School and Yellowstone

So a new semester has begun and life is back to being crazy busy and uber stressful. Chris and I certainly enjoyed our 6 or so weeks off traveling to visit family and looking for a job. We were privileged to see Jenny, David and their kids along with DeDee, Eden and Keith in Provo; my parents and sisters in Moab; Natalie, David, Rylie and Krystle in Arizona; Marty, Gail, Maria, Kimmy, Matt, Eve and their girls in Ohio; and Mike, Heather and their kids in Indiana. We drove to all of these wonderful places in our car and for those of you who know me know I get car sick and don't like to travel this way if I can help it. But I survived and am now firmly planted in Rexburg until graduation in December.

Oh...did I mention we're graduating in December? Chris and I are thrilled to be weeks away from being able to say we endured to the end! It hasn't really hit us yet because school is school and it feels the same as any other semester, but none-the-less it is all coming to a close.

Sidewalk drawing in Moab (Annabelle)
Sidewalk drawing in Moab (Nicole)

This past weekend Chris and I took Maria and Keith (who are now at BYU-Idaho with us) to Yellowstone National Park. We didn't see a whole lot other than elk and buffalo (nope...no bears), but we made the most of it and had fun. On the way back to Rexburg I was able to stop at the cabin in Macks Inn for probably the last time for a long time and it was good to see it again and relive some of my favorite memories from vacations there.
Maria and Keith
Chris and I

All in all life is the same as usual: Chris and I are madly in love and ready to begin another winter here in Rexburg as we continue our education at the "Y" of "I".

Spanking

Not long ago a sister in my ward posted on her blog her opinion on spanking children and stated some research on the subject. But it got me wondering what my family and friends think about spanking their children. So if you wouldn't mind giving me your opinion I would greatly appreciate it!

Ohio

Chris and I went to Ohio in June for Mat and Eve's sealing. They were sealed to each other and then to their 3 beautiful daughters. The trip was a lot of fun--short, but sweet--and we wished we could've stayed longer! Here are a few pictures at the temple and one of Chris doing a "wheelie" on a four-wheeler. He had a blast scaring the kids with it!





P.S. We went target shooting and I got the high score for the round (a 43 out of 50)!

Father's Day

I just want to give a shout-out to all of the wonderful men in my life...Chris, my dad, my father-in-law Marty, my grandpa Nicoll, and my grandpa Duke. I am so thankful to have the love and support of these GREAT men! I look to them for advice and I count each of them as a blessing every day! I love you all!

Dinner

So this...



Is what we had for dinner. No, we didn't go out to eat, we made this at home. This is a Christopher masterpiece! He was wanting to make pita sandwiches and this is what his turned out to be--salami, pepperoni, pastrami, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, pepper jack cheese, mayonnaise, pickles, banana peppers, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. Here are some more pictures so you can salivate along with us!

A Break

For those of you who don't know, Chris and I will graduate in December and will have gone year-round (4 semesters in a row) when that time comes. We finished up the Winter semester on April 9th and are now into our first day of the Spring semester (our 3rd semester in a row). I am somewhat saddened at the fact that I have to go to school during the summer because I've never had to do that before. Summers were always a literal break from school, but I don't get that this summer. However, this means that Chris and I will graduate in December instead of next April and I'm sure when the time comes I will be happy I "skipped" my summer vacation.

Anyways, we went to Provo to see Jenny and David and their kids for most of the break and we spent a few short days in Moab with my family. We had time to relax for a day or two and then we were off to the mall, Jumping Jacks, jeeping :), the tulip festival, Cabela's, Costco, and various other activities. We love getting to spend time with family and we are so grateful for the hospitality shown to us when we visit.

Here are a few pictures and videos from when Chris and I went jeeping. Because of this experience Chris is now convinced we need some type of four-wheeling machine so he can go trail riding whenever he wants! Needless to say, he LOVED it! We were both a little sore the next day from being jolted around, but it was so worth it in the end!

School, School, and More School!

I just wanted everyone to know that Chris and I are still alive and doing well! We only have 1 1/2 weeks left in this semester and then only 2 more after that until we graduate! Chris says time is going by so fast, but I think it's pretty stagnant most of the time.

We've been having pretty nice weather here in Rexburg (which is a change from the norm), and I am loving every second of it. Chris says the farmers are down-and-out about the lack of moisture, but I like to think of it as a blessing...

