The best 3 years of my life

Three years ago yesterday, Brandon and I were married. That was by far the BEST decision I have ever made in my life! I love him so much more now then I did then. When we were getting married I remember people telling us that we didn't know what love was and that we will know as the years pass and see how much our love grows with each passing year. Well, I'm sure I knew I was in love with Brandon but I never realized how much more I could love him now 3 years later. He is my "Mr. Perfect", "Mr. Incredible", and "Mr. E" all roll into one. My sister once told me, "you are more yourself when you are with Brandon than you are when you are with anyone else." It's true, I find myself having more confidence when I'm around him. He brings out the best in me, and I am always so happy when I'm around him. I still get really giddy when I know he is going to come home. I could seriously go on and on about how much I love Brandon, and why... But I think I will stop there, and share the events that took place for our anniversary!
I was so lucky that I got to spend most of the day with Brandon yesterday. Tuesdays are his days when he only has one class, and he gives plasma so he was home by noon. He planned everything out so perfectly, and it was all amazing. First off, Monday night Brandon asked me if I could make up some pizza dough and put it in the fridge because he wanted to wake up and make me scones for a breakfast in bed. So around 6:30am he came into my room with store bought doughnuts on a tray. He had woken up an hour earlier than that so I really wondered why he asked me to make the pizza dough if he wasn't going to make scones. Then he left the room and brought in a pizza that made me tear up. (A little back story, Brandon's and my first date was making a pizza together... this was almost 4 years ago... and here is the picture)



And here is the photo of the pizza that he woke me up with yesterday!!



It was amazing it looked so great. He is the sweetest. Then we exchanged our gifts. Brandon got me the most AMAZING picture of Christ with a little boy, I LOVE IT!! It's one of my favorite pictures and he got it framed for me. Needless to say I started crying. He's really good at sentimental gifts.



I then gave him a new wallet that had a bunch of our new family pictures in it, some pistachios and a game called "Loot".



Brandon then went on his way to school. When he got home we ate our pizza and spent time together as a family. Around 3:00 we dropped Krew off to a babysitter (thanks Mandi and Tyrell You guys are awesome) and Brandon and I went to the temple to do sealings, this had been sort of a tradition it's nice to go back and hear the same words that were spoken to us on the day we were married, and help those who can't do it themselves. I feel so blessed to know that I will be with Brandon for eternity. After the temple we went to Idaho Falls and ate at "Texas Roadhouse". This has also been a tradition and we go every year on our anniversary, so fun and so good. Brandon said the most ROMANTIC thing he has ever said to me yesterday while we were there "You look especially beautiful in this light, mainly because of the smell of meat in the background!" Isn't that so romantic? He is so sweet!
We then went to Walmart and bought the new Disney/Pixar movie "Up" since it came out yesterday it was on sale. We headed for home after that trying to pass some time, before our movie started at 9:00. So we just hung out and watched a little bit of "House". Then went to see "Surrogates" with Bruce Willis. It was a pretty good movie, I must admit, I really actually enjoyed it. As we were coming home we called the babysitters to tell them we were on our way and they said "he can just stay the night tonight if you want he's already asleep and he's doing quite well, so if you don't want to wake him up he's more than welcome to stay the night." So we let him have his first sleepover. It was really hard for me. I missed my baby boy so much. But it was nice not to have to worry about him waking up and then not wanting to go back to sleep. We had such a great day. Thanks babe for making me so happy and for being such a wonderful husband. I love you sooooooo much. I can't wait to spend many many more anniversaries with you!

Halloween in the Stone

For Halloween this year we actually had two separate costume for each of us. This was because we already had an idea of going to our ward halloween party as characters from disney's "Sword in the Stone." And then we were invited to a superhero murder mystery Halloween Party! So the first ones are of us at the ward party. I think that Diedre did a pretty darn good job with the costumes even though she only spent a week making them.



As you can see Brandon went as Merlin (however a lot of people thought that I looked more like Dumbledore)



Then Diedre went as Mad Mad Mad Mad Madam Mim (People that that since Brandon was Dumbledore that she could have been Tonks)



And Krew went as King Arthur "Wart" (People assumed that he was any Griffindor)
We didn't realize until we got to the party that our costumes doubled as Harry Potter costumes. So I guess we already have ours done for next year!!!

Then for the day before Halloween we were asked to be part of a Murder Mystery Dinner. It was done by some of our best friends in our ward here in Rexburg, Mandy and Tyrel Brown. They did a fabulous job with the party and I can't imagine how long the spent on it. Went we got to the party the whole room was plastered with butcher paper crumpled and spread out along the walls with flashlights decorated as torches, and orange streamers going down the sliding glass door as lava. It was suppose to look like the residence of a super hero justice confederation and it was INCREDIBLE!!!!! So here are a few pictures of our costumes... and some that we stole from the Brown's blog of the rest of the heroes.




As you can see Brandon went as "The Jester" with the super ability of making people laugh... he simply had to go and tell corny jokes a lot and wear spandex pants.



