Fishing Time

Birch Creek is a place that the family loves to fish. Dan's father decided to take a few of us out there today! It is always good to be around family, and it is always good to go fishing!

He'll Carry You

This morning, as I was getting ready for church, I was listening to my Sunday music. As I was doing this, a very special song came on. You probably know it. It is “He’ll Carry You”, by Hillary Weeks. It was, and has always been, a song that has touched me deeply. I feel impressed to share my thoughts with you about it!

So, the chorus goes something like this:

“He knew there’d be moments when no earthly words could take away your sorrow, and no human eyes could see what you’re going through. When you’ve taken your last step and done all that you can do, He will lift your heavy load and carry you.’

I stand as a witness to this truth. I can testify that the Savior came to this world for you and me. He came to live for us. And while He lived, He experienced a mortal life. He suffered for us. I know with all surety that He is perfectly aware of all the trials of life; there is nothing that you will ever go through that He hasn’t. He experienced all of the heartache and sorrow that you could ever endure, and He did it for you. There have been, and will be, moments in your life when you feel alone. There will be those times when you feel like no one understands your hardships. And even when people try to help, there will be times when their kindness cannot ease the pain. In these times, you must look to the Savior. In these times, know that He knows exactly what you are going through.

It is possible that there are trials that only you will experience. In those trials, understand that the Savior experienced that specific trial just for you. He wanted to know how to comfort you and give support. He loves you. He loves you so much that He sacrificed His life and atoned for you. He died for you. He did this so you could live to return back to the Father.

I believe all these things to be true. I believe in Christ. And not only do I believe in Christ, I have come to know of Him. He is my Savior, the one who will redeem me. He is my friend, and He is my brother. I am beyond blessed to know of these truths.

In addition to this, I add my testimony of God. I know that God is our Father, and we are his precious children. We are not just some number to him, but we are his literal children. He knows our names, our circumstances, and our hearts. He is our Father, and he loves us with a perfect love that we cannot comprehend. Our Father in Heaven loves us so deeply that he gave his son. With this, he enabled all of us to return back to him. With this, the Great Plan of Happiness was put into place.

I am forever grateful for this. I love this gospel.

1st Anniversary

Happy Anniversary, Love!

Today Dan and I have been married for a year. To celebrate, Dan made quite the surprise for me. He told me to get dressed because we were going on an adventure. I got in the card and he gave me a handful of envelopes. I had to open the first, read it, figure out the riddle, and then tell Dan where to drive. It went something like this:

Riddle 1

""A hunt! A chase! Beware, this is not a race. Search for the places which you must find, and surely you will not be left behind. Focus on the events that led to the date when we became sealed as eternal soul mates."

 Riddle 2

"'Twas here that I first did spy, the cutest girl girl who caught my eye!"

If you know our story, you know that we were anatomy and physiology lab partners. It is were we met, and it is where everything began! So, we were off to the place were it all started: the Benson Building on campus!

Riddle 3

"A surprise! What a treat! Next to you I took my seat. Though we sat near while in our group, to be closer to you, I would jump through a hoop!"

I clearly remember the day that this happened. It was Valentine's and I needed to study for an upcoming anatomy test. The group that I studied with said that we'd meet in the library. About five minutes into our studying, my handsome lab partner walked in. Apparently, he was part of the study group and I had no idea. What a pleasant surprise! It was our first Valentine's together...studying at the library! 

Riddle 4

"'Twas the first place that we did 'hang'. We made those pool balls go 'bang'!"

This riddle made me laugh quite a bit. The first time that we "hung out" without studying was this occasion. After class one day I was sitting alone in my apartment. I knew that he was at his apartment, just a couple hundred yards away...(not that I was a stalker or anything). I wanted to be with him and I was feeling brave. I invited him to come to come over to my lounge. It was one of the most nerve-racking things that I have ever done. I was afraid that he wouldn't want to, but he happily came over! We played pool together for awhile. And, oh my, it was then that I already started to fall for Dan. That is a day I'll never forget. 

Riddle 5

"Quick! To the spot where we first kissed! I was so nervous, I practically missed."

And this one made me laugh, too! That night Dan told me that he couldn't go back to his apartment until he got a kiss. Of course, I couldn't leave him out in the cold! It was outside of my apartment at midnight. We kissed. Haha and let's just say that our heigh difference was something to get use to. 

