Adventures in Rexburg

So Justin and I have kept quite busy with school (for Justin only of course!) and fun outings. We've really tried to immerse ourselves with everything that happens out here and be really involved. I don't have a job yet but I'm still trying of course and we have faith despite the wait that things will work out for us. I've kept myself busy during this wait though and am just trying to enjoy my freedom. For starters I've been doing a ton of cooking. Rachel (my sister who lives out here with me) and I decided to make up a menu together last week to pre plan our meals for the week. Ironically this is something I always dreaded when my Mother wanted me to help her do this at home. But now I definitely see the value in it. We were able to go over recipes and find fun new things to try and then we did our grocery shopping so we could make sure we had everything for the week. I used my crock pot for the first time which was so easy and delicious! I've had so much fun working in the kitchen and spoiling my husband. Cooking is quite fulfilling, you work on something and then you get to eat it, it's perfect!

Anyway, enough with the culinary side of my life! So the first week of school before classes started there was a "Get Connected" event with activities and orientation type stuff for incoming students. Everyone is assigned to a group to be with through the three day event. It's kind of organized as a meat market so Justin didn't particularly want to go but then we found out that we would be in a group for married students so we thought it might be fun. We actually ended up having a blast and we made some really good friends that we've been able to do a lot with. Class started on Thursday, it was so fun getting Justin all ready and going school shopping! I made Justin pose for a picture when he was headed out the door! Class has been going really well for Justin. He's very busy with everything but he's working so hard, I'm so proud of him!

With our group from the "Get Connected" event, we

were able to go to a beautiful place called Mesa Falls together for a Saturday outing. Like it's name implies it's a waterfall! We were able to

go on a nice little hike, nice and little enough that we ended up playing Catch Phrase with our group the entire time. Very interesting trying to pass the thing up and down a line while hiking! It was nice to see some more of Idaho. Justin and I are excited to explore the Northwest so that trip was a nice start for us. The falls were about an hour from Rexburg, not too bad!

Another fun adventure that I was able to go on was a Relief Society Retreat this last weekend. We went up to Island Park, also

about an hour away. It's an area kind of more in the woods and there's a big river that goes in and out creating all of these islands, the cabin we stayed in was on Bill's Island. It was so beautiful there, I loved it! We had a nice evening hang out on a deck next to the river, had a fabulous dinner and then a Fireside. We ended up staying up until almost 3:00am playing games and talking. Normally I'm not that much of a night owl but I was going to sleep on the couch in the living room where everyone was up talking so I had no choice! Saturday I was able to go on a beautiful nature hike! It's starting to look a little like fall up here and it was so pretty seeing bright orange shrubbery mixed with Pine. It was so nice seeing the beautiful parts of Idaho and it's making me more and more excited to be living here and to be able to explore more beautiful areas that Idaho and the surrounding states has to offer.

View of the Sunset from the cabin

Scenic Hike

Moose we saw on the path

Pine and fall all in one, beautiful!

The water in the river is so clear, it was so fun watching the fish and enjoying the beauty!

This is a picture just looking down into the river, I thought it looked like a Picaso painting or something!

Moving to Rexburg

So I never thought I'd start a blog but now that I've moved away I thought it might be a nice way to communicate with family and friends. I've always appreciated being able to read blogs of people that I don't get to see very often, not to mention it can be a good journal for me!

So Justin and I moved to Rexburg, ID about 4 weeks ago. I can't believe it's already been that long, but at the same time Justin and I already feel like this is home, so it makes sense!

The weekend we packed and moved was a sad and busy weekend. Justin and I had the whole weekend scheduled to get everything done, but then there was a hiccup. Justin's dog, Oso, broke his back and became paralyzed Friday afternoon. Oso had been living with Justin's parents. So Saturday morning instead of Justin being there to help empty our storage unit, he had to put his dog down. Then Justin went to his grandparents to bury him. Although I don't personally understand the connection with a dog, I know Justin considers a dog as "man's best friend", and it was really hard for him. Luckily

Justin and I have family that is incredibly helpful. Justin's cousins Jason and Jordan came with their trucks along with my cousin Rose who came with hers, and then I had Justin's truck! My brother Nathan also came to help load. We went down to our storage unit and loaded everything up. I must say, truck beds don't hold very much. Our unit wasn't that full but after filling all four trucks there was still a book shelf and rocking chair that we had to come back for. We unloaded everything into my parents garage to sit until we got the moving van. Then Rose, Nathan, and my Mom helped me pack up Justin and I's room all afternoon. We finished in time to go out to dinner with some friends that night, everything worked out fine, minus Justin's tragedy. Thank goodness for helpful family. My brother Aaron and his family also arrived Saturday night, it was so fun to have them around! Justin and I picked up our massive moving van on Sunday. Then Monday morning Daniel came over and my Dad, Aaron, Daniel, Justin and I packed up the van, it actually went quite smoothly. My brother Benjamin and his family moved to Utah a couple months ago but they weren't able to fit all of their stuff into their moving van. So Justin and I got an extra big van so that we could fit the remainder of their belongings (Justin says junk!) into our truck to drop off on our way through Utah. Justin and my Dad went and loaded all of their stuff. Then we had all evening to hang out and say goodbye to everyone.

Justin and I got up at 4:00am and were out the door by 4:30. Justin drove the moving van and I drove Justin's truck. My Mom and Dad brought my car up a little later. It was such a long drive. Especially with Justin in the moving van who couldn't go above 70 mph. We made it to Ben and Megan's in Utah by about 6:30pm. My butt hurt so much for sitting for so so so long. We unloaded all of their stuff into their storage unit and then spent a nice evening with them. We slept in and had a nice morning then drove the last four hours up to Rexburg. Albert (my sister Rachel's husband who also lives up here) and some guys in our complex helped us unload. I was a little disappointed our sectional couch wouldn't fit into the front room, but besides that I like our new place. Luckily Rachel and Albert had some horrible couches and a large front room so now they have our sectional. Rachel and Al helped us unpack the next day and we were pretty much all settled in by Thursday night.

We live up on top of a little hill that looks over the town just down from the temple and right across the street from the BYU-I campus. It's a perfect spot and a beautiful view! My sister Rachel lives down the street but on the other side of the highway, about 5 minutes away. We've been hanging out with them a lot! It's so fun to get to be

by my sister again, we haven't lived near each other for 6 years, before I moved to Connecticut. The weather up here is amazing, ranging between days where the highs are in the 50's and days where they're in the upper 70's, it's wonderful, I love whipping out all of my winter clothes! Justin and I feel great about our move here and we're really settling in nicely!