The Wilkinsons

Family

2011-12-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

I have the best family ever! LOVE them all! It doesn't hurt that they're all extremely good looking too :)

WILKINSONS

YODERS

October!

2011-11-07T12:03:00.000-08:00

Our October was jammed pack with fun things to do! I LOVE this time of year because there are so many seasonal things to do. I've definitely been taking advantage of having so many options since we're back in a big city. At least every Saturday I try to get Nate out of his study cave to go on an outing somewhere new.

To start it all off, Nate had his white coat ceremony at the beginning of October. The white coat ceremony is a symbolic event for all the first year students. Now that they have been awarded with their white coat, the students are held to a higher standard and are expected to represent Midwestern in a professional manner. The expectation especially goes for when they are out on their clinical rotations.

Nate's physical therapy class

Nate and his friend Dustin

We also made it out to a farm close by to pick out our pumpkins. I was really disappointed that a lot of farms don't let you pick your own pumpkins anymore. They have them picked and on display for their customers. I'm on the hunt for a good pumpkin patch where you can actually pick your own. That's just one tradition that I'm not going to lose!

Nate's pumpkin

My two pumpkins. I can never leave without getting a baby pumpkin. They're so cute!

Last weekend we finally went to the Desert Botanical Garden. In all my life of living in AZ, I've never been there. I'm so glad that we decided to go! Sure, it's not what you think of "garden", or at least what I think of when I hear the word garden. It's an Arizona garden :) Oh, and I dyed my hair!! You'll see it in the very last picture in this section.

I definitely can't leave out Halloween! Nate borrowed the best costume from my brother this year! It won him "best costume" in one of his classes.

Nate the Grouch

If you can't tell, Halloween is a big deal on Willow Avenue

Some of the candy...We tried to keep track of the number of kids that came by and we finished at 700 kids within 90 minutes.

To finish this post up, Nate started an indoor, co-ed soccer team with some of his classmates called the Palitators. Yes, the Palitators. It was suppose to be the Palpitators...get it? A soccer team comprised of physical therapy students known as the Palpitators...Anyway, the girl that signed Nate up got it wrong and now they're stuck with the wrong team name. Next week is the championships that they get to go to! They've done really well. Here are a few pictures of them in action.

Lake Powell

2011-09-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

Over Labor day weekend Nate and I were able to go to Lake Powell with my family and close friends. It was a blast and we look forward to going every year! Here are some pictures from the trip.

Getting ready to swim

Little sis swimming

The group hiking

Lundeen family and Yoder family

Remi, Jen, Kelsey and Justin

Filing out

Nate made a friend :)

Kelsey jumping off the cliff to swim back to the boat

The gorgeous swim

The view from the beginning of the hike

Kayaking

Nate posing in the kayak

The house boats minus one

The best part of Powell, tubing!

It gets a little intense!

Cory, Kade, Kelsey and Jacob

All of the Yoder kids

Justin, Jen, Kelsey, Nate and Ashley

Recently...

2011-09-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Ok here we go!

I finally started my job at Del Webb hospital in the Acute Rehabilitation department. I work with P.T.s (whoohoo), O.T.s and Sp.T.s. Most of the patients are older, which I have the most experience with. I LOVE IT. I actually get to see miracles happen, and the patients get to go home! I have been so blessed to have an awesome preceptor. She's the best I could have gotten. I'm done with orientation and am on my own starting next week!
Nate started his second quarter. His load is a lot harder this time around! He has physiology and histology together. The only other class I remember is evaluation. He is so excited to break out all his tools finally. I have a feeling I'm going to be the Guinea pig a lot.
I had an interview at A.T. Still University Friday!!! I was an awesome learning experience. I felt it went really well. My interview group was the first and consisted of 24 people. Two-thirds were female, and one-third (that I know of) were LDS. Crazy, right? This is one reason why I love my church so much, education is so important! The interview consisted of an essay portion, faculty interview and chair interview. We actually got to meet the main man. Here are the stats for the school: 3,000 applicants, 250 applicant interviews and 70 accepted. It's a smaller school, but I like that. Everyone seemed to be really close and friendly.
Nate and I were able to go on the annual Lake Powell trip this year over Labor day weekend. I'll have a separate post on that, but we had so much fun like always!