Riddle 6

"It was as if a proclamation from above, when we first began to express our love. In this place I asked you a question. By the look in your eyes, I'd got your attention. To each other we promises made-to one day make cute babies ;)"

Shortly after we began dating, Dan and I fell completely in love. It really was not long before I knew that he was the man that I wanted to be with forever. One day, while we were sitting in the lounge I asked Dan what was on his mind. He brought up marriage. It was that moment that we decided that our relationship was going to be forever. 

Riddle 7

"Food without cooking, cause funny faces looking at fish that looks bad, but makes us both glad!"

And from there, we were off to eat sushi! However, once we got into town we decided that we wanted Texas Roadhouse. Haha but you get the idea: yummy dinner! To end the night, Dan gave me one last riddle. 

Riddle 8

"An eternity is seemed that I had to wait to behold your face gleam as my perfect (and eternal) soul mate! :)"

Dan took me to the place that we were married: the temple. It was such a special moment. It has only been one year together, but we have been sealed together forever. I cannot wait to spend an eternity with this man. He is my everything. This is just the start of our story.  

You know, since we have been married I've heard a lot of things. I've heard it said that the 1st year of marriage is the hardest, but when you are married to your best friend nothing could be easier. This past year has been filled with lots of love and joy! I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for us. Cheers to one year, and cheers to forever!

The Stresses of Life

Things here have been here okay I’d say. Since the time that we have been home, I have just been working. Because I work up on campus, I only work twenty hours a week. So, I work for 8 in the morning until noon. Pretty sweet, right? With the rest of my day, I usually catch up on housework, make dinner, and wait for Dan to get home. However, since we have been home, Dan has not been to work. While we were gone in Missouri, Idaho received a bunch of rain. Typically, this would be a good thing, but it was the wrong time of year. With that, the Farmers are having a rough time…and Dan has not been able to work. It is a bit stressful because there are bills that need to be paid, but I know that everything will work out.

I find that all too often I get caught up in the stress of finances. I find myself constantly checking our bank account and wondering if we have the finances that we need to get by. I don’t know why I stress-it is not like it makes things any better. But I do. Thankfully, at the moment, I think that we are doing okay. But I am worried for whatever our future holds.

As you may know, I am going to school in the Fall. Because this is my "off-track" Dan and I had planned to pay for this from the money that we have, but I found out that I received an academic scholarship. It will pay for most of my schooling. What a blessing. But I wonder about the other things that we want and need. Like, at the end of the year, Dan and I would like another vehicle for when a baby comes. And we are planning on trying to have a baby in November. Can you imagine all of the expenses of it all? I’m a bit worried.

Not only these things, but other things concern me a little. I am set to graduate Winter 2016. After that, I will go to work in order to provide. That idea is a little scary in itself. Dan will then graduate Winter 2017….and have I told you what comes after that? Well, he now would like to become an orthopedic surgeon. That means medical school (4 years) and residency (4-5 years). All the while I feel that I am expected to provide. I am going to be a teacher, so I know that I will not make that much. That makes me nervous. And I feel that it will be nearly impossible to have children during that time. It is all just too crazy.

So, in case you could not tell, these thoughts have been consuming much of my time. Isn’t that sad? But today in church I realized something: while education and work is important, that is not why we are here on this earth. That is not what matters most.

I think that I am afraid that Heavenly Father will somehow loose track of me or forget me in the process of all of this. Within the last year, I have changed my name from Katie Evans to Katie Hulse. I am now a wife. Hopefully, this next year will bring a baby into the picture. And with that, my name will then by ‘mom’. A year later, I will graduate and kids will call me ‘teacher’.  Will He forget me? Will I be lost? Well, today I felt the distinct answer: I will never be lost, and I will never be forgotten.

I have realized that it does not matter what life throws my way, I am still a daughter of God; I am His precious daughter. With that, He is so aware of all of my concerns and worries. He knows the stresses that I am experiencing, and I feel confidant that He is here to guide me. More than this, I know that He is aware of all of my deepest desires and wishes. He knows that I want to be a good teacher, a great wife, and an inspiring mother. He knows my heart. I truly know this to be true. And because He knows of these desires, I believe that He desires them for me. He wants to see me fulfill these things; He wants to see me happy.

I am His daughter and He will never leave me. I have faith that He is by my side, walking me through all the stresses of life. I believe that He sees the righteous desires of my heart, and will lovingly grant me these things. I trust that I will be able to be a teacher, wife, and mother. I believe that I will be able to provide in those times that Dan is in school. And while that does not mean that things will be easy, I feel that I will never be left alone. I never have to be alone. If I turn to the Father in faith, I can make it.

