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An update on that one disgustingly cute couple...

Us being our normal selves

Well my oh my...it has been a while for me.  How can you all try to keep up with us if I never blog?! Well I guess I had better start doing it again.  As most of you probably already know, we moved to Arizona!  This state is pretty cool.  The best part is NO SNOW!!!!  It has been really great getting to know Garett's family too!  One of the reasons we moved here was because we thought I would be able to get a job where Garett's sister Terra works.  So I came out three weeks early to interview for that job.  About a week after the interview, they told me that they did not want to hire me... I, of course, started to freak out a little bit because we were counting on me having a job when we moved here.  I was staying with Garett's sister at the time but I was able to talk to Garett about it and he calmed me down by telling me that whatever happens is meant to happen.  Heavenly Father had a better plan for me.  And it was true.  A week after Garett graduated from DLI and moved out here, and we moved into our new apartment, I was able to get a job.  It really just kind of fell in my lap. The owner of the company is in our ward.

Our first day at church, Garett and I walked in and noticed that everyone there was slightly older than we expected them to be.  We quickly started to think during sacrament meeting that we might need to ask to be in a different ward because there was no one here that was our age.  But then Sacrament meeting ended and we were immediately greeted by someone who was anxious to meet us.  When they had gotten our full back story and had said goodbye, we were instantly greeted by another patron wanting to know everything about us.  And it went on until about halfway into the next meeting.  After church was over, we weren't able to get home until about an hour after the last meeting.  We decided that it was the place for us! Everyone here is so nice and wonderful.  We are also quite the novelty.  When we first moved in, almost everyone we met said we should meet the other young couple in the ward meaning there were only the two young couples including ourselves.  I thought that was pretty funny.  


So I have been working at this company for about 4-5 months now and it has its ups and downs but it has been a really great experience for me.  Just two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to Washington DC.  I didn't get a lot of time for sightseeing but it was still a really great experience and I had never been there.  It was for the President's Day Choral Festival which we planned and it went wonderfully.  Dr. Andre Thomas conducted a group of six different choirs and an orchestra.  These groups came from all around the country and our company planned their trips there.  It was really wonderful being able to see how our hard work pays off.  I am an operations agent in this company so I plan trips for these people.  I plan their dinners, the hotels they stay at and pretty much everything they are going to do on these trips.  I am basically a travel agent for concert and marching bands/choirs.  Here is the link to our website:  http://musiccelebrations.com/.

I have had so much fun! I love getting to know all these directors from all over the world and planning a trip for their students/participants that will be a wonderful experience for them! I have a lot of groups going to Washington DC this year so if you ever plan on going, I can tell you the best places to go.

During these few months that I started working at this company, Garett has been gone pretty much the entire time.  Yes he was here in the beginning for a week or two and then left again but we have been apart for most of the time starting in November 2011.  It has been really tough for both of us.  I was able to see him for Christmas though. He was in San Angelo Texas for a three-month training for his MOS (don't ask me what it stands for I just know that his MOS is MI [military intelligence]).  I took a few days off from work and flew there.  We spent Christmas at his Aunt Leann's house who lives in Austin area.  She was so nice and her three kids were there on Christmas too.  She got us all matching pajamas!  It was so cute and we had so much fun!  Then I had to fly back home an then Garett and I were apart for two months.  This was the longest that we have ever been apart but it went pretty well.  I stayed busy with work and so did he and we were able to talk to each other every night.  I missed him terribly. But it ended last week!  I was able to take a few days off work again and I flew to Texas again (the Wednesday after the Monday that I had returned from Washington DC) and I was able to go to his graduation.  I am so proud of him!  I witnessed my first Military graduation for him.  What was really amazing was when I went up and put the military intelligence pin on to his uniform. I am so proud of him. He had drill this weekend though so I am alone again.  He will be back on Monday though! Hurray!

The new Martin Luther King Jr. Monument

Here are some pictures of my adventures in Washington DC.

This is me about to enter the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and I'm sooooo excited!

In the museum!

It was very crowded that day and I only had about 45 minutes to explore.

I know Nathan Bunting will love this one!

The Hope diamond that the Titanic diamond is based off of. So pretty in person and this picture doesn't do it justice.

This one is for you Mark!

A real mummy!  Are you my mummy?

This was part of the forensic anthropology exhibit!

At the Kennedy Center

The hall of nations at the Kennedy Center where the President's Day choral festival was held.

The hall of States in the Kennedy Center

Rehearsal for the group at the Kennedy Center

August Update on the Coneses

Well this month has been a tough one.  However, it has been filled with great things! First of all, Garett's arm is healing up pretty well.  He got another x-ray done on his arm two weeks ago and the doctor said it was healing just fine. He never got a cast on it but we are kind of glad of that cuz it would have been very inconvenient. He seems to be almost back to normal now! It has been hard for him though to deal with the pain.

