camping at turner falls

When Trager and I were registering for our wedding we decided we needed a tent and camping chairs. Looking back now, this seems sort of odd because neither of us were big campers. I guess it was wishful thinking that one day we would have to be outdoorsy! We've used them a few times over the years and this past weekend was one of them. We'd never been to Turner Falls in Davis, OK so we didn't really know what we were in for but it seriously could not have been more fun! There are rivers and pools everywhere and lots of hiking trails. It was the first day of the summer season so when we first got there the woman who gave us our car tag told us to walk down to the falls before we set up camp since it might get more crowded as the day went on. It wasn't a very far off the road and it was so worth seeing! The water was a pretty teal color and was so clear. It was a little too cold for swimming, even though that didn't stop the 63 teenage boys who were literally swimming everywhere.

 

^^^This is me testing the water...and this is also me deciding there was no way we were swimming even though we brought out suits! Way too cold! ^^^

 ^^^Cutest prisoner I've ever seen^^

 

On our way back to the car from walking to the falls, we stopped at this old castle that was up in the trees off  the walking trail. Turns out we ended up crashing a birthday party at the same, but there were so many levels to the castle they didn't seem to mind. It was the summer home of a professor that worked at the University of Oklahoma back in the 1930s. It's made of super steep, narrow stairways and lots of little rooms that really just look like dungeons. {Kind of creepy for a "summer home!"}

 It was really neat to walk around such an old and unique structure in the middle of all the overgrown trees! After that we headed deeper into the park to pick our campsite. We wanted something by the river, but everywhere close to the main offices {bathrooms} were occupied so we ended up in the heart of the park next to a tiny bend of the river. Since it's been so rainy this spring everything was green and blooming. It was really, really lovely!

 ^^^We were definitely cozy with our blow up mattress and quilt!^^^

 ^^^Am I the only one who could eat hobo dinners weekly and never get sick of them? These were especially yummy...recipe to come later this week!^^^

After we gathered firewood for about an hour Trager got our fire going and started working on dinner. While we were waiting for it to cook we listened to music on my bluetooth speaker {thanks Ty and Papa D!} and talked about all sorts of subjects. It was dark before it really got quiet at our camp. Almost as soon as we stopped talking I started to hear something behind me. As I turned around to check out the noise I swear I saw the top of a little kid's head burrowing into our food sack and about jumped out of my chair!!! {Because we should all be terrified of hungry 7 year olds, am I right?} After further investigation, it turned out to be the fattest raccoon alive feasting on the marshmallows we brought for s'mores. Trager ran him off and threw the last of the mallow he was munching on towards the trees across the path from our site.
I guess the chunky little guy still got his feast because the marshmallow was completely gone in the morning!!
  

^^^When we were driving up to our campsite we kept noticing the fields and fields of wild flowers. It was actually pretty sweet because Trager kept pointing out when we saw a new color! 

That guy is my favorite ever. 

After we gathered firewood and Trager started to build the flames, I had to go pick a few. They really brightened up our little spot!^^^

^^^What a nice view to wake up to!^^^

I think my favorite part of camping this time had to be slowing down long enough to take in the magnificent views! Life is busy and hectic; the doing and going demand all attention at all times. It was nice to take a weekend with my man and make a wild flower bouquet and fall asleep to the sound of a river flowing rather than the passing cars. 

We both agree that we're going to have to hit pause like this a little more often this summer!

hello, pocatello!

Let me tell you a story. 

Once upon a time there was a boy named Trager and a girl named Jena. They were married in a beautiful, white castle and began a happily ever after life together. Trager was to be a doctor and Jena a writer and all would be well in the land. Everything would happen immediately and would come without any trial.

Sounds too easy, right?

What we quickly learned is that no matter how long you've been planning for something or how much effort and prayer and money you put into an endeavor, sometimes the Lord has other plans. Trager and I spent the last three years with a big "What's Next??" looming over our heads and in a figurative limbo. There were a lot of tears and some serious frustration. I can honestly say Trager put 110% of everything he had into pursuing medical school and, you know what, it didn't work out. 

Looking back from where we are now I see why it happened that way. 

It wasn't what he was meant to do. 

At first that was so hard to take. Especially as his wife, all I ever want for Trager are all the good things in life because I ardently believe he deserves them.  To watch him struggle was the worst and as the planner that I am I was desperate to know where our life was headed. 

And now we do!!!

After multiple medical school applications, a brief flirtation with law school, Trager will be starting pharmacy school this fall at Idaho State University in Pocatello, ID.

We are over the moon about how it all worked out!!!! My cousin's husband has been attending ISU for three years now and has absolutely loved it. We talked with him and my uncle a few times about pharmacy school over the past couple of years. Last year was too soon; we weren't quite ready to stop pursuing medical school. We were ready this year.

