Walks, Ball games, Friends, and Drive-Ins....

It's about time I update my going ons since my last post. The thing is, honestly, we are just relaxing... not doing a whole lot. Simply enjoying just being here at John's parents home. It is so incredibly different than being at my home in CA. There were only 3 people that lived in this home.. at the most. No one comes and goes as often as in my home growing up (if you can't remember, I have 10 siblings). So the experience here has been quiet and serene. It has been nice.

One of the things that we have been doing a lot of is taking walks. It is fascinating to me to see how many people here in Canada who like to take advantage of their parks and of being outside. Beside the fact that the weather has been great (with minor humidity), I have noticed that they have incredible landscapes and natural beauty all over the place. Its like living in nature and all the joys and beauty that come with that, whilst still living in a nice suburban home and all the eminenties that comes with that. It is a perfect balance of the two. Below is a nice walk we were able to enjoy the other day... this is just part of a local park. no biggy...

We also went to a Toronto Blue Jays game! It was awesome because they Blue Jays played against the Orioles and the Blue Jays won 4-1. The cool part was that all of the runs that they got were Home Runs. It was a fun game!!

John and his dad waiting outside the stadium with their matching hats! haha

The stadium 

The sky was incredible that evening!

John's mom and I went shopping and she is so little that the hats she was trying on would just engulf her!

John and his mom at Johnny Rockets!

There is a little downtown area near Johns home called Streetsville. It was so cute and quaint. John and I walked to it and had Shawarma's and went to the local stores. It was great!

We met up with our good friends at Yordale mall and ate at a restaurant called "The Pickled Barrell" It was great company and good food!... Can't get better than that!

Nate, Kyle, and John

Me, Brittany, and Emily

This house salad was seriously sooo good that it made me make this face!!

The Clan!

We also went to the Drive-in! It is actually a big deal here in Canada and still something that a lot of people do. The last time I went to a Drive-In was probably when I was in 5th grade and the movie Boe-Finger was playing! So crazy! We saw Madagascar 3. It was fun!

These girls make me smile! Brittany and Emily

Our View

We have been having a blast!!! We have been so lucky to spend time with good friends! We don't get to see them enough because of living in the states. We are glad we were able to see them while we have been here! They have driven down to see us (we have been without a car) more times than we had expected and would have done more! We are sooo grateful for their friendship! :) I am sad cause we don't have photos with the fourth couple of our group, Brittany and Ben! Brittany just had a beautiful baby boy just last week. Congratulations to you both!!!

Lennon and Maisy

This is amazing. I don't care what you say. Enjoy one behalf of me...

You're welcome.

OH CANADA!!!

Here we are. We are here. In Canada. It is absolutely beautiful. This marks the beginnings of our adventures that will be taking place this summer. I am hopeful that I will be able to keep up and post as much as I can so that those who care to follow along can get a glimpse into Turkey and what it will be like for us. Some news on that first, Ayse told me that while we are in Turkey, her family and friends will throw us a turkish wedding. SOOOOO Excited for this! Also, we will be traveling for a week on a boat and we will be traveling the coast and go from port to port to experience all the different cultures and parts of turkey! We couldn't feel more lucky or more blessed to be able to be doing this trip.  We are so excited for everything. 

For now, we are in Canada enjoying relaxing and just being around family and friends that we haven't had any time to spend with before. The weather here has been really great and we have been outside quite a bit. We got here on Sunday the 20th of May and we landed around 2 pm. The flights were fairly exhausting since we went to bed the night before around 1 am and had to wake up around 3 am in order to make it to our 5:30 am flight. After we were settled in John's parents home, good family friends, the Diaczun's, came over to have dinner with us and celebrate our long awaited arrival. It is so great to get to know them better. They have been long time friends, long enough that they consider each other family. John doesn't have much family. Both of his dad's parents have passed away and his dad only had a sister and she has passed away too. John's mom's family all lives in Turkey and so they only see each other once a year if that. (Soon I get to meet them too!) So the Diaczun's have willingly filled the Hitchins void for family which can help you understand my desire to get to know them better. 

There are quite a few families that John's family has adopted as family. It is lucky that they know such great people and are close enough to be able to call them family. It is a joy to get to know them and the more that I do get to know them, the more I am able to see why we call them family. 

