4 years and counting...lol

May 28, 2005, Manti Temple

Amongst all our moving craziness, Darin and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary on May 28th. Well I wouldn't say celebrated, Darin and his parents arrived in the big Penske truck, and Nash, myself and my parents arrived by flight on the 28th. By the time we all were reunited we were exhausted!

Here in Pennsylvania you often see billboards that read "What have you done for your marriage today?" So I would like to do a little tribute today to our marriage and remind myself of how lucky I am to be married to such an awesome man! (this is going to be a long one!)

I met Darin on January 1, 2005 around 1:30am in Orem, Utah. I had moved to Orem to teach the Emotional Disorder Unit at Canyon View Junior High (which is around the corner from Darin's home). I originally accepted a job in Logan, but felt strongly not to sign my contract, and low and behold this other job in Orem came about and I felt positive about the move. (8 kids sounds better than 25 on a caseload...right!)

I spent that Christmas in Blanding with my family, and originally planned to stay for New Years. However, I have a wise father that urged me to go back to Orem before a HUGE storm hit...so I did. Darin spent Christmas with his family in Grand Junction, they too decided to come home early because of the storm.

On December 31, 2004 my good friend Marjean came down from SLC to spend New Years with me and my friends in Orem. We had no clue what we were planning on doing. We knew there were some parties in the ward so we decided to party hop. The final party was the best with the most people, including my crush ENRIQUE!! So we began a good game of IDIOT, this is game where if you lose you are labeled the IDIOT and have to do something stupid. I never lose, however this night I did and I had to to do somersaults in front of everyone. In the middle of one of my beautiful somersaults Darin walked in. He had been on a date in SLC with girl name Betsy that went pretty much sour and he decided to come home early. He remembered a party that an old friend was having and decided to stop by. It was LOVE at first sight for Darin...haha, he liked my somersault skills...lol. He joined the game and then joined my friends afterwards for some major sledding in the snow. My friend Jennifer had a huge crush on him so we continued to invite him to hang out with us. After awhile I started to feel a strong force (seriously) towards Darin and I developed feeling for him. (it was okay with Jennifer of course) Darin felt the same and I invited him over one Sunday to watch "The Other Side of Heaven" and basically we were together ever since.

Darin at this point was beginning his interview process for medical school. This put a niche in our relationship because I had a strong belief you should date a person for a year before you marry them. We had some long talks about long distance dating and came to the conclusion that it wasn't for us. So we decided to squash my ideas, and either get married or break up completely.

In March we took a trip together to Kirksville, Missouri for one of Darin's interviews. It was close to Nauvoo so we decided to do some sight seeing too. I was really hoping Darin was going to ask me to marry me on this trip. In fact I wanted him to give me the ring right here in this picture. Instead he gave me a nail ring from the Blacksmith shop.
Soon after we made a trip to Blanding for some four wheeling fun into comb ridge. A top my favorite rock looking over the valley, Darin began asking me how I would like him to propose and where. Thinking he didn't have the ring with him or wasn't really going to propose I told him right here and I continued to tell him everything he should say to me...haha. Darin got on one knee and I laughed said "heck no" and walked away from him. Then when I turned around he really did have a ring in his hand and he was proposing! Boy did I feel foolish. However, he would not let me wear the ring at that point because he had not spoken to my father yet. Later that day we decided to go the Monticello temple. Before leaving for the temple, Darin asked my dad to talk to him. My mom was up-stairs drilling me on what Darin was talking to my dad about. Once she found out the whole town of Blanding knew! lol. Darin gave me the ring to wear in the celestial room of the temple. (he asked for a kiss but I was embarrassed by all the people I knew in the room...to this day I have phobia of kissing in the temple...lol)

And so we decided to get married, after knowing each other only 5 months. The original wedding date was June 11th. But Darin decided to do the ISAC program at Western University which started the first week of June. So we moved the wedding. I finished teaching on May 27th, we were married on May 28th in the Manti Temple, we spent 2 night in Park City and then packed up our things and moved to California.

Our engagement pictures were taken by Brooke Pehrson Photography (btw Brooke look how far you have come! These pictures were when you first started.) Our announcements were made by my Aunt JoAnna who I give complete credit to helping me learn Photoshop. And our wedding pictures/bridals were all taken by Jamie Broadbent Photography.

