fall happenings

Fall 2017, a long grueling semester filled with lots of homework, working, and staying indoors. Student life is such a sacrifice, I want to badly to have more free time and have more money to GO places. I have had the travel itch so badly these days. I wish we were going somewhere for our anniversary in a couple weeks, but we are saving for a really cool adventure next year. Patience.

Anyway, here are some memories of fall 2017:

a family community
Here at the University Village, families come first. And by families I mean BABIES. Babies everywhere, old and young. (I call all children under the age of 12 babies). 

This is a picture of us enjoying one of the family activities. We got to see the inside of an ambulance, eat cotton candy, and look at children's books. hahaha.

new eats 

We love eating out, especially at new places. This Mexican restaurant was a dud because the salsa tasted like Ragu! Horrendous.

sick days.

There were way too many sick days. I blame it on this nasty air! 

Giuseppe's first time to Lagoon

It was a lot to take in for him.

fall general conference

We spent G-con weekend in Brigham City with Mama Hess. she lives in a very old building. 

But what exactly does this mean??!

She treated us like royalty! breakfast in bed, lunch in bed, snacks in bed... (the guest bed is in the living room in front of the TV)

The Surprise
I was on fall break the second week of October and wanted to go somewhere but G had nonstop classes and work that week. I found a 22 hour period between him getting off work on Tuesday and going to class Wednesday evening for us to do something. I kept telling him not to plan anything because there was going to be a Surprise. The Surprise was often talked about and highly anticipated. On the day of The Surprise he came home from work, we got in the car, and I told him where to drive. We ended up at a Lunchbox salon in Park City hahahaha. Unfortunately it was closed so G wasn’t convinced for even a minute that it was The Surprise. We parked there because that’s where our Airbnb hosts told us to park. I pulled a packed suitcase out of the trunk and told him where we were headed! G isn’t the greatest reactor to surprises, but nevertheless he was excited and happy. After settling into our room and briefly meeting our host, we headed to dinner at a saloon on Main Street. We ordered too many fried things, but it was still good. 

Later that evening back at the Airbnb after soaking in the hot tub, G turned on the TV in the luxurious living room and I started prepping our dessert. It was very nerve wracking, WHIPPING cream in somebody’s kitchen at midnight while they slept upstairs. I had the beater on a low setting so it took foreverrrrr. And at last, the blackberry shortcake was done. We watched a crime show, and saw a reenactment of a true story, the horrifying murder of 15-year-old Seath Jackson. What a terrible tale. It had us on the edge of our seats and talking for weeks! 
After a leisurely morning, Giuseppe decided to take me shopping! That cutie. We just went to two of my favorites, GH Bass & CO where I bought the CUTEST hat, a perfect plaid shirt, and new leggings. I ended up wearing all of those things that weekend when Kylie took our Christmas card pics. Then we went to The Olive Oil Company where I bought some coconut balsamic. 

Then in was time for The Surprise part 2: electric bicycling through the mountains of PC! I packed us a lunch and we headed into the mountains on our rented bikes. It was so much fun! 
At one point I was going down a hill suuuper fast doing a turkey call. (weird, I know but it's our thing.)
When I finally stopped making that dumb sound, I heard someone behind me speaking to me! I turned around and there was a middle-aged man and his wife asking me about my bike. Haha so embarrassing. We chatted for a few minutes and when we parted ways I asked Giuseppe if he had even heard me turkey calling. He hadn't. The turkey call was only enjoyed by the older couple. Yay.

After our bike ride, we headed back to reality. On our drive back to SLC our car started overheating really badly so we took it right to our trusty mechanic. We ended up having to take a bus home and pick up the car the next day. It's all good!

Ava's play

I didn't get a picture with Ava, yikes! But look at these cuties before Mary Poppins started.

park city with the Albright's

That next weekend, Kylie took our pictures. She and Corey spent the night at our place so we could get up really early the next day and get some sunrise pictures.  Of course we stayed up super late talking and Corey became enthralled with our half-finished puzzle on the table. We couldn't pull him away. Kylie says we've created a puzzle monster! 
We blew up a queen size air mattress for them only to discover it had a massive hole! They had to sleep on the twin size air mattress! 
It was really hard to get up because we had stayed up so late. Apparently Corey had woken up well before everyone and showered and everything. He's the most silent shower taker in the world because I didn't hear a thing. When I was putting on my coat that morning to head out, Kylie looked at me very calmly and said, "babe, hold very still and take off your coat. Just put it on the ground. Do it now." Petrified, I obeyed her calm voice. There was a huge spider on the back! Yuck so gross. We joked about what would happen if that spider managed to stay unseen on my coat and it appeared in all of the photos, smiling at the camera along with us. Weeks later as Kylie edits the photos, she notices the same smiling spider on my shoulder, in Giuseppe's hair, nestled in between us contently. The three of us. A real family.
Haha Giuseppe and I love spider jokes every since we got sucked into looking up misunderstood spider memes online for several hours one morning back in the spring. 
Once in Park City, we snuck up to a shooting range and took some pics there, but Kylie lead us up a much prettier canyon where we ran into this: 