Diedre went as a super hero named "Rabbitron" with the ability of speed. So she talked, ate, and moved really fast. She also had a magic carrot that could heal people unless it was a poison. (unfortunately for "Nerdon" (who played the part of "the murdered") he was poisoned so he couldn't be saved.)



This is the whole crew, in total there were 16 of us and it was an absolute blast!!!

Family Photos 2009

So every year we try to go and get some family pictures taken. Well this year we had a girl in our ward take the pictures for us. So these are all thanks to Jessica Willey. We owe you a bunch.

The first place that we went and took pictures was at an old abandoned school house. It was pretty neat because it had all broken windows and multicolored warn woods. It was super neat.

Then we went to a field by the Rexburg Temple and took some pictures. Krew doesn't look to excited but he was just cold from the wind.

This is one of my favorites of my two boys, they both have such big smiles and scrunchy noses.

This was back at the school house, you can tell that it was at the beginning because he is still smiling!!

This one was taken at the Nature Park in Rexburg right next to our apartment. We think that even though Krew is starting to get grumpy it is still pretty cute.

As you can tell this was the last picture of the day... Krew was cold, cranky, and ready to go home. Hope you all enjoy the photos, and thanks again Jessica!

Utah, California and Memphis

Brandon had his last interview in California so I drove him to Salt Lake City so he could fly out and I stayed in Salt Lake to hang out with my old roommates. It was a fun weekend but Krew and I were sick at that time so it was a little hard. When brandon came back he told me that he wasn't a big fan of California, and that we are definitely not going there. We have actually made a final decision that we are officially going to MEMPHIS!! It seems so weird that we have decided it was the HARDEST decision I think we have EVER made.

Michelle Mary Ellen and I with Krew at the Falls

Us again in the maountains

Krew Throwing rocks into the water. Some of his favorite things, rocks and water and Throwing things.

Back to life

I have now been back from New Mexico for almost three weeks. I can't believe it has taken me this long to write about it. Krew and I had such a great time, Mostly my sister and I sat and talked and played with the new baby, but we also went up to the mountains and looked at the beautiful scenery there and went shopping ect.. The kids were so much fun to watch together, by the end Krew and my sisters youngest son (they are 6 months apart) finally started to like each other. Here are a few pictures of some of our adventures.

Krew eating an apple.

Baby Kylie so sweet

We went to the Homecoming parade the kids got a TON of candy, each of them filled up a gallon size ziploc bag full of their candy.

Carson and Krew had matching PJ's and Carson thought it was the coolest thing

The Boys diggin in the dirt

When I got back we all got sick for about two weeks ( taking turns) Brandon got sick first for about a week then Krew got sick then I got sick, once Brandon and I got better Krew was still sick but now things are getting much better. Krew is not sick any more and the house is clean. It has been fantastic to not have to be stressed out with the house being a disaster and Krew screaming at me pretty much constantly or needing me to hold him constantly which I will admit I actually loved him snuggling me. He doesn't do it very often so.... as much as I was sad he was sick I loved the snuggling.

Another 2 Interviews

So I got offered another 2 interviews for optometry school. I got the offers about 3 weeks ago but until now I didn't count them as options because of the great deal that Houston offered me. However I just found out that Houston's isn't quite as great as it sounded at first (because summer tuition is not included in the quoted price). So now Diedre and I have decided that I should go to California and interview at SCCO, which will be the 17th of October. (On a side note I get to spend a day with my first mission companion that I haven't seen in 2 years, Paul Fjeldsted) The good things with Southern College of Optometry is that if they choose me as a top applicant from Idaho then i can get Idaho to pay for a GOOD chunk of my tuition. The other interview is at Pacific University and I still haven't decided if I want to go there. I will keep you all informed.

Also I got accepted to Memphis and they offered me a scholarship (but they haven't told me the amount). So things are looking really good since I have 2 choices now!

Life without Diedre!!!

So most of you all know that Diedre has left me for 2 1/2 weeks starting on the 24th of September all the way until the 10th of October. Let's just say that it has been quite the experience (not a good one). I wanted to give you all a run down of my day to day:

1) Wake up around 6am to get ready for school and eat a bowl of "Life" cereal!
2) Get to school around 7 and do calculus for 3 hours.
3) Study for Econ 111 and HS 350
4) Get home around 3pm (this is where the fun begins.)
5) Scratch my butt.
6) Play video games (usually resident evil 4)
7) Make either Ramen Noodles, Totino Pizza, or Microwave Burritos for Dinner
8) Urinate
9) Look on Hulu for episodes that aired the night before.
10) Scratch my butt again.
11) Play more video games.
12) Drink about 3 glasses of water (enough to make myself wake up at 2, 5, and 6 am to urinate.)
13) Brush my teeth
14) Go to bed around 10pm
15) Dream about the day that Diedre will actually come back and make my life worth living!!!
15) Start over at #1 for tomorrow