Best Date Ever!

Okay so I've been planning this date for like 3 weeks and now that it's done I can tell you all about it! It was a scavenger hunt of sorts.

Background: I knew Valentines Day was coming, but I didn't want to plan a Valentines Day date because it's on a Monday and we made a resolution to do better with FHE. Sooooo I decided that BEFORE Valentines Day he wouldn't be expecting anything and it would show love just as much.

All week I knew Ian would have most of Friday off and that we would need the extra time because this date was a long one. Thursday night I stuck this little beauty in his scriptures.

When it's all filled in it says:
How 'bout a date tonight with your dame?
We'll take a stroll down memory lane.
Dress up real nice and get ready for fun,
this date will prove you're my number one!

The number at the bottom isn't my phone number. Goodness knows if it was it wouldn't post it here! But, I wanted it to be mysterious so I used a different number. Sorry, no telling where it came from!

By about 10 I hadn't heard from him so I was worried he hadn't found the note! I sent him a text from the mystery number that said "Have you read your scriptures today?" When we talked and laughed about it later Ian was really weirded out that someone who he didn't know was telling him to read his scriptures. *snickers* He finally responded and we were in business.

My hair cut went too long so our date started later then I wanted. No biggie. At about 6 we got in the car and I gave him his first clue:

This clue took us to the Hinckley Building where we first met. Once we got there we talked about that day and what we were each thinking. It was interesting to remember each of our different thoughts. We had a good laugh about it. If you want to read our story check this out.

Next was clue 2:

We went to the place where we had our fist date. He needed a little help to remember where that was. Good thing I brought our journals along so we could read them too!

Clue 3:
This one was a puzzle. It cut it up after I printed it out. Cutting the temple....is that wrong? Well anyway this is where we first kissed. I might have cut it in too many pieces because it was hard to put together. Still fun though!

Clue 4:
This one took us to his old apartment (Aspen 310) where I told him I loved him for the first time. More reminiscing ensued.

Clue 5:

Next we went where Ian proposed. It's kind of a funny story. Ask me about it and I'll tell you sometime.

Clue 6:

This one was kind of funny because right before I gave it to him his hunger started to really set in. It was 7 o'clock so who could blame him. He said "This is great and all, but are we going to eat?" Then I handed him this card. Thanks for the assist on that one honey. Then we went and had some dinner at Gringo's which was AMAZING! Love that place.

Clue 7:
This one was fun because I secretly gave it to our waitress and asked her to stick it in with our check. I'm so sneaky! He loved it. While we ate dinner we also talked about our wedding since it was the next big step we took together. It was sweet.

Clue 8:
This statue is outside the hospital where our children were born. Ian recognized it right away and we were off.

Clue 9:
This was our last stop for the night. After we let our dinner settle I knew we would want something sweet so I wanted to go to Florence's. It's a chocolate shop where Ian always gets me chocolates for our anniversary. Unfortunately by the time we got to this clue it was 9:30 and I'm pretty sure the shop was closed. Luckily for Ian I had some white chocolate truffles stashed away in my bag just in case that happened. They were delicious!

I decided to put this date together for Ian firstly because I love him. Secondly, because Rexburg has so many special memories for us and soon we'll be moving. I wanted to remember all those special places and times and visit them once again with him since I have no idea when or if we'll ever come back here. I hope so but if not, at least we'll have this date to remember them all.

