Trebas Family Adventures

Sweet November

2011-11-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Liv went trick-or-treating for the first time this year. Candy? Not too exciting. Puppies? VERY.

Liv loves Sammy. He goes everywhere with her.

Just wanted to include a few recent pictures of Olivia, and get you caught up a bit. Halloween was fun this year, and although we were a little lame and didn't carve pumpkins this year, we DID go trunk-or-treating at our church, and we finished off the night eating candy and watching "Poltergeist." I'd never seen the movie before and Jordon wasn't okay with that.
Jordon has been extremely busy since starting Grad School. This week, he spent several nights working at the Guild Hall until one in the morning, and then continued to work until around 5am. Madness. As hard as it is for Liv and I to rarely see him, I feel awful for him when he's running on three hours of sleep. He has been working so hard, and it is already paying off. He got straight A's in his last mod (each semester is broken up into two mods)! He's a rock star, and I'm proud of him. This experience is definitely teaching me to make family time quality time.
November is an exciting month for our family. Olivia will turn two next week, and we're having a little party for her tomorrow. She is excited to see a few of her friends from nursery, to eat her cupcakes (dairy, milk, and nut-free, poor kid), and to blow up balloons tomorrow. She's also looking forward to flying in an airplane next week. My parents are flying us out to Utah for Thanksgiving (Jordon will join us later), and Liv and I will be spending two weeks with them. Liv really misses her "Grosi," and I miss my family too. Can't wait to see them.
To make a good month even better, Jordon and I celebrate three years of marriage on the 22nd. I won't get too sappy, but I AM grateful for our marriage. It has been so good, and I attribute most of that to Jordon. He is so considerate, loving, and just incredibly fun. We laugh a lot, and I really did marry the right man.:) Happy Anniversary, baby!
I'm also so grateful that we've had Liv in our lives for the past few years. I can't imagine life without her now, and she has brought so much joy to our family. Yes, we've hit the "terrible twos," which involves occasional tantrums, but overall, she is such a sweet, obedient, intelligent little girl. A while ago we had a few friends come over, and Olivia took out a pack of Elmo flashcards. I had gone over the shapes and opposites with her many times, but didn't really think that she'd gleaned much from them. Well, I was wrong! She spouted off "rectangle, square, triangle, octagon, day, night, near, far..." She got them all right! We were amazed. She's at such a fun age, and she gives us hugs and kisses and tells us that she loves us constantly. She also folds her arms and says her own prayers throughout the day, with no prompting from me. I'm so blessed to be Olivia's mommy.

Picture time!

2011-07-14T22:19:00.000-06:00

Home sweet home, in Plano, Texas!

2011-07-14T22:14:00.000-06:00

So, most of you probably already know this, but we moved to Texas almost a month ago. The reason? Grad school! Jordon applied to SMU's Interactive Media Design program, and (due to his brilliance and bewitching good looks) was accepted! It is ranked the number three school for his program, and there are may jobs in this field (especially in the Dallas area), so we feel incredibly blessed and we're excited to be here. What is Interactive Media Design, you ask? Basically, Jordon will be a professional nerd, doing video game design and production. I know he'll love it, and be successful, and I'm happy for him.
Where is Plano? It is about ten minutes north of Dallas. We love the area so far. It is definitely more expensive to live here than Utah was, but we live in a really nice area. It is clean, the architecture is beautiful, our apartment is about twice the size of our last one, and people are so welcoming here. Plus, we have a pool in our complex,a fitness center, and even living on the third floor, we can stick our garbage can outside our front door each night and our valet trash service takes it away for us.:) Yep, that's living in luxury to me! We also have an amazing view. I'll post some pictures here of our apartment. Please keep in mind that our home is still under construction, and a work in progress.

2011-02-27T21:44:00.001-07:00

Pictures, as promised!

The picture of Jordon and I was taken on our Valentine's date. We went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and went and saw a show of some of our favorite Broadway songs. There are a lot of talented musicians here. That being said, we are still anxiously awaiting news from Grad Schools, and excited to see where our next adventure will take us. There are things that I like about Utah, but I'm more than ready to move on. Something I don't love about Utah is the fact that winter never seems to end. These snow pictures where taken a few days ago. I'm ready for sunshine and afternoon walks again. This coming week, Jordon turns 24, so we'll have to tell you how his birthday celebration goes!:) Love to all of you!

Noel and Jordon

Have no fear...

