Yellowstone

One year ago, last Sunday, was David and my one year anniversary. We decided to wait until the following weekend to celebrate by going to Yellowstone! We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time. However, this week David has been battling some sort of food poising issue-throwing up and all that good stuff. We tried to cancel our hotel reservation but we had gotten some sort of online deal that was non-refundable…go figure. So Friday, when I got home from work we set out on our adventure determined to have a good time despite David being sick. When we got to West Yellowstone it was covered in snow! Basically the whole town was closed down….we had found a great restaurant online to eat at but when we got there, it too was closed. The only non-fast food restaurant that was open was basically a glorified Denny’s type place. Needless to say it wasn’t our first choice but that’s alright.


Saturday morning we drove into Yellowstone and had a great time! We saw lots of buffalo and some elk. We were also able to see Old Faithful and some of the stinky springs. Even though there was snow covering the park, it was beautiful. We had a great time driving through it! The best part was we happened to be there during National Park Week so we got in for free! So even with David being sick we still had some fun in Yellowstone!

This year has gone by so fast and I am so lucky to be married to such an amazing guy! I look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries…hopefully without one of us being sick :)

Graduation

This past weekend David finished his final semester of his undergrad and graduated! He transferred to BYUI with 30 credits and was able to finish in only 5 semesters! Way to go! He has been taking on average 18-21 credits so it’s been quite the workload but he did it; with straight A’s this semester too!

David’s parents, along with his older brother and sister came up from sunny San Diego to frigid Rexburg to celebrate. It was great that they were able to make it! We had lots of fun hanging out, touring campus and of course eating great food!

Our one year anniversary was this weekend as well, on the tenth. It was a pretty busy weekend. David and I are planning on going to Yellowstone this coming weekend to celebrate. However I did make a VERY delicious dinner of chicken cordon bleu, garlic and rosemary mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli. Yummy.

The plans for us now are to finally leave this place next week! I’m so excited! I put my notice in at work and my last day is next Thursday. My parents are going to tow a trailer for us to Spokane, Washington…where we might be spending the next three years of our life while David attends law school. We still haven’t decided if we are going there for sure yet . After we move our things to Spokane, we will head to Portland for a week to spend some time with my family and then continue down to San Diego. David was offered a great job there for the summer. We are so excited for the coming months and the unknowns of law school :)

Birthday Fun

This year David planned an amazing activity for me! He took me to see baby bears! I was able to hold one and pet the other. Needless to say I was soooooooooooo excited! I can’t even explain how ecstatic I was! I'm  sucker for baby animals :)


After the baby bear excursion we went shopping! I received some great Old Navy gift cards from family and had a very enjoyable shopping spree. David and I also saw the movie the Adjustment Bureau-which we really enjoyed and recommend. After the movie we had a delicious dinner at Carino’s Italian Restaurant. So yummy!

Overall I don’t know what could make me happier on my birthday than a baby bear, shopping and great food. Thanks for a great birthday David!

Locked In

This weekend David and I traveled to Pocatello so he could take the LSAT for Law School. We decided to get a hotel Friday night, that way he could get as much sleep as possible. This morning, we woke up and I dropped him off for the test. I then went back to the hotel and napped. When I woke up, I figured it would be a good idea to shower and get ready for the day; a seemingly harmless thing to do, right? Well out of habit, when I’m alone I always lock the bathroom door. Pretty normal, I thought anyway. After my shower I twist the lock on the door and it just keeps turning. I realize that I must not be doing something right because the door would not open. So I tried it again and no dice. That door would not unlock. The thought crossed my mind that this would be like me, to not figure out how to unlock a door! How embarrassing! So I just laughed and tried again, but to no avail. At this point I was starting to think that it wasn’t just me, that something was wrong. I was locked in the bathroom.


I sat down and the first thing I thought was: “What would Bear Grills do?” Haha! I looked up and saw the door hinges. I grabbed my razor and pried out the pins. I felt so proud of myself that I figured a way to get out! That feeling was soon crushed when I realized I still could not get that door open. I tried pulling the hinges but they wouldn’t budge, I stood on top of the toilet and tried to pull the towel bar at the top but no luck, and I also tried putting my fingers under the door but they wouldn’t fit. I was not officially at a loss of what to do.

I began banging and banging on the walls of the bathroom that faced the hallway and the room next to me, but I never heard anyone. So I sat down again and waited. While deep in thought about my current predicament I heard the faint sound of a vacuum. The cleaning ladies! It sounded like they were in the room on the opposite side of mine so I knew they would be coming soon. However, I soon remembered we had put the “Do not disturb” sign on the door handle this morning. But assuming the people next door to me had already checked out they would have to clean that room. Sure enough I heard people inside the room next to me. I started pounding on the wall saying that I needed help. I finally heard people say “okay,” so I stopped. I heard them leave that room and use their key to open my door. It didn’t work because I had used the dead bolt. Shoot.

