Poppies

I heard about a place in Alpine that had poppies and that it was magical. Jonathan and I had to wait until they bloomed, but it was worth it!

There weren't tons of poppies, but it was still magical! There were a lot of big, happy bees buzzing from flower to flower.

Of course, we took more pictures together!

I guess you could say things are still pretty serious!

I'm so grateful for people who find and share beautiful places to visit! I got the directions to this place from here.

Spiritual Enlightenment: Consider the Lilies

Google Day

A couple of weeks ago, Google came to visit UVU.  He wanted to look his best, so I cut his hair and he ironed one of his favorite shirts.

I love it when he dresses like a grown up!

I was able to meet him for the last part of their presentation. Now Jonathan has a better idea about what companies are looking for and the hiring process.

Spiritual Enlightenment: The Doctrine of the Father

I Love Us

Last weekend, we celebrated our anniversary and it was awesome!

It started out at the Provo Temple.
(No surprise there!)

Then we headed up to Salt Lake for dinner at The Roof like we did a few years ago. We started and ended our delicious meal with dessert.

 Jonathan noticed that we were sitting at the same table when we were there for our 3rd anniversary. I bet they are going to be holding it for us in another 3 years!

Next, we went to the Disney Store and fulfilled our childhood dreams. We each got our own light-saber! It is awesome! We worked on our dueling skills as we wandered around Temple Square.

Light-sabers + Anthropologie = AWESOME ANNIVERSARY!

I am so blessed to have Jonathan as my husband.

He is incredibly patient.

He makes the most delicious dinners.

He honors his priesthood.

He acknowledges his weaknesses and works through them.

He is easy to love.

He magnifies his callings.

He is graduating in 9 weeks!

He supports me and my goals.

He listens to understand.

He loves me and our family.

He is my best friend.

He is all mine for eternity.

Spiritual Enlightenment: Eternal Marriage

Together

I feel like I should share what Jonathan and I have been up to, but I honestly can't remember what we've been doing.

We really just like spending time together.

Spiritual Enlightenment: It Is Better To Look Up

Tortilla Chips

Last year, Jonathan started making homemade tortillas. They are delicious. A few weeks ago, I really wanted some chips and salsa. Jonathan made his first attempt at chips. They are amazing!

Now all I need is hot salsa from Eva's and it will be perfection!

Twelve

In just twelve short weeks, Jonathan will be done with school. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. It always felt like this was in the far distance, but it is quickly getting here. Whether we are ready or not!

Our schedules actually work so I can pick him up from his Monday night class.

Our goal is to have a job lined up by then.
Luckily, I can find job postings while I'm at work. It's a very exciting time right now. I can't wait to see where Jonathan will be starting his career..

Jonathan's Birthday Month

 October was wonderful because I was able to celebrate Jonathan's birthday throughout the month! Though I didn't take too many pictures, I want to write down what we did so we can remember.

We started out strong with a trip to Rockwell Ice Cream on the first so Jonathan could have some "A-NieNie-s" black licorice flavored ice cream. He loved it!

A few weeks later, I took him to get some fresh pressed apple juice at Rowley's Red Barn. It's one of his favorite treats and reminds him of his mission in Washington state. We went after dinner, so it was already dark and that's why I didn't take any pictures. While we were looking at all the wonderful things they sale, we saw the "Jonathan" apple variety. Of course Jonathan needed to try it, so we each got an apple, a gallon of apple juice, and some ice cream. All were delicious!

After we took the picture for Lyla's Cinderella birthday post, we took a few family pictures. Even though this one is blurry, I love it.

The night before his birthday, I had him open his presents. I knew that Saturday would be a busy day starting with our shift at the temple and then going out to dinner in Sandy. For one of his presents, I framed one of our favorite quotes that I wrote.

On Jonathan's actual birthday, we went out to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. I love the crab and he loves their key lime pie for dessert. It was perfect! Afterward we did some window shopping at Crate and Barrel, one of our favorite stores. We've started planning out what we want to buy there after Jonathan starts his career next year.

On our way back home, there were fireworks celebrating his birthday!

Birthday month was a success!

Month of Gratitude

It's November and that means I'm going to have a new post everyday with something I am grateful for. I invite you to join me in this exercise, though you don't need to share it in public if you don't want to.

I am grateful that my husband is truly my best friend. We have the best time together even when we are doing nothing. I am truly blessed!

Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to this fall. We were able to go to the ISU volleyball game to watch the amazing Abby play!

