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

I scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream

For our last day in Idaho.. or something like that, at this point those days are all blurring together, we hung out with more cousins at the Rexburg water pad and then got some yummy ice cream.

Ever since I can remember this carousel has been in Rexburg. The little ones begged to go on so of course we gave in. I got to ride for free because I was an escort. SCORE! The kids loved it and did not want to get off. 

This waterpark is great for little kids but obviously not for anyone like me. I sat/ tried to sit and read for a while and then I left and got my ring cleaned. ha it was such a hot day outside that this was perfect for the kids. 

You can't end a hot day with out getting some good old ice cream either. And I was determined to go to G's Dairy while we were in Rexburg. There are not a lot of things I miss about Rexburg but this sure is one of them. I LOVE G's Dairy. They make their ice cream fresh in Idaho Falls at Reed's Dairy (we think they are brothers or cousins or something like that) and ship it into Rexburg. AND the cones are made right in front of you with a waffle iron. They are sweet and delicious and now my mouth is watering for one as I type this. The best ice cream they have is called Gavin's Mess. It is chocolate ice cream with caramel swirl, marshmallow swirl, and oreo chunks. It is heavenly. and obviously I could talk about it for a while.

I think I need to go get some ice cream now. awesome.
Whats your favorite ice cream?
love,alex&andrew

That one time we payed to jump on a trampoline...

We got to play at the Jump on it... or i jump place. I don't really remember what it is called. But it was SO MUCH FUN! It was the first time I had ever gone to one of those places and I loved it. It was exhausting and I swear my bladder hates me but I loved it. I love jumping on the trampoline. We had one growing up and it was my fav. I would go out and jump on it by myself all of the time. and at night I loved going out and laying on it and looking up at the stars. Its dreamy. You should try it sometime.

I loved trying new tricks here and having so much family around to hang out with. I don't know how people go longer than an hour. I was exhausted by the end of it... well lets be honest, I was exhausted by the middle of it.

We were throwing front flips all over the place and doing our favorite, toe touches. yeaaa we are cool. I wish I could play there all the time and learn all different kinds of tricks. I'm pretty much too much of a scaredy cat to throw a backflip.. even into the pit. Maybe if I had those cordy things to hold me up, but until then all I got is a front flip. Which I am still very proud of myself for being able to do!

It was really fun with all the kids and people to play with. No matter where I went I found someone I knew. When we weren't just jumping around there was also dodgeball which I think everyone loved. and it cleared up the foam pit, which was awesome!

Overall it was an awesome hour of fun with family!

Don't worry there is still lots more to come!

love,alex&andrew

Fishing at Meadow Lake

When we lived in Idaho we had been wanting to go to Meadow Lake for a long time. Justina and Curtis had talked about it a lot and had lots of fun stories to share about it. Unfortunately we were never able to go because we were either too busy or it was too early in the season and there was still snow on the roads to it, even in June! wowza. So when we had an open day while my family was in Idaho we jumped at the chance to spend a day here fishing.

We left early and got there just around lunch time. After eating and getting every thing ready we headed down to the lake. Curtis had rented a raft so a few of us, Curtis, Andrew, Emily, Nathan, Taeden, and I went out on the raft for a few hours. Taeden was a little grumpy and kept asking to go back to shore with his mama, luckily he fell asleep for a while. I was the first one to catch a fish! YAY! After that we all actually caught quite a few. Each of us probably caught 5 or more fish. We kept 12 of them and let the rest go.

When Taeden woke up from his nap I got him to fish with me and right away we caught two in a row! That little guy is one awesome fisher! I couldn't believe how quickly he got them. It was hilarious and awesome. Emily caught the littlest fish and Curtis caught the biggest.. until later when Aaron went out and caught a big guy!

hiding from mosquitos 

It was a lot of fun and really relaxing to just hang out on the lake and do a little fishing. It was also so gorgeous up there. So breathtaking!

She loves him. 

I love s'mores

The fish we kept and cooked.

