Introducing: Sage

Brandon and I adopted Sage from the Humane Society of the Upper Valley on August 21st. She is a purebred mutt. We have a lot of suspicions on her breed. I think she's "Texas Heeler" (Australian Shepherd/Australian Cattle Dog mix) and husky. My mom thinks she's part greyhound or part collie. Maybe part German Shepherd? Who knows. She's very tall and lanky, quick, and pretty smart. So smart that she's stubborn as a mule and we'll still working on getting her to listen to me all the time and not just when she wants to. She has a bit of separation anxiety, but it's getting better. She's a therapy dog in training and she will also become involved in agility as soon as we can get the basic commands down to a T. We love her, and although she has a bit of work that needs to be done (mouthing, jumping on people, ignoring commands, bolting out the door, and separation anxiety.) we are up for the challenge. :) 

Our Honeymoon: San Diego

Brandon and I got the opportunity to go to San Diego for our honeymoon. Man, it was something else! We left our girls with a classmate (after an E-vet run the night before we left since one decided to get sick and needed antibiotics... again.)

Monday, July 25th: Brandon's grandparents drove us to the Idaho Falls airport, where our flight was 3 hours late coming from Vegas to IF... so we sat there for 3 extra hours as I ran around finding numbers to our hotel and the car rental place to let them know we'd be late. The flight was crazy bumpy and I thought I was going to be sick. I hate flying enough as it is... and then you add a pilot who has rough take off and landing PLUS turbulence and man did my head hurt. We arrived in Long Beach (2 1/2 hours from San Diego) and went to get our rental car. The lady took our card and swiped it without even telling us the price (which was 80$ higher then quoted.) When I asked her about it she told me that they put 20% extra on your card until you bring it back. We've rented with Enterprise more times then I can count and that NEVER happened. THEN, we go out and he asks us what kind of insurance we wanted. Well, we were planning on risking it and getting none but he tells us that it's required in the state that all cars be fully covered (which we found out later is also a load of bull.) So we got scammed out of about $200 dollars more then quoted. Sad huh? We got to our hotel and it was AWESOME. Like it's own little apartment. And... we crashed.

Finally got it's tail out of the water! 

Natural History Museum

Tuesday: We started off the day at the natural history museum. I wasn't impressed. It was small and didn't have a lot to offer, but it was fun none the less. After eating at Chick-Fil-A (one of three times that whole week) we made the drive to Newport Beach (one hour away) and went whale watching. It was Brandon's favorite part of the whole vacation. We saw a few blue whales and a fin whale. As well as a few dolphins. The blue whales get up to 120 feet and was about 30 feet from the boat. We were both like little kids in a candy shop. After we got back to San Diego, we decided it was time to eat, but nothing was open so... DENNY'S it was. We pulled up and saw about 2 cop cars and thought "Eh, maybe a drug bust. No big deal." We parked and went to go on the sidewalk when a cop said "We need you guys to go around." Then we saw a guy laying on the sidewalk with his chest all wrapped up. Scared out of my mind, I came to find out that this guy had been stabbed and then dropped at the Denny's. Well, long story short, we had to be escorted out and had to walk past a guy who WAS alive when we first saw him, but died shortly after we ended up inside, turning it into a homicide. The cops got all of our information. Address, phone number, driver's licenses numbers, etc. Quite the experience. Here's the story: http://www.cbs8.com/story/15175000/youth-found-stabbed-outside-mission-valley-dennys-idd

Wednesday: We went to SeaWorld and it wasn't too bad. Brandon had ALWAYS wanted to see Shamu, so that's what we did. We saw everything we wanted to see, and that was about it. It's not worth the money you pay to go more than once in my opinion. Plus all the rides were broken. :( We ate at Joe's Crab Shack that night. Brandon got his first dose of Crawfish. They were delicious, although I still need to show him REAL Cajun crawfish!

Thursday: This was probably my favorite day of the whole trip. Almost. We went to the San Diego Zoo and MAN, that place is HUGE. We spent 6 hours there and still missed a few animals. I love the variety and love how close you can get. I think it's 100X better then the Denver Zoo. Got quite a few awesome pictures. We spent a while watching the orangutans. They're so human like it's crazy. After the zoo, I got to meet up with my cousins and uncle. We went to a mexican restaurant that has the BEST fried ice cream in the world. We found out that San Diego is a Mormon settlement. We didn't get to go up there, but still. We also got a chance to go to this root beer store and we bought some root beer called "Dang's" and DANG was it good. I'm trying to find a good price online haha.

Friday: We went all the way into LA to go to Universal Studios and they have some INSANE rides there. They have a new one called King Kong 360 4D. They take you on a tour of the backstage stuff for movies and then they take you into this cave. It has a screen that's like... 18 feet long and wraps all the way around you. It feels like you're right smack dab in the middle of a King Kong fight. I have never seen anything like it... Ever. Pretty good way to spend the day. We tried "In-n-out" this night but only because my cousin's wife told us to retry it. I tried it in Provo and it wasn't that good. She said they must have "utahfied" it. And she was so right. They are delicious. Of course I'd still choose Chick-fil-a over it, but it was one really good hamburger. I didn't get to see the Hollywood sign though :( Sad. ( I didn't take any pictures here because I didn't want to take my 800$ camera and have to leave it when I went on rides.)