2011-02-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

We're still here! I am probably the worst blogger on the planet! Just a quick update though, Jordon is graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Public Relations this April. We're excited, and he's had straight A's for the past 5 semesters. I'm really proud of him, and excited for our next adventure, which will definitely involve getting out of the Utah bubble. As one of our friends so wisely noted, "Mormons are like manure. If you spread them around, things grow. If you put them all in one place, all you have is a big, smelly pile of poop." Thank you, David Wells!:) Charming, I know, but I absolutely agree.
Jordon has decided to go on to grad school to study interactive media design. In other words, he'll be producing video games, and with his creativity and passion for it, I'm sure he'll be successful and love his work. He's applied to USC in California, and we'll hear back this month! It would be ideal for a lot of reasons. We'd love to be closer to Jordon's family, and USC is extremely prestigious when it comes to Jordon's field of study.
Otherwise, not much is new! Olivia turned one in November, when we also celebrated or second wedding anniversary. As Jordon likes to say, we celebrated one happy year together. Two years total, one of them happy. Haha! Both years have been great, and I'm so grateful to be married to such a good man. He's a great dad too, and Olivia is always excited for him to come home from work and school. She is a smart, affectionate, high-maintenance little girl and we're grateful to have her!
Another update on Liv, we took her to an allergist a while back and discovered that part of her eczema was caused by food allergies. She's allergic to happiness. Not really, but she is allergic to anything with milk, eggs, soy, and she is severely allergic to peanuts. Joy! So if any of you have good dairy-free recipes, please pass them along!
That's it for now! Pictures to come, when our internet connection isn't so slow! Much love,
Noel and Jordon

State of the Union

2010-01-28T01:18:00.000-07:00

This is kind of long and different from what we normally put on here, but here is my (Jordon's) response to the President's State of the Union address on Wednesday night.

I LOVE the State of the Union address. Does that make me a nerd? I missed the broadcast due to a PRSSA activity, but Noel and I just watched it online. President Obama is an amazing speaker. As always, I agreed with some things, disagreed with others, didn't have an opinion on some items, and didn't know enough to make a decision about others. Time for some research! Man, I love politics.

My (long-winded) thoughts

Agree:

President Obama suggested we build additional safe nuclear plants, increase offshore drilling, and encourage green energy. The first two have negative connotations to many people, but I don't believe we can complain about energy costs and simultaneously deny perfectly safe alternative energy providers.

President Obama also suggested taking the subsidies that go to encouraging banks to make student loans and using the funds to increase student tax credits and increase Pell grants. As a student, I love this idea! To me, funding additional student grants does more to furthur upper-level educational opportunities than does subsidizing high-interest student loans.

The President mentioned repealing the military's dont ask, don't tell policy, which prohibits openly LGBT individuals from serving in the military. I agree with this initiative, and it would appear as if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would also approve of this plan given its backing of the recent Salt Lake City law that prevented housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The part of the speech that resonated most with me was the President's section on bipartisanship. He made a point of noting that we all have differing philosophies that make agreement on every issue impossible. But he also stressed how that was ok, and how that was a fundamental aspect of our democracy. Most importantly, he lambasted those who waged "perpetual campaigns" to serve their own ambitions, not the citizens. Yes, public servants must represent the voice of their constituency, but shooting down any law simply because it stems from the opposing side of the political spectrum, attacking opponents in an effort to elicit embarassing headlines, and reducing complex and controversial issues to catchy sound bites all display dogmatic ignorance on the part of leaders and their disrespect for the intelligence of citizens. Now I'm not saying that one party or the other doesn't utilize these soundbites and catch phrases, or that they aren't sometimes necessary to concisely summarize viewpoints, but the recent advent of emotional rhetoric that seeks to skirt analysis in favor of stirring up anger is disgusting and offensive. If you don't believe me, try to look up an intelligent analysis of the proposed health care bill that doesn't contain the word "unprecedented" or "socialist." I want facts, not political bile.

President Obama also suggested creating a website that would publish all earmark requests from every member of Congress. Everyone clapped, but oh boy were they sweating! Earmarks bloat bills and budgets, are responsible for many of our public works and services, and often serve the needs of special interests. So it's hard to say if they're inherently good or bad; it depends. We see them as bad for other areas, but we love the pet projects that get thrown back to our communities, creating jobs and revenue. I would love to have a site that made the porkbarrels completely transparent. Then we could all voice our opinions about whether we think our money is being put in the right place.

Disagree:

The President proposed a fee to be placed on the biggest banks as a way of recovering some of the stimulus money. President Obama said that he was not trying to punish the banks, but it's hard to see this as anything otherwise, especially when the announcement was coupled with a scathing condemnation of the banks's "reckless behavior." As is typical, an increase in fees will most likely be passed on to consumers in some form or another, and I'm not a big fan of overdraft fees to begin with. Of course, this also begs the question of how we are going to pay back the stimulus money. I don't know the answer to this yet. If you ask me, you can raise income taxes by a fraction of a percent. Individually, we would barely feel the impact, but collectively, it could eradicate a large amount of debt. But I know that everyone hates the idea of ever raising taxes, no matter how much sense it makes sometimes. We want our programs without paying for them. I want some of the programs, but I'm willing to pay for them. I guess that's why I'll never get elected to public office.

Similarly, the President suggested using $30 billion in repayed bailout funds to help local banks make loans to small businesses. I'm not opposed to the concept, but I'm concerned that the banks would do the same thing with this money as they did with the stimulus money: keep it in reserve and continue to refuse to lend. Perhaps the money could be better spent elsewhere.

