Life after Disney World

...is not as magical, but pretty close. We realize we haven't blogged since Christmas Break (sorry!), and that life is happening way too fast for us to be allowed to get so far behind. So here's the last few months in a few paragraphs (pictures to come later when I have more time):

The rest of Christmas Break: yes, there was a whole other week after Disney that we haven't talked about. It was a busy, good week. Tuesday was Adam's birthday, and to celebrate we all went to the temple, me and Scott included :) What a wonderful place to be to celebrate family! On New Year's Eve my dad was the DJ for a super swanky party in the Four Season's Hotel. Did I say swanky?! Justin, Mom, and I got to go help, eat food, and help people dance. Once they got enough alcohol in them, they were quite the party animals and it was SO fun to be there. The food was also FANTASTIC - I recommend the Four Season's Hotel to anybody who would ask. The rest of the week was spent playing with family, looking for internships, doing some wedding prep (centerpieces, florists, etc.).

Got back to Utah and I started school again. This semester I am teaching MathEd 306 again (Mathematics for Elementary Ed Majors - we cover algebra, fractions, and probability) and loving it. I'm also working on my thesis full time, which is nice b/c I don't have other classes to worry about, but bad b/c there's nothing to break up the monotony of working on one thing, all day long, week after week... Luckily at this point I'm very near the home stretch and life is much happier :) Justin is doing two internships: one for an experiential marketing agency in Riverton (south of SLC) and enjoying himself there. Our favorite thing he's done so far was Disney On Ice, which we got to attend and loved. His other internship is teaching seminary as a student teacher for 9th graders in Riverton. Not as fun as the high school, he says, but it's getting better with most every day. January 14th, Mom and Scott were here and we all took Scott to the MTC (pics to be uploaded later). Update on him: this morning he was in the airport on his way to Columbia (yes folks, he'll be there by the end of today!) and I got to talk to him via mom holding two phones up to each other. He sounds fantastic and wonderful and it was delightful to talk to him!

At the beginning of February a lot of the Houghtaling cousins/aunts were in town for Kendall's play - Beauty and the Beast (yes of course she was Belle and she ROCKED it). That weekend we had a family bridal shower, which was so fun. There are pics to be uploaded, but I'll save that for when I have more time. TONS of fun, amazing food, the best people, the best a bride could ask for! :)

The semester has just flown by, and now we find ourselves with only 11 DAYS left until we get married!!! We are beside ourselves with excitement and definitely ready for next Friday to just get here already :) One thing we were talking about the other day is how much we've loved being engaged. We'd heard SO many people tell us that being engaged was so stressful and not fun and that they hated it. We've actually really enjoyed it a lot. We think that a lot of those people hated being engaged because A- they were so stressed with planning a wedding in a few short months that their lives were overrun with wedding plans and school and other stuff and their relationship wasn't as fun b/c of it, and B- they were so anxious to get married they forgot to stop and smell the roses and enjoy their life in the moment. We decided not to let wedding plans overrun our lives by not talking about them constantly, and we tried our best to continue going on dates and having fun together amidst all that was happening around us. As a result, we've learned tons of new card games from friends, been able to go to the temple as a couple almost every week, had fun experiences trying out new things together in the kitchen, and luckily we've had 5 months for all the wedding plans and have been fortunate to be able to spread those out so there wasn't really a crunch time that caused lots of stress. I will say, however, now that we're down to 11 days, I find myself just wishing the days would fly by and we could go ahead and be married :) So maybe I'm a hypocrite, but I stand by the fact that being engaged can and should be a wonderful, happy, delightful time in every couple's relationship and that it's their perspective and choices that will determine their experience. So good luck, make the most of it, and be sure to ENJOY it!

The next 11 days will definitely be full enough to keep us busy. My schedule is pretty packed, which means that the days WILL fly by. Today is Monday, I have meetings and lots of thesis work to get done b/c I'm taking all of next week off, and the following week is when my final FINAL draft is due to my advisor. Augh! Wednesday is BYU's teacher fair, which means that hundres of school systems from across the country will be here looking for teachers. Katie and I will both go, and I'll try to get as many contacts, interviews, and offers as possible. Last time I walked away with three job offers on the spot. Hopefully we'll be so lucky this time. Then Thurs/Fri I finish moving out of my apt and into our little basement apt (that's for another post - we'll attach pics and stuff once we're all moved in). Fri/Sat my cousin Kendall is in Utah's State Junior Miss competition, so we'll attend that in support of her amazingness. Saturday morning I'm presenting twice at BYU's CPMS Spring Research Conference, which is fun but stressful. Justin has to work that afternoon. Sunday is our last day at church as single people :) Monday is last minute wedding details, then on Tuesday we fly to GA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're practically there already - how awesome is that?!?!? Yay for being busy so much that it makes time go a little bit faster.

Honeymoon plans: we'll spend the weekend in Atlanta and then come back to Utah Monday evening (missing more than one week for both of us would be suicide). Then at our 3 month anniversary we're going to DISNEY WORLD (can you honestly say you were surprised?) and are SO excited about it! Obviously we've never been just the two of us on a romantic, magical vacation, so if any of you have input on what to do when you're doing disney the romantic, magical way versus the crazy, magical Houghtaling way... please let us know :)

This may be our last post as single people, if so, chiao!!!