It's Raining Sunshine!!

2011-06-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

So now that we've been in AZ for about a month now I guess an update is in order!

Nate Update
Started the physical therapy program at Midwestern University June 6th
The only classes I really hear about is anatomy and clinical problem solving. One REALLY time consuming and the other boring. You figure which is which.
Already had his first anat test and did great! That's a pretty big milestone for graduate school. First hard test.
Studies ALL the time. I'm proud of his dedication, even if I don't get to see him very much.
We celebrated his birthday last week. I took him to the Cheesecake Factory. This guy has never been! Talk about deprived! He's now determined to try all 40+ cheesecake flavors. Over time of course...

Ashley Update
Has been patiently waiting for AZ to finish verifying CNA license...NOT
Applied to a bunch of jobs. Has a interview on July 8th for a position at a hospital. Fingers crossed!
Sent in her CASPA application about a month ago to Midwestern University and A.T. Still. Filled out a secondary application for A.T. Still. Now just waiting to hear back for interviews!
Overall, just enjoying her time not working. This time won't last forever.

We both got gym memberships here, so we usually go together after Nate is done with school for the day to sweat it out! We've found that we sweat A LOT more here. Wonder why... Apparently it's been 110 or more for the past week. Thank goodness for AC. Nate and I both agree that we'd rather have heat than cold.

Nate has also had the privilege of killing some scorpions too, big and small. He's been a trooper, but I can't help but laugh. He's paranoid. I guess I don't blame him though. He won't walk around the house barefoot and is going to get a black light since scorpions glow under them. Makes it easier to spot them. I think I'm the only one in my family that has ever gotten stung by one. That's not bad statistics considering we've lived here forever. The fact that I got stung while in bed doesn't help relieve his fear though. In a few days we're heading over to Cali for the holiday weekend. Maybe I'll actually take some pictures to put up on here. Here's a picture from the lake that I took last night. I LOVE Arizona sunsets.

Change in Scenery

2011-05-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

In about three weeks we'll be making our way down to Arizona for what hopefully will be our last move for awhile. I'm SO done with moving...once is enough. We haven't even started packing up our stuff yet. Yikes! Most of our stuff is in storage anyway. If you haven't heard, Nate was accepted and starts P.T. school June 6th! Yay! He'll be attending Midwestern, which was our first pick of schools. Yeah, my husband is a rock star. He'll be in school for three more years. Once he completes Midwestern's program he'll have a doctorate in physical therapy and then just have to take the official test to become a licensed P.T. The end is in sight!

I am SO SO SO ready for a hot and sunny summer. Lots of tanning, bathing suits, and swimming! Winter is not my season! That seems to be the main season in Idaho and Washington. (We don't get along well) This is my last week of work before we leave. YAY! I've been ready for a change in employment. Then we head up to Canada for a mini-vacation (very much needed) before the long journey to AZ.

That's the brief summary of the next few weeks for us minus the chaos of packing. Oh, let the good times roll!

Arizona Here He Comes!

2011-01-28T00:51:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I wrote that right. Nate is going to AZ WITHOUT ME!! For a good reason though. He has an interview with a P.T. program in Goodyear, AZ. YAY! So if he gets in, I'll move down there permanently with him. That's good enough for me :)

Our New Life

2011-01-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official, I have finally landed a job! I start tomorrow and I'll be working as a Certified Nursing Assistant. I've completed the two hour rigorous ordeal of paperwork, drug testing, and TB testing. It will be perfect for me since I can count it as hours towards graduate school and I'll be working with some wonderful people! I am really excited and happy about this new opportunity! Plus, I'll be making almost double the amount I was making in Rexburg...it's ridiculous what they can pay you in a small college town. So we'll be able to save up a lot of $$$!

Nate is really enjoying his time as a Physical Therapist's Aid. He knows without a doubt that this is what he wants to do now since he has been in the office with patients and Physical Therapists. We can't thank Paul and Kathryn enough for helping him through the process of getting the position.