President Obama stressed the importance of creating American jobs by getting rid of tax cuts for businesses that outsource jobs and production. Creating more jobs in America sounds great, but we all chaffe when we suddenly discover that we have to pay more for the products and services we enjoy. And why do we have to pay more? Because more often than not, American labor is more expensive. People outsource because it's cheaper for their particular circumstance. We can demand that they hire American workers, but we also have to be willing to pay the consequences in higher prices.

Uncertain:

President Obama bashed the recent Supreme Court decision that eradicated limits on campaign ad financing from corporations. While the justices cited the first amendment right of corporations to express their freedom of speech, including supporting particular political figures and platforms, I fear that the bill might enlargen the influence of special interests on politicians, particularly when one considers that almost half of most campaign spending is spent on advertising. The actual ramifications of this new precedent are yet to be seen.

The President also suggested freezing all non-essential government spending for 2011 (I assume he meant freezing budgetary increases, not government expenditures altogether). I am not sure what affect this would have on the various programs that have legislated yearly budget increases. Would this affect education? Would it eradicate some unnecessary programs? I'm not sure yet.

Don't Know:

The President set a goal of doubling exports over the next five years. His plan to do this was broad, at best. I'll be interested to see where his commitment to strengthening trade relations wtih foreign countries goes.

The President also mentioned bringing back the pay as you go law, and he cited it as one of the keys to economic growth in late '90s. I have no idea what that is, so time to do some more research!

Conclusion:

Again, I thought it was a great speech.

A few disclaimers:

I don't know everything. I speak what I know and what I believe, but I can hardly say I'm an expert on any subject. But isn't that what makes the democratic process so great? Informed citizens can talk and share what they know and what they believe. I can't expect to agree with everyone on every issue, but that's great too! It's that marketplace of ideas that is the bedrock of a successful society. What's most disheartening is a society that just doesn't care. But if you got to the end of this post, I can only assume that you care a great deal about what's going on in this country, at least enough to read one of her citizen's thoughts.

The life of a reporter

2010-01-06T09:46:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone! As required by my major, I am writing for the Daily Universe, BYU's newspaper, this semester! I'll be covering technology, business, and employment outside of BYU.

So please, let me know if you have any good ideas for a story; if there's something you'd really like to read about in a paper; or if you know any products, organizations, or issues that should be covered.

Thanks so much!

Happy Holidays!

2010-01-04T14:49:00.007-07:00

Happy holidays to all of you! We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, and that you felt our love, even though we weren't able to be with all of you! We missed going home to California, and seeing our family, but we are grateful to have my parents and siblings here. Our family grew recently, with the addition of Olivia Kae Trebas. She was born on November 16, at around 9:30pm. She weighed 7 and a half pounds and was 21 inches long. We love her, and can't imagine our lives without her. She is a sweet little girl. We are so thankful that she has been happy and healthy.

Her cute little feet!

She has grown so much already! This is right after her bath. Cute bunny ears!

Jordon and I were able to go to the Timpanogas temple right before Christmas.

We were spoiled this year! Santa was very generous!:)

Jordon with his gifts on Christmas Day! Notice our new home security system!

Olivia's first Christmas! I'm sure that it was very memorable for her!:)

Like I said, Jordon spoiled me! We even got the Wii and Wii fit!

Livi, in the socks and hat Grandma Hitchcock gave her. She is darling!

Again, we hope that your holidays were fantastic, that you were able to spend time with family, and that you were able to feel the Savior's love for you! We have been so blessed. Jordon got straight A's again this past semester, and he is starting a new semester today. Olivia is growing, and getting cuter by the day! She is smiling at us constantly, and just a very happy, mellow baby. She slept for 5 hours straight last night! I am loving being a mom, after the initial shock wore off!:) It has been an adjustment for sure, but I wouldn't change a thing! We love you all, and we'll try to update again soon!:)
Love,
Noel and Jordon

Fall in Orem!

2009-11-06T12:40:00.010-07:00

Hello everyone! First of all, we hope that you're enjoying this Fall weather! We're both so excited for the holidays and hope that you had a happy Halloween! November is an exciting month for us. We were married on November 22 almost a year ago, and we will be parents this month as well! We are so excited to meet Olivia, and we're hoping that she comes BEFORE her due date on the 20th! We want her to be able to spend Thanksgiving with us, and we know that her grandparents are eager for her to get here as well. :) It's an exciting time and we feel very blessed.
A few weeks ago, my friend Lyra threw me a baby shower, which went really well. I had about 14 friends there (including my mom), and the majority of them were from Fresno, so it was really fun to catch up with them! We appreciate the support and generosity of so many! Lyra's niece, whom I don't even know, decorated this adorable cake for the shower!

Here I am trying to get organized afterward! Check out the awesome diaper cake my mom made!

