Saturday, December 4, 2010

"The darkest hour is just before the Dawn. . . "


The origins of the statement "the darkest hour is just before the dawn" isn't known. But any fool, be he sailor or soldier, secular or spiritual, has experienced enough of life's eccentricities to know that it's true. It seems that just before he can obtain the greatest sweetnesses in life he must undertake the most bitter. He can call it Karma, call it Divine Intervention, or just call it sheer dumb luck, it comes to the call just the same. He can only remember that it is only a forerunner. . .


We're not sending up the flares, throwing in the towel, or anything similar. On the contrary, we're a "Whirlwind. . . (we're) back in this fight again, staying on (our) knees. Just because (we're) fallen, (we're) not givin' up. You're gonna have to break (us). . ." (Rumbleseat, 2005)


Man, are we looking forward more than ever to the end of this year and this semester of school. As many of you are more than likely aware, Claire has made the decision to take a year completely off from school, cold turkey, and take an assistant manager position at the Eccoci store here in St. George. (No, for all of you inferring schemers, she isn't pregnant. Thanks for the encouragement, though. ;-) ) She's really excited about this, as she hasn't had a break from scholastic rigors since. . . before Preschool. . . ? Yeah, she's a little ready for a break. I say more power to her, and go for it, kiddo! I'm behind ya all the stinkin' way!


To give you an idea of why we're so excited for this momentous change, let me give you an overview of today, which is typical of the next few left in the semester. It's Saturday. Claire left for work at 10:00, a little late, stealing some time for us in the morning. She worked until about 6:15, when she promptly went to the Cox Auditorium on Dixie State Campus to rehearse with the Southwest Symphony for the upcoming performances of Handel's "Messiah". Rehearsal cut off at 9:00, after which she had to stop by Wal-Mart. (Curse you, evil empire!) The time, when she got home, was near 10:00. Twelve hours. I was dying. Inversely, a look at my day:


Claire left for work at 10:00. I quickly ran through a short list of to-do's around the house. (I've never seen so much carpet-shed stuck in a vacuum! Disgusting!) After that, I sat around the house, finishing a take-home final due next Thursday for American Sign Language (ASL) and reading Dickens. (He was my only comfort during this dark time. Bless you, Chuck.) I've felt significantly less of a contribution in the months from October to December. When my seasonal job with the Division of Wildlife ended with September and Claire made her decision for the upcoming year, I decided I would try to do the full-time student thing for that year. (Does 20 credits qualify for full-time-and-a-half? Insane. . . ) I didn't think about how worthless I'd feel for the Holidays. Oh well. "This too shall pass" huh? Yup. And you can bet when it does, we're gonna come out the other side in a "Whirlwind. . . "

Monday, November 15, 2010

P.S.

We recently discovered that Justin can eat a regular sized piece of toast in 4 bites, while it takes me 16 to eat one of the same size. Enough said.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

A day in the life of...us!


Life is wonderful! We've been so busy we barely have time to breathe, but I'm at work right now and Sundays are always painfully slow, so I decided now was my chance to post. While trying to think of something to write about I couldn't quite figure out why we don't do anything worthy of being written about, but that was an easy one. We just don't have any time. I'll outline our day for you:

Monday:
We leave at 7:30 am.
Our last class ends at 4.
Justin goes home and tackles homework (my classes are mostly performance classes, so I don't really have homework, just practicing)
I go to work until 9, get home at 9:30.
We eat dinner around 10, then go to bed around 10:30, unless we're feeling adventurous, in which case we go watch Murder, She Wrote with my parents, and go to bed around 11:30.
Justin currently has two full-time callings as well. He's the Mission Prep assistant teacher or something and he's the Young Men's something or other. I'm not real sure of the official titles, but they keep him busy.

That's a typical day for us. Fortunately we have two classes together (ASL, which we love, and Orchestra, which I love) and often a lunch break, so it's not like we NEVER get to see each other, just not as often as we'd like.

We're so excited for Christmas! Our first one officially together. I've already broken out the Christmas music (much to Justin's chagrin). It's kind of fun, we're at the point this month where we can look back and say "last year were doing this." Kind of exciting.

In January a lot of things are going to change for us. I've decided to take a year off from school and work (yipee!!!), and Justin is going to go to school like crazy. Hopefully we'll have some more time together and our house will be clean once in a while... ;)

That's about all I can think of for now...I'll have Justin post soon.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Take her to sea, Mr. Murdock!

No, we're not die-hard Titanic fanatics. I just thought it appropriate that we have an ambiguous reference to something relating to a maiden voyage. Fitting, right?


Anyway, let me start out by thanking everyone who made our wedding such an awesome reality. It went off better than we ever hoped, albeit a little windy, rainy and such. But, what's a momentous occasion without a little excitement?



We've decided that the union of two families such as ours is absolutely exquisite. When you have a group of people as musically gifted and able as the Chamberlains, what can better compliment that ability than an over-abundance of exhuberance and willingness to shake it, as we Nuckles' have? It's just something beautiful to be a part of. I'm not sure how it looks from the outside, and I don't necessarily envy those of you who have to observe us, but; no apologies, and no regrets! : ) Seriously, we love both of our families. They're just great.


For those of you who didn't know, we went to Vegas for our honeymoon. Complete with random run-ins with old schoolmates, Batman encounters, Phantom experiences, and a plethora of intoxicated individuals, I don't feel we missed out on much.




Since then, our honeymoon has lasted approximately 7 weeks, and no end is in sight. We live an idyllic life, if I do say so myself. We're living in Claire's dream home for a good deal of her life. It's a fully-restored and in-period Toquerville home, and it's quite the residence. It looks great, and has an amazing feeling of authenticity inside. Any of you who have been on one of our many tours know just what we mean. However, authenticity comes at a price. Now, a number of weeks into it, and lots of hunched showers, bumped foreheads, trips to and from the parents' house with needed stored things, and numberless bug carcasses later, we can honestly say that we still love the house, but we're both ready to get into "a place of our own."

Other than that, we're both working full time; Claire still loving life in Eccoci, and I'm surviving the heat out at Sand Hollow as a full time Mussel Man. (No, that's not a misspelling. Google it with Sand Hollow. You'll get it.)

Monday, July 19, 2010

We have a slight problem...

The reason we haven't posted any pictures - or anything - yet is because our internet only works in a very specific and difficult to find spot on our kitchen table, and even then only for about 5 minutes every few hours. I need to just take my computer over to my parents for a day of updating, or my brilliant brother needs to come over and fix it (hint, hint, Alex).
Anyway, life is wonderful, marriage is even better, and we promise to update everthing very soon. :)