over the river and through the woods

Christmas was exciting. We chilled with los abuelos down in Summit which is always a good time. Grandpa has the funniest things to say like, "try some of those nigger toes," "smile luigi," and "just before christmas i'm as good as i can be!" to name a few. He has the amazing ability to sleep sitting up without having his head nod forward, which would make any normal man wake up constantly. amazing. Grandma is doing well too. her food is tasty tasty. we spent our time putting a puzzle together, watching old tymie christmas movies, and eating rediculous amounts of holiday candies. Needless to say, it was the bomb.com fa sho dog. peep the pics cha...

Christmas Time!!!!

It's Christmas time!! I love this time of year, especially this year. I think since this is the first Christmas away from my family in Texas, I have really tried to keep the Christmas spirit alive because I know that it will be bittersweet. This being our first Christmas together as Mr. and Mrs. Mauger, I really wanted to have a real Christmas tree. We are too poor to pay $40 for a real tree that has already been cut for us, so we decided to chop down our own. Both Matt and I were excited to go on an adventure for the ideal tree and it started with us having to drive an hour and a half away in order to get a tree permit. Once that was accomplished, we were off to find the approved forestry area where we were allowed to cut a tree down. When getting the permit, we were informed that we would have to find a dirt road that would lead us to the forestry. It took us about 30 minutes to find the dirt road and it ended up being the scariest road I have ever been on! Not only was it WAY too narrow, but there was a steep cliff on one side AND the narrow road had either bulging rocks or deep holes that we had to carefully maneuver around. Sad to say I did not take any pictures of it since I was so scared, but I did take pictures of our tree.

There weren't many pine trees, so our pickings were slim. We did find one at the top of the mountain, so the hike begin. Matt ended up doing 99% of the chopping and dragging the tree down the mountain. It was because of him that we now have a wonderful tree in our home!!

Here is Matt where we decided to stop and start hiking. This is one example of the big holes that we encountered on the way up the mountain.

This is a picture of our tree in the distance and some of the dead shrubbery that we had go through to get it. Our tree is the one closer to the middle.

This is Matt when we got to the tree and right before he starts cutting it down. It was a lot bigger than it looked from far away!!!

While Matt was cutting down the tree I was taking pictures of the scenery which was gorgeous
Yay! He cut it down!!! Because it was too big for our home, he cut off the bottom 3 feet :)

Bringing the tree down through the dead shrubbery was tough but Matt did it!

It's strapped to the car and ready to go home!!
Our new Christmas all decorated!!!!
We decided to go with blue and silver ornaments

Dedicated to Mrs. Oliva

I can still remember the day that we met- I was in the Taft High School locker room before school started. A girl from the basketball team who was of a different religion found out that I was LDS and wanted answers to certain questions. Since I was young and naive and didn't know how to properly defend my beliefs, this conversation quickly turned into a heated debate (Later is when I learned to defend my beliefs with the spirit rather than facts and arguing). While in the heated debate, I was searching for someone to back me up and help me defend myself. I spotted a girl who I didn't know personally, but I did know that she was a member of the church from the other stake. I starred at her with a facial expression saying, "Get over here and help me out!!", but to no avail I was left helpless. When all was said and done I was upset that she didn't come to my side and help me. I decided that I didn't like her because she didn't stand up for the church. It wasn't until a year later that I found out here name- Kremer. She was in my pre calculus class and was assigned to sit next to me. Another person, Matt D., became instant friends with Kremer and me and coincidentally Kremer and I gradually became friends. As I got to know her I forgot about the locker room incident because she was such a great friend. After our friendship started to grow, it was then when I learned that she was a recent convert and had no background in the church. Boy did I feel dumb!!! She did in fact forgive me (or so I think :) ) the rest, as they say, is history. There is not one high school memory since that point that doesn't have Kremer in it.

Kremer was basically the only friend that my parents fully trusted and let me do anything with. It was because of Kremer that I was able to become the person I am today. She helped me loosen up, learn how to have fun, and understand what a best friend means. I have so many memories of Kremer and I: going to her house and watching the Lion King, driving in the Wild Stallion, punching a fellow AcDec student and making her bleed :), going to Sonic for Mr. Perkins, Prom and the midnight curfew, the South Padre trip, the wonderful and countless AcDec memories, learning what Matt D.'s last name nickname really meant, her attempting to set up my first kiss experience, all of the West stake dances, youth conference and Habitat for Humanity, throwing paper airplanes across the room to each other in Mrs. Guidry's class and her never figuring out it was us because we were her favorite students, getting lame grades on our Senior Scrapbook even though ours were DEFINITELY the best, the condo stay at AcDec competition, and countless others.

Though we have grown apart these last four years due to college that is out of state and other reasons, she is still one of the few girls that I call my best friend. She helped me really get out of my shell and learn to enjoy life. She brought a completely different perspective to everything, and I absolutely loved every second with her! So this is to you Mrs. Jennifer Kremer Oliva- Happy Birthday!! Even though we aren't as in touch with each other as in high school- you still are a best friend. Everytime, literally everytime, I see turtles I think of you!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Thanksgiving Events

Well we decided to succumb to the pressure and create a blog. I am actually very excited to begin blogging in hopes that it will motivate me to start a journal. This past week has been absolutely wonderful for several reasons. First, vacation! I definitely needed a break from school so even though we only got three days off for Thanksgiving, it was a welcomed break. The second reason why this week has been wonderful is because of the actual holiday. Matt and I were able to go down and visit his extended family on Thursday. We ate lots of food, played games and made jewelry. This was my first Thanksgiving away from home and even though I would have loved to be with my family in Texas or Alaska, it was nice to be around Matt's extended family and enjoy the holiday with them.

The next day, black Friday, we decided that we would attempt to take on the after-Thanksgiving sales. We woke up at 4 in the morning and headed straight to Walmart to get a TV that had an incredible price tag. I was absolutely shocked to see how many other people were at Walmart at that time too- I have honestly never seen so many people at Walmart at once. Luckily, the TV that we wanted was the first thing for sale when you walked in, so it was easy to get out once we got it. When the sale officially started at 6 a.m. the store became sheer madness. Everyone started grabbing and stealing as much as they could. Needless to say Matt and I got out of there as soon as we could. One of Matt's relatives asked us to go to Target to pick up a gift for her family, so after Walmart we headed over there. Target opened up at 6 a.m. and we got there at 5:15 and there were two lines of at least 300 people in line in the rain!! We decided that our chances of getting what we set out to get were improbable, so we left and promised ourselves never to do this again, even if that means saving 20 dollars!

Later that day Matt and I went over to our adopted uncle's home to eat another Thanksgiving dinner and to play more games. All in all this was a wonderful time to relax and enjoy the company of those around us. Today we have spent the entire day doing homework and studying for finals, but soon enough Christmas, my favorite season, will be here and we will again be able to slow down and enjoy the holidays. Here are a few pictures that we took of our Thanksgiving day and of the Walmart madness.

This is what Walmart looked like at 4:30 in the morning!!


























This is Matt with his Grandma and Grandpa :)



























The family cleaning up after Thanksgiving dinner.. I forgot to take pictures of the actual dinner















Some of our relatives: Uncle Curtis, Grandpa and Scott














Matt and I taking goofy pictures














Some of the family making jewelry