The next day (Monday) was a holiday here in Canada, "Victoria Day"... obviously we do not have that in the states. haha. But it made up for not having memorial day here in Canada. So we again got together with the Diaczun's and went to a local park. It was SOOOO wonderful! We just had a picnic and sat around playing catch, frisbee, and taking naps. Really good times were had. Below are some photos of the park and us throughout the day.

Cam on the left (Part of the Diaczun clan) and Ross (john's dad on the right)

Beautiful Mallory (Diaczun)

Steve one the left and Jill on the right (both Diaczun)

Ayse (John's mom) and Penny (Diaczun)

You should know who we are...

This beautiful park! Did I mention it was right on the edge of Lake Ontario?? 

John and his dad trying to get the kite going... sadly there was not enough wind.

It was beautiful

........

Then at one point we got together with some of John's good friends Ben and Brittany and Brittany and Kyle and they introduced me to some good Canadian treats! The first one was Tim Hortons which is considered a bakery, I think. It has delicious donuts and "Timbits", which are essentially glorified donut holes.

Me with Timbits and Peach Drink

Brittany (just about to have a baby boy!), me and Brittany!

Then they introduced me to this thing called a "Poutine". It is a bowl of french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. As weird as it sounded, it was delish! Hopefully, I can get some more of this before we leave~

Brittany and I gettin ready to chow down on our Poutine's

THE Poutine

Later on that evening, we decided to have a BBQ out in the Backyard. We grilled up some burgers and made a salad and green beans. Earlier that day John had set up the patio furniture so we wanted to eat out on that. It was nice other than the mosquitos!

John and Ben

DINNER! Yum! (John, Ben, Kyle, Brittany, and Brittany)

Then on Sunday (Yesterday) John and I along with Nate and Emily drove up to Kyle and Brittany's and they made us "Panda Express" (They don't have it here in Canada). It was absolutely delicious! To be more direct, it was BETTER than Panda Express. haha And plus the company kept was wonderful!

Kyle on the left (Making his yummy cookies), me, John, Nate, and Emily.

So thats it for now, until next time!

Ramblings...

For my Job this week, we are camped out at Sammy's Cafe in Rexburg to buy books off of Students and anyone, really, who wants to sell a book worth any value. I come every morning at 9 am on the dot and leave around 6 pm-ish. It isn't too bad. What I love though, is that I get to associate with people and with my cousin Heather Megan. Usually everyday, I am by myself from about 11 am -5 pm. It is a little lonely but I am soooo busy that I sometimes I am lucky enough to not notice how lonely it actually is.

Anyway, I have been thinking a lot about wanting to have things to look forward to. I feel like it makes a really big difference to have some kind of Goal, something that gets your heart beating fast with excitement. I remember as a student I would get excited with the thought of Graduation, Going home on school breaks, or something like getting a good grade on a test. It was like there was something to keep me going. Right now, I have a lot of mundane, uneventful things that keep me going like: work, my calling (not that it isn't eventful but it is not like traveling), work some more.... cleaning house, working out....you get the idea. I have this desire to want to have a calendar to write things down that we are doing... but when I pull up a calendar, its like I remember, "Oh yeah... my life is kind of boring right now"... So I am determined to make it fun! Summer is here and the sun is out!!!

A few things I have to look forward to is my cousin's retreat in May!!! YAY!!!!! I cannot wait for this! It is where all the girls in the family, inlaws and sisters, gather for a weekend to basically play and renew themselves. They come without Children and they have to be 21 or older to come. We have a blast every single time! It keeps us all really close. Also this summer, John's mom is going on a tour for her book and she asked me to come with her. I can't wait for that! Also, like I mentioned in the earlier post, we will be going to Canada and there we will be going to see friends like Nate and Emily and Brittany and Kyle!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH! Also, I have never been to Niagra Falls, we will most likely be visting there. :)

And then there is Turkey. For like literally, 2 WHOLE MONTHS. Who even knows where we will travel and what we will be doing!!!!! (That is, if we for sure go... we haven't made "official" arrangements yet but there has been some serious discussion) But back to Going to Turkey, I know that we will be staying in Istanbol, and visiting Troy possibly. I am just going to die. K? Are you kidding me??? Troy?? And Istanbol???? yeah... neither of them mean too much to me right now, but they sound totally cool and I want to go there.