As for the graduate school update, Nate completed all his applications and secondary applications so now we're just waiting to hear back from them. All the programs I applied to were already full, so I will try for round two in April! We actually wouldn't mind having a year off since we've been going year round with 15+ credits a semester for the past two years. A break is nice :)

We really love where we are at in life right now. I'm not saying I wouldn't mind being out of graduate school already and have a job as a Physician's Assistant, but I'm content. I'm learning to just enjoy every day, and not wish for the future. It will come soon enough!

Update

2011-01-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

So here are a few things that are happening in our lives:

Nate graduated!! He has a B.S. degree in Exercise Physiology.
I have my C.N.A. license now.
I've been working my butt off these past weeks...every day...every holiday.
We are out of Rexburg...mixed emotions about that.
We are now in Spokane, WA! We made the 8 hour trip at 6 o'clock p.m. New Years' Eve with the car packed from top to bottom, literally. Both cats traveled on my lap. Luckily, they did great! Chloe had her expected throw up session (twice). Poor kitty gets car sick. I had to catch her throw up in a popcorn bowl. I'm pretty sure I can handle anything that gets thrown my way now after being a C.N.A. and catching cat throw up in a bowl. :)
We're still unpacking, trying to get situated. We have A LOT of stuff. It's mainly my stuff...clothes to be more accurate. I'll admit it.
Nate is on day three at his internship as a P.T. aide! He's really enjoying it.
I'm trying to get my C.N.A. license switched to the state of WA so I can start working! I'm going CrAzY! Unemployment is not for me!
I just tried Zumba for the first time last night! LOVED it! I'm addicted now!
We've applied/applying to grad schools now. We're only applying to schools in AZ the first year since there are 3 P.T. programs and 2 P.A. programs really close to Glendale. If we don't get in our first year, we'll branch out and apply to more our second time around. Right now we're focused on getting clinical hours and experience in the health care field.

I'll make sure to keep everyone updated throughout our next adventure!

Black Friday

2010-11-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

Yeah, we participated and scored all of these!

Holiday Stationary!

2010-11-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is here! I love this season and sharing it with family and friends! What’s a better way to share it with everyone than Christmas cards?! I love sending and receiving Christmas cards during this time. I think it’s one of the most popular traditions. Shutterfly has some of the cutest Christmas card options! Plus they have something for everyone’s taste with 800+ options. I’ve spent a lot of time on their website admiring all of their designs J This year their doing a promotion where you can get 50 cards of your choice free for a blog post, so of course I’m jumping on that amazing deal! They have so many cute designs that it was extremely hard for me to decide on just one favorite. In their Christmas photo card section I really liked Laced With Love. I liked how it was elegant, simple, and unique all at the same time. Perfect for me! In their holiday cards section I really loved Holiday Love Sketch Christmas. I loved the different lettering used on it. They had some gorgeous holiday invitations also if you’re planning on hosting a party this season. My favorite was Elegant Flourish Noir Christmas Invitation. Black and white…love it! Everyone should check shutterfly out! They have great deals and ship their merchandise off extremely fast! (We already ordered some J) Here is the link to their promotion!

Tampons

2010-11-10T13:04:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure no one reads my boring posts, so I feel that I can put anything up here. Throughout the 2+ years that we have been married I have learned that Nate has become entitled to all of my crap and vice versa. However, I'm not really interested in his xbox and FUN video games. I've had a twin brother my whole life, so you'd think I'd be use to sharing. Not really, he always had his own stuff, I had my own. Now is the time that I've been learning about full-on sharing. I'm not liking it so much. I want to work out...he has my IPod so I can't listen to music. For those of you who think this is not needed, IT IS. I need music to work out. Period. I want to go somewhere...he has the car at school. So basically, this is me ranting. I was thinking though, is everything his for the taking now though??? Hmmm, tampons. I still have claim to my dear, dear tampons. So I can be frustrated that nothing is no longer "mine" or I can embrace the fact that I still have my tampons. And to end this ingenious thought, I will leave you with a picture of my favorite tampons. :)

California Dream

2010-11-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Nate and I were able to go to California for my brother's wedding! I still can't believe he got married! I now have another gorgeous sister! They got married in La Jolla on the beach. It was absolutely stunning. It was great to see all of my family and get a vacation in California also. It was really hard to come back to Rexburg after being in California where the weather is perfect. Nate and I are starting are savings account so that we can live there someday :) Here are some pictures from the beautiful day.

