My husband plays the guitar.

 For the past couple of days I've been feeling down in the dumps. I miss my family. Especially with it being Christmas season. Not being able to go to Temple square and see all of the beautiful lights, missing out on all of the fun Christmas parties, and basically everything else that comes along with the holiday. Not to mention my body hasn't been very nice to me for the past week as well. The one thing that has helped me through this rough week is my husband! He is so sweet. Have I ever mentioned he plays the guitar? And he sings too! The combination of my hunk, a beautiful voice, and a guitar is just wonderful!  He has written many songs for me, most are from when we were dating. My favorite one though is his recent accomplishment. He was going to sing it at our wedding but then chickened out last second! Ugh, I know! But thats okay, because I get to hear it all the time. :) When he sings and starts to strum on the strings of his guitar, it takes all of my worries away, and brings me back into the moment. I love it. I think I can speak for all girls when I say a man with a guitar and a beautiful voice is a gift from God. :) At least I think my husband is anyway. Here is a rap my husband made up for me back when we were dating. 

'Come gather round and ill tell you a story

Of a girl so fly, she da opposite of boring

theres no arguing here she is simply the best

if she was the gold rush id be headin west

Im telling you dude she the finest of the female

if shes was a cup then shed be the holy grail

if her brain had a name then it would be steller

if karlie was a book  would be a bestseller

listen up

if she was a guitar she’d be a takamine

if she was car she’d be a lambragini

if she was a magician she’d be Houdini

if she was linguine- chicken fricken fettuccine

if she was a fish then she’d be a beauty

and xbox game she’d be call of duty

if she was girl shed be a cutie

oh wait she is a girl, ha ha, brain tootie

if she was Chinese she be panda express

if she was a school subject she’d be recess

if she was a flower shed be a daisy

KFC she is potatoes and gravy.

 In all seriousness tho

Karlie your my girl

You mean more to me

Than anything in this world

I don’t think you could ever understand

What I feel for you. But I hope you can.

its hard to describe someone that blows your mind

you’ve got my heart and stomach all intertwined

No amount of words are ever going to do you justice

I want you to know, that to me your perfect

I know that I might be just fool with a dream 

but impossible as it seems

im gonna shoot for the stars and

Hope that you discover me in your heart

Cause I cant stay grounded and live

That’s just the way that it is.

Id completely understand if you wanted nothing more to do with this.

Before you go you should know

that I will never stop tryin

to make you laugh and keep you from cryin

I just want you to know how much you mean to me.

I just hope that you know how much you mean to me.'

-Jake Jessop-

He is a cheese ball I know, but that is one of the many reasons why I love his so much!

Mother Dear

For the past week or two I have been thinking a lot about my mom. She is such a beautiful person all around. For those of you that have met her, you know what I'm talking about. Whenever I introduce myself to someone, and let them know who my parents are, I almost always get a response of ' Oh I know Paulie! You look just like her. I love your mom, she is so sweet.' I'm not even kidding, almost those words exactly. There is probably not one person out there that can say one bad thing about my mom. She is so very beautiful, graceful, sweet, feminine, loving, and one of the most giving people I know. My grandma's up there too. That is probably where she gets it from. :) Growing up my mom always taught me to always care. Care about having things nice. Care about doing things the right way. For example, wrapping Christmas presents. My mom would show me how to wrap the corners right, so that they would look nice. Or, there was a time when my mom sat me down to practice my signature. She had taken me to the bank to cash a check, and my signature was unreadable, so she showed me a couple of different ways to write my name in cursive nicely. Just before I got married I walked into my moms room before bed to visit with her. She had asked me if I had any pajamas that matched. I looked down and said 'no, not really.' (I had collected high school t shirts and sweats for pj's) She responded with 'don't you want to look pretty going to bed?' I chuckled in response, 'we will just be sleeping mom.' Later that week she took me and bought me some very feminine and 'pretty' pajamas to wear for when I got married.  Growing up I loved to watch my mom put on her make-up and do her hair. I now realize I was learning while watching her, and I now do some of the same things. Through out the years I always just thought ' Oh whatever Mom, its silly to care that much about stuff.' Now that I have a house for myself to take care of, I find myself repeating something my mom would always say to me, "It's good to have things nice, you will never regret making things nice.' That is my motivation for having a clean house for my husband to come home to. Making the bed every morning when I get out of it. Decorating our apartment. Or simply getting ready for the day. I say those words in my head. I also say them to Jake as he helps me to make our bed on the weekends. His idea is to throw the covers up and call it good. I on the other hand want to make it 'nice.' My mom has been such a wonderful example to me. I look to her example when I'am trying to figure out the task at hand, or how to act in a stressful situation. My mom is my best friend, and I honestly don't know what I would do without her. I love my Mom!