Chris and I are both busy with school, church, etc. but we still find the time to go out every once in a while. Thursday Chris and I went to the temple. We love the Rexburg temple and we love how close it is to us. We can look up the street from our apartment and see it. Anyways, after we went to the temple we were hungry and tried the Pita Pit. We'll probably eat there again, but it wasn't our favorite. After that, Chris and I both heard the call of BRC's custard, which ended an almost perfect evening on the perfect note. On Friday, Chris and I wanted to eat on campus; they built a new "food-court" called The Crossroads a while ago and we wanted to check it out. When we went, most of the food areas were closed, but we still wanted to go out. So we decided to go to Winger's. We don't usually eat out that often, but we've come to the conclusion that once we leave Rexburg, our food options will greatly increase!

We've also been going to a new stake building since the beginning of March. This stake center is the largest chapel in the whole world! It's pretty neat to be the first group of people to attend meetings there (it's SO clean and new)! It's also a testimony of the blessings of tithing.

I don't have any pictures for you all to enjoy, but I'll try to post some in the next few weeks.

Valentine's Day and President's Day Weekend

Chris and I were able to go down to Provo, Utah for the 3-day weekend and we had tons of fun! Saturday Chris went with my dad and Annabelle to Sam's Club, Uinta Golf and various other masculine places. Chris also got his picture taken next to a Lamborghini (I'm sure it was the highlight of his day!) Meanwhile, my mom, Rachel and I went to a bridal fair at Provo High. We had tons of fun looking at dresses, sampling food, and getting our hair done! Later that day Chris and I, along with Jenny and David (Jenny is Chris's sister), went to a session at the Salt Lake temple. This was a neat experience since neither Chris nor I had ever been to the Salt Lake temple. Afterwards we went to dinner at The Roof, which is atop the Joseph Smith building. We ate TONS of food (Chris made sure he got his money's worth!) and laughed and had a really good time. Thanks Jenny and David! We spent the rest of our break relaxing, playing with kids, and watching the Olympics.

The Big News...

It's all gone...

BEFORE


AFTER



I got my hair cut off! Most people probably don't think this is a big deal, but I've had my hair long for most of my life--like 99%. So to get 8" cut off is a big deal. Not to mention this is the shortest I remember it being since kindergarten.


To those of you who thought I was pregnant, I don't know what to tell you other than "sorry". One day that may be the title of my post, but not right now.

Stay Tuned For a BIG Update...

A New Year!

It's crazy to think that another year has gone by! There were days when I thought time was going by so slowly, yet here I sit at the start of 2010! Anyways, Christmas was a blast this year! Chris and I were able to go down to Moab and we thought we would get a break from all of the snow. Yeah right! Moab got hit with snow and cold weather the entire 2 weeks we were there. But we still had tons of fun!

Chris and I arrived in Moab the Sunday evening before Christmas. Due to rooming arrangements, I slept in Annabelle's twin bed and Chris slept on a matress on the floor of Annabelle's room. At first I wondered if it bothered Chris that he was on the floor. But then it dawned on me that he was probably relieved that I couldn't take up 2/3 of his sleeping room (I tend to sleep really close to Chris at night!). But don't worry, Chris is thrilled to be sharing a bed again. Natalie, David and Rylie arrived Wednesday afternoon and we celebrated Rylie's 1st birthday. Of course, she didn't really know who all of us were, so she cried most of the time. On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional family poker game. I think dad came out the winner??? Just kidding, dad, I know you won! And Chris was runner-up so he got to put his name in the book! Way to go Chris! (No actual gambling occurred).

Christmas morning was full of surprises and lots of excitment. After opening presents, the family was able to talk with Gordon! Chris spoke to him in Spanish and assured us that Gordon is really picking up the language. It was good to hear his voice, especially since Chris and I don't know if we'll be able to talk to him next Christmas. The festivities continued with the whole family going to see Sherlock Holmes on Christmas day and the start of a crash course on Mario Brothers Wii. The next few days were filled with endless Bowzer battles, football games, and fun. Natalie, David and Rylie said goodbye on Sunday and I did well not to cry.

The next couple of nights were occupied with intense football games and on Monday we celebrated Chris's 25th birthday! On Tuesday my mom, dad, Annabelle and I went to Grand Junction, CO for some "after Christmas" shopping. On Wednesday, my mom helped me sew some burp cloths for my visiting teaching companion who had her baby at the end of December. They are so cute! On New Year's Eve, we all spent our time at the Stake center in Moab watching the youth eat, dance, and karaoke. The Stake had a count down to the new year and hundreds of balloons fell from the ceiling of the gym--it was pretty cool. New Year's day was filled with nothing but football and 7-layer dip! It was a blast to observe Chris and my dad while watching these games! Chris worked at the Potash plant while we were in Moab, but I know he really enjoyed being able to come home and watch football--especially the games where a Big Ten team won (Go Buckeyes!)! All in all, we had lots of fun and appreciate the hospitality of our families. We love you!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas vacation. Enjoy!

