Asael's Graduation!

Our exciting news recently has been Asael's Graduation!  He graduated with an Athletic Training degree in the department of Life Sciences on April 25th.  Asael's family came to the Commencement on April 24th where President Uchtdorf and Elder Cardon spoke to the graduates.  We then went to a family party for Asael and his cousin, who was graduating as well.

That next morning, Asael accepted his diploma to make him an official graduate of Brigham Young University.  My family came to support Asael that morning, and then threw him a party that next day.

We couldn't be more appreciative of the support that our families gave to Asael that weekend!

The next Monday, Asael and I decided to go on one last trip before the baby came.  So we drove to St. George and on our way we visited Cove Fort, Bryce Canyon and Zions National Park.  They were beautiful!

We spent 3 days in St. George visiting the Temple, Brigham's House, the Tabernacle, and Jacob Hamblin's Home.  We also went to a few plays, as well as got a pedicure together!  I wish I would have taken a picture of Asael getting a pedicure, but I think he would disown me.  Asael's goal for the whole trip was to make me comfortable, so he made it a point to get a pedicure for me.  So, I convinced him to get one also.  If you don't know Asael by now, he has an extremely huge heart for his wife and will do anything to make her happy.  The question now is, will he ever get a pedicure again?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!:)

(We went to a play, and 5 minutes before it started, we were the only ones there!  No this is not a chapel:))

The last night before we left, Asael received an e-mail telling him that he passed the Athletic Training Boards!!!  So he is officially a CERTIFIED ATHLETIC TRAINER!!!

With that being said, we are applying for jobs throughout the US hoping to find an Athletic Training job, or a job working with a Physical Therapist, in that that is Asael's final goal.  The reason why he wants to become a Physical Therapist is because of the hours that Athletic Trainers have to commit to.  Physical Therapists have more set hours, so he would like to be home more with his family then a typical Athletic Trainer can.

So we will keep you posted where we get a job!

We love you all!

Asael, Emillie, and Qruckess (5 more weeks!!!)

BABY BOY!!!

We wanted to share with everyone the story of how we found out that we were having a boy.  We apologize first of all that you haven't heard from us for awhile!!
Asael and I wanted to find out a special way, so we decided to keep it a surprise.  After the ultrasound, and after the doctor put the picture/answer in an envelope, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  We asked the waitress to take the envelope with the answer and if it was a boy, we asked her to bring us STEAK.  If it was a girl, we would then have her bring us CHICKEN.  As you could imagine, she was so excited!  As were we!
Every waiter that passed by us, our hearts stopped.

                                  

                                (GIRL)                                                                                                                   (BOY)

We then saw about 10-15 waiters come walking near our table.  We didn't not think anything of it because there was a birthday boy on the table next to us, so we thought they were going to sing to him.  I said to Asael, "oh how cute, they are going to sing to that boy."  

Then all of a sudden, half of them sat down at our table, and our waitress was in the middle of all of them with our STEAK meals!!!

I was completely shocked!!!  

They all started cheering for us!  It was so fun!  Asael and I looked at eachother with complete surprise!  I was determined that we were having a girl first.  "Boy" was I wrong!  

I'll have you know before the meal, Asael turned to me and said, "what if I want a steak meal regardless of what we are having?"  His wish came true!:)

I can't tell you how excited we are for this little boy!!!  The only regret I had from the evening is that we didn't take a picture of the meal and Asael and I.  I honestly don't even remember eating the meal, I was so excited!!!

We love you all!

Roller Coaster September

This has been a roller coaster month for the Checketts family.  After Asael was in a boot due to a small fracture in his foot, the doctors told him that the fracture had become worse.  So they scheduled surgery so they could go in and put a screw in Asael's foot to screw both bones together.  

The surgery went extremely well.  Asael woke up still remembering who I was, which was a good sign!:)  We are grateful for Asael's cousins to be able to "watch" Asael the day of the surgery, because I had to go to work to prepare for a Match that evening.  I ended up picking him up close to 10pm.  Thank you Jordan and Crystal!!!

