Sunshine & Dasies

Warm weather is such a blessing, especially when you live in Idaho. The weather switches so often it could be like someone flipping a coin. One minute it is warm and sunny and then it is cold and hailing. BUT since the weather has been getting nicer Ands and I have gone on a few adventures:

A few weeks ago—when I had the day off—we decided to go to Idaho Falls and spend the day there. We walked around the greenbelt (which was the first time that we had been there since Andrew proposed),  looked around a few stores and went to this super yummy steak house called Stocktons.

Andrew always has to do some goofy pose, but that's one of the things I adore about him

Two weeks ago we had the chance to go down to Utah for our nephew Callum's baby blessing. He is so adorable! And such a sweetheart! We had such a wonderful time visiting family and friends. :) Saturday we headed down to Provo and spent the day there. We went to University Mall and did some browsing. I got a pretty nifty ring from an Indian shop:

I was amazed at how quickly and neatly she was able to get "HOPE" engraved into the ring. After we were done looking at the mall we headed to Bridal Veil Falls, hung out with our friend Amanda, and then had dinner with our friends Brent and Josh.

Andrew being daring and climbing up. He didn't go to far up. Some people climbed up to the top...CRAZY!

We found this sign to be quite humorous.

On Mother's Day Andrew, Amber and I skyped with my family to wish my mom a happy Mother's Day and we called Andrew's mum. It was such a gorgeous day out, so we decided to head to Mesa Falls. :)

Later in the week Andrew made us some delicious Scotch eggs.

Finals Week.

         Classes are finished. I can't believe that another semester is already coming to a close. What happened to how slow life used to go? I feel like Andrew and I will be done with school before we know it! Crazy. We still have about two years, but the end of a semester is always exciting. Even if it's just a week off. :) Finals are looking good as well. I have two more and a paper until I'm done. Woot!Woot! For my ENG 333 class we had to do a creative response, so I attempted drawing Gollum:

 

Sadly, it didn't turn out as creepy as I wished, but I don't think it's too shabby.  For my ENG 331 class we also have to do a creative response, so I'm going to try and do a ink drawing of Gustave Dore's Paradise Lost work of Satan's journey to earth. If it turns out decent, I'll post a picture. The other day we got some exciting mail: Andrew got his temporary work permit! Yay! He's been filling out job/internship applications like crazy.I'm so thankful that I have such a loving and supportive husband!

Conference Weekend

             Andrew and I were able to  go down to Utah this weekend tovisit his parents and attend Conference. It was a blast! Amber was able to come down with us too, which was a lot of fun. I was in need of some sister time, which  we got during the Priesthood Session & we also had a fabulous talk with Andrew's mom.

The beautiful Conference Center. :) I'm not sure if I was allowed to take this picture, but I think it should be fine since Conference hadn't started yet.

 

While waiting for Conference to start Amber, Ands and I played a few games of hangman. They kept making fun of me because all of my words were something obvious . . . like "pen."

I had to get a few pictures of Amber in the Conference Center/Temple Square since this was her first time in Utah since we were little.

After the morning sessions we went to David's office to eat lunch. Dianne always prepares the most delicious foods. We had sandwiches, muffins, chips, carrots, grapes and strawberries. Although . . .

I think Ands ate all the cheese. :P I can't blame him though . . . Dubliner is yummy cheddar cheese. :)

After Conference Ambs and I got some pictures around the Conference building. IT was so crowded, but we managed. :)

Amber in  front of the Salt Lake City Temple, I really love this temple.

Then Ambs and I in front of the temple. I tried getting Ands to join us, but he didn't want to. :P

Andrew and I with his parents after Conference. Aren't they adorable? I love his parents, they're so awesome!

 Sadly, we had to leave pretty early Sunday night to head back to Rexburg, but on the bright side it's finals week and then we're done with school!

OH.

I still  have another three months...

Well, here are some pictures on our drive home. It was so dark & gloomy outside, but also really beautiful!

