Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

Well, for those of you who o not frequent Facebook, my parents are moving again. This time they are going back to a place we have already lived in, but they are going to be living in a different city. They are moving to...(drumroll, please)...Jeddah, Saudi Arabia! It is a coastal trade city on the Red Sea, and is probably the most Western-minded city in Saudi. I am very excited for them, as this is a dream opportunity for my Dad, and my youngest brother, Westin, never had the chance to travel outside the US and will enjoy the opportunity to do so now. My Mother, I am sure, will be just fine, although I question whether she is as excited about this as my Dad and brother. Living outside the US has never been an issue before, but now that all but one of her children are living out of the house and are not going to accompany them to Saudi, I think she will miss being close enough to her only grandchild (as of right now) to see him almost weekly. Once more grand kids come along, I wonder if that will be difficult, living somewhere that is extremely difficult to visit, and being limited to one vacation a year to come back an see everyone here in the states.

I know that no matter where my parents are, they will thrive and enjoy the new experiences, and Thomas and I plan on making at least one visit to Europe in the near future (meaning the next three years...) and that would be close enough to Saudi that we could conceivably meet up somewhere. I am excited to see all the adventures they have overseas, and I am glad that I had experiences with Saudi Arabia when I was a child so I know that despite what you hear on the news about the Middle East, I know they will be safe.

As far as Thomas and I go, nothing much to report. We are still trucking along here in Provo, and Thomas is a few weeks into a new semester, which he informs me is going to be a good one. I am doing more and more in the kitchen at work, and got a new chef coat that actually fits me. It is also pink. I like to make sure everyone knows that, as the only female chef in the restaurant, I am going to make my mark and make very sure nobody forgets that I am a girl. And that I am also awesome.

Until next time!

I know. I fail at blogging. And there really is a lot going on at the moment, so I can't use the "lack of content" excuse. So if you're ready for an update overload, we'll get started!

I guess the last time I updated was before Halloween, so I'll start there.

For Halloween, Thomas and I hung out with some friends of ours, Brant and Rachel. They are some of our favorite people, and it was a fun time. We ate dinner in a pumpkin, chatted, and then watched a movie. The movie was horrible. I spent the entire film trying to make my head disappear into my husband's chest. It was tragic. But on the bright side, I did get to wear my Dirndl! Yay!

On to November...much of which I don't quite remember, just because it was a long, long time ago. And also, I don't pay attention.

But, some highlights from November are-

1. We totaled our car on the way to Thomas's grandparent's house. We hit a deer, and yes, it did die. So did our car.

2. Since we only had one car left, I decided to find a new job closer to home. So I now work in Provo at a restaurant. I quite like it!

3. Thomas started a new job on the side doing web development for a start-up company in Oregon. so far it's been going very well! Thomas is enjoying it, and I am happy he is having fun.

4. I attended a friend's wedding the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was amazing, and Tyane was a beautiful bride! I was only in Seattle for around 48 hours, but it was a blast!

Then we have December.

At the beginning of the month I was transitioning from my job at Thanksgiving Point to my job in Provo. It was working double shifts for a while, which was horrible, and Thomas was studying for finals, so we were super busy. When things settled down, Thomas was taking his finals, and I started exclusively waiting tables. Which I am great at, by the way. ;)

Thomas got to go and spend a few days with some mission friends in California for a mission homecoming of one of his close friends. He had a great time, and I barely survived without him. Needless to say, I very much prefer to have him home!

For Christmas, we went home to Colorado for a few days. It was a short trip, and we had a lot of fun. For the first few days, we were in Colorado Springs with my family. We ate some great food, spent some quality time with my nephew, who is the cutest nephew to ever grace the earth, and caroled out hearts out on Christmas Eve. I loved it! Thomas suffered through the caroling, but he had a great time as well. After caroling and opening a few family gifts, Thomas and I headed down to Florence, Colorado for Christmas with his family. we got some Christmas Eve pajamas and did a bit of sibling bonding with the Tingey clan.

On Christmas morning we waited for Grandma and Grandpa Goff to come over, and then opened presents. The rest of the day was super lazy, and wonderful. We just ate some Christmas ham and lots of Christmas cereal. (One of the funny coincidences that Thomas and I discovered when we got married was that both of our families give "junk" cereal in the kid's stockings, and that is basically lunch and dinner on Christmas day.)

The day after Christmas we also spent with the Tingeys, and then headed home on the 27th. We had a great time in Colorado, and look forward to visiting a lot as we finish up school here in Utah.

