First Anniversary

WE MADE IT!!!!

I can't believe that a year has already come and gone. Sometimes it seems like we've only been married a month, and other times it's like we've been together for years! I'm so thankful for my husband, and have been so blessed by his presence in my life, especially over the past three years. Words can't express how much I love him, and how much he means to me! One year of friendship, one year of dating, and one year of marriage. There are so many more years to come, and so many more adventures to be had together. I look forward to each and every one!

Brent, it's truly a blessing, joy and an honor to have you as my husband, best friend, the future father of our future children, and as the head of our home! I love you Brent, with my whole heart for my whole life!



"I have found the one whom my soul loves." - Song of Solomon 3:4

Being newly-relocated newlyweds obviously means we didn't have tons of money to spend on a fancy outing for celebrating, and we knew we didn't have to spend money to have fun and celebrate one another. Still, we were thankful and blessed to have received a lovely care package from my family containing some food, miscellaneous necessities, and a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory - which is where Brent and I had decided we wanted to go, about a month prior, for our special night!

Getting ready! (Also...I'm sorry...but sometimes I make duck faces without meaning to. ;)

It was raining, so we took our cute little umbrella with us!

Awww, feel the love! ;)

Black & White...obviously.

Car pictures!

Bein' all serious...

FOOD IS INSIDE!!!

I don't think Cheesecake Factory is really considered a fancy restaurant, but we sure felt like we were at one!

FOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!

We decided to go all out and order an appetizer - cream cheese & crab wontons! (Hey, we had a gift card!)

I had a delicious pork chop, with excellent mashed potatoes and some of the best green beans EVER.

Brent had perfect orange chicken and rice!

My favorite dessert is tiramisu, so I had to try it cheesecake-style!

Brent had cookie dough cheesecake!

 

Coffee with out dessert. Brent's a coffee drinker now (praise the Lord!), but he's still acquiring the taste. I'm sure you can guess which one is his. ;)

Brent and I had a great time just relaxing, and talking to each other about each other. It's been a bit difficult to have a regular date night since moving because of finances and such, so it was so nice to just BE together. It definitely reminded us how important it is to make time for each other. Just because we're "young, in love, and always together" doesn't mean we shouldn't set aside specific time for just the two of us to spend, continuing to get to know one another and growing together as husband and wife. Building a strong foundation now is important for both the present and the future of our marriage...and we look forward to a wonderfully blessed lifelong romance together!

"Hang my locket around your neck, wear my ring on your finger. Love is invincible facing danger and death. Passion laughs at the terrors of hell. The fire of love stops at nothing - it sweeps everything before it. Flood waters can’t drown love, torrents of rain can’t put it out. Love can’t be bought, love can’t be sold - it’s not to be found in the marketplace."

- Song of Solomon 8:6-8 (Message Bible)



"My beloved is mine and I am his." - Song of Solomon 6:3

Late Updates...SORRY!!!!

First of all, my apologies for practically LYING on my last post. I said I would update on Saturday. It's now Wednesday, and I failed to do so. Lame me.

Anyway, the last time I posted was a month ago, before school even started. In fact, I believe it was registration week when I posted. A lot has happened since then. Stroll with me loved ones, if you will, down this last month's Memory Lane.

Let's see. First of all, school has begun! Which of course is the whole reason we moved to Okie in the first place. We were so super excited that it was finally here! The way the school is set up is that we have four 8-week terms, each having six classes. This week is our fourth week of school, and it's already midterms! (Which I wish was why I didn't get my blog post written over the weekend, but it wasn't. Let's be real: I was lazy.) Anyway, we love our classes so much. Like, LOVE them! This term we're taking Christ the Healer, Blood Covenant, Faith I, Understanding Grace, Critical Thinking/Giving & Receiving, and Financial Management. Our favorite courses are definitely Christ the Healer and Blood Covenant, but all of the classes are awesome, and we're learning so much from each one. For time's sake, I won't go into the course description of each one, but if you want to know any more about what each class is all about, comment or email me and I'll gladly tell you. Basically, it's a lot of Jesus, a lot of Bible, and a lot of AWESOME.

Here we are getting ready for our first day of our first year at Rhema!

First day!!!



Our campus also has a rec center with a concession stand. We stopped there for lunch during the week of registration and ate some Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and some truly awesome fries! So here's Brent eating that... ;)



Every Friday is Rhema Spirit Day, so we get to wear jeans and "Rhema gear" to class!

