5 wonderful events in less than a month!!! (almost)

Between the last of November and the end of December we enjoy celebrating some of our favorite occasions! Only 2 have happened so far, and the other three will happen in the next two weeks. I will tell a little of each below!

1. Happy Thanksgiving! I have always loved Thanksgiving! Not only is it a perfect lead into the Christmas season but it is such a great day to be thankful for all that you have, spend time with family and eat delicious food! Alex and I went down to Brigham City Utah for the holiday and spent time with the Mecham side! It was one big crazy party! The food was phenomenal and we ate way too much (but that's what you're supposed to do right?). My grandparents took us all bowling after and we were the only ones there! It was great! I think that I got the 4th highest score out of all the adults (not bad eh?).That night we enjoyed searching the adds only to find that we really didn't want anything. I had to go (it's tradition) and ended up getting a few little gifts. I think I only spent about $10. That's what I call Black Friday shopping :) We did stand in line at ShopKo for more than an hour, only to find out that we read the ad wrong and the item was almost double what we thought. We sadly put it back and walked out of the store empty handed. What a bummer! But Alex was a trooper for saving our spot in line for such a long time!

2. Happy Birthday Alex! Alex's birthday was on the 26th. He is the big 24! He had to work in the morning and so I made a quick Breakfast in Bed before he left. I made the manliest omelet you have ever seen! Complete with eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, onions and mushrooms (with cheese on top). It was pretty delicious!  After work I let him open up his gifts. I gave him three practical gifts, Pj's, wallet and umbrella, and one not so practical, Wii Smashbrothers Brawl ( I think that is what it's called). He enjoyed playing his game all afternoon. We made a quick drive down to Ogden for a wedding open house and then enjoyed a hearty meal at Texas Roadhouse with my parents and siblings, who were still in town from Thanksgiving. It was a fun night had by all!

It was a fantastic weekend with plenty of memories made! I love Alex and I love celebrating with him! We also love our family and are so grateful for them! We wish we could have been with the Doroshkins too, that will have to wait till January when we head to Sacramento for Daniel's wedding.

Number 3, 4 and 5 are the end of the semester (which is Friday, if we survive finals), Our one year anniversary on the 21st and Christmas. It is a fun filled couple of months and I am looking forward to the next three events on the list! For now we are studying like crazy, finishing up projects, decorating for Christmas (I even got to be in the Provo Lights Parade as a Christmas tree- see pictures below) and a slew of other things! We will try to keep up better with our blog! Have a wonderful week!

Quick trip to Cali and ready for the Holidays!

We had an amazing time heading out to Livermore California last week to watch my best friend, Amber, get married! It was an awesome weekend and Adam and Amber make a beautiful couple! They were sealed in the Oakland Temple. Eternal marriage is such a blessing and being in the temple with close friends reminded Alex and I of our own special day and how excited we were to be married. We still love being married and tomorrow is our 11 month anniversary! Our year mark is just around the corner! Alex almost didn't make it to California though! I got a call about an hour and a half before his flight left letting me know that he was just leaving Provo. I figured that was enough time to get him there but after a couple mishaps Alex ended up running to his flight! Thank goodness the SLC airport isn't very busy and there was no security line! I drove to the airport in Oakland all by myself to get him, that was my first time driving in California, not too bad! We also almost missed our flight coming back to SLC. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get there and we were just sitting in this little cafe enjoying small talk when we heard over the loudspeaker, "last call for Alex and Josalyn Doroshkin!" That got us up nice and quick! We did get seats next to each other but it was on the very back of the plane! Oh well! It was a very exciting and memorable trip!

Now, we can hardly wait for the holidays! We will enjoy a quick trip down to Brigham City for Thanksgiving with the Mecham side. We both have to work Friday so we'll be back in Provo and then on Saturday we will enjoy the day celebrating the birth of Alex! He will be 24 years old! I love him so much and I can't wait till I see his face with all the surprises I have up my sleeve :) Have a great week! Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to be thankful for what you have! I know that Alex and I live the life of a poor college married couple but we feel very richly blessed to be getting an education and to have jobs to support us through! Our prayers go out to all our friends and family, particularly my cousins Andrew and Kyler. Andrew broke his back 2 weeks ago and has a long road of recovery ahead! We pray that he will gain the use of his legs again! And Kyler is a die hard sports man and has trouble with black outs. We love you! I'll post pictures of Thanksgiving and birthday next Sunday!