In January my uncle talked with Trager again about the idea and the more he thought about it the more excited he got about it! We talked it over and decided he should apply. 

This was the last part of January and the application was due February 1st. 

Three weeks later he found out he had an interview.

Two weeks after that we flew out and he went through the process.

Two {slow} weeks later he was ACCEPTED!

Boom. Boom. Boom. 

It was just so easy and just felt so right.

All along Trager has said he wants a job that will allow him to live the life he wants: to be a worthy priesthood holder who can attend his meetings on Sunday and give extra time throughout the week; a father who can come to the ball games and help with homework at night and go on evening horse rides; the husband who does the dishes after dinner and comes home to his wife every night.

Pharmacy will let him do that!

We are beyond grateful for the path we were put on three years ago that has led us here. We are so sad to be leaving Oklahoma, but are ecstatic to start this new chapter! 

And we may just have to try some of that potato flake chocolate milk ;)

Becoming Real

^^This sweet shot was taken by my younger sister, Megan, who is serving a full-time LDS mission in Santa Rosa, CA. Meg has three months left until she is home.^^

Last week {or maybe the week before that} one of my very favorite bloggers, Meg Fee, posted a quote from The Velveteen Rabbit that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It reads:

"You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." -Margery Williams

Like I said before, I simply could not get this quote off my mind. I think I love it so much because as far as I'm concerned it is about as accurate as a quote can get. It perfectly explains what I feel like I've been doing for the past three years or so. Trager and I have had our fair share of "becoming" opportunities as we try to figure out what our future holds. We've had so many "loose joint" and "shabby" moments where we kind of went, "Are we 'Real' yet? Can we be done now?" And even while I was I asking these questions I think I always knew the answer was the same..."Nope, you're not quite done yet!" It was easy to feel at times that this process of "becoming" was never ending and despite my wishing it wasn't the case, I still don't really feel like this process has an end date. 

But, I do feel like it eventually gets easier.

The past two months have brought something new for us...a light at the end of the tunnel. We've got some options on the table that we are prayerfully considering. Yet, ironically, as we get closer to figuring out the next step in our life my strongest emotion isn't what I expected. I remember how I always felt like I would be so relieved and excited to close this chapter in our lives, and while I am so relieved and excited, I'm also really, really grateful we went through all the worry and stress and frustration we did. It made us a little more "real," a little more tough, and a whole lot closer than I think we would have been had things come more easily. I know we are ready for whatever comes next in our lives simply because we made it through all the unknown this chapter held. 

One piece of advice I would give to anyone who feels like this is what they are going through... I highly suggest finding someone like Trager Hintze to go through it with you. Not only does it make it easier, but  I can imagine it will be fun to look back on together years from now :)

{And by years, I do mean years.}

Now about that picture...those of you who don't know Meg, may be wondering why I used her name tag picture for this post, but if you do have the privilege of knowing her you'll understand. Part of why making it through the last year and a half has been doable is because I have the example of Sister Gowens. Meg has been "becoming" on her mission and she's doing it solo. Any time things were extra tough in life I would always think, "If Meg can do all that she's doing, I can do this." 

I really needed her strong example of how to be a stud at "becoming."

A Golden Anniversary!!

Yesterday Trager and I celebrated our 3rd year wedding anniversary! I swear, when I stop and think about being married for 3 years it feels like it's been 2 weeks, but it also feels like 20 years! So weird! All I know for certain is that it has been the best 3 years of my life. I'm just so constantly grateful that Trager and I crossed paths when we did. It was kind of like I was waiting for him and he was waiting for me and when we finally found each other we both kind of went...duh, there you are!

 I knew he was the guy for me less than a week after I met him. One of these days I will write all the details of our love story {it's a good one} but for now I'll just leave it at that. 

Trager Hintze is my forever and I'm one lucky girl for it!

This week of festivities really snuck up on us this year! We've got lots of fun adventures coming up in the next couple of weeks, so we both wanted to play it a little low-key this year. We went to the mall to look around for awhile and ended up leaving with some sweet treats for after dinner! After going back and forth about 50 times over who was going to pick where we went {tell me we're not the only people who do this??} we ended up at Charleston's and sat at a cozy, little, secluded table.

 It was pretty perfect.

^^^Then we shared this little beauty! Our Collectible Wizard Card was "The Potter Family" just in case anyone was wondering :) ^^^

We ended our night at the OKC Temple. This isn't a tradition, but I think it might become one going forward. It was so nice to remember being in the temple on my wedding day and just how excited I was to become "Jena Hintze!"

