Five Amazing Years

Five years and one month ago today, Andrew and I went to the Los Angeles LDS Temple and were married for time and all eternity. It was the greatest day of our lives.

It is amazing to think back on all that we have gone through and where we are today. My love for Andrew has grown so much more than the day we were married. He has my heart for eternity.

Marriage is not easy. It takes work, effort, communication, respect and so so so much more. We have grown so much closer together and have been able to work on all of these traits together, building each other up. I love having Andrew by my side helping me grow and learn. He is my rock in this crazy life.

Looking back on this year we have so much to be grateful for. I love our life. It is amazing.

In year five we...

• Andrew started his last year of school at BYU-Idaho. 
• Andrew worked at the Straw Maze, scaring people every weekend. 
• Alex worked at Down East and as an assistant at a fabric company. 
• We found out our little baby was a BOY!! 
• Justina and Curtis had our niece, Ava Marie! 
• Andrew turned 26! 
• Alex stopped working to prepare for baby. 
• Spent Christmas in California with the Sorensen's 
• Alex made lots of Youtube videos and baby stuff. 
• Got ready and organized for baby to arrive. 
• Had a baby shower for our little guy!
• Welcomed Crew Ray Sorensen into the world on February 20, 2015. 
• Blessed Crew in April 
• Celebrated having our puppy Zoii for 1 year. 
• Took many trips to St George. 
• Alex got her wisdom tooth out. 
• Took Crew to Yellowstone a few times. 
• Andrew completed his senior project
• Andrew Graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho in July! 
• Alex turned 24
• Spent lots of time with family! 
• Moved to Utah
• Andrew got an amazing internship with KSL & BYU sports for January 
• Celebrated our five year anniversary!! 

WOW five years! CRAZY. I love him.

Here's to another five years and more!! 

love,alex&andrew

Day of Love

How can you look at that face and not love it??? Everyone, this is going to be a mushy post, I will make it quick, but just to warn you, if you really must stop reading now. But you will miss my awesomeness :)) 

 how could I see that lovely box of chocolates at the store and not get it for him? 

If I was to ever get into fantasy football or any fantasy sport for that matter he would be my #1. And he always will be. 

Valentines day. oh me oh my. It is a good day. BUT I must say I like to express my love for this guy all of the time and not just on a special holiday. but still how can you not celebrate the day of LOOOVE. 

I have decided that I want to decorate like crazy for this holiday. This year I was pretty proud of myself. I made a banner and everything!! Woop Woop! and then I had a TON of those window stickers and put them everywhere. Andrew really loved this touch as cupid was placed on the microwave and is still there at this moment because either 1) I am too lazy to take them down or 2) I just love this holiday too much to take the love away. Lets go with the latter. 

It was still a pretty normal chillaxy(ha) day for us. It was my day to sleep in because I didn't have class until noon (hallelujah), so that was glorious in and of itself. Unfortunately the mister did have to work at 8am sooooo he was kinda out of luck on that one. Sorry lover. But I did have a test that day so I guess we were even on that scale of things. So after my glorious sleeping I woke up to find these two beauties in the kitchen. 

This guy... oh man.

That watch is KILLER if you didn't know. It has a mother of pearl facing. Sometimes I just like to say that.. Mother of Pearl. I picture myself yelling at someone saying that and then laughing because it sounds so funny. BUT isn't it just stunning. didn't he do amaaaze. and I was pretty sure we were doing cheapo gifts this year... like as in $15 in chocolates. I would have been happy with that. 

But he did good. really really good. 

We went to dinner at this Thai place we both love which is awesome because we all know how obsessed with thai food I am. Yea, then we came home and ate chocolate covered strawberries because those are both our favorites. 

It was a great day. He is an amazing man. And I really can't tell you how happy I am to be by his side for eternity. He keeps me on my toes. I am laughing constantly. and I know we can get through anything together. 

He is my best friend in the entire world and I love spending every moment I possibly can together. 