Rachel licking the snow--crazy girl!

Rylie opening a present

My favorite picture! This is pretty much how the whole party went!

There's a smile!

Natalie and Rylie on Christmas Eve

Rylie on Christmas morning eating one of her presents...so cute!

Natalie, David and Rylie on Christmas morning

Rylie and Grandpa Garrett--Grandpa working his charm!

Grandma feeding Rylie. We had to give her a bath after this!

Sunday afternoon nap--arranged by Bob Ross!

Annabelle's cute toenails

Rachel on New Year's Eve

Chris and I on New Year's Eve

Annabelle on New Year's Eve

Mom and Dad Garrett on New Year's Eve

Annabelle and Susan at the New Year's Eve party--crazy girls!

Mom and Dad Garrett dancing before the balloons fell

Chris and I dancing before the balloons fell--our first dance since our wedding...!

Here are some videos from Christmas! Enjoy!

Rylie laughing!

Birthday preview!

Rylie's sneeze--so funny!

Christmas Day with the Wii!

Chris's birthday!

Rachel singing "I Will Survive!" on karaoke with some young women!

In addition to all of this excitment, Chris and I have begun a new semester and with any luck, we will be done in December! I can't wait! Both Chris and I have pretty hard classes this semester, but we're used to that fact, and hopefully we can once again pull through. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving trip to Ohio. We only used our camera for the first few days, so there aren't as many as we'd like. But when you're having fun, who remembers the camera? While we were there, Chris's niece, Hayleigh, was baptized. We were so glad that we could be there! We were able to attend the Columbus temple, which was a first for me, and it was a wonderful experience. There was horse riding, shooting, naps, and more food than I needed. "The Girls" went to see New Moon--which was a lot of fun for me--and surprisingly enough, there were little video games played, which didn't bother me in the slightest. We also got some face time with the local missionaries, which made me think of Gordon. His most recent letter said that he was able to enjoy Thanksgiving and I'm so grateful for the loving families that made that possible! Chris and I really enjoyed our time in Ohio with family. We wish we all lived closer so we could get together more often.

Hayleigh with her 1st set of scriptures


Hayleigh, Keith, Mat, Eve, and Chris's Mom at the baptism


Chris's Dad, Maria, and Olivia


Ella, Lydia, and Maddie--so, so cute


Olivia and Lydia--try not to get those names confused--and Landon, who didn't want to look at the camera


A video of Olivia playing the piano with Maria


All in all we had tons of fun and can't wait to all be together again!

Thanksgiving and Finals!

What an awkward combination...Thanksgiving was great, but finals are a killer (2 more weeks!!!)! Chris and I had the wonderful opportunity to fly to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Most of the family was there and it was so much fun! We played BANG! quite a few times and had late nights talking and laughing! There was also a lot of watching out for the little "chillin's" that were there! But more info and a few pictures will be coming, if I can get my camera to cooperate!

Some Projects

Here are some pictures of the projects Chris has done for his Advanced CNC class. This is an advanced programming class for different types of computerized machinery. Chris had to create the designs and write the codes for the cutting process. For the brass heart, he used a wire EDM; for the name plate, he used a CNC mill; and for the Horse head, Chris used a CNC plasma cutter. I don't know what all of that means, exactly, but I really like what he has been able to do! He is so creative and comes home with all of these ideas for his next project!

Chris originally planned to make the brass heart as a key chain ornament to give me for my birthday, but it turned out bigger than I thought it would! The name plate says "HANSEN" and has a Bugatti symbol on the left and a football helmet on the right (I really liked this one when he brought it home!). And the Horse head cut-out is actually a gift for Chris's mom. He created the branding symbol (her initials) in the bottom right corner. I am so proud of Chris and the hard work he puts forth in all of his classes and I can't wait to see what he brings home next!

Birthday!

Saturday was my 24th birthday and it was a good one! Chris serenaded me with "Happy Birthday" and surprised me with a digital picture frame. He remembered me saying something about it over the summer and kept the idea in the back of his mind for months--I am so impressed! He also treated me to dinner and the ever famous G's Dairy Delights, an ice cream shop that Chris and I enjoy. My family showered me with phone calls and text messages, birthday cards and cake and ice cream. I am so blessed to have so many people who love me and I am reminded all the time. So thank you to all those who helped make my birthday a GREAT one--even though it is somewhat depressing that I am already 24!