MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

We love Martin Luther King Jr. Not only because of what he did, but because we get a 3 day weekend because of him. We have only been in school for 2 weeks but it feels like forever. I don't know why this semester is just going by so slowly already. But anyways, because it's felt slow we were SO excited for the 3 day weekend! People asked me what we were going to do for the weekend I happily said, "We are cleaning our whole house!" 

Friday night after we got done with class we hung out for a while and did a little homework but we were just waiting around before we went to clean the temple. Our ward had been assigned to clean the temple and this means that you arrive at 9:45 pm and you stay until midnight! Crazy late! There was a good turn out, Garrett met a guy named Marcos from Argentina, and we had the best time! We loved it so much we might start doing it every week! 

*I didn't take this picture but I just wanted to show how beautiful it is*

Saturday we got up and we cleaned the WHOLE house! I have never been so happy to clean. After our apartment disaster we had big time organizing and cleaning to do. So come see our apartment while it is clean everybody! Garrett played basketball with the ward and then we ran some errands, Then our Saturday, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and this morning consisted of our favorite game. RUMMIKUB! We won't say the running score but let's just say it was a lot to a little and Garrett didn't win a lot... ;) But he is a good loser and still likes to play with me! I was on a lucky roll! Plus I have to enjoy my winning streak because it most likely won't last long! 

*Music, Garrett's hot chocolate, and rummikub*

I got Garrett these mugs for Christmas and we are loving them! How cute are they?!

Sunday we slept in, enjoyed our farmers casserole, had 1 o'clock church (not sure how I feel about it yet), Elle and David had us over for a delicious dinner and games, we skyped Debbie and Vince, and played more rummikub. It was good to spend time with Elle and David and catch up! We can't wait to meet their sweet little boy! Less than 8 weeks!! So good to see and talk to Debbie and Vince too! They are so fun and I'm so blessed with the best in-laws! We talked for quite awhile and we are excited to see them soon!

Today we went on a little outing for fun! We found the "Rexburg wall" so we took some pictures!

*But first he had to get his Mountain Dew*

*Then we used our Wendy's frosty coupons* 

I personally think these are the perfect size and wish they were on the menu

Then we got a little crafty for Valentine's Day coming up!

So first we got a bunch of paint samples from ACE hardware! Garrett didn't know that you can have paint samples for free so I got nervous thinking maybe we shouldn't take them. Then a guy literally said, "the paint samples are free so take as many as you want." So that helped us not feel bad! 

Then we went to the school library and cut out hearts on each of the paint samples! Then we strung a thread through them all. Garrett poked the holes and I threaded them. The final product.....

The "I" circle is a new addition that was just hung so we are happy with our cute new wall! I love how easy and FREE it was!

Thank you Martin Luther King Jr. for the push towards Civil Rights... and thank you for providing us with this 3 day weekend that was oh so needed! 

WEEKEND IN THE BIG CITY

After our crazy week that you can read about HERE we were excited to head to Salt Lake to see the Jacobs that we were missing so much! It had only been about 3 weeks since we had seen them but not having them across the parking lot anymore is way sad.

So we got to Salt Lake Friday night and they made us a delicious dinner and we just chatted and caught up which was fun and then we decided to go get a little treat. They are living in downtown Salt Lake which is so fun! They are so close that they can walk to a lot of things. So we went for a walk to a little place called Gourmandise! It was the cutest little place! It had lights outside and it was so busy! 

 They have a huge variety of desserts up front in the window and they also serve dinner. We ordered up front, sat down and they brought them out to us. We scarfed everything down so fast it was so delicious!

*Garrett loved his hot chocolate and strawberry ring*

*The Jacobs and Garrett both got this strawberry ring and they said it was delicious*

*I got the strawberry kiwi tart and it was SO good*

Then we spent the rest of the night playing games until one in the morning. We taught them to play Rummikub and Rook. Mine and Garrett’s two favorite games lately! It was so fun! I would also like to say that Katrina and I killed it in Rook.

Saturday morning we slept in a little bit and they spoiled us with bacon, waffles, and eggs for breakfast! After we ate and everyone got ready we went to the Salt Lake City Temple (my first time) to do sealings! It was so beautiful and such a good experience. Do everything you can to go to the temple.

Afterwards we walked around the temple checking out all the brides and their wedding parties and of course we had to take some pictures! We love these guys!

Then we went to mine and Garrett's favorite place to eat in Salt Lake which is Blue Lemon. They have the most delicious grilled chicken balsamic panini! Everyone needs to try it. That was just to hold us over until dinner.

Jon and Katrina are in Salt Lake because Jon graduated and got a job down there and they live about 250 feet from his work. How great is that? So he went into work for a few hours so Katrina showed us around Trolley Square and showed us Trader Joes. Trolley Square is the cutest place, it has a lot of the original railroad station structures and it’s so fun!

