October Visit from my Parents!!!

My wonderful mom and dad came to visit us this past weekend! I love it when they come visit our home.. which is not much, but we still love it! Mom and dad arrived on Thursday and they just left about 2 hours ago :( . But, all is well because Steven and I are going to be going home for Thanksgiving in November for a few days. We're excited for that fun vacation! It's always fun to show Mom and Dad around to the places we love the most out here in Idaho.. and it's fun to explore things we've never been too!

We took them to two of our favorite restaurants, Kiwi Loco and Costa Vida, and we showed them around Rexburg. We also went to Mesa Falls, a place where none of us have been before. It was so beautiful! You'll just have to see for yourself in the pictures.

Steven and Mom at Mesa Falls. 

Mom and I at the top of Mesa Falls. 

Dad and Steven at the top of Mesa Falls. 

All of us at Mesa Falls. 

My love and I. 

My parents a top of a gorgeous view of the falls. 

We also went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming... which is pretty much, like my dad said, rich man's land. It's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but everything is ridiculously over priced. We still had a great time. We went to this really fancy chocolate shop called Coco Love and ate some chocolates, I had a pistachio macaroon. We also went to Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum; there's some crazy stuff in there! We enjoyed a FABULOUS dinner at a restaurant called the Garage, they had the best onion rings I've ever eaten! Then we went and looked around at some of the houses in Jackson Hole. They're really cool! In one part we were just driving up the side of a hill and the road would wind around all these crazy houses. Some of them had their garage on their roofs! It was crazy!

Beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming...about 2 hours from where we live. 

Steven and Mom on a little trail. 

This was a crazy tall tree!

Mom and Dad next to the beautiful Jackson Hole view. 

Inside Coco Love, the fancy chocolate place. 

Yummy desserts. I had one of those green macaroons! 

It was a cute little cafe. 

Our yummy treats! 

Steven standing by an elk made out of elk antlers at the Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum.

A couch made out of a buffalo!!!!!!! (then my camera died and no more pictures :( ) 

And, even though we did have some really fun adventures, we also enjoyed some fun time just at home... playing Rummikub, watching TV, swimming at the hotel, watching General Conference (my favorite part was hearing the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson speak... he is such an incredible man!), cooking food ( I love, love, love cooking for people) and just relaxing.


Thanks for visiting! Love you Mom and Dad!!!! 

MARCH to SEPT. UPDATE!

Hey there to all of those who read my blog!

I know it's been a while since I have posted.. and a lot of things have occurred in our lives since posting.... and we have moved two times since posting.. but..let me update you!

Well.. maybe I will go by the month:

March..
April..
May..
June..
July..
August..
September..
October..


Geesh, that's a lot.

MARCH

In March Steven and I were both still going to school. I was taking 19 credits to end my last semester of being an undergrad. (That was rough! (but over!)) We enjoyed celebrating St. Patrick's Day with our friends the McKell's. They like to have a traditional Irish feast.. and it is always yummy!

APRIL
I GRADUATED!!! It was wonderful. I loved it. My mom and dad were able to come support me as I participated in the ceremony that culminated my entire 5 year undergrad experience! I graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in Health Science with an emphasis on Public Health. I also graduated with a cluster in Advertising and a cluster in Lifestyle Design.

We also..
Moved out of our first home. (tear ;( )
Moved to South Dakota and in with my mom and dad.
GOT TO GO TO SOUTH CAROLINA! (and all the states in between SD and SC and SC to VA.. but who's counting?)

Steven and Leah.

Steven and I with Steven's Melancon Grandparents and Leah, Katy, and Jack.

I really liked visiting our family in South Carolina. We also got to go to Virginia with my sister-in-law and her three kids. It's fun being around my husband's family. I love them. We got to hang out with our nieces and nephew...and actually got to meet Leah for the first time! She's a doll. I also really like this restaurant called Kiyoto Express and we went to it approximately 12323 times while we were there for 2 weeks... okay maybe that was an exaggeration.. but I think we went there like 5 times... and that's not an exaggeration. It's a fast food style Japanese Steakhouse kind of restaurant and soooooo good!

