Sunday, December 23, 2012

End of the Year?! Already!?

WHERE DID THE TIME GO!?
I mean really... I swear it was January a month ago. I though I would share a few things that, if you missed, have happened in the Downward life.
Welp here goes *gasps for air*
Met new family members
Went Snowboarding
Hiked, Hiked and Hiked again
Had our first Anniversary!
Went to Moab
Camped in the hot hot moab sun
Swam and Floated down Rivers
Went on four wheeler rides
Found hidden lakes
Rope Swing!
Went boating
Bit through my lip... Shocker. I got hurt
Caught some Fish
Bought a new puppy Tiny
searched and searched and searched for a home.
Bought a new home! Our first!
Had a family member join Heavenly Father again.
Was grateful for the knowledge that Families are together forever!
Had a Wedding! (Cory's sister)
Got a new Niece (Beckahm Evie Pena - Cory's sister)
Learned that yard work SUCKS.
Talked about babies... every single day.
Got addicted to Bodyrockers! (Workout routine)
Bought a new car!
Decided I am going into Art and Secondary Education! (Teaching High School Art)
Tore both quad muscles.
Gave up dancing for a new dream. Yet to be found.
Taught dances to a drill team in Idaho!
Made my own drill dance camp! SUCCESS!!
Cory decided he hasn't decided on school yet.
Worked and worked and worked.
Ran out of gas and had a cop assist us.
Cory took a ride in the back of a cop car. :) he he
Did a LOT of homework.
Had lots of fun on vacations, spending time with our families and loving each other.
We are excited to see what happens in 2013! We hope your Holidays and your year was one to remember. Love you all!!



PS... very sorry about not blogging for so long.. I had techincal difficulties, The darn blog wouldn't let me login!! :)

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Exciting Things are Happening


Hello Everybody!

SO here is the new goal. Every first of the month me and Cory would like to post in our blog so everyone knows what we are up to. Also, we don't keep journals anymore and it might be nice to write a few things down!
So here is what we have been doing. We have some exciting things happening...
WE ARE BUYING A HOUSE!!!!



Yes... some of you may think it's crazy and some of you may think we can't do it but... we can, we are, and we are excited! It is located in West Jordan and we should close on it September 27th :)
We are also both going to school, which started last week. I am taking 19 credits, yup... I know. And Cory is taking a few and working full time. I work part time.
We have had a lot of fun in the past couple of months planning for school and a new house. It has been a lot of work and will continue to be so but we are grateful for the journey.
We are also thinking of getting Tank a friend... We may finally get TINY our new BIG dog haha. I shouldn't say that because we havent found him yet and we can't agree on what kind of dog Tiny should be but... I am excited for Tank to have a new "brother"
We also hit our One Year Mark and had pictures taken. It was so fun. I love Him. So much :)

I hope everyone is enjoying school, work and all your other journies.
We love ya and appreciate your support!
<3 Jess and Cory

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Here's To Eternity!!

Cory and I are approaching our 1 year Anniversary! June 14th!
It has gone by so fast! Here are some things we have done!






Got sealed for time and all Eternity
Moved into a basement
New Jobs
One word, School.
Homework, homework and more homework
Sharing Laughs
Sharing tears
Sharing colds, the flu and stresses
LOTS of Surgeries.
We are a Apple household now. 
Bought our apartment
Bought our dog Tank
Passed College classes
Went swimming
Taught me how to fly fish
Watched fireworks, a lot!
ate and ate and ate and ATE!!
Gave up soda and then got back on soda :)
Tank peed
Tank Puked
Pick up poop
Baby-sit 
We want a baby, now we don't, we want one, now we don't.
Made new friends
Lots of hugs
Supported each others dreams
Rode Carnival Rides
Flushed a LIVE fish down the toilet (corrrryyyyy)
Sold the Lexus
Bought a piece of.... a 1987 Chevy truck
Bought a Subaru
Finally Washed the Focus!!
Went on Vacations
Went to the Drive-in, a lot.
Ran out of gas.
Became pretty good cooks!
Made a cookies every night. :)
Gained weight.
Started working out.
Lost weight.
River Rafting.
Had a blast! 
Gotten closer to each other.
Achieved everything we've wanted to in a year.

I love my husband so so much. He has been the greatest man in my life and I feel so blessed to have him by my side for all eternity.
I love you Cory! Can't wait to see what else happens in our lives!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Biological Blessing

Hello Everyone!!!
I have been EXTREMELY busy the past couple weeks and I apologize for not blogging. Cory and I just finished school today and I start up again in a week for the summer semester at SLCC. We've been busy with life, school, dance, sicknesses haha you know. The usual. But I have some important news I would like to share with everyone who is interested..