What seemed like forever later the phone in the room started ringing; at least now they knew something was going on in my room. After the phone someone came and knocked on the door, but I guess they couldn’t hear me because they left and the phone rang again. Finally someone else knocked on the door and they heard me! They called maintenance who didn’t know where the key to unlock the deadbolt was, but eventually he found it. I was so happy when they got into my room! The maintenance guy couldn’t get the door unlocked either so he had to get other tools to take of the door knob. Once he got the door knob off the lock was still in place and it took quite a while to get the lock unstuck. Eventually he got it and the door fell over since I had taken out the pins. There I was in a towel facing the maintenance guy and two cleaning ladies.

I ended up being locked in that bathroom for an hour and a half! What are the chances? The whole time I kept thinking about my cell phone that was like three feet outside the bathroom! The next time I am alone in a hotel room I will not go into the bathroom without taking my cell phone with me!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving David and I were able to travel to Oregon to have Thanksgiving with my family. David and I were both ready for a break from school and work by the time Thanksgiving break rolled around. All we wanted to do was relax. However, our wishes were not exactly granted on the journey there and back. The normal 11ish hour drive took us 17 hours! We were traveling about 35mph practically the whole way. It was awful. There were a couple of times we didn’t think we would be able to continue with the drive. It was by far the most stressful and scariest drive either of us has ever had.


Once we made it home we had a great time! We were able to spend lots of time hanging with the fam, especially our nieces and little nephew! We had so much fun. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, and as usual, we ate waaaaaay too much! But it was worth it. On black Friday the only shopping we did were for a set of new tires that our car desperately needed! Unfortunately I only had a few days off of work so it was a short visit.

The journey back to Rexburg was bad, but not nearly as bad as the drive there. Going through Oregon was a breeze and then we stopped in Boise to grab some lunch and drop my little sister Keara off at the airport. Then we continued on and the roads became horrible around Twin Falls. At one point the car in front of us lost control and went off the road. It was pretty scary and luckily we were a good distance away from him that we didn’t hit him or lose control as well.



Overall, this year what I was most thankful for was for our safe travel! We were lucky, but I don’t think we’ll be driving in that sort of weather again :)

BoIsE

 The alarm came way too early for us Saturday morning. It went off at 4:30am…just enough time for us to get ready and make it to Twin Falls by 8:30. We traveled to Twin Falls for the wedding of one of my best friends Mikaela Erickson. It was so neat to be there for her big day.


After the wedding we had all day to kill before their reception. We hung out in Twin Falls for a while and did some shopping. There is this huge canyon in Twin Falls so we climbed over a barbed wire fence to get some pictures. It was pretty fun. After that we went to Boise where we made a Costco run and took a nap in the parking lot….we were SO tired!

Mikaela and Jeff’s reception was gorgeous! Mikaela and I had been roommates up here in Rexburg and our other roommate Maurie was also able to make it to the reception. The three of us haven’t been together in what feels like forever! So it was fun to catch up with each other and take part in Mikaela’s big day!

So Long Summer!

This summer has been quite the adventure for us. As soon as David completed his last final for the semester we took off to Oregon to visit my family. We had a blast! David had his first experience at the Oregon Coast. He even experienced the Tillamook Cheese Factory! It really doesn’t get much better than that! The county fair was in town that week so we decided to go with the fam. It was fun watching our nieces on the rides and with the animals. We also enjoyed the typical fair food…super greasy! Luckily the weather was nice and warm during our stay so we were able to get out on the boat!! Another first for David was with the knee board and wake board…I always enjoy watching first timers ;) We were so incredibly sore after that!

Towards the end of our stay in Portland we decided we might as well extend our trip and travel down to San Diego to visit David’s family. It was a great idea at first but then we started the 17 hour drive with no AC through California….not fun! But once we got there it was completely worth it! In San Diego we went to this awesome sand castle competition…there were some pretty impressive sand sculptures! Our favorite was the leopluradon. David also took me to these cliffs on the ocean that had a million tide pools! I love tide pools. We saw some cool sea anemones and crabs. It was a lot fun to play in those. During our stay in San Diego I was also able to experience my first professional baseball game, GO PADRES!

Both weeks ended way too fast! We had so much with family! We were not looking forward to making the long, hot drive back to Rexburg. Once we made it back to Rexburg we decided to continue the fun we had been having and went on our very first camping trip! We drove out to this place called Swan Valley where they have this beautiful waterfall and tried out our new tent. The weather was great but I froze during the night! We only stayed the one night but it was fun to get out and see how well we could camp.

A few weeks later my parents decided to make a stop here in Rexburg after they dropped off my little sister in Provo for her first semester in college. They took David and me out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was so fun! Neither of us had ever been out there. The drive alone was breathtaking. We had to stop a few times for pictures. The town itself is fun with all of its cute little shops. While we were there a big thunderstorm rolled through; which was pretty neat to experience. Unfortunately their stay was very short but it was fun having them come see us in our apartment.

Just this last weekend my sister Keara and her best friend Tracey came to stay with us for a couple days. David and I decided to show off the better parts of Idaho so we took them out to Mesa Falls, which they loved. We also took them to one of our favorite swimming spots. The weather had been in the upper 80s all day so we decided to actually swim…it was a lot colder than we thought it would be, but we still had a good time.

All in all we have had a great summer and are looking forward to all the adventures this fall has in store for us!