A Small Vacation

Before going to the Riverhouse for the reunion we stopped in Reno and spent a couple days with my family. We hadn't seen them in a few months, so it was nice to be able to get some time in with them. Too bad Idaho is so far from home. The road trip is just awful sometimes.

in the car, getting ready to leave. we brought my sister home with us from Rexburg too!

sometimes the farmland is pretty. 

always so happy to see this sign!

my mom made this sign for us and taped it to the front door! going home is the best.

We had a great time with my family. We tried to cram a lot into those 3 or 4 days we were there! We went out to eat, spent a day at Tahoe, went on lots of walks, watched my brother play football and just soaked up some good family time. 

dinner at a Mexican restaurant! so good 

I love hanging out with my siblings. I can't believe how old my brother looks in this picture. stop growing up Danny! 

On our way to Tahoe!!

my cute mom

so pretty! too bad the water is so dang cold

Ty, Andrea, Danny, and Danny's friend Isaac jumping off some rocks. I didn't want to go (surprise surprise)

We were also able to go to my brother's football camp while we were in town. Of everything I feel like I've missed since I moved out, watching Danny play football is the thing that makes me the saddest. I can't believe I can count the number of his games I've been to on one hand. I'm so grateful for any chance I get to watch him play because he's so good and I can tell he really loves it. Because my dad is one of his coaches and helps with the game film, we've been fortunate enough to at least watch the film from all of his games. I'm glad we got to watch him in action a couple times before we left! 

I just love the mountains in the background. home means Nevada!

We had such a great time in Reno. Can't wait to go back again! 

The Graduate

In July Ty finished his last semester of school and graduated from BYU-Idaho! We were both so excited about it. We have so many memories in Rexburg; we met there, started dating, got engaged, and spent 2 1/2 years of our marriage there. It will always have a special place in our heart, but we were both ready to be done with the college town and move on to "real life!"

I am so proud of Ty and everything he has accomplished. I'm glad that he decided to change his major and go after a job that he knew he would enjoy. I'm grateful for his willingness to work hard to provide for our family.

this is Ty studying hard for one of his last finals ever!

So, in the spirit of full disclosure, I will tell you that Ty didn't actually attend graduation. We actually left Rexburg before the semester officially ended! Don't worry, Ty got all of his assignments/projects/tests done before we left. We left early so we could make it to a family reunion, which was awesome and I'm sure Ty enjoyed that a lot more than he would've enjoyed sitting at graduation for hours. I wanted to have some documentation of the fact that he graduated (other than the diploma) for our posterity, so we snapped some photos before we left. He may or may not be wearing my cap and gown...

And so an amazing chapter of our life came to a close. We're so grateful for the experience we had in Rexburg, and will always treasure the memories and friends we made there. And now it's time to start a new chapter in a new place. Bring it on! 

Reconnecting

This week we got internet in our house and became reconnected with the 21st century. I have been having mixed feelings about this. We haven't had internet since we left Rexburg, which was about mid-July. At times it was frustrating and inconvenient, but  I also found myself enjoying the simplicity and kind of quiet that resulted from a lack of technology in our lives. I read a few books, took some naps, and enjoyed my couch without a laptop, iPad or phone. However, just because we took a small break from having wi-fi access 24/7 did not mean that the rest of the world did, so that made life a little bit complicated when e-mails needed to be sent, talks needed to be prepared, or dinner needed to be made (why have I become so dependent on Pinterest?). Anyway, all of that to say that 2 months without internet (during possibly the most life changing time in our marriage so far) means I have a lot of catching up to do on this little blog of mine. So here we go.

Ty played his last basketball season at BYUI this spring. It was so weird and I was sad about it. We have spent so much time in that gym and it was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he would never play there again. Some of my favorite memories of him are from his basketball days. We started hanging out at the end of his first season, and once we started dating I tried to at least stop by as many practices as I could and made sure I went to every game. It was so fun for me to watch him do something he really loves, and of course when he would look over and wink at me in the middle of a game I would just die. His winks get me every time. So thanks BYUI, for great memories and so many fun seasons for both of us! 

starting the game with a prayer

this last picture is blurry but I love it because Ty almost always spent the timeouts talking and trying to help his teammates out. I hope he gets to coach in the future, he would be so great at it! 

