The new blog is (finally) up and running!

J.J. and I decided to make a blog together, rather than keep up with our separate blogs. I created it awhile ago, but hadn't posted anything. Well, that has changed! I posted three times yesterday to catch us up, and I'm going to try really hard to keep up with it more. Oh and for anyone who tried to comment on those posts yesterday, I have fixed it so you can comment on it now! Sorry about that.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy our new blog that documents our new adventures of being married!


Our new blog: lafamiliadespain.blogspot.com

I’m married!!! (I know, I know, I’m WAY behind)

Well, I’m married! I am now Erin Despain (officially, since I finally changed my name with the Social Security office).

J.J. and I have been married for a little over a month. And it’s been the best month of my life! :)

We were married in the Houston Temple on August 21. It was a perfect day. So many friends and family were there to support us (Beth and Jamie flew all the way to Houston!). It was just amazing. I felt so loved by everyone. The reception was awesome. Everyone did such a great job decorating. The food was great! Well, at the least the little bit of food I actually ate was! Haha. My aunt made our wedding cake. It was gorgeous! I can’t really describe it, but she did a perfect job making it exactly what I was imagining.

The next day, we left on our honeymoon- a cruise to Mexico! It was so much fun!! Neither of us had been on a cruise until our honeymoon. We are definitely fans! Our ports of call were Progresso and Cozumel. In Progresso, we toured Mayan ruins. The ones we saw were called Chichen Itza. They were breathtaking. Our tour guide was entertaining. We bought some pretty cool souvenirs and J.J. used his Spanish. We stopped in Cozumel and didn’t really do anything specific. We wandered around, bought souvenirs, and played in the beautiful, blue water.

A few hours after we got back from the cruise, we flew to Utah. The next day, we moved into our apartment. And the following Monday, we started new jobs and a new semester. Phew!! It was definitely a whirlwind of a few days.

Our apartment is small, but cozy and cute. It took forever, but we’ve finally finished organizing everything, and we’re mostly done with the decorating. I love our little home. It’s just so much fun to live in. I’ve really been enjoying decorating it the way I want to, and cooking, and doing all the little “homemaking” things.

As for our jobs… J.J. is working as a custodian in the Richards Building (an athletic building on campus). He’s really enjoying it. It’s something very easy without stress (which is a relief from last year’s job). I work in the Cougar Eat (BYU’s food court). In Tomassitos, to be exact. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I work breakfast, which includes, cooking and serving breakfast food, and preparing for lunch. On Tuesdays, I only work for two hours preparing for lunch. Thursdays, I prepare and serve lunch. It’s very tiring, but I enjoy it. I’m learning a lot and I like the people I work with. The 50% off card is pretty nice, too! :)

School is going well. Both J.J. and I just applied for our major programs (Communications, and Elementary Education, respectively). We should find out in the next couple of weeks whether or not we’re in the programs. Fingers crossed!!

Now as for pictures…I still haven’t gotten them from our photographer. I’m not sure when that’ll happen. Some friends have posted their own pictures on Facebook, but that’s all I’ve seen. I’m in the process of posting honeymoon pictures on Facebook. I’m not exactly sure when that’ll happen…I’ve been very busy. Oh and I’ll get around to taking pictures of our apartment, too.

J.J. and I decided that we wanted to make our own blog. We haven’t posted anything yet, but we probably will soon. The site is http://lafamiliadespain.blogspot.com. So I guess this’ll be my last post on this blog. Thanks for reading! (If anyone does read this...haha).

Oh and just so you know, I have the greatest husband ever! :)

6 weeks!!

I just wanted to take a minute to inform everyone that in exactly 6 weeks I will getting married to my very best friend in the entire world. I couldn't be happier! August 21, 2009 is going to be the absolute greatest day of my life!

Happy Father's Day

To put it simply, I have the most amazing dad. How did I get so lucky?

I love my dad so very much. He is such a great example to me and my brothers. I know that he loves his wife and children more than anything.

When Braden and I were younger, my dad started this little tradition called "20 minutes." Everyday, he would spend time with both of us, individually, for 20 minutes. He would do whatever we wanted. I remembered playing Barbies and Polly Pockets with him numerous times. I'm sure he would've much preferred to do something else, but he played with me anyway because he loved me.

My dad has always been great at helping with homework, particularly with papers we have to write. I know I didn't always appreciate it (many homework sessions ended in tears), but he really helped me. He pushed me farther than I would have pushed myself. Now that I'm away at school, I've realized that I am a much better writer than I would have been otherwise. I've noticed that Braden is now going through the same thing I did (but without the tears). I'm sure that with time, Braden will realize that my dad really does know what he's talking about, just like I did.

