A little catching up

Obviously I haven't posted in a while. It was nice cutting out things that weren't necessary in my life but now I don't get to look back and see what we did the past few months and my thoughts on it all. And that makes me kinda sad. Which is why I think I am going to start posting again. I have had the ache for it the past couple weeks and just never have. So here we go.

It has been a weird past two months. Not being a full-time student and not working full-time or even part time, err kinda... I have felt pretty lazy. Like I need to be doing more and accomplishing more to fill satisfied with my days. Some days it has been amazing to have no set responsibilities and to sleep in until whenever I feel like getting up and other days it has felt very unsatisfying and depressing.

Last semester being a full time student was hard. The first two months of school I thought I was going to mentally break down. and lets be honest all I really had to do was pass my classes and I would be fine so really there was nothing to stress about. But when I get all the information of what I am supposed to do in a three month period it kinda freaks me out. Okay maybe it freaks me out a lot. and I panic. and its super annoying when you have no idea what the teacher is asking of you or how they grade so you are just trying to figure it all out... Yea thats how September and October went.

Then when the assignments were graded and tests were taken I felt like, ok I can do this. what was I freaking out about? and it turned out to be an awesome semester. The class that I started out hating turned out to be one of my favorite classes.

I learned a ton about families and a little about art and sewed like crazy.

We also traveled a lot... Is that a surprise to anyone? thats kinda what we do.

Andrew's brother Aaron went to BYU-Idaho for his first semester. Lisa, their mom took him up there so naturally we thought we would tag along and see how it went.

The next weekend was Anna's baby shower so of course we had to go to that as well.

When October hit it was time for haunting season. I am pretty sure that is the only thing Andrew misses about Idaho, being able to haunt at the straw maze for the whole month of October. Luckily the past two years the owners have welcomed him back whenever he wants because he is just that good. and trust me I have had enough experience to know that he is really good at scaring people. So we went two more times in October. Hanging out with Anna, Jordan, Justina, Curtis, Taeden, and Caleb, along the way. We even went to the Apple orchard and picked apples.

Andrew was pretty excited about his costume this year!
I think it turned out pretty awesome. 

In October we also welcomed home our dear friend Clayton who was on a mission in New Zealand and we had to say goodbye to our dear friend Chris who left on his mission to Peru. What great guys and awesome examples of leading a Christ like life and having Christ like love. I'm so proud of both of them and glad to call them as our friends.

Of course we went to a ton of BYU Football games. Andrew waited in lines hours before the doors opened to get us a good seat. And he sure did do a great job. Every game we had awesome seats! The BYU vs. Texas game was probably the most crazy game. Andrew waited in line for a few hours and it was pretty hot out. I got there before the gates opened and waited with him. A little before the game started this HUGE and pretty scary looking storm cloud came rolling in. It started pouring and lightning and thunder. It was CRAZY. All the students were dancing in the stands. Then we decided it would be best to seek cover so we hung out under the bleachers for a while. When the rain finally did stop we took our seats and we were freezing and the game was delayed! Our friends Logan and Alex went and got warm clothes so we had them pick us up some. But it was still a pretty cold game BUT BYU did awesome! and we ended up winning the game! YAY. Afterwords, Andrew and I went to our favorite little run down Mexican place. We were riding the scooter home and all of the sudden the tire blew out! Luckily Andrew stomped his foot down saving us from falling over and probably getting very hurt and a lot of road rash! (I sure am grateful for that guy!) We ended up parking the scooter in a lot and walking home.. still being a little wet and cold! Andrew did something to his foot, he never went to the doctor, just wrapped it and was really careful for the next few days. That was such a crazy day though!

Before the game.. notice how clear the sky is! 

The storm coming in! 

After the game! We WON! 

In November our first nephew on Andrew's side of the family was born! Ryder Jay Parson, on November 4th 2013! So of course we had to make a trip to Idaho to see him right away! He is the cutest little guy. I am obssesed with him. We got lots of snuggles in with him that first week of his life and then again during Thanksgiving time when all the Sorensen's went to Idaho for the week. We had a great time relaxing, playing with the dogs, snuggling the baby, snowboarding, skinning a deer and eating lots of food!

Then on the way home we HIT a deer! AH! I actually had no idea what happened, I was looking down at my phone and just heard a clunk and saw some things fly up over our hood. I thought maybe it was a small animal but not a deer! Well we pulled over and it was definitely a deer. Andrew said he saw it coming across the road and we barely hit it. The poor thing was almost out of the road and then it hit the corner of the passenger side of the car. We couldn't even find it afterwords! I am glad though that we could still drive the car and that Andrew handled it so well. He didn't swerve or do anything crazy but he was very safe about it. Luckily his parents were right behind us as well so they pulled over and the guys made it so we could still drive the car and not ruin our tire.