An abandoned crashed car! Corey and Giuseppe thought it was just the funniest thing ever and they wanted their picture taken by it. They got out of the car to do their thing and Kylie and I stayed inside chatting. While Giuseppe was taking Corey's photo, the car's owner pulled up along with a little crowd. Haha so awkward! They quickly offered to help. They, along with the help of a guy with a pickup truck attempted to get the car out of the ditch to no avail. Eventually the guy with the pickup truck drove the kid back to town to figure it out. The kid's name is Ernest, and apparently he's a rich teenager who got super excited when he woke up to snow that morning and just knew he needed to take his new car joy riding down the canyon. Kylie and I kept making jokes about Ernest and the lecture he was going to get from his rich daddy but Giuseppe was really defensive of misunderstood Ernest. 

happy birthday to you
Laura turns 61!! We celebrated, per her request, at a pizza restaurant. We chose CPK, she wasn't a big fan of Settebello's last year. We met up with Rob & Angela & Co for a night to celebrate mom! I got to bring Vin because I was babysitting him that night. He was so fun! Except for the blowout right when we got to the restaurant...  Haha but he really is the most pleasant little baby. He sat between Laura and I and was doted on the whole time. 

lazy day
The day before Halloween I woke up 10 minutes before my class started. In a hectic frenzy, I asked Giuseppe what time he had to work and if he could drop me off. Still half asleep, he told me he had the day off. So I turned off the pesky alarm and snuggled into him. Skipping class every now and then is good for the soul. We spent the day binge watching Stranger Things, I made us snacks throughout the day, and when we got sick of sitting still staring at a screen we ran around on the baseball field next to our apartment. We finished the day at a Halloween party with friends from one of our old wards.

last minute Halloween plans
At my parent's house that weekend, I asked my mom if she had any costumes we could wear for Halloween. She pulled out a bag of stuff and I grabbed this hat. I thought G looked super hot with that wild hair! We dressed up as a county fair pageant queen and her trashy boyf.
With no plans on Halloween, we decided to spend it at our old ward’s Halloween party (The ward we were in for like 3 months). Nobody recognized Giuseppe with his hat on and nobody recognized me because I hardly went to church because I was in France half of our time in the ward. But we had a good time, we really did!

We finished the night finishing Stranger Things (SOOO good) and starting a new show, Zumbo's Just Desserts. It's a competitive dessert making show and it's SO entertaining. I love how much Giuseppe loves it, it's adorable.

..but cause he really knows me
One night I was real moody. G, sensing something was awry, knew just what to do.
First, he lit my Balsam & Cedar candle. The woodsy scent relaxes me.
Then, he turned off the stupid lights in our kitchen. (I think it’s impossible to be your best self when you’re in bad lighting. )
After that, he brought out his speaker and turned on “Call It What You Want”. Instant heart softener.
And finally, he stuck a honey stick in my mouth. Sugar is never a bad idea.
And to top it off, he went into our bedroom and made our bed! Oh how I love the boy. He knows just what I need.

My life changed, thanks to Jimmy Fallon

And then again a few days later I was being moody again. I walked into the room and saw this ready for me! haha he is the cutest.

Anthropologie birthday sale with Vin

Vin loves this place, he's always begging me to go and I'm like, "okay, fine..." He wanders around on his unsteady legs while I hold his hands and steer him away from glass items. He's SO cute. 

Hot husband

Hanging with the Hess'
We went to dinner at Rob and Angela's one Sunday and had the best time catching up with them. They just moved to a new place in Herriman and it's so cute. It has great lighting and a beautiful view of Salt Lake, so what more could you want? Willow is so adorable. I asked her if she knows my name and said confidently, "mom!" When I told her that wasn't it she asked confused, "daddy?" Hahaha. 

Sky & I

Bachelorette Party
I threw a bachelorette party for my friend Jodie. I bought balloons that spelled 'bride' and later used some of the balloons at my parents house to portray a different message.