When we got home, we had a relaxed new year, and celebrated by kissing....at 12:03. Oops.

We are looking forward to what 2013 will bring, and already have lots of fun things going on! Thomas has a new semester of classes, and he is getting excited about all the possibilities that are open to him right now. I am excited about all the possibilities that we have for the future, and I'm excited to share them with you!

I won't make it a resolution, but I hope to be more diligent in the future about blogging.

We'll see.

The Best

I know people say this a lot. Especially newlyweds. But let me follow that trend.

I HAVE THE BEST HUSBAND EVER.

I know you thought you did. Or that you will at some point. But for me personally, I could not have asked for anyone more perfect for me if I wanted to. It's like we were made to go together, like puzzle pieces. We fit.

Let me demonstrate.

Yesterday was my day off. I had big plans, including a quick job interview, doing laundry and dishes, and taking a shower. Oh yeah, it was going to be an awesome, lazy day off.

But alas, it was not to be. I had one of the busiest, most wonderful days off. I did go to a job interview. I did start the laundry. But for most of the rest of the day, I cuddled with my husband, went and ran errands with him, and saw a movie with him. We just spent time together. It was amazing.  I realized at one point, when he had tucked me under the blankets because I was cold, and he started folding the laundry, that I love him more than I though was possible.

It's like my heart has expanded, taking in and giving out more love than I ever though was possible. Mushy, I know. But it's an amazing feeling to both love and be loved so much.

I love taking care of my husband. But I am so grateful that he also loves me and loves taking care of me when I need it. His concern and love shows in everything he does for me, whether it's taking me out on a date or scraping my car in the morning. And I am amazed every time, because it means he loves me. His actions every day show me how very much he loves me and wants me to be happy.

In some small way, I can glimpse what my Heavenly Father feels for me in the love I have for Thomas. I know one day I will have children, and I will feel an even greater part of His love. I am so grateful for the love of my Heavenly Father, and for the love of my incredible husband.

Busy!

It's been a busy few weeks! At the beginning of October Thomas and I had the privilege of going to my friend Anne's baby blessing. It was beautiful, and I very much enjoyed getting to see Anne and her family again. I did her wedding cake a few years ago, and it is so fun to see her and her husband and their adorable little William!

That same weekend, Thomas took the SAT. He is applying to another school that has a great Computer Science degree, and they require the SAT to get in. We are waiting to hear back about his scores, but I know he did well!

I am still working at Thanksgiving Point, and liking it. I enjoy doing something I am good at, and I feel I am learning more every day. My boss is forgiving and fun to work with, and we get along really well, which I am grateful for.

Thomas and I have discovered that Provo and the surrounding area have an abundance of small theaters that have plays almost every night of the week! This past weekend we took advantage of two of them. On Friday night we went and saw "Mousetrap" at the Lehi Community Theater. The play happens to be the longest running murder mystery in history, and it was very well done. We enjoyed it immensely, and loved the intimate atmosphere. For those of you who went to BYU-Idaho, it was similar to seeing a play in the Black Box theater in the Snow building.

Last night we were just walking down University Ave in Provo, looking to get some Gelato after a yummy sushi dinner. As we walked, we spotted a small theater called The Echo Theater. It was playing Jekyll & Hyde, and we were intrigued. So we bought tickets. It was incredible! The theater company that put it on was very professional, and the actors all had impressive backgrounds in theater. We very much enjoyed both plays, and will be seeking out more opportunities in the future to see any and all stage performances that we can while we are here. It is great that stage productions are so prolific here! It makes it easy to find a date activity, and most of the tickets are very reasonable!

Stay tuned for our Halloween activities, I am excited for this kick-off of the holiday season!

WHAT?!

So...this is going to be an interesting post, but considering most of my readers are women, I figured you guys would understand.

A few days ago I was complaining to my boss about how annoyed I was with my jeans  situation. For several months, my jeans have gotten baggier and baggier. (I know, sob story.) But seriously. I no longer had to unbutton them. They just pulled right off. And it was getting ridiculous.

So I was going on and on, and my boss asked what size I was. I honestly didn't know, but my best guess was a 12 or 14. That was what I had always been, and the jeans I had were a 16, so I figured a couple of sizes down would be perfect. She said she had a few pairs of jeans that she didn't want anymore, and I could try them on.