A little bit of this and that

So much has happened in the last two weeks! Where do we start? Happy Halloween? We had our first Halloween together! Our neighbor said that kids wouldn't come trick-or-treating because they do a trunk or treat at the church across the street. This was sad news to us because we had gotten special candy to hand out to all the cute little kids! Well we decided to try our luck, we put out our pumpkins and left our porch light on (hoping to attract some families). It worked! We actually had to turn out our light at about 8:30 because we ran out of candy! There were some very creative costumes, but I think our favorite was the the family with 7 kids. The Mom dressed up as Snow White and the kids all dressed up like the 7 dwarfs. The Dad was of course prince charming! We can't wait till we have a little one of our own that we can take trick-or-treating!

This week was a very crazy week! I had three tests and Alex had two! Not to mention we were both trying to submit scholarship applications, get other projects and assignments done, and just find time to eat lunch! We got through it (barely :) As I was picking up Alex from his last class on Friday night, our car broke down! I think that the Lord is trying to teach us patience! We got it towed to our house and tomorrow we will take it up to the shop to get a diagnostic done. Hopefully it is an easy fix that won't take too long to work out (or too expensive!)

My best friend Amber get's married this Friday on 11/11/11 at 11:00am in Oakland California! I fly out on Wednesday and Alex will join me on Thursday. It will be nice to get out of Provo for a few days and celebrate the new Mr. and Mrs. Johnson!

As for today, it was a wonderful day! We had stake conference and there were some wonderful talks given! They all tied together and I truly feel inspired to be a little better and to follow their suggestions. There were talks given on daily prayer, scripture study, honoring the Priesthood in the home, showing and expressing love to your spouse, attending the temple, family home evening and keeping our entertainment and media clean. These are all important things that make such a difference. I hope that we can continue to get better and be patient with ourselves in the process. I am so thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This is a crazy world we live in and the standards and principles of the Gospel are the way to return to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man (Hunk :) and to have been sealed for eternity in the temple so that we can have an eternal family. If you have any questions about the church and what we believe please don't hesitate to ask, or go to www.lds.org. Stay safe this week! We'll write soon!

p.s. I made bread today, it turned out okay, it was a little thick in the middle...

P-90 X and a week of fun!

This week has been another great week! Last Sunday our ward had our Primary program. I am in the presidency and absolutely adore all the children in our ward! They are actually all nursery age kids and so we had the 5 of them standing on chairs (because they were too short to be seen otherwise). Some of them said their lines, and sang, others just stood there smiling as big as can be. I was able to give a short talk and be part of a musical number. It was very fun!

On Monday we  tried out our first day of P-90 X. Jennie and Derek let us borrow it. We weighed ourselves and took all our of our measurements and pre-tests. It will be fun to get in shape and just be more conscientious of our health. We are really going to try and keep it up and find time to work out in our busy schedule. Our shopping trip this week included a lot more vegetables and we officially have no sweets in our home (much to my dismay when I get a sweet tooth :)

At work I have a new assignment. I am teaching a Pre-Natal water aerobics class. It has been so fun to meet expecting mothers and help them stretch and have a low impact workout in the water. My favorite part is hearing them discuss what's going on in their pregnancies and asking each other questions. I feel that I am learning a ton about pregnancy, hopefully that will help me when my times comes.

On Saturday night Alex and I went on a date to the 1$ theater and saw Harry Potter 7 part 2. I love Harry Potter and I could probably see that movie again and again! When I was singing a hymn in church the word diadem was in the text. I didn't actually know that was a real word outside the life of Hogwarts, I was also writing a paper a few weeks ago and almost used the word 'aparate' hehe :)

I always enjoy watching the mormon ads. Today I was watching the ones about family: isn't it about time? I hope that I can remember this important lesson! I know that I love spending time with my family (Alex :) and I wish there was more time to spend together.  I hope you enjoy watching it and have a great week!

Homecoming!

So last week was BYU's homecoming week! I surprised Alex by getting him tickets to the football game! It was his first BYU football game ever! We had a great time! We were sitting in the faculty seats (50 yrd line :) and so it was nice to sit and enjoy the game without crazy students. It was chilly but we warmed up together in our fuzzy BYU blanket and hot chocolate! It was a great night, oh and we won too so that's good!

One of our new favorite hobbies is making delicious air-popped popcorn! I love that homestyle taste and it is a favorite for sure. I hid the tickets to the football game in the bottom of the popcorn bowl with a note that said "I'd POP if you'd go to homecoming with me." It was priceless!Did I mention that I love being married and that Alex is the most wonderful husband ever? I love doing things for him and surprising him!