As most of you know, I'm also going to night school at Southwestern Christian University working towards my bachelors degree in Human & Family Services. Almost a decade of me being in school, and I'll FINALLY have something to show for it, haha! I'll have my official degree in January 2014, though I won't be walking until May of that year. In case I haven't mentioned it before, the way the SCU courses are set up is one class at a time, one night a week for five weeks each, all year long. It's pretty intense! I got an A in my first course (Academic Research Writing) and this week is the last week of Educational Philosophies course. (Hopefully I get an A in this one too! I'm close...) Next course I'll be taking will be Cultural Diversity, and after that I'm only going to be in actual program courses, like counseling, addiction studies, societal issues and procedures, etc. A real-life career guys...I'm almost there! ;)

Brent's also planning on going to SCU in the spring, and plans on working towards a business degree, so he's excited about that. He loves his job and the people he works with. He such an awesome banker! Poor guy though: with full-time work and full-time school, he's going from 6am-9pm almost every day! But he really enjoys and appreciates his days off now more than he ever did before, and I am so thankful for him working so hard while I'm finishing my degree. He is the best husband and friend a girl could have, and I love him so much! We also celebrated our ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!! But I'll write a separate post about that. :)

We've met some really awesome people, and have hung out with some great couples! It's nice to be forming some new relationships with new people and finding our place here in Tulsa. We are, however, looking forward to coming home for a week for Christmas and spending time with our Idaho friends and family!

Our upstairs neighbors moved out last week, and were so nice - they gave us their table and chairs!

Since school started, I haven't been on the best "try new recipes" schedule, haha! But that will change, believe me! (No more Hot Pockets for a while...) I will say, I had a very successful track record for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies two weeks in a row! Seriously, I baked THREE 2.5 dozen batches in two weeks! One was for Brent's job's bake sale, and the other we took over the two times we hung out with our new peeps. I must say, they were quite delicious!

Pumpkin CCCs!!!

I also made this....stuff....in the crock pot. It was just cream cheese, chicken, corn, black beans, and rotel for 6 hours in the crock pot. We ate it in tortillas, though it would have also worked with rice too! It was really good and lasted us a week!

Also, remember when I tried to make my own potato chips and they just ended up being thinly sliced potatoes? Well this time I made actually crispy potato thins!! Though it was totally by accident, and I have no idea how to duplicate it...but they were great! Also....chicken, green beans, and cinnamon applesauce. ;)

I also made some banana bread! It was pretty good, but I should have used more banana. Next time!

As I said, I'll be posting a 1st anniversary post tonight (this time I really will, I promise), but church starts in like, 20 minutes, and even though it's right across the street, I need to like...put actual clothes on and warm me up some coffee for the journey. So to tide you over until the anniversary post is up, here's a little something for you.

First, if you don't already know, pumpkin spice lattes are now at Starbucks...which means it's officially fall.

Second, a bird decorated the hood of our car quite creatively.

And finally, yes. That is exactly what you think it is. I found this little beauty (thankfully, already dead) on our back patio while I was talking to Courtney on the phone. HOORAY!

Updates are soon to come!

OK, I know I've been horrible and haven't updated like, anything since September 11th and I most definitely apologize! That was the week of orientation, and the next week was the first week of school. Today marks the last day of the third week of the first term, so...yeah, you can see it's been a bit busy. But just know that an update will happen tomorrow night! That's right: I'm setting aside some time tomorrow night to update photos, stories, and whatever else I've left out over the past four weeks. Which is like...everything, haha!

So just know that by the end of the weekend, you should be fully updated!

Now, I'm off to study for some midterm action!

P.S. - I did, however, update the look of the blog again. I also added an "our story" page. Check it out! :)

Because it's FALL!!!!

That's right, it's a new season - literally and...well, literally. A new season of the year and a new season of life. So I felt it was time for a new look on the blog to celebrate both!

Today was the third day of orientation week at Rhema, and while it's been great, we can't wait for classes to start. My financial aid for SCU finally came in so we were able to get Brent all registered and now we're both ready to go. We get our schedule Friday, so I'll post our classes as soon as we know.

The weather the past few days has been soooooo nice! It's like being in Idaho again, haha! Which reminds me: today while in line for the restroom, a woman was almost offended that I thought it had been humid this summer in Oklahoma. Seriously, I kid you not. I told her I was from Idaho and so I wasn't used to humidity when I first arrived. She's from Florida and said that it's more humid in Florida than in Oklahoma. I responded with something like, "Oh I'll bet! It's just, for me, this was really humid." She looked at me like I was both a liar and an idiot, saying, "So YOU think THIS is humid? I just...I can't fathom that." The lady in front  of me came to my defense in this unnecessarily awkward situation saying, "She said she was from Idaho," and that was pretty much the end of it.

All in all, it was an exciting bathroom experience.

We had picture day last week, so here we are on our way to that. By the way...the photographer was concerned my sleeves might be too short because they were supposed to cover my entire shoulder, but I was allowed to take the picture anyway. I know, I know...I'm a rebel.

Brent filled out his papers for insurance last night, so by the middle of October we should be good to go with dental and vision! We decided to skip medical because it just too friggin' expensive for us right now, haha! So we're believing that neither of us have to get anything else removed in the next few years.