Dad thought it was important for me to memorize things. He put together a "memorization box" for me and almost ever day we spent time memorizing. By the time I was 6 years old, I had already memorized all 13 Articles of Faith, as well as President Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address." I didn't always have fun memorizing, but I'm glad he had me exercise my mind in this way.

I'm so grateful that my dad has always been there for me. When I'm away at school, I know that he's always just a phone call away. He's told me many times that he and my family are praying for me. It's such a comfort to know that I have him to rely on.

I was going through some old pictures the other day, and I found a few of Dad and I. I thought it'd be fun to share them.

Dad & I- the day I came home from the hospital. (2 months old)

At the Hogle Zoo. (1-1/2 years old)

Dad carrying me after a long day at Disney Land. (4 years old)

Goofing off. (7 years old)

Just chillin'. (9 years old)

Happy Father's Day!

I Love to See the Temple

I love my drive home from work on Thursdays. I drop off Ben (the boy I babysit) at his soccer practice and then I drive past the Houston Temple. I suppose there are faster ways to get home, but I love looking at this magnificent building.

(For those of you who don't know what a temple is, here is the definition I found on my Church's website, lds.org (click on the link for more information on temples):

"Temples are literally houses of the Lord. They are holy places of worship where individuals make sacred covenants with God. Because making covenants with God is such a solemn responsibility, individuals cannot enter the temple to receive their endowments or be sealed in marriage for eternity until they have fully prepared themselves and been members of the Church for at least a year. Throughout history, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples. The Church is working to build temples all over the world to make temple blessings more available for a greater number of Heavenly Father's children.")

Anyway, on my drive home today, I happened to get a red light at the intersection where the temple is. I didn't mind much, because it gave me more time to think about the temple. I am so excited to go to this temple in just a couple of months. I'll have the opportunity to receive my endowments, and then two days later, be married for eternity to the love of my life.

I am so grateful that I am blessed to live so close to a temple (both here in Houston, and in Provo). Temples provide so many opportunities to serve others and to receive blessings for ourselves. I know that many times, I have received answers to my prayers when I go to the temple, even when I'm just walking around the temple grounds.

The Primary song, I Love to See the Temple, completely describes my feelings.

I love to see the temple.
I'm going there someday
To feel the Holy Spirit,
To listen and to pray.
For the temple is a house of God,
A place of love and beauty.
I'll prepare myself while I am young;
This is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple.
I'll go inside someday.
I'll covenant with my Father;
I'll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place
Where we are sealed together.
As a child of God, I've learned this truth:
A family is forever.

a happy thought

As I was getting ready for the day this morning, I listened to a General Conference talk. This one was from April 2006 by Jeffrey R. Holland. It was entitled Broken Things to Mend. I love this talk. The entire thing is so great.

One part of it struck me. Elder Holland said, "In short we must repent, perhaps the most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary." The most hopeful and encouraging word. How cool! And it is so true.

Repentance is amazing. I don't know where any of us would be without it. So many times I try and try, but I continuously fall short. Thankfully, our loving Heavenly Father understood that this would be the case.

Elder Holland continued by saying, "We thank our Father in Heaven we are allowed to change, we thank Jesus we can change, and ultimately we do so only with Their divine assistance. . . . In this way our access to the Savior’s Atonement becomes as unimpeded as we, with our imperfections, can make it. He will take it from there."

What a comforting promise!

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." (Moroni 10:32)



If you want to read the talk, here is the link:
Broken Things to Mend

There's No Place Like Home

Well, I'm finally getting back to this blog business. I am so bad at updating! It's not like anyone actually reads it, though. Anyway, I finished off the semester (finals went quite well, considering I was so horribly sick!). I'm half-way done with college. Weird!!

Mom came up to Utah for a couple of weeks. It was great to spend time with her, although I was kinda in a bad mood for a lot of it. I'm pretty sure the reason was because J.J. left for Oregon. Prior to him leaving for the summer, the longest we had ever been apart was a week. It was so hard to drop him off at the airport. I was quite tempted to kidnap him and not let him leave!! Even though I miss him so much, it's good that he went home. J.J. has a great job and is raking in the dough. He is working as a human resources assistant for OCDC (Oregon Child Development Coalition). One of the great things about the job is that he gets to utilize his Spanish speaking abilities quite often. It's so great to hear how excited he is whenever he gets to translate or just speak to someone in Spanish.

After we had been apart for an entire month, J.J. came for a visit. On Memorial Day, my dad took our engagement pictures. Not to be biased or anything, but I think they turned out great! Dad did a fantastic job, and of course any picture of J.J. and I looks fantastic (haha!).