No surprise here, but that is the best day I've had so far!

But I have to say...every day since has been pretty wonderful too :)

Happy Birthday Trager!!

Yesterday was my favorite person's birthday! Trager is just about as sweet as they come when it's his big day. He wants a quiet evening at home with me...and some treats of course! He's not looking for anyone to fuss over him or tell him how wonderful or kiss him about 35 times. I think this is why I have so much fun doing it anyway :)

We both had to work all day, but one of his good friends made sure all of his coworkers sang him "Happy Birthday!" Gotta love a guy who gets everyone to sing to your man! After work we headed straight to the grocery store to pick up supplies for Trager's birthday dinner. (Normally, I would have all of this already stocked and ready to go, but we had some bad weather this past weekend and Trag was out of town at a rodeo with his Dad...so we improvised!)

^^^Guac, Guac, Guac!!!^^^

Trager has had his birthday meal planned since Christmas and it was a bit of a tall order. The guacamole covered beauty in the first picture is what the Gowens family calls a "Zinger." And they are dang good! It's basically a chimichanga...which isn't too terribly hard, other than the grease it is cooked in that is begging to burn your skin when you go in to flip them! I made it out unscathed...so it was a win!

Next up was the candle covered Vanilla Texas Sheet Cake! I'd had this treat before, but it was made at the masterful hands of my mother-in-law...so when Trager asked for that as his birthday cake I was a little intimidated. After adding all the sugar, cream cheese, and margarine a person can handle, the cake turned out just fine! I'll call it a birthday miracle :)

^^^ Bonus points if anyone can tell me where Trag's "claw shirt" is from!^^^

My mom and dad stopped by for a piece of cake and to help me sing "Happy Birthday!" And then we spent the rest of the night cuddled up on the couch. It was pretty perfect :)

I'm so grateful this handsome man was born! He just gets better with time. 

And I can't wait to see what this next year brings to him. 

I love you, Trager!!!

A Very Merry Christmas

 

 

Merry {late} Christmas!!! I hope everyone spent the past couple of days with family, eating until the couldn't anymore, giving and receiving gifts, and remembering the real reason of Christmas!! Trager and I switch off Christmas and Thanksgiving with our families each year so this Christmas we are in St. George with our Hintze fam :) And our holiday season has been so much fun so far! (The holiday season doesn't end until New Years...right?!)

 

 

 

 

 

On Christmas Eve Trager, Taylor Ence, Tegan, Papa D, and I all loaded up to go on a horse ride. We rode for about 2.5 hours and for sure the highlight of the trip was when I almost got bucked off my horse! I had gotten a little comfortable and after riding up and down hills through a million little bushes we came to a dirt road. Trager, Taylor, and Papa D had all galloped ahead while Tegan and chatted behind them. And then we decided it was time to catch up. I kicked my horse (Paco) and clicked my tongue and he shot forward. At first I was fine, but the more he ran the less in rhythm I became. At one point I could've sworn I was going to go over his neck! Finally, after a few swear words (whoops!) and clutching the saddle horn for dear life, I got Paco to stop. My legs shook for about twenty minutes afterwards, but overall Papa D said it was win because I stayed on! 

Also, I can't get enough of those pretty red mountains!

 

 

After we got home from riding and warmed up a bit, it was time for Christmas Eve dinner! Ty always makes prime rib and twice baked potatoes and lots of other goodies. Twice baked potatoes seriously might be my favorite thing to eat! After we ate, we each got to open up a few gifts. One of them was from Trager's grandpa and his wife who are serving an LDS mission in Wisconsin and Michigan. They are currently serving in the upper peninsula of Michigan so we all got some sort of "yupper" t-shirt. It was pretty cute! Then we got to open our "surprise gift" from Ty and Papa D. Of course, it was our Christmas jammies! This year Ty got all of us a really hilarious t-shirt. Mine read, "I'm silently correcting you grammar!" I think she nailed ;) After gifts we watched a movie about the nativity and it was the perfect way to end the night!

 

Our Christmas morning was filled with gifts, laughter, and cinnamon rolls...one of my favorite combinations! We spent the rest of the day watching movies and being around our family. One of the things I was most excited for this Christmas was to talk to my sister, Megan, who is serving an LDS mission in  Santa Rosa, CA. I write her emails most days, but getting to hear her voice was really special :) I may have cried through most of the phone call. I'm just so proud of how well she is doing! Sister Gowens is such an example to me!

 At the end of the night, all the girls went on a car ride to see the Christmas lights in the area. We went to about 6 houses that each had music coordinated with their lights. It was so neat to see! Finally, we went to a look out point over St. George and even though the picture below doesn't do it justice, it was so pretty to see all the lights of the houses surrounding the St. George temple.