The best part of my date (besides the man sitting next to me) was going back to my journal. It was weird to read what I actually wrote about how I was feeling. I'm so glad I kept a journal. I always find reminders of how the Lord has blessed me and my family. Ian is most certainly the biggest blessing in my life. The prophets have counseled us to keep journals and I think this is why. Like Alma said to the people of Ammonihah:

Behold, O ye wicked and perverse generation, how have ye forgotten the tradition of your fathers; yea, how soon ye have forgotten the commandments of God. Do ye not remember that our father, Lehi, was brought out of Jerusalem by the hand of God? Do ye not remember that they were all led by him through the wilderness? And have ye forgotten so soon how many times he delivered our fathers out of the hands of their enemies, and preserved them from being destroyed, even by the hands of their own brethren? Yea, and if it had not been for his matchless power, and his mercy, and his long-suffering towards us, we should unavoidably have been cut off from the face of the earth long before this period of time, and perhaps been consigned to a state of endless misery and woe. (Book of Mormon, Alma 9:8-11)

I bet if those people had kept a journal, or even read the scriptures and records that their people kept, they would have remembered the Lord and his mercies toward them. Having Ian in my life has been a great blessing and act of mercy. I know because it says so in my journal. :-)

Thanks for letting my tell you about our super amazing date. You can take the idea if you want to. I'm happy to share the love!

Good Everything Day!

Okay so first I got my hair cut over the weekend. It was a disaster at first. Ian says it's silly but I cried about it. Anyway I went back and they fixed it! Today was the first time I styled it myself. Good HAIR day! (see photo below)

Next the mail came! I love when the mail comes especially when I'm expecting something. I've been waiting for our passport for 2 1/2 weeks and to my surprise they came! I HAVE A PASSPORT!
Maybe it's not a big deal. But really it IS! It's my first one! I showed Atley and Holly theirs too and they were excited too so now I know I'm not crazy! Holly just kept saying "YEAH"! When I showed Atley he saw the eagle and said "bird!" I told him it was a special bird. When I went to put them away he said "I want special bird!"

Also the first books from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library came today! It's a non profit group that sends an age appropriate book once a month to children under 5. The book for the month is The Little Engine the Could! Atley has been looking at a lot of trains lately so that occupied him for about 10 minutes!
Good MAIL day!

Last I was so excited to take a picture for this blog post and was making all kinds of silly faces my kids decided to join in.
Good PLAY day!

I love my kids. I love my passport. I love my life!

Catching a train...

That's what I feel like right now. I feel like there are a million trains some going fast and some going way too slow and I have to coordinate and catch them all at precisely the right moment which I won't know until I have to jump on board. Whew! I'm getting a work out.

Needless to say, our blog has been one of those non priority trains lately. Sorry! I promise we have a lot to share, but I'm going to condense it into one super awesome update blog post! Here we go!

This is my couch before we reupholstered it.

This was during the process...

This is the after! I gotta say I'm pretty proud that I actually finished it. I still have to do the cushions because they don't match but we ran out of that kind of fabric. Oops! We're going to try doing it in brown. Keep your fingers crossed. Also, I'm still finding staples from the project all over the house. I think the people who live here after us will probably wonder what we were doing! The job was hard but I am so grateful for the experience and for Ian helping me with the couch. It went so much faster! Also, this picture is a little out of place. It's from Christmas morning when Ian's brothers were visiting us, but it was the best picture I had of the finished couch.

Next, Ian GRADUATED! This isn't the best picture, but he's there in the black gown and handsome smile! We were so excited when the semester was over but we had so much other stuff to do that I couldn't express it on the blog. I am so proud of Ian. He graduated "cum laude" which is in the top 10% of his class. How awesome is that?! He looked great in his cap and gown which I was sure to iron the night before. I giggled a little to myself when I saw people with the creases in their gowns and said to myself "see! They don't have a wife as great as me, huh?" It felt so good to see everyone going back to school in January and have no part in it.

Because of Graduation Ian's Mom came to visit. The kids loved having their Grandma around and so did I. It was such a nice visit we were sad it was so short.

The snow during December was so beautiful in Rexburg. I think I'm going to miss all the fun winter festivities they have here.