For the last few years, I've gotten strep throat and other sore throat viruses quite often. My mom finally decided to was time for me to get my tonsils taken out. In the middle of May, I had surgery for the first time. Let me tell you, that anesthesia is pretty cool stuff. I just remember giggling randomly as they wheeled me away to the operating room. I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out. Recovery took about 2 weeks and was quite painful, but I'm all better now!

It's been great to be back in the Tomball Ward. I've definitely missed it the past couple of years. The first Sunday back, I was extended a calling. I am a Primary teacher. I co-teach one of the 9-10 yr old classes. They needed another teacher because one of the girls needs some extra help because she is autistic. I really like my class. I've taught a couple of times and just absolutely loved it. Maybe it is a good thing I'm majoring in Elementary Education.

I told you about J.J.'s job...maybe I should mention mine. It's definitely not as cool as his, but it works. I'm babysitting a 9 yr old boy named Ben pretty much everyday of the summer. Some weeks I work more hours than others because he does a lot of day camps or church activities. I get a lot of time off as well, which has its pros and cons. It's nice to have a chance to rest and get other stuff done, but I also need to work as much as I can. That's pretty much the point of this summer...save money before we get married!

I guess that's about it. I tried posting some pictures, but for some reason it wasn't working. Here are a couple of links so you can see some pictures.

J.J.'s blog post w/ engagement pictures


Facebook album of engagement pictures

Facebook photo album of pictures from the summer

ugh

Finals are never fun. Finals plus being sick is ever so much worse.

That's right. I'm sick. And it's finals week.

I started getting sick on Friday and it's gotten worse since. I took an exam on Saturday which did not go too well because I was concentrating on not passing out. I ended up going to the doctor's office on Sunday (after the first hour of church during which J.J. gave an amazing talk on prayer). They did the fast strep test which came back negative. However, the doctor took pity on me because my throat looked so bad (and I'm sure I didn't look too much better myself), and he gave me the antibiotics anyway. They're doing another strep test that takes longer, but is more accurate. I should hear back sometime soon.

Well, I've been taking the antibiotics, gargling salt water, drinking lots of water and other fluids, eating soup, trying to sleep, and everything else they tell you to do when you're sick. But it's not working!! I'm pretty sure I don't have strep due to the fact that the prescription isn't helping much. I guess I have some nasty virus that will just have to run it's course. Ew.

Tomorrow is the last day of finals. I'm just going to have to suck it up and take my last two. Hopefully I'll do okay..

I am so grateful for my absolutely amazing fiance. He has been taking such good care of me the past few days. He refills my water bottle, makes me soup, gives me foot massages, buys me apple juice, and so many more things. I am so tremendously lucky. Even though he probably feels like he's not "curing" me, he is helping so much. It means so much to just have someone around that cares. The moral of this story is, I am marrying the greatest guy in the world (and we're getting married in exactly 4 months today, to be precise). So, sorry everybody... I beat you to him!!

Stuffsez

So last time I posted, it was sometime in February. Since then, I have been engaged for almost 2 months (tomorrow will be 2 months!), almost made it through my 4th semester at BYU, had a Bridal Shower, and well...just life.

Oh, and I guess I promised pictures from the proposal in one of my last posts. Oops! Since it'll take too long to post individually, I'll link facebook album to this.

He Proposed!!


The weekend J.J. proposed, we went to Oregon to visit his family. It was my first time to visit and I had so much fun!! Here are a few pictures from that weekend.

A view of his house
J.J. in front of his old high school
pretty!!
a beautiful sunset at his house
milkshakes at Burgerville...so yummy!!

J.J. and I babysat some of my little cousins and to repay us (which they didn't have to do-those kids are so well-behaved and so much fun!), my aunt and uncle gave us a gift card to Macaroni Grill. We decided to make a fancy date out of it...complete with dressing up!

J.J. drew this on the table at the restaurant...it's us if you can't tell

Since last June, J.J. has been working at the BYU Multicultural Student Services office. Part of his responsibilities there have been to organize the BYU Fiesta. It's program they do every year to celebrate Latin American cultures. Volunteers spend hours and hours learning dances from the different Latin American countries. It was a lot of hard work and could be very frustrating, but it ended up being a great success!! (See J.J.'s blog for more about the Fiesta.) One great thing about Fiesta was that some of his family came to visit. His mom (Robin), his sister (and one of my bridesmaids-Kandis), and his Grandma Till. It was the first time I met his grandma. It was so great to see everyone. His cousin Stacia (and ironically one of my Physical Science TAs) also came to see Fiesta with us.

me, Kandis, Robin
me and Kandis

Grandma Till and Stacia
Stacia and Kandis
J.J. He was working during Fiesta-sound and lighting, etc.

