Updates....

A quick update from the love birds....

1. We are still living with my sis and bro-in-law in their guest bedroom. We have loved hanging out with them everyday and are SO grateful to them for letting us stay here for so long! However.....

2. We found a place to live!!!!!! It's pretty much the perfect set-up. Brand new 3 bdrm 2 bath duplex in Rupert in the {only} newly developed subdivision in the city. We are really excited about it!! Nice big master bedroom with walk-in closet and attached full bath, big yard with grass and a fence {aka PUPPY ready!!} and just a few blocks from Jeff's office! Although Burley is just a few miles away, we wanted to find a place in Rupert, if possible, so that we could get involved in the community and the wards and meet the people who will sooner or later be Jeff's clients ;) It is still being built, but will be done by Oct. 1st. Yay for housing! {And with TWO extra bedrooms, NONE of you have any excuse not to come visit us ;}

3. Little Car is still out of service.... BIG :(. Not only is it super inconvenient not having a car all day long while Jeff works, but I MISS her too. I have a definite emotional attachment to my car... she is the 1st and only car that I can call "my car". I have had her since spring of 2004 and we have been through EVERYTHING together, including high school, college, working, dating, engagement and marriage. I've bawled hysterically and laughed hysterically in her. I've had personal epiphanies in her. I've broken up with and been broken up with in her. I've made huge, life-changing decisions while sitting in her. I've cursed, screamed and banged on her steering wheel. I have been as far west as Portland, as far north as Moscow, as far east as Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and as far south as San Diego {twice, in one semester} in her. She drove us to and from our wedding reception on our wedding day! And on November 19, 2010 she officially became MY car! {Happy wedding to us! Thanks Dad :} I would be content driving her until the day she or I dies- whichever comes first. Fingers crossed that that day hasn't come.....

4. My brother Dallin, who is currently serving his mission in Taiwan, has been pretty sick for a while now and they're not sure what is causing it. He's lost about 25 pounds and a lot of hair, which generally points to some sort of malnutrition. He also hurt his shoulder playing basketball early on in the mission, and that has gotten worse lately as well. Dall's mission president called our stake president to let us know that the mission doctor is going to be checking on him each week, and they should be running some tests on him pretty soon. We hope and pray that everything is okay, and he just has some sort of bug {or worm- ugh gross}, and that his shoulder won't require surgery. We miss our big brother, and can't wait to talk to him at Christmas and finally have him home in 7 short months!!!!

The Final Countdown.....

Well, this is our last week living in Boise, and I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. Mainly these emotions have to do with the fact that Jeff has been out of town for the past 10 days for work {he was home for a day and a half in there...} which has left me to pack and clean our townhouse by myself. And let me tell you.... this is a much different experience than packing up my little room in my Rexburg apartment. I don't know how we have accumulated so much stuff!  Naturally, all of this has also left me in charge of finding a place for us to live! This has proven to be the biggest challenge thus far. In fact, we move in 4 days and still have not found a place to live! You would think between the 3 towns all right there close together (Burley, Rupert, and Heyburn) we would be able to find somewhere! But alas~ we have not.
With all of this craziness going on, I haven't even had a chance to think about leaving Boise indefinitely. I've grown so close to my family this summer, having spent time at their house almost every single day for the past 2 months. They are going to be the hardest part of leaving Boise. But honestly, I haven't thought about it all~ yet. I'm so focused on packing, cleaning, moving, and finding a place to live that I'm not feeling sad~ yet. It'll be interesting to see what my feelings are in about 2 weeks from now.
Stay tuned for that pleasant post :)

Summer!!

It's been a while since I posted on here.... we've just been having so much FUN this summer that I haven't had time! We've gone from one exciting activity to another! It's been so nice not working this summer (most of the time- I've learned to keep myself busy so I don't go crazy) and having Jeff home for most of it too! The last time I had a truly open summer with no job or school was Summer 2003!! Summer before my Sophomore year. Wow- pretty sad, huh?
So I guess I'll go chronologically since the last time I posted!

Our first boating trip of the season! It was freeeeeeeezing!! But super fun! This was the day after my dinner party I blogged about last time.