As mentioned above, for Christmas we had Ian's two brothers come to visit. It was so much fun to be surrounded by family for the holiday as we spent time with them and video chatted with both our families Christmas morning. In the evening we cooked up the Turkey that Ian's work gave us and had a great dinner with some friends.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas went went sledding. It was so fun to watch Taran and Jordan do crazy things from a distance and then enjoy the safer stuff ourselves. Holly thinks she's a little queen and should be pulled around in her sled everywhere we go. She often sits in it in the house trying to make it go by herself. Below is Atley's first try sledding and a little commentary from Ian.

Atley even got into pulling Holly's sled around. What a good brother, huh?

Holly even got dressed up for our Christmas dinner. She is absolutely in love with her clothes and brings me different outfits all day to try on. What a little girl!

Ian and I have decided we need more pictures of the two of us. Too often we're left out. This isn't the greatest, but it is a good start.

The next super cool thing we did after Christmas was head up to the cabin in Utah! There was so much snow the only way in was by snowmobile. The kids were freezing, but they handled it pretty well. On the way back down the mountain they were pros enough they just fell asleep. I on the other hand need some more practice. I was dumped off 3 times! But, despite eating snow, I had a great time!

We tried to play in the snow, but we always ended up falling down. By the time we left I think there was over 4 feet! That's like 2 of Holly!

See! I told you she thinks she's a queen.

This is the last attempt at a picture of us. Sad, I know. We're working on it.

This Christmas was also tried to teach Atley some French Christmas songs. This is his version of "Il est ne."

We're so anxious to move that it's a little difficult to contain ourselves. We know if we rush ourselves we'll really regret it, but it's hard not to be excited about the opportunities that await us. Soon we'll be able to apply for housing at the University of Sheffield and then before we know it, we'll be selling all our furniture and visiting out families in California and Florida. Hence, some trains and moving by so quickly and some I wish would just hurry up! We did apply for our passports this last week and for me that was a big financial commitment that say we're actually doing this. I think a lot of me still can't believe it. Maybe once we're on that plane it'll sink in.

We've decided..

that we're moving to Sheffield, England! You might remember the post about that one. It was the first school we were accepted to and it turns out to be what we consider best for our family. Here's how we made our choice:

Ian was accepted into all the schools he applied for (what a blessing, huh?) It was a no brainier for me. Who wouldn't want Ian? Well we chose to apply to each of the schools for different reasons so it was kind of hard for us to make a final choice. In the end what really did it was the overall benefits to our family. Sheffield offered a scholarship just for being an American student. There's an additional scholarship he can apply for and if he gets it, his tuition will only be $5500 for the year! Also, they offer on campus family housing making it easier for us to arrange things before we leave. On top of that, with all those benefits it's still a top 10 school in the UK, and in the top 100 of the World!

So, we'll be moving from Rexburg, on or around August 1st at which point we'll visit our parents in California and Florida before we make the big move.

I cannot express how excited we are for this opportunity. We have been so blessed and though we know this move won't be easy, we feel like it'll be the best for us in the long run. Thanks for coming along for the ride blog readers! It'll be fun to keep everyone updated through our blog when we live an ocean away!

Our Anniversary

Things have been so incredibly busy around here that I haven't even told you about all the fun stuff we've been up to. Despite all the craziness I felt that I needed to stop and mention that today is our 3rd anniversary! Time really does fly and I could never imagined that we'd have two beautiful children already! I am so happy to be married to Ian. He is such a good helper with the kids and the housework as well as being my emotional rock. It's not hard to imagine eternity with him because that's what I hope for everyday. Whenever he goes off to work or school I remind myself that someday I won't have to share him with those things. Ian and I chose to be married in the Lord's House so that we could be together forever. I know that if we keep the covenants we've made Heavenly Father will grant us that blessing.

Thank you Ian for taking care of me in every way. I am so looking forward to the new adventures we'll be having over the next few years together. I'm grateful to know that no matter what happens you'll always be there for me. I love you.

PS-Among the craziness a few pieces of news: 1. Ian was accepted to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and we're in the process of deciding which school we're going to now that we have all acceptances. 2. I reupholstered my couches 3. Holly turned 1.

Posts to come soon!