Still here. Still unmarried.

Hey readers! Sorry it's been so long! Life has been so crazy over the last year! I've been so busy being a good student in Virginia that I haven't had time to be the kind of unmarried wife I was in Arizona. As I think about this though, I may not be cooking awesome meals as frequently or be a master seamstress, but I am still rocking at being an unmarried wife. A wife is so much more than just a woman who looks awesome while creating delicious meals and make a home comfortable. A wife should be educated and have a thirst to continue to grow that knowledge. A wife should be traveled. A wife should be involved in things the loves. A wife should know how to dance. I wife should know a little something about sports. A wife should do hard things. That's what I've been up to this last year, all of these things!

I am currently going to school to get my Bachelors degree in Political Science from Southern Virginia University. I love it here. It's a small school (as in 700 students - smaller than my high school!), but that means that the classes are small and I get the individual attention from my overqualified teachers that I want. This semester I have 2 classes that only have 5 students in them. It is awesome... unless I don't do the reading... then it's not so awesome. But I'm getting such a good education here and be supported by everyone around me - especially by my professors. They will do everything they can to help me succeed. And after this, I plan on going to law school to continue my education. So, educated/ thirst for knowledge? Check!

At this school, I'm a part of an a cappella group called The Fading Point. In this group, not only do I get to do what I love - sing, but I get to travel doing it. We are part of the school's admissions department so they use us as a recruiting tool. We travel up and down the east coast, and even got to go to California last spring. Because SVU is a school that is all about the LDS environment, we approach recruiting in a much different way. About twice a month, The Fading Point travels to different stakes in the LDS church and puts on a "Super Saturday" for the youth - 14-18 year olds. This includes the members of the group teaching 20 minute workshops on different topics - examples include prayer, college, mission prep, dance, choosing good friends, dating, etc. After the kids have rotated through the 5 workshops, we all come together and put on a musical fireside where we will sing 4 or 5 spiritual based songs with short talks, given my members of the group, between each number.  After that, we have dinner with the youth, giving us an opportunity to get to know these kids in a more casual setting. After dinners done, we put on a show of our a cappella pop music. It's so much fun to see their faces light up when we start singing their favorite song, or any song they recognize. To end the day we throw a dance and dance right along side them. It's such a blast! I'm doing it again this year, not because I love practicing 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, but because I love working with the amazing youth we get to meet. And because the school pays for us to travel to some pretty awesome places - New York City, Philadelphia, Palmyra, NY, Southern California, Nauvoo, IL, and so many other cool east coast cities. To top off this great group, we recorded a EP in May and just released it! My voice will soon be in iTunes! How freaking cool is that?! So, traveled? Check! Involved in things I love? Check!


For New Year's Eve, I was with my trainer from my LDS mission. She is Dominican so we went Latin dancing. Let me tell you, this blue-eyed blonde from Arizona found her place in the dancing world! Not only did the Lord give me hips, but he gave me the moves to go along with them! The Bachata, the Merengue, the Salsa, you name it, I love it! So, able to dance? Check!

This is the most recent awesome thing I've done. For a class I'm taking based on the writings of George Orwell (Animal Farm, 1984. Look him up if you don't know who this is.) and we had to write a paper in the style of his non-fiction. If you don't know much, or anything, about his non-fiction, let me give you a couple examples. He grew up in middle class London. After working for the Imperial police in Berma, he wanted to become a writer and wanted to write specifically about the oppressed. So what did he do? He went up to the industrial north to live with the minors for a time. He lived as a tramp for months. He fought in the Spanish Civil War. He was very into immersing himself in a culture. Well, I wanted to do somethings similar so I decided I would be a part of the football team for a week. After talking with the coach, he let me do it! I was at their early morning workouts, their meetings, and their practices. It was the most amazing week of my life, and made me a forever football fan! I may be posting my paper for anyone to read, so I'll leave it at that for now. So, knowing something about sports? You know thats a CHECK!

Hard things. I've done lots of them this last year. I ran my first straight mile and a half. I kayaked in choppy water in Lake Michigan to see the Chicago skyline. I lived out of a suitcase for 3 months. I ran in an airport in heals to catch a flight. I've dealt with a ribs that continually go out of place. I got a B+ in my computer programming class. I decided to go to law school. I've dealt with heartbreak. I used the Atonement in ways I didn't know possible.  Now to you, these things may not seem hard at all, but to me, they were hard things that shaped me into the person I am today. I'm not the same Jaron that I was a year ago, and thank goodness for that. I love who I am now and I would never choose to go back to who I was even a year ago. I wasn't a bad person then, just different, and less awesome and strong. So, do hard things? Check!

So I haven't failed at being an unmarried wife, I've just been channeling my other part of my inner wife. 

Happy Homemaking!
-Jaron