I am must admit that I am still a little stressed about money, and still a little nervous about the things that are to come…but I am beginning to feel better. I need to put my trust in the Lord. And, by this, I mean my complete trust.

Elder Wirthlin, an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has a quote that inspires me. It is something that I believe is a great source to turn to in times of struggle. He offers these words: "The Lord Jesus Christ is our partner, helper, and advocate. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be successful. If we do our part, He will step in.” 

I believe this to be true. I trust in the Lord. All will be well.

Craters of the Moon

Dan has not been to work in like a month. And while we have been a bit stressed about it, we have taken the time to enjoy ourselves. We decided that we might as well make the most of this situation. After all, there will come a day when our lives will be SO busy that we will wish that we didn't have work. So, we are living it up! 

Today we decided to go to a place called Craters of the Moon. Craters of the Moon is a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. There you to explore this "weird and scenic landscape" where yesterday's volcanic events are likely to continue tomorrow...It is like two hours or so from Rexburg, but so fun!

We took Tess, Dan's youngest sister, with us. 

It started off by running up this HUGE thing called Inferno Cone. At first, the run up there did not seem too bad, but we soon realized that it was much bigger than we had realized. It was super windy at the top, but the view was incredible. 

After Inferno, we visited the Splatter Cones. The hike up there was nothing compared to our first. It was there that Dan informed that I HAD to stay on the trail. Apparently, wandering off of the trail would damage the old rocks and stuff. What fun is that? But I listened because Dan loves nature, and I love Dan. Well, accept for that picture where I am standing behind the fence. Obviously, I should not be there, but hey...I cannot be perfect ALL the time. 

We just wandered around after that. We found many trails and caves. Yes, caves. The first cave that we found, we were so excited because we had hiked for MILES to find it (maybe we got lost along the way...)! When we finally arrived, we realized that the caves were very dark and we did not have a flashlight. Pulling out our phones for some source of light, we wandered through the first part of the cave. Quickly, we realized that we had to crawl through a little tunnel in order to move forward. We were ready to crawl...but it was then that we realized a backpack was left sitting at the entrance of the tunnel. We were not there alone.

After watching too many scary movies, my mind tends to resort to the worse case scenario. So, naturally I was convinced that there was a serial killer in the cave and he was going to kill us if we went down that tunnel. I ran out of the cave screaming, and Tess followed. All the while, Dan stayed in the cave and laughed. He thought it was a ridiculous thing to think, but I refused to go back in the cave. We made it out alive! 

Other caves that we went to, other fears popped into my mind. At one point, I thought that we were going to enter a cave full of wolves. I didn't want to be an animals lunch! But Dan is more tough than I am, and he made me explore with him. When we would go in caves, I would hold on to his arm REAL tight and he would drag me along. It was actually quite fun! 

At one point, we entered a cave where there was a huge bolder than had fallen from the ceiling. Naturally, I wanted to stand under in and take a picture. Naturally, Dan did not like the idea (his fear was that it was going to fall on me....) Being the stubborn woman that I am, I did it anyway. Let's just say Dan was not too happy, but here is the picture! 

It was quite an enjoyable day! I'm pretty grateful to have such a fun, adventurous husband. We have a blast together. I just would not trade these moments for anything in the whole wide world. 

Layover in Denver

Yesterday the day that Dan and I packed up and headed out to Missouri. Ten days with family! Our plane tickets were bought a while back, and we have been counting down the months, weeks, days, and hours. We have not seen the family since December, and that is far too long. Back in Missouri, so much has changed that I have missed. Mom and dad have moved into a new house, I have gained a new foster sister, my brother has a serious girlfriend, they got a dog. All this has happened and I have been away at school. With that, you can just imagine our excitement to load up and head out! 

Dan and I flew out of Salt Lake City, Utah. It was our first time to fly together, so we were thrilled. I mean, what is better than having a travel buddy! The flight went well and we made it there with much time to spare. And then came the interesting part. From Salt Lake, we arrived in Denver. By the time we landed in Denver, it was a about 10:30pm. Surprisingly, the airport was not too busy. So, we were able to quickly make it to our next place. We needed to take the flight from Denver to Kansas City. 

