Get Outta Provo

It started only a couple of months ago. My darling husband had found a jar with a couple of coins left over from his mission in Argentina and an idea was born. We were going to use this jar to put our spare change that was left in our wallets at the end of the week into this jar. The rules were simple. Nothing larger than a $5 bill, there was to be no breaking up of larger bills in order to be able to put more money in, and you could only put change in at the end of the week. We decided we would call this our "Get Outta Provo Fund" because as much as we love being in Provo, sometimes a couple just needs to escape the "bubble" and explore other places.

Donations are also gladly accepted in our house... haha :)

Since my best friend Kylea was getting married to Casey Knecht in St. George on May 15, we decided that we would use our growing fund to go down there. In total, we had $68.77, which wasn't too bad considering we were just making a day trip.

And so began our day long adventure this past Saturday. We woke up at around 7am and headed out the door at around 8am. The drive was absolutely gorgeous and we had some pit stops along the way. We ended up stopping in Beaver UT on the way down as Alex had been told that they had a cheese factory and wanted to see if they did tours. Turns out the cheese factory doesn't even run on Saturdays, let alone give tours. Slightly disappointed, Alex and I still got to experience some of the cheese factory wonder as we bought cheese curds and a child's size scoop of macadamia nut ice cream (unfortunately due to my new diet suggestions I could only indulge in this treat to a minimum). We headed back on the road and continued our drive to St. George.
We creatively experimented with fun games to pass the time. One of the most amusing was pretending that there was a glass wall between us and in order to talk to one another we had to press a pretend button on the car door, make the corresponding sound, and talk to one another in preferably a "trucker" voice. It was quite fun!

This picture is specifically for my family. It is the local grocery store in Beaver, UT called "Mike's". That is a completely different story, and if you want to know more contact Momma Joc. Enjoy the memories Sheen Family!

We arrived in St. George about a half an hour before the wedding was scheduled. Alex and I meandered through the Visitor's Center on the Temple Grounds. We watched one of the short videos they have there. It is by far my favorite. They ask young children to describe different aspects of the Gospel and their answers are just so simple, true, and CUTE! We then went into the Temple for the wedding, which was so beautiful. Kylea and Casey were married by Kylea's great-grandfather, and he was just the sweetest man ever! It was such a great experience to see my best friend and her now husband being married for time and for all eternity.

This is the cute couple once the ceremony was done

The St. George Temple is absolutely gorgeous!

This is me with the glowing bride. I think I look a bit retarded, but Kylea looks GORGEOUS!

Alex and I decided to take a photo-op. I love the flowers on the Temple Grounds!

Since we were only making a day trip, we decided to opt out of the reception that was going to be held later that night in Logandale NV, and instead go out to a late lunch in St. George and then make the trek home. Alex had been asking around at his work places about good places to eat in St. George and surprised me with a restaurant that was definitely worth going to-Basila's Mediterranean Cafe. The atmosphere was great, the service was fast (seriously, our food came out 5 minutes after we had ordered), and the food was DIVINE.

Alex ordered a spicy chicken salad, and the carrots in the salad were huge as seen in the picture above.

I had the Gyro in the above picture and it was delicious. It had a cucumber dressing that was sooooo goooood.

As we were leaving St. George and about to exit onto the freeway, my husband noted an Outlet Mall to our right. Of course, being the bargain hunter that I am, we just had to go! So we pulled back around and went to take a gander. The only things that we bought were a shirt for Alex and a sweater for myself. Overall, the mall was quite a disappointment, and I wouldn't even consider it to be a "true" outlet mall. Everything was pretty darn close to normal price, and sales were to a minimum. So, we headed out of St. George (this time with no turn-arounds) and made our way back to Provo. I would love to say that the ride home was uneventful, but that proved not to be true.

Note our smiling faces. This is before we knew what was in store for us...

St. George is gorgeous by the way, and we just had to pull over and take some pictures!

This is me smiling. Before "the event" happened.

