HOME

My sister and I joke at times that sometimes, songs are the only things that explain how we're feeling 

and get us through. Without searching for these songs, they find their way to us and our

 views on the situation are changed. 

Moving to Cali has been tough for me. 

It's not where I grew up, it's new and scary, I don't know anybody, and it's not.... 

home

This song did just what a lot of other songs do for me, but bigger. It found it's way to me through my sister of course... most do. 

HOME by Phillip Phillips 

{ Hold on, to me as we go }

As we roll down this { unfamiliar road }

And although this wave is stringing us along

Just know you’re not alone

Cause I’m going to make this place your home

{ Settle down, it'll all be clear }

Don't pay no mind to the demons

{ They fill you with fear }

{ The trouble it might drag you down }

If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you’re not alone

Cause I’m going to make this place your home

Ooo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo. oo-oo-oo-oo 

Aaa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa. aa-aa-aa-aaaaaa 

Settle down, it'll all be clear

Don't pay no mind to the demons

They fill you with fear

The trouble it might drag you down

If you get lost, you can always be found

Just know you’re not alone

Cause I’m going to make this place your home

Ooo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo. oo-oo-oo-oo 

Aaa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa. aa-aa-aa-aaaaaa 

"Home is wherever I am with you" 

Wherever my cute Hubby is, that's where home really is. And he's here and we're both here together. We only have each other and that's all we really need. It's tough being away but when that gets us down and when we fear for what's ahead, we have each other. We have our cute little apartment and it's home. It's where we are together. And we're never alone. 

Just know you're not alone

Cause I'm going to make this place your home

Today I am grateful....

I thought about doing the 22 days of gratefulness thing, but I'm always grateful for the following things and I knew I'd be terrible at doing it every day. It would have ended up as one day of gratefulness here and another day there, a total of two days in my 22 and that's not even cool.

So today, I'm grateful for a lot of things.

1) For my amazing husband. He amazes me everyday with just how much he loves me. The other day, we were driving home and had a long way still to go and it was getting late. I started to cry and I mean really cry about some stuff and he pulled all the way off the freeway, into a parking lot, and gave me a huge hug. All he said was "Let's go for a walk". He knows exactly how to cheer me up and he never delays doing it. He makes me laugh and everyday I'm reminded why this guy is the one for me. So today, I'm grateful for the love of a man I don't deserve.

2) I'm grateful for my amazing mother. One who checks up on me every single day and knows just what to say to pick me up and get me going again. One who has always been the best example and has never let me down. So today, I'm grateful for my hero.

3) I'm grateful for my amazing, strong sisters. My two older sisters have been through so much this year and they've just pushed right on through. And for my little sister who has also been through way more than a young girl should and who always has a smile and a positive outlook. She always knows how to make me laugh and I love her more than anything. So today, I'm grateful for my role models.

4) I'm grateful for my Tucker. It always brightens my day to hear his little voice over the phone. The random stories and songs he has for me and just the sound of my name are enough to make my heart burst.

5) I'm grateful for the wonderful advances in medicine and technology. So today, I'm grateful that my new nephew Treyson is doing so well and I can't wait to meet the next little guy to steal my heart.

6) I'm grateful for all of my inherited nieces and nephews and for the smiles they bring to my face. I've never met more loving and awesome kids and I'm so glad I can call them mine now!

7) I'm grateful for my wonderful in laws. It's not often that you hear somebody liking their in laws, but I love mine. I love how much they care and how they're always willing to help. So today, I'm grateful for family.

8) I'm grateful for the Air Force. For the free amazing job training and for helping us get by. School and work at the same time? Can't get better than that!

9) I'm grateful for my new calling as Primary Chorister and for the constant reminder of how simple the gospel really is. The sound coming from those little voices and hearing their answers, prayers, and testimonies, is another testimony to me that this church really is true. So today, I'm grateful for the weekly heart warmings.

10) I'm grateful for our cute little apartment. It's not big, but it's big enough. It's not decorated, but the potential is so fun. It's perfect for us and I love every inch of it. So today, I'm grateful for a place of our own that we can call home.

11) Although I often say the opposite, I'm grateful for our move out here to California. It's been tough and I've been homesick, but it's helped me to see who I really am and who my friends really are. I'm grateful for our little area that has basically everything.. minus Corner Bakery and Sweet Tooth Fairy, but I guess Panera makes up for it:)

12) I'm grateful for my friends, the ones who are genuinely there and the ones that will be my best friends for life.