I have a WEDDING DRESS!!! Wow! It's so crazy! Last month, I went shopping with a couple of my aunts. It was so much fun. And I found the PERFECT dress! It's beautiful and I actually look good in it too! ;) Basically, I couldn't be happier with it. Obviously I'm not posting pictures of it on here because a certain person is NOT allowed to see it before August 21 (I'm talking about my fiance if you couldn't figure that out). But if you really want to see it, I can email pictures to you (on the condition that you will not let J.J. see them).

another point of view

J.J. posted his version of the proposal story on his blog:
http://jtothe2ndpower.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-get-engaged-to-erin.html

Don't worry...I'll post pictures soon!

I'm getting married!!!

My Proposal Story:

On Friday February 13, 2009, Joshua Joseph Despain proposed to me! For the three-day weekend, we were going to fly out to Oregon to visit his family. The flight supposedly left at 7:30pm and we were going to meet my aunt and uncle in Salt Lake City at 5:30pm so they could drop us off at the airport. When I picked J.J. up from campus at 4:00pm, he informed me that he "forgot" some stuff at his apartment and we need to go there first. While I was waiting for him to get everything put together (and he was taking his dear, sweet time doing it), my roommate/best friend Jamie called. She also "forgot" something at our apartment. According to her, she was at Thanksgiving Point with her brother and forgot to bring a book that she needed to read this weekend. Since Thanksgiving Point is on the way to Salt Lake City, she was wondering if we could drop it off on our way. I, being the nice, caring roommate, of course said that we would.

We finally got on our way…quite late, I might add. We weren’t even to Thanksgiving Point and it was already 5:00pm. I called my aunt to let her know we wouldn’t make it in time and that we’d just park at the airport. Luckily she didn’t answer the phone; she probably would’ve given something away. I called Jamie when we were close to Thanksgiving Point to find out where she is. I was hoping she could just meet us in the parking lot because we were running so late. But, Jamie said something about it being too complicated for her to meet us in the parking lot and that we would have to meet her where she was. As we were wandering around outside looking for her (trying to follow her directions which were confusing to me), I was feeling so frustrated at her. After all, we were already being so nice and going out of our way to give her that book. The least she could do was meet us in the dang parking lot!!

We came around this trail and saw this really cute gazebo. J.J. said that maybe Jamie was over there. I noticed that someone had set up a table in the gazebo and said, “No, she can’t be over there. Someone’s stuff is in there. Let’s go look somewhere else.” J.J. kept trying to tell me that, “No, we need to go over there.” After the second or third time, I started catching on. We walked over to the gazebo and in it was a table with a beautiful table cloth, gorgeous flowers, sparkling cider, a candle, a box of chocolates, a frame that Jamie made with pictures of J.J. and I, and…a ring box!

Jamie came out from behind a tree with a video camera. J.J. said, “Erin, you are perfect for me and I’m going to try to be perfect for you.” He knelt down on one knee and said, “Erin Leila Wake, will you marry me?” I, of course, immediately said yes! Then he put the ring on my finger. It is absolutely perfect! I love it!! (And him, of course!!)

Right after that, Ilarene and Aimee (two of my other roommates) and Beth (another really good friend) came out of hiding. They had also helped set everything up. I’m so glad they were there too. Beth took a lot of pictures of before and after the proposal. (There aren’t any of the actual proposal…Beth was hiding and Jamie has it on video.)

And that’s basically it. We each called our families and sent out mass texts to everyone to let them know the terrific news. Then J.J. and I went to my grandparents’ house so they could take us to the airport. It turns out that the flight didn’t actually leave until 9:00pm. We made it to the airport in plenty of time and had an absolutely fantastic time with his family in Oregon. I have definitely hit the jackpot with my future in-laws. They are great!

I am so excited! We have set a date for our wedding. J.J. and I are getting married in the Houston, Texas temple on August 21, 2009 at 12:00pm. We’ll have a reception in Tomball that night and then one in Oregon (where he is from) a week or two later. I could not be happier. He is the perfect man for me and I love him so much. I am so glad I get to spend my life with him.

(I don't have time to post pictures right now, but I'll get them posted soon!)

I love three-day weekends!

Especially this one. This weekend is President's Day and we get Monday off of school. Hip hip hooray! (It's also Valentine's day :) )

And I have some very fun plans. I'm going to Oregon!! The Dalles, Oregon to be exact. Why, you ask? To visit J.J.'s family, of course! We are leaving tomorrow after classes to fly out there. His dad works for Delta, so if we fly standby, J.J. can fly for free and I can use a buddy pass, which is much much much cheaper than an actual ticket. We'll get there tomorrow night. Then we'll leave Monday morning to come back to Provo.


