The month of October

Tyrel and I had a fun October. The beginning of the month started off right with conference. We were able to spend time with family in Utah and take a much needed break from school. A few weeks later we were back in Utah to go to the BYU vs TCU game. I had never been to a BYU game before and Tyrel loves BYU so we were both pretty excited about this adventure. Plus we were going with another couple which means that we have friends. Awesome! BYU got their trash kicked, but it was still a lot of fun. However, one of the great things about going to Utah for me was being able to get away from my student teaching. We sat down in our seats and wouldn't you guess....out of the WHOLE HUGE stadium, one of my students in my PE class happened to be sitting right in front of me. To this day, now two weeks later, this little girl still asks me if I was "just freezing" at the game. Every time I tell her no, but she seems to forget what I had said the billion times before when she asked. So that was interesting. It was fun to see one of my students, but I really didn't want to be thinking about school while I was at the game. Anywho... before the game started, Tyrel and I thought it would be fun to go and try and win free stuff in the parking lot. Tyrel won a free shirt for throwing a football in a hole and shortly after it started POURING rain! We were getting soaked, there was nowhere to turn...then we saw it. The dinosaur museum...free admission.
Tyrel also got to see the broadcasters for ESPN radio. It was an exciting moment for him. So exciting that he asked me to take a picture.
Cutie...

Moving on to Halloween. On Friday night Tyrel came up with the idea to use our date money to buy a pizza and stuff to make fun sugar cookies that we could decorate. I will tell you that this is my first time ever making sugar cookies and decorating them, and we do not own any cookie cutters. It was a super fun night. Oh I can't forget to mention that we watched the Hannah Montana movie. I had to teach the Hoedown dance at school, so I was curious. Say what you will about Miley Sirus, but that movie was pretty entertaining!




I know, we are awesome! I especially love Tyrel's sad cat, axe and bone. This Halloween we got to dress up for two separate occasions. The first one was our ward party. We wanted something simple so we dressed up as three-hole-punched versions of Tyrel and Suzi.

On Halloween night we went to the symphony orchestra concert on campus. We went last year with Brian and Kayla and they are always a lot of fun. The theme this year was Super Heros so we dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Wolverine...


Yes, those are homemade claws. Nothing that some cardboard, staples and old shoelaces can't make!

Well, that's the update on October's happenings. We still don't know if we are having a boy or a girl, and right now it seems that we are leaning towards keeping it a surprise....However, I said "leaning towards...." not that is our final decision. Welp, see ya!

We are having a.......

Today was our second, 20 week, ultra sound. We had the appointment scheduled for a month and each day we looked forward to knowing if we were having a boy or girl. The day started out normal.... waking Tyrel up by poking him in the face, morning prayers, homemade oatmeal, small kitchen fire (don't worry, there were no casualties)....everything you would expect on a Friday morning with no school. The appointment was at 10:00 am and we arrived just in time. The nerves and excitement were starting to hit. I had the feeling you get when you are up next to give a talk during sacrament meeting. The excitement of realizing that today was the day we'd find out was mounting up! After about 10 minutes of waiting, "Susan Salisbury!" they called....it was our time. In we went, Tyrel on the chair, me on the crunchy, paper covered bed. There it was, our baby's little face. I could see it's cute little nose and lips. Head was just the right size. Now to the heart. Awesome! All four chambers were there! We just covered the heart unit in my class and to see the mitral and tricuspid valves at work in this tiny little baby was miraculous! Two arms, both moving around like crazy. One of the times we saw it move and I actually felt it. That was pretty cool. Kidney's....check. Stomach....check. And now the moment we've been waiting for.... Genetilia................................................... Second call................ genetilia????????? "I'm sorry," the kind nurse lady states, "the legs are crossed." Proding with the ultra sound device followed, the baby jolted, yet the legs remained firm. The nurse lady kindly moved back up toward the head and examined a few more things, then would move back....but still, crossed and unshaken. And so, the moral of the story is....babies who cross their legs make it very hard for wondering parents to know what they are having. Now we are faced with two decisions: 1. Pay an extra $100 (that supposedly insurance will not cover) and get the 3D ultra sound (they say these ones are like a photo shoot for your baby), and have another shot at determining the gender in about 4-6 weeks. Or 2. Wait it out until delivery day.

