Jim's updated site!

Hey everyone, check out Jim's updated website that he has for us! It is so awesome! I sure do love having him around he is a great guy and you have to admit he is talented, I could never create my own website that looked as good as this... http://www.shakespearfamily.com/JLShakeme/Welcome.html

Goal

This weekend was such an inspiring one!

Jim was able to go home on Thursday night with Ryan and the boys so they could get up early and go fishing at Barker Reservoir. Apparently the fishing up there was no better than what we had up in the Uintahs. They had fun though and that's the important thing anyway.
I had to work on Friday and then was able to help one of my friends with her shopping. I sure do enjoy helping others when the chance comes and I know that they Lord provides ways for us to be in the right place at the right time! Then I headed on home to Cannonville where I was able to spend time with my great family. It was such a busy weekend we had the 1/2 marathon and the bear festival and the Smith reunion. busy busy.

Anyway... the reason for this post is that I now have a new goal. I was so inspired by my cousin Barbie running the 1/2 marathon that I am going to start preparing for next years race! I am a little nervous but I am going to do it! I think being physically fit is so important and I am much happier if I am getting the exercise that I need. When I got my gallbladder out the surgeon told me that every person should get their heart rate up to 150 for at least 30 minutes a day. I have been struggling with being tired all of the time and he told me with the exercise he recommended, more iron in my diet I would be happier, more fit and I would have more energy!

Anybody that wants to run with me next year, you are so invited to train and then run the race with me!
So here's to a healthier and all around better lifestyle!

Uintah Camping Trip

Last Wednesday Jim and I headed out for the Uintah Mountains. It was a very needed, relaxing trip. This annual camp out is usually just the boys and I am proud to say that I was the third Shakespear girl to ever attempt camping with the tough Shakespear Boys, and I made it! I came back with out too much damage done. There was one rough night, but that's just me learning how my body reacts to certain foods now that I no longer have a gallbladder or appendix.

It was a bit cold up there in the mountains, we were up 10,500 feet and the air is much thinner there than I am used to.

 That is frost on the ground!

I must say that the main reason I love camping ever so much is that it gets me closer, I feel, to all of Gods wonderful creations. I so enjoy seeing the hand of my loving heavenly father in my everyday life, and don't get me wrong I can see those things here in the 'BIG' city of Cedar, but to be out where there is almost no sign of man or the harm we do to this earth is such a spiritual experience for me. I always get a re-confirmation that God does love me and that he has made this beautiful world for us to live in.

Here are some of my great pictures from the trip.

That's Franz fixing up his fishing pole

I loved this flower! It is so Brilliant!

 Beautiful little waterfall

Chepeta Lake

My Mountain Man!

House Work

Jim and I are currently living in a house very close to campus which my parents bought back in November last year. It is such a wonderful place to live and we love it ever so much...except... we have house guests every weekend. My Parents. Of course it is so great that we get to see them so often the problem is that we get put to work on our nice, relaxing weekends. Its a huge project that they had invested in and its going to be an even better place to live when we are all finished.  My dad, of course does most of the work, but that's okay because most of it he does while sitting down with a BIG pepsi in his hand, you may ask how this is possible... well he owns a cement business in Cannonville,UT and he has lots of fun toys like this one.

He Loves doing work, especially when large equipment is involved! I love my daddy!

Shan doing some demolition downstairs.

Jim digging for a water line, dad in the background doing the easy digging.

 This is where the diesel tank sat before we took it out.

This is where the stairs will be...eventually.

So far we have dug out new, huge downstairs window wells and we have huge windows for both of the downstairs bedrooms. We dug up a diesel tank that was on the south side of the house and then put all the dirt back where the tank was. we dug up a water line and a gas line and replaced them, dug a ginormous hole in our front yard where eventually there will be stairs that lead down to the basement and then cut out a door to the basement as well. So that is what our weekends have been full of for the last little while. 

Of course with lots of help from all the family. 

They hope to have renters by the fall, but I don't know if they are going to be quick enough for that since we only have 6 more weekends till fall semester starts. We are still going to be replacing all the water lines in the house and putting another water heater in and putting carpet down and painting the walls and making a closet for one of the rooms. It;s just a big job to do. I will sure be glad when it is all done. 

 

They are hoping to get a married couple to live down there, so if anyone is looking for a place to live in the fall possibly or next spring, they hope to get $500 a month, just let me know.

21st birthday

I can't believe that I am 21! Not that it really changed much in my life but, holy cow 21 is getting up there. Okay so not really. Jim and I got up early on the 16th and made our way to Zion National Park, it was so great! We went on a hike that I have never been on before, and Margaret informed me that it is mentioned in The Undaunted by Gerald Lund anyway, it is called Hidden Canyon. It was kind of a HOT day but once we got into the canyon I was almost... no I was... needing my jacket. It was actually COLD in the canyon. Jim loved that part. The neatest thing was that there were ferns and all sorts of fauna growing on the walls of this canyon and it was just so spectacular! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who was going to Zion.

