Happy Birthday Louie!

Well today is Louie's first birthday! He got a new kennel (its probably wayy to big for him) and he loves it. We are going to take him to the dog park and to get a treat at the pet store. Saturday we are having a little party for him at the park and a few friends are bringing their dogs too. We are going to have ice cream, and the dogs will have doggie ice cream! I'm going to try to get Lulu to wear a cone bday hat the whole time (fat chance). :) I really need to put pictures of him on here haha someday when I have some more time! Happy birthday Louie! We love you and are grateful for all the joy you 've blessed us with this past year!

King

We got a new dog last Saturday. He is a red Siberian Husky named King. He is 5 years old, and was going to be put to sleep if we didn't save him from the shelter. He is the sweetest guy! He and Louie constantly play (I just can't watch because those big jaws make me nervous around Louie's neck) and they both are getting along great. We are so happy to have him in our home!

Springing toward Spring!

We are so grateful for the weather over the past few days! It's been ice cold here for what seems like forever, but lately its been in the 60's and sunny! We have been living it up; taking Louie to the dog park, going running, walking by the river, playing in the yard. It's wonderful. Let's just hope that spring will stay!
Our temple experience was irreplaceable, thank you to everyone who made and those of you who showed your support otherwise. It was the single best day of our lives to date. Now maybe we'll be on to the next big step, (hint hint Hun...).
We've also been busy planning a trip to Mexico for our two year anniversary. Crazy that its been two years! We're going to Mazatlan to enjoy some beach this summer. Can't wait! Thanks Dad for making this possible by doing our taxes.

It's Officially Here!

Well tomorrow begins the crazy/exciting weekend. We are less than 24 hours from our endowment session, and only 40 hours till the sealing. It seems we are all good to go and FINALLY have everything we need. We can't wait!!!

It's All Coming Together...

After a lot of stress, worry and frustration... I have officially found my bouquet for the sealing next month. YAY! It was such a relief to find it tonight and lets everyone pray that it gets here safe and sound (had to order it from a company in PA).
Also, I officially made the Middle Tennessee State University Equestrian Team. It's funny to me because I have always thought that I would play college soccer, and here I am riding in college (life is sooo unexpected sometimes). It's going to be an amazing and invaluable experience. I'm very excited!
The big day is just a few weeks away now and there seems to be so much to do! I'm practically a basket case trying to tie everything together. With so many loose ends I feel like I'll never get it all done in time. And unfortunately all this stress is really starting to show in my neck and back. (Nicole, you need to fly to TN NOW and save me, you professional masseuse!) I desperately need a massage, it's getting so bad that I have to stretch and crack my neck constantly in order to have any relief in my shoulders. AAAAAHHH!
Thanks for reading ;)
Azzi

Our Sealing is Almost Here!

Our sealing is scheduled for February 13th at 12 noon. Invitations are in the mail! We are so blessed to be at this point in our lives. We are all set for the day except a few miscellaneous items (haircuts, etc.). Thank you Brinn who will be taking our professional photos on February 6th and some more after the ceremony. We can't wait.
As for what has been going on in the Martinez lifestyle, we have been packed with work and school. We also just moved to a new apartment! It's 1700 square feet and we are really excited to have so much space. We are also considering getting another dog we are thinking Louie needs a little buddy to run around with.
Any words of wisdom pre-temple are greatly appreciated! We love you all!

Caught in the Rain. :)

Yesterday Nickolas, Louie and I all went out to the dog park (Louie's favorite place). We noticed the clouds and decided to go ahead and go before it started to rain. So we hurry over there and soon wander out of the park and into the river area. It's this cute little river just deep enough for me and Nick to stick our feet in and Louie can swim. He we are splashing and wading around the river, with Louie swimming along next to us, when low and behold it starts to downpour!!! Nick and I converse and think it'll fizzle out pretty quickly and we stay in the river. But NO it continues to pour! Louie starts to whine (he hates rain) and Nick and I start laughing. By the time we climbed out of the river, out of the bank, through the fields, back through the dog park, into the parking lot and get in the car, we are all soaked down to our underwear. We were out in the down pour for nearly 30 minutes. It was so much fun! A great way to kick off our fall :). We came home to toasty showers and cinnamon/pumpkin smells. (Thanks to me already getting all of our fall decor and candles out!) While Louie hated it, haha, Nick and I agreed it was a pretty fun time.