During the shower, we played a game where we had to melt a little plastic baby out of an ice cube. Later that evening, Jordon and I turned on the garbage disposal and heard an odd grinding sound. This was what Jordon pulled out! :) His leg was ground up, but we took pity on "Baby Howie" as we like to call him, and we've been taking turns hiding him throughout the apartment ever since! We are VERY easily amused!

Can you find Baby Howie in my fruity pebbles? It took me a while to see him!

Baby Howie smelled very fresh and clean after I hid him here!:)

A little over a week ago, we invited several of our friends over for FHE. The activity? Carving pumpkins of course!!

I feel like gutting the pumpkin gets harder and grosser every year!

On Halloween night, we went to a party with several of the same friends, and had a blast! We all dressed up, and we played a game where we could win candy bars. We also played a Psychologist game, which was hilarious! We really are blessed with friends who are not only good people, but are very fun to spend time with! They really got into it!

Here we are! Aren't we...cute?:) We definitely have fun, that's for sure, and I'm so grateful for Jordon. He is so supportive, helpful, and patient, and he keeps me laughing! Again, life is great and we hope that all of you are doing well too! You are all in our thoughts and prayers!

Much love,

Noel and Jordon

Prenatal classes, weddings, Conference, and counting down the weeks!

2009-10-08T13:12:00.005-06:00

Does anyone else struggle with keeping up their blog, because we sure do! :) I will try to tell you the highlights of this past month. There were several weddings and engagements that took place last month, and we are so excited to see people we love so happy! First of all, Jordon's mom, who is now Mrs. Julie Hitchcock, was married to Channing on the 18th of September. Jordon was able to fly out to Fresno and be there to walk the beautiful bride down the aisle. I am sad that I wasn't able to be there too, but we are so happy for them, and I am excited to meet my new father-in-law!

The other night, I got a phone call from my best friend, Laurel Flake. She asked if she and Trevor (her boyfriend) could stop by for a little bit, and they came over to our apartment. It took me about a minute to notice the ring on Laurel's left hand! They are engaged, and will be sealed in December sometime! Now we'll be able to double with them as a married couple!

We also recently attended a wedding reception for Kimmy and Garrett, friends we know through Jordon's job. They also go to BYU football games with us! We bought all-sport passes this year, and they are in our group, as is Laurel! The games have been so much fun!

This was our group at last Friday's game. This was also the first night I felt a contraction. :)

Had to get a belly shot on here for you!

We also were able to watch General Conference this past weekend, which was wonderful. We watched one session with my family, and it was nice to spend some time with them.

Here's a recent Shaw/Trebas family shot.

Conference was fantastic, and we both felt a great Spirit as we watched. I'm so grateful for Jordon. I really married a great man, and I know that he'll be a leader in our family and he will help teach our children truth. We both want to make it very clear to our kids that we have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of the Book of Mormon, and a living prophet. We want to teach them with our words and by living the things we know, and we're excited for that challenge and opportunity, especially with the coming of our little girl!

Livi will be here within a matter of weeks now, and we couldn't be happier about it! We just had our last Prenatal class at the hospital on Tuesday, and we'll now be going to see the doctor weekly. I've already packed what I can of our hospital bag, and gotten her room ready as much as I can. We both feel like she'll come before her due date on November 20th, but hopefully she'll wait at least a few more weeks! Other than that, everything is still going well, and Jordon will find out if he got into the PR program by tomorrow! We're loving the Fall weather and are excited for the holidays! We love you and hope that things are going well for all of you too!

Love,
Noel and Jordon

Back to school!

2009-09-03T14:55:00.009-06:00

Summer has officially ended, now that Jordon is back in school! He is taking 5 classes this semester on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and working part-time for CES the rest of the week. I am amazed by the amount of homework he has already had to do during this first week back! He spent over 6 hours studying last night! Some days I really miss being in school, and others...not so much! :)

I do love to learn though, and I recently discovered that BYU offers free personal enrichment courses online. They are obviously not taken for college credit, but right now I am taking a New Testament class, and I plan on taking many more in the future!

Jordon and I were recently called to serve in the nursery of our Ward, and we were able to teach our first lesson this past Sunday. It was entitled, "I will share," and it lasted about two minutes. I have found that the attention span of two-year-olds is limited to about two minutes. We are enjoying it though, and Jordon is a magnet for little girls! They fight over who gets to sit in his lap. He'll make a great dad!

On that note, we were able to purchase a crib and changing table for little Olivia this last week as well! We got them used, but they are in great shape.

I meant to post more pictures from our Idaho trip, so I'll include them here. We were able to spend a day at Yellowstone Park, and it was gorgeous! It's amazing how diverse one area can be!

We were also able to go to Big Judd's and get a HUGE hamburger for Jordon! He and his dad split it.

Life is going great! We love you and hope that you're doing well too!

Road trip time!

2009-08-09T22:39:00.013-06:00

We decided this last week that it was a good time to get out of Utah! Things at Jordon's job have been incredibly slow these past few weeks, since all of the EFY sessions he planned this summer have now ended. Things should pick up again this next week though, which he is grateful for.

