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

Moving On

I am saddened at how behind I have become at blogging because MAN are things happing around here! I have so much to tell I don't even know where to begin. I guess I will start off with this...

We MOVED. it is done. and over with. We are gone from Rexburg. and let me tell you I never want to move again. It is stressful and exhausting. And of course two days before the actual move I get really SICK. darn you germs. So the whole time we were hauling stuff in and out and out and in I was sick. Let me just tell you that was not good. I do not suggest it to anyone. But it is all over and done with and now it is on to the organizing.

Now this move was not an easy one, and not just because of me being sick.
A few weeks before we moved down we came to Provo and looked for two days for a place to life. We found a cute little basement and it was right by campus so I was reallllly happy.
Well On July 31st we drive down to Provo, Andrew in the moving truck and me in the car. I get to the apartment about 30 minutes before I am supposed to do a walk through with the manager. I sit in front of the house and notice the old tenants are STILL MOVING OUT. I got a little confused at that point. I go meet with the manager and she says they aren't out yet and she asks if I can come back later that day. I agree. We go back a few hours later and she says it isn't cleaned yet can you call me tomorrow at noon and I will let you know when you can move in. I agree. It will give us time to rest up and be ready to move all of our stuff again (Luckily we had the truck for about 3 days).

Next day. I call. She says meet me there and we will do the walk through. We go there, she hands us a paper and says mark the damages and anything you would like cleaned again. We go in and we are in SHOCK! The carpets are still drying from being cleaned. and that was the only thing that looked like it had been cleaned. There were holes and mold and nastiness all over.

I proceeded to freaking out a little. Andrew proceeded to getting mad and frustrated. We don't have time for this.

After not being able to get ahold of her to do more cleaning and try to repair the damages, we start looking for a new place to live. and our stress level proceeds to increase. We have to return the truck by the next day.

Our friend suggests we try the BYU Student Family Housing. We agree even though in our minds we are thinking they have a waiting list and have nothing available immediately.

We go. We take a tour. It is a million times better than the basement apartment. We sign up.
By 8 o'clock that night we are moving into a completely different apartment than the one we had planned to move into that morning.

I feel so blessed. We were so blessed to find a good place to live and move in all in the same day. We had an awesome amount of help and I was so AMAZED by everyones willingness to help and at how friendly our neighbors are. We had people coming over to help or even just to say Hi and introduce themselves. Even though this was such a stressful and frustrating time for us, I believe that it worked out for the best and it is what Heavenly Father wanted for us. We were supposed to live here. We were supposed to learn something from this and I truly believe we have. We have grown. and continue to.

And now Provo is our new home. I am about to start school on the 27th and I am nervous. Andrew has a job interview tomorrow and he is nervous. Here comes all of the new challenges and experiences.

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

p.s- So this new place we live in, Wymount Student Family Housing, yea I can SEE the missionaries walking to the temple. I can walk out my front door, down the steps, look to my right, and SEE MISSIONARIES. Honestly we haven't been here that long, but it kills me. I want to run over there and see my little brother. We might have to go take a walk around the temple on Sunday (cause that is what the missionaries do, if you didn't know). AND if you are really confused at this point here is the low down, my little brother is in the MTC, aka The Missionary Training Center. He is working to serve the Lord. and I now live YARDS away from him. It kinda blows my mind most days that I am so close to him but can't go see him. I am SO proud though. what an AMAZING thing he is doing for the Lord.

P.s.s- On another side note, we just learned tonight that church will now be starting at 8AM instead of 12PM, starting this week.





DANG IT!

Brigham Young University - Rexburg, Idaho

We are completely done at Brigham Young University-Idaho.
There is not one more assignment we have to turn in at this school.
I honestly have no idea what I am feeling right now.
I kinda feel anxious. or like I wanna cry. or scream. or burst with joy.
What an experience.
Andrew and I are both leaving as Juniors with an Associates in General Studies.

Completely Bitter Sweet.
The past three years have been years we will never forget.
We met some of the most amazing people.
We met each other HERE.

Ohhh Small Town Rexburg.
I will NOT say it has been easy. and I will definitely not say that I have loved it here all of the time. but it has been a crazy ride.
Let's take a look back on this journey shall we? Hold on it's a LONG one.

(alright so i am starting with my experiences before marriage)

Night at the Ice Caves 

View from my apartment 

Apartment 604

My 18th Birthday with great great friends 

Mesa Falls 

Time Out for Women 

Best Friends 

Meeting the guy who wrote "Charly" at work 

Meeting Superman 

my dear dear friend aleni, best person, EVER, to work with

Dating the future Mr. 

Supermans party hanging out with the Morgans. 

