Oh so much has happened!

Well, so much has gone on in the month or two since I've written that I'm now going to have to give the brief version of it all. For starters, I got a job!!! I got called in for an interview at Good Samaritan Society, a nursing home a half hour away in Idaho Falls. I was so nervous for the interview. I was called on Tuesday and they wanted me to come in on Wednesday. I called my brother Daniel on Tuesday night and had him help me out going through interview questions and such, because he gives interviews at his work so he knows what kind of things are annoying and good to say. The interview ended up going really well and they offered me the job on the spot. I have to say though, they ask such weird questions in an interview! I started orientation

on Monday, Nov. 29th and then had my first night on the floor, Tuesday Dec. 2nd. I work the graveyard shift. 9:00pm - 7:30am. I work 4 days on and 4 days off, it's really not too bad, minus how horrible it is! I just really really enjoy the day time, and to have to sleep through it is so depressing. I'm getting used to it though. I don't mind working nights, I actually prefer how few of us there are at night, it's just sleeping during the day, and leaving my husband at night that bothers me. Starting this job has been one of the hardest times of my life. Not so much the shift, but because I feel like I was thrown into a lot of things right at the beginning that I wasn't comfortable with. I don't feel like I had time to be trained before I was required to do things independently, especially as a new grad. It's slowly getting better though and I'm even starting to enjoy the work. There's just so much I still need to learn.

So, now for Thanksgiving! As you noticed, I didn't start my job until after Thanksgiving. So Justin and I decided that since he was going to have the week off for Thanksgiving and I wasn't starting my job yet, we might as well go home for the week! We came home the Friday before Thanksgiving and left on Black Friday evening. Since we had planned it last minute, we decided to surprise most everyone on us coming home. Only my Mom and Dad new because they provided the buddy passes for Justin and I to fly with. We kept surprisingly busy the entire week and had so much fun! Justin and I went scrub shopping for my new work, we scoped out the stores to find what I wanted to buy on Black Friday. I got to spend a fun afternoon with my sister Marie. She took me to lunch and a movie. And in between we got to go shopping and I was able to be with her and her boyfriend Mark as they went ring shopping! Marie is now engaged to be married sometime in May. Thanksgiving was awesome! The boys played football,

and I'm happy to say that Justin did not get injured this time. Last year he fractured a rib, and the year before he dislocated his shoulder. We had dinner at both our families. Justin's family dinner was at 11:00, well noon really, and then mine was at 2:00. It worked out perfectly to go to both but man we were stuffed! Then for the best part, Black Friday shopping!!!!!!!! My sister Kristi and I go shopping on Black Friday every year. We didn't think we were going to be able to go together this year because I was in Idaho, but you know, we came home! So I slept over at Kristi's house on Thursday. I got up at 2:50am and we headed to Target first. We didn't get everything there that we wanted there, but we got some good stuff. Then we went to our favorite place, JC Penney! We were there for I believe 2 1/2 hours, and it was great the whole time. I got a lot of winter stuff for Justin and I that we were needing as well as helped some of my siblings with their Christmas shopping. Kristi and I has so much fun and I'm so glad that I have a sister who can last through so much shopping with me! When we got home my brother Nathan and my Mom had a fun breakfast for us. It was something that Nathan had done at our cousins, the Lilly's, earlier in the week for dinner. He gave us all a menu with names that meant nothing to us for the food. So we would order our food not actually knowing what we would get. We had a utensils section to choose from, appetizer, main dish, and dessert. I was lucky enough to choose a drink and spoon for my utensils. Others got things like a knife and a popsicle stick. It was pretty funny. I had a grapefruit for appetizer but others got some delicious smoothies. Anyway, it was a lot of fun! That Friday night Justin and I flew back to SLC. We stayed with my brother Ben who lives in that area, and then we drove home on Saturday. It was sad to leave, but lucky Justin and I were going back again in a couple weeks for my cousin RosaLee's wedding!

A fun video of my brother Ben and the weird things he teaches his son!

