bowling and valentines!

 So Steven LOVES bowling… in the past two weeks we have gone bowling 4 times. He even has been looking up videos on youtube to help him perfect his bowling technique. Thankfully we are on a bowling team so we get to go bowling at least one day a week!

our bowling team!

Also during the last two weeks we had lots of homework and lots of tests…. Oh the life of a college student! But… being the madly in love newlyweds that we are we for sure had to go on a hot date for valentines day. Steven took me to wingers, then (you guessed it!) bowling.. then we had a lot of fun picking out gifts at walmart… we did this all on the day before valentine’s day because (you guessed it again) we had bowling league on Tuesday night! Haha..

steven eating a cupcake at cocoa bean!

me eating a cupcake at cocoa bean

We are pretty excited to move to Rapid City, SD. Steven has decided for sure that he DOES NOT want to be a chemical engineer.. but would rather love to be a mechanical engineer… his dream job would be to work at a car company and help develop cars. He sure loves to hear those engines purr… and he knows his stuff about cars! Since we’ve been together I’ve learned so much about cars it’s nuts. I can tell you the difference between a V8 and a V6.. and no one of them is not vegetable juice. I can tall you what 22’s are and that a Ferrari needs to have a fire extinguisher in it because it might catch on fire! …. And guess what. I love learning about cars.

Also last week we went to Famous Dave's and it was really yummy. My parents sent us a gift card to eat there for valentine's day. There was a pig walking around handing out coupons and it was so cute. Here is a picture of Steven and I on our hot Famous Dave's date. .... and then BOWLING after! haha.. and we went with Jennifer and Justin. 

Here are some shots from our Valentine's date (that was actually on Monday) and the flowers that Steven got me AND made for me. He's such a sweetheart. I told him I wanted something homemade and he made me some flowers and he came up with idea ALL by himself... I decided I wanted to make him something too.. so I made him a palmetto tree (south carolina state tree).

burgers and ice cream

last monday, as in.. January 30th we made homemade ice cream with our friends the mcKells. it was pretty tastey.. but it was a SUPER painful process if you have any type of cut on your hand because of the salt you add to the ice in your outer bag. the water seeps out of the bag.. the salt gets into your wounds.. and ya.

but, all in all it was pretty fun and yummy. 

this is jennifer and justin eating their ice cream from the bag.

  

this is steven and i eating our ice cream from cups.. 

not as much risk of getting your spoon in the salty outside water! 

then today, february 4th, we went to a famous burger place here called big juds with jennifer, justin, daniel (jennifer's brother), and devin for lunch. we ordered the big jud special and shared it. the bigger was seriously the size of my head! we had to cut it in four pie sections (which made our quarter sections quarter pound burgers) to eat it.. and half of it is currently in our fridge. daniel ate a whole one by himself. kudoos to you!

seriously.. bigger than my head! 

steven is showing off the giaganticness of the hamburger.. which was pretty delish.  

First blog for 2012!

Greetings to everyone who reads my blog!

I am very aware that I have not written on my blog in quite sometime. (This is pretty ordinary) But.. recently I have been trying and trying to create a new blog... but have failed terribly (who knew that blogger got so confusing!?). I think I am just going to continue with my according to stephanie blog... and update it a little bit. 

What's new with us?

Well... let me tell you.

I am taking 19 credits in my FINAL semester at BYU-Idaho!! Hooray! ...well, kinda. I received an email today that was sent out to all graduates and I got kind of emotional reading it. (I admit it.. I shed a couple tears) It's just crazy to think I am done with this chapter in my life. For so long college graduation seemed so far away... but now, just a few months. I am so grateful for my education and through college I have learned and grown so much... and I just can't believe my undergraduate days are almost over. 

Steven is exited and getting ready to transfer to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, SD. He hasn't quite decided if he wants to be a chemical engineer or a mechanical engineer... but he's excited to transfer. We're both pretty excited to move too. Some aspects of moving terrify me a little bit. Like: Where are we going to live? Where will I find a job?? WE HAVE NO FRIENDS THERE! But.. I know that it will all work out. 

I may or may not get an internship at a Women's Clinic in Idaho Falls. I'm pretty excited about it. Out of all types of health I would have to say that Women's Health is my absolute favorite. Working in a Women's Clinic would be my dream job... so I am kind of hoping the internship works out. 

