Pages

Mar 24, 2013

Lutz Catch Up...


I know, I know.  I can't believe I'm actually using my new last name as a pun, something I vowed never to do--especially as I've made fun of Neal for it on several occasions-- but it turns out he's right...it's way too irresistible not to...."Lutz party! "Lutz get married! "Lutz stop using Lutz in place of the word let's!" I could seriously go all night, but I'd rather bring our friends and fam up to speed on the last seven months of our life .

Our wedding day (week?? month?!) was an amazing experience...and a lot of the credit for that goes to all the people who helped us on many different levels. I can't even begin to expand on the love and support we received as we struggled to coordinate the many events surrounding our day, and it just turned out great. I'll just say this (and I think I've mentioned it a time or two on this blog)--we have the best, best family and friends. Hands down.  We had three separate receptions (yeah...intense) because Neal is from Idaho (the reception there was more of an open house), we were sealed (I'll get to that in a minute) in Utah, and of course I wanted to have a reception here in Kansas. We tried to keep it as chill and minimal as possible, but when you're planning three different parties in three different states, it can be hard to keep it chill and minimal.

In the LDS faith (or as we are more commonly known, Mormon), we believe in the concept of eternal marriage and families.  Instead of making vows to be true and faithful to one another until "death do we part", we can instead choose to be "sealed" during a temple ceremony for "time and all eternity." My faith in the principle of eternal families is what has brought me peace and comfort following the deaths of my mom and brother...I have been sealed to them (parents can also be sealed to their children), and know that we will one day be together again. Sealings take place in LDS temples, and there any many around the world. We chose to be married in the Manti Utah Temple, because my ancestors helped build it, my grandparents were sealed there, and c'mon...it's a gorgeous building. The ceremony was short and beautiful. I will never forget how I felt that day, especially in that moment.

We decided to delay our honeymoon for a few months because I had taken a week and a half off for work already, school was starting back up soon, and we just wanted to re-group after a crazy summer/trip. Our first year of married life thus far has held all the stereotypical things that come to mind when you think of newlyweds; small apartment, burnt meals, sharing a vehicle (my car was stolen a week before we left for our wedding, and I then totaled Neal's two days after we were home...yeah.), date nights consisting of trips to the dollar movie theater, etc.  Our favorite dessert is a spoonful of Kroger ice cream and our fridge is always stocked with Ginger Ale. We are both very, very indecisive and when trying to figure out how to spend an evening together, we often write the following on scrap pieces of paper and draw from a hat: "Netflix," "Board Game," "Read," and then do whatever is chosen. We are very aware that we are very lame. But we're okay with it. In fact, we love it.

In December we went on our honeymoon. We drove to New Orleans, LA, and boarded a cruise ship to Mexico. We explored Mayan ruins, went scuba diving, ate a lot of food, made friends with two other couples on board, and had a great time.

We just returned this from a visit to Utah over my spring break. We packed a lot into five days (including the 32-hour round-trip drive)-- A Jazz game, Real Salt Lake game, our niece's missionary farewell, our nephew's engagement party, snowboarding, a trip to the Jordan River Temple, and visiting all the family and friends we could. I think my body is still recovering from the trip (mainly because I'm rusty at snowboarding and fell multiple times)...and the crazy thing is, I think we may head to Colorado next weekend to visit Neal's brother and his family...We really like driving. And by "really like", I mean that we would prefer to rent a car for less than the cost of one of our plane tickets. The other day I realized that we've taken four roadtrips over 2000 miles in the last 12 months...yikes.

I am in my last semester of nursing school and will graduate in May.  I have been working at Central Care Cancer Center as a medical assistant for two years now, and will continue working there as an RN after I've taken (and hopefully passed, although I'm pretty sure I will have an anxiety attack and fail) my boards. I positively love my job. I love getting to know the patients so well and connecting with them and their families, and forming a relationship with them through the process they endure following their diagnosis.  Neal recently was hired at Central Care also--as a marketing and PR manager--for all 11 clinics. We are really excited about his position, because we were so unsure of which direction we should head after I finished school--we didn't know if we should stay here, look for jobs elsewhere, considering grad school, etc., we just never felt sure of what to do. So this opportunity made that decision much easier. I love the company I work for and am excited he has the chance to do so also.

I teach the 4-year olds at church, and Neal teaches the 15-year-olds. We love our ward, and have made many new friends here over the last year. Wichita has been good to us.

I'm feeling very tired, and Neal is looking particularly snuggly right now, so I'm going to wrap this up with a few pictures of the last few months:





Manti





 
 
 
 
Are you for scuba?



Neal's fearless 5-year-old niece shredding it on the Utah slopes!

Terrible quality, but I had to document my first NBA game.

Two days post-nuptials. Sorry Neal.

"Feel better" eggs. I have the best husband. I bet I'll get a plate of these when I fail the NCLEX.

Moving in....
 

 

Awesome statue outside the dino museum.
 
I had to end on the dinosaur picture because I've had this thing for dinosaurs since I was little. I can't wait to have kids so I can throw dino birthday parties (since Neal vetoed a Jurassic Park wedding).

 

1 comment:

  1. Congrats Neil on the new position!! That is fantastic! And Dani - you will succeed without any hiccups on the boards - you have been prepared your entire life for them!! Love to you both!!

    ReplyDelete