Jonathan and I went to the funeral for my dad's mission president Reed Benson. I loved seeing all of the flags around the building. One of his sons shared a common phrase President used to say, "May the Lord bless you and the devil miss you." I have a better understanding of why and how President impacted my dad's life. He lived what he preached.

Jonathan and I went for a hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon so I could see where William McMillan spent most of his time hauling lumber for fuel for his family.

We went for a drive up Provo Canyon to see the fall colors. I am not looking forward to winter, but Jonathan kindly reminds me that this is our last Utah winter. I have a feeling that will be my daily mantra as I scrape the windshield in the mornings.

Jonathan and I went the Pioneer Museum in Salt Lake City that also houses the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. There are photos lining almost all of the walls. I was looking to see if we could find any of our ancestors and sure enough I found one! Susannah Meredith Nebeker was there! I couldn't read her name plate, but I knew I had seen that picture before. I went home and found the same picture of her on Family Search.

Susannah is on the top left.

I loved this beautiful stain glass window in the museum.

We went to our first professional soccer game. It was pretty rowdy. I can only imagine how deafening the World Cup matches are in comparison.

We started off Jonathan's birthday month off strong with some delicious (to him) black licorice ice cream at Rockwell Ice Cream. We will have to go back and try more of their delicious flavors!

Jonathan is on track to graduate this upcoming May. I couldn't be more proud of him for his determination and grit to finish his education. He truly is an amazing man and will have so many opportunities because he refused to give up.

Making Dreams Come True

Jonathan started his internship this week. To say he loves it is a major understatement. He comes home from work with more happiness and energy than he has before going to work. Our evenings are spent together because he's gotten in plenty of time doing what he loves at work and can instead focus on time with me.

source

I am so grateful that we are making his dream career come true. It's been a long road, but it's worth each and every sacrifice. This is just a small taste of how it will be after he graduates next spring! (It's 363 days away!!!) We don't know where we'll go next, but we've started coming up with multiple exciting plans!

Another Year

Last week we celebrated the birthday of our family!

“The day that a couple kneel across the altar in the sacred House of the Lord becomes the most important day of their life because on that day you create a new eternal family.”

President Gordon B. Hinckley

Since it was Friday, I went to work as usual and didn't expect anything out of the ordinary. Well, after lunch a man came walking towards my desk in a suit and my favorite tie with flowers. Jonathan totally surprised me! He had been planning on delivering flowers for a few days and had a hard time not telling me. All the girls that I sit by thought it was adorable.

That same night we went to the temple and did the sealings for some of our family. As we were in the sealing room, I felt the same excitement doing the sealings for our family as I did when Jonathan and I were sealed. It was beautiful.

On Saturday, we went to dinner after finishing our shift at the temple. This time I surprised Jonathan. Earlier in the week, I talked him out of going to Tucanos for our anniversary dinner. After he surprised me with flowers, I decided to surprise him with an amazing dinner! He was very happy with my surprise.

It doesn't feel like it's been 5 years since we were married, but we've been through a lot during that time. Having Jonathan by my side through it all has made the hard times more bearable and the good times even better.

Totally Worth It

Jonathan shaved his glorious beard last Friday night. I'm still getting used to seeing his naked face. He needed to shave because the following morning we started serving as ordinance workers in the Provo Temple and men are required to be clean shaven.

Even though I miss his beard, it is already worth shaving. We are getting a deeper understanding of the work that goes on in the temple and the symbolism behind it.

I still don't know how to dress for winter.

His Majesty, The Birthday King

Jonathan's birthday was last week. We started celebrating a few days before and the celebrating continued into the weekend. Jonathan requested a birthday pie again this year. 

I made his birthday crown the night before his actual birthday and he wore it all morning and evening long. On Saturday, we went to the UVU Women's Volleyball game. One of the players grew up in my home ward and when we were living in Roseville, Jonathan occasionally taught her in Sunday School.  

Abby was amazing! We had so much fun watching her. After the game, we went to Taylor and Kenzie's for a family party.

On Sunday, we went up to Salt Lake for a devotional for Juventud de la promesa. As you can probably guess by the title it was completely in Spanish. It was perfect! Jonathan has been wanting to do more with his Spanish and has been a little worried about how much he remembers. He only struggled keeping up with the speed of the native Spanish speakers. The highlight was having Elder D. Todd Christofferson speak in Spanish. His talk was a wonderful reminder of being consistent with doing the seemingly small things like praying and reading scriptures. He also gave advise to the youth about marriage. He said there were many wives around that love their husband and husbands that cherish and respect their wife. When he said that I looked over at Jonathan and felt a wave of gratitude to have a husband that already cherishes and respects me.