One year ago today...

Happy Conference Weekend! I will never be able to watch an October conference without thinking of what happened October 2, 2010. Right after Priesthood session Alex and I took a little drive to the Boise temple. I was very unsuspecting but Alex was prepared, ring in his sock :) It was a great weekend to spend together and with all my family! The last year has flown by, but I wouldn't have changed my answer to that question for the world! Being married is the greatest blessing in our lives and we are both so happy! Below is a picture we took on our wedding day at the exact spot Alex proposed.

For those of you who don't know what conference is, I will explain. General Conference is a time when all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gather to hear from church leaders. It is a time when they can announce changes in leadership, building of new temples (Yeah for another temple in Provo) and just encouragement to saints to continue in faith and obedience. We are so blessed to have a living Prophet and Apostles on the Earth to communicate our Father in Heaven's will for us. For more information visit lds.org or mormon.org

To celebrate, I continued my Mom's wonderful tradition of making cinnamon rolls! They were delicious!

School is crazy busy with homework and tests! Thanksgiving will be a nice break! We hope all is well with all our friends and family! We love you all!

2 MILLION DOLLARS and a Baby (not ours :)

I have decided that I love the time value of money! It is a spectacular thing! I found out that if I were to save $118 dollar a month until I was 65 in some sort of stock that had a 12% interest rate, Alex and I could retire with 2 million dollars! This is great news, except that we do no have an extra $118 dollars a month :) Maybe someday! We do try to put a little extra in a savings account each month. We really should put it into some type of mutual fund, that would have a much higher return than a savings account!

Other GREAT news! Derek and Jennie are going to have a baby! Their baby will be born the first week of April! I am so excited for them! They will be wonderful parents and Alex and I will be very happy to get another niece/nephew! They will find out what the gender of the baby is in about a month. The little tyke was very active at their doctors appointment and was wiggling around like crazy! My bet is a boy, we'll just have to see! My Grandma made an award winning baby dress and she promised it to the first granddaughter who gave her a great-granddaughter! Jennie might have this one in the bag! I can't lie, this makes me a little baby-hungry for one of my own!

I also had my first baking disaster! (okay so it isn't a first) I was craving pumpkin chocolate chip bread so badly on Sunday and so I made some. I guess I didn't add enough flour or something because my bread turned out incredibly heavy and still very wet in the middle. It had cooked all the way through but it was so moist in the middle it didn't look like it was cooked. What a bummer! We did have some of Alex's friends over for dinner and that was very fun! I will post again soon!

A Happy Outlook on a Terrible Game!

Today BYU was crushed by our rival U of U. Usually if we lose by 1 or 2 points I don't get too upset, but the final score was 54-10. Yikes! It hurt to watch! I am so glad that I am not married to a football player. Alex always get's so excited for the games, I hate to see him be sad after when we lose. We did get to eat some good food and spend time with each other. I guess there is a positive side to all situations :)

Today I also got to spend time with a dear old friend Julie (Miller) Lisonby. She is one of the most amazing girls I have ever met. She oozes with enthusiasm for life and always has a positive outlook. She is a great example to me and I have always looked up to her. I am so grateful for people in my life who help me be a better person. Alex is also one of those people. I am so happy I married a wonderful man who always encourages me to be my better self.

We also wanted to wish Brant Mecham (my cousin) the best of luck on his mission! He is leaving on Wednesday to serve in the Tucson Arizona Mission! We'll see you in 2 years!

Books and Cheese

Welcome Back to School! BYU started up again this week and Alex and I plunged right it! It will prove to be a challenging yet rewarding semester. Alex is busy taking his last required classes this semester and next that are required for the MCAT and medical school applications. I am finishing up my business minor this semester with a bunch of finance and management classes. Needless to say our book amount for this semester was tremendous! I have never spent so much on books in all my years in school and combined with Alex's new edition of organic chemistry ($240) we paid more than our house payment on books! We'll survive I'm sure but wow! books are expensive!