Steven's brother, Aaron, who is currently moving from Kuwait to Afghanistan, gave us an X-Box 360 Kinect and some sweet games for our wedding/Christmas gift. We have a lot of fun and sure make a lot of noise (sorry Andrus's). Steven really likes the new Batman game and I really like Disney Universe (we get to play together so I like that). We both really like Your Shape Evolved and Just Dance 3. Great workouts!! THANK YOU AARON! 

I have not been very good at eating healthy. I went to a Zumba class and I felt super out of shape. AHHH.. I don't think an aerobics instructor ever wants to feel like that. I wanted to start WeightWatchers .... but I haven't been very good at it lately. So.. hopefully I will start focusing more on getting back into shape and getting healthier soon. 

Steven and I are on a bowling team with our friends Jennifer and Justin and Jennifer's brother and his friend. Our team name is M&M (Melancon's and the McKell's.. get it?) We lost our first match and won our second. It's pretty fun and stress free. We're hoping to make team shirts soon... bedazzled shirts. ... haha, just kidding. 

Two of our neighbors are having babies! Our neighbors The Hallam's (Chelsea is my old roommate so we have a lot of fun being neighbors) are expecting a son at the end of May and The McNary's are expecting a little girl in March. I am going to Bethani's baby shower tomorrow and I am pretty excited!

Well.. that's a pretty long post so I hope ya'll got caught up with what we've been up to! 

This is a picture of Steven and I on our last night of our honeymoon in Myrtle Beach, SC. We decided to go out on the town and had a lot of fun. We rode a roller coaster, ate at a street Greek restaurant, went in to countless shops, and had yummy smoothies from a street vendor.
I included this picture for these reasons:
1. We are both very tan.
2. I miss my honeymoon (who doesn't?!)
3. I miss it being really hot outside.
4. I really like this picture of us :)

women are so mean sometimes.

women. why are women so weird sometimes? why are we so degrading to ourselves? why do we put ourselves down so often? do we not realize that we are all SO beautiful in so many ways?! i don't get it. i am a complete victim of this horrendous act that women so often commit to themselves. i don't get how easy it is to see someone else's beauty.. and completely forget about how beautiful you are.
i hate it. i hate it when i do it to myself. i hate it when i see others do it. i hate it that i put steven through my self pity stages. i hate it when i am all "woe is me".. i hate it when i don't think i am pretty.

i know i am a unique woman who has been given sooo many talents to help others. i know that i have been given attributes and qualities that make me, me. i know that i a beautiful daughter of our Father in Heaven. i know that His children, you and me, are of the most significant importance. i know that He loves EVERYONE. seriously.. i'm not just saying that. our Father in Heaven loves every single one of us.

then why is it so.. so .. SO easy to find ways to find flaws within our bodies.. within ourselves?

i think it's satan. satan plays tricks on us. satan.. wasn't granted a body like you and me. so satan attacks us. he lurers us in in ways so specific to each individual. he tells us that we aren't good enough. he tells us that we don't need to treat our bodies with respect.. he tries to make us think that our bodies our useless, ugly, and nobody even notices us. satan uses propaganda within ourselves to let us think that we aren't as pretty as the girls on tv.

well.. let me tell you something. don't ever.. ever think that. i know it's easy.. i know i fall victim to it time and time again.. but i also know how to get right back up. recently i wasn't feeling the greatest.. i made it easy for me to put myself down.. and i am so disappointed in myself. i am so disappointed that i would put myself down so much. i feel hurt.. but it's weird because i am the name caller, i am the bully, i am the one who through words stronger than stones... at myself.

i am frustrated that i would be so disrespectful to my own body, my own image. i know that i am loved, so dearly loved by my most wonderful, amazing husband. .. and why.. why would i be so mean to stephanie? so mean to the girl that is blessed in so, so many ways?