A few days later, she brought them in. They were 10s. I laughed. "These will never fit me!" I thought to myself. From the time I was 12, I have been a 14. Forever and always I have been at least a 14, if not bigger. It was unthinkable that a 10 could ever fit me. But not wanting to seem ungrateful, I thanked her and took them home with me.

Just for grins and giggles, I tried them on.

They fit.

WHAT.

Had to be a fluke. I am not, have never been, will never be, a 10. They were just streched out from being worn, they were old, they weren't right.

So today, I went to test it out. I walked into Old Navy, and pulled some size 10s.

They ALL FIT.

It was real. It was true. I am a size 10. I have no idea how it happened, but apparently marriage works for me.

I know it's silly to do an entire blog post about my pant size, but I am a girl. Who knows why we do what we do, right? ;)

No News

Is good news, right?

Well, I think so, anyway! Life has just been moving on as usual lately. Thomas has settled into his school and work routine, and I have somewhat grown used to getting up horrendously early in the morning. ;)

We have managed to do a few things that aren't work or school related, and I guess I can recount them for you here...so here goes!

We had our first dinner guests a couple of Sundays ago. We invited a friend of Thomas' and his wife over and had a great time. I made a pork loin, roasted asparagus, and creamy mashed potatoes and it all turned out great! I am excited to invite more people over and continue to make some new friends as we share meals with other couples.

We also got to go to a BYU Dace department recital, called Evidance. It was great! Thomas had to attend a dance performance for his dance class, so it was technically for school, but it was great! The dancers were very good, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the performance. If you would like to see a bit of what it was like, here is a trailer for it:



It was legit.

That's about it! Nothing much going on in the Tingey world! Stay tuned though, inevitably something of note will occur at some point.

Married Life

So it has now been a bit over two weeks since Thomas and I got married. It feels like so much longer than that! Since being married, we have moved to Utah, I started a new job as the Assistant Pastry Chef at Thanksgiving Point, I fell down some stairs, and Thomas has decided to keep me. ;)

I have to admit that I LOVE this whole wife thing. It rocks. I get to cook dinner for my handsome husband every night, which is actually super fun for me. I finally get to put my Pinterest to some good use! I have tried several new recipes, and all have been well received, luckily. But if anyone is wondering about the sudden explosion of food pins, it's because I'm obsessed! There are so many things I want to try! As I try some, I will try to document as best as I can what I tried and ow it turned out. I will also attempt to take a few pictures, although they might be from my phone. Which is okay, because the thing has an 8 MP camera on it. Oh how times have changed from when I was small.

The job is fun. It does begin a tad early for me (6 am) and is a bit of a drive (25 min), but overall I enjoy it. I get home early enough to take a nap and get some useful things done before starting on dinner, so it's nice. Most days I am just in charge of the deli goodies, which include four kinds of cake, fruit tarts, eclairs, tiramisu, chocolate-dipped strawberries, petit fours, quiche, brownies, lemon bars, strawberry crumb bars, and magic bars. Once I have that done, I generally start on any orders we have for the day, and sometimes we are super swamped with banquets, but sometimes we have it pretty easy. It's nice to have a job where I have fun and I feel like I use the skills I took out a student loan for...;)

As far as falling down the stairs, there is a bit of a story behind that. When we moved into our apartment, our landlord was having the outside of the house repainted. They were just starting, and our stairs were on the list. When I cam home from work one day, the dude who was painting asked me when I was going to be out of the house for at least 3 hours so he could pint the stairs without me needing to come or go. I told him a time, and as promised, I stayed away. When I got home I saw that it had been painted, and was supposedly dry as there was no signage to indicate otherwise. I made it about three steps down with my arms full of groceries before my foot slipped on the fresh coat of wet paint. I went down hard. There went my leather shoes and favorite pair of jeans, as well as the three new pairs of chef pants I had just bought. Not to mention my husband's new Avengers lunchbox. And, oh yeah, my shin. All bit it hard into industrial gray house paint.

All I can say is that it could have been worse.

When Thomas came home I related the tragic horror of my fall, and he cuddled me until i was sure he didn't mind the paint on his new lunchbox.

The next morning he made it clear to the painter that he wasn't happy.

I secretly smiled later that day when I arrived home from work and the painter apologized profusely, and offered to replace my pants. Of course I had forgiven him long before, but it was nice that he acknowledged his mistake and felt appropriately morose about it.

And that is the story.

Well...I think I have covered enough for now! More to come from the Tingey clan soon, I'm sure! I tend to be full of unexpected funny stories!