So, you all must be wondering what exactly happened on our way home. It was quite an adventure. We had decided that on the way home we would once again stop in Beaver UT, this time for gas, as they had a Shell station and we had an unused gift card for there that we had received in the mail from our health insurance. So, we stopped at this Shell station, loaded up on gas, treats, and Burger King, and then made our way back to our car where we were greeted by one of the guys that worked at the mechanics shop just adjacent to the gas station. As we approached he said to us, in a Southern Utah accent, "Y'all know that yer tires are worn down so much that they probably gonna blow pretty soon?" Alex and I, both confused and unsure, replied in the negative. He then proceeded to tell us that he could get our car up on the lift and take a look at the tires, absolutely no charge for us. We decided that if it was free that there would be no harm to just look and see the condition of the tires. Plus, these guys were just standing around and looking for something to do, so no harm done right? Wrong. As we got our car hoisted up on the lift, sure enough in small writing our front tires read "Replace Tire Immediately." Alex questioned the workers if we would be okay until we got to Provo to replace the tires, and the workers shook their heads and said that we should replace them right now. So as our mechanic, whose name was Mason but his shirt read Adam, went to the back to look for tires for us, Alex called his mom to see if she could dig up some knowledge about the price of tires at places like Costco so we could try and barter if needed. Turned out these mechanics would do both front tires for around $230 (including labor, balancing, etc), around the same price as somewhere like Costco, and we agreed and then sat down to wait. Mason/Adam came to see us about 5 minutes later and posed a situation in which he would do all 4 tires for $500 (also including labor, balancing, etc), so that way "they'd be all the same." As I silently hyperventilated, Alex took control and got Mason/Adam down to $450 which still wasn't the best, but at least it was $50 cheaper. As Mason/Adam went back to work, I thought to myself "That is a huge dent in our 'Get Outta Provo Fund'. Shooooooot." But to look at it in a positive sense, this event may have been a blessing in disguise. If the mechanics had not decided to tell us about our tires we may have been 50 miles down the road with a blown tire. So all this was worth it, right? :)
By the time Mason/Adam was done it was 8:30pm. He handed us our warranty papers and told us that if "y'all ever back down here in Beaver, we'll do a tire rotation fer y'all fer free." Who knows-maybe it will become our family tradition to go down to Beaver UT and get our tires rotated! We continued to drive back home to Provo with a new set of tires, rocking out to good 'ol Celine Dion songs, among others. As we pulled into our driveway at 10:30pm with "It Feels Like Home to Me" blasting, we were tired and ready for bed. Both of us fell asleep right away that night, exhausted from our long day's adventures. It will be interesting to see what adventures are ahead of us with our next "Get Outta Provo" escapade, but that probably won't be for a while since the fund is clearly drained. :)

Love,
The Aggens

PS-I just got a call from the Cannon Center, and I got a job there! YESSS!
PPS. Our new favorite family entity is homemade chocolate covered pretzels-so good. In fact, I am munching on some right now...

Neglect, an Apology, and a Much Needed Post

Dear Aggen Family Blog,
I know that we have not been on the best of terms lately, seeing how I have been neglecting you, yet still have the time to read other blogs on crafts, friends, etc. I could see how you might be getting jealous and wanting to be updated as well and so brings me to the purpose of this letter. Don't think that I have forgotten you my dear confidante. While a busy life is no excuse for a lack of posts, I must explain life's situations for you to fully understand why it may cause me to be reluctant and strained for writing.
Since we last blogged, I was in the midst of uncertainty in terms of my health, and unfortunately I am still in a similar position. There has been no real progress on my thyroid dilemma, but there is a biopsy scheduled on June 3 for the cysts which is progress. There is also nothing too spectacular to report on my stomach problems, except they referred me to an allergist. There they poked my back with 43 different scratch tests and suggested that maybe I should try to go off all dairy products because it MIGHT be the source of all things stomach related. So, that means no regular/chocolate milk, cheese, or ice cream. You can bet how much I like that considering dairy is a main staple of my diet. Argh!
Since we last chatted something HUGE has happened. I officially became a Permanent Resident of the United States. It is such a great blessing that everything worked out and that it all went smoothly. I am now able to work and drive in the USA, which is quite a relief to both myself and Alex.
School ended since the last update and Alex and I are both busy. Alex is working three jobs. He continues to work for the College of Life Sciences magazine, as well as TA for a psychology class. He also has an internship up at the State Prison in Draper, where he does psychological testing of inmates. As for me, I am attending Spring semester at BYU. I also have a job, although it is only on Saturdays. I am working with a 12 year old girl who is legally blind and has some developmental and speech disabilities, and I am helping her with Occupational Therapy as well as looking after her while her Mom is at work. Finding a job for during the week has been one of the hardest things so far. All employers that have interviewed me have wanted someone throughout the year as well, which is not feasible with my class scheduling in the Nursing program. So, I am still searching and trying my best. Alex is so supportive and has even offered to pick up another job if things get tight. Goodness I love that man! :)
We also have some BIG and EXCITING news! We are going to be moving at the end of the month. While it is only two streets over from where we currently live and is also a basement apartment, I couldn't be much more excited because...IT HAS A DISHWASHER. I will never be more grateful for one in my life, and it will definitely be a blessing when school fully starts up in the Fall again and time seems to be consumed with that. I will make sure to post pictures when the move is complete.
The only downside to moving is that we will be going to a different ward for Church, which is crazy to think considering we are only 2 streets away from our current abode. But, that is what you get when you live in Utah. We will miss our 10 year old Primary class, and I was recently called as the Young Women's Assistant Camp Director and will be sorry to be leaving that.
In terms of our everyday lives, we have definitely had some fun moments. We have been lucky enough to see both sides of our families. My Mom, Dad, and sister Lindsay came down for General Conference and then Gran and Grandpa Sheen have come to our Church meeting as they are still in the MTC waiting for their visas to go to Sweden. We also hiked the Y this past Saturday morning with the Cannon Family and the Cardon's. My favorite line from that adventure was 6 year old Tommy, after he had ran most of the way UP and DOWN the steep path saying as he climbed into the van "Whew! I can hardly wait to sleep all the way home!"
Well, my handsome husband just arrived home from a long day of work at the prison and just informed me that he has come up with a new name for me when I am feeling extra "gangster." Are you ready for it? It is "Tabithug". I think I might just go give him a kiss right now.
I hope you are satisfied with this newest post, and I promise to not be so slow in my next one. Our little family has some exciting plans this weekend involving driving down to St. George for Kylea and Casey's wedding. I will be sure to tell you all the details of our adventure once we get back.
Love, The Aggens