Justin and I threw a couple of different parties for Christmas. Ones that we enjoyed back home but were going to miss this year. One of them was the Ugly Sweater Mustache Christmas Party. Everyone wears ugly sweaters and then men grow mustaches. It's a pot luck. The hosts of the party we always went to usually made meatballs, so that's what we did. Their was lots of good food and we had a pretty good turn out. We did a white elephant gift exchange that was really fun. Most of the gifts were gag gifts, and then we played a bunch of games. The other party was the Awful Waffle. It's a tradition in Justin's family. The 2nd Monday of December the Connolly clan make green and red waffles and serve sausage for everyone. Hundreds of people show up every year and Justin's Grandma's house for this event. Justin was so sad to miss it so we threw our own little one this year. It was much smaller but it was a lot of fun!

Justin and friends at the Ugly Sweater Mustache Party

Kim and Josh

Ephrium, Danielle, Chris, and Katie

Justin took all of his finals the week of Dec. 13-17th. He did pretty well and is so glad to be done with this semester! My cousin got married on Friday the 17th. Justin and I flew down on Allegiant Air, and they only had a flight on that same Friday. So Justin and I flew down the day of the wedding. We were supposed to get to Arizona with a couple hours to spare before the actual wedding. But due to fog in Arizona that morning our flight was delayed. We arrived in Arizona and went straight from the airport to the temple, changing in the car on the way. We arrived at the temple at 4:20pm and the wedding started at 4:30! We were so happy that we made it in time! They had a nice dinner before the reception catered by Costa Vida, it was so delicious! The reception was beautiful and RosaLee looked amazing! Not to mention it was a great way to see a lot of my family while I was in town.

Me and the bride!

Saturday morning, my Shaw family had a Christmas morning, since my sister Rachel and I were both in town then, but wouldn't be for actual Christmas. We had a great breakfast of Biscuits and Gravy. Then my Dad passed the gifts out one at a time per tradition. It's one of my favorite times of the year! I always like to give some little gift to all of my family every year. I usually give the same thing to all the girls and to all the boys. I had cute bracelets for all the girls, every girl got a different color. But I had issues with the boys presents. I found something practical to give but it was pretty embarrassing to give. But I had run out of time and ideas. I gave all of the men... extension cords. Lame I know, but they are useful! Justin and I had so much fun that week we were home! I did end up being sick for most of the time which put a damper on it but I still managed to have fun! We went swimming, visited family of course, went to the temple lights, and all sorts of stuff!

Kristi, Rachel, me, Marie: my sisters!

Justin and I opening presents!

More opening presents with the family

The bracelets that all the girls got!

We came home the morning of Christmas Eve. Justin and I did some last minute shopping that day and I did some shopping with my sister, Rachel. Here's the thing with shopping with Rachel. I was actually taking her out of the house as a decoy! Her husband Albert bought a really nice new dining table for her for Christmas. It was being delivered Christmas Eve and so I was taking her out during the time that it was supposed to be delivered. Albert was still at work so my husband hung out at their house to "babysit" their son Edgerrin, waiting for delivery. I managed to stay out with Rachel for two hours, but turns out the delivery was late. So we went back to her house and Albert got home from work. So then Justin and I offered to stay at their place while they went and got dinner. Rachel thought that was a little weird for Christmas Eve but was excited. But then as they were getting ready to leave, the delivery truck showed up. So the surprise was defeated. Rachel still didn't know what was going on even after the delivery guy came to the door and I told them they were at the right place and to go ahead and bring everything in. Albert wouldn't tell Rachel what was going on and what they were delivering but then she saw them taking out a big dining table and she started freaking out. The table looks great in their kitchen and was much needed. The surprise didn't work out quite as planned but it was still great and Rachel was so happy! Rachel and Albert ended up picking up Chinese at a new place in Rexburg for dinner and we ate it on their new table! Justin and I went home and just relaxed the rest of the evening, nothing special.

Christmas morning was nice exchanging gifts and opening stockings but then I had to go into work. They needed someone to come in Christmas day who had their RN, and not just their LPN. So I came in as charge nurse. It was supposed to be "easy" we "just need your body there". I had never worked a day shift and they're much different then the night shifts. I'll just say it wasn't as easy as they had said it would be. It was the same old thing, me having to do things that I've never actually been trained how to do. At least I got time and a half, even it was my worst Christmas. I got home at about 7:00pm and went right over to Rachel and Alberts house. Justin and them had made a nice dinner of ham, stuffing, funeral potatoes, and rolls. It was so delicious and so nice to have a little bit of a good time on Christmas!

