The Beginning. . .

Unlike many of my friends and family members I have neglected to start my blog. So here it goes. Barjona and I have now been married for one year and 3 1/2 months. We are more in love today than when we were married. It is wonderful to be together.

Our marriage began with us living at the University Village. It was very small, but we made it our home. I student taught down the street at Bonneville Elementary in a 3rd grade class as Barjona continued at SLCC and worked for a company with very flexible hours. Our lives were busy. I couldn't work very much, but after student teaching all week, I would work a ten hour shift on Saturday at America First. I'm not sure how, but we always got by just fine.

This year there have been a lot changes in our lives. In May, I graduated from the University of Utah with my bachelors degree in Elementary Education. I then commenced my search for a job. After applying at nearly every district in the state, and waiting for months, I got a job interview at North Star Elementary in Salt Lake City. I think I prayed my way through the entire interview.......... and it worked. Later that day, the principal called and offered me the position. I eagerly accepted.

The Summer continued to hold surprises. Shortly after getting my job, we learned that Barjona would be losing his. The company that he was working for went under.  He immediately began searching but without much luck. In the meantime, we moved to a horrible apartment in Bountiful and I began my first year of teaching. I was incredibly nervous and had a wild group of kids. Those first few weeks were truly a learning experience for me as I learned more about being an effective teacher.

After a month, I started to feel more confident. Around this time, Barjona got the best news of all. He was hired at ARUP. As he began his new job, we quickly learned that it was truly a blessing that he acquired this job. The schedule worked perfectly with his schooling and the job offered the most amazing benefits!

Once Barjona secured his job, we began our search for a home. We were eager to get out of our apartment that my sister referred to as "a hole." On our first day of house-hunting, we traveled north to look at some townhouses near Layton. We found a beautiful home. We loved it, but it was pretty far away. We decided to keep searching. However, as we looked, everything that was closer to Salt Lake was smaller and more expensive. After discussing it we both decided it would be worth it to have a nice home that we loved, even if we had to commute. At the beginning of this month, we moved in. We both absolutely love it!!! It is so nice to have something beautiful and new.

So in a nutshell, that has been our life for the past 15 months.