Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Drowning in Domesticity

As of yesterday, Jon and I have been married a whole month, and now consider ourselves experts on all things marriage related. :) Just kidding. It has been a great month, and we love each other more than ever. Since moving to Baltimore, I have started a new chapter in my life. It's called "Unemployment". It's really not as bad as it sounds. I've been looking around a bit, but I haven't really decided exactly what I want to do, or rather, I haven't really figured out exactly what I should do. So I have had lots of time to pursue other interests...like, cooking! I have found out that I actually like to cook! One of our favorite restaurants in Provo is the Bombay House, so for our one month "anniversary", I decided to try my hand at a curry. I have NEVER cooked a curry dish before. I don't even think I've ever had a homemade curry, but I tried to be brave, and it turned out amazingly well. Not that I just discovered the secret to good curry making...I had some help, in the form of the Better Homes and Gardens red checker cookbook, but I was truly impressed with myself. And with how simple it really turned out to be. I have also been sewing, ironing, cleaning and doing laundry. I am reaching heights of domesticity I never thought possible. Today I'm actually going to attempt to make pizza crust from scratch with real yeast and everything. Lofty goal, I know, but I figure if it bombs, I'll just run to the grocery store, buy a pre-made pizza crust, and Jon will never know the difference!

Speaking of grocery stores, it has been quite the adventure finding a good one. There is a place called "Mars" just up the street making for maximum convenience. However, it seems like the closet place is never that great, and this has proven to be true in our case. I've gone there a couple times, but have come to realize that the prices are high, the selection is poor, and the produce is pitiful. I couldn't even find chili sauce or jalapeno peppers there! So on Saturday night when I realized that I desperately needed the chili sauce for Sunday's "pulled pork in root beer sauce" (Yes, that's right, I just said root beer sauce. I'll have you know it was delicious.), we ventured a few more minutes up the street to the "Super Fresh". I was shocked. The superiority of the Super Fresh to Mars was immediately obvious. The selection was amazing, the floors were shiny, and the produce section was huge. I'm sure I would have had no problem finding jalapenos there, and I swore that from then on out, I would be shopping at Super Fresh. But I totally forgot that I needed the jalapenos, and on Sunday, the bishop's wife was telling me about the area, and said that the "Weis" (they call it the We Is, because apparently it used to be really ghetto, but now it's super nice) that is even a little bit further up the street has the best selection and the best prices. So yesterday when I remembered that I needed jalapenos, I decided to check it out. And let me tell you, all loyalties to Super Fresh were instantly swept away. I was seduced by the luscious bakery, the gourmet deli, the "build it yourself" salad bar, the huge selection, the lack of any alcohol whatsoever in the entire store, and the gorgeous gardening section. I mean, the place even had a "dollar section", and we all know that anything that costs a dollar is practically free and need not be accounted for in any budget. Now, I was a huge fan of Macey's back in Provo. I even know personally Ben Macey, grandson of founder Waldo Macey, and feel a certain allegiance to the place...but the Weis gives Macey's, Smith's, Reams and Albertson's a run for their money! I think I have found my match in grocery stores. I hear there is an even nicer place about 20 minutes away (it has been called the Gucci of Grocery), but I'm just not sure I could handle anything better than the Weis.

How life has changed...when I was lost in the middle of research papers and lesson plans I never thought I would think so much about grocery stores. But lest I get over zealous with the whole domestic thing, I do have a job interview tomorrow. It is for a Spanish Teaching position at a private school for students with special needs. It seems like a really neat place, and I'm excited to learn more about it.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Be ye one...

Jon and I are working on "becoming one" and have decided that part of that process is to become one in the blogosphere. I've added him as an author on this blog, so make sure you watch to see who's posting!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Happiness.