In December of course I was crazy with finals and finishing school. We also celebrated Andrew's 24 birthday! We went shopping, saw Frozen, and ate delicious food at Tucano's. That week we also saw Marilee and went to Savior of the World with her and her kids. It was a beautiful performance!! I would love to go every year if we live here!

The end of December we spent with my Family in Kansas. We celebrated Christmas and the New Year by playing games, eating lots of food, shopping, going to a KU game and exploring Kansas. It was a wonderful time seeing family and making life long memories.

Nowadays Andrew is working full time as a property manager, which right now includes helping to move a 16,000 sq ft house. Needless to say he is a busy, hard working guy. I am being a little house wife, cooking, cleaning, blogging, and pinteresting (thats in the description right?). I have been making lots of YouTube videos and trying to start a children's swimsuit business! (I'll talk more about those two later) We are going to all the last basketball games of the season and watching as much of the Olympics as possible, or that I can stand ;) I am also taking an intro to entrepreneurship class. It is wonderful and I would recommend it to anyone! It is inspiring and really opens my mind to the possibilities that are before me.

For Valentines weekend we went to St. George with Richard and Lisa and our friends Logan and Alex to relax and enjoy a little warmer weather. We were shopping, riding, watching the olympics, of course eating lots of good food, and visiting family.

It has been a great past few months. Busy but wonderful! We are certainly looking forward to more traveling and warmer weather!

and if you read all of this good job. That was a long one!

love, alex&andrew

The Best Presidents Day EVER

This day in time was beyond crazy. In the most amazing and wonderful ways. We had gone to St. George for the weekend but had to be home on Monday so that Andrew could go to work even though I didn't have school. The plan was to come home Sunday evening but it got so crazy and Andrew was doing pretty bad with his sickness (yea the one that he STILL has) so we decided to go to bed early and get a good nights rest and then wake up and go in the morning and get there in time for him to get ready for work. Well we got there just in time to go to work. No getting ready. No nothing. Just drop me and all of our stuff off at home and go.

This is a view from this house in St. George. HOW INSAIN is that??
 I absolutely love it. It was literally a wall of windows. did I mention I love it.  

I was also in a hurry to get out the door again but for a much more awesomer reason :)
My sister Justina and her husband Curtis and my babies, aka Taeden and Caleb, came to town and I was eager to see them. I miss them. A Lot. I need babies in my life to remind me why I don't have babies in my life yet. ha. But really they are the cutest little things and I love this little toddler stage that Taeden is in. THE CUTEST! ah, kills me every time. So we met up at Scheels, also talked about here.

This was so much fun. There was so much for Taeden to look at, and Curtis ;) 

I was VERY surprised when Taeden really wanted to ride the Ferris wheel that is in the middle of the whole building. It is really cool looking but I thought he would freak out the moment it got really high but he never did! He enjoyed every moment of it and was sad when he had to get off. 

I got to play with Caleb while they road which was equally fun. He is such a happy baby and full of warm smilies. I am kinda in love with all of these pictures I took. So many photo-ops at this place! and stay tuned because once I get more from Justina I mighhht have to post them. (if you think this is a lot, just wait until we have a child..ha) 

UHM then the day just got 100 million times BETTER. And lets just say that it was already pushing the couldn't get any better than this day. Well Justina had e-mailed our brother Cameron, who is on a mission for our church in Salt Lake City, and asked him if he would be able to go to lunch with us or something. Well she kept checking her phone the whole time and then finally, 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave he e-mailed her back and said Let me ask my mission president. WELL he did and after a few emails back and forth and a little confusion, the Pres. said YES! 

WOOOOOOOOPIE. I was so very very surprised. But I have heard about how awesome he is through a few pretty good sources, so this made him even greater in my eyes. 

We met up with him at this really old church in the city. He told us it was this creepy old church and when we pulled up I was like oh my gosh this place is beautiful. HA guess we have two different perspectives on the beauty of old architecture. He was writing his letters home so we just sat around and talked with him and a few other missionaries. Then we went to crown burger so we could eat and talk some more of course. 

Elder Brown writing home. 

Holding Baby Caleb for the first time. 

Oh just chillaxing with Elder Brown.. T is really into it. 