To start out our week back we also took a big shopping trip to WinCo! If you have never been there I highly recommend it! They have the lowest prices by far and it is such an enjoyable place! I have so many great memories shopping there with my Mom and it is nice because every store looks the same! Well one of our favorite traditions is cheese shopping! WinCo sells a lot of things in bulk and cheese is one of them. It is much cheaper to get a big block of cheese than to get a smaller name brand packaged kind. Well this is what we do: We first decide on a kind, colby, sharp cheddar, mild cheddar, pepper jack etc. Then we dig through all the cheese and the person to find the lowest price or smallest brick of cheese is the winner. This week was an exciting cheese search! I thought for sure I had the lowest with a $4.84 but then Alex found the better block at $4.77. Alex usually wins. Okay he always wins :) This seems like such a silly game yet I look forward to it every time we go to WinCo.

Well this week will be a busy one! Happy Labor Day to everyone! We are going to watch an Owls game in Orem. We'll head to Brigham City on Saturday for my cousin Brant's farewell and see family! It will be a great time! Take care!

Birthday, Reunion, and Washington!

Wow! So much has happened the last week and a half! But first things first :) Happy Birthday to me! On the 17th I turned the great age of 22! To celebrate Alex drove me down to St.George Utah where we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon in the St. George Temple, an exciting dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse (you know where they cook in front of you) and best of all, Little Mermaid! If you have never been to Tuacahn, I highly recommend it! It is an outdoor theater up against the most beautiful red rock canyon. They have the most wonderful productions and this year they did Disney's Little Mermaid! The music was incredible, the acting fantastic! They flooded the stage with a water wall, skated across the water and made this performance truly memorable! Alex got great seats and it was a grand time had by all!



Our next adventure was the Stucki Family Reunion! My Mom's side of the family is very big and so full of fun! We were at a place called Baker Ranch in the middle of nowhere. Okay so really it was about an hour outside of Soda Springs Idaho. We enjoyed painting shirts, motorcycle rides, four wheeling, eating lots of delicious food and spending time catching up with family! We did have the scare of our lives though. On Sunday morning around 4 or 5 am we were woken up with one of the biggest thunder storms I have ever heard. Lightening was everywhere and our cabin shook with every thunder clash! I was very scared, but Alex kept me safe! We found out the next morning that the storm had started a wild fire just on the other side of the mountain and we were kept from harms way. We left Idaho around 2 o'clock and started out for our next journey!

The drive seemed to last forever but we finally made it into Vancouver Washington at midnight! We slept like a baby that night and enjoyed spending time with Alex's family for the next three days. On Monday we spent the day at the Oregon coast. It was cold (as usual) but full of fun! We hiked around an area and played around on the beach. We ate a picnic lunch and enjoyed a bike ride through the little town of Cannon Beach. On Tuesday we went to a family activity area. They had paddle boats and I saw a Salamander for the first time. We played a game of horseshoes against Daniel and Mark, we won by one ringer! Way to go Alex! Tuesday night I also saw a blueberry bush for the first time and enjoyed picking 13 pounds of blueberries with Alex's Mom! She taught me all the tricks of the trade to getting the biggest and sweetest blueberries! We picked another 15 pounds to take home to my mom and eat on the drive the next morning. Mark got a haircut and Alex and his Dad worked on changing the oil. We said goodbye and drove to Boise for a shorts night sleep and then home to Provo!

It was truly an amazing week and I am so grateful to be blessed with such wonderful family, on both sides! Thank you to all who made this wonderful week possible (subs for work, mom, dad, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins!). Now we are back to the real world, school starts tomorrow! I'm sure we'll have a new post soon!

Oh yeah! How could I forget :) My best friend Amber got engaged! Her and Adam will be married in the Oakland Temple on 11/11/11 at 11:00am! Alex and I are looking forward to go out to California to celebrate this wonderful event with them!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread!

This weekend started off a little rough. Earlier in the week I didn't think much of my itchy throat but then it I realized it would be quite a doozy! I was limited to otter pops and cough drops. On Wednesday I took my last final of summer term and Alex took me out to Texas Road House to celebrate! Thursday my sore throat turned into the cold of the century! Alex was so good to me. Every time I would wake up in the night coughing or blowing my nose he would ask me if I was alright or if I needed anything. Being sick is much better when you have a spouse to take care of you. On Sunday I was debating whether or not to attend all of church and I got my answer with an invitation for Alex and I to see the Bishop before church. I am the new 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency! I am very excited to work with all the kids in our ward, although today I wasn't allowed in because I am contaminated :) Alex and I shared a wonderful dinner and shared fudgesicles in bed. We decided that even if we were millionaires, that is how we would spend our Sunday afternoons together. I always get the cooking bug on Sunday and got the courage to try out chocolate zucchini bread! It turned out great! And Alex did all the dishes, he really is the best in the whole world! This week will be an exciting one! Derek's birthday was yesterday (Happy Birthday Big Bro!), tomorrow is Amber's birthday and Wednesday is yours truly :) I'll have some fun pictures of birthday celebrations soon! Have a great rest of your Sunday!