We had a lot of fun, but I doubt that the celebrating is finished!

The Favorite

In case anyone was wondering, Jonathan is everyone's favorite person.

Seth loves talking to him about WWII and planets. They were looking at pictures of some of the rovers on Mars. Jonathan is patient enough to explain and reexplain everything to them.

Differences

Jonathan and I are extremely similar, so much so that it's a little creepy at times.

There is one way that we are very different. Jonathan enjoys having variety with our dinners while I could stick to the easy, yummy recipes we've been using for years. Since I work all day, Jonathan has taken over cooking. (Yes, I am spoiled. Yes, I enjoy it thoroughly.) He has started making spaghetti sauce from scratch and I'm pretty sure he has now used our Kitchen Aid more times than I have. Sometimes on the weekend, I make dinner. It almost always involves the Crock Pot and frozen chicken. I have no problem admitting that I am lazy when it comes to cooking. Hopefully for Jonathan's sake I will become more like him in the future.

What's In A Name?

I want to share the inspiration for the name of our blog, Tea For Two. In middle school and high school I listened to a lot of big band music. Some of my favorite artists are Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. One of my absolute songs is Tea For Two.

It seriously sounds like Jonathan and me. We are both homebodies and aren't particularly social. (With exception of when we were in the Singles Ward, because you aren't going to meet people if you don't go to the activities.)

One of my favorite stanzas is:

Nobody near us to see us or hear us
No friends or relations on weekend vacations
We won't have it known, dear
That we own a telephone, dear

I treasure our time together and the adventures we are able to share as the two of us.

The stanza that sealed the deal for naming our blog after this song is: 

We will raise a family
A boy for you and a girl for me
Can't you see how happy we will be?

Before we were married, we shared the desire to have a family. I started the blog a few months after we were married and so I felt like this fit perfectly except I love little boys and so the boy is for me and the girl can be for Jonathan. (That's what happens when you have 5 nephews in a row I guess!) Anyway, that's why our blog is named Tea For Two.

Scripture Study

I'm doing something a little different for my personal scripture study. I am going by topic rather than reading straight through a book of scripture. It is exactly what I need! I found this gem while reading about Rebekah and Isaac.

"...and she became his wife and he loved her..."

Genesis 25:67

I immediately thought of my sweet Jonathan after I read this verse. It only took a few weeks of dating for him to know he loved me, while I on the other hand, took much longer to realize that I really did love him. Thankfully, he patiently gave me the time I needed. Our story is not one of love at first sight. Our love is much deeper. Our love is deliberate.

Spring Storm

One evening last spring, a rain storm rolled in and engulfed the mountains. Jonathan and I drove to the other side of Utah Lake to get a better view of the clouds.

Usually there are mountains all the way down the other side of the lake.

It was amazing seeing a huge wall of clouds.

The colors in the clouds were amazing as the sun was setting.

My Best Friend

I know a lot of people say that they married their best friend, but Jonathan is legitimately my best friend. I still love spending time with him.

This is before I cut the holes in his TMNT mask.

Honestly, I wish I could spend all of my time with him. We are so similar in so many ways it's crazy.

Clara didn't want to wear any bows in her hair, so we had Jonathan try it on.

On our way home from our last trip in Idaho, we were shocked when we realized that we had already been in the car for 2 hours. We had been talking that entire time and didn't even notice that we were well over half way done.

I still don't know how I got lucky enough to marry my best friend, but I'll take it!

Finding Home

The hardest part about going back to California was having to leave Jonathan. This was the farthest we've been apart since June of 2010. I really didn't like that at all. It was really weird being back in Roseville for the first time in almost 8 months.

Too much distance!

Jonathan was worried that I would get homesick and never want to leave again. I realized though that Roseville isn't my home any more. I still like it, but I feel like it isn't where we need to be. Some people thought that must mean Utah feels like home. That's not the case either though. I am enjoying our time here in Utah, but it doesn't feel like home. When I first realized this, I felt a little lost not having a home. It took a little too long for me to realize it, but Jonathan is where home is. For now, that is more than good enough for me. In the coming years, we will find the location that feels like home. Until then, I am more than happy to have him be my home.