The Holidays till Now

So, it's been so long since I've posted. Sadly, Tom has been the one really wanting me to update this, so I'm working on it. Anyways, I didn't write about Christmas or New Year's or our cross-country road trip at all. Let's start with Christmas.

We spent Christmas with my family in Gilbert and had a blast. We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom's extended family eating and opening presents to one another. I didn't get to see some of my cousins, but we still had fun. Then on Christmas we opened presents and enjoyed following Krew around because he's the cutest member of our family. We also spent time with our dog Titan who we miss.

Right after Christmas, my family was invited to join the Palmer-Holyoak family at their cabin and go snowboarding. I went with my family and Thomas stayed in Gilbert and spent time with his friend John. I missed him, but our snowboarding was great. Unfortunately, basically all the pictures I have from our vacation were taking on our snowboarding trip (thanks to Blaze for bringing a camera).

Here is a picture of half of the snowboarding group (my siblings- except sis-in-law Ashli because she's pregnant; Dallin's friend Eric; Ashley's friends Blaze, Ryan and Mike).

Here is our snowboarding family minus Ashli, Krew and my Mom. I can't wait to see Krew on the slopes someday!

This is my favorite picture from our trip. It's my sister Ashley and I on the lift!

After Christmas and miserably packing back up our car-again- we left Arizona for Florida. We drove through Arizona, New Mexico and half of Texas in one day. Then we stayed with our friend Tucker at his home in Mississippi (thanks Tucker!). After that, we made it all the way down to Miami and arrived at about 9p.m. New Year's Eve. It was great to see Tom's parents again who we'll be staying with while we are doing our internship.

Now, Thomas and I are working at WLRN; it's the Public Television and Radio station for South Florida. Since we are both studying Communications at BYU-Idaho, we were able to get two positions at the same company for our internship. We work together and are having a lot of fun.

So far, we've been involved with giveaways and promotions of their Facebook Fan Page and Twitter account. We also helped with the broadcast of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade in Liberty City. We helped gather information about each organization in the parade. During the event, we helped the hosts get the information so they knew what to say about each group. Despite the rain, it was a lot of fun. We're excited to be doing our internships and are lucky to be in beautiful, warm Miami right now.

Midnight Hot Chocolate Run

I thought I knew the town of Rexburg, Idaho pretty well, but this experience taught me something I never fathomed.

First off, Tom and I made the mistake of taking a late afternoon nap on Sunday after church (our church ends at 4). This napping made us stay up late last night. Tom was working on homework and I was just surfing the internet. But we weren't sleepy at all. Tom suggested we go get hot chocolate because it was no longer the Sabbath, but Monday morning!

We don't have curfew because we're married, so we decided to hit the town! We didn't understand what 'hitting the town' this late in Rexburg entailed.

This experience showed us just how dead Rexburg really is late at night/really early in the morning. We saw probably only three other cars on the road- literally, this is not an exaggeration. And every time we pulled up to a streetlight it magically changed into whatever we needed (a miracle in this small, slow town).

In our quest for food, we decided to see if Jack in the Box was open for some delicious $.99 tacos (no judgements, please). Unfortunately, they were closed. What about Wendy's? Open 2am or later, right? Wrong. Closed too. We thought the one 24 hour place that exists in Rexburg would be open, but Ramirez must've changed their hours. They were also a fail. We thought we were going to have to give up, or drive all the way to Rigby or Idaho Falls for a late-night snack. We settled on the only store open, the gas station Maverik. We got hot chocolate and a hot dog. I love Tom even more for his idea to go out at 1:30am Monday morning. Now we know what Rexburg is really like.

(Please disregard the extreme enthusiasm on our faces about gas station food/drink.)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

December date night= double date making gingerbread houses!

Tom and I made gingerbread houses with Zack and Amy, our engaged friends. It was so much fun. We made gingerbread villages, to be exact. They were a bunch of tiny houses that you make and decorate.

The finished products:

Thanks Tom and Zack for planning date night. I love Christmastime!

Happy Thanksgiving, a Bit Late

We enjoyed Thanksgiving in the warm Arizona sunshine. It was beautiful the whole time we were there. It was hard to go back to Rexburg where snow accumulated daily. On Thanksgiving morning, we went on a hike to the wind caves in the Superstition Springs mountains. The hike was beautiful and exhilarating.

Our cute little dog Titan came with us on the trial. He had a great time and made friends with another dog named Sauce.

Tom enjoyed soaking up the sun. He got in touch with mother nature.

Here's my sissy overlooking the Phoenix metropolitan area.