Well, that's the story. We have some pictures, but they are not yet scanned. We will try to post some another time. Hope you all are doing well!

Suppose it's time for an update. It's a nice Sunday afternoon, Rudy inspiring us in the background, and it's finally starting to feel like Fall here in Rexburg. All I have to say is it's about stinkin' time. I don't really enjoy 85 degree weather in the middle of September. Fall is my favorite time of year, and it's already cut short with Rexburg winters. The last thing I need is for summer to chomp away at the other end. Ok, moving on....

Tyrel and I are doing great! Well, kinda great. We only spend the 3 hours together in the evening together, and during those hours we are either doing homework, cleaning, or working out. I think "Living for the weekend!" describes our situation perfectly.

Tyrel is currently taking 15 credits and working two jobs. We sat down the other day and discussed what would be needed for us to make it once the little one comes. Honestly, I have no idea how we are going to do it, but I know things are going to work out. As for now, I can see that the feeling of being a dad is hitting Tyrel. The day I told him about the financial situation, he went out and got several applications to places we could live for cheap and have room for a baby. The two jobs he has are ground crew on campus and an after school aide at Burton Elementary School. He says it is hard and he wishes he had more time to do homework, but I think he does enjoy both of his jobs. He works with good friends on grounds crew and is currently teaching little kids how to play soccer at the elementary. I forgot to mention earlier that Tyrel actually has a third job....the plasma center. He is an avid twice a week donor. They labeled a chair in his honor. To make the giving seem more meaningful, we have decided to save half of all the plasma money and put it into a baby savings account. It's a great idea and a great sacrifice on his part. I really do love Ty and appreciate all of his hard work.

Student teaching is going well for me. It's fun to get up there and take charge of class. I have a few troubling students, but overall the kids are really great. I'm getting to know them more and more and I love it. The other day I taught the girls in PE about how to solve camp problems and deal with boy problems. Cramps: exercise and limit the sugar intake...Boys: Just say NO! One girl told me the next day that she broke up with her boyfriend. I was so happy for her! The ony down part about student teaching is that I'm clear out in Blackfoot. This means that I'm in a car for over 4 hours a day. It is a MAJOR bummer! I get very cranky because of the drive. Last week to top it all off I had a pounding headache that lasted 5 days straight. It was crazy, but I'm pleased to announce that the headaches have ceased. Also, I found out a few weeks ago that I passed the praxis test, which is something I had to do to be certified to teach. Who knows if teaching is what I will end up doing, but I am happy to know that I passed. Sometimes I think I might be happier teaching in another way...Maybe not in schools, but at rec centers, gyms or other areas in a community. Who knows!

Yesterday Ty and I had another check-up with Dr. Barton. Seems like everything is going well with the little one and with me. I'm starting to show a tiny bit, but when I stepped on the scale it said I had lost a pound since our last visit. I know it isn't good to lose weight when you are pregnant, but when your body is changing and parts of your body that never used to spill over your pants are spilling over, it's good to know that it's just the baby and not my fat. We are both getting more and more excited for our baby. They gave us what I believe to be the exact same diaper that Brain and Kayla had a moment over. Whinnie the pooh and everything! I started laughing the moment I saw it as I thought about how different Tyrel and I are compared to Brian and Kayla. Instead of having an emotional moment or testing out the diaper's capabilities, we looked at it, thought "oh that's nice" and put it back. Brian and Kayla, we sure to miss you!

That's about all that we've got for you. I'll post a few pictures of some stuff we have done and the new place for you all! Hope everyone is great! We love and miss you!