Anyhow, back to our road trip! Jordon's parents were staying in Idaho Falls with Grandma Grover, and we decided to join them! We left last Saturday afternoon, and got back this past Wednesday, just in time for the finale of So You Think You Can Dance. :)

It was my first time in Idaho, and we had a great time! When we arrived on Saturday evening, we all drove to BYU Idaho for an international dance festival. Some of the dances were great. Others were...well, unique. And as we know, being unique is not the same as being useful. :)

The next day we went to Church as a family. Afterward, we visited the beautiful Idaho Falls temple and Visitor's Center. The weather was perfect, and the grounds were well maintained.

We then had a picnic lunch by the Snake River, and fed the geese before heading back to Grandma's house. The geese were far from timid, that's for sure!

That evening, we went to Aunt Paulette's house for dinner. I felt like we were dining out, the service was so good, and the food was even better! We were able to spend time together, talking, singing, and playing with the animals in Paulette and Drake's beautiful backyard.

More and more I realize how blessed I am to have married into such a wonderful family. I have supportive, loving in-laws, and Jordon's extended family is equally great!

I don't want to put too many pictures in this entry, so I'll let that suffice for now. I will catch you up on our adventures at Yellowstone Park soon! Jordon took some incredible pictures there! We love you, and wish you all a happy week!

Love,

Noel and Jordon

Ugly table, beautiful ward

2009-07-26T20:52:00.005-06:00

So, we think we've decided on Olivia for the baby's name. It received the most votes in our poll, and we love it! We're still working on middle names though, so if you have any suggestions let us know!

We decided this week to end our two week experiment with the family ward and try out the student married ward. The diversity we were looking forward to in the family ward ended up being 75% retired people, 20% middle aged couples with older kids, and 5% people our age. We also just weren't really feeling it there! It's amazing how much the people in a ward can affect the way it feels.

We tried out our new ward today, and we loved it! We met three times more people today than we had in our time at the other ward.

About the ugly table thing, here is the beauty!

It's a long story, but we came into possession of this table recently. It's really ugly (hideous actually), but we're selling it and it's actually going to be really helpful. We thought things were going to be a little tight this month, what with utility deposits and rent deposits and student loans not being in yet, but it's actually going to work out really well because of this ugly table and a few other random blessings. It's so cool when things work out that way; the Lord is really mindful of us.

We visited Tammy and Mark today also and had fun with their adorable kids! Here are some pictures:

Jacob: sticky, but cute.

Kayley with her missing tooth.

Moriah is rambunctious!

I showed them how to use the photo editing software on my camera...

...but they used it against me!

Me with Zachary, the newest member of the bunch.

Noel with Zach. So cute! And the baby's not bad either.

We're really excited for our little Livi to come! Why do we have to wait four more months? Oh well. People keep telling us that once they come we'll wish they were back inside! I guess we'll see. Until then, I'll just have to torture other peoples' children:

Proverbs 22:6

It's a girl!

2009-07-12T23:14:00.008-06:00

That's right! We finally had our first ultrasound appointment on Tuesday, and after we were informed that everything seems to be developing properly, we were told that we were having a little girl! We are so excited, and grateful that the baby is healthy as well. It was a really neat experience, seeing our child.

Our little girl's foot!

This means she's a girl. Apparently I have much to learn about the female anatomy.

Her side profile. I swear there's another baby's face right above her head. Twins maybe?

Look, she's waving!

I have felt her pretty often lately (this girl is going to be a dancer or soccer player!), but it was incredible to see her face. Jordon and I both got a little emotional, and we are so grateful for the chance to be parents! Now if we could decide on a name... (take our quiz at the top right of this page and help us out!)

The cute, pregnant woman.

We also moved to an apartment in Orem at the end of June. We needed more room for the baby, and everything worked out really well. The rent is barely more than we were paying before and we now have two bedrooms, and a washer and dryer! We're moving up in the world! We're even in a family Ward now (gasp)! Plus, we are no longer in Provo. Life is good!:)

Here are a few pictures from the 4th of July and Noel's birthday on the 5th of July (hopefully these will make up for our lack of posts over the past month and a half):

Us at Freedom Days in Provo

Noel the cowgirl.

Jordon the wilderness explorer!

Noel's cowgirl antics didn't earn her any friends in downtown Provo.

A lesser known form of sympathy pains.

Thankfully Noel's new car made her feel better.

I had to get one too...for the baby.

Grilling and explosions, is there a manlier holiday than the 4th of July?

Happy birthday Noel!

Hey, that's not 27 candles! Only you can prevent forest fires.

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

2009-05-23T18:13:00.007-06:00

I know we're a little late, but we wanted to wish all of the mothers out there a wonderful Mother's Day! After all, it takes more than one day to fully appreciate all that mothers do (I'm learning that more and more as I watch Noel go through the whole pregnancy experience).

To celebrate Noel and her motherhood-to-be, I surprised her with a little trip to Park City. We stayed in a beautiful condo, saw Star Trek (so good!!!!), walked around main street Park City, went to the olympic park where we went down the world's steepest zip line, and ate at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Ruth's Chris is beyond amazing. There are no words to describe its deliciousness, only dollar signs!