It was there that we had a layover....for TEN HOURS! At first, we thought that it was going to be a fun experience. It was pretty late at night and we pretty much were the only ones in the airport. Yay! So, we found a good spot to sit and we talked for a little while. We then read a little from the books we brought (The HALO series...that is another story). Then we watched a movie on my laptop. Talked some more. And, at that point, it was after midnight and we were exhausted. 

We decided that it was time to rest up! We looked around for a decent place to rest, but could not find any. All that the Denver airport offers are hard chairs will metal armrest. It was kind of awful. We tried sleeping on the floor, thinking that it would be more comfortable there. It was probably just as comfortable as the chairs, but I was nervous to lay down there! A couple of minutes before we decided to rest, Dan found a HUGE bug on the floor and we did not kill it. My luck, it was going to come and haunt me in my sleep. I was not willing to take that chance. 

So, Dan and I tried and tried to sleep but we just could not get comfortable. On top of that, we found that the airport does its' cleaning late at night. Oh, joy! With that, there were workers driving around in there machines that would beep! It was ridiculous. With all of this being said, let me tell you, Dan and I are presently running on like ZERO sleep. Right now it is about 7:30 am. Our flight for Missouri does not even board for another hour. I do not even know how I am awake right now. I do not know how I am functioning. I feel a little delusional. I feel like I am going to fall on my face. Fun times. 

But we are excited to be in Missouri! We are excited to see family! They make this sleep deprivation all worth it! :)

Huckle What?

A huckleberry-I had never heard of the thing until I moved up here to Idaho. Before then, I knew about all other berries-strawberry, blue berry, black berry, you name it-but a huckleberry? I thought that was a book...Huckleberry Finn? Well, the word from Dan, they were good. And I was about to find out.

Here in Idaho, things are a bit different. There are mountains in just about every direction that you look. People can hunt, fish, camp, and sleep just about anywhere they would like. To add to this list, I found that you can also go and pick berries. Actually, this is something that is done but many. It is like a tradition. Dan's family has done it for years, and I am now part of the family...so huckleberry pickin' I went!

It was just Dan and I that went on this trip to the mountains. We loaded into our little black VW and took off. Along with us, we brought a big plastic tub to carry the berries. You could say that we were feeling a little hopeful. From our apartment, it was about an hour away. The mountain was not too far, but it took awhile to go down the dirt road. It was honestly in the middle of no-where.You can imagine in a VW, it was quite the ride. I think next time we might need a truck. That poor little car was hitting all of the bumps and it was pretty rough. However, we made it!

When we parked the car, I expected to get out and immediately start picking berries. I soon learned that this was not the case. Dan kinda chuckled to himself and informed me that we needed to hike and find the berries; apparently, we were going to have to work a little for them. We hiked just a little and could not find any, so we hiked some more. Soon, we found a whole bush! Man, were we excited!

They were just little purple berries hiding in some shrubs. If you looked closely, you could tell that there were TONS of berries! Dan quickly squatted down and began eating some of the berries. I followed. I picked one off, plopped it in my mouth, and swallowed. I think that Dan forgot to tell me that they were more tart than sweet. Immediately, I decided that these huckleberries were not too delightful. However, I kept eating them. Maybe it was an acquired taste.

We kept picking (and eating). And while we picked, we laughed and enjoyed our time together. Dan told me that it was good to keep talking because it would scare off any bears in the area. You can imagine that brought me a sense of comfort (please, sense the sarcasm in my writing). But, at one point, Dan hushed me and told me to be real still. Somewhat frightened of a bear (or something), I listened. He told me that he was going to move forward because he heard something move in the woods just in front  of us. As he crept forward, I heard him burst out laughing! "It is a COW!" He hollered at me. I looked to see, and there it was-a big cow staring Dan in the face. We both thought that was pretty amusing.

As we walked past the cow, Dan began to make mooing sounds like a cow. After doing that a few times, we heard the cow begin running at us! We had to hide from that big thing! Eventually, it found us and it was not happy. I think the cow thought that Dan was a cow, too! I think it wanted to mate...So, needless to say, that cow was mooing furiously when it found out that we were just humans. We got a good laugh out of that.

We only stayed a bit longer. At the end of the day, we left with a bucket full of berries, purple stained hands, and happy tummies.

P.S. I started to like the berries after awhile. In fact, I have found that I kinda LOVE them. Yes, they are delicious. Maybe it was an acquired taste after all.