The New Place

The Kitchen

Bedroom

The Living Room

Walk in area...yes, that is my closet and it's in the entry

The Table...opposite my closet


Anniversary trip
to Idaho Falls

Photo Shoot

Fish Lake

Cute Kids

The Tuzi life

Okay so its been awhile since I wrote to you all, and my idea is to make our readers laugh and smile.

So what is the goings on with us lately? Here is your rundown...

-When I go to work on the grounds crew one Wednesday after classes and see Suz waiting for me I think, "Wow a surprise from my wife." Then she shows me a picture of a test on her phone, the test shows two pink lines....finish the rest.

-I now am a bigger Steve Carrell fan.

-Suz loved and hated Ace. In words of my Supervisor on grounds, "It was a pain in the Ace"

-Tuesday and Thursday was taken up with Ace, Homework, and Basketball practice.

-This summer was the first time Suz and I made a Saturday trip to Utah.

-We saw "Little Salz" move for the first time.

-Suz and I are both supporting great tans.

-A new apartment is bigger and brighter and more awesome. But the smell kills Suzi, along with the stairs and I swear everything else.

-I can get good grades in college.

-Life is not fun when you lose your Temple Recommend...where is it???

-Speaking of losing things, where are our married friends??? Kayla...Brian

-We saved money at Albertsons...who knew.

-The Office commentaries are very funny.

-We have had Family Reunions, and the awesome trip to "no Fish-FishLake". We would like to thank our parents for being so nice to us and providing everything. We look forward to eventually moving back to Utah and spending time with all of our family and friends. And to think by the time we are back in Utah "little Salz" will be about a year and a half old, thats a crazy thought.

The moment you have been waiting for!

For those of you who have not yet heard, Tyrel and I are embarking on a new adventure--pregnancy. I don't know if this is weird or not, but here is the video from our first ultra sound. It's pretty awesome. They said I am 9 weeks along. If you look closely you can see its little heart beat and you can see nubs for arms and legs. Little Salz (the name for now until we determine if it is male or female) even wiggles around a little bit! It was crazy to see all of this for the first time. A happy and fun experience for sure! The doc said I am perfectly healthy and so is Little Salz. The heart beat was 180, which is normal they say, and Salz is about 2.3 cm long. I'm thinking he or she will be an athlete for sure. When it wiggled I saw a deliberate kicking action. Well, that is all for now. Enjoy the video if you wish. I figure putting it on here will finally convince you doubters that this is NOT a joke. Have fun!

President Eyring

This past Tuesday I had the opportunity to listen to President Eyring in Devo. I was within maybe 100 ft of this great man.
May I add that I know that this man is called of God, he is one of the elect of our Father in Heaven. I also know that the Prophet that he serves with is the Prophet of this church and if we heed what he says we will not be found wanting in the last day's.
One thing that I would like to know how to do is make that feeling you have when you are basically in the same room with an authority of the church stay with you. I swear to you the feeling that I had while listening to Pres Eyring was amazing, but the sad thing is that feeling was easily replaced by something of less importance. So here is the question that I would like to pose to all of you. What can we do to make these feelings of "do better" stay longer? Is my focus skewed? I know that when I was listening to him speak I was full of love, compassion, etc...I want these things to last longer, but for some reason I know that they can't. I think that would be to easy of a way for us to become better. Do I have to work harder at achieving these feel goods? After this devotional something inside me did change, and it was for the better. So maybe it did the job and all I have to do is remember that it did make me want to change something.

A little bit of ranting...

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where if you took on another class you would be given about 600 dollars more for going to school? This is the current predicament I find myself in. Why is it that a class that makes you work from 7-4 Monday through Friday only worth 10 credit hours? By my calculations I'm going to be putting at least 4 times as many hours... So, why not just take on two more credit hours you ask? Here is the second part of the problem...only in certain, dire, situations will the school allow someone to take on another class while they are student teaching. Because I have already fulfilled all requirements I don't fit into this category. So, my scholarship and pell grant are being prorated to cover only 10 credits worth. I'm okay with them prorating the scholarship, because if I took on another class the extra money would go towards that. However, prorating the pell grant is what's costing me 600 big ones. The crummy part of this is I'm doing my student teaching in Blackfoot...it's an hour away. I love the school, but gas alone is going to run about $500-600 depending on gas prices.