Also, I am anxious to get my tan on this summer. That is something to look forward to for this super white body of mine. It's begging, pleading with me to get some sun and color on it! I have the devil/ angel thing on my shoulders going on while I tan. My fair skin and my blonde hair (The devils advocate) make me question whether tanning is the best idea for my skin and I often wonder if I will get Skin Cancer from that "One time" I decided to lay out. While the sun (The Angel's advocate) is smiling at me and welcoming me to its warmth and rays. It's almost irresistible! I know that if my cousin Buffy were reading this she would shudder to think that I would even let my beautiful skin be in the sun! haha... But she has taught me well, I wear sunscreen EV-ER-Y-DAY! (on my face at least)...SO Sun!- Bring. It. On!

Alright, I'll stop rambling. PEACE!

What it's like becoming legal....

As most of you know, I married a Canadian man. And in doing so, we had to worry about how we were going to get him to be legal for fear of him getting kicked out and banned from the United States of America for up to 5 years. (We both actually know 2 people that this happened to. Scary, I know). So we decided to be as careful as possible. We spoke with a Lawyer who stated that the best and most correct way to do this carefully and along government policy would be to get married and then immediately John would have had to go back to Canada to wait for his Green Card. That would have been months... HELLO! How crazy. We were NOT going to do that. So we tried the next best thing, which is stay under the radar so that John could stay here but not do anything like work or anything until he got his green card. In this process we were counseled by a Lawyer to wait 90 days after we had gotten married to apply. So we did.

We applied in October 2011. It was a tedious process in the beginning. We had to make sure we had all the correct documentation and that we filled EVERYTHING out in the proper format and manner. It is a little insane what they make you go through. Once we got everything in, we had to wait. and wait. and wait. Finally, John got approved for his "employment card"! We were ecstatic! But they did not issue him a SSN. We were a little confused, if the US wants him to work, wouldn't they want him to pay taxes?? hmmmmm... anyway... so that was an issue. Then the paper came telling us that we had an interview with the government in Boise, Idaho and we had to be there at 8:30 am on a thursday morning.

On our list of things to bring were pictures proving that we were legit and loved each other, all the serious documentation like birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports... etc. One of the things they wanted was correspondence between John and I. I thought that was interesting. So I prepared and gathered as many things as I could think of that would show that we were serious. Utility bills, rental agreement, insurance, phone bill, bank statements... everything.

 I also called a friend who had been through this same thing and spoke with her and her husband about what it would be like. They did this process in Salt Lake City, Utah and the advice that they gave us was- Do NOT joke, Tell the truth, Answer honestly, Do not laugh... etc. You bet we got a little more nervous! What if it didn't work out!?? We had heard awful things about people being denied etc. We had to start talking about a back up plan. Would we need to move to Canada? If we did what would the plan be? Where would we live? How would I get a job? All these issues began to make me very minutely vexed, but vexed none the less. The requests that the government were demanding were just obsurd to me. John isn't someone they should be worried about. He isn't just trying to get into the US. He really does love me and we can prove it just by walking in the room. BUT the government has a protocol, I know. And they do not know him and have no idea if we are faking it or what.

So Wednesday comes and we drive to Boise. It is a 4 1/2 hour drive from Rexburg, we had a lot of time to practice our stories so that they were identical so that the government couldn't trick us. How we met, where we met, how long we date, whats my tooth brush color, whats his, whats his favorite color, whats mine....

The morning came and I was so nervous, I was sweating. It was one of those cold sweats, You are hot but your finger tips are cold and your feet. It was bad. We walked into a building right about 8:30 AM and we said what we were there for and the guy was like, you are in the wrong building... we were like CRAP!!!

