The Internship

We'll be starting in Texas on June 2 and go until the end of August when school starts up again. That's all we know right now until Kent gets another phone call in two weeks. I'm so excited, and very glad that we get to go. It will be a great opportunity for us. And lots of fun to be somewhere new for a while. We are very happy about this.

And the wedding countdown: 3 weeks from today!

We're going to Texas!! Kent got the internship. Wahoo! More information is coming...

Monday

Today has definitely been a Monday. To each class I've been to so far there has been something due that I forgot about or wasn't prepared for. I found out I only got a C on my test last week that I had finished feeling really good about. We took a quiz in one class and I only got 4 out of 10. Hm. I haven't unpacked anything yet, and I feel like I need to sleep another day or two. :D

BUT, it is a good day because it is the start of the last three weeks until we are married!!! We got a storage unit today to put some of our stuff in at the end of the semester. It is coming so soon. I'm so excited! And it was so good to have Thanksgiving break to get so much wedding stuff done. We're pretty much ready to go now. It will be here before I know it; it's so very close now!!!

Oh, and Kent has been playing phone tag with the guys from the internship in San Antonio for the past few days, so hopefully he'll catch them soon so we can find out whether he got it or not.

So, here's to the hardest Monday of the year and the excitement of starting the end!!

Black Friday

Until this year I had never been to the day-after-Thanksgiving sales. My parents usually go for a good deal on a toy for Christmas or something, but I had always opted to sleep in. This year, though, I had a bunch of stuff I had to buy for our wedding, and so I went along. We woke up at 2:30 a.m. and then split off to the different stores. Josh went to Al's to get something I needed (what a good brother!), my dad went to Staples, and my mom and I went to Shopko. It was crazy! But also kind of exciting. Some people get really serious about their good deals! We like to get stuff, but we're not mean about it.

We were trying to get a "roboreptile" toy for my brothers and some of my cousins, so my mom directed me to "race to the toys, and grab three roboreptiles. Apparently every other person in line had the same instructions. So as soon as the doors opened it was a race to the back, people knocking over other displays, shoving past each other, pulling pajamas and coats off the racks as they ran past. Exciting! :D Within half a minute (I'm not exaggerating!) all of the roboreptiles were gone and I had to drag my stash back behind the shoe aisle so no one would steal them from me. Anyway, we had a very successful morning altogether, though, and between the four of us we made it to Al's, Shopko, Staples, Kings, Magical Moon Toys, Bath and Body Works, and Home Depot. And then we came back and went to bed again at 8:30 a.m. Fun stuff!

We had a very good Thanksgiving with all our family. It was very, very nice. I can't believe how fast this week of break from school has gone. I haven't even had any time to just sit and relax yet! I've been just as busy, if not even busier, than I am at school. But it has still been refreshing to do something different and spend time with family.

Oh, and Kent won $50 at Costco yesterday because he ate a total of 6 lbs of food!! What a crazy guy. After finishing his last plate and weighing in for the contest he was sick. He's very motivated. I would not throw up just for $50.

One month from today!!!! Hooray!

Wedding Shower

One of my friends and her mom threw me a wedding shower yesterday. It was really nice, and fun to see people from the wards I've been in. We had hot chocolate and doughnuts for the refreshments, and it was more of an open house type shower, with people just coming and going. I had my Blurb book I made for people to sign and I set up pictures and my wedding dress for everyone to look at. It was great, and we got a ton of great presents! Kent said that Teresa would be wanting to see what I got, so here are some pictures for everyone!

Oh, and we went out yesterday and bought a beautiful painting of the Savior to hang up in our apartment. We got it from Seagull Book. It is a Greg Olsen painting called "Gentle Healer" and we got a very large one with a beautiful black frame and a light green mat around it. I love it! I would take a picture of that, too, but it's in bubble wrap and wouldn't show up very well.

My mom and my sister etched "Andersen" into these casserole dishes for us.

My mom made this afgan for us to use.

One of my old Young Women's leaders gave us the most creative gift--a game to play while we eat popcorn, then we can brush our teeth and use the toothbrush holder and then we can read a bedtime story to each other.

Christmas Tree

We were put to work hanging the lighted garland above the cupboards.



It is still before Thanksgiving, and we put up the Wood Family Christmas tree. We have never done it this early before, but since Kent is here now, we decided to go for it!

