a pretty good idea of what was about to occur.. and I couldn't have been happier about it. He got down on one knee and proposed, and there you have it! A perfect proposal at sunset on Laguna Beach. I am one lucky lady! 

Then the next day we hit up Disneyland from 8:30 AM-12 AM. 

Umm.. it was long. And awesome of course.

But by about 9 PM we were all disgustingly tired and cold, but we were not about to miss the celebrations. Disneyland sure knows how to throw a party! Music, shows, fireworks... it was one cool shindig. And it was SO. SO. crowded. We had to wait in line just to walk, and I'm not kidding. 

But it was totally worth it!! 

Snapshots from the trip. And yes, we did in fact make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while in line for Indiana Jones. And yes, we did buy the combined peanut butter and jelly. It's not very good, for those of you who are wondering. I would probably advise against it.

So now the wedding planning is fully underway. I am terrible at making decisions and change my mind a million times. But I finally have what I want envisioned in my mind, so now the work begins!

 But I just have to say, I am feeling so blessed. I am engaged to someone who makes me want to be the best I can be, who I laugh with every day, who has an amazing family, and who treats me in a way that is so kind, and so thoughtful. I love this guy. 

--gettin his groove on before midnight--

 We are getting married April 26! BE THERE!