Lot's of fun stuff!

So lot's of fun stuff has happened since my last post. Justin's birthday, I started volunteering,

the first snow, friends visiting, and Halloween! Let's start with Justin's Birthday! Justin's turned 25 on October 19th. We had a fun little party at my sister Rachel's house (she has a nice big place, and she has kids so we have to have things at her house or else she won't be able to go!). We got pizza from Papa Murphey's (which is delicious by the way!) and Rachel and her husband made Pumpkin Pie for dessert. Having pumpkin pie is a tradition that Justin has always had for his birthday! I decided to bring back a bit of my childhood and play some of the games that we played growing up.

We played "Don't Eat Pete" and "The Candy Bar Game". We had friends there that had never played either of those games which made things extra fun! Sadly, Justin did the worst at "The Candy Bar Game". We ended up having to give him 3 rolls per turn because he never got doubles. And then when he would get doubles someone would always get them right after him, it was a tragedy. We managed to get him some chocolate in the end though! Since funds are limited I decided to get Justin practical gifts, so I got him winter stuff! Things he needed so I might as well get it for his birthday. I got him a nice jacket on major sale, gloves, a long sleeve shirt, and some beanies or whatever you call them! It started snowing the next week so it was perfect timing! Now for the snow! It only lasted two days and it didn't stick except to the cars but it was still so pretty when it lasted, and the snow is still on the top of the surrounding mountains! I know I'm going to get sick of the snow eventually but for now I can't wait for it to really start up!

So I signed up to volunteer at the hospital I want to work at when I first moved up here. They took a long time to get back to me but I'm finally busy volunteering now! I work in the Human Resources office, the gift shop, medical records, and I'm going to start working in the ER next week. No job yet but I'm applying everywhere and I'm making excellent contacts at the hospital. Something will happen when it's supposed to but in the mean time Heavenly Father is having fun giving us a nice trial!

Now for Halloween! I am so happy, I actually dressed up this year. I had this 1940's style hat that I bought probably 10 years ago in hopes of finding a dress to wear with it for Halloween someday, well I finally found a dress at DI for $6! So I was able to dress up for Halloween! My favorite part about Halloween was going to a Haunted Mill! We were able to go twice, and honestly it is the best haunted place that I have every been to. It's an old mill that has a small river running through the middle of it with a water fall. It took 20-30 minutes to go through it all and it was awesome! It had lots of unique and creative things in there. It was definitely scary but not paralyzingly scary. Justin doesn't really get scared but he flinched a couple times and he agrees with me that it's the best we've been to! On Saturday (the mormon Halloween) friends came over and we all went to our wards Trunk or Treat. We came back to our place after and played games and then went to the Haunted Mill! Oh ya, our friends Gus and Erin Kennedy who are currently living in Logan, UT came up on Friday to visit us for the Halloween weekend. It was so fun to have them here and Justin especially loved his guy time with Gus who is pretty much his bff! They have a 5 month old daughter, Reece who is so cute and it was good to have a little baby in the house, since I know Justin isn't going to give me one any time soon! Gus and Erin also taught me how to crochet hats while they were here which I've been really getting into!

Trunk or Treating... Chris, Erin, Reece, Gus, Justin, Katie

We had so much fun!

Us girls back at our apartment, it's me Danielle and Katie. We were supposed to all be different eras, 40's, 60's and 80's!

When it rains, it pours

So despite the title of the blog, life really is good for Justin and I. This whole crappy economy thing is really starting to get annoying though! Being a new grad Nurse with no previous medical experience outside of school really isn't helpful when your one out of 100-200 people trying to get the same jobs. I'm doing what I can to help make myself hirable but it's tough. I've signed up to volunteer at the hospital. I was able to help out at a Breast Cancer Awareness Breakfast where I was able to meet some big leagues at the hospital and other local doctors. I ended up working at a table with the CNO (Chief Nursing Officer) of the hospital and got to know her and visa versa which was good. Pretty much my best bet is to let people see me and get to know me so they can see that I'm someone they want to hire despite my lack of experience! I call and stop by HR (Human Resources) of the places I've applied to every week checking on job postings and making sure that they remember me!

