Gwaduation

It seems like yesterday that I was standing in the South Towne Expo center in front of thousands of people, saying "Gwaduation. Gwaduation is what bwings us togeva today." And only slightly less than three years later, Gwaduation is what brought us together today. I can't even believe that the day has come! So many semesters and so many credit hours... and it's all over. Such a bittersweet moment.

Go UTES!

The Absence

For all of those who use this to keep updated on our lives and for our future kids who will one day read this, I am so very sorry for the multiple-month-long absence. School got crazy, life got crazy, and I took a big long break from most social networking stuff. But! I'm back and hopefully it'll be better than ever! So much has happened and I will attempt to fill in quickly.

The biggest and the newest is our move! We are now in a little house on Edwards Air Force Base, which we swore up and down would never EVER happen. We're city people and this place is far from city-like. However, we love love love it and it's a blessing from Heaven. There's no way to deny that!

The reason for the move: Our break in. We came home from date night one night to find our apartment had been broken into through the window and our tv was taken. A long and more-painful-than-I-expected story later, and we are in our house! The day after our break in, we knew we were moving to base. We both decided on our own that's what would be best and were pretty shocked when the other agreed (I'm tellin ya, we were both anti base.) We found out that the military would get us out of our lease quickly and get us into a house as soon as one was available, but we were told it would take two months. Dreading two more months in that scary place, I didn't think I'd make it. But the house was ready in two WEEKS. An undeniable tender mercy. Then we found out we'd have a ton of help moving, another tender mercy. We found out we got the house on Friday and were packed by Monday and moved on Tuesday. And, magically, everybody that was going to help us was able to get off work early which allowed us to make it to the weigh station in time. Huge tender mercy. And now, we are in a cute little house, which for two people, feels massive and quite lonely, but it's wonderful. I can open the windows and not fear that somebody is eyeing our stuff. I have a garage to park in so I don't fear my car being broken into. All around, just wonderful.

As of right now, I'm workin hard to finish school strong! 20 days, but who's counting?! It's also been decided that I'm going back to school in the fall for one more year! I'm going to get a certificate in Graphic Design and I couldn't be more excited! Here's to hoping it all comes together and works out!

Derek is still in stop training for Air Traffic Control and will be for a few more months probably. Then he'll be directing the air planes that will fly over our house! He's pretty much the best and been such a huge help and support through the tough last month or so.

I know there's more, but I'll post when it comes to mind. I hope to start doing 3 posts a week and to make this blog way better than it's been!

Thank You Cards, Wedding Photos and a Little Bit of the Latelies

First off, I'm proud to announce that thank you cards are {ALMOST} done! Don't worry if you haven't gotten yours yet, they will all {hopefully} be on their way tomorrow! And just a tip for those not yet wed or getting married, do postcards. Cheaper to buy AND to send and you don't have to deal with the hassle of opening the card and then stuffing them. And I think they're pretty cute! Here's a pic of ours:

I apologize for their sideways-ness, I cant figure out how to switch orientation.

Second, thanks to the absolutely wonderful Jana Glass, our wedding photos have been edited and are now in our long awaiting hands 4 months later. My beautiful photographer sadly passed away two short months after our wedding from a quick but tough battle with cancer. From the few short days I spent with her, I knew she was a beautiful person and I wish well to her tiny little family. She did an incredible job and Jana, as always, is an amazing editor. Here's some of my favorites:

And third, while there are a few more posts in the works with more detail, I needed to post an update on the latelies.....

Derek has been playing on the basketball team for the tower on base and has a blast! He's assistant coach even though he may be the only one that knows that. We're excited to both be playing on the volleyball team next month! A perk of military life.  Derek is currently stuck in stop training while he waits for those ahead of him in the training schedule to finish Local training. Next up! Directing airplanes in the sky! I'm so proud of him and watching him in the tower is the cutest thing. He lights up whenever there is a plane and he can explain to me what is going on and how everything works. I'm glad my hubby has a job he loves. It makes the Air Force worth it.

We have cute new friends in our ward and they play racquetball multiple times a week, and through them, we have found our new hobby! Derek is great at it, but then again he is terrific at every sport, and I on the other hand.... nobody wants to be on my team because we lose... every game. It's not my fault my hand eye coordination is missing. But it's still fun!

