Back in the 'Burg

I've been in a blogging mood lately and today's my day off, so I'm going to take full advantage of it and knock out another post. Plus, it's just one of those stay in bed, don't get ready kind of days. So far this entire blog has been one huge catch-up and it makes me happy to know that I'm getting closer to posting about much more present events/thoughts/ideas/feelings etc. This post, however, is dedicated to the past couple of months we've lived here in Rexburg.

Right now we're living at Stone Brook apartments and we loveee it. It's located on the outskirts of campus right by all the cute little neighborhoods in town. {Sometimes we go on evening walks and pick out our favorite houses in the neighborhood.} We're in the sweetest young married ward and our church building is within walking distance... along with like three other churches and that gorgeous temple of ours. Our apartment is the perfect little space for us, and the best part... no bugs! If there were actually some decent jobs in this tiny town then I wouldn't mind settling here a bit longer, but since there aren't any, we'll be moving out right after graduation.

I'd have to say one of my favorite things about living here, though, is the hot tub.
Hot tubs & pools are rare in Rexburg, so having one that's open to us 24/7 is such a bonus. Our favorite time to go is when it's lightly raining, super late, or softly snowing out. Most people don't think to go hot tubing at those times, so we usually know when we can get it to ourselves. ;) It's also superrr nice after a tough workout session or a stressful night of work.



I don't take many {posed} pictures when it's just me and Jason around, but I always, always take {and save} snapchats. So here's a Rexburg rundown - snapchat style!

 I would say that these pictures sum up our life here pretty darn well. We love going to the gym, reading for hours straight {well, Jason does}, Taco Bell picnics, road trips to Utah, baking cookies, having furniture to call our own, trying new crock pot recipes, soaking in hot bubble baths, late night drives to nowhere, G's Dairy grilled cheeses, cuddling in bed until noon, Cocoa Lodge hot chocolate runs, temple visits, flowers for the kitchen table, evening walks, and Sunday dinners at Jason's mama's house.


{Okay, I can't have a snapchat post and not share these lovelies! The snapchats I get from my family kill me hahaha.}

 Also, I'm obsessed with my new wedding band! It just came in this week, so I'm still ogling over it. For part of my birthday present we went and picked out a band for me. We had a $1000 gift certificate to Jensen's Jewelers since my engagement ring was extremely delayed coming in and it turned out that the band I loved most was $999.99, so the only thing we had to pay for was tax! I could not stop smiling when we left the store. It was a birthday blessing!

So, so sparkly!

I don't want to forget to mention some of our more recent festivities! Jase and I started off hallo-week {hallo-month really} by going to a straw maze with a group of married friends. The maze was dizzying and it took us over an hour to find our way out, but everyone had the best time. We came across some huge tires as we were leaving and the guys couldn't resist rolling around in them haha.

 I love haunted houses and being spooked for some reason, so I told Jason that we had to go to one this year. {I want to make it a tradition to go to a haunted house every halloween. So far we're 2 for 2!} We made a date out of it and went to the Haunted Forest late one night. Once we made it through the line, they drove us out to the forest on the back of a trailer and sent us off with just the group we came with {so just Jason and I}. All the freaky-looking forest actors ganged up on me because I was obviously the most scared. I was actually getting stomach cramps from screaming so much! As for Jason, nothing scares him. He just laughed and tried pointing out all the places they would jump out from. So, so fun!

We kept it simple Halloween night. We went to a married friend's apartment to carve pumpkins, eat goodies, and hang out. This was Jason's first time carving a pumpkin which I thought was just crazy. He's almost 26 and he's never carved a pumpkin in his life! What?! It was cute seeing how proud he was of his end result though. I love him so much.

And that just about sums up our lives as of now. Now excuse me while I go relax in the hot tub with my babe.

XOXO

Sweet Home Colorado

Jase and I stopped in Colorado for a minute before we headed back to Rexburg for one last semester of school. I am so, so glad we did! Not only did we get to relax after a long and stressful summer, but we also got to spend lots of quality time with the fam which we both just loved. Our visit consisted of lots of delicious dinners, basement movie nights, snapchats, homemade reese's, sore legs, dyed hairs, and date nights. It was such a fun time and neither of us wanted to leave! We even decided last minute to miss out on a friend's wedding in Salt Lake just so we could stay a couple extra days. So worth it.