Happy Birthday Hott Mama!

2010-10-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was able to go to AZ (FINALLY!) for my mom's big birthday! I booked my flight in May, and decided that I would surprise her. It was a complete success, and I totally shocked her! Here are some pictures from her big bash.

Meet Tebow

2010-09-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the newest addition to our family. His name is Tebow (Nate named him) and he's about 16 weeks old now. He is the sweetest kitten I have ever met. He's always purring and loves to cuddle. The first night we brought him home he laid in Nate's nap for an hour purring. I found him outside my work on Friday. He had been there all day, and whenever someone would open the door he would run up to the person leaving and rubbed up against their leg and try to get some lovin'. I have a really hard time seeing stray, unloved animals and to add this was a kitten! We've been looking to see if he has any owners, but none yet. So it's official, he's part of the family now. Chloe now has a buddy to play with, and they're best buds now.

What's New

2010-08-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

Ashley
Recently, I have encountered what it really means to be working. I am now working two jobs which amounts up to 40+ hours a week. I've always had a job, but worked part time. Now since I'm out of school I figured that I have all this free time, so why not work as much as I can! I'm working at Jimmy John's which is a fast paced sandwich shop and at Heritage Homes which is an assisted living home. I work as a care taker there, and there are about seven residents living there. I really do love both jobs, which are completely different! The job at the assisted living home will really help me pursue a career in the health care field. It's great experience for me. I'm also starting up CNA school next week. I'm staying busy and loving life as a college grad!

Nate
My days are less eventful. I still work on campus doing early morning custodial (I start at 3:30...) and so then I come home and try to sleep for a while. Aside from that I try to do most of the house cleaning since Ashley works so much. Since school ended we've been trying to work out to get back in shape, last semester was a bit busy so we didn't get to go to the gym as much as we'd like to. Anyways, my life is fairly uneventful. I work, sleep, clean, read and I'm thinking about playing the wii.. but never get around to it. We are watching Lost... Ashley has never seen most of it and so we have started from the first season on netflix and are now on season 3. I'll maybe write again if I ever do something eventful.

Another Thing...

2010-08-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

NATE TURNED 25!

We celebrated in Park City with an awesome sombrero

Playing Catch Up!

2010-08-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

So I haven't blogged in awhile and A LOT has happened! First of all, I graduated!! I now have my Bachelor's of Science degree. Time is so weird! I remember sitting in my elementary cafeteria when my mom would bring me and my brother lunch and her telling all of us that we have to go to college. She was the cool mom, well still is. Well I did it! I'm not finished either! Now I only have two more years of school to officially become a PHYSICIAN'S ASSISTANT! By the way, I think that title is so bogus...it should be Assistant Physician for all that they do. Anyway, I cannot wait.

My parents were able to come up for my graduation and Nate and I were able to spend some time with them finally! It sucks only being able to see them like every six months! We had a lot of fun with them, for what little time we had. We went to Yellowstone on Saturday and drove around. My parents were even able to see Old Faithful!

Now Nate is on his seven week break in between semesters. We're just waiting for his LAST semester to start! I can't believe that we only have one more semester here in Rexburg. It's bitter sweet. We will miss this place, but you probably won't hear me saying that come winter time when we move...hopefully!

I just got a job, and completed my first week. SO glad that is over, I don't like first weeks. I like when I actually know what I'm doing. I also got offered an internship for this fall, which will fulfill my last requirement for my degree. If I won't be staying busy enough, I'll also be taking a CNA (Certified Nurse's Assistant) class this fall so I can get a job doing that in between graduate school. I've also been shadowing a P.A. here in Rexburg and LOVE every minute of it! If you can't tell, I'm so excited for mine and Nate's future! We're also studying for the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) which we have to take in order to apply for grad school. So I thought I was going to get a vacation after graduation, but NOPE! We're staying busy. Busy is good!

The Difference Between Men & Women

2010-06-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

This makes me happy...

& this makes Nate happy.