And honestly it is a lot of time lately and I LOVE IT. Sometimes I think about the future.. like when there are little chillians running around and he has a 8-5 or 6 or 7 or 8 o'clock job and we barely see each other, yea that is when I really really truly treasure these days we have right now. 

Okay I will stop with the mushy but I am so glad he is my Valentine. 

Hope you all had a wonderful day of looove, like a month ago :) 

love,alex&andrew 

Hawaiian New Years Eve

On our last full day on the island it was New Years Eve. We spent the morning relaxing and taking a walk down the beach and just enjoying our last day in the warmth and sunshine. Jordan decided to climb a tree and got a few coconuts so when we got home Andrew decided to try and break one open. 

View from our House

The Blue Lagoon 

 After getting ready for the day we all headed to the Polynesian Culture Center. I love this place. If you ever have the chance of going to Hawaii you must go here. It is a wonderful place for you to learn about different cultures and even try out some of the things they do. We watched this guy open a coconut, husk it, and even get the milk out of it. Then we learned how to start a fire with sticks and the outside husk of the coconut. Which Andrew, Aaron, and I tried to do a little later after the show. Then one of the guys climbed a coconut tree and posed for us!! ha these guys were hilarious :) We saw a few other shows and then it was time for dinner and the Luau. 

Trying to start the fire. 

The guys from New Zealand 

At dinner.

Dinner was great. we had some different kinds of food. and then some normal stuff. I love the pineapple bars they had for dessert and the fresh pineapple. There was also smoked pork and chicken, and this slimy noodle thing that was good but funny, and rice and purple rolls that were awesome. 

The Luau was incredible. It was a story of a boys life and it was about the breath of life. It was beautiful. all of the dancers did amazing and sang wonderfully. I love when the dancers do the traditional hula. It is so cool how they move! ha the performance was awesome. 

We had such an incredible time in Hawaii and can't wait to some day go back and share it with our children. We feel so blessed to have been able to experience this together and with Andrew's family. I am so grateful that I have been able to share so many memories with Andrew and experience the beauty of this earth that God had given us. I feel so blessed that we are able to travel and experience this amazing world we have to live on. We made some amazing memories that will last a life time and beyond and can't wait to make many more. Hope you enjoyed sharing in our adventures. 

love,alex&andrew 

Banzai Pipeline

 Hawaii is beautiful, if you didn't know. Everywhere you look there is beauty. You can say that about everywhere in the world but it really just jumps out at you in Hawaii. There are so many things that just take your breath away. I loved that there were flowers and greenery EVERYWHERE. I hate when its the dead of winter and nothing is alive, but in Hawaii that doesn't happen! Its green all of the time. It is wonderful and simply.. breathtaking, like I said before :)

On Sunday we went to church over by the Laie Temple so before it started we went over to the visitors center and walked around. What a beautiful temple. I have probably said it before and I will say it again, I love that the church is the same no matter where we go. I can go to the other side of the world and know that the church service will be the same as it is here in Utah. The one thing that was different was that when ever someone says Aloha the whole congregation says it back and I love it! it made it so warm and inviting. I really enjoyed church and hearing the testimonies of the members.

At the temple sunday morning 

Father & Son 

Sunday afternoon there was a huge swell coming in and so of course we had to go watch. Andrew was scouting it out all week and knew that it was going to be some of the best surfing they had seen in months if not years. He even found out that a few pros would be there. We saw a few on the beach and figured there were some far our in the water that we couldn't recognize. The waves were HUGE though. I could not believe it. It was incredible. As the sun went down we saw an amazing sunset!

At Pipeline. Can you see the surfer? 

Watching Pipeline 

Pipeline Sunset! 

I couldn't help taking so many pictures while there. It was wonderful. so dreamy and beautiful and WARM. that is something we sure are missing right about now! 

Hope you are staying warm. 

love,alex&andrew 

Thanksgiving 2012

All weekend I was thinking oh I should blog about Thanksgiving and what not but I kept thinking ah no I'm not in the mood yet.. Well here it is Monday and I should be doing all my lovely homework and studying and what does my mind say, LET'S BLOG! yippie. SO I gave into my mind and decided okay lets procrastinate a little more and blog.