I chose to put most of the black and white pictures of our bridals because Darin looks high in the colored ones.  They were taken in a field that he was highly allergic to.  DANG ALLERGIES!

Our wedding day was beautiful. My family stayed in Manti that night because of past experiences of cars breaking down, landslides, back-ho's being buried, etc. on special days in Manti. Darin and his family traveled from Orem the morning of. I was so excited that when I put my wedding dress on, I forgot to take off my skirt (which was white), all day long I couldn't figure out why I was so hot....well I had 2 extra layers of fabric on! During the sealing my mom was holding Darin's ring and was playing with it too much. It ended up flipping out of her hand and hitting the mirror behind her. I had to control my laughter because the sealer was in a deep discussion with us! She spent most of the time looking around her for the ring. When it came time for the ring to be given it was found and Darin and I exchanged them. However, Darin couldn't get my ring on my hand. So I had to tell him very sternly to PUSH! I don't think our day could have been any better. We spent time with family and celebrated our happiness. I am very grateful for the guidance that was given to me in finding Darin. We had a lot of opposition and many disagreements/arguments, but in the end we know we made the right choice. I love you Darin and am grateful for you in my life. HERE'S TO 4 HAPPY YEARS and an ETERNITY TO COME!

Baby Nash is 1!

I can't believe it! Our baby boy is a year old today. Time has just flown by. It doesn't seem like a year ago that our little boy came 2 weeks early. He weighed 5 lbs 11 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. He has always been such a happy, smiling baby and loves to have all the attention by making eye contact with everyone in the room. We are so happy to have his silly little personality in our family, our lives are certainly brighter with him in it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NASHAROO!

For those of you interested we are packing up our stuff today in Blanding and Darin starts the long trek to Pennsylvania tomorrow with his parents. Lucky Nash and I get to fly out there next week with my parents. Pennsylvania here we come!

Dr. Jon Darin Willardson

As of last Friday, Darin is now officially a Doctor of Osteopathic medicine.  Our last trip to California was a blast...We (Darin's parents, brothers, Nash, Darin and myself) flew to LA for a three day whirlwind trip of fun!  Thursday, Troy, Travis, Trevor, Darin, myself, Nash and Mom Willardson went to Six Flags Magic Mountain, while David and Dad Willardson went to Disneyland.  This was a fun trip and I hope to do a post of this craziness...yes I went on ALL of the big rides and LOVED IT!  Friday, was the big day.  It was great seeing Darin's old classmates and even more special watching all of them earn a hard earned doctorate...WAY TO GO EVERYONE!!  

This is Darin and Jared Taylor before the ceremony.

The great institution that required a quarter million dollars of us!

The mighty graduate.

The Poom-daddy...aka Dr. Pumerantz the President/Owner/Money Milker of Western University.

Look at that good lookin' graduate! Doesn't that smile just show a sign of relief.

The graduation crew.  During the graduation, mom W. and I were assigned to hooding Darin on stage.  Nash was being cared for by Gpa W., Travis, and David.   On our way to hood Darin we found Nash in the hall, we decided to surprise Darin by taking Nash up with us to help hood.  Troy and Trevor were in charge of photography and video of the event.

It's amazing it is over.  We do not know a marriage with out medical school.  We started this journey 4 days after we were married....WAY TO GO US!

We are so happy all the brothers could come...a big thanks to all the sister-in-laws for letting them come party with us!

Two very important people!  Couldn't have made it this far with out their support!

Doctor Darin!

Way to go Darin we are so proud of you!  4 long years of medical school isn't easy...just think we have 4 more years to go!  Bring on the residency!!!  You will be an awesome ER Doctor.

Nash was such a good boy.  My mom bought him this shirt that said "My Goal...to be as Cool as my Dad!"  

Okay here is the actual proof that it happened.  Yes, Darin can be loud...

