Black Friday....not the best experience

Jill and I went shopping on Friday, hoping that we would find a bunch of great deals.....Although we did find a couple, Friday was just another ordinary shopping day. There was something a little different about black Friday though, and it wasn't the deals. It was the long lines that we had to wait in, the traffic jams that we were stuck in, and claustrophobia kicking in every store that we entered because stores were so packed with people.

The first mistake that I made was bringing Jill to shop with me when I was shopping for an item that I wanted to get her. I thought that I had a great idea by dropping Jill off at the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas strip and then going to my "secret store" to buy her "secret gift". The idea was a good one and Jill had no idea where I was going or what I was doing but after realizing that I left my wallet in Jill's purse when I was checking out at the "secret store", I knew that this was going to be a long day.  I had the store put the items on hold that I had picked out for Jill, hoping to return in about an hour.....that didn't quite happen. The store that I was at was only about five miles away from the Fashion Show Mall but it took me about half an hour to get there because of all the traffic. When I got to the mall, I called Jill hoping to meet up with her but quickly found out that her phone had died while she was in the mall. After several minutes of searching for Jill, She called me back with what little juice she could squeeze out of her cell phone battery. I found her in Forever 21, a store that we ended up shopping in for another 2 1/2 hours--not the best store to get stuck in for a guy. We stayed at the mall for about another hour after we left forever 21 and then headed back to the "secret store" to get the present that I placed on hold for Jill. Since I'm not too familiar with Las Vegas, I ended up taking a wrong turn to the store and had to drive an extra 45 minutes in order to get back on track and to the "secret store". When we got to the store, I bought the items that I had picked out and brought them out to the car only to find out that the items wouldn't fit it the car. And the whole time I was in the store and bringing out the gifts that I got for Jill, she had to close her eyes so she wouldn't ruin the surprise. Because the items wouldn't fit in the car, we had to go home empty handed and waste a good two hours trying to find this store and having to go there twice because I forgot my wallet the first time. Black Friday definitely wasn't the best experience this year.

Happy One Year Jilly!

One year ago today marks the best day of my life, the day that I married my best friend, Jill Dutson. Right now we're in Las Vegas, visiting Jill's family and in a few hours, we'll be off to celebrate our anniversary on the Las Vegas strip for a couple days.

Before I got married, I heard from a bunch of people of how hard the first year of marriage is and how you figure out who the "real" person is that you married. I can definitely say that the first year of marriage has been the best year of my life and has been nothing but bliss. And the only thing extra that I've "really" learned about Jill, is more of what I learned about myself. And that is not knowing that I could really care and love for someone as much as I do for her. I don't mean to be all mushy and stuff but I really love this girl. Of course marriage has it's challenges but I'd rather look at them as learning experiences and ways to grow both as individuals and together. 

Now that we've had the best year of marriage, we can put it behind  us and now make the second year our new best along with every year that follows. I love you Jill--you're my best friend.

Greetings from Ohio

Jill got her first shot at an interview for PA (physician's assistant) school this weekend in Marietta, Ohio. She was preparing all week long doing mock interviews with me, other family members, and my professor, who was kind enough to sit down with Jill and walk her through the interview experience. Good thing she decided to do all the preparing because it definitely paid off--she rocked it in her interview! 

The whole trip was quite the traveling experience. Thursday night, Jill and I drove down to Las Vegas to meet Jill's parents, who were coming with us. We woke up early the next morning to catch our first flight, which took off around 8:00 that morning. Throughout the rest of the day, we were making stops in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Columbus, and finally, Marietta. While driving to Marietta, we realized that it was 11/11/11 and that in a few minutes it would be 11:11. We decided to celebrate by going through McDonald's and all order hot fudge sundaes with french fries. The whole experience was pretty crazy funny but at least we can say that we took time to celebrate 11/11/11 @ 11:11.

 

The next day while Jill was in her interview, Jill's parents and I decided to tour around the town a little bit and then we decided to go down into West Virginia to check out an oil and gas museum. It was really fun to travel around the area that Jill and I could potentially be living in for the next couple of years. Jill finished up the interview by around 3:30 and then hopped in the car with us to drive up to Columbus. During the drive, Jill told us of the different experiences that she had and told us that she should be getting a letter in the mail within the next couple weeks letting her know if she's accepted or not.--so stay tuned!

We finished the night by going out to eat, stopping at Tim Hortons doughnuts, and watching the BYU football game at our downtown hotel. What a day! The next day we got up for church, stopped by the Columbus temple, ate at the"famous" Waffle House, and now I'm in the airport, writing my blog, and ready to go home and sleep. But the traveling doesn't stop here. We will be arriving in Las Vegas around 9:30 tonight and will be pulling up to Provo tomorrow morning around 4:30 in the morning. Let's just hope that there's no snow and ice on the roads...

Lessons from John

Jill and I have an elderly friend, John, who we visit once a week. When we're hanging out with John, we usually let him do most of the talking because he doesn't have anyone to talk to for the most part throughout the week. He talks to us about his love of fishing and catching fish in the ocean as a kid. He talks to us about how he's won awards for tennis, golf, and shooting. He talks about his service in the military, his love for his pet bird, how he likes to collect pictures of lighthouses, and really, anything to do with a lighthouse. John seems to be a pretty happy man at 81 years old.

The one thing, though, that's missing from John's life are his kids. His three kids are all alive and well but he mentioned to us that he's lived in Provo for seven years and that he can count on his fingers the number of times that he's either seen his kids or heard from his kids in the past seven years. When John was telling us about this empty part of his life, Jill and I were both squirming a little in our seats for a couple reasons. First; we obviously felt terrible for John and wondered how his kids could really neglect him. John is perfectly fine at 81years old. He has a sharp mind, he's social, and it's actually a lot of fun to be around him. Second; it made us realize how important our parents are to us and how we would never want to neglect them.

John seemed to understand that his kids have been busy with their own families and careers but he told us that all he's wished for has been a phone call, a hand-written letter, or a visit.We, of course, can't solve John's problem of not being able to see his kids that often but we can definitely be a friend to him by spending time with him. Although he is sad about not seeing his kids, he seems to keep himself pretty busy by going on long walks with a cart that he's made. This is no ordinary shopping car of sorts--it's basically a survival cart. Attached to his cart are several things; an umbrella, a flashlight, a chair- just in case he wants to rest from walking, two cup holders, a cane-not for walking but "for hitting dogs", reflectors, and an American flag.

John, Jill, and I have become good friends over the course of a few weeks. We find his stories really interesting and like I said, he is a fun guy to hangout with. Most importantly he's been teaching us lessons that he hasn't realized he's been teaching. He's helped us understand even more how important family is and to always stay close with family. Jill and I are really close with our families. We always want to spend time with them and if we had it our way, we would always be with them. Unfortunately things get in the way like school.....work.....and.......school. We love both school and work but we love our families more and are excited to be close with them forever.