We made it to Colorado the day of Sydney and Kegan Machen's open house. {Sydney has been a good friend of mine since middle school, and we've been roommates all throughout college.} Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to her wedding the week before due to distance, pricey flights, and a tight budget, so I was happy that we were able to catch the last bit of their Colorado open house. It was fun reminiscing with old high school friends and introducing Jason to some familiar faces.

I love that my dad decided to hop on the snapchat bandwagon that week! The fam helped familiarize him with the app and we all assured him that he wouldn't regret using it for the short family updates... mainly of sweet Scarlett ;) For the rest of the week I had papitasyddall snapchat notifications popping up on my phone at the most random times... usually when papita was sitting in the same room as me hahaha. He cracks me up.

One of the more strenuous things we did while we were there was hike the Manitou Incline. Boy, was that a workout! So here's the backstory: My mom had previously seen pictures of a similar stair-hike on instagram that consisted of about 200 steps. She thought that was the hike we were doing, so going into it she assured us that it was only about 200 steps and it wasn't going to be too difficult. We pulled into the parking lot and kind of joked about how everyone passing us was wearing a bunch of athletic gear and carrying camel-pack backpacks for water. {Little did we know that was the adequate attire/equipment for this hike!} Jason and I figured we'd be just fine sharing one water bottle. We walked up the hill to where the stairs began and started climbing. About five minutes in, Jason made the comment, "Well, this is step 200!" We had barely, barely started... Turns out the incline is 2,744 steps and increases in 2,000 feet of elevation in less than a one mile stretch! There were times when I honestly thought I couldn't finish. It. Was. Hard. We made sure to take a lot of breaks. Mine and Jason's water supply was out wayyy before the half way mark, but luckily for us there was a nice, young couple that offered us water from their canteen whenever we passed them. {It must have been obvious that we were dying a little for them to randomly offer.} We surely didn't pass that up!

We made sure to take plenty of pictures once we  f i n a l l y  made it to the top to document that we accomplished the incline. We were all so relieved to see those forever stairs end! My happiness of making it to the top shortly turned to bitterness once I realized we had a 4 mile hike down the mountain trail to get back to the car. Ugh. I was not the happiest camper, which now I regret. All I could think about in the moment was how tired/hungry/thirsty/sore I was. My feet and hands were so, so swollen by the time we made it to the car. Looking back on it though, I'm grateful for the experience and I'm proud of my family for doing something that, to me, seemed too difficult. But like my mom said over and over that day, "We can do hard things!" 

It's true.

When we made it home, we got ourselves cleaned up {Don't showers always feel a thousand times better after being so physically exhausted?} and played a couple rounds of golf in the backyard until dinner was ready. The Weed boys that live next door cheered us on from the sidelines while we played haha. Oh, how I love evenings like this.

The sweetest part of our visit was definitely the homemade reese's my mama made. Oh. My. Heavens. These tasted better than actual reese's peanut butter cups! They were a hit the whole week. Ryan and Karlie came over to the house one evening for dinner and games, and they commented on literally everything they ate saying that it was the best they had ever had-- reese's included ;) Shout-out to you mamita!

Speaking of Ryan and Karlie {btw they are no longer living in Dallas and have since moved to Denver}, we met up with them again in Denver and had ourselves a date night. We went to Noodles & Company for dinner and then to Dave & Buster's for games. I've said this before, but I'll say it again, it is always such a good/fun/hilarious time with those two! I am so glad that they are family and that we get to hang with them forever.

We got to be a part of the Legend High School parade since we nixed the original friend's wedding plan and ended up staying a couple extra days. Let me clarify that this was not because we wanted to be in it {I'm not one of those people who like to re-live their high school days}, but simply because we love our dad and he needed some assistance. He wasn't able to be there, so my mom and Misty quickly threw together a parade-worthy car supporting Align Group Insurance in his absence. Jason drove the car while I hid in the passenger seat to avoid the possibility of seeing anyone I might know. It was fun to see Mauri in the parade, though! I still can't believe she's in high school. Where did the time go?

Before we left my fav state, Jason and I decided to have a date night to ourselves. We went to the AMC Southlands movie theater for the most luxurious movie watching experience ever. This is one of those dine-in theaters with super comfy, reclining seats. And {bonus} we had the entire theater to ourselves which meant we got to cuddle and smooch all we wanted while relaxing in the best seats in the house! We saw Jurassic World, but this time not in 3D haha. It's Jason's favorite movie so he loved it, and I was with him so I loved it.