We did it! We tied the knot in the Manti Temple on May 23rd. It was absolutely the best day of my life, and I couldn't be happier to be starting a new life with my new (wonderful) husband.(I'll post more pictures soon, I promise...I'm just waiting to get them back from the photographer)

Since then, we have been in for a wild ride! I'll post a brief timeline of our lives, post-marriage.

May 24-31: We honeymooned on a cruise that stopped in Progreso and Cozumel Mexico. The weather was great and the ship was so relaxing. It was great to not have to worry about anything...no cooking or cleaning or working. One of our favorite things was that the housekeeping staff left a towel animal in our room every evening. We also had a great time on the beaches of Progreso and Cozumel. In Cozumel we got to drive a dune buggy to a remote beach and snorkel. It was a blast! We also just loved lounging on the deck.
May 31: We got back from our cruise just in time for our open house at the Leininger residence in Texas. It was beautiful, and it was great to see all the Texas friends and family. We spent the next day hanging out with Jon's family, and we had a blast. We wished we could have stayed longer.
June 2-4: We flew back to Utah to pack up our things, say a few last goodbyes, and load the U-haul. I don't remember much of what happened in the days we were there besides cardboard boxes and junk food, but we apparently accomplished what we set out to do.
June 5: Moving day! We got up early, hugged my family goodbye, and started our journey east. This was the worst day of the trip...we were on the road for about 15 hours. Jon drove the whole way and was a trooper about it. We finally reached our stop in Omaha at about 11:30pm. It's amazing how tiring it can be to sit in a car all day!
June 6: After a good night's rest in Omaha, we spent the day with Lisa and the boys. We went to the Omaha Zoo, which is excellent, and had a fun time hauling around the twins and little Benjamin. That evening, after a great meal (Lisa spoiled us!) we all headed to Nauvoo, and got in around midnight. Jon and I checked in to the Hotel Nauvoo, a historic home that has been transformed into a hotel. It was small but really cute, and was our home for two nights.

June 7: We saw the sights in Nauvoo, starting with a wagon ride through the historic part, and then met up with Lisa, Bill and the boys for lunch. Our favorite was the brick yard because we got a free Nauvoo brick. After lunch, we drove to Carthage, which was a really incredible experience, and then we attended the Nauvoo temple, which was probably the highlight of the entire trip. It is absolutely beautiful, inside and out!

June 8: We went to church in the morning in Nauvoo, and then we headed for Indianapolis, Indiana to visit Joseph and Megan who are working there for the summer. We had a great dinner with them, and took a fun trip to a river and an artesian well near their apartment. It was a great stop!

June 9: We packed up our air mattress, and headed for Kirtland, Ohio. We went on a tour of all the Church's historic sites, like the Newel K Whitney store and the School of the Prophets. I really liked the ashery and the lumber mill too. We got there too late to tour the Kirtland Temple, but we walked around the outside. We stayed in a Day's Inn that night. I wouldn't recommend it.

June 10: We headed downstairs to a continental breakfast that was by far the worst one I have ever seen. To top it all off, another guest spilled an entire pitcher of milk, the image of which will be forever engraved in my mind as a white tidal wave covering Jon. It was sad but hilarious. We got out of there as soon as we could to start the last leg of our journey. The trip was punctuated with anxious phone inquiries about Maria's labor process, which only served to make it more exciting. We arrived in Baltimore sometime after 4pm, went straight to the leasing office, and signed a year lease on an apartment that we had been looking at. It was about 100 degrees out, plus humidity, but we somehow hauled all of our earthly belongings to our second story apartment, just the two of us. In the process, we made friends with our downstairs neighbor, Byrne, and his cat, One-eyed Willy (I added the "one-eyed" part to his name, but he deserves it...he really has one eye).

June 11-14: We began the "moving-in" process on little sleep...at 3:30 am our time, we got a phone call that Maria had given birth to Brooklyn Marie Oka. We were so excited that the lack of sleep didn't bother us. I can't wait to go see her! We have been unpacking, shopping, and acquiring furniture. We came here with zero furniture, and through many great blessings known as Ikea, Wal-mart, Value City, and especially Craig's List, we have now fully furnished our 2-bed 2-bath apartment for under $1500. It's been amazing to see things come together so quickly and so econimically. I LOVE our apartment, and it is really starting to feel like a home.