Anyway, I'm not trying to be a complainer...although all that was basically a complaint.

The Latest Happenings...

This is just a little post to let all of you who are curious in on what we have been up to lately. Last Sunday Tyrel and I decided it would be fun to invite Brian and Kayla out to Beaver Dick Park for a dutch oven dinner. The carrots and potatoes took far too long to cook, but overall it was a pretty fun experience.

The evolution of Tyrel and Suzi

The many faces of Quiddler

Brian and Kayla are so cute. The sunset light on their faces really brings out the best in them. This is similar to the face Brian made when he saw the moose...

The sickly moose that walked on through.

Tyrel and I are pondering on a passage of scripture while we wait for Brian and Kayla to arrive. They were over an hour late. We held that same pose the whole time. Our eye brow muscles were very sore.

Tyrel and Suzi are cute too.

Dinner after shopping at Broulims: Peanut butter and honey sandwiches

Dinner after shopping at Winco: Tortellini with peas and bacon in a white sauce

I got this recipe off of 5dollardinners.com. Great website for those on a tight budget who still want to eat descent foods. I've decided I'm going to try and become a coupon shopper so we can eat like this more often.

Ty and I came down to visit a few weeks ago and thought it would be fun to do a session at the Draper Temple. This is us just after we left the temple having been informed that it was full. I would have been sad about it, but it's hard to be sad about the fact that a lot of people were serving those who need work done. Maybe next time we will get into a session...

And this is just me working at Ace Hardware. It's been about a month now and I really like it. I've learned a lot about gardening and plumbing (my areas of the store). This last week I helped 4 customers in finding items to meet their plumbing needs. I felt pretty smart. I think Tim would have been proud. When I'm not on the plumbing aisles I'm out in the green house watering the plants. Last week winds got up to 50mph and I thought for sure I was going to die. Never have I been so afraid of watering plants. I'm not sure if any of you heard about the Cowboys practice dome collapsing, but pictures of that are what swam through my head as the wind beat against the sides of the poor little green house. My heart was beating as hard as it does when I watch a scary movie. Not good. Speaking of my heart, this is a random thought, but a few weeks ago my heart seemed to be beating a little irregularly. It's happened about 3 or 4 times in the past few months. It only happens right before I go to bed and the next morning I will be just fine. Does any one think this is something I should be concerned about? I mean, I'm a healthy girl...I work out and everything. I see no reason for me to have an unhealthy heart. Any comments?

Ty and I are both competitive basketball players this semester. I'm on the Lady Thunder and Ty is on the Titans. It's really fun. Ty lost his first game, but he has a good team. We will see how they do tonight. My team won our first game and lost last night. However, I wasn't able to play last night due to a random bout of the flu...Don't worry, I'm feeling better today so I don't think it was swine. Anyway, just so you all know, each and everyone of you are welcome to come up some weekend and watch us play. :)

Well, sorry about the randomness at the end there. I kinda just let my fingers type straight from the brain. I hope you all are doing well! Tuzi loves you!

Our Visitor for the next few weeks...

So the past week (and weeks to follow) we have had a guest in our house. His name is Ben, a black lab. Parker my brother is usually the caretaker, but he let us take care of the little rascal why he went to school. I was able to catch Ben in the act with some things....

Ben Loved playing our N64...his favorite game was Mario Kart. He beat Suz and I...I know he has no thumbs I am as confused as you are. 

 

One morning after breakfast I was putting my dishes away and lo and behold...who did I find in the Dishwasher? 

Ben told me that when we are asleep he loves to turn on the dishwasher and play in it. It finally answers all them, "your apartment is haunted questions". 

 One night when I was up getting my ritual late night snack. I found Ben trying his hardest to reach the lid to our peach jam so he could have a snack...Crazy Ben. 