Hess Traditions
We have NO traditions but are wanting to start some, so we decided to celebrate November 7 because that is the day Giuseppe proposed. Unfortunately we were busy with work and school until 9:30 so most of our ideas were out of the question. We decided to see a late movie and sneak some dinner into the theater. We ended up needing to chose a really late show and there were NO restaurants open except Carls Jr.! Ew! Giuseppe wasn't even hungry but I ordered a chicken sandwich and scarfed it down in the car. The bun tasted like angel food cake! What a wacky combo. But I was so hungry I ate it anyway. I also ordered a piece of cheesecake to bring into the theater. I lost the fork somewhere along the way so I ended up eating it with my hands. It melted and made a mess. We saw Happy Death Day which was dumb but really entertaining. 
What a classy tradition we've started hahaha!! Regardless of the trashiness, we had a super fun time and G ended the night covered in lipstick, so I'd call it a success. 

liz taylor
Liz's 22nd birthday and the release of reputation fell on November 10! We had a sushi & Taylor party to celebrate. Amy's gift was amazing, a Nicholas Cage pillow. What more could you want on a birthday?

thanks
Angela hosted the most delicious Thanksgiving! A lot of her family came. I got to spend lots of time with Sky and Willow, they are at such fun ages. I didn't get any pictures unfortunately! 

boot huntin'
we had the best weekend in elko with the fam for Raegan's homecoming talk from her mission in Chile. We spent Saturday night driving around town getting pictures in front of these boots! These are just a few of many, many pictures. 

Anddd that's a wrap! I really love my majors and my classes were so great this semester. I learned SO MUCH. I wrote so many papers in French and now my writing is actually kind of good. I read so many books and short stories and plays in French. I think my vocabulary has probably doubled. Learning French is so fun, most of the time I felt like I wasn't even doing homework.
I also spent two days a week helping in an ESL classroom at Salt Lake Community College. I learned so much about teaching and language acquisition, it was the greatest hands-on experience. One day after class, one of the students raised her hand and then pointed to me. She told everyone how she thought I was such a great teacher and I had helped her understand a new concept very clearly. That felt SO good! It was such a rewarding experience every day in that class.

And the BIG news is that Giuseppe GRADUATED LDS BUSINESS COLLEGE!! He started right before we got engaged, so LDSBC has always been a part of our married lives. He's thinking about UVU next to get his bachelor's. His degree is in business management and he got really good grades each semester. I'm so proud of him! He loves studying business and he's really good at sales, so whatever he ends up doing career-wise I know he'll be successful. 

Where Are They Now?

It's been a while and plans have changed. It's about time for an update on the Hess'!

In February I moved into the basement studio apartment of the house I nanny in. I love it here! The neighborhood is adorable, nestled on Capitol Hill. It's a 20-minute walk to downtown, which I make a lot when I visit G at work! It is tiiiiiiny though. Giuseppe and I shared a twin-sized bed for the longest time, though we finally upgraded to a queen-sized air mattress. Haha.

Giuseppe got a new job as an assistant manager at Tumi. He looks so cute dressed in his nice black clothes every day. He works full time AND he's taking 12 credits at LDSBC. Go G! 

I finished the semester in April and I am already missing school. After school ended, I started working at the airport part-time in addition to my part-time nanny job. Working at the airport is.... The worst? Hilarious? Not a reality? Character building?

Haha I don't know what to choose. I clean toilets. I wear hideous shoes. I wake up at 4:45 am to get to work on time. 

My thoughts on my job usually go something like this:

4:45 am waking up: Oh my gosh I'm going to DIE, this is the WORST, why on EARTH did I take this job?

5:40 am sitting in the car in front of the airport with G: (close to tears) I can't go in! I can't face another day here! Pep, can I just sit here and cry on your shoulder?

6:10 am cleaning my first of many, many toilets: (Vivint bro "beast mode" kicks in) I'm Grant freaking Cardone. I'm a hustler. These toilets don't know what's coming for them.

9:50 am approaching my lunch break, cleaning up something particularly nasty: Okay this is just hilarious. What is my life? WHO am I??

12:50 pm: The day is almost over. I. Will. Finish. 

2:00 pm: DONE. I DID IT. I cleaned toilets for eight hours. I am a magnificent human being. 

You may be wondering, "WHY would you ever work there?" The thing is, I just needed something temporary that I could do after school got out and before I go to France. I needed something I could start ASAP, that would work with my nanny schedule, and that I wouldn't feel bad quitting after a short amount of time. And this was the only job that fit that criteria.

Interestingly, the pay is HORRIBLE. I get NINE dollars an hour. Isn't that pathetic?! A job that awful should pay a lot more. And the "raises" are pathetic. After working there for an entire year, you get a thirteen cent raise. And it really doesn't get much better than that.

Not all of my coworkers have the same mindset as me, unfortunately. Many of them have been there for years, putting up with the low pay. I spoke to one yesterday about how unfair the wages are. She completely agreed with me. "I know! I mean they should start us out at $10 an hour!" Where is her vision?! I told her she deserved to have a job she loved and that paid her well. Ten dollars an hour is still not fair. 