June 15: We attended church in our new ward, the Chesapeake ward, and felt very welcomed. It is a really diverse ward, and we are excited to make new friends.

June 16: Jon's first day of work at Lockheed-Martin. Since we currently only have one vehicle, and since I am looking for a job, I dropped him off at 8am, and kissed him goodbye. I then proceeded to spend a very long nine and a half hours by myself. My only human contact was with the customer service help line at Target.com where I ordered a vacuum. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and we had a great dinner and first FHE in our new home together.

June 17: Pretty much a repeat of yesterday, except I went to Wal-mart and didn't fall asleep on the couch for two hours. And I applied for some jobs. We'll see how that goes...Hopefully this has been an adequate update. More to come on our adventures in the great state of Maryland. Tonight's exciting activity? Discuss and sign up for health insurance!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

That's a wrap!

As it turns out, wedding planning isn't all that adventurous...we've been stuffing announcements, and we're almost done, though we've been tracking down some last minute addresses. If I don't have yours and you think I should, send it my way! On a more notable note ;), Jon and I both graduated this weekend!! It's official. We are done with BYU. Kinda hard to believe, after all these years. His parents came into town for the occasion, and got to meet my family, which was great. Also, his brother Chris, who will be graduating from the U next week, came down. We had a really fun, though tiring weekend. The commencement ceremony in the Marriott Center was packed, and the addresses were actually pretty good. I think what stuck with me the most was the importance of serving with the talents we have and the blessings we've received, and to make learning a lifetime endeavor. I think it was a lot more enjoyable to sit through with Jon by my side. Friday was a little longer, with two convocations to attend. Jon's was first, and the most impressive thing was the titles of the dissertations of those receiving PhD's. Since I graduated from the College of Fine Arts and Communications, I think my ceremony was a little more interesting, and a little more fluffy, with some cool performances and interesting talks. You would think that a theatre major would be totally at home on the DeJong stage, but I have to admit that I had some butterflies before walking across. We finished off the festivities with dinner at Ottavios with both of our families. I think they hit it off. If not, they're good actors.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Where in the world...

Who can guess where Sarah and Jon are moving?





Can't guess? Oh fine, here's a hint...

And the verdict is....BALTIMORE!!! (If you couldn't tell, that's a map of Maryland...and I'm deeply offended). Jon officially accepted an offer from Lockheed Martin at one of their Baltimore locations. We are super excited to move to the east coast. All the history, old buildings, small states, cool cities near by, road trip potential, cool people, trees, autumn colors, museums, theatre ...I'm pretty sure this is all a dream, and I keep waiting to wake up. Which, if it indeed is the case, is a big problem, because I probably missed a whole lot of school. Anyway, if you are anywhere in the area, give me a shout out and we'll have to get together. I think I'm going to have a lot of free time on my hands. The job is really great...so great in fact, that they will put Jon though grad school. So with a full-time job and graduate school to boot, I think my future husband is going to spend a lot of time MIA.
I'm so proud of him for getting (and choosing) this job (he had two other offers in hand) , and we really feel like Baltimore is going to be a great place for us!

Next time...adventures in wedding planning!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Sarah's BIG news...

Life has been busy...but I guess I owe it to myself, and to all you readers out there (um...there are readers out there, aren't there?) to send an update on that business into cyberspace. I could go on and on about how this semester has been full of graduate classes, rehearsals for the Spanish play I am directing, the tour we went on to BYU-I, my calling as activities co-chair in my ward, my social life, my sister's increasingly large belly with promises of finally becoming an aunt, etc, etc, etc, but, instead of boring you all to death, let's just get straight to the point.