Guys, Thanksgiving was great. It was relaxing but crazy and fun. We played, maybe a little too hard, cough andrew cough, but it was great and hard to come back but at the same time I was excited to come back and finish the semester because then it is CHRISTMAS! Oh happppy day.

Well this year we went to St. George for Thanksgiving. Andrew's family was there. There was his parents and brother, Aaron and two of his Aunts and their husbands, then 2 cousins and their spouses and four second cousins. did i get that right... ha oh well. Lets just say it was fun to have a variety of people and different ages around. Usually the youngest person around is Aaron who is 17 but this time there was two younger boys and I think they added a little spice to the group. I feel that they kept us on our toes!

Do you guys know about geocashing? well one of the boys loves it and was telling us all about it one night and Andrew was getting pretty interested... well I will admit so was I. It is such an interesting concept. So the next day we went and found one and then another and that totally hooked Andrew. I think it is so cool that you can find them all over the world! And if you don't know what it is.. talk to andrew or do a little research :)

While we were there we did a little shopping, went on many motorcycle rides, played with our niece Haizlee, watched movies, played basketball, went and explored where our cousin Katie works aka the ambulance.. place, hiked in Zion, got a sweet deal on movies at BlackFriday, and ATE a lot! great great great :)

I am so thankful for this amazing life that I am living. When I take a step back and really see the amazing opportunities and experiences that I have had and that I am having, I can't help but think wow this is a great life.
I am grateful for the wonderful husband that I have and the life we have built together in the past two years. I can't believe where it has taken us and I can't wait to see where and what happens next.
I am grateful for a healthy body. I feel that with all my experiences with health, I can't seem to express enough, how amazing our bodies are and how extremely grateful I am that I am a healthy(okay to an extent) person. I think that with being grateful for Heavenly Father for this body, I have a responsibility to take care of it and do all that I can to keep it healthy and make it even better!
I am grateful for education. For schools, books, and the ability to learn. There are so many wonderful things in this world and I love learning about them. I am grateful I have the opportunity to go to such an incredible university and learn from these intelligent professors.

I am grateful for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It has made me who I am today and shaped my life to be the wonderful thing that it is. I am grateful that I know that Jesus Christ lives, that he loves me, and that he died for me so that I can return to live with my Heavenly Father again. I am grateful that I was married in a place and with the authority so that Andrew and I can be together for eternity. I am grateful for the missionaries who sacrifice two years of their lives to share this gospel. Especially for my little brother.
I am grateful for a a wonderful, loving family who supports me and loves me.
I am grateful for this time of year. For the love, humility, and service it brings.

I could go on and on but I need to stop somewhere.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. And a wonderful week.
love,alex&andrew

HAPPY

2 years and 1 month ago today.
I married my best friend in the Los Angeles Temple. 
and it has only gotten better and better since. 

Day One

Happppy 2 years and one month Anniversary to US!
Last year I didn't write about our anniversary until October 3rd so I decided I should do the same this year. What a great tradition. and What a year we have had!! I can't believe we have been married for two years. One of the first things Andrew said about our two years was that that is what a mission feels like. and it made me think of all those people who left for their missions when we got married... they are all COMING HOME! my gosh I have been married for as long as a mission is. and really that doesn't seem very long but for me it is. and for all those missionaries, it is a long time. SO way to go missionaries and way to go us!!

One year 

It has been one heck of an amazing year. What can I say.. things just keep getting better and better with this guy. I just keep falling more and more in love with him. I really never knew what people meant when they said that their love is stronger than the day they married. The day I married Andrew I thought I loved him to the extreme but today I can honestly say I love him more than the day I married him.  Just think of the song by Brad Paisley, And I thought I loved you then. Yup thats how I feel. and really those words are exactly how it happened for us. I seriously could not stop looking at Andrew that Sunday at church when I met him. and now he is my whole life.
WOW crazy how things like this happen.

A little look back on the past year...