School

This week I started my semester and Nick has been in school too. It's been the first week in a while in which we are both working and in school. It's been so crazy! I just want it to be over. TGIF! We are both so tired and worn out that I don't think we could make it another day even if we had to. So one more class this morning and then we will be spending the day studying.
Classes went really well this week though. I am in a Horsemanship class that is one rank higher than what I should be in, so pray for me that I can get the techniques down and keep up with the other riders! I am coming to realize the complexity of truly great riding and man have I got my work cut out for me.
Nick is enjoying class, but can't wait to be in actual lectures. He has done so well this year on grades and I am awfully proud of him! He got his XBox membership all hooked up last night and played with our neighbor. It was a good break for him. :)
On a scary note: two nights ago Jen (the girl that lives in the next apartment in our house) pulled into our driveway around 8pm and when she turned off her car a man in a black hoodie and jeans was standing in our backyard. Now our backyard is partially fenced, so this guy has no reason to have been back there. When she realized he was there he started coming toward her. She quickly let her big Weimeraner out of her car and spooked the guy who then took off out of the driveway.
This is the second incident with someone messing around on our property. Jen and I are a little freaked out considering we are the only women in the house. So pray that whoever it is that keeps trying to get into our apartments and has now attempted to approach her, will leave us alone! I'm going to buy a baseball bat and a tazer! Lol.

Catch UP!

It's been a long time, so I'll make it quick.
1. We moved to Tennessee into a little cozy apartment. Nick now works at Macaroni Grill and I nanny.
2. We adopted the sweetest little puppy and named him Louie. My little brother Ryan Joseph was born and man does he steal smiles!
3. We had a bunch of summer guests. That was sooo fun!
4. Nick has been in summer school and I transferred to MTSU.
5. We are currently planning our Sealing.

Through it all we have to thank our parents for all the support we've received and the Lord for so many blessings. This fall will be the most memorable and life-changing of our lives. We are so excited!

Road Trip!

So it is official, we are moving to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I am very excited to be back in a place with warm weather and trees. I am much more excited to move close to my family! I can't wait to be rid of Utah and to be back to my sisters (and upcoming little bro) again. Packing has been interesting. We are trying to fit everything into our little Civic, so we have been trying to condense. The thing about condensing is...you actually need to have enough stuff to condense! Nick is telling me I have to get rid of all our Christmas stuff, the very thought makes me want to cry.
We are also pretty happy to be able to stop in Texas and see all of our family out there. It will be nice to see all you strangers again, it's been at least a year.
We have found a little studio apartment on Historic Square of Murfreesboro. Which means we will be living in an old Victorian house that was one of the first homes built in the city. Our new landlord made the old little house into three apartments. We are stoked to finally have a yard again and to move into our second 'home' since we have been married.
We will miss the friends and family we have in Utah! But we will come visit ;) We leave Friday for our trip across the country!

Hiking the Y

Wednesday Nick got off of work a little early so we decided to splurge in the nice weather and go hike up to the BYU "Y". It was a lot of fun, and my legs are definitely sore today! We took up strawberries and sat up there for a while. It's nice to view the world from so high up every once in a while!
You will have to excuse how ragged we look, it was really windy up there!

"Recession"

So Nick and I have always disliked news broadcasts and people saying that we are in a "recession". To us, these assumptions have always seemed a little over dramatic. That is until this week. We know we wrote about our horrible week last blog, but this probably tops it! It turns out that my employer is filing for bankruptcy and has therefore closed down my shop. Along with that he is evidently unable to pay me for an entire months worth of work. That's a big deal for us college kids! It will be another 2-3 weeks before I receive my checks, at the very least.
Thanks to family and friends we were able to get some great legal advice and are now on the road to recovering our money. However it is going to be some time till we see any of it and this has got us thinking... Maybe we are now victims of the "recession". As I have been looking for jobs and asking friends to do the same it is a frightening realization that companies don't need more employees, in fact most places are firing not hiring.
Moral of the story: make sure you are working for a company who is run by trustworthy individuals, make sure you are invaluable in your profession, be financially stable, and lastly realize that this economy is a lot less stable than you realize. We are sorry for not being more sympathetic to others losing their jobs and realize now what a hard place this is.
Lastly we would like to applaud our great-grandparents and their generation for enduring the Great Depression. We know we are suffering a fraction of their problems and have to recognize that they were tough cookies! God bless all of you in similar and worse situations than us and may our government officials find a way to reverse this economic downfall!