Our Christmas tree traditions include: putting up the tree, having every person help put the decorations on it, having eggnog to celebrate, dad reading "Mr. Wilaby's Christmas Tree" using all his fun voices and letting us finish the sentences for him, getting matching pajamas my mom makes, then setting up sleeping bags and everyone sleeping in the living room so we can look at the lights. It was so fun to do it and especially to have Kent here! He fits right in with our family it just feels so good to have him here. My little brother, Nathan, pulled me aside yesterday and said, "Becca, did you know that Kent is my brother?" "Really?" "Yes, he's part of our family now." The Christmas music, the lights, the decorations, my family all together and Kent with me. It was one of the best nights ever. I love Christmas!
My dad always "lifts" one of us up high enough to reach the top and put the bow on. We take turns each year, and since Kent has never had a turn, it was his turn this time.Eggnog mustache. Yum!



Oh, and Dan, we tried to take pictures of the Christmasmobile but Christmas lights don't show up very well with my camera. Sorry!

To Thanksgiving!

It's time for Thanksgiving break! Wahoney! I'm so glad. It has been a very, very stressful week. The kind of stress that wakes you up at 4 a.m. and doesn't let you go back to sleep. But I just have one more class today and then we're off!! We'll spend a few days together at my house and then Kent is flying back home to be with his family for Thanksgiving. And we've got a ton of things to do while we are home...like getting a marriage license (I can't believe it is really happening!), address our announcements, have a wedding shower, pay for flowers and other last minute details, and get everything ready for the big day in a few weeks. And we're going to have some fun, too: tonight we're doing our Christmas tree at my house along with the accompanying traditions, and we'll probably take my siblings out for ice cream again, etc. I'll take pictures and let you know what we get done!

Acts of service

Last night a bunch of my roommates from last year got together and we had a "girl's night." It was a blast! I love those girls so much. We had a lot of fun doing some of the things we always enjoyed doing last year when we lived together. I'm so grateful to have friends who love me.

I'm looking for suggestions about what I can do for some of my roommates that I'm trying to show more love towards. Any ideas of little acts of service I can do for them? Kent's suggestion was to polish their shoes like he would do for his mission companions in the MTC. I don't think that would work as well for my roommates...

Today I'm grateful for Christmas lights (Kent put some up in his car! "I'm spreading Christmas joy throughout Rexburg!"), good friends and a fun night, going home for Thanksgiving in five days, and for getting married in 36 days!!

The Interview

Well, I talked to Kent while he's waiting in the airport and he said the interview went really well. Each interview was about 45 minutes long and he just talked with the managers. They just asked him questions about his personality and behavior, etc. He said it seemed like they were just trying to get to know him a little more. That is great, because Kent is so good at making people feel comfortable and in having his personality shine through when he's talking to someone personally. He said he feels really good about it. He also got more information about where he'd be working, the department, his salary, and the situation as far as them helping us find an apartment, paying for housing, etc. We find out in about 2 weeks if he gets the internship. We would go in the summer, probably leave sometime in the middle or end of April and stay until August, so we'd have lots of time to be there and work. Now that the interview is over we've done everything we can; all we can do is wait.

Speaking of waiting, today is the 6 weeks mark!!! For some reason, six weeks feels way less than seven weeks did. It seems like now that we've reached six weeks away, we can actually see that it really is going to happen! We're getting married... Wahoo!

San Antonio!

Early this morning I drove Kent to the Idaho Falls airport and he's now on his way to San Antonio, Texas. Today he's going to be shown around the USAA company and then tomorrow afternoon he has his official interview. We are really hoping we get this internship--it would be such a fantastic opportunity for us to save up a good chunk of money, live somewhere on our own for a while, see somewhere new, etc. Kent says he's not very nervous for the interview, so it's a good thing he's doing it and not me--I was up nearly all night worrying about it. :D But then, I am really good at worrying. I might get an award for my talent someday...

Anyway, I know Kent isn't going to take any pictures of San Antonio while he's there, so I found a few on the internet, and it looks like a gorgeous place!! It would be so fun to live there for a while, and have some fun things to do; to get out of Rexburg for a few months would be great.


Well, we're praying hard for this. Hopefully it all works out! Last night Kent and I figured out our schedules for next semester--our classes and the hours we will be working, and we also made our budget. We're going to be just fine as far as money is concerned, so even if we aren't supposed to get this internship we'll be all right--the Lord is going to take care of us.

We won't find out for a few more weeks if Kent gets the position, but I'll update when I find out how the interview and everything went!