Another coworker of mine didn't even seem to mind the low pay! He said, "Nah, I'm not out looking to make a whole lot of money." Prior to this odd statement, this man shared with me his life story. We'll call him Pete. After graduating high school, Pete applied to a promising company with his friends but was the only one who didn't get hired on. He applied and applied, but was never hired. His friends went off to work for this company and found success, and Pete began cashiering at a 7-Eleven. As the years went by, Pete transferred from one 7-Eleven to the next. He also cashiered at Target, K-Mart, various grocery stores, and even more gas stations. He is now in his sixties. A whole lifetime of cashiering! Looking for a change, Pete began working at the airport a few months ago. I asked him if he had a family. He told me that when he was younger, the doctor told him he'd never be able to have children. "Women want babies, so I never even tried to date. And I knew I'd never make enough money to adopt." SAD. This man has no self-worth. I told him he deserved to find happiness, and then he went on and on about Star Trek. I told him I had never seen it, but he carried on the conversation as if I were familiar with the characters and plot. He told me how much happiness Star Trek brought to his life. You do you, Pete. 

I put in my two-weeks yesterday, and I told my manager the reason I was quitting was because the pay was so low. When I filled out my resignation form, he said, "please make sure to put the reason you're quitting! If we get enough people complaining, that's the only way to make real change." So basically, I performed a great service by working at the airport and quitting. You're welcome. 

I LOVE my other job, however. I started watching little Vin Saint in November, and it has been the best. He is almost one now, and he is just the absolute sweetest thing in my life. I love this little boy with all my heart! 

In December I took him to a meeting with the IRS. He totally charmed them.

What's next:

I am going to FRANCE in 2 weeks. I'll be there for a little over a month and man oh MAN I'm excited. French is my passion. I want to be able to speak it fluently sooo bad. So I'm off to the Alpes to study in Grenoble and immerse myself in the language and culture. 

Giuseppe is going to stay with his friend Ethan while I'm gone. 

When I get back, we're moving into family student housing on the U campus! 

Au revoir!

The night the shower curtain fell down.

I love my husband.

But sometimes he gets on my nerves.

The feeling is mutual.

The other night, as I was removing a used towel from the shower rod, the rod fell down.

I made a distressed call and sweet G came to my aid.

He struggled for a long time with that shower rod.

I watched him. He scrunched up his face. He grunted. He clenched his jaw.

I thought of the scene in the movie adaptation of Les Misérables when Jean Valjean lifts the MASSIVE flag pole off the ground and carries it.

Valjean made the same facial expressions and noises that G was making with the 2 pound SHOWER ROD.

I wondered what it would be like to be married to Jean Valjean.

Probably way different.

I snapped out of my little daydream and I began helping Giuseppe. We quickly became frustrated with each other.

Then we both stopped, simultaneously.

I said, "this can be a team building exercise!"

He agreed enthusiastically, and in no time we successfully attached the rod securely to the wall.

"We make a good team," he said.

I wrapped my arms around his body and kissed him for a looooong time.

I like my team.

Bachelorette

This morning I watched the episode of The Office where Jim shares an apartment with Daryl in Philadelphia while they work part-time at a new start up.

Jim, not used to the bachelor life, trashes up the apartment in the name of freedom.

As I watched this episode in my uncleaned, still-not-fully-unpacked apartment, I realized I was Jim.

Last night I hit rock bottom.

I went grocery shopping. I bought several microwaveable dinners, a carrot cake slice, and 2 bananas.

I just ate my $2 Great Value mac & cheese for lunch and it was disappointing.

WHEN did I allow myself to get to the point of having hopes in a Great Value frozen meal?

THIS IS NOT ME.

I have been living the "bachelorette" life for about 2 months now.

Giuseppe has been hard at work in Louisiana, and although he did visit me in early February to "help me move"*, I have been living alone.

The word "bachelorette" has the connotation of sexy. You know, bachelorette parties and that ridiculous reality TV show.

I am not sexy. I am 2-day hair and makeup. Dish washing procrastinator. Netflix binger. Frozen meal eater.

BUT I am pleased to announce that this Thursday I'm flying to New Orleans to vacation with my husband for a week, hopefully remember who I am, and return home ready to start living again.

(It will definitely help that G is going to drive back to Salt Lake a few days after I home. YAY.)

Thank you to all of my friends who have kept me sane. Thank you to my hard working husband who has made this separation totally worth it. He is on FIRE!

Here's to the future, and to a new me.


*G's contribution to the move: buying a mini roll of packing tape and 3 boxes. Yes, THREE boxes.