On Friday, March 21st, 2008, Jonathan Clayton Leininger officially asked me to marry him in front of 100 people (the audience and cast of out sold-out show). As the director of the play, I lead a Q&A session after each show, and that night, when I was about to finish the session, Jon's hand shot up and he announced that he had one last question. I told him to go ahead, naively thinking that he really had a question about the play, but when he got out of his seat, and started walking towards the stage, it clicked, and I did what any girl would do in my situation...I started shaking my head violently and saying "don't do it! Don't do it, Jon!". He completely ignored my pleas, and climbing onto the stage, took my hands, and started to tell me how he felt about me. What he said was pretty much lost on me though, because I don't remember a word of it. I was in a state of complete shock! But, at some point, he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. Amazingly, I said "yes", and he put the most beautiful ring I've ever seen on my finger. Fortunately for him, I got over my anger and embarrassment over being proposed to in such a way pretty quickly, and things have been great ever since. We are getting married May 23rd in the Manti, Utah temple, and we will be having a reception in Provo that evening. I can't wait!
For those of you who don't know, Jon and I met a year and a half ago in Spanish 441, and both had crushes on each other, but he foolishly never asked me out. We got back in touch last semester, started dating, and voile! We are both graduating this April- he in electrical engineering and me in secondary education (theatre and Spanish). Our exact location after graduation is still to be determined, BUT it is looking like we will be in Baltimore (with Tucson coming in at a close second).

Jon is everything I could ever ask for, and more...he is handsome, charming, kind, righteous, courteous, fun, responsible, intelligent, hard-working, and, to top it all off, crazy about me (for some reason I have yet to understand). I couldn't be happier, and I hope that many of you will be in the Utah area at the end of May to share in our joy.

Further updates soon. I promise. :O)

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Tender

Today was my last day with my Theatre History (Drama 2) class. Agnes (my cooperating teacher) had the kids make me Christmas/Going Away cards.

RJ (see previous post) handed me one in the shape of a heart that said
"You are the Best Teacher Ever. Miss you allready! Tear Drop -RJ (Ryan Jenson)"
(original spelling preserved). It made me smile.

A few other gems, for your entertainment...

Dear Miss Haynie I will miss you, you are really cool.
-Jonny

From the moment I first saw you I was in love! I'm saddened with you leaving. If only I could express myself with words.
-Jonny (hmmm...I have a sneaky suspicion that Jonny didn't really write that one...)

¡Feliz Navidad! You are my favorite teacher! Just to let you know, You have WAY cute clothes...anywho, I hope you have an amazing time in graduate school and whatnot. A last word of advice: if you suddenly sprout wings and find yourself flying, you're probably half-bird.
heart, Mckall

Miss Haynie! You're my favorite! I'm going to miss you like sugar-free chocolate misses sugar! I heart you!
heart, Kristen

Good luck with directing the short play. you rock
Sam

Thanks for teaching us. You made the class fun. Hope you visit. (It'll be boring without you) Merry Christmas
Daniel

Miss Haynie~
You are the best teacher in the whole world! I loved having you teach 2 of my classes. You are so nice, and you always have way cute clothes. I always had fun in drama and I loved the fun lessons that we had. I hope you can come visit our class a bunch. Thank you!
~Olivia

We will miss you soo much Ms. Haynie
Have a verry Marry Crismas (crossed out) Christmas
And a Happy New Years
heart/ Amanda

Ms. Haynie,
Thank you! You're the very best! Good luck!
Love, (heart)
Kieri
Come back and teach me Spanish!

We Will Miss You!!!
Thank you soooo much...Please stay!
BYE!!
Jake

...they almost made me want to.

I saved the best for last...written on the board when they left was

"Miss Haynie es de Lope!"

(ok, so that's only the best if you're a Spanish Golden Age nerd like me)

In spite of all my rejoicing to be done, I think I'm going to miss student teaching just a little...