 

            I absolutely love Conference weekend! I love being able to hear the Lord's Prophet and His apostles speak. I always leave Conference feeling uplifted and spiritually fed. Right now Andrew and I are taking a family foundations class were we focus on key principles that strength families. Our teacher asked us to pay attention to the conference talks and see if we noticed any of them refererencing the Proclamation; It was interesting to see how many talks highlighted the Proclamation.
             I'm really excited for when Andrew and I start our little family. I know it's going to be difficult raising children with all the problems going on in the world, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives me hope that we can conquer anything.
            I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, I know mine was. :) 
          

A New Semester

          I'm really not the best at creating these posts and keeping everyone up to date with our lives, so I'm going to try and get better.
         Today while I was washing the dishes a song by Kenny Chesney came on the radio called Don't Blink. I love this song because it talks about the importance of not taking moments in life for granted because life really does go by in a blink. It's a really simple and cute message.

Things have been going great with Andrew and I. We had a wonderful Christmas with Andrew's family in Utah. It was really interesting combining different family traditions to start making our own traditions for Christmas (I need to get better at taking group pictures...). On Christmas night Andrew and I went to Temple Square to look at the lights around the Temple. It was breathtaking. The amount of detail and skill that went into the displays was magnificent. The walkway was lined with paper bags that had a picture poked through them, some were of baby Jesus and others of the three wise men.
        School has just started back up for Andrew and I and it's going fantastic so far. We're taking two classes together, which is a lot of fun. I really love our religion class and I am so grateful that we go to a university that not only allows us to learn religiously, but also include God in our classes. It really helps set the mood for class by opening with a prayer.
        My English classes are a lot of fun as well. I feel myself becoming more cultured with each author or poem we study. Today we were studying Elizabeth Barret Browning's and her husband Robert Browning's work. I have to say that Elizabeth has a wonderful way with words. I really enjoy her poem "How Do I Love Thee?," but after studying her again this semester I have come to love her poem "The Cry of the Children." It's a really sad poem, but it really is an eye opener to what was happening with child labor in that time period, and we could still apply it to child labor today. 

Saving money.

Well over Andrew's thanksgiving break I decided I was sick of having to pay 1.50 every time I wanted to wash or dry a load of clothes and we can't afford a washer/dryer right now so I decided to kick it old school. I googled how to wash clothes by hand and we've been using the tub ever since. It's very time consuming, but seeing as I have very little to do before going to work it fits in perfectly. It takes about 20 minutes for a small load, 25 minutes to wash a medium load and 30 minutes for a bigger load. The only downside is it takes a while for the clothes to dry..about two days, but once it's warmer we'll be able to have the door open and windows open which will help the clothes dry faster. :)

Here come the holidays

Halloween has just finished and I felt so bad because I worked and when I got off we had two littles stop by asking for candy. I was so sad because I had no candy to offer. I felt horrible.
I'm getting excited for Thanksgiving, Ands and I just bought a ham today.:) We're having friends come over, I'm sure it'll be great. We also got our Christmas tree. I'm super excited to celebrate the Saviour's birth. I'm ready for snow, hot chocolate and lots of Christmas music. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Last night Andrew and I went to see the Madison high school put on Beauty and the Beast. It was amazing. I thought the kids did a fantastic job. Andrew even admitted that Clogsworth and Lumiere did a good job with their British and French accents. Belle's yellow dress was gorgeous, I would have loved to have it...I actually am quite sad we don't dress up like in fancy dresses like they used too. BUT the school is putting on a Jane Auayen Yule ball and I'm convinced we're going. :)

Our Sweet Abode.

For all of you who have been wondering if we're living out of a cardboard box, i assure you these are some pictures of our apartment. First the living room it was absolutely bare out first few weeks, luckily when Ashley and Micah were visiting they were kind enough to allow us to use their truck and look at some furniture. Andrew was my handy-man as we were putting together our new home, he put the TV stand together, the bedside tables and the bookshelf. I absolutely love out kitchen, it's so spacious which makes me super happy! I love cooking/baking so lots of room is excellent. Our bathroom is a little small, but it works. Andrew picked out the shower curtain, it's green and brown so that's our color theme for the bathroom. We have two bedrooms in our apartment, we're using the second bedroom as a spare room/storage room. It has stuff that we're giving to my little sister in the winter and lots of odds and ends of ours...hopefully it'll be a baby room soon. :) Then we move onto our bedroom. Here's a picture of the lovely picture frame my sister Athena got us. And finally we have out Laundry/shoes/coats closet. And that's a tour of our apartment. :)