We were going to slide down those, but we ultimately decided against it.

The view from the top of the hill was amazing (minus the little building)!

Did I mention we went skiing?

We work hard, we play hard.

Ahh Ruth's Chris. It gave me an excuse to wear my suit!

Noel with her bling.

Aside from Mother's Day, life has been great! Here are some random updates on our lives:

I just got a new computer, and I love it! My last one had 256 MB of RAM, and my new one has 4 GB of RAM. That means my new computer is 16 times faster than my old one. It's not so much a compliment for my new computer as much as it is a declaration of the archaic nature of my old one.
Noel started to feel better right after the first trimester ended earlier this month, but now she's back to not feeling so well. We're still hoping it will subside soon! She's really excited about the baby. She likes to spend her free time looking at baby cribs and whatnot online.

The morning sickness is really starting to take its toll on Noel.

I am now working full-tile at the EFY office. Work is really intense, but it's cool to know that I'm helping thousands of youth have spiritual experiences. Noel will actually be finished with her work next week!

That's it for us. We will try to update more often. We love you all!

Love,

Jordon & Noel Trebas

Heartbeats, tulips and resident managers.

2009-05-03T19:31:00.007-06:00

Summer is here! Perhaps now we can blog more often than twice a month. A few updates about us:

Jordon finished this semester with straight A's! He was definitely excited, because these grades determine his eligibility to get into BYU's public relations program. It was his first time getting straight A's since third grade.
We started a new job as resident managers for our apartment complex. It's a great blessing; we get a big rent discount and an hourly wage for doing a bit of cleaning. It will help when Noel's teaching job ends this month.
Our baby has a heartbeat! Yes, little Isabella/David/Clebus is doing well. We heard his/her/its heartbeat at Noel's first doctor's appointment this past week. It was incredible to hear. It made it more real (and odd) that there is an actual creature inside of Noel's stomach! I hope this is proof enough that it's not an alien.
We went to Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival this past week. We won't attempt to describe the beauty, we'll just show you!

So beautiful, and the flowers aren't bad either.

Noel and I with Laurel (Noel's BFF) and Laurel's future husband (we think).

We know it's May, but Utah doesn't know that. It's still winter here.

I didn't know tulips come in so many colors!

Awww, we make ourselves sick.

We hope everyone is doing great! We love you and hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

The Trebas Family

Happy Easter!

2009-04-15T11:36:00.003-06:00

Sorry we're a little late! Things have been pretty busy and our internet hasn't been working as consistently as we would like! We hope that all of you had a wonderful Easter though! We were able to spend it with the Shaws in Pleasant Grove, and the tradition of hunting for Easter baskets continued. Unfortunately, one of the side-effects of "morning" sickness for me has been an aversion to several foods (including most meats, and chocolate), so Jordon has been eating our candy and I've watched him enviously.

Jordon recently had a mission reunion, which we were able to attend. He was excited to interact with former missionaries that he served with in the DC North Mission, and I was happy to get to know them a bit better. President and Sister Price (former mission President and wife) were among those in attendance.

Me, Jordon, Joseph Ellsworth, and Kameron Kasparian.

Sean Rex and Jordon, show true brotherly love. :)

Jordon has stayed pretty busy lately, working on projects for the end of the semester, and preparing for finals. He's doing really well in school though, so his hard work is paying off! Right now he has all A's, and he just got the highest score possible on his benchmark exam, which is crucial for him to get into the PR program. I married a smart man! I'm sure that he'll get into his Public Relations program without any problem.

I have been keeping busy with work as well, and today is my fist day of Spring Break (which only lasts for 3 days here). Of course, to ring in Spring, snow is coming down. This is one of those days that I wish we were living in California! We have been really blessed though, and we wanted to include this Easter message by Elder Holland that touched us both. It's never too late to focus on the Savior and His Atoning sacrifice. We love Him, and we love all of you! Hope you are happy and well!

Love,

The Trebas Family

Good news!

2009-03-22T20:44:00.009-06:00

No, the chariot is NOT coming! But a baby is! We found out on Monday that we'll be having our first child around November 20th and we couldn't be more excited about it. The grandparents-to-be are also pretty excited!

The morning we found out.

Our first baby gifts.

Boy or girl? Take our new survey and vote on your favorite name!

Preston also went into the MTC on Wednesday; what an eventful week! Everyone was crying except for me (Jordon). I was so happy for him. I know he'll be a great missionary and a wonderful servant of the Lord.

He had to get out all of his worldliness before he left.

Our traditional pre-mission temple trip.

The moment of (tears) truth.

Quiet dignity runs in the family.

As if this wasn't enough, we also had our first ever Menrichment Activity in the 175th Ward Elder's Quorum! Much video game playing, basketball shooting, hot wing eating, and root beer chugging ensued.

I tied for first.