Suz and I have been trying our hardest to bathe this little pup. Once we got him in place (refer to pic) he would start barking and eat our soap. Then he would go and hide in the egg carton strange place, but it worked. Of course Suz and I finally came to the conclusion that if Ben was playing in the Dishwasher every night, then that was a perfect bath. 

I bet you all are wondering how Ben gets his water and where he sleeps. Its obvious where he gets his water. Right after this picture I had to dive in the toilet and save his life...And he sleeps where Rachel and Parker would usually sleep...HA HA HA 

And last but not least, Ben favorite thing to do is watch out the window for Parker. He is always telling us how much he misses Parker and sleeping in his bed. I told him that he will be with Parker again very soon. He said that Parker is the best friend that he has ever had. 

Curious as to how long we've been married?

Tuzi presents to you...

The Wedding Count-up! (Click!)

One Year Down...many more to come

For those of you who were not aware, Tyrel and I had our first anniversary on Sunday. We may not have done much to celebrate, but there is a certain peace that I feel within me now that we have overcome the first year hurdle. This alone causes a quiet, yet roaring celebration in my heart. This first year threw things at me that I had never expected. It was hard, dang hard, but I would not change it for anything. I refer to my first year of marriage as the refiner's fire. I share with you now a story I heard at devotional once about the refiner's fire. It's about a woman who was studying the book of Malachi and came across the verse "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." She decided to visit a silver smith and observe:

As she watched the silver smith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot--then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.
She asked the silver smith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silver smith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy--when I see my image in it."

While I do not feel that I am to the point where the Lord can see His image perfectly in me, I know that He put me in this fire...right smack dab in the middle! I will admit that there were times when I felt that He wasn't near me, keeping His constant eye on me, but I know now that He was there all along. I have no doubt about it. Me feeling like He had left me was all a part of the plan to humble me and help me hit my knees a little harder.

I am a different person than I was a year ago. My understanding of life and what it is truly important has become much more clear (although I'm sure it is still foggy considering only one year has gone by). I loved Tyrel a year ago, but the love I have for him now is different. I'm starting to understand why there are so many songs and poems about how people love each other more and more as they go through out life. At least that is the goal I suppose. Of course, in my opinion the love doesn't just grow bigger, it changes. If I were a poet or some sort of amazing writer I would be able to explain what it is that I feel in my heart. But I'm not, so hopefully you can just understand without having it explained.

Aside from the hard times, Tyrel and I had it pretty good this year! We went on quite a few fun times...Disneyland, Trek, Fish Lake, one week of being a counselor, Amy's house, Grandma and Grandpa's property with Ryan and Lisa, Rigby Lake dutch oven, Thanksgiving and Christmas with the families, spending time with Clint and Abby and watching their kids, dinners with Brian and Kayla, watching about a hundred movies, visiting 8 different temples, and other things I'm forgetting that are probably really important fun times that I will be given a hard time for forgetting.

So...to this last year I say thank you. Thanks for kinda beating me up at times, making me laugh at other times, and helping me to learn valuable lessons every day. You will be missed I am sure--the naivete of your first married year only happens once--but I am not sad to see you put in the past. I look forward to the future and what it holds for Tuzi. Who knows, maybe by the end of the next year there will be a third member in the Tuzi party. Or not... We will see. (this is not in any way meant to be any sort of clue hinting at anything)

Thanks for reading this long post. I write it in part as a therapeutic sort of thing for me. It's good to reflect back and see how blessed you are. I'm sure many of you know what I mean.

Love you all!

Yesterday...

Yesterday Suz and I attended a convention that suited our individual needs.

The pictures say enough....Hope you enjoy!

Things Learned during the 2009 Winter Semester.

You all are blessed! This post will be our fourth post this month...exceeding the post count of last month, February, and January. Do you feel it?


Okay so this is a list of things that I have learned while living in Rexburg these last four months...

-My BYU-Idaho philosophy is this: Feed off of the popularity and recgonizeableship of Suzi. People see her therefore seeing me, so when I am not with her they know that "one guy" is missing. So I will take this fame and pocket it, then Suz will graduate and I will take over. Thanks Suz.