On August 9th, I got my tonsils out! My mom came for the entire week to help me out while I was recuperating.  It was such a blessing to have her here during that time.  My mother is AMAZING! She helped me so much since Garett couldn't be home for me and he was very grateful that she was there because it helped him feel like I was being taken care of. The day before my surgery, she and I went for a walk so I could show her where to pick up Garett if she ever needed to.  On that walk, Mom searched for the apartment that Dad and her stayed in while they were here.  She found it!!! It was really cool to see it.  Dad came to get her and take her back but he stayed the weekend too and brought Mark with him.  So, while they were all here we all went to their old apartment and took pictures.  We had a lot of fun except for the fact that I was still on drugs and I couldn't eat any real food.  Mom blended everything I ate so it was like eating baby food.  It was very interesting at times.  Mom and Dad left on Sunday but Mark stayed for a few more days.  We were able to go to the Aquarium and Mark got to explore a little bit. I was still feeling pretty crappy unfortunately so I wasn't able to do much with him.  Liz and Cameron then came to visit us for a few days. I started to feel better but I still wasn't eating regular food so I wasn't as fun as usual.  It was really hard for me to be feeling that way when everyone decided to come visit us because I was no fun!  That was really difficult for me and Garett usually feels pretty bad that he doesn't ever get time to spend with people because he has to be at school all day. 

Garett has been doing so well in class lately.  I am so proud of him.  He was feeling pretty good about handling the Portuguese language before he broke his arm.  When he broke it, he had a hard time getting back on his feet because of the drugs and dealing with the pain.  He is doing so much better now! He is getting wonderful grades on his tests and he feels like he is doing very well in learning the language.  Of course, his Spanish is failing erroneously. Every time he tries to speak it, it comes out as Portuguese.  Hopefully, he'll be able to get it back someday.

Also, about a week after I started working at The Inn at Del Monte Beach, I was told to stop coming in to work until further notice.  The Inn is owned by a man and his sister.  His sister is married but her husband is in Saudi Arabia for another year.  I was supposed to start work so that she could have time off.  However, after I was all trained, she decided that she never wanted any time off except for Saturdays(which is one of the only days Garett has off) so the manager told me that they would call me if they needed me again after my surgery.  I'm still recuperating though and the doctor told me not to go back to work until next week.  We'll see what happens I guess.  The job was really just something for me to do during the day and to give us a little extra money to play around with but wasn't necessary.  It was good experience, I just hope it doesn't look too bad on my resume that I worked there for only a week.

Garett graduates on October 6th! He is so close to being done here and we are happy for it.  We are kind of hating the cold here and Garett can't stand some of the people he has to deal with everyday.  We will be glad to get out but we are enjoying our time here as much as we can.  It has been sunny here a couple days this week and on Tuesday, the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta came to the DLI and gave a speech.  Garett had to be in formation with his platoon but I was able to sit in the stands and listen.  It was a pretty cool experience and he thanked the troops for their service. 

Last week, Garett and I found out that the DeLorean from Back to the Future was at the Museum of Monterey so we tried to go see it during Garett's lunch hour while he was in uniform.  Unfortunately, we didn't really have time during the lunch and we decided to go the next evening.  While we were there though, we asked if they gave a military discount and a man that was there said he would pay for his ticket in and he thanked Garett for his service.  It really touches my heart when people thank Garett for his service.  He really has done a lot for this country and sometimes I think he feels that no one appreciates it.  It is times like those that really make him feel that he is appreciated for what he does.  It is a big sacrifice not only for him but for me too.  Although Garett is well paid, the military demands a lot from him.  I am so proud of him though and he is so determined to do well.  Anyway, so we went back and we had a great time! There pretty much wasn't anyone else there at the time we went so the owner of the DeLorean talked to us for a really long time and he put our wedding date in the time machine so we went back and watched our wedding again! If you didn't notice, Garett and I were sitting in the sealing room behind everyone else. Gotcha! No but he really did put our wedding date and time into the DeLorean and then he took a picture of us with it.  It was pretty awesome.  We also learned that he was a co-owner of the car and that the other owner was the guy that paid for Garett to get in!  We talked to them for a really long time and we made friends with them because they were really cool. 

We were also able to go to Garett's best friend Jacob and his wife Cherie's wedding reception in Tracy, CA which was really great because Garett was the best man!  He got to wear a vest and bow tie and everything!  We had a lot of fun and Garett was kind of the emcee for it.  He also gave a speech for a toast which he did wonderfully at! It was a really great time and we had fun.