MAY 

Steven started his job at the State Fleet! He got a job washing the state vehicles everyday. He really liked it and his co-workers were fun. He would always come home with fun stories to tell me.

Steven as a mountain man with long hair and a beard!

I got an internship (I had to do this to receive my diploma). I got my internship with Beyond School Adventures. I absolutely loved it. I taught kids ages kindergarten to 6th grade about health everyday. At first it was a little challenging, but after a while I got the hang of it. I would put together fun experiments with the kids and we would watch Bill Nye videos... it was great!

We also went to the Omaha Zoo as a family. It's in Nebraska and it was really fun!






Also!!! Steven turned 23!!! Woot! Woot!




JUNE

A lot of our lives were devoted to helping my family set up their fireworks business. We also went to the pool a few times.. and go karting.. on walks.

Also, Oscar our dog got really sick. He was diagnosed with ketoacidosis.. which basically means his diabetes had gotten out of control and his body was producing ketones as a byproduct. It is NOT a good diagnosis to get and not a lot of dogs survive. He also was diagnosed with pancreatitis. He was hospitalized with IV's and everything for about a week.




We ended up bringing him home after about a week and the vet told us that Oscar didn't have a very good outcome. There were multiple times I didn't want to go upstairs in the morning because I was too afraid of what I might see. I prayed and prayed for that little guy and decided that I would do everything possible to make sure his last days were something he could enjoy. I decided that I would take him outside.. and let him enjoy the areas he used to love. Once I brought him outside, it was like he had a brand new outlook on life. Everyday I would take him on walks. They started out really small and slow .. like to our neighbors house and back. After about a week he was walking so much faster and with so much more energy. He was eating more than he used to and we decided that we would be making the dog's food at home from now on. Throughout the whole illness he ended up losing 8 pounds, roughly 30% of his body weight. Within about a month though, Oscar fully recovered from his sickness. He's famous at the vet's office and he's known as the miracle dog! We love our little Oscie so much. He's truly a member of our family and I am so thankful he is still with us today.

JULY

We had a fun time with our family and friends helping out at Fireworks Unlimited Inc. and New 2 You Consignment Store. We really enjoyed working with our family this summer. The consignment store is great! I love it! I definitely get too many things from there!!

Dad and Steven chillin' in Silver Dollar City.

I turned 24!!! Woot! Woot! And we went camping for my birthday!! It was really fun!

Getting ready to go boating at Table Rock Lake!

Steven and I tubing.

We also went on a big family vacation to Branson, Missouri! It was so much fun and we are so thankful that my mom and dad took all of us!











AUGUST

We celebrated our 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! Awww!! :) It was great! We didn't do anything too special because we were going to be traveling to Idaho within days of our anniversary, but it was fun and very special.

We moved back to Idaho and into a new apartment!! We love it! We have a washer and dryer this year and our apartment seems a little bigger than last year. It really does feel like home.. our home. We also really like being back at our apartment complex because we get to hang out with our friends again!! It's so fun hanging out with everyone.

Here's some pictures of our apartment:



I started my job! I got a job as a Title 1 paraeducator in the Sugar/Salem School district and I work in Central Elementary. I love it! I work with three ladies who are very funny. I assist kindergardeners and first graders on their reading techniques. It's already been very rewarding. They call me Mrs. M and I think it's so fun.

SEPTEMBER

Steven started school!!! He loves it! It is really weird for me to not be going to school right now. It feels like I should be doing homework or something every night.. but really I have nothing I need to get done. I love that I get to cook and clean at my leisure and I have really enjoyed both.

Clemson Football started! YAY!!!! We have been trying to watch as many of their games as we can. GOOO CLEMSON!


Okay.. that's really long.. so I will blog about our current happenings on a future post! Have a good day and thanks for reading!!