New Blog

So we changed our blog. Visit us from now on at:

www.johnplusholly.com

it is super awesome!!!!

Love ya all and see ya there!!

Bitty Blessings

So since we've moved to Ogden I (Holly) have had sort of a hard time. I struggled finding a job, I had no friends close by, and I just felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything. So I decided to try and find things that did go right. Here are my blessings since moving to Ogden:

1. I got a UTI. Now I know many of you are saying how could a UTI be a blessing? Well let me explain. I have had this unexplainable rash on my arms, chest, back and face since at least December. Well when I got my UTI I was given Sulfameth to take care of it. Turns out I am highly HIGHLY allergic to Sulfa. So then my body got covered with hives so thick and red that I looked like a lobster. So then I got to take four medicines to get rid of the hives. And guess what? They got rid of the unexplainable rash too! Blessing.

2. I got a job a Blockbuster. Whoo Hoo! This caused me to take a huge bite of humble pie and ignore that my two BA degrees can't really get me a job at all. I guess I wasn't as humble as I thought. Blessing.

3. We got a dog. Cora has kept me from going crazy these past few months while looking for a job. She also has chewed holes in her bed three times. This allowed me to finally get up the courage to learn how to hand sew since my machine is broken. Good thing because the next day a button came off of John's pants in the wash. Now it's all fixed. I'm a seamstress!! Blessing.

4. I've had a lot of free (boring) time. Now I know four new ways to do my hair. Blessing.

5. Our AC broke and our apartment was 93 degrees at midnight. Made me glad we don't live in the Sahara Desert (which actually means Desert Desert but who cares). Blessing.

I know that these haven't been big blessings like I got a great job with benefits so that we have insurance or anything like that. But I've been trying to stay positive and finding these little blessings has helped.

I hope you all have and can find the Bitty Blessings in your own life. Love you all!

Happy 1 Year (A little late)

We've been married for a year! YAY!

Introducing Cora

Cora was born on March 2, 2011 and adopted into our family on May 3. She is super shy and quite, loves to sleep and be with you constantly. We love her and can't wait to see how big she gets! Right now she's curled up next to me just a sleepin' away. Just look how cute she is!

Moving

Well, we found a place to live. It's in Ogden, a little far away, but hey it will be a new adventure. We'll post pictures as soon as we move in (we don't move until next Friday). We will miss our first apartment as a married couple, our primary class, and Logan in general. But we feel like the move will be good for us.

Now instead of wasting time blogging I need to go pack!!

Searching

So John and I are searching for a place that lets us have a dog. We really really want a dog, but the place we live (which we love) doesn't let us have one. The problem is that Logan is so full of students that the only places that let you have dogs are either really crappy or really expensive. We have been looking and looking and the few places we have found are more than we want to pay but are kind of our only options. If you know of a place, let us know.

The other thing that's been going on is trying to find a dog. Why are they always so expensive? We want a big dog (like a lab), something that won't run away if we take it off the leash on hikes and stuff, and a good family dog. Hopefully we can find a place before we find the perfect dog for us :)

I know that life isn't too exciting for us right now. John is just working, applying for new jobs and doing a few phone interviews. I'm starting a new job tomorrow. It's at a call center (not the greatest I know) but it is 40 hours a week, which is way better than the 3-6 I'm getting right now. Hopefully something exciting will happen to us soon so that we can update the blog more often :)

Thanks for all having fun things on your blogs!! Love ya!!

Valentines Day

So we didn't do anything too exciting for Valentine's Day, even though it was our first one since we got married. John had the flu the week before so he went out and got my Valentine's gifts the day of. I didn't care though. I couldn't think of what to get John so I just got him a card, lame I know. We went to lunch at Cafe Sabor, because we didn't make any reservations, but it was nice, since it wasn't too crowded. For dinner we rented a movie and ate a frozen pizza. It might sound really lame but I really loved just spending most of the day with John. John did get me some beautiful tulips (see below). Now you might be thinking, well of course he got tulips he bought them the day of Valentine's so he wouldn't be able to get roses, but don't. I hate, yup hate them. We didn't have one rose at our wedding. If I came home to roses I would be worried, because that would mean that something was wrong with John, or that they didn't come from him. Tulips are my absolute favorite flower and so John did the best he could have. He also got me a wedding picture printed out for our living room. You see we've been to cheap to go get our pictures printed so we have a bunch of empty picture frames (or ones with my bridals still in them, I don't want that many pictures of myself in our house) so it is really nice to have a great picture to hang on our wall. Thanks baby I LOVE it!! We also went and bought ourselves some Valentine's candy, which was nice because then I didn't have to worry about getting the wrong kind.