13) I'm grateful for school, for the things I'm learning and the fact that it gives me something to do. On top of that, I'm grateful to be graduating in just a few short months.

14) I'm grateful for my Maggie Mazda and although she's having some troubles, she's been a great little car and with a few little fixes she'll be running great again.

15) I'm grateful for the Gospel and for prayer and scripture study. I know that without all of these, I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be happy.

Today, and everyday, I'm grateful for my family and for my life. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Dear Freshman Jenessa

Dear Freshman Jenessa, 

Yesterday, you registered for your last semester of college, and I've just gotta tell you that light at the end of the tunnel has appeared and it's beautiful. I'm pretty proud of the way things have turned out and I think you will be too, but you'll need some advice: 

College isn't as scary as it seems at first. It's big, but not too big for you.

It's ok to walk around alone, everybody does it. It's like the opposite of high school, it's cooler to walk by yourself. 

Don't take the Gender Studies class you're thinking about for spring. It's not what it seems and the teacher doesn't like you and trust me, you won't like her. 

Do your research on the arts and science degrees now. Avoid taking a year of Spanish that will just go to waste, you don't remember any of it later anyway.

Quit your job at the car wash and take all your classes on campus. Online classes are great, but before you know it, you'll be moving to Cali and that's all you can take. Enjoy on campus classes while you can. 

Watch your lectures and write your papers before the day before they are due. It seems great to have a few days without homework because you'll save it for later, but it's not great. It's just.... not. 

Move out when the opportunity arises, it'll be the best thing you've ever done.

Date a lot, but don't worry about how you feel about them if you don't feel much for them. And don't date them more than once. You'll find somebody a little bit later down the road and you'll feel silly for all that wasted time and energy. He's the one for you and you'll know it hands down. He shows you everyday just how true that statement is. 

When you feel ridiculous for taking 16-18 credit hours a semester, don't. It's not that much homework and the ability to graduate after just 3 easy years and no summer semesters feels fantastic.

Reading the material and watching the lectures really does wonders for your scores on tests. Sounds ridiculous that I have to tell you this, but... I do.

Go to institute, you need it. Plus the free parking pass is fantastic. You don't realize this until spring semester, so fix that. 

Be open and social, you meet some of the most wonderful people. Join the LDS sorority, also another one of those "best decisions you ever made" kind of deals. 

It's going to be tough and you may hate it at times, but these next 3 years are going to be some of the best in your life. Enjoy them and get the most out of them. You'll learn more about yourself and learn to love yourself more than you had ever imagined. 

Love, 

Senior Jenessa

My Mommy Would Be Proud

When we got engaged, we decided that I'd be the one to pay the bills and figure out all of the finances. And being the nerd that I am, I got really excited about it and bought a budget tracker, filing box, and a bunch of other stuff. Well, those things didn't do the trick. When the bills came in, I'd tell Derek to throw them on my desk and I'd file them later. And it never happened and then to find the paperwork and stuff for each company was a nightmare. We needed a new system. 

And this is what I found!

It has been amazing and the nerd in me loves the organization. 

I just bought dividers with pockets, printed out some calendars, bought a simple hole punch and now everything is in one spot, in order, and nothing gets confused. 

I pretty much followed exactly what she did and it's wonderful. I'm proud. 

This lovely binder is my next project to tackle:)

PHOTO BOMB

Photo Bomb: n. a post containing pictures that aren't worthy of their own post, but still worthy of a post either way.

 Normally, we share drinks. You know it's good when we get TWO XL slurpees. The raspberry lemonade slurpee from am/pm? AMAZING

 Voted! For the first time ever! And felt really cool being able to mail it in! A plus to living in Cali with a Utah license

 K this place is fantastic! Bay and I have loved it since the days when dad lived in Arizona. And a few days prior to this, I found one here in Cali and I screamed in excitement! The sign says Pick up Stix, but they lie. It's Pick up Chicks.... and I'm not totally sure why. Plus, hanging out with this cute girl is my favorite thing ever. She came down and we hung out with her by ourselves for a night and we loved it! My sister is cuter than yours!

 I made pizza rolls from pinterest and they were fantastic! And the pizza sauce that we made was even better!

 We bought a magic bullet and I'm in love. You just through some frozen fruit, OJ, and honey flavored greek yogurt in and you have yourself your own mini smoothie with a handle and lid with a straw cut out! And admittedly, he's better at making them. I must not have enough arm power, or maybe it's just the hubby touch?

 Cinnamon roll pancakes! To die for! But I need to work on the frosting a little, it was a little sweet.

