Home Sweet Home
Trying to find a good place to start our little family proved to be more difficult than I first anticipated it was going to be. We looked through dirty, smelly two bedroom apartments in Provo and even in an Assisted Living Building in Spanish Fork.... Eventually, I got frustrated and told Josh that it was his turn to do some looking. Josh's Aunt gave us the address of a basement apartment that was for rent in Mapleton and as soon as we saw the photos, we were scheduling a time to visit. We became the official "renters" the next morning and began imagining what life would soon be like for us.
Now that we've been married a few weeks, I finally feel like we can call our house, er.... basement apartment... our home. A few weeks prior to getting married, Josh & I purchased a beautiful black IKEA dresser for our bedroom (because one of us has a lot of clothes...). His brother, Sam, came over one Sunday to help us put it together but it didn't take long for us to find out that IKEA dressers are not a piece of cake. After three and a half hours, they finished the frame and left the drawers to be done another day. That "other day" finally happened last Saturday when Josh finished assembling the drawers and put it together. The mountains of laundry that were beginning to form in the Living Room could finally be put away!!
After we were married, we went online and purchased the rest of our registry items on Amazon and Target. Amongst these items was a turn table. When Josh was younger, he inherited a bunch of records and kept them until he one day was able to use them. The other night we put on a record and a jazzy tune filled our little apartment. Josh held out his hand and I took it. And yes - we danced. In our little basement. And it was adorable.
In addition to our new turn table, we purchased a TV!! While we were dating, Josh would hold his iPad while we watched a show or a movie - it's been nice to come home after a long day of work & band and be able to relax without having to worry about the iPad falling on our faces. We recently started watching the show "Chopped" and have a running challenge to see who can guess the winner correctly most often. So far Josh is at six and I'm at a whopping three. I guess Josh's luck follows him everywhere...
Monday night we had our first FHE as the Hurst Family. Josh & I were driving in the car a few weeks before we got married and I told him that it was important to me that we create the habits that we want our future children to possess right now as a newly married couple. This included daily prayers, scripture study, temple attendance, and weekly Family Home Evening. I believe that it will be easier for us to teach our children how to do these things if we can become successful in them first!
Before we got married, our Bishop instructed Josh to read The Family: A Proclamation to the World with me after we had gotten married. We knew that this would be our first lesson for FHE together. We sat on our couch and began to read this inspired document. In one of the paragraphs, it says, "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." After reading this, we decided that we wanted to focus on one of these principles every month in our scripture study and in our lives by setting goals to focus on and be better at each of them.
He also sent us a talk given at BYU by Spencer W. Kimball entitled, "Marriage and Divorce". The blunt text was honest and raw, as well as very humbling. President Kimball talked a lot about how marriage will not be easy, but it can bring some of the greatest joys and blessings imaginable. We read the talk and discussed our thoughts and feelings afterwards and Josh said something I really liked: "Marriage will work if we both remain unselfish." Even though we've only been married barely over a week, I know this statement to be true! I know that if both of us remain unselfish in our actions, we will be able to communicate effectively and have a successful marriage. I am grateful to have such a wonderful example in my life that I now get to call husband.
After our lesson, we decided to add a little healthy competition into the next portion of FHE: Game Time. Even though it felt like I had been cleaning for days, our apartment was still a mess. We had a pile of unmatched socks outside the laundry room door and a HUGE pile of empty boxes on the kitchen floor. To get it all done, we played "Sockie Sockie" (I think this is a game from Josh's childhood?) and "Boxie Boxie". Whoever lost, had to give the lesson for FHE the next week. Basically, the goal of the game was to see who could find the most sock mates and flatten the most boxes to be put into the trailer to be recycled. After cleaning, I decided that this was how we should always clean because we got so much done in such a short amount of time! Oh, and just in case you're wondering -- I am teaching the FHE lesson next week ;).
It's been so much fun organizing and rearranging our little home together. Cooking, doing the dishes & laundry, and loading the dishwasher has never been so much fun. I can't wait to see all of the fun memories that will be made for us in Mapleton. People have been asking me how married life has been and honestly, it doesn't feel too much different. All I know is I love getting to see my favorite person every night before I go to sleep and every morning when I wake up.
Oh, and I LOVE being Mrs. Hurst.