I hope you all had as wonderful of a Valentine's as we had. We love you all!!!

A Hobby

So I have always loved to write. Ever since I was a little girl. Poems and stories. I usually never shared them with anyone, but John convinced me to try and expand my talents and writings. So I'm seeking help from others. I have created a new blog www.wordsandrambles.blogspot.com so you can read my writings and give me some input. If you absolutely hate something I write, tell me. Really I won't be offended. Anyway I've put just one short story up so far. I'm editing and fixing up some others so if you like them, let me know and maybe it will push me to write more. Thanks friends.

Late Christmas

So I know this is super late. Sorry. But we had a great Christmas. We spent a week down at the Williams' visiting with the nephews and niece. So much fun. We also had a good end of the year as I (Holly) graduated from USU with two degrees, one in Broadcast Journalism and Communication and another one in History. So now John can find a great job somewhere and we can start a new adventure. Anyway, here are some of our favorites from Christmas:

Miss You

I just wanted to say that I miss my grandma. She died two years ago yesterday and it's still super hard. She was so amazing in so many ways, and I wish I had a picture to post of her, but I don't. But here are the things I miss most about her:

1. Her chocolate factory.
2. Her hugs.
3. Going shopping with her.
4. Her being in control.
5. Christmas with her.
6. Thanksgiving with her.
7. Her little feet.
8. Her smell.
9. Her love for everyone.
10. Everything.

I miss you more than chicken noodle soup grandma. I can't wait to see you again someday.

Love you.

Tonsils: Part 1

So a month ago I (Holly) got my tonsils out. The surgery went fine and I didn't have any complications or anything. I still can't eat food too quickly and have to drink 2 liters of water every day or else my throat dries out and starts screaming at me. Oh yeah, and I'm still taking Roxocet, that's liquid Percocet. So far in the last month I've had roughly 700 milliliters of it. It makes me dizzy and tired, but without it before bed my throat won't work in the morning. At least the holes in my mouth are gone and food doesn't get stuck in them anymore (a little too much info?). Anyway Part 2 will be coming shortly with pictures and possibly a video of the surgery, if you dare watch it!

Besides that, John and I have just been busy working, and I've also been busy doing homework. I bought John Starcraft II because I felt bad that he was so bored in the evenings while I was doing homework. Basically that's it, no new news from us. Sorry for the delay in blogging, we'll try to be better!

More Vacation Fun!!

Hey everyone! Holly here. I've recovered from the terrifying step off the edge of the Willis Tower. Our last few days in Chicago were spent in two incredible museums. I am such a nerd and these places where so neat to me, I just wish we would have had more time to spend there! Anyway, here are a few pictures from the Field Museum of Natural History. We spent so much time with the dinosaurs that we didn't see anything else!














This is me being so excited to go to a huge museum for the first time and John running away from the largest T-Rex in the world, Sue.




These are some of the scary dinosaurs at the Field Museum. They were pretty cool.
After the Field Museum we spent a day at the Museum of Science and Industry. This was so cool! You got to do hands on stuff will all the displays. It was like a toy store for kids and adults. We were so busy having fun that we didn't take many pictures, and none of them show how cool it really was. That night we went to a Cubs game, where I ate my one hot dog for the year. Here are a few pictures from the game. Our trip to Chicago was a blast, but we're glad we're done vacationing for now, because we are tired!!!

On The Road

Since we've been married it feels like we've been on the road longer than we've been home. Less than a month ago we went to Flagstaff, AZ to the Reynolds family reunion. We turned this into a tour of St. George, Flagstaff, Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon (including Jacob Lake), back to St. George, and home. A few days later we went to Boise for the 4th of July to spend time with Holly's Family. Since I have now instantly become an uncle to 6 nephews and 1 niece, my goal in life is now to become "the favorite uncle" - I have some tough competition but I'm climbing my way to the top.

A week after Boise we came to Chicago for Holly's college newspaper advertising conference and we're still here for a few more days. Chicago has been great! I am amazed at the incredible structures. Also, people in Chicago are super nice and always willing to help you out. During Holly's conference we stayed in a dorm room where we had to put our twin beds together to make a King-size bed.






But it wasn't so bad because the view was incredible. You see, since I am able to work wherever I want I brought my work with me to Chicago. I sat at a desk and was often distracted by all the huge pillars around me (see the photo on the left below). We were right in the middle of downtown on the 14th floor. You know what though? The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) doesn't look so big from the ground or even from the 14th floor. But once we were up on top of it it's a whole different story. We stood in these glass rooms at the top on 103rd floor. As you can see, Holly was pretty nervous to be there but she was brave. It actually was pretty freaky.