I opened up an etsy shop at the beginning of this month. It doesn't have much on it and it doesn't have a plan yet, but when I made a cute craft for our apartment, Derek told me I should sell my stuff, so I began that process. I have made one sale so far and I was so ecstatic! But I've actually done more outside of etsy than I have inside just in the 3 weeks I've had it open! If you need any cute decorations done, I am your girl and I would love to do it! My dream job is to make DIY decorations for weddings. I want to have a company, of probably just me, that brides can come to with their colors and ideas and I will make it all for them! One day Ness, one day.... I'm also learning how to sew which so far has been a blast. My mom helped me through a few small projects growing up, but I'm teaching myself off of what she did and other people as well and hopefully will be able to be good at it! On top of all of that, school is back in full swing for the last and final semester. I almost cried when I realized that it was my last first day of school, but its a good thing and I will love it I know.

And that's all for the latelies I think! I promise I'll be better at posting (if at least for myself)

The Surprise Scoreboard

We, The Kramer's, are pretty competitive people...always. It's not in Derek's nature to just "let me win", although, he will on occasion do just that if I "jokingly" get upset. But hands down, Derek wins the Surprise competition. 

Jenessa-1

Derek- 6

And these aren't measly little surprises either. These are the kinds of surprises that take between an hour to a month to pull off. 

J's Surprises:

• The spur of the moment Cali trip. Right after D moved to Cali, I decided to jump on a plane not even 5 days later and with the help of his best friend's family, I was sitting on the couch when he showed up. Best reaction ever.

D's Surprises:

• Before we even met, he sent flowers to my doorstep
• Instead of coming home on the 17th of May like planned, he came home on the 15th and had my best buds take me shopping. He popped out of Restoration Hardware at City Creek.
• The proposal was a 100% surprise... 
• He has this thing about telling me he still has an hour left of work and then he walks in a minute later. It will give me a heart attack one day and this should count for hundreds of surprises but my competitive side won't allow for that. 
• On one of these said occasions, his mom called and needed something from me, but I didn't answer right away. Derek had just said he had to go up for training which takes about an hour. When I called his mom back, she said she had already spoken to him. A few minutes later, he walks in with flowers
• The most recent one? I flew to Utah on December 17th for a week with the fam and friends while D still had to work. He was supposed to get there on the 23rd (Sunday). Saturday morning, I sat down at the table for breakfast and while speaking to my mom, the front door opens and quickly closes. He ran through the living room, through the opposite end of the kitchen and hugged me from behind! I was so shocked! He knew for weeks that he would be coming earlier and he kept it quiet! The previous night, I called him and asked him to look for my temple recommend in my temple bag. He was in Vegas at the time and pretended to look for it and not find it. For all he knew, it could have been in there! He's lucky it wasn't ;)

J-1

D-6 +

Derek, you SNEEEEAKY husband!!!

It Was a _____________ Holiday

It was a.....

Utah 

{We spent all of the Christmas holiday with our families in Utah and it was so wonderful}

Primary Children's Hospital

{ Right up until Christmas, my new nephew Trey was in Primary's so we spent a lot of time up there with him, but he luckily was able to come home in the nick of time!}

Tucker

{Since Trey was at Primary's, we spent a lot of time watching my older nephew Tucker, who has had my heart since day one. I love that boy!}

Getting Hair done

{I got my hair done twice due to the amount of regrowth I had. Turns out Cali isn't good for my hair, or maybe it's the prices.....}

Choir Concert

{Derek's dad sings in a big Choir in Salt Lake City. And so does the little girl I used to nanny. When we realized that they were singing in the EXACT SAME concert, we had to go. And it was wonderful. Best concert I have ever been to.}

Family

{We toggled between both families, which was fun, and also a tough thing to do. It's hard to keep things balanced with so much going on}

Skyping

{We skyped Derek's little brother Kendrick who is on his mission in Thailand! I finally got to meet him. Skype is a funny way to meet people and I did a lot of it last year;)}

Movies

{We watched tons of movies and we received tons of movies. Hands down, we are movie people}

Watch

{We both got each other watches this christmas, we both were in need of them}

Boogie Board

{D got me my very own boogie board! Now we don't have to share and good thing since I have my new wetsuit to use!}

Upgrade to Iphone 5

{we've been loving siri}

New Toms

{It was time. And they're gray with white polka dots. Perfect in every way}

New Converse

{When D got into town, we realized that he brought slippers, basketball shoes, and church shoes. He was convinced he could wear his slippers the whole week, until I reminded him that it snows in Utah. And boy did it snow. Good thing we went out and bought him new shoes!}

Cold

{We used two space heaters at D's parents house and had to buy our very own when we got home to Cali!}

Seeing a Good friend after his mission

{Welcome home Russ! It was good to see you!}

Les Mis and Zupas 

{Having only met them once, we went on a double with Kylee and Alijandro. And they are the cutest:) We will be friends with them for life and I just know it}