Play Time!

2010-05-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

This semester we have actually had the weekends to play...instead of spending them in the testing center. The weather is beautiful now, so we try and spend as much time as we can outside! Here's some pictures of our recent outing.

A Great Message

2010-04-05T16:46:00.000-07:00

I want to share this with anyone who hasn't seen it through facebook. This is such a touching commercial.

My Birthday Week

2010-02-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a review of my birthday week in pictures!

"Party in my Mouth" -oh and it was :)

My gorgeous lilies that my wonderful husband got me! Where's Chloe??

We invested in a space heater. The temp says 82. LOVE IT! (so does Chloe)

My fancy new shoes

I just thought this was cute. Kitty after getting a drink...if you can't tell.

2010!

2010-01-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! We're very very very excited for this year and all that it will bring! Nate and I are back in school and doing homework already!! Crazy, I know! We both are working and taking classes this semester. Luckily, we have two classes together so we get to work together in those classes.

We're really excited for this year because this is the year we'll graduate and get our bachelor's!! I'll graduate in July and Nate will graduate in December. Who knows what is in store for us after that point! Another adventure with grad school most likely. Also, my brother just got engaged so he and his fiancee Jen are getting married in October! I have another niece on the way too to arrive in March! So as you can see it's going to be an eventful year! This is the year that Nate will turn the big 2-5. I know, he's really that old. Good thing he doesn't look like it :) First though, we'll celebrate my birthday!! Woohoo, can't wait! Presents!!!

The Good Life

2009-10-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hello my peeps :D
All is well at the Wilkinson household. We're a few weeks into the semester and back to our normal routine. Nate's busy working, keeping up with his church calling, and keeping up with school. Me? I'm busy keeping up with school. I don't know how I got lucky enough to get out of those first two that Nate is busy with. :) I've taken up volunteering for the hospital here to build up my resume. I've been assigned to volunteer in the infection control department. Sounds exciting huh? Well, I'll keep you thinking those exciting thoughts. I'll start volunteering next week probably since I have to get tests done before I'm allowed to start volunteering. Nate has started an intramural soccer team...Team Nate. I'm just glad he didn't come up with a name like Team Edward...but I think he's more Team Jacob. The team won their first game 5-2! Of course I'm not playing, I just sit in the stands and freeze my butt off! Yes freeze! Winter has officially begun, and has seemed to skip fall all together. It snowed basically ALL day today. Anyway, that's the quick update for us. We'll try to blog again this month, but no promises since we don't have a very exciting life. We don't want to bore you!

California

2009-08-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

It took us less than a week after finals to get out of Idaho and down to AZ. Then a few days later we were in CA! What can I say, it's not summer without California! We slept in, went to the beach, ate some delicious food, and I took Nate to some of my favorite spots. He finally got to see the Del. He hears about it all the time from my family since we'd spend every summer on Coronado since I was five, or however young I was.

We ate at Sammy's, one of my favorite restaurants because of their dessert...the messy sundae!! We went to the beach a lot. We're actually tan! I should say Nate's tan, I'm peeling. We went to a few different beaches. We went to my favorite one in Carlsbad, and then Pacific beach by Mission. Not my favorite. You'll always see some interesting people there. Don't worry, there will be another post on that whole experience.

My family went back to the site where Nate and I took some of our wedding pics a year ago and took some family pictures. I was a little sad that it looked different already! I guess that's what happens though, but it's only been a year!!

Oh the memories!

Summer buzz....

2009-08-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

We're spending most of our 7 week break in Arizona, so I did the only thing that I could to help with the heat.

Before.

During (and my lovely sister Kristen.)

After.

Exhausted

2009-07-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

So this is what we've all felt like around the Wilkinson house lately. We're looking forward to the end of school in a few weeks when we can sleep all day! Actually that's probably just me...