We also bought new clothes the other day. NEW CLOTHES!!!!!! Neither of us have bought new school clothes in ages, so it was very exciting and we got some great stuff to start out our new wardrobes. Here's us (sort of) showcasing our new looks...

I also built an incredibly cheap bookshelf. My word...it was cheap. But it's a bookshelf, so we're happy.

Brent and I were a bit under the weather last week. (I blame it on the children I work with; they're always carrying diseases, those kids are.) Anyway, an awesome couple from our young marrieds group brought us over some soup, Gatorade, Kleenex, oranges, and medicine to help us feel better. It was such a nice surprise. The night before, a friend from Twin Falls (who is a Rhema grad) was in town for work, and he treated us to dinner at a tasty Mexican restaurant called El Tequila. It was super delicious, and we enjoyed seeing a familiar face. It was a very blessed weekend!

After dinner, the three of us hit up some fro-yo!

We also made cookies and homemade chile Colorados!

Finally, this morning while we were getting ready, I asked Brent if he was going to be comfortable in his dress shoes all day. He said, "Tim Gunn says that a little discomfort means you're not wearing pajamas." We be stylin'....

REGISTRATION DAY!!!!

Maybe not too exciting for anyone else, but it's what we've been waiting for for two months! Today was Rhema Bible Training College's registration day, tomorrow is our picture day, and this Friday marks the beginning of our one-week long orientation! The first day of classes is September 17th.

To prepare for today's excitement of filling out paperwork and standing in line for almost two hours, we watched National Treasure last night and ate spaghetti! Just look at how awesome we are...

 

This morning I woke up with a cold (what I had thought the day before was just my usual end-of-summer allergies), but it was ok...because this was the day we've been waiting for!!! I took some DayQuil and we were on our way.

 

We got in pretty quickly, filled out some paper work, and sat in a room for about 15-20 minutes while everyone got in and found their seats. We were right up front!

 

Right up front, right in the middle! This is a picture the dean took while addressing all of the students and put on Facebook. His name is Tad...Dean Tad. He seems like a pretty cool dude. :)

After we were dismissed from this initial information meeting, Brent and I went to talk with an advisor about our finances...because, you know...we're poor. We ended up being a bit short of some of the money we needed up front, but they're super great at working with students. Brent will also be getting veteran's benefits, so that's awesome! I registered for school, and Brent will register on Friday. We're just excited to be one step closer to starting classes!

 

Then we had to go turn in the forms we filled out. We waited in the wrong line for about an hour, and then we waited in the right line for about another hour. FUN!!!!

 

Then I got a bag full of my books for the whole year. Students still have six more books that they get in October, and Brent will get his own set of books on Friday.

So many books!!

Well, that's about it for registration day. I think I'm going to take a nap now...or maybe call one of my sisters-in-law...or maybe I'll just drink my orange juice and try to get rid of this head cold...

 

August Wrap-Up

It has been almost a month since I last posted an actual post! My apologies. It's been super busy around the Butler household the past few weeks.

Brent's been a successful bank teller for about a month now. He really loves his job and is picking it up really fast. He's always wanted to work at a bank - so proud of that man! Despite my big "I'm not working anymore" speech, I did end up getting a job at Rhema's child care facility. The job is only as a sub so I'll be super, super part-time, but I had to do training...hence the full-time schedule for the past three weeks.

The kids gave me a Perry the Platypus tattoo. Awesome.

This week is also my very last week of my first class at Southwestern Christian University (they do one class at a time for five-weeks, all year long). So after this week, I move on from Academic Writing & Research to Adult Learning & Development.

We've gone swimming two times at our apartment complex's pool, and we've been the only ones both times so that's been super relaxing. That's been about it though, leading up to this week which is registration and orientation...FINALLY!

I made some food over the past month though, so I know some people won't be disappointed with this post! ;)

Tacos! With my homemade seasoning, I might add. :)

Breaded chicken and baked potatoes...yum!

Bisquick pizza. Not really pizza...but kind of pizza.

I attempted to make my own potato chips. I ended up with just thinly sliced potatoes, but they were still a great side!

We also purchased processed cookies because we've yet to buy proper baking supplies.

I got an early taste of Christmas. :)

We didn't buy these, but my mom brought some home for me once. So this photo is in remembrance of that! ;)

We went to a self-serve frozen yogurt place called Cherry Berry and shared...some kind of concoction we came up with. It was tasty!

Gotta love the fro-yo!

On the 17th, our youth/college pastor, Josh, married his lady friend, Jacque. We were bummed we weren't able to physically be there, but my word, are we thankful for the internet! The wedding ceremony was live-streamed online!! Jim and I Skyped while we listened in on the ceremony. It was really pretty. (Poor Brent had to work.)

Jim and I on Skype with the sparkle screen!

Then I took a few pictures of some STORM CLOUDS!!!!! It wasn't actually that big of a storm, but the clouds were awesome!