My mom and my grandma!

It's been a crazy wonderful month!

So I know it has been about a month since my last post. I've been on the go, and trying to get back into my normal routine. Now that I've been home for a week, I've started to get back into the swing of things. It's sooo nice being home. Sleeping in our own bed. Pulling a drawer full of clean, nicely folded clothes open, without having to rummage through a suitcase. I was living out of a suitcase for over a month! Its not as bad as it sounds though. Here is a quick update on what Jake and I have been up to, and how our Thanksgiving went!

I left my parents house and flew up to North Dakota to be with Jake for the last week that he was working out of town. Let me tell you, it is COLD up there. And living in a motel room for a week, I was about ready to go insane! It helped that I was finally with my husband. It was hard being away from him for so long, so I was grateful to finally be with him. After that week was over Jake and I drove back to Rapid City after he got off work. It was about a 6 hour drive, and we made 2 different stops on the way back to catch up with some friends! We got back around 3 in the morning. Woke up later that morning, paid the bills, cleaned out a STINKY fridge, caught up on some much needed laundry, re-packed and headed off to Montana to spend Thanksgiving with his family. We were only home for just over 12 hours, it was hard to leave again so soon. BUT, we were going to be with family and celebrate the holiday! :)

Thanksgiving was great! I love my in-laws. Its always so nice going to see them and catch up. Not to mention we were celebrating Thanksgiving and there was tons of yummy food! Double win! While I was there I made Cranberry Salsa. If you haven't tried Cranberry Salsa you have to! It is delicious! And my in-laws loved it too. Whoo! Here's the recipe!

Cranberry Salsa

12ounce bag of cranberry's 

3 jalapeños 

4-5 green onions

A handful of cilantro (I always estimate on this one)

2 limes squeezed

1 cup if sugar

A dash of salt

Mix all together and put over a brick of cream cheese and enjoy with crackers!! YUM!

After all of the laughs, fun games, and much needed family time Jake and I headed home. It was so nice to walk through our front door knowing we wouldn't have to leave again so soon. So we've been home now for just over a week. I've been having fun decorating for our first Christmas together as a married couple. Making yummy holiday treats, and doing plenty of Christmas shopping. We are looking foward to going back to my parents house for Christmas and New Years in just a few weeks!

This is Jake and I last year around Christmas time. Crazy how fast time flies! It has been a great year to say the least. :)

Believe

The other night my family was sitting around our living room talking. My mom started to talk about the book she is reading. It is by Teresa Caputo. You know the spirit lady on TLC. Anyway, in the book Teresa talks about reincarnation, and when you die you are shown and made to feel how you made others feel throughout your life. But it's peaceful, not scary/sad/mad or whatever other emotion you would be afraid of feeling that you have made those around you feel. Teresa also talks about how you work towards becoming a perfect soul. How you can have many lives but your soul remains the same. You know when you've met 'the one' and you feel as though you have already met and been together? I believe yes, your souls have already met. In another lifetime...

When I was 14 my family left our former church. I'll just refer to it as the 'group.' I was old enough to understand what was going on and to start thinking for myself. All I had ever known was the group. That is where all of my friends were, and some still are. It was my comfort zone. Being the age that I was,  I had felt that the floor had been ripped out from under me. I was confused and I became fearful. Fearful that I would loose my friends. Fearful that I wouldn't be strong enough to make good decisions without a church. Fearful that I would end up alone. With the support of my parents and my wonderful family, I became confident enough to fight against my fears and figure out what I believed, and to not just follow my parents blindly. I continued to attend our former church alone. My friends helped me to feel comfortable to continue to go. I also started to attend the Mormon church with some friends I had made from school. As well as go to some Christian churches. While at home my dad would teach of Buddha, Gandhi, and Christ. I was determined to figure out what I believed for myself. What I found, through prayer and long conversations with many different people, is that there is truth everywhere. I was raised to believe that there is one real truth, and you have to follow that truth to make it to heaven. But my soul feels differently. I wasn't content to commit myself to just one church.  Through out the years I have started to believe a lot of what Teresa talks about in her book.  I believe that our spirits are growing and learning. That we all are on different levels in life, simply because we all go through different life experiences, and that the main goal is to become a 'perfect' spirit. I have chosen Christ as my example of a perfect spirit,  and it is my goal to become just like him. When my mom started to tell us what Teresa talks about in her book, I became all excited! 