Love,The Doroshkins

Cold Stone Fiasco!

So the other night Alex decided that he was in the mood for something sweet and cold. We headed over to Cold Stone, a favorite of his and stared at the menu for quite some time. I'm sure everyone can relate to the battle going on inside of our heads: "the Peanut Butter Perfection looks delicious but I don't want to even think of the calories!" and "Oh! New healthy smoothies! I'm sure they taste great, and only 150 calories!". Well in this particular situation the Peanut Butter Perfection won out for me and Alex chose the healthy smoothie. It only took a second after sitting down that the reason why the smoothie was only 150 calories was because it consisted of dull tasting fruit, artificial sweeteners and poorly ground up ice. After spending 4$ on such a treat Alex was upset it wasn't all the picture portrayed it to be. There was a long line in the store and so going back and complaining didn't seem like the best option. So instead we got in the car and with an upset husband we made our way home. Still full to the brim, I took Alex's smoothie when we got home and decided to doctor it up a little. I don't think Alex quite believed me when I said I would make it taste better, but the wife comes through again! Alex loved his smoothie after that and the night ended pleasant indeed! So the moral of this story? 1. Don't get the smoothies at Cold Stone and 2. Trust that your wife always has some sweet trick up her sleeve to make life better :)

White Water Rafting and Spiritual Uplifting

This last weekend Alex and I were able to travel down to Boise to spend the weekend with my family. Derek and Jennie had their open house but we were able to squeeze in a little fun!

Friday we went down the Payette River! This is my most favorite activity but Alex had never been before! It was a great run! The water was freezing but the sun was very hot that day (thank goodness :) Alex and I even took a "lovers leap" off of a popular rock jumping spot. Although a little nervous at first Alex had a great time and I hope we have many more trips down the river!

On Sunday we were able to attend church and listen to the testimonies of the congregation. A man got up and said something that has stayed with me since. He bore his testimony of family. He had attended a family reunion and had a great spiritual experience. He pondered why it was that whenever he was with family he would always be spiritually uplifted. He bore testimony of the importance of family in our Heavenly Father's plan and how it is with our families that we can return again to be with our Savior. I love being with family and spending time with them, but as much as I love spending time with Mom, Dad, brothers and sisters, it is time with Alex I enjoy the most! He is the most loving husband and he is so self-less and loves so completely! I don't want this to turn into a mushy post but I am so grateful to be married to such a great man and to be sealed in the Lord's temple for time and all eternity. If you want to learn more about eternal families and the blessing of the priesthood on this Earth I invite you to go to LDS.org It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that has made all the difference in my life and brought me the most joy and happiness!

Our First Post!

Hello Friends and Family! Welcome to the Doroshkin Duo! We hope you enjoy reading our stories of being happy newlyweds and the joys that come from being students!

So here is a little bit of an update! We were married on December 21, 2011! It was the happiest day of our lives! We made it through a semester of school and actually both got some of the best grades of our college careers! We spent some time in Vancouver and I was able to meet all of Alex's wonderful family and get to know my nieces and nephews a little better as well!
Spring came and I started to prepare for the upcoming busy summer season at the pool! I also took on the task of taking classes spring and summer term, it has been very difficult with full time work but it has turned out okay. Alex got into a research group at school and said goodbye to his native Russian missionary group. He now teaches only missionaries who are learning Russian. He even got lucky and Kyle Collinsworth is in his latest group! He is also a volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels once a week.

Our summer has flown by! Derek and Jennie were married in June! We were very excited to welcome another member to our family! We said goodbye to our wonderful sister Darya, a foreign exchange student staying with my parents for the last year. She was from Ukraine and enjoyed talking with Alex in Russian! We hope we get to see her again! July was full of swimming lessons, 4th of July fun, new missionaries and just enjoying the time (sometimes just a few minutes) spent together!

We are looking forward to another week in Washington to see Alex's family and meet our new niece, Annelle. We have a big reunion coming up where I will see one of my closest cousins, Abe who is getting home from his mission this week!

We will try to get on here more often and post pictures and share things from our lives! We love you all!!