You Will Be Missed!

It is amazing how things can go from being wonderful, to being the worst they could possibly be in so short amount of time. After a 14 Month battle with multiple myeloma Randy Noorlander left this earth to return to our Father in Heaven on February 14, 2011. Andrew, my self and his siblings found out about two and a half weeks ago that their Dad's cancer had returned with full force and was quickly taking over his body, there was nothing left to do but wait out our remaining time with him at home and pray that he wasn't in too much pain. So we decided to take the time off of school and be with the family. It was hard to watch Randy suffer as the cancer took over his body, it was hard to watch Lori and her kids in pain and in their own way suffer and try to deal with the fact that in a matter of days their beloved husband and father would no longer be with them. As we spent time with the family we had many opportunities to reflect on good memories, and things that they have been taught about their Dad. I took the chance to reflect on some things that Randy had taught me even though I had only known him for a little over a year. First and foremost he taught me about enduring what ever may be handed to you, he taught me patience, optimism, love, gratitude, and serving others. Randy always made me feel welcome when I came to the Noorlander home and I always felt included in their family activities. I always felt that he genuinely cared about how I was doing and what was going on in my life. He made me feel apart of their family before I actually even was one. I will greatly miss Randy, I will miss listening to his stories, tease his children, and miss his warm and giving heart. I am grateful for the short time in which i had to get to know him and even more grateful that he was able to attend our wedding, that is a blessing I will always treasure. I know he is already hard at work on the other side, and hopefully he is teaching my children how to behave. We will always love and miss you Dad. Thanks for everything you have taught us, done for us and the love you have given us.

Time Flies!

One minute i'm sitting in an apartment full of girls talking about boys and playing games and the next I'm living in a little one bedroom apartment with Andrew, cooking chicken enchiladas while my washing machine floods the kitchen. Sounds crazy right... well that is exactly what these last few months have been... I finished up fall semester and did surprisingly well considering I was going to school full time, planning a wedding, and working. I was happy to see the semester finally be over and walking out of my last critique was a great feeling! It took a little of the stress off my shoulders and I had time to relax... for about a day. Then I moved home, well I shouldn't say moved because I didn't, I went home for christmas break and continued with the wedding plans and trying to move into our new place. After many many busy days with lots to do December 21st finally came. That is the day I recieved my endowment. I received it in the Draper temple and what a wonderful experience it was. Alyssa was my escort because Kathryn also took her endowments out the same day, same session! It was so cool to be there with my older sisters and my mom waiting in the brides room before we headed up to be with the rest of the family. I am so grateful to everyone who came and supported me. I have the best family ever and would be no where with out them. Next we move on to Christmas. Talk about a crazy day... back and forth from Kaysville, visiting this family and that family and trying to spend as much time with everyone as possible. It was a lot of driving but a ton of fun! Next comes the big day! December 28th was a wonderful day! Clear beautiful skies, chilly but over all I couldn't have asked for better weather in December. The sealing was incredible and I was so over whelmed to have all of my family and a few of my closest friends there with us. I couldn't look anywhere but straight at the sealer because every time I did I found someone who was crying which would make me start crying and I really didn't want to do that. The luncheon was wonderful and we had tons of fun and got some great advice from everyone we love. The reception was over before I knew it, although my feet certainly felt the 3 hours of standing there. Now We have been married for over a month and are loving our cute little apartment, despite the floods and the broken dishwasher. But hey life could be worse.

We found an apartment!

Finally! We found an apartment! It is a cute little one bedroom towards the south end of logan. They are remodeling it so it has brand new kitchen cupboards, tile, and paint! It couldnt be more perfect for our budget and what we need. This is a major blessing! Andrew has also sold his contract which is a huge help, I am still working and praying that mine gets sold. Hopefully it will all work out. School is winding down and finals are getting closer. I can't belive how fast this semester has gone. It is crazy! As for the time being I am at work stuck in a blizzard with no customers what so ever. Why the store is sitll open no body knows but I guess if the boss wants to pay me to sit here that is his decision. Well That is about it I just thought I would share our good news! Pictures will come when we can actually move in, which should be in a few weeks! Yay!

Bridals and Groomal's

A few engagements...

Here they are!

For lack of something better to do...

Techniqually I'm at work and shouldn't be on the computer but, when you are the only one scheduled, and you have only helped two cusotmers in the last two hours, and everything else is caught up it tends to get a little boring in the land of Cold Stone. Thus, I will update the blog. Where to begin... well school is coming along. It hasn't been to stressful and I've been keeping up on my homework leaving me most weekends to play and have fun. I'm really liking my photography classes. Despite the hours I put into my prints and other projects and the amount of complaints I express to various people (mostly Andrew) I am loving photography. While some days it makes me a little crazy and I wonder why in the world I chose to do this to my self, I am extreamly happy with my major and inteded career choice. My painting class on the otehr hand is something I would rather not discuss, so I'm not going to. That goes for my "food, technology, and health" class. Its just a silly depth credit that, to be honest I don't pay much attention in. As for the rest of life, things are going good. Work is work and school is school, enough said. So some positive things in life. The wedding (ps 70 more days)plans are coming along nicely and I'm getting down to the last final decisions and plans. Andrew and I still need to register and pick out a cake, among other things. But on a positive note in the last two weeks we had our engagements and our bridals/groomals taken.(pictures will be posted then I get them)It was interesting being on the other side of the camera for once and I acutally enjoyed it. We will see if that shows on my face in the acutal pictures. Other then going to school, working, planning a wedding and enjoying life there is not much else. I guess something to report is that my intramural volleyball team is playing in the semi-finals tonight and hopefully we make it to the finals tomorrow. Not exactly the most exciting thing but still its a good outlet to the stresses of life. Well I guess thats it for now. Hopefully pictures will be up soon!

Jon and Somelea

Jon and Somelea recently moved out of state and asked me to take some photos of them at the great salt lake before they moved to have a little reminder of Utah. Well we got there right as the sun was setting and caught some beautiful colors!