blurb

ok so I just made a Wedding book for David and I using blurb.com and it's sweet. You download the book making program thing and custom make your book, easy and it has cool features. Our book has 88 pages and it'll only cost 40 dollars to print and get it shipped to me. Let me know if there are other book making site things that are cheaper...but for what you get this seems like a pretty good price. i love it!

www.blurb.com

Well, I've been too busy to hardly get online, but now that it's christmas break and I am free from school until next monday...I can get on the internet! Woohoo!

Lots has happened...

Before david and I went to texas, Todd and Kristi moved out and in preparation for China...dispersed their things among friends and relatives. David and I ended up with their big items: their tv, futon, all their dvds, a keyboard piano, and lots of other stuff we really don't have room for. But we enjoy getting free stuff for a few months. However we will miss having todd and kristi around, bring me back a t-shirt! =)

I feel like a truck driver across country this past week. We drive the 2 days all the way to Lumberton, then to Houston to see Erin and Juli, then to Austin, then to Sweetwater, TX and then all the way back to Utah. I thinks it's safe to say we're not going anywhere for a while. At least not until we get some more audiobooks.

David just got a job at the MTC. He's teaching the senior missionaries. It's the perfect job for him and he loves it so far. Imagine teaching your Grandma Margie, that's what he does and it sounds hilarious. Their sincere and sweet, but set in their ways and some are hard of hearing. It comes with interesting challenges for them since senior missionaries only spend 1 week in the MTC! It's like a shotgun training before they head to the mission field. It's nice we work in the same place, we get to each lunch together in the MTC cafeteria....all you can eat.

This coming semester will probably kill me. I think I've taken on more than I can manage healthily but I'm gonna try it. Right now I have 17 credit hours, 20 hours of work at the MTC, and I'm a Teaching Assistant for an elementary ed class. Oh ya, and David and I are going to train for a half marathon. I think we might be crazy. But we have each other and I think we'll survive.

I wish we could have seen everyone while we were in texas! I think everyone should just come up to utah for skiing trip (or snowboarding for Chris). There is lots of fresh snow! We love ya'll!

Ok so tonight our jar show goes up and it's gonna be great! I'll post some pictures later, but my class was very excited to have a big article thing written about us in the Daily Herald (the provo newspaper). Apparently they thought it was a really good story. There was a big whole page dedicated to it. Here's the thing to the article online:

http://heraldextra.com/lifestyles/article_3a01477e-df67-11de-901c-001cc4c03286.html

love you guys!

art in my heart

This semester I have finally learned how to oil paint. I had an oil painting class before but it was frustrating and my teacher didn't teach squat. So I have been grateful to have that prayer answered this semester by a wonderful teacher. I'm in an advanced painting class which my teacher realized the first day none of us were very experienced and had only done 3-10 oil paintings, making us very inexperienced! SO he changed the whole curriculum and assigned us to paint 20 paintings of mason jars. Throughout this whole thing he taught us different techniques etc...and now I am best friends with my mason jar. I've had to stare at it for many hours.

We've all improved drastically and on Dec. 3rd we are having a show in a gallery to exhibit all the beautiful jar paintings. Each will sell for ten bucks eat and the money will be donated to different charities and food banks around utah. We have 322 jar paintings so if each one sells that's 3200 bucks made for charity. I think that's awesome. I'll post later my first awful painting compared to my later ones. I'll have to scan them first but this is our flyer:

art busy-ness

hey ya'll, I just posted an art assignment up on my art blog so please go check it out and let me know what your reaction is. It's for a project I'm doing =) thanks! love you!

www.artatchinn.blogspot.com

happy birthday david chinn!

modeling his new backpack ( i made him)

Yesterday was my dear husband's birthday. He got breakfast in bed, presents, dinner, a visit from jessi, todd and kristi, and the day to be his own master. I got him a new backpack which is flipping awesome if I do say so myself. He's 23 years old now so we'll be the same age for a few more months. I love him SO much, he is so patient and understanding when I do stupid things like get our car towed from parking in a red zone. He's also the smartest, most honest, handsome man I know. I love to see him with our nursery kids that say funny things and have stinky diapers, he knows how to make them happy. I am grateful he agreed to spend eternity with me. Here's to you my special birthday boy.

