Shiny New Year

Wow, I only blogged 4 times in 2012. It was a busy year! A few short weeks after my last blog post of 2012, I started dating a young man I had known about a year, Eldon. We started with a walk around the lake and it just grew from there, with some of  our banner dates including a picnic under a gazebo in the rain, indoor mini-golf, going to Rehoboth Beach in DE (twice!). In September, he proposed to me and by the end of December, we were married. What a wild, wonderful ride it has been! We have been married for just over a week. And it is blissful!

Eldon and Rachel, 2012
courtesy of Eve Nicholson

Right before we got married, Eldon bought us a lovely little house. It is a three bedroom, 2 bath rancher with an open floor plan for the front area, including a living room, kitchen, and dining room. They make one big circle. We also have a enclosed porch that we call the sun room or day room and a large deck and a 1 1/2 car garage. 

So one bedroom we use, and one is a guest room, and the last bedroom, where we have set up his tinkering area ( he builds robots), I have dubbed "Spare Oom". I have a little chair in there so I can curl up and read or play on my computer while he works. 

It is absolutely wonderful to be in my own home again. My last living arrangements were not so stellar, and this is a major improvement. It is nice to have a kitchen of my own again, and a lot of space to spread out and make a home with my husband. 

We also just helped his parents get their house all clean and emptied out so they could rent their home while they move to HI for 3 years for a job. They have a large home, and it was quite the undertaking to get it all ready for renters, including painting walls and ceilings and cleaning out the garage, a lot of which we did in the week right before we got married and right after getting home from our honeymoon. We inherited quite a bit of stuff through this move, which has made setting up at home quite nice. We got beds and desks and such and Eldon had couches from friends who had moved away earlier in the year.  Our house is brimful of furniture and the garage is pretty well stocked as well. We will miss his parents, that's for sure, but are excited for them as they start out on this adventure. They flew to HI this weekend, with his youngest sister, who is also named Rachel. 

Eldon is the middle of 5 children, he has two older sisters and two younger sisters. He is quite well trained as a result ;).  We both come from large families, and think that six kids sounds like a nice number. We are waiting a little bit before starting our family, though, to give us some time to adjust to married life. 

Another thing I am so excited about right now is our new ward (church congregation determined by geographical location). I loved my last ward, and working with the young women ages 12-18 there, but this ward seems really great too. I already know a lot of faces and had a lovely time chatting after church today. Poor Eldon just waited in the corner for me, playing with his phone. He hopes to get called to a position that will require time after church so he has something to do while I visit. :)

So life is pretty great right now. Our house is need in need of some improvements, but it won't be too hard, and I like the idea of putting some love into our home. I love being married. Eldon is such a wonderful, hard-working young man, just full of initiative and spunk. He's also a wee nerdy, which I just love and find so adorable. I could not ask for a better partner to share the load with throughout this life and the next.