It was so wonderful talking with him. He has such an amazing spirit. I still can't even believe that he is a missionary. He is so dedicated to the spanish community in Salt Lake City. I loved hearing him speak in spanish. It is beautiful and he is amazing at it. I can't believe that in 8 months he can speak complete sentences and have conversations in spanish. HOW COOL. I feel so blessed to be a member of this wonderful church and I am so proud of my little brother for being so selfless and giving up two years of his life to serve the Lord. What a glorious thing he is doing. I look up to him for the wonderful faith he has and exudes not only in his letters but to every person he meets. The whole time we talked all he did was tell us about the people he is meeting and teaching. I know that really loves the people there and truly has a testimony of the things that he is teaching. I just love him so much.

Caleb is freakin out. bahh. He loved Elder Browns name tag. 

Me and Elder Brown. YAY 

It was one of those perfect days. I loved seeing everyone and catching up and just relaxing with family. I love them all so very very much. 

I guess this post is a little mushy too. Ah, I guess I just love my family so much I have to share it with the world. Its grrrreat. 

love,alex&andrew 

p.s - is saying love 11, well now 12 times too much for one post? 

And the Festivities Begin!

October was a good month. and looking back I can't believe it has already come and gone. Life is busy. School is hard. and so is work. we are two worn out kids ready for a little break coming in 2 weeks. However we had some fun activities this month that kept life being really great.

• First we went to the Carrie Underwood and Hunter Hayes concert! It was amazing. probably one of the best concerts I have been to, and lets just say I have been to a lot of concerts. Andrew got me tickets for my Birthday in July so I had been looking forward to this day for a long time. And they did not let me down. We got delicious Thai food at this great place in Provo and then headed to the concert in Salt Lake. We walked in while Hunter was performing. Now I haven't listened to much of his music but this boy melted my heart. My sister is in LOVE with him and I understand why. His voice is wonderful and if you haven't heard his single Wanted, you should click here and listen to this beauty. Now Carrie Underwood was for sure the BEST thing ever. What a voice that girl has and what a performance. I was entertained and in aw the whole time. She even floated over the crowed with her band on a piece of the stage! (picture below). It was AWESOME. 

• One weekend.. we went to Murray, Utah (Where my little brother is living on a mission right now for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and we went shopping :) it was fun and relaxing. Bought a few little treats. And then we headed over to Scheel's, a sporting good type store, for its grand opening. We walked all around and took some fun pictures. It is a fun place and I am pretty surprised we didn't walk away spending a lot of money, instead we bought nothing. How good are we? ha I am sure we will go back :) 

• The last weekend of October we headed up to Rexburg so that Andrew could scare in the straw maze. If you remember last year he was able to work at the straw maze the whole month of October. He LOVED that job and was really missing it. So we were able to go up for a weekend so that he could scare on Friday and Saturday night and I could spend time with the Parson's and the Checketts. I had realllllly been missing my little baby boys so I am very glad we got to go. Andrew got a little scaring out of his system which is always nice for me and overall it was cold but great weekend. 

• As for Halloween we dressed up as an Old Man and an Old Woman. It was hilarious. Andrew even had these little hair pieces for his ears. He legitimately looked like an old man. I can't wait to have kids to dress up in obnoxiously cute and awesome costumes. And I really can't wait to pass out candy to all the little kids in the neighborhood. I love seeing everyones costumes and hearing trick-or-treat. We stopped by Hannah Taylor's party and hung out there for a while. She was dressed up as Katy Perry, it was awesome! 

What a great month. and I am thinking november is going to be just as great! 

Hope you guys are having a great week! 

Happy Election day! Did you go out and vote? 

I got to vote for the first time ever. I was so excited for it and really looking forward to it. and it was great. I like getting my little red sticker. 

We have spent the night anxious and watching fox news and eating pizza. Oh me oh my, what a night. We are ready to hear the outcome! Hope you all did your part and went out and voted! 

love,alex&andrew 

ohh baby, baby, baby OHHHHHH

On Saturday, August 4th 2012, my sister gave birth to our second nephew (we also have one niece) in Rexburg.

So we decided to head back up to Rexburg after just leaving and spend some time with my family and meet this little chunk of cuteness. and man am I glad I did.
He is such a CUTIE.

Caleb Steven Checketts.

the longest baby I have ever heard of and seen. he was a good 22 incher. Long fingers and very long toes. his feet are huge. and I am SO sad we moved at the time of his birth. I wish we could have spent more time with him and his awesome parents. But we will be sure to visit :)

 I just love this last one of Andrew holding him and the serious look on Andrews face. It makes me smile :)

We are an Aunt and Uncle AGAIN. 

YAY 

love, alex&andrew