I'm grateful that my parents left the 'group.' It has opened my eyes to so many wondrous things. It has helped me to think for myself and to work for and find what I truly believe. Because what I was raised to believe was taken away, it made my testimony of Christ so much stronger than I could have ever imagined. I'm still learning, so I'm not saying THIS IS THE WAY, or anything like that. But to my soul right now, it feels right. So I'm going to continue to follow Christ's example, and try to show my love that I have to share to everyone.

On a more lighter note! I get to be with this hunk in just 4 more days!! :) Wahoo!!

Life in Rapid City

Today I have been thinking a lot about my life back in Rapid City. I miss it. I was driving to Walmart and thinking "If I was back home this is how my drive would go. This is how long it would take." So on and so forth. I do that with almost every daily activity now. We have been away from our cozy apartment for 3 weeks now, and still have another 2 to go. I'm so grateful that we have such a nice apartment, and I can't wait to go back and get back into the swing of things.

I love to cook. I love the feeling of having a healthy yummy meal on the table for my husband to come home too. I love when my husband comes home from work. Layered with dust and whatever oily stuff he works with. I love his musky smell. It reminds me of my dad when I was younger, so that is probably why I love it so much. But I have learned something, Attitude is everything. When Jake comes home and I'm cranky the night usually is just meh. When I greet him at the door with a smile and a sometimes half hug (he is just so dirty sometimes!) and a kiss, then the night will almost always have good conversation, laughs ( I LOVE to tease him) and cuddles. I love cuddling. :) But my point is, smiles are contagious and everyone likes to be around happy people. So I try to make an effort everyday to work through whatever emotional crap I'm dealing with that day, so that when my hubby gets home we can just enjoy each other. Heck, I'm alone 10 hours a day. I have no excuse. 

Some fun things that Jake and I like to do around Rapid City are:

Summer Nights! Every Thursday night during the summer, they would shut down an intersection in downtown, and local bands would come and play. It was so much fun! There were vendors and lots of people! The music was usually pretty good too!

Hang out with our new friends!! We made friends with another guy Jake works with and his girlfriend. Evan and Kira are awesome, and always a hoot to hang out with. Back in September Jake went to Wyoming for just a few days, and so I just stayed with them. It was nice to have company while Jake was away. Kira is also a yummy cook and we like to invite each other over for dinner. Its fun.:) Plus is always nice to have a reason to go out on a double date!

Mount Rushmore! We live only 25 minutes away from this National Monument. Jake drives past on his way to work everyday too. Its pretty neat. Not as big as I expected but I'm from Utah. I' am used to having big mountains to look at.

A Lineman's Wife

Well Hi! :)

I've never been one with writing and making things sound all spiffy, so bare with me.  I have been married to my wonderfully amazing husband Jake, for 6 months and 2 days! Wahoo! I love being married to that man. He is so caring, goofy, funny, handsome, and is such a hard worker. I love that about him. I know that I will always be taken care of, because of his great work ethic. He also has a delicious color of red hair that I absolutely love! Oh, and he's a Lineman. Hence the title. Let me take you back, 3 years and 3 weeks to be exact. I was friends with Jake's cousin who was my grandma's neighbor and Jake had moved down for the summer. Sitting in my Grandma's drive way, it took Jake about half an hour to spit out the words 'I like you.' I knew it was coming, and maybe I should have helped him out a little bit, but I liked seeing him nervous, it was adorable and showed me just how much emotion was behind what was coming. We 'got to know' each other for about a month before he left to go home for the holidays. He grew up in Montana, so we wouldn't be able to see each other as often as we would  have liked. Through out the next couple of months we would talk on the phone and continue to 'get to know' each other. At 10 months we made it official, and decided that the long distance relationship was worth it. Skip 2 1/2 years later, my best friend asked me to marry him! April 5, 2013! We got married June 8th, 2013, at 4 in the afternoon. It was the best day of my life, and I still reminisce back to that day often.

Today, I'm back home in Utah. Sitting on my little sisters bed. Jake is working out of town, and has been for the past 2 1/2 weeks. We moved to Rapid City, South Dakota because that is where Jake's work took him. He graduated from Lineman College back in December '12. He is trying to get his apprenticeship going, and with his work ethic he'll do anything to make that happen. So Rapid City is home for now. :) I knew when we got married that he would be going out of town for alot for work. You would think that after 3 years of long distance it would get easier. In some ways it does, but when you're married there is so much more to miss. So I've decided to start a blog. For many different reasons actually. We live so far away from family and friends, and have so many fun stories to share! It will give me something to do and help me to not go insane being alone 10+ hours through out the week. Lastly, it will be fun to read years down the road and see how far we've come!

I have so much more I could share, but that will be saved for another day! 

Jake doing what he loves!