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.