Now that we've been married a few weeks, I finally feel like we can call our house, er.... basement apartment... our home. A few weeks prior to getting married, Josh & I purchased a beautiful black IKEA dresser for our bedroom (because one of us has a lot of clothes...). His brother, Sam, came over one Sunday to help us put it together but it didn't take long for us to find out that IKEA dressers are not a piece of cake. After three and a half hours, they finished the frame and left the drawers to be done another day. That "other day" finally happened last Saturday when Josh finished assembling the drawers and put it together. The mountains of laundry that were beginning to form in the Living Room could finally be put away!!
After we were married, we went online and purchased the rest of our registry items on Amazon and Target. Amongst these items was a turn table. When Josh was younger, he inherited a bunch of records and kept them until he one day was able to use them. The other night we put on a record and a jazzy tune filled our little apartment. Josh held out his hand and I took it. And yes - we danced. In our little basement. And it was adorable.
In addition to our new turn table, we purchased a TV!! While we were dating, Josh would hold his iPad while we watched a show or a movie - it's been nice to come home after a long day of work & band and be able to relax without having to worry about the iPad falling on our faces. We recently started watching the show "Chopped" and have a running challenge to see who can guess the winner correctly most often. So far Josh is at six and I'm at a whopping three. I guess Josh's luck follows him everywhere...
Monday night we had our first FHE as the Hurst Family. Josh & I were driving in the car a few weeks before we got married and I told him that it was important to me that we create the habits that we want our future children to possess right now as a newly married couple. This included daily prayers, scripture study, temple attendance, and weekly Family Home Evening. I believe that it will be easier for us to teach our children how to do these things if we can become successful in them first!
Before we got married, our Bishop instructed Josh to read The Family: A Proclamation to the World with me after we had gotten married. We knew that this would be our first lesson for FHE together. We sat on our couch and began to read this inspired document. In one of the paragraphs, it says, "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." After reading this, we decided that we wanted to focus on one of these principles every month in our scripture study and in our lives by setting goals to focus on and be better at each of them.
He also sent us a talk given at BYU by Spencer W. Kimball entitled, "Marriage and Divorce". The blunt text was honest and raw, as well as very humbling. President Kimball talked a lot about how marriage will not be easy, but it can bring some of the greatest joys and blessings imaginable. We read the talk and discussed our thoughts and feelings afterwards and Josh said something I really liked: "Marriage will work if we both remain unselfish." Even though we've only been married barely over a week, I know this statement to be true! I know that if both of us remain unselfish in our actions, we will be able to communicate effectively and have a successful marriage. I am grateful to have such a wonderful example in my life that I now get to call husband.
After our lesson, we decided to add a little healthy competition into the next portion of FHE: Game Time. Even though it felt like I had been cleaning for days, our apartment was still a mess. We had a pile of unmatched socks outside the laundry room door and a HUGE pile of empty boxes on the kitchen floor. To get it all done, we played "Sockie Sockie" (I think this is a game from Josh's childhood?) and "Boxie Boxie". Whoever lost, had to give the lesson for FHE the next week. Basically, the goal of the game was to see who could find the most sock mates and flatten the most boxes to be put into the trailer to be recycled. After cleaning, I decided that this was how we should always clean because we got so much done in such a short amount of time! Oh, and just in case you're wondering -- I am teaching the FHE lesson next week ;).
It's been so much fun organizing and rearranging our little home together. Cooking, doing the dishes & laundry, and loading the dishwasher has never been so much fun. I can't wait to see all of the fun memories that will be made for us in Mapleton. People have been asking me how married life has been and honestly, it doesn't feel too much different. All I know is I love getting to see my favorite person every night before I go to sleep and every morning when I wake up.
Oh, and I LOVE being Mrs. Hurst.
Mom helped me make this CUTE fall centerpiece for the table they bought us the other day. It was so much fun spending time and chatting with her and my Grandma Marks while they helped me put this together. I'm in love with it!! It really helps make our little apartment feel more homey and ready for the fall weather to come.
Yes, we played Sockie Sockie quite often. I am glad Josh remembers how to play and will pass it on to his family. Don't let him start throwing socks across the room or secretly sitting on socks. Ya gotta watch those Hursts.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a fun game! I kept thinking, "Man. We're going to have to do this more often!" We got so much done in such a short amount of time. It'll be fun to do with kids someday :). Thanks for teaching Josh!!
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