Called to Serve

Today I said good bye to Elder Hills.

We had a beautiful meeting with the Stake President for his setting apart. As a father of four and has sent 4 missionaries he was very aware of how we were all feeling about Elder Hills leaving. While we rejoice with him on his call and desire to serve the Lord in Tempe, Arizona we are sadden to see him leave. He asked us to call David, Elder until he is set apart 2 years from now, as this will be his name. He will no longer be known as David to the world.

The most ingenious thing that the Stake President did is that we had an opening prayer but not a closing. He said the closing will be given in 2 years when he has returned and he has been released, then we will have a closing prayer. Isn't that cleaver!

Elder Hills leaves for the MTC (Missionary Training Center) tomorrow. Apparently that have changed it even more. It used to be that parents could check in their child then go to an orientation with them and then say good bye. Then I heard you say good bye when checking in. NOW you park in the parking lot and 2 other missionaries immediately come up and grab the luggage and say "Welcome Elder (or Sister)" and promptly take them to check in. Good thing I'm not going, or I might make a scene. :-D

While I felt it was not my call to serve as a full time Mission seeing my brother prepare and WANT to serve has been inspiring, and heart warming. It has kindled the light I once had to serve to the best of my ability while not being a missionary. While this light went very much down with getting married and moving, I know it is time to start caring those pass along cards again. I hope we all have the desire to serve, not necessarily in a churchie way, but as a kind person. To take time to help the grandma load her car, or offer to help a mom with 4 children in the grocery store line, or even just a little smile.  


We have all been Called To Serve in this life, our callings are individually tailored to us as individuals, as such we are all expected to act on this service so that we can be all we can be, and make each other the best we can be. 

Time for us

I am legally Mrs. Bouley!

And it was amazing how fast it went. In ONE day I went to the Social Security office (only took 1hr) then straight to the DMV (3mi away and only took me 30min). I have ordered the wedding album and a separate reception album (each were $60 on shutterfly).

As you can imagine we haven't had much time for us. Both of us are working our butts off to make as much money as possible. Not only to pay off Troy's bills, (car repairs, he's more responsible with money then I'll ever be.)

And as some of you may know we want to move to Idaho. BYU-Idaho would be an amazing place for Troy to learn more about the church and what it means to be a Mormon. ISU (Idaho State University) has a SPED bachelors program at the Twin Falls campus (30min away from Rexburg). Rent is also significantly cheaper, while also finding  job is significantly harder! But we both feel that is where we will both succeeded the most. So we are trying to save as much money as possible. Last night Troy made the comment "

Are we ever going to have a day just to our selves?" when we were reviewing the schedule for today. I jokingly said "Nope!" But I later realized... This isn't funny! I want a day with my husband! We both work usually 7 days a week. While yes Troy can come with me and I can go with Troy to work sometimes. But what about that one-on-one time?

This morning we went to the temple, bright and early with my parents. As we sat in the Celestial room we realized since our honeymoon, this was one of the few times it's just us, sitting , for even just a little bit. How can you build a relationship with someone if the only time you see that someone is when you're going to bed! Later today we had stake conference. The theme is bringing souls to the lord.

Troy really wants to start doing his family history. We want to start doing that together, so how does a broke newlywed  couple find the time? I'll let ya know when I know! But I do know we are going to make more time for each other, hoping that every thing else will fall into place.

The beginning of Happily Ever After

This is the first blog by Mrs. Bouley! While I'm working on legally changing my name, which is a nightmare I must say, people still call me Mrs. B. :) There were no being scared on May 21, 2011 I decided the only things I would worry about was my flowers, my dress, the photographer, my cake and Troy. If those went fine, then the rest I didn't care about the rest. We had 163 people come to the reception and I'd say about 20 at the sealing. Many of the people who I wished would be there where there, except for one Family in Utah who not only had the mom had the baby 2-3 weeks ago, but the baby was back in the hospital during our honeymoon. So they are forgiven. Everything ran smoothly, I had every thing I needed, the hairdresser was early I was running early, Gwen was in a good mood. Troy and I got to the temple early, and got to great some friends as they came in.
I got to wear my dress for sealing! We got to the church on time and ready to go. Even the weather was perfect! While clouds were being called for all week, on Friday all of sudden it all changed to sunny, 80, with a cool breeze. What a perfect day.
Troy didn't have his car back so we stayed at the hotel in VA an extra day, we came home and opened presents! I was like a 5 year old at Christmas I was so excited. We got the car on Monday and off to Myrtle Beach we went.
We stayed at Ocean Reef Resort (OK place) but a beach front hotel. Gorgeous view. There was much to do there, we went to the beach for an hour or so every morning then we went out and did something. While we were on our honeymoon like I mentioned earlier a close friend and her new baby were in the hospital. She was great about keep me updated, Troy complained that I took my phone but he knew if something happened I had to know. The baby was being test for Mosaic Downs Syndrome and instantly we both constantly made sure I had my phone. Since we both work with children with disabilities and this was new to the family he knew I was going to be front and center if something was needed.
Amongst all this, we still had a blast, going out and about.

When we got home Troy didn't stop with the honeymoon. He was cleaning, cooking, doing things that was sitting on my to do list, all done by the time I walked in the door. How great was this!? THEN he bought me the kindle that I had been saving and begging for.

This is the beginning of a Happily Ever After.