Well Hello

2009-05-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd get this month started right by blogging. We had a wonderful break in between semesters in Arizona, and now we're back to the school routine. Nate and I have two classes together, which is wonderful because we can be study partners. As Nate would say, "What's studying?" He's been lucky to breeze on by these firsts few years of college without spending hours with study groups in the library. We both despise the library and try to avoid it. Actually, we both try to spend the least amount of time at school as possible. It's going to be hard to do this semester. We start our day off by being on campus by 7:20 and I don't usually leave till 5:00...they joy of having an on-campus job. Nate usually gets out of there by two. This semester has already been a joy, for Nate and I both. It's lucky we have two classes together or we'd barely see each other! I think Chloe is feeling a little deprived these days. When we're at home, she's always near if not laying on one of us.

While we were in AZ my mom organized a family photo shoot. It was a blast to spend that time with my whole family...it's hard to get the Yoder family all together with everyone's busy schedule. I haven't seen all of the pictures, but I love this one. I'm biased to black and white though. Look at those ridiculously good looking people.

I absolutely love this picture too because it depicts our personalities. Nate's being a goof...I'm cracking up, probably because of him...Kelsey is posed perfectly for the camera, such a model...Dad, "Where's Zeus?" ...Mom is looking glamorous, probably saying "Wait! My boobs aren't in place!" haha...Justin's his chill self. By the way, Nate ended up laying in poop. Oh his luck.

I miss the palm trees and sunny weather of AZ. I'll always be a Arizona girl.

Lake Powell

2009-03-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Every year my family and a bunch of friends go to Lake Powell for Labor day. I'm a little behind in blogging about our trip...here it is.

The Moyes's house boat the "Big Dog". You can see why it's named that.

My strange husband who doesn't know how to make a normal face for a picture.

So lady like...hahaha it's basically tradition to get a picture of someone in my family sleeping. Look at my mom's page for a picture of Justin snoozing on the ground :)

Some of the clan inside the Big Dog. We really rough it at Lake Powell.

The view from the top of the house boat.

This is how cool people were their swimsuits. Hahaha. It looks like Lily is Justin's kid.

Everyone loading up for our adventure to Dangling Rope.

I love Lake Powell.

The massive fishies at Dangling Rope. They must be on steroids.

Where we usually get ice cream or root beer floats. The weather didn't permit though.

I survived this week!

2009-03-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

This week has been absolutely crazy!! I work for a department on campus that deals with off campus jobs, so this week we had a Career Fair. Even though I'm only a secretary, I felt the craziness of the week. Thursday was the actual fair, which is not a good day for me! I normally have class till 9:15 at night. So Thursday I started at seven and basically didn't get a break till 9:15! By the time I got home, I was exhausted. The fair went great! There were some grad schools there too, so Nate and I got some information about grad school from them. Man am I so intimidated of grad school. It's going to be intense! I can't believe that I will need to start applying soon. Time flies by so fast!

School is going great! I LOVE all of my classes, even though they're kicking my butt! On Wednesday we had a P.A. in dermatology come to the disease class that I'm taking. Since that is exactly what I want to do I was so excited to hear from him. Let me tell you though, there are some nasty skin diseases! I find it extremely interesting, he didn't talk me out of it :). I'm still keeping my options open though, since P.A.s can specialize in a lot of fields. He said that he diagnoses about two people a day with skin cancer. Scary!! People need to wear sun screen and take care of their skin!

Tomorrow Nate and I are planning on going snowboarding. It's the last day the resort will be open, and our first time going snowboarding this season. How sad is that! We lucked out and got free lift tickets from Nate's friend, so basically we have incentive to go. At least we'll use our boards once before the season is over. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of boarding tomorrow so I can post them on here!

All in all, life is great! I have the greatest husband. He just cleaned the kitchen today while I took a nap and caught up on some sleep. How wonderful is he?! I love him :)

Bye Bye Winter!!!

2009-02-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I probably shouldn't be saying that yet, but it is getting warmer!! Most of the snow is melting, but freezing at night so were left with a lot of ice. Well there were some massive icicles forming from the melting snow from our roof so I decided to do something about it. I actually did minimal, I asked Nate to knock them down :) As the good husband he is, he listened. I had to document these massive icicles so here are some pics!