We were big spenders and I treated us to gumballs. They were quite hard (almost broke my tooth) but a fun treat!

We played Rummikub while we waited for Jon to be done then headed out to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and then to the Utah Grizzlies hockey game we went. Jon’s brother and sister in-law came with us. They live in Salt Lake too while he goes to Medical School!

As we know, Buffalo Wild Wings is not a place for socializing but it’s a good place to watch football, basketball or any sport really. And we got lucky and the NFL playoff games were on while we were there. Garrett thinks the wings last night were the best we have had so that was a plus too!

We left from there to go to the hockey game at the Maverick Center! Katrina almost got our snacks taken away, the game started with a fight, and the Utah Grizzlies won. 

It was Garrett’s first hockey game and he told us it was a “screaming success.” So that makes for a good night. It was so funny because it was 2-2 with 4 minutes left and then the Grizzlies scored and Garrett stood up and started clapping and cheering so he clearly enjoyed it!

*We were speechless because it was so fun*

Overall it was the best weekend! It might have even made us miss them more but we were glad to spend the weekend with them!

This morning we got up early and drove to Brigham City to listen to Garrett’s “son” from the mission give his third homecoming talk. I had never met him before but it felt like I had known him forever. He gave such a good/inspiring talk and Garrett was so happy to see him! 

CJ Brown, we are glad you are back and can't wait to see you again! Jacobs, we miss you already and better be seeing you soon as well!! 

APARTMENT STRUGGLES...

We were excited to be back to Rexburg and to just hang out Sunday night before school started the next day but it happened a little differently... 

We pulled into our apartment’s parking lot and we literally had to shovel a spot to park our car. The snow was so deep and no one was in our apartment complex while we were gone so we had to shovel a ton of snow. Then Garrett spent forever shoveling our sidewalk. So I was inside putting stuff away about to make dinner and I went to get some water and it didn’t turn on.

Flashback to the night before when we were at Payton’s basketball game we had received a all from our Elder’s Quorum President and he left a message but we didn’t listen to it until we got back home. Once we listened to it, it said that the fire department and ambulance were at our apartment complex so don’t be worried when we show up and they are there. Uhhhh, yeah I’m probably going to be a little worried.  Then soon after we got a call from our Landlord who said that the pipes had burst in the two apartments next to us and that there was a lot of water in them. She didn’t know the whole story because she lives in Great Falls but was telling us that nothing happened to ours, at least she didn’t’ think.

Back to Sunday, so the water didn’t turn on and so I told Garrett and then we realized the internet wasn’t working and we didn’t have any gas either which meant it was pretty cold in there. Garrett called and talked to our Landlord and she was wondering if we could still stay there and so we did but we still had no water or anything, which made it tough. So Monday we started school and that day, some guys came to look at our apartment and told us that the pipes in the apartment above ours are frozen as well so that could leave our apartment in standing water as well. Yeah, I didn’t love the sound of that.

So Monday night we went out to eat and then our Landlord got us a hotel, which we were very thankful for. Compared to the night before we slept like babies. So with all the craziness of school and our apartment being taken over we tried to enjoy the hotel a little bit. We enjoyed continental breakfast, the hot tub, the king bed, and cable!

We stayed at the hotel Tuesday night as well and then moved back into our apartment on Wednesday. We are still with no Internet which is kind of a pain when we are both students but our prayers were answered and our apartment stayed dry. We were blessed and are so thankful that everything worked out.

RECAP OF CHRISTMAS BREAK

We LOVE Christmas break! Well let’s be honest, we love any break we get from school! These past few weeks have been so nice to not think about school, spend time with family, and to just relax! Family time is truly the best time!

Here’s a little recap of all the things we did over break:

We went to Lander to spend a few days with Garrett’s family and our friends came with us! We had the best time! We snowmobiled, snowboarded, played Ping-Pong, ate good food and lots of other things!

After our friends left we went to a Christmas party with his family, visited a few different ladies that his family knows, and played games! Our time was short in Lander but it was so good to be there for a few days to see them! I love that both of our families are close enough to see both in the same break!

Monday the 22^nd we headed to Billings and were so lucky with all of our traveling we had mostly good roads! Our Christmas included some of the best foods out there (ex. Carmel rolls, farmers casserole, and prime rib), taking family pictures in the snow, although it was cold, it was so worth it. Just ask Joel and Payton. We played spikeball, played bunco, and drank Italian sodas. For more details you can read my Christmas post HERE!

The next best thing was we went to Scheels. Billings got a new and improved Scheels that is HUGE. You could spend hours and hours in there. There are games to play, a Ferris wheel to ride, pictures to take, and food to eat, and we did it all!