This is the female that is over breeding age :(

And the male. 

Saturday: We went off to the Wild Safari Park on Saturday. It was awesome to see so many endangered animals. Fun Fact: Did you know that only 5 Northern White Rhinos exist on the earth today? 2 of them are at the Wild Animal Park. Their female is past breeding age, and so they're left with what they think is the LAST male While Rhino in the world. They are trying to get him with another female elsewhere... otherwise, these animals WILL go extinct. END OF STORY. So sad. Thank you POACHERS. I have a few pictures of both the male and the female. Oh and this day was like... 105* outside. It was so freaking hot!

Sunday: We went to the Birch Aquarium. Please. Anyone, don't go there. It's such a waste of money. But anyways, we went there, and then drove around trying to find the gaslamp district. It was there, but it cost like $15 to park. No thanks. So, we instead, went and had food at this buffet. A buffet with freaking crab legs! I think I ate my weight in them. We actually went 2 times while we were here. And then we went to what is call Sunset Cliffs. BEAUTIFUL. We got to watch the sun go down until it was just a little dot and then it disappeared. Something I'll never forget, and definitely the most romantic part of our honeymoon. I loved it and I'm sure Brandon did too. We also got to go on a Ghost Hunting tour. The guy who leads it is brilliant! He charges $20 a person, does that twice a night and we had 35 people on our tour. Add that up and it's something like 142,000$ a year! Just to tell stories about ghosts. Brilliant.

That was the end of our honeymoon, and something that is in NO way forgettable. Brandon and I became a lot closer over that week, and it was nice to have the break!

Our July

Our July is going to be absolutely insane. Here's the line up:
- July 2nd-10th we will be in Denver, CO. We've got a wedding open house up there on the 9th.
-July 14th-17th we'll be up in Post Falls. I've got an orthodontist appointment AGAIN. *sigh* I want these things off.
-July 25th-August 2nd we'll be on our honeymoon to San Diego. It's gonna be a blast! I just know it. We just have to find someone to watch the girls. There are very few people I trust with them, and none of which live here. So I've gotta figure out something.

Our life has been a little hectic. Right now we've got too rat girls who run us around like crazy. They went to the vets on Friday for their URI's and are now on 2 different antibiotics. But we love them so much. We've been working with my mother in law's dog who was afraid of everything and didn't get much socialization. Brandon's been working and I've been trying to get everything else accomplished around the house and around town. Plus, here's some news. It's not 100% yet. We've got a lot of things to check out. BUT,

We may be moving to Denver. I've got accepted to the Community College of Denver, and I've sent them in a transcript. Now I just need to wait and see if my credits transfer. It's not the best idea, but it's better then staying here where there's no jobs, high cost of living, and issues with getting into programs. I'm not sure if it'll transfer, but we'll see. Anyway. I'll post some pics of my girls. :)

Clover, is on the right. Echo is on the left. Look at the size difference!

My little Echo pants! <3 Oh man.

Loving Married Life

Hello all. I know it's been quite a while, yet again, since I've posted. I thought I'd give you a little update about our lives right now.

Brandon is still doing his online classes, and working. Doing pretty well at balancing his time. Our sister-in-law is about ready to pop with her second little girl. Our apartment is a mess because I come home from my internship not wanting to clean. I do that too much at the internship. I have 6 1/2 hours left before I'm done. It's been quite an experience that has taught me so much. I've learned that unless I go and get an emphasis in laboratory work, I couldn't survive on the salary alone. But, I also learned that I can do things that I didn't think I can do. I can keep myself calm during emergencies, and I can handle sick and dying animals. I can still feel owners pain without allowing it to wear me down. I can handle surgeries without passing out (I actually find it pretty interesting.) And I've met some fantastic people, and a vet that is brilliant. I still have A LOT to learn, but, I'm working on it. In April, I'll have my degree, and then I'll decide where to go from there. Brandon and I are learning a lot about each other and our love is growing more and more each day. We went up to Post Falls this last weekend to go to our friend wedding, and to get my braces tightened. We'll be moving back there as soon as possible. I miss it there, I love it there, and it's close enough to my mom. I may not be able to live with her, but I can't live 7 hours away either. It just doesn't work right now. As for school, it looks like I may either stay here, or go to Denver. They have a couple of schools that have the vet tech stuff. Who knows. Life right now is a total blurr and it'll take a bit to figure out where we're going. Our honeymoon is The end of July :) San Diego here we come! AND we get to go to Denver on July 9th. We have a lot going on in the next few months before school starts back up, but it's going to be loads of fun.