Something Random

2009-02-10T17:29:00.000-08:00

I decided to be a creative chef today and actually try experimenting. I've been obsessed with pineapple lately, so I incorporated that into our dinner tonight. It's kind of a problem though, because I just found out that Nate isn't a real fan of pineapple...What's up with that?! So he might suffer through eating dinner tonight, I'll probably enjoy it. He gave me his consent actually so I can make it. Anyway, the real reason I wanted to blog was because I found a really cool blog site (? is that what I should call it). I was in the process of researching for homework and I came across this blog. It's getmeready.blogspot.com. All you LDS bloggers will appreciate it. Plus, there are a lot of awesome blogs liked on her site. I'm taking a disease class right now so I'm all about prevention and being prepared, but I don't know where to start. I skimmed through her blogs, and I was impressed at how much useful information she had. Check it out!

Our Christmas Break

2009-01-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

We're back! So we'll update everyone what has been going on in our lives in the past month...we survived our first semester back at college as a married couple! One semester down...a few more to go :/ Once school was done for us, we packed up and headed to Spokane for Christmas. We were very lucky to have great driving conditions heading there and coming back! In between our traveling...not so lucky. A few days after we arrived in Spokane, more specifically Otis Orchards where Nate's parents live, it snowed about 2 feet in one day! Below are a few pictures that captured the monster storm!

Nate tried to get all the snow off our car, and get it out of the snow so he could go to work but Mother Nature just wouldn't have it. He got to spend the day with me :)

It snowed continuously throughout our stay, which was fun. By the time we left, I was ready for a change though. I had my first white Christmas AND it was our first Christmas together!! Definitely a Christmas to remember. Most of my time spent during the break was without Nate because he was able to work at the place he use to before we got married, which we're so thankful for! So I was able to spend time with all of Nate's family, who I all love to death! They were always checking on me and making sure I was doing ok...since it was my first Xmas away from home. One of their favorite past times is playing cards. I didn't grow up playing cards so I don't appreciate it as much as they do, but it's growing on me. I'm kinda competitive, so as long as they let me do well I'll like it, haha. Nate and I also had fun spending time with the cutest kids in the world, our nephew Dylan and niece Leila! Here are some pictures below of Christmas Eve.

Dylan unwrapping his Christmas Eve present...pajamas!

Leila showing off her princess pajamas

Leila and Dylan LOVED Chloe. Chloe accepted the love pretty well usually which surprised us. Every time Leila came to Grammy and Grandpa's house the first thing she would say was "Choe?". It was so cute.

So Rock Band is a pretty big deal in the Wilkinson family. We rocked out pretty often. Someday we'll start our own band.

Kristin looking pretty intense on the bass guitar, and Ryan rockin the vocals behind her.

Nate and I love this picture of Ryan. It was a "had to be there" moment to witness his vocal skills. More like screaming skills.

Kristen made playing the guitar look easy, she doesn't play lower than hard...I like sticking with easy.

Go Florida!

2008-12-07T16:22:00.001-08:00

Florida Gators are going to be playing for the National Championship!!! Ashley couldn't be more excited....

Percy Harvin is the man.

Twilight...

2008-12-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

Nate here... so over Thanksgiving break I read the book Twilight. For those of you that don't really know me or just kind of know me (probably through my wife) you're probably thinking "that's kind of a girly book, why would he read that?" But for those of you that know me better are probably thinking "wow! He read a book? The last book he finished was Calvin and Hobbes.
Nice work!" (other than Ryan Olk, who's thoughts and comments can stay to himself) To the first group I would say, Hey don't judge. It's a good book. To the second group, thank you.
I'm proud to have actually read a book. So... now i'm a blogger and a reader. Two things I never thought would happen....
Thanksgiving pictures to come soon!

Utah trip and the BYU game.

2008-11-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

So we went to Utah this last weekend to get snow tires for the car... although that didn't really work out. But we did get to go to costco, which we love and see my sister Kristen and her husband Dave. Even though the main reason we went down there didn't work out, it was a lot of fun to see Dave and Kristen and go to the BYU game, even though as my dad reminded me... I'm not a BYU fan. He was mad that I got to go and he, a true fan, didn't. Anyways, here are a few pictures.

From right to left, me, Dave and his friend. I should remember his name, I've met him a few times... sorry. Yes, I did wear my FLORIDA GATORS hat to the game. I don't think to many people noticed since it's blue.

