Life

Life has been pretty crazy this past month with moving, trips, and even a new addition to our family. So now it is time to give the update…

The time finally came for David and me to move out of Rexburg! I was soo excited! I had been there for almost six years! I can’t believe how long it has been. I will miss our first apartment though, it was great. We were lucky enough to have my family help us make the move. We rented a trailer, loaded it up and attached it to my dad’s suburban. It was great! We moved all our things to Spokane to put in storage for the summer. The drive through Montana to Spokane was gorgeous, definitely one of our better drives. We took a little time in Spokane to look at Gonzaga, where David will most likely be attending law school this fall.

The next leg of our trip was to head down to Portland for a week with my family. It was great! We were able to relax and spend lots of time with our cute nieces and nephew! It was fun to be back with my family for a week, especially since we hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving. We were also able to introduce Copper, the family dog, to our newest addition in the family, Maggs. I have wanted a puppy of my own for as long as I can remember. I always told myself that as soon as I graduate from college I would get one. However, the apartment David and I lived in did not allow dogs. So not too long ago we were finally able to get me one! She is a Pug and is currently 9 weeks old weighing in at a hefty 4 pounds. When we got her she wasn’t even 3 pounds! She has been doing a lot of growing! She is super cute and funny. Potty training her has been a challenging but she is doing great with it now. Knock on wood. While visiting my family we would take Maggs and Copper on walks-for those of you who don’t know much about Copper he weighs 150 pounds so they made quite the pair!

This past Saturday we took a trip to the Oregon coast. It was so much fun and the weather was excellent according to Oregon beach standards. We went to a drive on beach which are my favorite because you don’t have to worry about carrying everything you need from your car to the sand. It was Maggs first trip to the beach and she loved digging in the sand. David even tricked her into going in the water. So cute! We also had a yummy bbq and an intense game of soccer. I have some nice bruises and scratches on my arms thanks to my sister Jayme :)

 

When Sunday rolled around we were on the road at 5:30 am heading to San Diego; our final stop for the summer. The trip was going great-I had a couple naps and Maggs is an amazing traveller. Midday though, the weather started to heat up and we are probably the only people who still don’t have air conditioning. We were sucking it up though and making great time until we reached the middle of nowhere and there was stop and go construction. It was about 90 degrees outside so we rolled down the windows trying to get some air…we had been in this stop and go traffic for about 20 minutes when all of a sudden we saw black smoke and heard a “clink, clink, clink” noise. At first we thought it was one of the semi-trucks but we very quickly realized it was our car. We had to force ourselves into the right lane to pull over and turn the car off. It had overheated and smoke was still billowing out of hood. So I grabbed Maggs and we got out as fast as we could. When we looked at the car we noticed that there was stuff dripping out from underneath and all our coolant was gone. We had no idea where we were and we were stuck. Luckily our insurance covers towing, but we couldn’t get a truck cause we didn’t know where we were and there was no exits close to us so David had to go off and find our location. While that was happening, I was just standing next to the car watching people in the stop and go traffic right next to me. Now I have always disliked semi-trucks but out of everyone in that traffic only truck drivers rolled down their windows to make sure we were ok. One driver even gave us two gallons of antifreeze. Anyway, David figured out our location and a tow eventually got to us and took us to a little town called Shafter. There also happened to be no hotels in this town; go figure. So now here we are, stranded outside this little car repair shop in a sketchy area at night. Awesome. We tried calling a cab but they said it would cost us $60 for them to come get us and take us to a hotel. Thanks to David’s parents though, we were able to contact the local LDS Bishop and he came to pick us up. We were so grateful to him! It was 10:30 at night when we called but he was willing to come get us and take us to a hotel in the next town, Wasco. Once we were at the hotel all we could think about was our car and if it was dead or how much money the repair would cost. We were sure it was going to be a ton of money. What car repair isn’t expensive; especially if it has to do with the engine? The next morning the car place called us and it turned out the reason our car had overheated is because a fuse had blown so the fans weren’t turning on to cool the engine. They were able to fix that no problem for a great price-considering how much car repairs usually cost!

We were able to make the final four hours of our journey without any more car issues! It was great! Now we are in sunny San Diego living the dream. David has a great job for the summer and I will be staying at home with Maggs and relaxing. Sounds pretty good to me :)

 

Unfortunately this past Tuesday my Grandma in Ireland passed away. She lived 86 great years and was the last one in her family to go. As sad as it is to lose someone in your family, I’m so happy that she is in a place where she doesn’t have to suffer anymore and that she is reunited with her husband. She will be missed.

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!