happy yellowstone day

The weekend of halloween we skipped out of town and drove to yellowstone which is only about 5 1/2 hours from here. Most of the park was closed because of black ice on the roads but we were able to see old faithful, boiling mud pots, lots of steaming gysers, elk and lots of other cool stuff! Halloween night we hung out in our hotel in rexburg and watched the longhorn game on CABLE! in our apartment here we have "cougar cable" we basically means no cable ha. It's local news channels, food network, tbs, and like 25 different language channels including japanese, russian, french, german, whatever you want! We don't time to watch tv anyway but david misses ESPN, Versus, FSN, and those that allow him to watch longhorn games. But we survive =) Anyhow it was nice to get away for the weekend and have some fun.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

other art blog

K so I created a new blog just for my art and other people's art I like. I'll be doing more with it in the future but it's there now! So I'll get so more things going on it soon. =)

www.artatchinn.blogspot.com

falling into fall

Sometimes I feel like I really am falling or stumbling around my daily routines. We're well into school now and it's crazy! I'm in several studio classes which require much outside work with oil painting, ceramics, drawing etc. But it's something I love to do so homework doesn't feel SOO strenuous as opposed to david's poor schedule which demands chemistry, algebra, and lots of reading!! I'm thankful to not be required to sit and do math problems all day, ugh.

October has been so much fun even among the stresses of school and work. Mom and dad came to visit for conference which was so much fun! It was almost like they lived here! How cool that would be. We miss and love them SO much!

Well the new in the news from the chinns is...not much. We eat, sleep, do homework, watch so you think you can dance, clean stuff, walk to and from school etc...that's our usual day. Well I make it sound monotonous, but we of course have the variety of friday date nights, temple tuesdays, meeting up with jessi, todd, and kristi, running on the provo river trail, trying to get our apartment in good fashion, and other fun and exciting things.

I've been tutoring spanish at the MTC and it is soooo great. Before I was teaching the same group of missionaries for an entire 8-9 weeks. Now missionaries set appointments to come see me, they pick what to learn, and I just facilitate. It's so much easier and less stressful than before. Spanish is my friend. =)

Plans for christmas aren't solid yet. For thanksgiving we're planning to head to california to see chris and mandi and the little ones =) We miss our families and especially our growing nieces and nephews who say and do such hilarious things.

oh and wedding pictures are in! I posted quite a few on facebook, but here a few if you missed them.

our own space!

moving in...

first day...

This last week has been CRAZY to say the least. When we walked into our apartment, we felt a little bit of shock. Never before have we lived in an unfurnished apartment. The only piece of "furniture" we brought was an air mattress with its pump. Plus we returned ALL our wedding gifts to the store to have more room when we moved (we've got most of them back.) So we didn't even have a fork, plate, towel... or anything really. The next few days were spent getting the essentials and putting assembly required furniture together. ugh. Here were our food essentials for friday, saturday, and sunday last week:As you can see, David's idea of essentials were pizza and dr pepper. I found us an apple, water, and milk. Well it lasted us a couple days. On Sunday with only bread crumbs, elbow macaroni, tomato soup, milk, and a few cans of corn and beans, David made up some delicious pasta meal with many bizarre ingredients using spices that were left in storage. I'm surprised it turned out so well.

Oh and we slept on an air mattress all weekend til the bed we rented from the apartments arrived on monday. (we rented a couch from them too, 7 bucks a month added to the rent) schwing!

Now our fridge is better stocked and only one box remains to be unpacked. Oh my gosh moving is EXHAUSTING and we hardly had anything! I'm not looking forward to moving with life size furniture...