I'd say the best thing we got out of this trip, though, was my parents new nickname for us-- the babes. Very rarely do Jason and I actually call each other by our names, we call each other babe... all the time. It's almost weird to call Jason, Jason haha. We're so use to it that we don't recognize how often we say it, but my parents do ;)

I always dread leaving my home and family in Colorado. We would love, love, love to eventually end up there someday {preferably sooner than later}, but I guess we'll see what Heavenly Father has in store for us. Until then, hello Rexburg.

Not a Texan

*Side note: This has been sitting in my drafts for  m o n t h s  now, so ignore the fact that it's all old news.

This post is going to be all over the place {literally}. Even though I don't have too many fond memories while living in Texas, I don't want to completely disregard the first 4 1/2 months of our married life... so here's the overview.

Our First Home

I'll admit, when we arrived I pretty much fell in love with our first little home {apartment}. I loved unpacking, organizing, decorating, and getting nice and settled. I especially liked the dark floors, the black appliances, and the huge walk-in closet. I was excited for this new chapter in our lives! It makes me sad that the dang cockroaches {which we started seeing about two weeks after moving in} ended up ruining that experience for me. Once the bugs moved in, I wanted to move-out BUT I don't want this post to be about that. All of the furniture we had was rented, which made moving a whole lot easier.

Our First Meal

I'm ashamed to say that the first meal I made as a wife was kraft mac & cheese... in an apartment with no furniture whatsoever. We went about a week before our rental furniture arrived so there was a lot of living room floor picnics, a lot of waking up on a deflated blow-up mattress, and a lot of laughs because we were the epitome of every newly married couple. I'm proud to say that I have since mastered some delicious crock pot recipes! I know Jason appreciates it ;)

Our Family & Friends

We were lucky enough to have some friends and family close enough to come visit us. Ryan and Karlie were living in Dallas at the time {which is only about a 3 hour drive from where we were} so they made a trip down to explore Austin with us and we made our way to Dallas to go on a five-couplet date with them. It is always such a fun time with those two!

We had a couple of dinner dates with some of Jason's cousins that lived in the area. It was seriously such a blessing to have so many familiar faces in such an unfamiliar place. Tiana {pictured above} was oh so kind and treated us to a fancy dinner one evening in downtown Austin. It was literally the fanciest, most expensive, and delicious restaurant either of us had ever eaten at. I so wish we got a picture of the three of us that night! She treated Jason to dinner another night while I was home sick. So sweet of her! 

We also went to this unique hot dog place called Franks with another one of Jason's cousins, Kayli. She told me that she fan-girled my Facebook and we instantly clicked. I love my new family!

About a week before we moved out of Texas, we met up with half the Billat clan for lunch as they passed though Austin. We went to Moonie's Burgers, mine and Jason's favorite local burger shop. The food was great, but the company was better. It was so fun spending time with my Texas framily!

 Our Dates

Some of our Austin outings included hiking Mount Bonnell, seeing Jurrassic World in IMAX 3-D {by mistake}, swimming while taking underwater pictures, exploring Zilker Park, mini golfing, driving all the way to the mall only to get a wetzel pretzel, watching fireworks on the 4th of July, along with lots of midnight taco bell and 7-11 slurpee runs when we were feeling the munchies.

The Last of Our First Car

Jason was sad to see his baby go, but even he will admit that selling his 2002 S-60 Volvo to the junk yard was the best option. We didn't have to worry about the car turning off every few minutes AND we were riding luxuriously blasting the A.C. on our 14 hour drive back to Colorado! You truly don't understand the blessing of A.C. until you've had to live a summer in Texas without it.

We picked up the rental car, dropped the Volvo off at the junk yard, packed up the remainder of our belongings {thankfully one of the guys Jason sold with had a truck and took over half of our stuff with him}, turned in our apartment keys, and left Austin for good. We were both so, so, so, so, so happy as we were driving away!

For those of you who haven't been, Austin is extremely lush and green-- no wonder the bugs love it here! The roads are lined with thousands and thousands of trees. It made for a very scenic drive home... but the views ain't enough to bring me back. So long Texas!!!