• Semester Fall 2011 at BYU-Idaho 
• Picked Apples at the Orchard 
• We went to our friend Clayton's Mission Call opening -- He is in New Zealand 
• Then went to Clayton's Farewell. 
• Andrew worked as a Scarer in the Straw Maze in Rexburg
• Went to St. George for Time out For Women with Andrews Family 
• Went back to St. George for Thanksgiving/ Christmas with the Sorensen's 
• We went to Zion and to the old Sorensen home. 
• Andrew turned 22 
• Alex got her Associates Degree in General Studies 
• Celebrated Sydney Turnbull going to Ukraine at her Farewell
• We went to Kansas for Christmas with the Browns 
• Went to the Great Wolf Lodge with the Browns 
• Alex worked on her youtube channel while Andrew went to school in the Winter
• Alex got into BYU for Fall 2012 
• We went to a BYU Basketball Game
• Went to a BYU Volleyball Game
• We watched a lot of TV shows ;) 
• We tried to start being more healthy :) 
• Alex went to Time out For Women in Idaho Falls 
• Celebrated Taeden's 2 year Birthday
• Spent Spring Break in St. George & California
• Explored the Los Angeles Zoo for the day
• Watched a lot of sports. Especially Basketball 
• Semester Summer 2012 for both Andrew and Alex 
• Went shooting with Anna & Jordan and Lindsey & Dave
• Grandpa Brown Passed away 
• Cameron Went into the MTC
• Alex turned 21 
• Justina & Curtis have baby boy #2  Caleb Steven Checketts. 
• Andrew got his Associates Degree in General Studies 
• Moved to Provo, Utah. 
• Went to Lake Powell with the Sorensen's, Turnbulls, Rahns, Julie & Val. 
• Alex started school at BYU
• Andrew started working for a Lawn Maintenance Company. 
• Hiked Y Mountain on September 2nd at 11pm for our Anniversary :) 

wow. amazing what a year can do. I love looking back at all the things we have done and remembering all of the wonderful experiences we have had. Makes me look forward to all the years to come. I can't wait to see what happens in the coming year!

For this years present giving Andrew got these legit moccasin slippers he has always wanted and I got a pair of pretty pink vans. I think we are officially the shoe loving couple, and if you don't believe me come take a look at our closet.

Two years 

Well we are happy. Life is oh so good. and I still get butterflies every time he walks through the door and smilies those beautiful pearly whites at me.
I find myself cherishing these days more and more. and taking in every single moment we have together because I know days like this won't last forever. and who knows when we will have time like this again. I am soaking it all in and enjoying every moment. these are the best days of our life.

Hope you guys are having a great week.
love,alex&andrew

Enjoying the simple little things.

It's October 1st. Happy day.

Guys I just thought you should know.. 

School is hard but more wonderful than I could ask for. 

and work is hard but has its benefits. 

Life can be hard but wonderful at the same time. You ever realize that? 

I absolutely love my life. and right now I could not be any more happy. 

I have this amazing husband. and this awesome apartment. and I go to a great school. Andrew has a great job. we have food on the table and a nice warm bed to sleep in. We both have amazing families. We are both healthy. and I can see. 

what could seriously be better. But there are days that I really have to remind myself of that.

Instead of enjoying the little things, I stress over the little things. 

I am realizing that life is simple and people just complicate it. I am realizing that I should be more concerned with the eternal things of life, like my family. 

I get stressed out way too much. and I am trying to figure out why. So I am starting to slow down and really think about the reason I do things. 

Just one person, loooking good in a tux, that I am thankful for. 

Life is for living and enjoying the simple everyday things not stressing over it. 

Good friends that make me laugh oh so much.

beautiful new shoes. 

Life is beautiful. Take a look at the blessings you have all around you every day. I know that it really makes me happy.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of things I am thankful for.
love,alex&andrew

ps. looong story, but after 2 years of being married, I finally was able to change my drivers license to Alexandria Sorensen. oh and I am one of the newest residents of Utah. yayyy :)