The last couple of weeks, Asael has used crutches and a scooter to get around campus to go to his classes.  He has read a lot due to not being able to do much of anything else.:)

He hasn't complained once and is so appreciative of everything anyone does for him!
This week Asael has been given permission to start swimming, so he has been very excited about that!
Three more weeks of no weight bearing!  Almost there!

As for my job, it is going very well right now.  I love coaching these girls so much, and am so grateful to have this opportunity!  This past week we beat our rivals, UTAH, in 5 sets.  It was a very exciting game!  We played it in the huntsman, so it was a very different environment, but still a great crowd!

Asael's Birthday!

Asael is now 25 years old!  We got up and used one of our gift cards and went to breakfast together before both of us had to go into work.  Asael only had to work half of the day, so he went home early and was extremely patient while he waited for me until 7pm.  We then went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then came home and had carrot cake and opened presents.  Because it was Monday night, we had a little Family Home Evening lesson throughout it all.  We were given the "Eternal Marriage Student Manual" by my Stake Presidency when we were married, and they challenged us to study it for the first year of our marriage on every Monday night.  It was my week to teach, so I basically went through my favorite part of the manual, which was how I chose Asael to be my husband.  The chapter is called, "Mate Selection," and it was the perfect lesson for the birthday boy to keep reassuring to him how much I love him and why he is the one that I chose.  Everything in that chapter says to me, "Asael Checketts is the greatest man in the world!"

Now to explain this picture below.  Behind Asael is a BYU blanket.  We had received this gift from a neighbor of ours, but Asael said that we should return it because he already had a BYU blanket, so we did.  Well, a few weeks later, I received the same blanket, but it was the UTAH blanket, and of course I loved it!  So Asael said, "we need to get the BYU one back."  So now we both have our own matching blanket.:)

You have to love a man who wants kitchen supplies for his birthday.  He has had on our shopping list, "salt and pepper shakers" for quite some time, so I got him those, as well as a cooking dish that he has been looking for since we have been married.  He is one happy man!

First time for Everything!!!

This past month has been a month of trying new things.  One of those things is COOKING!!!  It is one thing to cook for yourself, but when you have to feed another person, it is another story.  Plus, when that other person eats about triple what you eat, it becomes a bigger challenge!  It is a good thing that we were both taught by incredible mothers and sisters on how to cook.  The hardest thing is knowing what our moms can do, and then trying to mimic their recipes.  My patient husband has been through a lot of ups and downs this past month of me experimenting.  Coming from a mother that made most of her recipes from scratch, I can honestly say that I need EXACT instructions on what to do.  Asael is the kind where he just throws things together.  I hope that I can do the same someday!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This is an example of a recipe that I did.  Let's be honest, this is not mine, but you get the picture.  

Cutting my Husband's Hair

Another first time was cutting Asael's hair.  My mom always cut my brothers hair, as well as my dads.  I offered to cut her hair one time, and after finishing with it shorter than she has ever had it, she never let me use the scissors again.  Asael was extremely patient and told me exact instructions what to do and what size of guard to use for each section.  I can honestly say that it wasn't too bad, but he is an extremely patient man, and so I appreciate him letting me try for the first time on him.

1 Month Anniversary

This past weekend we celebrated our 1 Month Anniversary!!!  We went out to dinner and then went to a play at the Hale Center Theatre in Orem.  It was so fun to get out of the house, especially since Asael hasn't been able to do much for the past 2 weeks due to his broken foot.  2 weeks ago he broke his foot playing intramural football, so he has had to take some time off of work to recover from that.
This past month has been amazing!  We are living in the top floor of my parents house.  They were so kind to let us live there.  We are going to my home ward, which is great.  The people there are some of the finest people I know, and I am excited to continue to learn from each of them.
Marriage is amazing, and we are more in love today than a month ago!  I am so grateful for Asael and his patience with me!  I couldn't ask for a better husband!  I love what marriage teaches a person.  It's all about forgetting about yourself, and serving the other!

 

 

Unfortunately, I mean fortunately ladies, he is taken!:)