Fisher, Eli (cousins) and Alyse on the tube

Me and Alyse on the boat!

Jeff the awesome (and brave!) surfer

My besssst friend! :)

Unle Dirk crashes

4th of July was AWESOME! We spent the whole week up at the cabin in Donnelly, soakin up the sun, boating, hiking, playing cards and building bonfires! Sadly I forgot my camera, so the only pics I have from the whole trip are a couple from boating that my aunt took.

Cousin Megan, Me, Alyse and Jeff on the tube for "Tube Wars"

A mellow part of the ride....... At one point in time my dad flipped the tubes over the right side of the wake and our tube RAN OVER Jeff's tube, and we switched sides with him! I thought Jeff for sure died when that happened, or at least got his head ripped off!

I haven't spent the entire summer just playing... I have done some hobby/skill-developing as well! My mom taught me to use the sewing machine and surger! This was my first project!

An ADORABLE apron I made for my best friend's Bridal Shower! It turned out SOOO cute!!

I was so proud :)

The apron in action!!

One's I've made since then...

This one is my favorite!!! I gave this one to my aunt Rachel for her 

b-day!

I made one more with plum purple, light aqua blue and green fabrics (SUPER cute!) but I can't find it, or the pictures of it.... 

My family went on our ward's Trek this summer, and I braided my sisters' hair for it!

Abby's hair.... corn-row style!

Alyse's hair- all french braided!

The back of Abby's hair- french braided up the back

One of her braids came out of her bun and was sticking STRAIGHT up! Hilarious!

The 3 Hermanas!!

Alyse's finished hair- SO CUTE!!

Morning of Trek- Alyse in her pioneer get-up!

My BFF Maurie's bridal shower in Rexburg!! So much fun!!

Katie (our old roommate), Maurie and Me!

Funny (long) story: That same weekend of the Bridal Shower, Jeff's parents, his bro-and-sis-in-law Mark and Jay and their kids,  bro-sis-in-law Katie and Brady and Jeff all went up to their cabin in Pine while I went to Rexburg. The plan was, that on Saturday after the bridal shower I was going to drive from Rexy to Pine via the scenic highway 26/20- a 3.5 to 4 hour drive. So I left Rexburg at 5 and started my journey to the cabin. Around 9 pm I called Jeff to let him know I was in Shoshone.... thinking I was very close to the turn-off to go up to Pine. But, to both of our dismay, I had taken a wrong turn in Carey, Idaho which was about 1 hr and 15 minutes back. Best word to describe my feelings at that time? Frustration!! To describe Jeff? Nervous- I am notorious for falling asleep while driving! Plus, the night before I had gotten about 2 hours of sleep due to a severe allergy attack in the middle of the night! I was really sleepy. So I drive the 20-30 min to Gooding to get service and Google Maps myself to the cabin. Unfortunately, when I get to Gooding my phone can't get any service! So I can't get ahold of Jeff to tell him where I am, and I can't figure out how to get to the cabin!! I go to the nearest gas station and ask the attendant how to get to Fairfield (which was about 10 min from the Pine turn-off). He doesn't know- "Isn't that the one that's like an hour and a half away, kinda past Shoshone?" he says. "Uh, no. That's Richfield- which I passed on my WRONG way here!" So he calls his buddy and asks him. He doesn't know either. So he calls his mom- whom he can't get ahold of. Calls his dad- "Oh yeah, no big deal just stay going North on this same exact road and it'll take you there!" So- tired, hungry, and frustrated (and about 30-40 minutes after arriving in Gooding....) I drive down that road, and shortly see a sign that says "This way to Fairfield". So I get up to Pine and I'm about 15 minutes from the cabin and a car pulls up behind me and starts flashing their brights at me. So I pull over, and the car pulls over behind me. At this point in time- which is about midnight- I'm so exhausted and frustrated, I think, "Oh, bring it on, buddy! Don't mess with the crazy lady right now!" So I open my door to confront the bright-flashing jerk, and out jumps Jeff out of the passenger seat of Brady's car! He ran over to me and grabbed me into a huge hug. YAY! Mark, Brady and Jeff had set out on a rescue mission to find me- Jeff scared that I had fallen asleep somewhere on the road, and unable to get ahold of me since 9!! He drove my car back to the cabin, and I was welcomed with many hugs of relief that I wasn't dead. I have a great family :)

Moral of the story? Don't take the scenic route :)

So... the very next weekend I get back in the car and drive back to Rexburg for my

cousin Kati's graduation from BYU-I!! Yay! I stayed at a hotel in Idaho Falls with Rachel and her darling baby boy Logan! It was a lot of fun!