Me and the babes. 

Us on the beautiful lake. 

After the other group went out on the lake and we just hang out on the shore we started cooking some fish and hot dogs. What a good combo right? ha. It was super yummy. I am not a huge fish person but it wasn't too bad.. until I ate a bone and got a little grossed out so I switched to a good old hot dog.

It was such a beautiful, amazing day on the lake with family. a day to never forget!
love,alex&andrew

Hanging with the piggies.

While in Idaho we were staying with my Grandpa Hansen. The house they live in is over 100 years old. When they bought it, it was so worn down and small. I could not even imagine trying to fix it up. But that is what my grandparents did and it is now such a beautiful house. I love its charm and all of the special touches they have put into it. They are quite crafty and it has just made a lovely home. They also have a few acres of land with a couple horses, a few chickens, 2 pigs, and a beautiful garden. It is the most perfect place. I love that they have enough space for their needs and aren't completely surrounded by neighbors. Its wonderful. I would love to own a place like that someday. Probably not in Idaho but somewhere beautiful, thats for sure. In the morning we were able to just walk outside and shoot grandpas newest gun. It was a lot of fun and very powerful!

Our little Piggies! 

Then we went and saw Displaceable Me 2. We had already watched the first one probably 3 or 4 times in the car the past 3 days so I was pretty up to date on the series. It was SUPER cute. I love the minions and the little girls are adorable. It is funny to me how predictable all little kids movies are. But I kinda like that I can just rely on them to make me happy!

That weekend we got to hang out with the Brown family a little. We had a family reunion at Heise Hot Springs. It was fun to catch up with everyone and play around a little. I think the kids had a ton of fun running around and having lots of cousins to play with. And who doesn't enjoy a good s'more and cobbler! it was so yummmmmmmmy. Andrew even got to come up for the weekend to spend a little time with us. Unfortunately I got no pictures. Horrible, I know. But I will share more from our adventure with the Brown's at the jumping place, soon :)

until next time!
love,alex&andrew

p.s- aren't these the cutest photos EVER! Melts my heart. This top one totally reminds me of a husband and wife. The husband won't stop talking so the wife is pulling him along and he turns to say goodbye to his buddies! HA I love it. They are so cute when they are being cute.

Mama for the day

Going to Idaho means major family time! Like mmmajor. If you didn't know most of my aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas are in Idaho. Not all but most of them. So when we go there we have a lot of family time, hanging out, eating lots of food, and doing what we do best, going cccrazy. The first day that we were there we hung out with my cousins from my mom's side. They were visiting Grandma for the week and were leaving the next day so we spent the day with them at Rexburg Rapids and then went to Grandmas house and made dinner. It was SO crazy with SO many kids! And lets be honest we really didn't have that many.

We went to McDonalds for lunch before Rexburg Rapids and it was SO crazy. We had picked up Taeden from his mama so she could finish getting ready and getting Caleb ready. While we were ordering, Taeden had to go to the bathroom so I took him and of course at the same time Haizlee says she has to go too! So I take them both to the bathroom and I tell Haizlee to stand in a certain spot while Taeden goes and she starts fffffreaking out! AHHH I'm trying to calm her and Taeden is freaking out that he has to go and then she runs out of the bathroom. AHHH (how do people have 2 children. I have SO much to learn!) Luckily Emily got her, they were done ordering and my mom was able to calm her while I attended to Taeden. It was an adventure.

Being with those kids the past few weeks really gave me appreciation for mamas with multiple kids and having to go to the restroom in public. Just trying to take Haizlee with me was a challenge  She wanted to go under the door, or open the door, or just awkwardly have a full on conversation. HA I guess I need to get used to it if I am going to be a mama some day.

I had to post this for Emily. She was SOOOO Sunburnt
 from Schlitterbuan. She lathered on that sunscreen

Honestly I love those kids to death but I sure did see how much of a handful they can be! I have so much to learn when I become a mama. 

Stay tuned for more adventures!  

love,alex&andrew