For those of you who don't know, which you all should, I am adopted and have always had interest in knowing more about my biological parents and if I ever had siblings. As I am very family oriented it has always been a cool thought to think I maybe someday could add to my family. Well.... It has happened!!

On January 3rd 2012 I was emailed by a woman named Carissa who said that she believed I was her biological little sister after looking at pictures of me. After discussing different facts about what I knew about my adoption it became clear that she was related to me. She showed me pictures of my biological father and there was no doubt in my mind that Carissa was my biological sister. That night she continued to email me about others in the family who are related to me. I would like to share with you some facts about my biological family. I hope no one is hurt or not understanding about this information. I just want to share what I know....

My fathers name is Anthony (Tony) Medina. He is 1/2 Hispanic and 49 years old. He currently lives in Tooele Utah and was recently married. He considers music to be a huge part of his life as he was in a band. He sounds like ACDC or any other big hair 80's singer. He just got a job working for Coca Cola. He is not very tall (which explains why I am a midget :) ) He has brown eyes and brown CURLY hair. He has a total of 4 daughters including me. Tony did have a rough life including drugs, alcohol and many marriages. He has turned his life around and has been on the right track for awhile now. We have not spoken. I don't feel quite ready yet.

My biological mother's name is Deirdre (dear-dra) and I actually am unsure of her current last name. She lives in Salt Lake City currently and I don't know what she does for a job. She is short also and has brown/redish hair. It is also curly. She also had a hard time with drugs and alcohol. I have been told she is also trying to be sober and clean. I have not talked to her either. She had 4 kids all together including me.

Now onto my biological siblings. Tony has 3 other daughters besides me (oldest to youngest) Carissa, Misty, Me and Samantha or Sunny D. Carissa and Misty have the same mother, Trudy. And Sunny and Me have different biological mothers. Carissa and Misty are married and have wonderful children who LOVE to snuggle. haha :) and I don't know much about Sunny D.
Deidre had 2 sons and a daughter. Aaron, Rich and Samantha.

I also have met my biological grandmother Donna and her husband Stan. They are wonderful. I am close with Carissa, Misty and Grandma Donna. I see them frequently and enjoy their company. My Mom has met them and loves them. Things have been hard. Obviously there are different opinions and some people are taking it hard. To me... This has been a HUGE blessing in my life and I feel so grateful to know these people. It has answered questions in my mind that I wanted answered. I feel like I know my whole self and it is a rewarding feeling.

I want everyone to know that these people are in addition to my amazing family. I want to thank my mom and dad and sisters for all their support in this journey and tell them that I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! I couldn't do this without you. and of course Cory... Who has been there every step of the way. You are my hero and best friend. I love you

I understand this is a lot to swallow but I want to share my story and let everyone know who these people are because they are important to me. I hope everyone understands and supports me in this.

I am so happy I was guided to these people.
 Misty and I first time meeting
 Carissa and I first time meeting

 Carissa, Me, Grandma Donna and Misty
Mason and Maddi Carissa's kiddos
Left to Right 
Chris (Carissa's Husband) Carissa, Me, Cory Misty, Jesse (Misty's husband) 
Bottom
Maddi, Mason and Cody. Misty had one more who wasn't in the picture. 


I hope you enjoyed this and if you have questions please don't be afraid to ask. This is a growing process and i understand people think differently. I love you all and appreciate your support!! :)

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Things as of Late

Hi everyone!!
It's been awhile. sorry. School got crazy. Work got crazy. Blah Blah excuses excuses. I will be better.
Lately Cory has been working his tail off. I have been dancing my tail off and we are both still going to school.
We have been doing some fun things however. We went scuba diving with some friends which was fun. It was with like... cool fish or anything but it was a lot of fun. I had a hard time because of my asthma but I id it :)
My dance company at SLCC is having our year end show. I want to invite all of you who read to come. This performance is based on student choreography which makes the show really cool! I got to choreograph a dance that is in the show as well! It's called Simon Says and we act like little kids with a twist. Guess you have to come to see :)
I hope you all can come! It's on April 6th and 7th at 7:30pm at SLCC South City campus in the theater. If you bring 2 cans of food its $4 and its FUN!!! COME SEE ME DANCE!!!

Cory and I have also been looking for houses. Just to see what we like. We know how much we qualify for and right now its just finding one we like and waiting for our lease to be up.

Scuba Diving

Hunger games


I also got 2 of my art pieces in the SLCC art show! Woo Woo!! ANNNDDDDD Hungers games was AWESOME even if it was at 12:20 in the morning haha


We hope you are all doing good! I will be writing more I swear! Have a good week!!