Jeremy's Life: An Update (by Kendra)

Well, I can't believe that the ominous FIRST SEMESTER of law school is already drawing to a dramatic close. Finals begin for Jeremy on December 7th - which is quickly approaching (but lets not think about that). Since he obviously doesn't have time to catch you all up himself, I'll fill you in on the life and happenings of Jeremy Johnston.

This is Jeremy on his First Day of Law School. What a stud! I'm SO proud of him. Anyway, this semester Jeremy is enrolled in Contracts, Criminal Law, Legal Writing, a Professional Seminar and something else that I can't remember at the moment. He is really enjoying his professors and his fellow law students. Mostly, he is very grateful and pleased with our decision to attend BYU law school.
This is a photo of BYU law school, a.k.a. Jeremy's home away from home. Fortunately, Jeremy is LOVING Law School (which is convenient since he has to spend every waking moment thinking and breathing it). He comes home so excited about all of these interesting cases that he is studying and wants to fill me in about the facts of the cases. He also makes jokes using all sorts of weird legal jargon - and then laughs as if he is so hilarious - but I just don't get it. :)


Mostly, I think that he is very proud to have his very own desk (#166) assigned to him in the law library. The desk has a filing cabinet and big storage shelf - that locks. Jeremy has made it feel more like "home" to him by adding a kleenex box, a picture of Christ, and a waste basket. P.S. Note the glazed over look in Jeremy's eyes. That's what happens when you read case books for 16 hours straight. Poor guy.

While he is loving law school, it is also a LOT of work. As finals quickly approach I feel like I understand more and more where the term "law school widow" originated from. But, I can't really complain. I'm so proud of him! AND... I'm SO incredibly lucky to have such a hard working husband!!!! He puts in long hours studying at school, and still finds the energy to be a phenomenal and helpful husband when he comes home. Again, what a stud!

Besides all of this Jeremy sleeps (very little), volunteers as a student mentor (weekly), eats (as much as he can), studies (A TON), hangs out with me (as often as possible), follows the 2008 presidential electial (when he can), works (VERY VERY part time), showers (daily), works at the Provo Temple (weekly), plays raquetball (rarely), watches football (weekly), etc.... etc....

The traditional highlight of Jeremy's life (besides me of course) is the BYU football game each week. This last week we beat our rival University of Utah in the Holy War.... which was a FABULOUS game and an even sweeter victory. Football carries Jeremy through each week... I don't know what we'll do when football season ends.... lets not even talk about that. :)

Well, we live a great life here in Provo, Utah. And that just about sums up Jeremy's life... from Kendra's perspective.

My Mom came to visit!

Yeah for Mothers!!! My Mom flew in from Arizona to spend a few days with me in the beginning of November. It was SUCH a fun trip! It was so nice to have someone to spend the day with while Jeremy was off studying at Law School. We shopped and talked and went out to eat.... could life be any better?? I miss her already!

I think you all should know. My mother has a gift. She is the best organizer I know! She can take a closet that you thought was previously organized and fit twice as much stuff into the space! So... since I am well aware of my mother's many talents.... I put her to work when she came to visit me (I know - I'm a terrible daughter!). We tackled my coat closet and two huge cupboards that are above my washer and dryer. She was amazing!!! We fit so much more into that small space than I ever thought was possible! I love my newly cleaned and organized spaces. P.S. THANK YOU MOM!!!!!!!!!

Our next task was some SERIOUS cooking. See, I hate cooking meat. It takes so much time... defrosting... cooking... cleaning up from the mess. I feel like I could make most meals in half the time if I didn't have to cook and cube the chicken. For a while now I have been trying to cook up some chicken ahead of time so that I can just take it from the ziploc bags in the freezer and throw it straight into a casserole. But it is boring to cook chicken, and time consuming. SO... once again my mother and I went to work. During one afternoon we went ALL out and cooked 20 pounds of chicken and 8 pounds of hamburger!!!!! It took us about 3-4 hours to complete the project... but we figured that I won't have to cook meat again.... EVER!!! Hopefully it can stay "fresh" in the freezer. :)

Anyway, although it sounds like all we did was work... work... work... We actually did a lot of talking, relaxing, going on walks, eating out, visiting, and laughing. It was so fun to spend quality time with my mom!! I can't wait until Christmas when I get to go home and spend more time with my family!!! And I especially can't wait until Jeremy graduates from Law School so that we can move back down to Arizona and enjoy quality family time on a more regular basis. I love you MOM!!! Thanks for coming to visit me!!!!

Amber came to visit!

Well, a few weeks ago I went to check the mail... and we had received a letter from our very cute, lively, and fun 5 year old niece Amber!! She lives in Kansas, so we were pretty excited to hear from her. I opened the letter.... and out came AMBER!!! She had made a paper doll of herself (complete with a photo of her own head) and sent it to us.... so that she could "visit" us. Clever, huh?? So we took a couple of pictures with her and wrote her a letter back, telling her all about the wonderful "adventures" that we had together while she was visiting us in Provo. Here's some of the pictures. I hope that you enjoy them!! We sure did!!

The adventures of Amber:

While she was visiting I taught her how to quilt - she was a natural!
We relaxed in the evening and snuggled up all together to read bedtime stories. Jeremy read all of the voices, and I read the parts of the narrator.
Some evenings Jeremy would take a break from studying and play cards with Amber and I. He usually cheated, but Amber usually won anyway.
And a trip wouldn't be complete without yumy desserts. We especially loved eating ice cream with Amber.
Thanks for visiting us Amber!!!! We love you so much!!! We hope that you can find the time to come visit us again soon!!!!

Quilting!

So, as a lot of you have heard - I've taken to quilting lately. I absolutely love it! Weird, huh. I never would have thought that I would be a quilter - but here I am... quilting away. So, I wanted to show off the fruits of my "labor".

Here we have Exhibit A: Quilt #1
This was my first attempt at quilting back in July & August. It is a simple blue and white rag quilt. My Grandmom got me started on it when I went to visit her in California this summer. We picked out the fabric and cut it all into squares together (sorry about your thumb Grandmom!). I loved putting this quilt together. It was fast and easy - but I did learn a lot from it.... like how to thread my hand-me-down sewing machine!
This is the back of Quilt #1.

Exhibit B: Quilt #2

Well, I was bored of blue after Quilt #1... so I decided to go pink! This is a fun and simple design that one of the nurses that I work with showed me how to do. It was great - because it is easy, and yet it looks complicated - the best kind of a quilt. :) It was my first time to try basting and machine quilting - which was an adventure. I only sewed the quilt in half the wrong way once! I love this quilt though because it is so cute and pink and feminine.

Well, then I was bored of pastels.... so here is Exhibit C: Quilt #3
It's a tad more colorful than the other two quilts. :) Jeremy actually helped me pick out these fabrics, we had a hilarious Saturday night trip to Joanne's Fabric store - where we deliberated very seriously about the tones and hues of the colors in the various fabrics. He's a great sport! Anyway, I also machine quilted this one. And I love the back of the quilt almost as much as the front. It's just fun and LIVELY!

Anyway, thanks for letting me share my new hobby with you. Stay posted for more of my quilting adventures.