We took off running, I think it would have been funny to see the fear on our faces and then we took off running! haha John ran to the car and I ran towards the building. He picked me up and boom! We were there. We go in and its like going through airport security. Then we sat and waited. Again. haha

Finally we were called in by a woman who seemed nice. We got into the room and she started cracking jokes with us, laughing, giving John a hard time cause he is a man and didn't remember the exact day of my birthday. (Punk!) Then she asked how we met and basically sat there and ooohed and and ahhhhed over our story. Then I showed her our proof of pictures from our wedding, etc and she kept saying, "These are gorgeous! Oh my gosh, these are GORGEOUS!" She gave them back to me and said that the pictures were too beautiful for an immigration file and they didnt belong. We laughed. The interview lasted a total of 17 minutes. 17 minutes.. seriously? She hadn't him a document and said, You're green card will take 7-10 business days. WHAT???!?!?! That fast!!!!!

She was the nicest, most sweet woman ever. We were so lucky we had her for the interview. She loved us and we were grateful. As we were leaving she said, "Man! This is the easiest thing I have done all day!" haha

6 days later John got his green card. WAAAAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! We can travel now!! Looks like we are probably going to Canada and Turkey this summer!

Can't Wait!!!!!!

PS If you ever need advice about Green Card stuff, come to us. Not a Lawyer.

El Gymnasio

I think it should be an unwritten agreement and requirement in society that we all have to go to the gym. I wish that prioritizing the gym was like how society places importance on a job/ career, school, brushing teeth, being kind. I think we would all be much happier people and much skinnier people.

I think I wish this because I just wish it for myself. I wish I was like my good friend Stephanie Reese who makes going to the gym as important as going to work everyday. She is my hero for her dedication to her relationship with her body and the gym. Unlike Stephanie, I am VERY GOOD at finding excuses not to go to the gym, even when I have planned going. As well, I am not good at listening to my body unless it is saying "I want chocolate".  I think this is pathetic. At least, I think I am pathetic. I am not judgmental of other people, like if this is your issue, I am so sorry. I feel your pain. I just think I need to get off my butt and go to the gym. How can I accomplish this? How can I find the motivation to go? Why can't it be innately in me to go to the gym as a necessity life like breathing and eating are? Logically, it is as important as eating and breathing are, but I clearly justify not doing it because I am not listening to the needs of my body.

Yesterday, ALLLL day I was anxious to go to the gym. My body was angry at me because I hadn't gone Monday, Friday, or Saturday and it was ready for some adrenaline and some exhilaration to rush through it. So I pulled myself together and went to the gym!! I was so proud of myself, I worked out hard and my body is praising me and rewarding me today with energy and a feeling of lightness not heaviness. Thank you for this reward body. It makes me want to reward you with going to the gym again today. Hmmm... See how that works?? Well, well, well.....

I am determined to make working out a more common part of my life. Hopefully, one day I can be like my friend Stephanie and it will become part of my daily ritual like brushing my teeth and showering, etc... I am excited for that day!

Updates, updates, UPDATESSSSSSSS!!!!!

Lately, I have been sooooooooooooooooOOOOOOoooooo busy that I have not had a chance to do much other than work, come home and make dinner, and then spend what time I have with my Husband. I have recently been given a chance to serve in my church doing something that does require a lot of my time, energy, and takes up most of my thoughts.  I am honored and humbled to have this calling in my church and I am enjoying every minute of it, however trying to find the balance of life has been quite a bit of a struggle. In the process, I have neglected the opportunity to write on this here blog. So I apologize in advance to Christy Pethel, whom I had promised I would post at least once a month. I failed you in February Christy and I promise, if I can help it, I will not fail you again. Good! Glad I got that off my chest! Next on the updates....


Things are going great here in good 'ole Rexburg. Its freezing, but what else is new. It is always cold here. Well actually, this winter has been very unique. Usually, it snows and that's it for dry ground. It will snow and stick for the rest of winter. Not this winter. Instead, it will hardcore snow for a day and the next day it will be warm enough to melt everything. I love it! Recently though, it snowed for 3 days straight and sadly it isn't melting. Maybe winter has finally arrived.