-Barack Obama needs to steal some ideas from the Coca Bean and implement them into the economic strategies. Whatever that business does they are obviously making money.

-The City of Rexburg needs to choose a new time other than 3:00 am to scrape the streets of snow. Even better they need to choose a new place to do it altogether instead of right under our bedroom window. srrrrrrapppeeee....beep beep beep...scrappppppeeeeee...beep beeep beeeeeep.

-The Plasma center needs to learn how to transport blood samples properly, so I can get back to making 50.00 a week.

-Use the pedestrians to your advantage while crossing a busy intersection in your car. Suz was the best in reminding me when I could go.

-No one told me I would have to scrape the ice from the inside of my car.

-The Students of BYU-I are like lizards. When the sun is out they are everywhere soaking it up. Once that sun hides itself, they are back under their rocks.

-Don't pull out the shorts when its 60 degrees one day. Because the next day there will be 5 inches of snow on the ground and the beeping and scraping starts all over again.

-The entire population of this place LOVES jump rope routines....

-I can never find a close parking spot at Walmart regardless of the time of day.

-Boo Broulims...

-Why didn't we know about Winco sooner.

-Red Box is good on Monday's when its free, or when were renting Twilight. Other than that get your movies at the Public Library.

-I still haven't been to Bear World.

-Rec Sports & Competitive B-ball provided a lot of food for us.

-A nice book case looks a lot better than a card table.

-DI sales way nice N64's with the greatest games. Or game.

-I look better physically when I just workout three days a week compared to all days of the week. Once again thanks Suz.

-Albertsons crazy deals makes no sense. "Buy 18 boxes of this cake mix, 4 boxes of cereal, and a lemon. Then come back in 5 months and you will get these granola bars for a dollar."

-All movies are better when you wait for them to hit the "cheap theaters".

-Students literally turn into monsters during finals week.

-Finding parking at the Hart is hard to find except when Devo starts in a half hour...how does that work?


That's just a taste...hope you like it.

The Wonderful Spring Weather of the Burg

I love this time of year (April 3, 2009), birds singing, sun shining, flowers flowering, etc. And then it hit me.....I'm in Rexburg. What was I thinking?!

This picture has a bit of a story to go along with it. About an half hour earlier I took Suz to class. I wiped off all the snow, the car looked really good. And then to my dismay I walked out just a little later and I had to do it all again....I was really sad and upset at this point.

Here is a video documenting the lovely Spring weather of Rexburg! So if any of you want to come and spend spring break with us, we'll crank up the wood burning stove, chop some firewood, and roast some yummy fluffy puff marshmallows.

April Fools Follow Up...

Okay viewers of the blog. It's time to come clean to make sure we are clear of any misconceptions--I, Suzi Salisbury, am not pregnant. I know you were all fooled by my photo-shopping skills, but it was all in good April Fools sport! I promise from now on there will be no more pranks and tricks in regards to informing everyone when Ty and I are indeed pregnant. The next time you catch wind or us being pregnant with our first child (assuming the wind you are catching is straight out of either Tyrel's or my mouth) will be for reals. On that note, I'm sure you are all anxiously awaiting such news. The news will come in the future. How long in the future? Only one person knows that as of right now...those who are religiously inclined will understand who that One is. In the mean time...Tyrel and I will now be accepting suggestions for baby names. We encourage all creativity and clever ideas to be unleashed. All suggestions will be happily accepted and pondered on. If I were a big time blogger I would give out awards for the following names: "Most Clever", "Most Hilarious", "Most Usable", etc. Please submit your ideas via the comment link to this post.

Thanks! We love you all!

(For those of you who are wondering, "Why all the sudden posting from these two?" here is the answer. I know you are used to at least a one month span between posts, but now that Suzi is coming down to the final weeks of school, and her schedule is lightening up, you will be seeing more frequent posting.)

Pregnant!

Well, just thought you should all know....