Life in Utah

We are so happy to be in Utah!

We LOVE our married student ward, our apartment, and life in general. Sheehan finally, after a long interview process, got a job at Wells Fargo as a teller. He starts September 3rd and we are so excited! My work is going really good at Elite Security and there is even a raise in the works (Yes!). Sheehan just got called into the Sunday School Presidency as a counselor and I am the Ward Historian. I have never heard of a ward historian before but apparently there is a whole building in Salt Lake City dedicated to ward and stake historical records. So I get to write the history for the 172nd in the BYU 9th Stake. Only in Utah can you be in a 172nd ward...but we love it!! We have had a crazy couple weeks getting settled in. We've given our new member talks in Sacrament and everything.... Now we are getting old in our always changing married, student ward!

We've had lots of family come to visit over the past month and that we have had a chance to visit. We had a really good time with all of them. Now we are exhausted!

Sheehan went with Aunt Michelle and Zach to the Discovery Center in SLC and had probably the best time of the three! Sheehan lifted Zach up on his shoulder and Zach quickly slipped Sheehan's glasses and hat off and put them on and this is what Aunt Michelle found when she turned around. The crinkled nose says it all....

Overall we can't be happier and we know that we are where we are supposed to be!

Sheehan and Milly watching TV

I walked into the living room and this is the scene that I found.

The Wedding Singer at Hale Center Theatre

I love theater shows from small plays to large broadway productions. Sheehan's grandparents happen to be donors for the Hale Center Theater in West Valley City. They invited us to be VIP's and enjoy before show hor d oeurves, a back stage tour, and then the SHOW! It was so fun! I couldn't believe that the Hale's also started the Glendale Center Theater which has been a family favorite for years. I love their unique and ingenious style of putting the stage in the center of the theater . They creatively work so that the audience every side can see the show like they are center stage. Thank you Busby's for the great night!

4th of July Weekend!!

We had a great 4th of July weekend! We loved spending time with all of our family here in Utah. Our weekend started right after I got out of work at 5:30 on Friday. We went straight to Freedom Days in downtown Provo. I was really surprised with how much there was to do and how much we enjoyed all the festivities. There was a "Scales and Tails" show which we watched. I normally HATE lizards and snakes but in a show it was great! The little kids and I were yelling back to trainer man, " Hi Sausage!" and "Hello Mr. Grumpy" as the trainer brought out alligators, spiders, salamanders, and snakes and had names for them. I even worked up the courage to pet a 16 foot Boa that was sitting on the ground. Devin met us and we hung out until about 12:30 at night.Devin just recently switched to Remax as a real estate agent. He was very excited this year since he could help put up the Remax hot air balloon. The only bad part was that it was at 6:00-10:00 in the morning!! He really wanted us to go and was telling us about it all week. Since we got in so late Friday night I was not ready to wake up at 6:00 in the morning. I got a phone call from Devin at 6:20 am and he was all by himself. After telling him I was too tired and not coming, I laid back in bed and felt too guilty to fall back asleep. I rolled out of bed in my pajamas and was out the door. I met up with Devin and they had deflated all of the hot air balloons due to the wind. After about an hour and half they finally got three balloons in the air and everyone else thought it was too risky including, sadly, Devin's very own Remax balloon. Sad day... but he bought me an egg McMuffin and orange juice so it was worth it.

Later on that day Sheehan and I went to Scera Park and walked around a mock 1776 village and a mock Ellis Island tour. We also enjoyed a play about the founding of our country through the revolution, the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and ending in the passage of immigrants through Ellis Island.Later on Saturday night we went to Grandma Bev's house and had spaghetti and garlic bread with Norm. Grandma is in California so Devin, Sheehan, and I spent the evening just with Norm. We watched the fireworks start to shoot up across Utah valley that we could see off of Grandma's balcony. When it got really dark we went back to Provo to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. After church we went out to Heber to visit with the Blairs. We enjoyed lots of food, bingo, Michael Jackson tributes, and fireworks. Sheehan and Jayden were the official firework lighters.We had a great weekend! We love being close to more family! Happy 4th of July! God Bless this Country we love!

Kiersten's 20th Birthday

Sheehan surprised me at work for my 20th birthday. I am working at Elite Security in their paperwork and contracts department. He brought me some of my favorite things including See's Candy, a manicure & pedicure gift certificate, and some beautiful flowers. I was so embarrassed of how young I am that I wasn't very excited when he came. I tried to shoo him out so no one would notice it was my birthday and that I was only turning 20 and had been married for over a year already. I felt so bad for shooing Sheehan when he was doing something so nice for me. I apologized to him and have tried to graciously accept things since then. He is so good to me and works so hard to make me the happiest girl in the world.

Our Apartment!!

We love our new apartment and we are so happy to be back in Utah. I'm working full-time at Elite Security and Sheehan is in school and looking for a job. Sheehan also got a scholarship to BYU independent study to do a free class online!

I'm always amazed by how many churches and wards there are!! For some reason I just can't get used to the thought. We are in the BYU 172nd married student ward!! We went to our ward for the first time last Sunday. First we went to one chapel that we thought was right except no one was there and church was supposed to start in 5 minutes. I asked a very nice man sitting on the couch if this was the right ward he said the married student wards meet either (pointing) back down the street or one chapel up the street. We took the 50/50 chance of going up the street rather than backtracking. We came upon this HUGE chapel that had tons of cars in the parking lot. As we were driving into the parking lot I said, "Okay, if we don't like the married student ward we can always go to family ward." (Only in utah do you have "options.") Sheehan then said, "I want to go to a married student ward so that there won't be so many crying babies." little did he know.... Just about every 3rd car has a car seat. Surprised?...no. So we go into the ward and it's a little sparse. Sacrament was nice and they asked if all new members would go meet the bishop after sacrament. So we go to meet the bishop and we ask his counselor, "Are we in the right ward?" We told them our address and looked at the board of ward boundaries. We sat through the wrong sacrament..... They told us,"Your ward meets on the other side of the building."
"Oh, like the next building down the street."
"No. This building has TWO chapels." We mistakenly went to the wrong sacrament.... "You guys go to church in the south chapel. We are in the north chapel. The building is built mirrored with two of everything under the same roof." (there is even two libraries.) So we finally made it to OUR ward for Sunday school and RS/Priesthood. We really like our ward. I think Sheehan was a little surprised by how many babies there was in our ward.... haha We love the bishop. He is brand new to the ward just like we are. Well, we'll keep you posted on our life in Utah.