I could probably do a post on just my blond moments post marriage, but you'd be here all day. I got our little dish scrubber stuck in a cup. And couldn't get it out. Remember that hubby touch? It's real. The hubster got it out in 2 seconds. With a knife. Who thinks of that?!

 We had been so excited to see this movie since the very first preview! And it didn't disappoint! Who needs big people movies? This takes the cake for my favorite movie this year! But "Here Comes the Boom" and "Hotel Transylvania" come close! And don't pay attention to the ridiculous movie prices in this state. I miss the 8 dollar movie tickets for sure.

I died over this picture, because I scream every single time! And lately, they've been extra cruel! They pop open right as I'm moving the wrapper away! They don't even give me time to build up my courage to twist it! They just pop and I just scream!

 We made crunchwraps and they were wonderful! Way better than the fast food version! Pinterest is my fav

 One afternoon, I decided I'd get all of my groceries in one trip and have dinner ready when he got home. I took a long time finding my recipes, writing out my list, and getting ready. I was stoked! It was such a productive day, until I walked out to a dead car!! Being married, we usually take his car because it's a stick and he likes it better. So the last time we used my car was like 4 days prior, and I had left one of the little lights on next to the sun visors. DEAD.

 Hubby came to the rescue and watching him fix it was so fun:) I love having a hubby that can fix things! Huge blessing!

Isn't he cute?:)

Ghetto ice rinks, pumpkins, and a few wings= Date nights!

Last weekend, we were missing home a little bit. So Derek had the fantastic idea of going ice skating for our date! I was so excited that I could barely handle it! We drove up to the little place and there were zilch cars in the parking lot and they were blasting the weirdest oldies music we'd ever heard. We gathered the courage to walk in and we walked into one of the most ghetto places we've ever stepped foot in. And turns out "Ice Skating" here is equivalent to rollerblading. When the lights went down and the disco ball turned on and the 90's pop songs boomed through the place we felt like we were right back at home... at classic skating haha! It was a blast having a little dance party.. by ourselves... on rollerblades... to 90's pop. 

We found the cutest little pumpkin patch just one major street away from our apartment. And they had a mighty fine military discount which made it just that much greater!

Derek has wanted to go to this place for the longest time so we decided we would! And I loved it! A dinner of just buffalo wings? Why not?! It was great!

"Nin Bum Exclamation Point"

Nin Bum Exclamation Point.

It's like "I love you"

But upside down. 

And it's how we feel:)

Post from the Past: Fall Break 2012!

Fall Break!! A college student's favorite part of fall semester... or at least it's mine.
My cute roommate (pre-marriage:)), flew down from Utah for a few days and we had a blast! Love you Ti-Money!

First stop? HOLLYWOOD! We'd never been and we loved it! 

 Shirley Temple's handprints

 Isn't she cute?

 Celebrity handprints in front of Chinese Theater, for the life of me I cannot remember if it had an actual name!

 Walk of fame! The star sidewalks went on forever!!

And then it was the Santa Monica Pier! So Fun!

 This was a trapeze school! I will do this before I die!

 Tiff was sitting under this sign and could not figure out why everyone was taking pictures above her head! Ha!

 We're lovers of the beach!

 Cute and yummy burger place!

Absolutely loved having her here! The next day we just laid low and then drove to the airport!

Oh! I forgot to mention the most epic night of bowling ever! The first game, I only missed two pins. TOTAL.  That's two pins in all 10 frames people. It was fantastic and I promise it was luck and it will never happen again!

I was "S"... It stands for "Sessa", that's what the Neph calls me:)

On Friday night, Derek's best friend and his siblings came over for a night of pizza, crafts, dessert, and NBA basketball tournaments on the XBOX.

 My craft for the night: Before

 After:)

 The beginning of the yummiest dessert ever! Baked SMORES!

They were phenomenal, let me tell you!

Then, Saturday morning, Bryce was my hero. He got us tickets to the Utah vs UCLA game! I didn't have to miss every single Utah game afterall and I was so happy! Even though I did have to be a traitor and wear UCLA colors, I snuck in my Utah necklace and my red toms! 

 See my necklace?!:)

The gang- They're so great:)

And to top a fantastic break off, the hubby took me on a cute, Cute, CUTE date!

We went to the Santa Monica Pier and rode the Ferris Wheel! He knows how much I love them!

He's going to make me tell you that he took this, so I'll just tell you now:) He took this

Wonderful fall break with wonderful people! Spring break has tough competition!