-Mrs. Jolley

The Common Post Wedding Question

When you get engaged, it's, "When's the wedding?" Well, once the WEDDING happens, the questions is, "When are you gonna have a baby?" I cannot even tell you how many times I've been asked this in the 3 weeks that I've been married to Brandon. Here's the answer:

3 YEARS! Well, 3-5. I have school to finish. Brandon has school to finish. We have money to make. I've made the decision that I want to travel OUTSIDE of the U.S. with Brandon (Canada doesn't count.) Before I even think about getting pregnant. We have to learn to be a couple. Learn to be married. Get finances in order. Live our lives as a married couple and do things that married couples do. I know I know. I'm mormon, and we're supposed to make all these babies right? WRONG. No where does it say that Mormons are required to have 5+ children. Or have 5+ children within 5 years of being married. It's all a choice. A decision. Once that falls into the hands of The Lord, and the parents. The only mother I will be within these next few years will be of a dog. I promise you that. I WILL have a dog before I have a baby. Plus those are a lot easier. ;)

So there's your answer guys.

-Autumn Jolley

Sicker than a dog

It's been a little over 3 weeks, and so much has happened. Our apartment is pretty much put together. I'll get pictures when I start feeling better. I started my internship, but ended up very sick. I start that back up on Thursday. This may surprise everyone, but I can't wait! I'm so sick of sitting at home in bed. It's boring! For those who don't know about me being sick, here's the story.

Monday of last week, I felt like I had the flu. I had a fever and I was throwing up. I was like that all the way until Thursday. Thursday, I realized I had all the symptoms of a UTI (urinary tract infection.) I started taking the antibiotics that I got before I was married hoping it would clear up. Friday, I realized I had a REALLY high fever, and my back was killing me. I went into the doctor and was told I had a serious kidney infection. He almost did IV antibiotics, but decided to give me a shot in my hip instead to see if that worked. He told me that if I didn't feel better by the end of the weekend to go to the ER. Well, everything was gone, except my nausea by Sunday. It was so bad that I couldn't even move in bed without getting more nauseous. I couldn't stand up, I couldn't sit up, and I couldn't sleep. So Monday, I had Brandon take me into Urgent Care to see what was going on. They ran a urine test again and found that I still had a pretty big infection. He said I had an intolerance to the antibiotic I was on. So basically, the 4 days I was on it, did nothing and it was making me nauseous. He put me on something new and gave me some anti-nausea pills. Man, am I feeling better. I'm out of bed. I can eat. I can stand, and I WANT to leave the house.

Brandon did such a good job taking care of me. I seriously have the best husband ever. One thing I do know though, is I need to make friends. LOL. I don't want to just sit in this house all day. If you're married and wanna be my friend, let me know. I'm worried about a few of my best friends right now too, who aren't close to me. It's bothering me, and I wish I could help. *sigh*

Wedding pictures will be done in June. So keep an eye open for them! TTFN.

Autumn Jolley

Unanswered Prayers

Everyone prays at times in their lives. I pray a lot. When i was young, I was taught that God was there for us to talk to and if it was his will, he would give us what we prayed for. I have always struggled to figure out what may be in God's will. On my mission, I poured my heart out to him about many subjects. I won't go into what i prayed about, but it will suffice me to say that many prayers were answered and a few were not. Because of the answered prayers I knew that God does care and will answer my prayers if it is His will.

I used this knowledge when I returned from Ontario Canada. Upon my return i realized that all my old friends had moved on and i needed to find new ones. I was able to find a few people that i could stand being around, but there was not a person where i could call a best friend. No matter what i did and who i met i could not find a person who i could trust like a best friend. As i started to become despaired that i would never find a best friend, I remembered the prayers that I offered on my mission. I remembered that many of my prayers were answered. So i decided to pray and ask for God to send me a best friend. Many prayers and a few months went by and there was no answer. But God answers prayers in his own time and in his own way.

He answered my many prayers with someone that i thought hated my guts. Her name is Autumn Jolley. She was then known as Autumn Potts. When i first met Autumn, she would not give me the time of day. I tried everyday to be friendly and carry a conversation with her, but she would not be that way back. (It turns out that she was just being shy) I tried for over a month to become friends, but to no avail. I actually gave up on it after a while. Things changed when she finally started to started to talk to me. Our conversations were like we had known each other forever. Everything seemed effortless. After a little while i got up enough courage to ask her on a date. It was the best time i had ever had. It was during this time that i realized that my prayers had been answered. I knew i had found the one person that would always be there for me and the one person that would never give up on me. God definitely knows how to answer prayers. "Sometimes I thank God, for unanswered prayers. Remember when you're talkin to the man upstairs. That just because he may not answer, doesn't mean he dont care. Cause some of Gods greatest gifts are unanswered prayers." All those prayers that i thought were not being answered were answered in Autumn.

In the past year a lot has happened. Autumn and I went from being friends, to being best friends, to being engaged to be married, to being sealed and married. This past year has been the best year of my life and i cant wait to see what eternity has in store for the newly formed Jolley family.

-Brandon-