I had a discouraging day this week though. I went to stop by HR of the hospital to check on three jobs that I had applied for and was really really wanting because they were in the NICU, Mother Baby Unit, and Labor and Delivery. Only to find out that the positions had been given to other people with years of experience in the various fields, makes sense I guess. Then that night Justin and I's computer crashed. We tried everything to try to get it going and then finally took it into a place that Apple recommended. Turns out our hard drive had given out on us and we weren't even able to retrieve anything off of it, so we lost everything (well on our computer!). When he plugged our computer into his diagnostics stuff he said it wouldn't even recognize that we had a hard drive. They were able to put a new hard drive in for us and Apple gave us an extra hard drive that we are able to use an an external one so that we can back up our data now and we won't lose everything again. Our computer is back now and is better then before but we lost a lot, and it cost us a good sum of cash. Luckily, all of our music and photos are backed up on our i-pad but we need to find a way to get them back on our computer now.

I was a bit discouraged this week especially with the job market, but I still have faith that things will work out on the Lord's time, I just need to be patient. Justin and I still have savings that we're living off of and we're doing pretty well at being frugal. Not to mention this time in our lives is definitely bring us closer to Heavenly Father and each other. I have a lot more time for spiritual things right now. Justin and I are just trying to live by, "Come what may, and love it", and we do! We're so happy right now despite the discouragements in our lives, and we feel so blessed, we know that things will work out for us.

Well this is going to end up being a boring post if I don't have any pictures! So here's a few that I took for a project Justin is working on. They are of the the garden that BYU-I has on campus, it's beautiful there...

I remember seeing pictures of my Mom and sister Marie in this garden from when Marie spent a summer at what was then Ricks College. I remember it looking so beautiful in the pictures and wanting to see the garden some day. When Justin and I got here I had no idea where it was, it was just on the back of my mind. But then Justin and I were taking a walk around campus and stumbled upon it. It's even better in person and I love going there now to relax!

Adventures in Rexburg

So Justin and I have kept quite busy with school (for Justin only of course!) and fun outings. We've really tried to immerse ourselves with everything that happens out here and be really involved. I don't have a job yet but I'm still trying of course and we have faith despite the wait that things will work out for us. I've kept myself busy during this wait though and am just trying to enjoy my freedom. For starters I've been doing a ton of cooking. Rachel (my sister who lives out here with me) and I decided to make up a menu together last week to pre plan our meals for the week. Ironically this is something I always dreaded when my Mother wanted me to help her do this at home. But now I definitely see the value in it. We were able to go over recipes and find fun new things to try and then we did our grocery shopping so we could make sure we had everything for the week. I used my crock pot for the first time which was so easy and delicious! I've had so much fun working in the kitchen and spoiling my husband. Cooking is quite fulfilling, you work on something and then you get to eat it, it's perfect!

Anyway, enough with the culinary side of my life! So the first week of school before classes started there was a "Get Connected" event with activities and orientation type stuff for incoming students. Everyone is assigned to a group to be with through the three day event. It's kind of organized as a meat market so Justin didn't particularly want to go but then we found out that we would be in a group for married students so we thought it might be fun. We actually ended up having a blast and we made some really good friends that we've been able to do a lot with. Class started on Thursday, it was so fun getting Justin all ready and going school shopping! I made Justin pose for a picture when he was headed out the door! Class has been going really well for Justin. He's very busy with everything but he's working so hard, I'm so proud of him!

With our group from the "Get Connected" event, we

were able to go to a beautiful place called Mesa Falls together for a Saturday outing. Like it's name implies it's a waterfall! We were able to

go on a nice little hike, nice and little enough that we ended up playing Catch Phrase with our group the entire time. Very interesting trying to pass the thing up and down a line while hiking! It was nice to see some more of Idaho. Justin and I are excited to explore the Northwest so that trip was a nice start for us. The falls were about an hour from Rexburg, not too bad!