My gorgeous wife Ashley and beautiful sister Kristen.

AND I have added NEW MUSIC to the page. I'm sure I'll add more later.

A promise is a promise, happy birthrday Kristin!

2008-11-07T12:44:00.001-08:00

For Kristin's birthday she wanted me to put up a picture

of me working at the potato factory\farm place. I tried to

lookas happy as I could. It wasn't that bad... college jobs

are learning experiences. 3 posts in one day, I'm officially

a "blogger."

Old rooms...

2008-11-07T12:37:00.001-08:00

I was going to upload pictures to show what the walls used to look like, however you can see those below. The blue and green were just a little too "bold" for us. Oh... and new music will be coming to the blog soon, I promise you=-)
-Nate

Wow, what a great job you guys did painting!

2008-11-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

My hot babe painting in my painting clothes=-)
She looks better than I do in them.

Yes... those are official painting pants.

New bedroom! No blue wall.

Shows the color better.

New office\2nd bedroom. The spot is not on the wall,

it was on the camera.

Wedding Slide Show

2008-10-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

I posted a slide show of some of our wedding pictures...finally! It's at the bottom page of our blog if you want to take a look at it! I didn't include a picture of all our family and friends that came to the temple/luncheon the day we got married, and I feel that I should! It meant a lot to us!

Life As We Know It

2008-09-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

So I've been waiting to blog about some exciting event in our lives here in Rexburg... something "blog worthy". I was thinking about something like "We BOTH have jobs"! No, hasn't happened... Luckily, Nate has a job! Nate started training this week so everyday I drop him off a eleven and pick him up at three. I won't go into the details of what he does there, because I don't really know what he does there. Something about working with a law firm and fixing people's credit. He is on the phone most of the time though. Today he actually starts working with people on the phone, so good luck babe! Next week he officially starts working full time from six to two. He's not so thrilled about the early mornings... As for me, I spend my time at home usually. Since we've been here life for me has been like this: send in my resume, wait a few days to hear back from them, go to an interview, don't get the job. This process has been really hard on me of course and it has been difficult for me to stay positive. FYI don't come to Rexburg if you need a job... just kidding, but seriously. I'm still looking and hoping that eventually I get hired somewhere.

Leaving the job topic, we started school this week! I'm taking four night classes and Nate is taking two. I'll be busy studying Psychology, Family History, Sociology, and Anatomy while Nate is studying Book of Mormon and Literature! We have very interesting class schedules since we're taking night classes. Two of my classes are once a week from seven to ten, one is twice a week only one hour long, and the other class is also once a week from five to nine! Intense, huh! We're just glad we're able to take a few classes.

My blogging time is up and I better go work on some Thank You letters... if you're expecting one you'll get yours soon! Lots of diligence and hard work go into those... :D

-Ash

Cribs: The Wilkinsons

2008-08-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Now that we have internet we're starting our blog, and hopefully we can keep everyone informed about our lives in Rexburg. Lately we've just been unpacking and decorating our house, although things probably will change and be moved around quite often. We've been having lots of fun together decorating and organizing this place into OUR home! Things aren't done completely, but we wanted to share pictures of our house with family and friends that live far away and aren't able to come visit us!

Enjoy the tour!

We'll start off with our room, where the magic happens....

okay we had to say that line.

This is the closet in our room, but overall it's Ashley's.

This is Nate's closet...
in the spare bedroom.

This is the messy, still unorganized spare bedroom.

AKA the office.

Available for visitors!

This is our awesome bathroom!

Chloe loves it very much.

The awesome and wonderful Nate!

Here's the view of downstairs.

Our entertainment system.

We love our living room...and rockband too.

That is the drum set, for those who aren't

familiar with rockband.

Chloe's bathroom...you can't see the litter box.

Our beautiful table in our dinning room.

Caught in the act! Nate tried to out smart Chloe

by putting his cup on top of the refrigerator.

Cups left alone are no longer safe anywhere but the cabinets.

This is Chloe's favorite spot...the sink.

Where the magic really does happen.

I'm sure you are disappointed that there are no pictures of our "rides". Check back often.

-Nate & Ash