It was nice having family in town. We spent some time with my Mom over at the Tabernacle. We saw Music and the Spoken Word (My Aunt Janet is in the MOTAB). They sounded beautiful and Temple Square was amazing!

The Tabernacle!

The Salt Lake Temple, so pretty!

Aunt Janet and Mom.

The Christus statue.

What a week. In the words of the MOTAB, God be with you 'til we meet again.

Love,

The Trebas Family

Sickness!

2009-03-15T17:06:00.010-06:00

Hello all, this is Noel.

We don't have too much to report this week! Jordon has been feeling sick since Wednesday (cold/fever/flu stuff!), so we've spent a lot of this beautiful weather couped up in our small apartment. Poor guy! He's feeling a bit better today though, and people in our Ward have shown concern and love, and offered service. I'm so impressed with our Ward. There are so many genuine and kind people. At first I was a bit skeptical going from a Young Single Adult Ward to a Young Married Ward (we graduated!), but I love it now!

The exciting news for this upcoming week is that Preston will be entering the MTC on Wednesday, and Jordon's family will be in our neck of the woods for a bit! We're so proud of Preston and know that he'll do well! Missions are the best!

Well, that's about all I've got! Work is going well, and I'm just grateful to have a job, and such a wonderful family! Hope all is well for you! Love you!

The view from Noel's parent's house

(From Jordon)

AHH I'm sick! Oh well. It makes you appreciate those healthy days! All sickness aside, I haven't done much lately. I'm still trying to do well in my classes (I have a goal for straight A's this semester), I'm still working at the EFY office, my wife is still amazing, etc.

I can't believe my little brother enters the MTC on Wednesday. I remember what a singular experience that was, going off into a completely unknown world. I know he'll do great because he is a great guy.

I'm sure many of you are aware of the HBO series Big Love. It portrays a polygamous family, apparently not Mormon, who lives in Utah. Despite the show's claims that it is not connected to Mormons at all, today an episode will air that supposedly depicts an LDS temple ceremony.

At first I was upset and saddened. I have felt the sacredness of the temple, I have felt its power, and to have a crude depiction of it prostituted for entertainment is filthy and low. It's how I felt when European newspapers printed political cartoons of Muhammad in their papers. Muslims revere that man, and count any drawing or caricature of him to be offensive in the extreme. I believe in the freedom of speech and expression, but I also believe in the necessity for common decency and respect.

After I fumed for a while, I remembered a quote by Joseph Smith some call The Standard of Truth. I remembered the lines, "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldy, nobly, and independent."

The truth of God will go forth independent of all else. The Church's official statement on the matter is a fine testimony of that. I love the brief video they put out as well. The contrast between my initial anger and the peace of a simple video is amazing.

I hope everything is going well with you all. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

The Trebas Family

Birthdays, blessings, and other life changing events.

2009-03-08T15:57:00.008-06:00

(From Jordon. Don't forget to take our poll to the right!)

Hello everyone! This has been quite an eventful week. Happy birthday to all my fellow March birthdays out there! I turned 22, and I celebrated by taking an exam. YAY! Birthdays get a little less exciting every year. Oh well!

Noel made me breakfast (complete with balloons-delicious!) and then we went to Tucano's for dinner. I can think of no greater way to celebrate a birth than through gluttony.

We had a great Stake Conference today with President Bateman (now President of the Provo Temple) and Elder Hinckley. I felt like I learned something new while I was listening.

I think we're all familiar with the devil's snare of instant gratification. He makes us think that we need the new toy or the new game right now to be happy. But I think he also uses the other extreme, the lie that we must wait and suffer before we can really be happy. God has given us His plan so that we can be happy now, we can have peace and joy now. We don't have to wait until we've graduated or until we have a better job or until this trial is endured. The plan of happiness can help us to be happy now if we simply do what God has asked of us.

"He doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you: for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you" (Mosiah 2:24).

Life's not always going to be candy and roses, but we can still have joy. I feel that in my life with Noel. Life is so great! (Just look to the left to see how truly happy I am!)

I've rambled on for long enough. Here's Noel!

Wow. It thrills me to see that Jordon posted this picture for all to see. It's so...attractive. Our children are doomed!:) Life is really good though, as Jordon said. As you can imagine, we're pretty silly, and we laugh a lot. We're also both pretty competitive when it comes to certain things, and I'm learning that I'm a LOT more competitive than I used to be. We like to play games like chess, Uno, phase 10, and a few x-box 360 games that we can play together. Anyhow, Jordon is extremely good at all of them, and almost always beats me. I guess that this is another way for me to be compelled to be humble!:) I am not a good sport!

I am also realizing how much patience it requires to be with children all day, as I work in a tutoring lab at Sunset View elementary school. It's hard not to become frustrated, and to keep teaching fresh and exciting-for the kids and for myself. It's very rewarding though. Many of the kids I work with come from homes where only Spanish is spoken, and their English is suffering as a result. They are working hard though, and some of them have progressed in leaps and bounds. It also gives me a chance to put my Spanish to good use, which I am grateful for! Shoot, I feel blessed to have the job that I have and to work with wonderful people.