Overall, this month has been pretty good with a few minor setbacks but we are buggering on still and we'll never stop buggering on!

Well this post is getting pretty lengthy so I think I'll stop it now....hahaha gotcha again....OK it's really ending....now.

Our new life together

Garett and I(Mary) recently got married on April 30th 2011.  We were married in the Sacramento California LDS temple.  Since then, we have been very happy with our lives here in Monterey, Ca.  Garett is stationed here through the military at the Defensive Language Institute(DLI) and is learning Portuguese.  We live about a block away from the beach which is amazing but also makes it so the weather here is usually pretty cold.  We are happy here though.  If nothing changes, we will be here until October of this year.  After we leave here, Garett will be going to Texas for some qualification training and such.

Our wedding was wonderful and we want to thank everyone that came and made it so great.  The pictures are now posted on Facebook in my (Mary's) photo albums.

We decided to make this blog so that everyone in our life can be updated on what's going on with us.  This week has not been too good for us because on Tuesday, Garett was hit by a car while riding his bicycle home.  When he was riding on the road, he was riding between the parked cars on the side of the road and some cars that were stopped at a red light.  When he got to the back bumper of one of the cars at the stop light, the person in the car decided they wanted to park on the side of the road so they turned their wheels and hit the gas.  Since Garett was at their back bumper when they did this, the front of the car hit the handlebars of his bike and he went flying over the car.  He was wearing a helmet and a backpack which padded his fall on his back but he also landed on his arm.  He was in somewhat of a shock after it happened.  The woman driving the car immediately got out and asked if he was okay.  She was not worried about her car only if he was okay.  Luckily, there wasn't any damage to Garett's bike and he only left a small dent on the front of her car but she didn't care.  After that happened, they talked for a bit and then Garett rode home on his bicycle.  He thought he was totally fine aside from a few scrapes on his legs from the bike falling on him after the fall.  When he got home, I had no idea that anything was wrong. I just gave him a kiss and went back to unloading the dishwasher! I wish I was more observant sometimes.  We talked for a few minutes and I asked him how his day went.  He said "It was good until some lady ran into me on my bike."  I was immediately worried about what had happened but Garett still thought he was fine except that his arm hurt a little bit.  Neither of us knew what a broken bone felt like because we are lame and have never broken anything. We decided not to risk it though and we went to the ER.  He was hit at about 5:30pm and we got to the ER at about 6pm.  We didn't get out of there until about 10:30pm.  It was ridiculous! So they did x-rays on his arm and they told us that his radius was broken right underneath the head of the radius which is right by the elbow.  This happened to be his right arm by the way.  So, the ER put his arm in a splint and told us we had to go to the clinic on base because he was an active duty and find out what we needed to do for his arm.  So, the next day we went to the clinic early in the morning.  We waited there for about an hour and a half before we could see the nurses and all they did was make an appointment for us to see the doctor the next day.  It was very frustrating.  The ER had given Garett Percocet for the pain.  But, because Percocet is so strong, it was making him throw up.  On Wednesday he threw up twice and today he threw up again.  And, he was still in a lot of pain.  So today we went to the clinic to see the doctor for our appointment and we discovered that the appointment was never made!!!  Luckily though, the doctor was able to see us about half an hour after we got there. The doctor on base  then referred us to an orthopedic and we got an appointment with him for later.  We went to see the orthopedic but we were very unsatisfied.  Garett has Tricare Prime for insurance which is government insurance so a lot of doctors wont take it because it doesn't pay very well.  When we got in to see the orthopedic, the told us that Garett'sGarett to take so hopefully they will not make him throw up anymore. Otherwise, he is doing good and he is a trooper.  His arm hurts him but he is being strong just like the Garett I know.  He is amazing.  We aren't sure about what will happen with his schooling and everything since it was his right arm that is broken and the one that he writes with.

On a higher note, I got a job at The Inn at Del Monte beach which is right by our apartment.  I'm pretty excited about it but for now it is just a job where I'll probably be doing a little bit of everything.  I'll be helping make breakfast and maybe be doing some receptionist work and happy hour at the bar.  The owner was thinking about training me to do some accounting work for him and his office in Salinas but is afraid to train me because I'll be leaving soon.  So, I just will be doing this stuff until he decides on if he wants to train me or not.  If we stay longer here because of Garett's injury then that might be a really good opportunity for me.  If Garett has to be slipped back to a class that starts later then we will get more money and he will be able to learn Portuguese really really well.  We think that this injury might be a blessing in disguise but we are not getting our hopes up yet.  We are just happy that he is alive and well and that I have been able to get a job.