Wendy's and Zoolights and drawing on windows

{We went out with Chris and Kailey and we went to Wendy's and lucky we did because they had discounts to Zoolights and it was so much fun! I didn't expect Zoolights to be that great but it was! After, we sat in the car and chatted and began drawing pictures on the window! It was perfect because seconds after our pictures were drawn, the windows would fog back up and it was like a clean slate. An hour of picture drawing took place}

Skiing

{The McCaleb family is a skiing family and if you're going to be a part of it, you must ski! Therefore, it was time to teach the hubby. He did great and it was so fun to be back on the mountain!}

Ontario

{We drove back to Cali and not even 24 hours later, we were off to Ontario for our New Year's celebration and to meet Bryce's new fiance!}

Going to the Single's New Years Eve event

{After finding out we did this, my sister says "You do realize you are married right? You don't have to keep going to the singles activities anymore." Well said Bay, well said. But when everybody your age is headed there, that's where you go. And it was a blast. And we weren't the only married ones. We went to Dave and Busters and they have, by far, the coolest arcade games ever}

A dipped New Year's Eve Kiss

{My first New Year's Eve Kiss (at 21 and while married) needed to be a grand one and the hubby made sure it was! It was dipped and it was amazing. And it was in front of all the singles in Southern California. It was the best}

Big Yummy BBQ

{We ended this amazing holiday season with a big BBQ at the Miller's and the food was amazing. It was then back home and back to reality}

..... Holiday :)

And it was wonderful.

A Birthday Surprise Unlike Any Other

Last week was all about sweats, sweets, and studying. Finals kicked my butt and I didn't do much other than preparing for them. My last final was set for Friday morning, so Thursday night was spent studying and studying and studying. Finally around 11 I decided we had better go to bed. As we were getting ready for bed, we heard a loud pounding on our door. Derek ran to see who it was, but the peephole was covered! The pounding and our freak outs continued. We had no idea who it was. Finally, my sister called Derek's phone, then mine, then Derek's again and the thought jumped into my head "MY SISTER IS HERE! HOW IS MY SISTER HERE?!" Derek, clueing in, told me there was no way she could be, but opened the door anyway and there they were. My mom and little sister. Were outside my apartment. At 11 pm. Derek hadn't realized they were coming Thursday night instead of Friday night, which helped with the surprise I guess. Then they informed me that they came because they were taking me to Disneyland for my birthday! Twenty-one shmuney-one. I'll always be a kid at heart and going to Disney for my birthday was beyond great. The weather was beautiful, the air was clean and crisp, and all the Christmas decorations warmed my heart.
My family stayed until Sunday so they could eat cake and sing happy birthday to me, but then they were off and I spent a great relaxing day with the cute hubby I've been so blessed to have. They spoiled me rotten, a sewing machine, cute clothes, a super nifty breakfast in bed tray, and plane tickets for San Francisco {hopefully}. I am seriously the luckiest girl alive to have such a wonderful and thoughtful husband and to have a family that would fly out for a weekend just to be with me when I turned 21. My heart is so full and I feel so blessed:)

Thanksgiving, Utah, and chasing firefighters?

Now that finals are over, birthday is past, and Christmas shopping is done, I finally have down time to catch up on this thing! I realized I never blogged about our Thanksgiving trip, which is a crazy big bummer because I won't remember everything. But here's a run down.

We drove to Utah with the Pugh's.. one of the funnest car rides ever. Got to Utah at 4 in the am. 

{ate some yummy breakfast, played a little farkle, and then we met my new nephew Treyson}

...Had a giant Thanksgiving meal with my family and watched Lincoln after. Good movie, but so boring if not in the right mood. Which I wasn't. I slept.....

Went shopping and spent time with the fam

Went on fun doubles with great friends, ice skating is always a hit and the candy shop windows at City Creek make you feel like you're in an old Christmas movie. And we never thought the game Sorry! could be so fun.

But... Saturday held the real adventure. Since we hadn't been able to see Derek's brother Chad in awhile, we decided to go visit him in Park City. He works for the Park City Fire District and we took him to lunch. When he goes to lunch, all of his fellow fire guys come with in case of an emergency. We joked about how cool it would be if there was one. So we are sitting outside at Cafe Rio when their radio goes off about a lady in a Michael's. They're right there so they leave their food, run and jump in their truck, and head off. Derek's mom noticed that it didn't go too far, so without really cleaning much up, the in-laws were off to watch their boy in action! Derek and I quickly followed them and watched the whole scene: the ambulance, the stretchers, everything. All while feeling like it was something we shouldn't be watching;)

Being back home with family was the greatest part of the whole weekend. It's amazing just how much more you appreciate family and home when you're away from it for awhile. I'll count it as a blessing.