 

 

I hope everyone continues to have a wonderful holiday season!!

 

Book review up tomorrow...

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Reason for the Season

^^^I can't get enough of this handsome guy! So fun to spend extra time together with the holiday from work!^^^

 

Last night, Trager and I went with all the Hintze girls to the Tuachan Live Nativity. We were hurrying in and by the time we got there it was standing room only, as it was the last show before Christmas, but we crept down the stairs and were able to watch with a great view! The performance was only 15 minutes long, but it depicted the events of the night of the Savior's birth so sweetly. It was the perfect reminder of why we celebrate this time of year! To watch that young mother with her newborn babe in the manger truly showed the humble beginnings of the Lord. I know the story, but to see it out acted was a new experience. It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of gift buying and traveling. Yet, there is so much more to the season! This performance helped me to slow down and ponder the life and purpose of the Savior. I'm just so grateful we all got to watch this little reminder!

 

 

This video is another favorite that helps me to ponder the blessings I should be thankful for during the holiday season!

 

 



BBQ, Ducks, a Camel Ride, and a Light Show

^^^The Bridge of Lights...always wanted to take my favorite guy here!^^^

Last night Trager and I went with some of our friends to Chickasha, OK to see The Festival of Lights! This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions and I hadn't had a chance to go with Trager yet. The Greenwoods went with us and we had so much fun! 

^^^It was insane how much food came with our meals!^^^

First up was Jake's BBQ. My memory of that place was not consistent with what it is today! But, I have tendency to idealize things, so that might be my bad! Not sure this will continue to be part of the tradition, but it was a must for Trager's first trip :)

^^^The ducks were in heaven with Trager feeding them rolls!^^^

After dinner it was time for the lights! We brought a loaf of bread and spent a solid 20 minutes trying not to get pecked to death. Our friend, Brooklyn, that came with us was on top of the picnic table because they were swarming her so bad! When the bread was gone we had to make a run for it! 

^^^Was the $5 I paid to ride this camel worth....yes, yes it was!^^^

I had a combination of emotions about this camel ride. I was genuinely considered it was going to spit on me/ bite me, but it was also kind of like riding a drunk horse with a broken back. Brooklyn and her sweet babe, Ellidie, were riding with me, and I swear the man who was managing the ride was going to have a panic attack about the baby riding with us! Everything was fine so I guess we're pros at camel riding...who knew?!

^^^The boys needed a break after all the walking...and I still can't get over little Ellidie in her pink jacket, so cute!!^^^

We left just as it was closing and chatted the whole way home. I love those long car rides where everyone is tired so you talk and talk so you're not the first one to fall asleep :) 

Overall, a great way to get the season really started!

Like 20

Trager and I met in college. We worked at a call center together. He was the supervisor and part of my job as caller was to track how many people I got to a certain web page (I know...riveting business.) Well, after each successful call we had to talk to our supervisor and get "fuzz balls" to keep track of our numbers. At the end of the month, we tallied up how many we had and there were prizes and all sorts of fun things! Each time I went up to get a "fuzz ball" I would chat with whichever supervisor was there. I did this for a couple of reasons: 1. I like to know the people I work for and 2. It was a nice break in the monotony of calling. Well, on one of these Saturdays Trager was the supervisor and I got about 7 people to that certain web page ( I was on a roll.) So each of these 7 times I would have to get a "fuzz ball." As I did, I talked to Trager. I asked him where he served his mission (Italy) and what kind of music he liked (country) and about a million other things. The more we talked, the more I realized how much we had in common! That night we went out for ice cream and I was done for...I loved him from the very beginning!!

We've been married for 2 years and 9 months. We have lived in Virginia, South Carolina, and now Oklahoma. We are also frequent visitors of St. George, Utah :) 

We love to read, visit family, hang out with friends, and, to be honest, we watch a lot of movies!

^^^People, I can't handle how cute he is! Also, my sister Tara made my skirt! MADE it!!^^^

Another list :)

5 Reasons Trager is my favorite!

1. He does the dishes. At the beginning of our marriage it was decided that I would do laundry and he would do dishes...I truly think I got the better end of the deal!

2. He's honest. Always.

3. He puts me first. Trager is always doing everything he can for me and I do my best to do the same for him!

4. Sometimes when he is super tired or really excited about something he gets really hyper. And I love this so much because I think he saves this crazy side just for me.

5. Again I say, look at his face. Just so stinkin' handsome!!!

^^^The jar of "fuzz balls" I collected from Trager on the day we met. I think we will keep these in the family forever!^^^

I'm so lucky I get to call Trager mine :)

Another introduction up tomorrow...