I'm not sure exactly what we're doing...I'm leaving that up to J.J. I'm really excited though. His family is great (I've met them once before). I'm not sure if I've ever talked about them before (probably not, since I hardly every update). J.J. is the oldest of 7 children. He has a brother on a mission in Brazil, 4 sisters, and another little brother.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll let everyone know how my weekend goes...and I have a feeling it'll be very wonderful...hopefully with some really exciting news when I get back. ;)

yet another update...

Wow. I am definitely not good at this whole blog thing. I just can't stay on top of it. Oh well. I guess this means it's time for a very quick update. And since I'm lazy, plus it takes too long, instead of uploading pictures, I'm just going to post links to the pictures on my facebook profile.

November 2008:

My really good friend Alan (from Aspen Grove last summer) left on his mission. I went to his farewell. He will be serving in the Chile Santiago East mission.

I went home for Thanksgiving break. It was my first time back in Tomball since July 2007. It was great to be back! My family moved into their new house in October, so it was great to see it for the first time.

December 2008:

One night, J.J. and I went on a double date with my roommate and his roommate (Michelle and Jon). It was so much fun. We went to Salt Lake-ate at a fancy-shmancy restaurant and went to Temple Square.

Finals...ew. (Enough said). But the good thing about those is I am now officially a Junior (credit-wise at least). I still have a ways to go til I can graduate though.

Christmas break was so awesome. I loved being back with my family. One funny story about Christmas day... Our tradition for Christmas morning is that we (the kids-me, Braden, and Dallin) can't wake our parents up until 7am (and can't go downstairs to the tree/presents either). My dad always goes first to make sure Santa came and to light a fire in the fireplace. In our old house, the fireplace was only gas. In our new house, it's supposedly interchangeable. Christmas morning would have been the first time to use the fireplace. My dad couldn't figure out how to open up the damper or something so after he lit the fire and called up to us to tell us that Santa did indeed visit, all of the smoke alarms went off. And boy was it loud. I though I would have to get some hearing aids afterward! We (the kids) rushed around upstairs opening windows, etc. But we still couldn't go downstairs. Finally, the alarms stopped and we were able to proceed with checking out the loot Santa brought us (about an hour later than normal).

J.J. visited!! He arrived on December 27 and stayed til January 3. That week was probably my favorite part of the break. :) He was able to visit Tomball Ward (THE best ward EVER), and I gave him a tour of Tomball. haha. There wasn't much to show! On Tuesday, J.J., Braden, Dallin, and I went to Space Center Houston. It was a lot of fun.

January 2009:

I can't believe it's 2009 already!! I have a feeling that this year is going to be a big one!

Continuing with Christmas break... Since he was visiting, J.J. celebrated New Year's with my family. January 1st marked him being home from his mission for one year. (Sorry if that sentence doesn't make sense. It sounds kinda awkward to me.)

My dad's birthday was the 2nd. We went down to Galveston and then to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge to see alligators. Sadly, there were no alligators to be found. It was still a nice outing though.

My 2nd semester of my 2nd year at BYU started on January 5th. I'm enjoying my classes this semester. My Shakespeare class is interesting. And I'm taking Doctrine and Covenants (the 2nd half) with J.J. Sadly, due to conflicts with my schedule, I wasn't able to continue with ASL. Maybe I'll get back into it later.

I met J.J.'s family a few weeks ago. (Well, technically last semester I met some of them-his dad and two sisters that are in high school.) I met the rest of them (minus his brother who is serving a mission in Brazil) in January. We went ice skating (and I only fell down once!!). His sister Kandis (a freshman in college) spent the night at my apartment and went to Church with us. I had so much fun. His family is great!

February 2009:

Not much has happened yet, after all, it's still the beginning of the month. I just had my first round of midterms. That was a lot of fun, let me tell you.

This past Saturday night, J.J. and I went to the Young Ambassadors' show..."The New Music Makers." It was so much fun. They are very talented.

This weekend is a three-day weekend (Hurray for President's day!). And guess where I'll be!! In Oregon! J.J. and I are flying up to visit his family. It'll be so great. I'm really looking foward to it.

I've had a great past few months. I'll try to be better at updating.


Photo albums:
Thanksgiving Break in Houston

Fall Semester '08 Continued

Christmas Break in Tomball

J.J.'s Visit to Houston!!



P.S. J.J. has a blog and last week he posted the absolute sweetest blog post I've every read. I love it. You should read it. That's all. Click here.