we're not dead.....we promise!

Because everything since moving away from our beloved Hawaii has been so crazy, I’m going to go day by day to tell you all about everything we’ve done (well, within reason). :)
(p.s. I got the formatting idea from a dear friend.)
December 15: I handed back Research Papers (yes I had them ALL graded in two days! I have to admit, it was much easier for me—having 20 students—than for Jake—having 40. But both of us got them all finished). My class took their hour and 50 minute long final. Jake’s class did the same.
December 16: Finished grading finals; got the grades in and put “Do internship-write-up” on my to-do list. We also checked out of our apartment. Let me frame this for you.
6:30 am> Jake wakes up, and leaves to go give his final Final (yes, those poor kids had to take their final exam at 7:00 on a Friday morning).
7:00 am> I wake up, watch a little Youtube, and start the final cleaning of our apartment.
8:30 am> The man buying our Futon comes and picks it up (And by “picks it up” I mean we both take bits and pieces down to his truck. It took 3 elevator trips.) A scratched floor and $100 later, Jake and I are Futon-Free!
9:00 am> Jake comes home and we start moving everything we haven’t already moved into the car.
9:25 am> Sylvia (our super awesome landlady) shows up and starts checking everything (thank goodness we had JUST finished swiffer-ing.)
9:45 am> we hand in our keys, pack the last of our things in the car, and drive away from our $975/mon-apartment.
10:00 am> We eat breakfast.
Eventually we went to my parents’ house and stuff. But all the real excitement took place that morning. Phew! Glad that is over.
December 17: Go back to campus to sell everything we hadn’t already sold. Then we hit the beach! Yay surfing!!
December 18: Went to church, then afterwards did Christmas with my family! We got some pretty cool stuff.
December 19: More surfing! (and lots of laundry)
December 20: Got on a Jet-Plane and flew away from the islands I swore I’d never leave. :( We landed in Portland, OR and it was COLD! (I could see my breath; that hadn’t happened since I was 5!) Jake’s dad picked us up, and we drove home (Pendleton, OR).
December 21-24: This part is all kind of a blur. I met Drake (one of Jake’s younger brothers) for the first time, and his cute girlfriend, Kayla. We went hiking for a Christmas tree. I saw a coyote. We practiced Christmas carols. We also went over to Natasha’s house (Jake’s older sister) and did a White Elephant exchange with her, her husband and her cute little monkeys. (I got a pocket knife.)
December 25: Christmas! We woke up and did stockings (Santa sure knew what kind of loot I was looking for!) We went to church. Then we went home and ate some chow, and went back over to Natasha’s so we could all watch her boys could open up their Christmas presents. (There is nothing cuter than a two-year-old holding his new green puppy—that says his name funny—opening a box and screaming “Blankie!” in the most excited voice you ever heard.) We went back home and we all opened presents (Youngest to Oldest). We both got some neat stuff. I got an awesome little hat and some gloves (Yay fingers!), we also got some really cool movies (HARRY POTTER 7 part 2!) Then (we were actually still opening presents when this happened) Natasha and her boys came over for what my mom calls Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner). Jake, Drake, and I all had presents we had to find. We had clues. Jake got the Mace Windu (something) fighter Lego set; Drake got some cool pants; and I got the Knight Bus. We ate a delicious Brinner, and watched movies.
December 26: We all pile in the car and drive to Burly, ID. We spend the night with Melanie’s mom and family. We slept over at Melanie’s sister’s house (Robin) and she had two cute little lap dogs named Pip and Squeak. :) Pretty clever, huh?
December 27: Piled back in the car and drove to the Twin Falls temple for Rourk (Jake’s younger brother…that’s older than I am) and Jessica’s wedding. How would you like the first time you meet your brother-in-law to be in the temple at his wedding. :) Welcome to my world. After the wedding we went over to Scott’s house (Jake’s older brother) and did presents. Then we went to the Luncheon. We watched the bride/groom slide show. Then we all (Melanie, Craig, Jake, Rourk, Jessica and I) went to Rourk and Jessica’s house. I changed into some pants (my poor legs could only handle freezing for so long). Rourk and Jessica had to leave and Melanie and Craig wanted to go back over to Scott’s. Rourk said we could hang out at their house. I took a nap on the couch, and Jake played Halo. We went over to the reception when Rourk and Jessica came back. I changed back into my dress (sorry legs), and Jake and I were put in charge of making sure everyone ate cookies. Eventually, when it was all over, we came over to Jake’s Mom’s house and went to bed.
December 28: Christmas with Jake’s Mom and the kids. (Yay Barbies, stickers and Alfred Hitchcock!) We did some walmart shopping (we were borrowing Rourk and Jessica’s car while they were on their honeymoon—they took Rourk’s truck). Then we had Christmas with the Jenkins and played Celebrity! (Fun, fun game!)
December 29: The car hunt begins. We poke around Poky. After a semi-fruitful day, we went over to Richard and Allison’s and hung out. (Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!)
December 30: Car hunt. Drive to Blackfoot and spend the night with Grandma Baird (Jake’s maternal grandma) and Al.
December 31: Drive to Idaho Falls, Car hunt. Take a nap and eat some delicious soup at Bryce and Valene’s. Drive to Tetonia—our final destination for the weekend—and spend time with David and Grandma Hibbert (Jake’s paternal grandma). Jake had a fever so I got to stay up for the new year. It broke around 4:00am. (The first time I took his temp it was 100.5; I told Jake what his temp was and he said “105! I’m going to die.” Then I said “Not 1-0-5, 100 Point 5.” Then he said “Oh. Don’t pick on me, my brain is hot.”)
Happy New Years!
January 1: Church (Jake went home early cause he was still feeling crummy.) Hung out, Jake slept. I read. Around 5:30 Jake ate some soup and seemed to be feeling better—much better, he stayed up til 1 playing on the Xbox with David. Boys ;)
January 2-3: Find promising car. Begin the arduous process of trying to get the $2600 asking price down to OBO. (Long story short, her OBO on the ad on Craig’s List was a LIE! Ended up paying full price….but we broke her heart—she didn’t really want to sell the car—so that was a plus).
January 5: Spend a wonderful day with Nikki (my wonderfully awesome best friend) and Jake (my other wonderfully awesome best friend) in Lava. Ate a delicious lunch, had some ice cream. Found out that “Butt Naked” perfume smells really good. Said our goodbyes (which were really “see-you-laters), and went home. Came home, napped, and I spent the night puking for some unknown reason.

And here we are today January 6th. I have no idea what our plans are but I can tell you a couple things “Do internship-write-up” is still on my to-do list, life is better in your pjs, husbands working on half-finished bathrooms wearing their levis that you NEVER see them wear are pretty hot, and poweraid always tastes better when you need it. See, I told you we weren’t dead, just super busy. Now if you’ve actually made it to this point in my blog, you get some major Kudos. :) Hope your holidays were as restful as mine. ;)