Kate and baby Logan! Love this little man!

Kati and her BF Jordan..... We like him. 

We hope he sticks around.

Kati and Mama Jules!!!

Kati and me!!

Me, Kate and Rach!!!

We took a day and went to Roaring Springs waterpark with my mom, sisters, brother, adopted sister Sheeva, and hubby!!

Abby, Sheeva, Alyse, Me

Another funny (shorter) story: Jeff, Alyse, Sheeves, and I all went on a ride together. It's called Thunder Falls family ride, and it's the newest ride in the park. Here's a link to a pic/video of the ride!

So we got on the ride with Jeff and I on the tube facing forward and Alyse and Sheeves facing backward (like the lifeguard told us to ride). This was my 2nd time on the ride, but as soon as we started going, it felt like we were going a lot faster than normal. When we got to the bottom of the ride our tube somehow flipped, with mine and Jeff's side going straight up into the air. We were launched completely off the tube, right over Alyse and Sheeves. It happened so quickly that when we all came up out of the water, we had no idea how it happened- just saw our tube lying face down in the water. The lifeguard came running over and everyone was staring at us, and we had to talk to a supervisor to make sure we were all okay (and that we weren't going to sue the waterpark). I SOOOOO wish we somehow had a video of that..... priceless!

We've done a lot more boating since 4th of July- we're all loving surfing behind the boat! It's quickly becoming our favorite thing to do. And it can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be, so even little guys like my cousin Travis can do it!

Party Time!

I decided to throw a dinner party for Jeff, since his last day of work at his old job was on Friday the 17th. I was really excited to throw my first dinner party, and I planned for about 3 or 4 days before it, all of the yummy food we were going to have! I researched a whole bunch of different recipes online, and also took some from the recipe books I had checked out from the library. I decided to go with a "summer" or possibly "hawaiian"-ish theme. And after about 5 hours of narrowing everything down, I picked the menu, bought all the food, and planned out a rough schedule of the day.
Everything went smoothly! I had my family over, as well as my grandma and her new puppy, Chester. I started cooking at around 1:30 and spent about 4 hours cooking. Here is a pic of the finished product(s):

(In order from L-R)

~Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade

~Fruit salad: pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, mango

~Awesome plastic margarita glasses from Wal-Mart

~Black bean and red pepper couscous salad

~Chinese noodles, pineapple, olives, green onions, coconut for the Hawaiian Haystacks

~Cocktail sauce and red chili sauce for the shrimp

~Baked coconut shrimp

~Chicken sauce for the Hawaiian Haystacks

~Thai coconut rice (not in the pic)

And here is a picture of the desserts (I forgot to take one before everyone started eating)

(I have to give credit to my 9-yr-old brother Lucas for frosting the cupcakes :)

~Banana Cream Pie

~Mango Margarita Cupcakes (very delicious, very virgin....;)

~Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

This is the adorable pie server my sister Abby got me for my birthday! 

It's a high heel, and the heel is magnetic so you can take it off and throw the server in the dishwasher!!

The food turned out sooooo yummy! I was pretty proud of myself! For those of you who know me, know I am not terribly fond of cooking, so this was kind of a big deal for me :)
The rest of the night we just talked and played with my grandma's new puppy, Chester. He is so much fun and has the biggest, funniest personality! We all love him!

Yes, my grandma is sitting in a camping chair... 

We only have 3 real chairs :)

I was very pleased with how everything turned out. I didn't let my expectations get too high, just in case it all fell apart and we were left eating grilled cheese or PB&J! 

If anyone wants any of the recipes of the delicious cuisine shown above, just email/txt/facebook me and I'll get it to ya! :)