I am also grateful to have more family in Utah, as of yesterday. My parents, and three of my four brothers moved to Pleasant Grove yesterday, which is only about 25 minutes away. Jordon and I were able to help them move in, and we're excited to have them here! The home they're renting is very nice, and it has an amazing view of the mountains and the timpanogas temple.

Stake Conference was also a highlight this week, as Jordon mentioned. Something that really struck me, was a comment that Sister Bateman made. She told us in the congregation that we were all wonderful, but that we didn't always notice because we were so used to ourselves!:) I think that she's right. I think that the Lord sees so much in each of us that we often fail to see because we are distracted by our own shortcomings and the things in our lives and in ourselves that are less than wonderful to us. But I am grateful to be reminded that we ARE wonderful to Him, as His children. There really is nothing that we could do to make Him love us more. There is also nothing we could do that would make Him love us less.

I hope that all of you can feel our love for you this week, and more importantly, feel God's love for you and see His hand in your life. We love you!

Love,

The Trebas Family

Blog Introduction

2009-03-01T15:06:00.003-07:00

Hello family and friends!

We've been feeling a little disconnected from some of you lately, especially now that we are living in Provo (temporarily). We wanted to find a way to keep in contact with all of you. Hence, this blog.

We'll be updating it weekly, on Sundays, with recent happenings and possibly pictures! We'd love to hear from you as well, so feel free to comment or just tell us about your life.

Just briefly, we are doing great! We celebrated our three month anniversary this past week. We love married life and highly recommend it to all our friends.

The weather is finally warming up here at the North Pole. It's actually been in the 50's (which I know will make some Fresno-natives laugh) lately, so we've been taking advantage of the warmth.

Coming up this week: Jordon's 22nd birthday on March 3rd! Much partying will ensue.

Short and sweet this time. There will be more to come in following weeks. We love you! Have a great week!

Much love,

The Trebas Family

Color Piece-Provo Canyon

2009-03-01T14:35:00.014-07:00

(This is an article that I wrote for my newswriting class. The assignment was to take a roadtrip to somewhere you hadn't been before and then write about it. It's what's called a "color piece" in newswriting, something that describes the mood and feel of a place or event. I had to write during an hour long class period, so it's not very developed or well written. But, I get extra credit for posting it with pictures on a blog, so here goes!)

Driving north on University Ave. is like driving on a checkerboard. The car glides past an apartment complex with a rock façade, then a brush field under renovation, another complex, and another open field.

“I do love that feeling of sticking my head out the window,” Noel says.

Noel’s car winds alongside the hills. The foothills are dead, gray, and they contrast with the white backdrop of snow-covered peaks. The car is leaving the city.

Up ahead, a rock face runs adjacent to the road and juts upward so that the top cannot be seen from a car window. The cliff has a twin, a partner sentinel that guards the other side of the road. Together they block a view of what’s ahead, for the road turns sharply once it passes through their feet.

The car speeds along, passes through the gateway into Provo Canyon, and the gray is nearly defeated by white--check.

The only hint that man ever existed here is the occasional telephone line that attempts to follow beside the valleys and slopes.

To the left, the mountains that once played the part of the background are now leading characters in every scene. This side of the mountain is not as severe as the front appeared. The drop becomes less and less harsh the closer it comes to the road.

The right is unaware of the left’s gradation. Its cliffs run up, but not straight. It’s like a child who unevenly stacks pancake after pancake on a plate. Segments of stone pancake droop over another as water (syrup) falls from one to the next.

The scene is decidedly greener now. Evergreens are replacing dead brush.

A swatch of trees is absent; a river runs through it. It is Provo River.

The car slows, pulls off the road, and stops along the shoulder. There are a dozen stairs leading down into the forest. They are covered in ice.

“I may as well have worn skis,” Noel says as she slips her way down to the riverbank.

The water is clear though it’s racing downstream. Here there is no green or gray, there is only white and red. Blood-red branches, leafless and slick, poke out of the snow. It’s as if nature itself has fought and lost.

“Hey look, someone’s in the water!” Noel says.

Sure enough, a man dressed in overalls, fishing boots, and a cowboy hat is fishing in the river.

“He must be crazy,” Noel says.

The prospector wades to the shore and makes his way towards the stairway.

“It’s getting’ cold,” the man says. “It feels like it’s gonna storm.” And with that, the man walks up the stairs and is gone.

It is getting colder; the wind is blowing now. Noel hikes up the stairs, gets in the heated car, and begins to drive back down Provo Canyon.

On the way there is a lone peak that was previously hidden. One side of the hill is covered in snow and dead trees. The other is the familiar gray, but there is a lone evergreen tree that grows there. The site can be seen along most of the ride down.

Soon the sentinels are bypassed, the mountains are replaced by hills, and the checkerboard returns. Apartments, field, apartments, field, and then there is only dark colored apartments--checkmate.