I didn't take many pictures at our actual Thanksgiving dinner. Ashley was really excited for the turkey.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious. Thanks a million Mom! This year was a small group. It was my immediate family minus Tyler, Ashli and Krew who ironically went to Idaho for Thanksgiving. Fortunately, my Gma was with us. She's the sweetest Grandma ever and we call her Gma because she's gangsta like that. After the Thanksgiving festivities meant that Christmastime began. We helped with the tree, went black Friday shopping and made a gingerbread house. Tom and I put the house together and Ashley, my Mom and I decorated it.

The most eventful part of our trip for Tom was going to the Phoenix Suns game with my Dad.

Our trip back up to Rexburg was eventful, to say the least. We ended up leaving on Sunday instead of our intended Saturday because Tom and I slept in. We left my parent's house in Gilbert at about 6am and made it to our friend John's house by about 6:30. John joined us for the trip and probably learned a lot more than he wanted to about us. But, seeing as it is a 15 hour car ride, it comes as no surprise that we got a little wired.

Anyway, we made great time to Las Vegas, but the trouble came in Cedar City. There was a huge snowstorm that sent us back at least an hour and half. However, despite being in stand-still traffic on the I-15, we still believed that we could make it in one day. But, as we traveled on the snow was still bad. We had to stay in Provo that night.

Thankfully, John had a friend with whom he stayed, and Thomas and I stayed with my old roommate Sarah and her husband Daniel. Thank you Sarah and Daniel! They were so nice and kind to let us stay with them. Let's just say, this Thanksgiving, I was grateful for them. We promptly emailed our teachers like good little students and drove the rest of the way the next day. Finally, we made it home!

Now all we have to do is rock our finals and we can leave this forbidden tundra for the warm tropics of Miami. But for now, the snow is making me feel very festive. Christmas is all around! It's literally a winter wonderland here!

The Crock Pot Fiasco

...And I do mean 'fiasco.'

This pathetic tale starts with a fine Sunday night. I was all set to make a roast beef, potatoes, and carrots in our crock pot. I've made this meal several times before and wasn't hesitant or worried to start the roast on low for Monday night's dinner. I was excited because this is one of my favorite meals ever and we were having Nate and Bethany over for dinner and FHE.

I was surprised in the morning when I got home from an interview to see there wasn't very much water in the crock pot. I simply added some more, assuming the roast was thirsty and went on my merry way. (I might add that it snowed all day Monday and I was very much looking forward to this meal).

Unfortunately, when Tom and I came home from class in the afternoon, we found a crusted roast sweltering in black tar. I was so sad, but the inside of the roast was okay. I decided I would just wash out the dish and cook the potatoes and carrots in the crock pot anyway.

But, as I was washing it out, I realized it had a leak. How did this thick, ceramic pot get a leak in it? Well, I don't know how it happened, but my precious crock pot is ruined. I cooked the potatoes and carrots on the stove and made some gravy to save the roast.

...so that was the fiasco. Needless to say, I am disappointed in my failed crock pot, but we do have another one that we got from iComm as a wedding present. I'm very grateful for it now.

On a happier note, Tom and I celebrated our 8-month-anniversary and we went on a picnic to celebrate. I found this cool little spot between some trees at the duck park. It was the last weekend of nice weather in Rexburg, and we took advantage of it. Today Rexburg turned into a winter wonderland. The snow literally fell ALL day. It was cold and slushy on our feet, but also so beautiful.

Here are a few pictures from our picnic:

Here's to my handsome man! It's been the best 8 months ever. Thank you.

My Last Fall Semester

Thomas and I are in our very last Fall semester. We're so excited for our internship in Miami and our last semester in the Summer. For now, I am sick of school. I didn't think it was possible, because I LOVE school.

But, I'm ready to graduate.

I'm getting tired of doing assignments and homework that only go as far as my teacher (and maybe online). Right now I'm busy, busy, busy with homework assignments, but I just don't want to do them. I'm as lazy as it gets.

Oh well, I'll try to continue working hard and finishing out strong. But, I'm excited for the day that my homework assignments end and they hand me a diploma! Go us- we can do it.

Pumpkin Festivus

It's official- Fall is now here! It's getting cold in Rexburg- and most places up north. But, it feels most like Fall because we carved pumpkins! My Mom named whatever day we carve pumpkins "pumpkin festivus," so it was deemed that. We were given homegrown pumpkins from the Peterson family (our Firth family) and then carved them at our friends Nate and Bethany's apartment. It was Tom's first time and he loved it, even though he got sick of the tediousness of carving, so I finished the rest. These are the homegrown pumpkins:

Carving out the top:

Nate carving the top:

Like I mentioned, it was Tom's first time EVER carving a pumpkin! Excited is an understatement.

Bethany working on her creation:

Bethany with her scary spider:

Me with the goofy face- on the pumpkin, not my actual face:

The finished projects all lit up (side 1: faces)

Side 2: Spooky Sensations

Thanks Nate, Bethany and the Peterson and Smith families for providing us with some holiday spirit! Now, I've just got to figure out what to be for Halloween...