Monthly Newsletter!

All growing up my mom wrote a monthly newsletter to keep a detailed history of our family, as well as to share with family. It is something we have always enjoyed growing up, and we now charish the binders work letters we have, and really have fun reading through them, remembering all the fun we have had as a family. I want to keep up the tradition! So I've started writing our own newsletter, as well as a family blog on Zach's side for me to collect family letters and combine them together. Here is our first letter, covering Oct/Nov, although I need to write a few more to fill in since we have been married, I'm behind already! So here we go, and I hope I will be able to keep it up the way Mom has!

Lauren and Zach

(September/October 2011)

               So after asking everyone to send me newsletters I realized we had to get our own together! Being married has been awesome! We’ve been having fun living life despite being in a bit of a tight spot the past few months. School preparations and searching for jobs and possible relocation take up the majority of our time, but we’ve been having plenty of good times along the way. I work at Wolcott’s a seventy year old family owned optical shop, which is a lot of fun. Most of the General Authorities get their glasses here so it is kinda fun to meet them occasionally; President Packer was in just last week. Zachary has been working on applications for various graduate degrees, and we’re excited to see how things will work out. Webster, our kitten, is getting really big, and is as mischievous as ever!  

September came in with lots of fun and new things going on, one of the most fun being the new Korean foreign exchange student that has moved in with my parents for the next 4+ years! Some friends in our ward who have two Korean boys contacted my parents wondering if we would be willing to house a student, a friend of their boys, and two days later he was at the door! The American name he has chosen is Daniel and he instantly fit into the family. I think having Zach here to bridge the gap really helped him to relax with us, even though his English is perfect. At first he was almost silent and only bowed and nodded, but within a day or two he was laughing and playing games right along with us, he’s just another member of the family by now. At first he was terrified of all our pets and was constantly shrieking if they even walked near him, but now he is rarely seen without a cat or dog on his lap. He loves playing games with Zach and the boys, their current favorites are Hearts, Risk, and occasionally Axis and Allies. His dry sense of humor cracks us up and we love having him around! I’m really glad Zach has someone to speak Korean with, they have a lot of fun with it and we are all learning a little. September was a really fun month, we has a few birthdays, Scotts was the end of August, Daniels the second week of September, and Zach’s on the 29^th, so we had a big celebration! We all went to See’s Candies for the birthday boys to pick out a pound box each of chocolates, which is a tradition in my family, and then we all went out to dinner together.

Zach’s birthday was so much fun! Along with a few treats he got two Korean cookbooks (time for me to get goin’ on learning that stuff!) and one book about guns and their history. We have had a lot of fun already with the Korean cooking! He also got civil war book called Hearts Touched by Fire, which is a really cool collection of stories and memories written by generals, and other leaders who were there. Lots of books! One of our favorite date nights is browsing at Barnes and Noble and a little book exchange shop we recently found, we’re huge book nerds.

October started with General Conference, I had to work Saturday L but we enjoyed a brunch gathering with Caleb and Vanessa in Lehi, plus a few other friends, for the Sunday sessions. Zach made his now famous White Chili and everyone loved it (thanks for the recipe, Mom). It was wonderful to sit and listen to the words of our prophets, Conference is always a favorite for me.

Halloween was a blast! We didn’t dress up much, Zach thought about being Wolverine with the awesome split beard and all but we ended up just hanging out at the Pyne’s for Pizza and a fire bowl on the front lawn, for a better view of the costumes! A few friends were over and we had a good time chatting and eating candy, s’mores and the Halloween cake we brought. The rest of October has been spent working hard on school and work applications for both of us, we’ve picked several schools and we’re both applying, so hopefully we’ll have some options opening up for us in the next few weeks or so. Wish us luck!

Sorry this is so tedious; my main purpose is to try to get a good family history started early on, so if I’m a bit detailed I’m sorry!