This season Ty was also selected to play in the all-star game! Each team picks 2 of their players to participate in it and it's just for fun at the end of the season. Such a fitting way to end his time playing at school. Ty was always a leader on his teams. The coaches respected him and valued his opinions, and his teammates always liked him and asked him for help and advice. A couple of times he had some freshmen on his team ask him to help them and practice with them on the side. It was so sweet!

Thanks for letting me be a part of your seasons Ty, you'll never know how much I loved being able to cheer you on!

Love, 

your biggest fan

A visit to The Burg

I'm pretty excited because I'm about to do something for the first time in my blogging career: post about something right after it happened! It would be awesome if I could start to make this a habit, but I'm not holding my breath.

This past week my brother has been at EFY. My parents drove to Utah to drop him off, and since they were already more than halfway here, they decided to drive 4 more hours up to Rexburg and spend some time with us! And boy are we glad they did. My sister and I get really homesick; spending a few days with our parents was exactly what we needed. And they even brought our dog so we could see him!

Ty and Andrea still had to go to class while my parents were here (suckers), but we tried to find time in between to do some fun things all together. On Tuesday night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the NBA Finals. This was the first time my parents had been there, and I think it's safe to say it was a hit!

my dad is so focused right here

sticky fingers

We also took my parents to devotional which they LOVED, and spent some time walking around campus. This place is beautiful in the spring/summer! 

all of these pictures were taken in the gardens on campus

the Rexburg temple, right across the street from campus

One night my sister and I took my mom to Zumba with us and we had so much fun! I wish I would've inherited some of her salsa dancing skills. I definitely did not. 

I love this last picture. We were all cracking up!

My mom was so awesome and cooked for us quite a bit, even  though she was supposed to be the guest! How could I say no though? She is such a great cook! 

and we were also spoiled with lots of treats

Thanks for coming to visit, Mom and Dad! We love you guys!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Things have really started to come together for us within the last couple of weeks and we couldn't be more grateful/excited/happy/relieved. Long story short, we're moving back to Rexburg on Friday so Ty can finish his LAST semester of school, and then coming back to Boise where he will be working as the Media and Public Relations Coordinator for the Idaho Stampede!

This last move has been such a good experience for us. I feel like I have learned so much about myself and Ty and just life in general, and have grown up quite a bit. The past few months have been full of ups and downs, trials and blessings and lots of tears (on my end). I seriously cried pretty much everyday for the first couple of months we were in Boise. I don't know why. I think it had a lot to do with the uncertainty of our situation and that so many aspects of our life changed at once. Moving to a new city where you don't know a soul is scary, not having a job when you get there is scary, (not being home for the holidays is just sad, so I feel like those tears were justified) things not going the way you planned is scary. Everything was just up in the air, so I cried. Thank goodness Ty is so patient and kind. I'm sure it was not fun for him to be going through all those same things and deal with a hysterical wife at the same time, but he would just hold me and tell me that everything would be fine. And that made me feel so much better.

After a while I started to feel comfortable and happy at my job (I work at a Montessori school. I love it) and Ty was working full time for the basketball team. Things were going well and we were making plans for the future. We prayed and fasted and went to the temple and really felt like we were making the right decisions for our family. Ty was interviewing for an internship with ESPN and we both felt really good about moving out there, and his interviews were going very well. Then Ty got a call and was told that they had decided to go with someone else for the internship. We were both sad and disappointed, and just confused because we had felt so good about it. I was frustrated that we went through so much effort to make plans and try to organize our future, and then not have things work out the way we had planned. But then a few weeks later, a position opened up with the Stampede. Ty interviewed for it and was offered the job. He is now the Media and Public Relations Coordinator for the team and couldn't be happier. This is exactly what we wanted without even knowing it. Ty is now able to go back to Rexburg and finish school with the assurance that he has a job waiting for him when he graduates, and it's a job that can only lead to bigger and better things (i.e. the NBA...!!). Plus, my sister will be in Rexburg this semester too, which will be so fun! And I will also be able to come back to my school in the fall, which is a huge blessing!

This whole experience has been such a huge reminder to me that the Lord knows us and is so aware of us and our needs. His plans for us are so much better than anything we can plan for ourselves. I'm thankful for trials and opportunities to put our faith in God.

We are so excited to be finishing up our time in Rexburg, and can't wait to see what the next chapter of our life brings!