Another fun adventure that I was able to go on was a Relief Society Retreat this last weekend. We went up to Island Park, also

about an hour away. It's an area kind of more in the woods and there's a big river that goes in and out creating all of these islands, the cabin we stayed in was on Bill's Island. It was so beautiful there, I loved it! We had a nice evening hang out on a deck next to the river, had a fabulous dinner and then a Fireside. We ended up staying up until almost 3:00am playing games and talking. Normally I'm not that much of a night owl but I was going to sleep on the couch in the living room where everyone was up talking so I had no choice! Saturday I was able to go on a beautiful nature hike! It's starting to look a little like fall up here and it was so pretty seeing bright orange shrubbery mixed with Pine. It was so nice seeing the beautiful parts of Idaho and it's making me more and more excited to be living here and to be able to explore more beautiful areas that Idaho and the surrounding states has to offer.

View of the Sunset from the cabin

Scenic Hike

Moose we saw on the path

Pine and fall all in one, beautiful!

The water in the river is so clear, it was so fun watching the fish and enjoying the beauty!

This is a picture just looking down into the river, I thought it looked like a Picaso painting or something!

Moving to Rexburg

So I never thought I'd start a blog but now that I've moved away I thought it might be a nice way to communicate with family and friends. I've always appreciated being able to read blogs of people that I don't get to see very often, not to mention it can be a good journal for me!

So Justin and I moved to Rexburg, ID about 4 weeks ago. I can't believe it's already been that long, but at the same time Justin and I already feel like this is home, so it makes sense!

The weekend we packed and moved was a sad and busy weekend. Justin and I had the whole weekend scheduled to get everything done, but then there was a hiccup. Justin's dog, Oso, broke his back and became paralyzed Friday afternoon. Oso had been living with Justin's parents. So Saturday morning instead of Justin being there to help empty our storage unit, he had to put his dog down. Then Justin went to his grandparents to bury him. Although I don't personally understand the connection with a dog, I know Justin considers a dog as "man's best friend", and it was really hard for him. Luckily

Justin and I have family that is incredibly helpful. Justin's cousins Jason and Jordan came with their trucks along with my cousin Rose who came with hers, and then I had Justin's truck! My brother Nathan also came to help load. We went down to our storage unit and loaded everything up. I must say, truck beds don't hold very much. Our unit wasn't that full but after filling all four trucks there was still a book shelf and rocking chair that we had to come back for. We unloaded everything into my parents garage to sit until we got the moving van. Then Rose, Nathan, and my Mom helped me pack up Justin and I's room all afternoon. We finished in time to go out to dinner with some friends that night, everything worked out fine, minus Justin's tragedy. Thank goodness for helpful family. My brother Aaron and his family also arrived Saturday night, it was so fun to have them around! Justin and I picked up our massive moving van on Sunday. Then Monday morning Daniel came over and my Dad, Aaron, Daniel, Justin and I packed up the van, it actually went quite smoothly. My brother Benjamin and his family moved to Utah a couple months ago but they weren't able to fit all of their stuff into their moving van. So Justin and I got an extra big van so that we could fit the remainder of their belongings (Justin says junk!) into our truck to drop off on our way through Utah. Justin and my Dad went and loaded all of their stuff. Then we had all evening to hang out and say goodbye to everyone.

Justin and I got up at 4:00am and were out the door by 4:30. Justin drove the moving van and I drove Justin's truck. My Mom and Dad brought my car up a little later. It was such a long drive. Especially with Justin in the moving van who couldn't go above 70 mph. We made it to Ben and Megan's in Utah by about 6:30pm. My butt hurt so much for sitting for so so so long. We unloaded all of their stuff into their storage unit and then spent a nice evening with them. We slept in and had a nice morning then drove the last four hours up to Rexburg. Albert (my sister Rachel's husband who also lives up here) and some guys in our complex helped us unload. I was a little disappointed our sectional couch wouldn't fit into the front room, but besides that I like our new place. Luckily Rachel and Albert had some horrible couches and a large front room so now they have our sectional. Rachel and Al helped us unpack the next day and we were pretty much all settled in by Thursday night.

We live up on top of a little hill that looks over the town just down from the temple and right across the street from the BYU-I campus. It's a perfect spot and a beautiful view! My sister Rachel lives down the street but on the other side of the highway, about 5 minutes away. We've been hanging out with them a lot! It's so fun to get to be

by my sister again, we haven't lived near each other for 6 years, before I moved to Connecticut. The weather up here is amazing, ranging between days where the highs are in the 50's and days where they're in the upper 70's, it's wonderful, I love whipping out all of my winter clothes! Justin and I feel great about our move here and we're really settling in nicely!