The other exciting this is that my wonderful husband gave me a sweet little kitten to me. I believe we are going to call him Piper because he is always putting his two cents in, every time we talk he has got to as well. He is the cutest darn thing, I love him already, and the saddest thing is leaving him when I have to go to work. I guess I will get used to it though.. sigh...

I will put pictures on this post when I get around to it, life is SOO busy these days (do I sound dramatic? I was trying really hard for that, you know poor me I have to work... haha)

Again its taken me a while to get back to blogging, but now I actually have some time to spare. Finals are over for me, Jim has two more and we are so excited for the summer.  We both have jobs on campus at SUU. Jim is working in the IT department fixing all sorts of computers and I will be in the library fixing oral histories and labeling books.  It should be a great summer... if it would ever come... it is still so windy and is suppose to snow tomorrow!

About two weeks ago Chelsea Lin (my little sister) had her junior prom.  Jim and I went to it, as does every one else in our cute little towns.  She was by far the most beautiful girl there, of course I am a little bias. :) These are some of her pictures. 

 I finally got Jim's camera from him and was able to get some more pictures of our honeymoon.

                                                     

            Jim loves these glasses!

                         This was our last stop before heading home.

I love seaport village!

      We went on a carriage ride, I have always wanted to go on one and we got the most amazing driver.  He told us all sorts of stories and at the end of the ride he told us to 'do that thing' (kiss) so he could take a picture of us AND he let me feed his horse a carrot!! It was such a blast!

            Just before we left seaport village, we had to go on a carousel ride, it was so fun!!

Livin' the Married Life!

I am so SLOW when it comes to blogging! I just spend to much time on facebook, when I should be spending it on here! :)

Jim and I traveled to sunny Californian for our honeymoon. It was so great! It was perfect weather and we were able to see many of the people and places where he served his mission. We started out in 'the desert' (jim called it) Palm Springs, and Palm Desert area. We arrived there in the evening and Jim was confident that he would know where he was going when he got there, so of course he didn't look up exactly where it was. Yes, we had the address and we did get lost! Or so I thought, we were in the right vicinity the whole time... just trying to find a hotel called 'The Dunes'. We probably drove past it 4 or 5 times before we called and they told us that the hotel was located INSIDE the country club we kept driving around! :)  It was The Best hotel/country club that I have EVER stayed in!

We were able to visit the Redlands temple while we were there, this was the temple that Jim went to on his mission! It is so pretty!

While in palm desert we were able to see Daniel, who Jim taught the gospel to Daniel was such a sweet man, you could just tell that he was so thankful for Jim and his companion Elder Giles and for the greatness they were able to introduce him to; he got a little emotional after we took the picture and left in a hurry, not wanting us to see him cry.  It was so great to see the effect that my Jimmy had on this man's life! It was such a good experience for me to see that!

In Palm Springs there is an aerial tram way that goes to the top of a granite mountain. It was a fun experience, but unfortunately I got a little sick on the way up. It was still really neat to see over the whole 'desert'. Jim loved it!

On our way back down the mountain, Jim put the car into 1st gear and... Stalled the car! So there we are just gaining speed down this terribly steep mountain. (Its grade was probably comparable to 'the dump' at home.) Oh and not to mention that there was a stream of cars behind us! Needless to say I was just a little nervous! Jim started the car back up while we were still speeding down the road, and apparently that was not so great for our little Buick! So we drove to a strip mall not to far away and let the car rest while we wandered and looked at all the over priced merchandise, including a great hat shop!!

The green top hat is totally Jim!

Thankfully the car was just fine (thanks to some good advice from 3 great dads, including a little divine intervention) So thankful that we were safe!

We were also able to visit three other families that Jim knew on his mission and also the Cryder's home where Jim spent his first Christmas in the mission field. It was so fun for Jim to be back there, and the elders were even home! Jim was able to see Elder Ottens, who he trained.

 

Casarrubia's,

 

 Fajardo's,

We visited the Sanchez family but I don't know where Jim put those pictures. :) 

After our great time in Palm desert we headed to San Diego where we spent the rest of our fabulous vacation! We didn't do anything big while we were there but we had a blast. I got us lost at least a dozen times, its a good thing Jim is a patient man! We visited the Birch Aquarium, Old Town, Seaport Village and spent a ton of time driving from place to place because of my mad map reading skills (as I mentioned before).

We were so excited to be able to go to the San Diego temple! It is my favorite temple and Jim loves it as well. We wanted to get married there, but decided it was too far away for family to travel. Family is what matters most to both of us, so we settled for doing a session and coincidentally our friend Carla Hayden(Morgan now) was getting married in the temple. They were the first people we saw when we walked in the doors! It was so neat! They invited us into their sealing, it was so amazing!   Life is kind of crazy like that, Heavenly Father never ceases to surprise me with the most comforting, and wonderfully amazing experiences like this one! We spent nearly the whole day in the temple... and.... it was by far my most favorite experience out of all that we did on our trip!