Blanding Rotation

Darin's last rotation of medical school was spent in Blanding with Dr. Jones and Dr. Fisher.  I was a little worried about this rotation because it was in my home town of 4000 people, so basically I know everyone there.  Darin has such a great attitude and he really loved this rotation.  He enjoyed working with the Navajo/Ute people...those squaws were extra nice to him! ;)  It was fun having him come home and tell me a general idea of what he saw, however, in the back of my head I was trying to figure out WHO the cases were about...bad I know! My favorite thing about this rotation was walking around town with Darin, and people would say hi to him first and then say "hey you were my doctor yesterday!" instead of only talking to me.  I think Darin's favorite thing about this rotation was the trips to Montezuma Creek and Monument Valley...especially to Monument Valley in Dr. Jone's plane....

Doesn't he look so gitty! haha

Good ol' Blanding

This is the rock where Darin proposed to me...I said "heck no!" haha...I thought he was kidding around, until I saw the ring...oops.

That rock is in Comb Ridge which over looks the above valley.  I love this view it was my thinking rock, when I wanted to be alone and one with nature (haha) from the top you can see all 4 states.

This is Valley of the Gods.  I don't know if I were a God if I would want to live in this ugly little valley!

The Goosenecks.

Monument Valley.

One of the mittens in Monument Valley.

Yes this looks familiar...Forrest Gump stopped running somewhere on that stretch of road.

A view of Lake Powell.

Dr. Jones and Darin in the fancy smancy airplane.

The Elk Mountain.

The Elk again with view of the Bear's Ears...one of my favorite places...yes I know they do not look like Ears, just trust me on it!

Sort of a view of the Blue Mountain.

So that was a sky tour of where I grew up.  It may be ugly to some, but I love it and I am so grateful for growing up there.  Darin was amazed at how rugged the land was, I guess thats why I am so rugged..;) j/k.  I am glad he enjoyed his time in Blanding.

The inside!

Here is the inside of our home. Bruce our landlord is doing some renovations, he is putting in new windows, redoing the kitchen walls and ceiling and putting in ceiling fans. So there is a lot of equipment in the rooms, but you get the idea of what it looks like....

First Floor:

Front Living Room

2nd living room:

Another view of Front living and 2nd living room. The hallway leads to the 3rd living room, as well as the door to the basement.

3rd living room with 1/2 bathroom, this room also has an entrance to the stairs and kitchen.

1/2 bathroom

Kitchen, Darin and Bruce were in this room talking so I didn't get very good angles of it.

Mudroom that is connected to the kitchen and sun room.

The sun room...I think this will be our favorite room in the house, when it isn't too hot.

Second Floor:

These stairs were the deal breaker. We looked at so many houses that we really did like, however their stairs were either extremely steep or they didn't have a banister at all.

Bedroom #1 will be used as a study/office for now as well as a guest room for visitors...hint, hint!

Bedroom #2 - Nash's bedroom

This is a closet that connect with bedroom #1 and #2.

Master Bedroom, the door on the far left is the attic entrance. The door next to that is the full bathroom entrance (a down fall of the home, is the full bathroom is in the master bedroom, with no other entrance.) Then the door on the far right is a HUGE closet.

Full Bathroom:

Master Bedroom Closet. I swear we could make this into a whole other room. Maybe when we have our next baby this will be the nursery....haha.
This is only part of the attic, this is a lot of storage space up there.
And finally this is the basement with the washer and dryer. I am not going to put the other sections of the basement because Darin has deemed those as the scary story rooms, and I do not want any other comments about a haunted old house! I have to be in this home with Nash alone A LOT and I am not going to be scared to do laundry in the basement!

So that is a tour of our new home. It is sooo much better in person.... we are happy to have visitors!! I really enjoyed visiting the area this past week, it is so green and beautiful. There are a lot of Amish and Mennonite people, we stopped by one of their homes where they were selling quilts, it was pretty awesome. We also took a tour of the covered bridges in the area. That was neat, this place is like living in an Anne of Green Gables movie. We also visited our church ward and they were really nice. The bishop actually served his mission in the Holbrook, Arizona mission with the navajo people and one of his areas was in Bluff....random!! Then there were many others who knew people from Blanding....small world. The church building is 20-30 minutes away, in Kutztown. For those of you in Claremont, Brother Clegg's daughter (Briana's step sister) is in our ward. It is so nice to somewhat know someone!