i don't have all the answers.. nor do i have the solution to a problem that women face day in and day out.. but i do know that i hate it when i am mean to myself. i do know that i am so incredibly lucky to have such wonderful family and freinds in my life. i am so lucky that i look like me.. and no one else. i am so lucky to have a healthy body. i am so lucky to have a full head of healthy, long, curly hair. i am so lucky to have blue eyes that i can see the beautiful things in the world. i am so lucky to have healthy hands, feet and muscles. i am so lucky to have a healthy smile so i can bring happiness to other people. i am so lucky to have a brain that is functional (most of the time). i am so lucky to be a woman.. to hopefully have the chance and opportunity to carry our children and give birth to those many miracles we hope to have. i am so lucky. it's hard to say because we live in a world that promotes humbleness and meekness, which is good,... but, as a female, i think it is absolutely necessary to look in the mirror, look at yourself right in the eye and tell yourself that you are pretty... and you're not just pretty. you are gorgeous. you have soo, so much worth and soo, soo many people love you for who YOU are. be beautiful. .. and don't just think you're beautiful, know you're beautiful.

i, stephanie melancon, am pretty. i am a beautiful daughter of God. i am the gorgeous wife of Steven and i am so, so thankful to be loved by such a wonderful man. i am not perfect.. but i know that the Lord will make my weaknesses into strengths if i let Him.

i love couponing!

okay so i recently really got into couponing. i got inspired by the show extreme couponing.. also i like couponing because steven and i are young newlyweds on a tight budget and coupons help us out a lot. we've probably saved more that a hundred dollars in coupons in the last month. that's a lot!! today we recently saved 49% of our order at Albertson's grocery store. Our total was originally over $60 and we ended up paying 34ish dollars. This was due to coupons, our savings card, and promotions. It was pretty cool because the deal for the week at Albertson's is that they are rounding all coupons up to a $1. So we had a couple coupons that rounded up to a dollar which more than doubled the coupon! Pretty cool right? Using coupons is fun. I recommend it.. plus you save a lot of money... and it is a good way to build up food storage. We didn't really need anything at the store, but because of the good deals we went and used coupons and purchased the food at low prices instead of paying full price later. It's fun :) We aren't food hoarders by any means... we just try to be very resourceful with the money we have.. and make it go as far as we can.

our honeymoon to myrtle beach.

steven and i went to myrtle beach on our honeymoon. we has such a great time! the weather was just perfect! we got there on sunday and they predicted hurricane irene to hit on that friday. we were so excited to see the weather before the hurricane.. and we really wanted to stay for the hurricane.. but we were already scheduled to leave on thursday rather than friday. bummer right? well.. it was probably safer that way. myrtle beach is like a combination of las vegas and disney world. it's pretty cool. there is probably like a hundred hotels along the beach strip. there are really, really nice ones and some not so nice ones. we stay in an inexpensive resort and were very happy. we played in the ocean, the very salty ocean, went to broadway at the beach multiple times, went to an aquarium and touched sting ray, ate at margaritaville, planet hollywood, hard rock cafe, and lots of other places. we had so, so much fun on our honeymoon. we loved it!

we went to yellowstone and didn't see any bears.

last weekend (sept. 9-10) steven and i went on a little camping trip with our friends jennifer and justin. we do a lot with jennifer and justin... they are pretty much our best friends here and they are pretty cool.. so it works. well on our camping trip we went to yellowstone and saw 673 geysers, 321 bison, 1 deer, and almost all of the united states according to license plates. okay maybe that was an exaggeration on the geysers.. but really we did see a lot. it was a lot of fun and i really like camping. we had received a dutch oven for a wedding present and also an inflatable mattress. we were excited to use both.. but we only got to use the dutch oven because apparently the charger to blow up the mattress needed to charger for 12 hours rather than the 12 minutes we had it attached to its power source. also we only had 1 sleeping bag! aren't we such good campers? haha!! well at least we had a tent and blankets and pillows and each other. i froze all night and was soooo incredibly uncomfortable because we slept on the ground with a sleeping bag as our mattress. it was a fun camping experience.. but i never want to sleep on the ground again! boy was i excited to return to our nice bed the next night! other than our lack of a mattress and heat in our tent, we had a great time cooking food over the fire. we made tin foil dinners and peach cobbler in our dutch oven. yum yum! yellowstone is really pretty.. we really liked it. there were a ton of people there too. we found pretty much every single us license plate except for like 4 or 5. it was pretty fun... also steven decided to cook an egg over the fire and it exploded. okay.. it kind of just cracked, but it was still cool.