Here is our little apartment so far:

notice the box fan, we have no A/C until winter comes.

you have now seen all the rooms in our apartment! you must come and do a real life tour and visit us! we love ya'll!

the greatest catch

We went deep sea fishing (my first time) as a reward for david's office winning their july incentive. I had no idea what to expect. We rode out 4 hours on the boat to get to our first fishing spot. They put rods out all around the boat for about 100 people. Then they filled these troph type things with dead squid for bait. The smell wasn't so bad until the sun got to them and they got warm, yuck. I have never really fished before but it was such a blast! the water was BEAUTIFUL! I didn't know texas had water like that =) It's pretty exciting really in something that's fighting you from the bottom and then not knowing what it is or how big til you pull it out. David made fun of me cause every one I caught felt huge and heavy to me, so I'd yell, I think I got a huge one David! Then he'd pull it up by hand...so I pulled in no shark. But several other people on the boat got sharks! I'm SOO glad we didn't get sick, we had a great time. But I really have the best catch of any day, and that's my dear husband =)

The joy of a salesman

I'm in lufkin this week with david. His team will be here for the next 2 weeks probably. I thought after being married we were done with long distance!! =) So i decided to be here with him at least one week.

Yesterday I went on the doors with him. It's hilarious the kinds of things you can see and do on 2 streets for 7 hours. We saw a big fat possum, met lots of old people with funny opinions to say, had a naked lady come to the door and say "why you knockin so late?!" when it was only 6:15pm. David sold this old lady who kept repeating herself and forgetting what she was doing, her birthday, her middle name etc. However she wanted and needed the system. Later her son found out and cancelled it...apparently she has als heimers. Then Why does she live alone??!!! I don't know, all the more reason for an alarm system. ANYway.

David says the ONLY way he'll do this again is if I'm selling too. The money is good, but I don't know if I want to put myself through that kind of mental anguish. Is your home protected??? Call david! he can hook you up!!! =) We honestly can't wait to just be students again!! Well...me anyway.

my chinny chin chinn

I sure hope we've changed!!!

Today is david and I's one month anniversary! ha! We celebrate everything =) why not?! Even though we've been married a short time, I am confident we could win the newleywed game by a huge margin =) Being married has made our lives easier it seems. No more long road trips, late night phone calls, having to go home late at night, packing clothes to visit etc etc. Everything about being married is grrreat. And I'm pretty sure it's not the "honeymoon" stage. We've been together 5 years so I believe that whole rose colored glasses syndrome has worn off, but we still love each other like crazy!

So in honor of our special day, I thought he deserved some major props for the man he is. He does it through all the little things...for example...yesterday he:

brought me cereal in bed
helped me teach the 3 sunbeam class at church
tells everyone I'm amazing when I don't deserve it
Opened the door for me
let me have a sip of his coveted dr. pepper
taught the FHE lesson with his parents
let me sleep extra while he showered
kissed me on my forehead
listened to me talk about nothing
laughed at my dumb jokes
and basically made me feel like a queen

I'm a pretty lucky girl. The end.


One more great thing that happened yesterday...I walked outside to a surprise gift from mark and patti! Mark made me an easle! (is that spelled right?) He's handy with a saw and made me an artist's easle!!!! flippin awesome! Thank you thank you!

I'm rachel chinn

We're married!!! what a dream. We've been married a whole week now! Now real life starts. I'm trying to figure out how to change my name...find an apartment in provo, do financial aid and all this other stuff we didn't care about on the honeymoon! So I need to get back to work. But here are some good shots david's cousin brandy got at the wedding.

after david lost his ring and found it

daddy daughter

first dance!

all the siblings in ONE place!!

it was SOOO hot outside

puerto ricoooo

I've been home nearly 5 months now from my mission. It seems it was a dream! I wanted to pay homage to that wonderful time I spent. I was in some of the most beautiful places in this world. soooo here's some pictures to prove it

Shete Boka in Curacao

Curacao

El Morro in San Juan, PR

The view from our investigator's house in PR

The Ponce Plaza

ARUBA

Dona Juana in Villalba, PR

Even though my time has past here in these beautiful islands and among wonderful people...I'll always be puerto rican/aruban/curacilanian at heart.

getting married

These past few days have been hectic. I've spent most of my time preparing wedding announcements. I never knew there was so much involved! You've got stamps, envelopes, the announcement, pictures, addresses etc etc. It's quite a chore, now I see why mom left it to me to do. =) But it has gotten me all excited for june 20th! We've officially been together for 5 years...more if you include how long we've been friends. I know him better than anyone else and he definitely knows me. We may be young in the world's eyes but we know exactly what we're doing.