Yesterday we went to the Field Museum where the largest complete T-Rex resides. Holly promised to blog all about it and the rest of our trip later. In the mean time, we're just chilling out and trying to eat as much deep-dish pizza as we can!

Our Life!

Hey everybody, John here. This is my first ever blog post. I know it's about time I join the blogging world - or maybe its just a thing you do when you get married. Anyway, Holly wanted me to post some pictures from our honeymoon in Hawaii. Probably the craziest thing about our honeymoon was that we were both so sick - we ended up going to bed at like 9:30 every night drunk on nyquil (I personally went through 1 1/2 bottles). Oh and also our hotel room in Waikiki was slanted - but that's another story for another day. I have a lot of other more important things to write about today. Anyway here are a few photos: (scroll past this weird gap to view)

We did some snorkeling in Maui. Holly was a pro.	We didn't get to swim with sharks. However we did get pretty close to this huge sea turtle. (He was going into his cave - sorry the picture looks hand painted)
The beautiful view on Maui	The Polynesian Cultural Center was actually a lot cooler than we thought it would be! This show kinda felt like the Lion King on stage.
But enough of that. On to more important matters: Our garden. There is a lot of cool stuff about our house. And I'll take you on a tour. But first and foremost is our garden. We planted this baby the day before we got married and I walk out and check it at least twice daily. Why? Because (I've recently discovered) I obsess over my work - no matter what it is. Holly makes fun of me but I'll be the one laughing when she's eating the most delicious vegetables ever!
	We have a variety of vegetables including peas, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, peppers, beans, and (the seeds are still underground - is that bad?) cucumber and squash. You can see from the photo here the garden next to our apartment. Our renter gave us one row. It's the row farthest to the left under the trees in the shade. But that won't stop our awesome plants! Because Reynolds plants are tough!
The peas are super-excited about life right now. I'm looking forward to eating them in a few weeks.	These are the tomatoes. The big one in the middle I have justly named "Home Tree". Turns out this was also planted in the middle of our row. To the right of this picture past the pepper plants is a smaller tomato plant that we thought was toast. I planted it right next to a marigold just to give it a chance to grow even though it had been injured. Well, it has made a comeback and respectfully earned the name "The Tree of Souls" (you'll get an update on that later). The others don't have names but are simply tomato plants.
Our apartment is guarded by the "Stairs of Death" designed to ward away those not wearing soles on their feet. I have also learned from Holly that they are especially perilous to those wearing high-heels.	But if you can make it to the top you are rewarded with the beautiful sight of our warm strawberry plants. These guys have also been excited about life and livin' the dream! Can't wait to eat our home-grown strawberries.

Well, that's it for our tour. Tune in text time for the indoor tour of our apartment.

Wedding Day

Alright. So John and I did it. We got married. OH YEAH!!!! So it POURED on our wedding day, but it was the most beautiful day I have ever seen. I was sick, my dress was soaked, my hair wilting, but it was great. John looked so good, and I think I looked pretty good myself. Anyway, I thought I would post a few of my favorite pictures from the wedding and our reception. We got married in the Logan Temple and had our reception at the Utah House in Kaysville. We had milk and cookies for our food and I must say, it was a hit! Well take a look for yourself:

Almost there!

So John and I are almost there!
We get married in 12 days. Crazy.
I'm not allowed to work on any wedding things this week because next week is finals. But I can't help it. My mind thinks about nothing but wedding stuff. I got all the stuff I need for the temple yesterday and I can't wait to go next Wednesday. Everyday things are getting more and more real. I hope I can make it through this week and next so that I'm not sick/exhausted/ornery/bossy on our wedding day.
John is holding up much better than I am. He just works all day, and then will do wedding stuff here and there. I don't think he's stressed out at all. At least one of us won't look haggard that day.
Well I'll be sure to keep you posted. If you haven't seen our engagement pictures or don't know when the reception is or things like that please check out our website www.johnplusholly.com. Oh also, just a reminder to those who haven't RSVP'd for the luncheon and temple ceremony, if you could do that, that would be great! See you all in 12 days!!
Holly

This is Us

Hello blog readers!!

I just wanted to introduce you to myself (Holly) and to my soon to be (in 25 days) husband (John). We live in Logan, where I go to school and John works from home. He already has his Masters that smart man. I am planning on graduating with a Bachelors of Art in Journalism and Communication and a Bachelors of Art in History this coming December.

John and I are so happy together and can't wait to be married on May 11. You can check out the announcement and engagement pictures at www.johnplusholly.com if you want. We've created this blog to keep our family and friends up to date on our life together, especially for those of you who live far away from us. Hopefully we will be good at updating on a regular basis.

Well, I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading all you blog readers!

Holly