Peace

Shortly after Sloane died, I wanted to go to the temple right away. This was not usual for me. I have always enjoyed the temple, thought it is beautiful, felt good when I am there, and believed in the ordinances that take place there, but I have never really been one of those people that could spend hours upon hours there. There was a large part of me that went because I knew it was the right thing and I knew I should, but not always because I wanted to, even if I was always glad I did afterwards.

But I knew that the temple would be a place that I could feel Sloane with me. This was more than a belief, or a nice idea. I knew it.

I waited a little time before going to the temple to make sure I was healed physically enough to be able to be comfortable while there. We went on Friday en route to Josh's marathon.

While I expected to feel immediate peace and joy, instead I felt sad, but sad in a good way, if you can relate to that. I was so sad not because I didn't feel her presence, but because I did...she was there, but this made me miss her more. This sadness was short-lived, however, and I could spend the majority of the time thinking of her peacefully and in gratitude that we can be together again. It made me so thankful that Josh and I were married in the temple...something that I always wanted, but never fully comprehended the importance of until losing Sloane.

I know she is ok and that she is doing good and important things helping others. She is ok, and so I will keep trying to be ok without her here.

Getting Settled

We had to move again. Or I guess I should say, "got to move again?" Because our first apartment smelled like smoke, Josh complained enough until they let us move to a different apartment. The only smell in this one is paint, and I can handle that. That can be covered by air fresheners and candles, unlike smoke. We had a few guys from our new ward help us transfer everything over and we got it done in just a few hours. Everything is not completely settled here yet (we're still working on picture placements) but it's feeling like home.

a separate dining area!

my favorite spot, with a chair we got for $20!

the couch we finally picked after hours of study and research

a dresser that belonged to somebody's great grandma: $50

I have to brag about some of the great deals we got because we worked so hard to find them and we love everything we found. It's been fun to work on decorating our apartment now that we have so much more space!

One of the best things about getting the couch was that we got to go to Washington DC. We took advantage of the trip by going to the temple there, too. The DC temple is where Josh got endowed and where his family was sealed, and it was my family's temple when I was a little girl, so it has a special place for both of us. It was always the temple I wanted to get married in, but unfortunately it was a bit impractical at the time. But now I just get to go there with my groom whenever we want, so it all works out!

not a great picture, but it proves we were there!

The unfortunate thing about moving is that it is really expensive. We have essentially not had any money (or at least any fun money) since we got here and so our activities have been limited to Netflix, tennis, running, and Scrabble. Not bad, because those are some of my favorite things to do, but my most favorite thing to do has been an impossibility because of our current situation--eating out. I Love eating out. But, Josh's birthday is next week, so he got a free burger at Red Robin. We decided to splurge and it was just as wonderful as I could have imagined. I am just so obsessed. Plus, it was fun because Red Robin was where we went with a bunch of Josh's friends 2 years ago for his birthday. It was our first outing together as an official couple, so it was a nostalgic event as well.

There are so many great restaurants here that I am just itching to go to and try out, I can't wait until we can! The top two on my list are Buffalo Wild Wings and Chipotle, two of my favorite restaurants that I had to go without for far too long while living in Provo.