Apartment 115

Date to see pond skimming 

Taeden Lewis Checketts was Born 

A few hours before he asked me to marry him 

Our First Pet

Noah's Ark Party 

My 20th Birthday 

Playing with old Roommates

Going to the Sand Dunes 

Circus 

Watching Andrew Play Sports 

Easter 

Playing with my favorite little man 

Scaring at the Straw Maze 

Ultimate Dodge Ball Game 

Our Christmas Tree 

Playing with Friends 

Time out for Women 

Feeding Ducks 

Picking Apples 

Got my Associates Degree 

Watching more sports 

Baby Taeden turned 2 and is becoming a big brother :)

Shooting with friends and watching people blow things up and watching the sun set. 

Rexburg you have SO many memories for us. It has been great. 

We are sad and nervous to move but also very excited to have many many more adventures. 

Now time to go Celebrate with an awesome Date Night :) 

love, alex&andrew 

Best Friends & Fireworks

The 4th of July has also come and gone. Man I really need to get back into my blogging habit and picture taking habit. It was a great day. We went to Provo Tuesday night after saying goodbye to my family. Wednesday morning we went to the Provo parade and it was great! I got to see Stephanie Neilson for like a split second and a half but it was AWESOME. She is seriously my hero and I would love to meet her some day. (I actually just finished her amazing book yesterday.. but maybe more on that later) So yes awesome parade.

Then we met up with Andrews best friend Logan who we haven't seen in like a year and his FIANCE! Man they are so cute together. and her name is Alex. How ironic is that??? It makes me laugh a little every time I think about it. But its great. Her and I decided we shall be best friends. I like making new friends, especially when it is a couple that we both like. We went to Tucanos with them which is pretty much the best restaurant EVER! So much good unlimited food. I have been missing out for sure! Then we went on a little stroll through Provo canyon by the waterfalls. soooo beautiful. Then off to Sub zero to cool ourselves down because man was it HOT! it was wonderful though.

To end the day we went to Utah Lake with our friends the Turnbulls to go night tubing. (Night Tubing= where you go tubing at night and you wear glow sticks so when you fall off they can find you in the water..ha) It was great. and then once the fireworks started we stopped the boat and watched all of the firework shows in the provo valley area..thing.

So I just wrote a novel and its boring and I have no pictures. I will try to be more exciting next time and not wait so long.. haha I'm working on it. Finals are this week and next so I will be done soon and then the moving begins! AH crazy times. I looooove it.
Hope you enjoyed this awesome, informative, loving blog post.
Until next time, ENJOY!
love, alex&andrew

I found some sweet photos to share :) 

Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen?? 

Andrew and Logan at Logan's Homecoming.. over a year ago. 

Bitter Sweet Times

I have wanted to blog for a while but didn't really know what to say. and Honestly I still don't.

I want to keep this blog like a journal and write down the good and the bad times. So I guess it is time for a not so good time.

My Grandpa Brown passed away on Thursday June 21st, 2012. It was a shocker. He had had his gall bladder removed and was recovering so I thought he was doing good. But things took a turn for the worst.

Honestly, I know he is in a much better place now and I know that he isn't hurting, and his body isn't causing him trouble. What a wonderful thing to think about! And I know he is there chilling with his mom and dad and brothers. What a great reunion that must have been.

Honestly it hit me pretty hard. It was the first person close to me that I have had pass away and let me tell you I do NOT like it. but I know it is okay and I will see him again. For now I will remember the sweet memories that I have of him.

One of the last times we had a good long conversation was when he took me around his whole house and told me all about the treasures he has collected over the years. It was great to hear his stories and see of his excitement and remembering his life experiences.

And then another one of the last convos was me telling him about Andrew and I going to BYU. He was really excited for us. I am glad we get to go to his alma mater.

Now to make a sad time happy my family was able to drive out here to come to the funeral. So we got to see them all 4 weeks earlier then originally planned.

I got to see my brother before he went into the MTC on Thursday. That was also bitter sweet.

I am so proud of that littler brother of mine and the work he will be doing for the next two years of his life. He is serving in the Salt Lake City - Spanish Speaking mission. So pretty much Andrew and I will be 45 minutes from him for a lot of the time. WOW that will be hard not to just go look for him everyday! ha I figure I will see him at least once on his mission so I am not too crazy missing him but it is just weird knowing I can't call him whenever I want and see how he is doing.

I will miss him but I am so proud and know I can write him whenever I want to! 

Wayyyy to go Elder Brown! 

Cameron the day before he went into the MTC standing in front of the Salt Lake City Valley where he will be serving! 

Grandma & Grandpa Brown on there wedding day. How beautiful are they? :) 

Wordless Wednesday: Taeden & Fresh Flowers