Let’s talk about how I don’t love Ferris wheels. I like when they are going around and around. I don’t like when we continue to stop at every stop and then get stuck on top and the seat rocks back and forth because Garrett is looking at everything. It was quite scary. Heights aren’t my thing but it was

all for the experience.

Then we checked out the whole store and took pictures everywhere we could it was so fun!

 

*Colby, this one is for you!*

The Saturday after Christmas we got up at 4:30 to leave for Fairfield, Montana which is right outside of Great Falls. My sweet Aunt Janis, my Dad’s only sister passed away. She was diagnosed with ALS a little over 2 years ago. She is an amazing example of the way we should all want to live our lives. She put her family and the gospel first and was loved by everyone she knew. The service

was as perfect as it could get! Many tears were shed but we are glad to know that she has no more pain, suffering, and is in a better place. She will be missed. Aunt Janis, we love you.

*This is her with her husband and sweet kids*

Saturday night when we got back started our obsessions with ROOK. It’s a card game and we played for 3 hours straight with my dad and Sophie. Then we downed a whole large pizza in like 5 minutes. It was awesome. Every day from then on I think we played ROOK almost every day! We played with anyone who would play with us.

We had a baby shower for my sister Elle! She is due March 14^th with a sweet baby boy! The theme was “Little Man Lovato” and my mom came up with all of the cutest decorating and food ideas!  There was a great turn out and we had fun spoiling her soon to be little baby!

Garrett was so helpful with getting ready for the baby shower! He even made the signs for the banner in the picture above!

We didn't have sandwiches we had "man-wiches"

Mustaches cookies, ice cream, and bowtie brownies for the win! 

I got her this cute fox outfit and a fox hat! So fun! Can't wait to spoil him!

*Elle and my Grandma Williams* 

Over the break we went down to my Grandma and Grandpa Stott’s house and played games with them! We originally went down to play rook with them and ended up playing some others! We played nickel, rummikub, qwirkle, and dumb bunny bridge! We had so much fun! I have a feeling that this winter we will be playing lots of board and card games so let us know if you want to take us on.

New Year’s Eve was way fun! I already blogged about it so if you want a lot more details scroll down a little bit or click HERE. But we went to dinner at Rio Sabina’s, saw Annie, and played some more games with my parents! It was so much fun! And let’s just say that I L-O-V-E-D 2014 so let’s hope that 2015 is half as good!

On New Year’s Day Garrett and I went out to my Aunt Marjie’s and she cut our hair. She has cut my hair since I was a little girl and she still does the best job. It was so fun to chat and catch up with her and my Uncle Jim while we are out there! I just love them! Thanks for cutting our hair for us Aunt Marjie! Apparently getting your hair cut is exhausting because when we got back we napped for like 2 hours. We woke up and it was time for lunch/dinner with everyone. My mom’s parents came out to eat with us which was fun because we didn’t see them for Christmas! Then we spent the rest of our night watching the bowl games. How good was the Ohio State vs. Alabama game? If you didn’t watch it you missed out. Longest game of my life but good! Plus it’s always entertaining with Robbin and Joel.

On January 2^nd we went to the temple to do a session with my parents! We went to the 12 o’clock session and it was so cool because at that exact same time 5 months ago Garrett and I were in the temple about to be sealed for time and all eternity! How great is the temple? The blessings we receive are amazing! It was the perfect day spent in the temple just like it was 5 months ago surrounded by our family and friends. There is nothing better!

On another note, where did the past 5 months go? I don’t know but they have been the best five months. We have learned, grown, laughed, and become better together. Garrett you rock! I love you!

Let’s just say my dad was not loving me taking pictures of him/everything 24/7. I loved doing it because he would start laughing because he was annoyed. Payton was about the same way. So here’s some pictures for my enjoyment and maybe yours. (They secretly liked it)

We also randomly took pictures one night in the kitchen because why not? It was the best time. 

We spent our last day of break in a gym. One of my favorite places to be. We started the day at my little sister Sophie’s game. All of the Skyview teams were playing Central one right after the other all day. She plays on the sophomore team and they played at 10:45! She did so awesome! We were so impressed! It has been a while since I have seen her play and she did so awesome! They won and she is such a stud! Go Sophie!

 

Then we came back around 4 and watched the JV boy’s game, varsity girl’s game, and then the varsity boys! My brother plays on the varsity team so it was great that we could watch both of them in the same day! Our family loves basketball season! It was great to see so many familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in a while! They won by quite a bit! Payton is such a smart player, he always makes the right pass, and is very unselfish! He is fun to watch! (He is not pictured but next time I watch I will get some)

Overall we had the best break! We are not ready to start school again tomorrow… but I guess the sooner we start the sooner we are done! Here we come winter semester.