Being married is very important to us. It's not just for now but for forever. It dawned on me today how big a deal this is. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we hold family relationships very dear, they are essential to God's eternal plan. I wanted to explain a little of why being married in a temple is different from a civil ceremony.

In the temple, priesthood ordinances for the living and the dead are preformed, and sacred covenants are made. The primary purpose of the temple is to “seal” or unite families together for eternity. For this reason, Church members search out information about their ancestors. (http://www.mormon.org/) In a temple marriage, a couple is sealed "for time and all eternity" as opposed to "til death do you part."

visit this link to see a great video on temples. =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x_-TQivCx8

What is the difference between a temple and a meetinghouse?
Regular Sunday worship, instruction and other social and recreational activities occur in Latter-day Saint meetinghouses, or chapels where visitors are always welcome. In temples, on the other hand, faithful members receive specific instruction about the purpose of life and their relationship to God. There they take part in family-oriented ordinances, both for themselves and in behalf of deceased ancestors. Sacred ordinances available only in temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally. Unlike meetinghouses, temples are closed on Sundays.

Visitors are welcome to visit the temple grounds at any temple and attend open houses prior to dedication, thereafter only baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are qualified and prepared are allowed to enter a temple after it is dedicated.

Families!
Families are ordained of God and are the most important social unit in time and eternity. Our Heavenly Father’s divine plan of happiness allows family relationships to endure beyond the grave. I cannot imagine heaven without being with those I love. That is why I am so grateful to know that after centuries of being lost, Jesus Christ's church is on the earth today in it's fulness. My current and future families are the greatest blessings I could ask for.

eh

I think I've caught a little of spring stuffy nose. These days I'm generally bored...most of my friends and family AND my fiance have all moved away. I am going to try and give plasma today for some extra cash and something to do. But it's kind of freaking me out getting stuck with a fat needle. Not really my idea of fun. I'd rather be in Texas with David or doing THIS:

engagement photos

engagements4/5/09

Festival of Stains..I mean colors

So this past weekend David and I braved the "Festival of Colors." It was at the hare krishna temple (probably the only one in utah) a little south of here. THOUSANDS of college students were there...we had to walk at least a mile to GET to the temple because of parking. Most of the people were not even listening to the announcer who was explaining the religious significance. We yelled with him "hare krishna! rama bama.." something like that...then everybody throws colored chalk into the air and this is what happens (see pictures...now). It was good one time experience...it was an atomic bomb of chalk and you can't breathe for a few minutes...then you blow pink and purple snot and everything turns the color of the chalk.

I even had to spend MONEY to get my hair fixed because it was dyed...pink.

see exhibit A...B...C etc

I'm picking up mom from the airport today! hooray!! And today is kristi's birthday! So to kristi...I LOVE YOU! you are the best, I'm so glad you're part of our family. Happy birthday old lady!

So i didn't ACTUALLY get to fly the plane...but David and i were fortunate enough to stumble in this awesome flight musuem as they were closing. The man there was happy to stay after and give us a tour. He had all kinds of stories from WWI and II etc about the planes. All very fascinating and cool to sit in them. We had a GREAT time as always. The fun never stops when we're together. He compliments me perfectly.

So...I am now an MTC teacher. Woohoo! I'll be teaching spanish and I get my first district of missionaries next week. I was so excited when they called to offer me the job, but after I accepted I realized what a huge responsibility. AND I realized that there is A LOT to this than just teaching spanish and preach my gospel. I'm in training trying to get my feet wet before I'm thrown in the shark tank. =) apparently teachers have a little bit more mentoring time before they get their first district but I have to do this fast. It's way better than working at storesonline taking phone calls. I am doing something meaningful. I can't wait, even though I'm nervous as heck.

I can't wait for conference so mom can come!!!!