I have a job where I work for a woman who owns a book business. She buys and sells books online. She has an entire library covering her basement of her house full of books. It is an amazing business. I am lucky to be working with her and for her. She is a great woman and I have learned a lot from working with her and getting to know her. She is one of those people that you feel grateful to have gotten to know. I like her. And I think she likes me. It makes for an enjoyable job. I go buy books in the morning and then I pull the books from the list of the ones that sold that day, then I package and weigh them and label them for ship off. Then I list books online until my brain wants to explode. It's very fun and interesting. It is awesome when we find books that are worth SOOO much more than we purchased them for. For example, she purchased a set of books for $25.00 and recently sold them for $399. I don't know about what you think, but I think that is AWESOME! I was so excited to see her success. She is a pharmacist by day. I just got nervous thinking I have already mentioned my job and this whole scenario in a previous post. If I have, just ignore this. And.... Sorry?

John is doing well in school. He is loving his Real Estate class.... like... LOVING it. Hmmm... I wonder if we are looking at a future career possibly in Real Estate? His major is Business Management with an emphasis in either Marketing or PR. I get excited about the possibilities of what he will decide to do as a career when we officially "grow up" and aren't in school anymore. It will be fun. John is willing to go where ever a job could be for us, whether it is to a different state, maybe even country (most likely Canada). I am excited to see where life will take us one day.

John and I are in the process of getting him his Green Card. We have good news!!! We got all the paper work in (which was a REALLY long process) and we got our interview with the Government on March 22nd! This is quite a big deal because of how quickly we got it after we finally got all the paperwork in. We are anxious about it because we have heard it is a fairly detailed process. We have to show original documentation of everything that connects us as well as a copy of the documentation or they will keep it. They requested wedding photos to show proof that it was not a scam, as well as any bills or renter agreements that connect us. It is kind of insane. One of the craziest things I found out we will have to do is answer questions like "what color is his toothbrush, what color is yours?" and we have to answer them the same. A little dramatic don't you think? I immediately thought of the movie "The Proposal"at the end when they are answering all those ridiculous questions about each other. John and I have joked that we hope that they are LDS so that we could bring our Sealing certificate from our wedding and say, "Look! We aren't scamming anyone, we were sealed for time and ET-ER-NITYYYYY! If anyone is being scammed, it would be us!" .... maybe we just thought that was funny. Please refrain from judgements. Thank you.

Wish us Luck on the 22nd of March... we will need it. I think.

Something super exciting that has been going on is that John's mom Ayse Hitchins wrote a book about her life. It is called, "The Worth of a Soul; From Muslim to Mormon"... You can find it on amazon.com or go find it at Seagull Book. It is an easy read and really very interesting. I wish I could buy everyone a book and give it out like a pass along card. Sorry that I can't afford to give you all one, but go buy it. It is a great book.... and there is a surprise near the end for you... if you know me... haha

One last thing regarding John, his dad sent us the letter that John's birth mother wrote to him when he was born (before he was officially adopted). I read it and wept. It was beautiful to read about what had actually happened and why she felt she had to give him up. She was 19, I believe. She was not very confident in herself and when she received attention from a popular football player from the University she was attending, she let down her morals and values to please him. She began living her life in a way that did not follow the teachings of the Gospel. As a result of her insecurity, this football player treated her badly but she took it because she thought it was so great that he even was "interested in her". After she found out she was pregnant and over the months she was pregnant, she considered keeping John. She started taking care of her body and quit smoking and drinking because she did not want anything to happen to her baby. It was very sweet to read about how much she loves John. I could feel it as I read through the letter. She explained how she had made the decision to give John to two parents who could give him the life she would never be able to give him. She said something to the affect that she was just the way for John to get to this earth but that the parents she was giving him to were the parents she feels John chose. I felt it very unselfish of her to have that attitude. She explained how she spent time in the hospital with him after she had him. She said she just stared at him and could not believe that she had made such a beautiful healthy baby boy. I am grateful to this woman that I have never met. I am grateful that she gave John to such wonderful parents as Ross and Ayse are. If he was not given this opportunity to have them as parents, there is a huge chance that John and I may never have met. I hope one day I can thank her.

One thing she was certain about in her letter was that the Father of John was a man named Marc and he was Black. If you have seen my husband, then your response to this would most likely be.. "What the???" haha.. He is as white as can be. I guess maybe we will really know when I have kids. How insane would that be if I birthed children that did not look like us??? What are your thoughts?