Year in Review of 2013 (Part 1)

I know it's half way through February but it's never too late to reflect. Most of this is from last year with a few from January so enjoy!

(Also these are in a random order so just go with it).

This fall Garett and I got to meet our all time favorite author Brandon Sanderson!

He's very laid back and very nice and just a cool guy.

Also he is not as nerdy as he looks. 

Sometime this year Garett made me a traditional African dinner (though with much more meat than they would have had). It consisted of meat drenched in soup mixes, fried cabbage and sadza (which is like a mix between mashed potatoes and play-dough). You pinch it into a small bowl and scoop up the other food with it. Also it has the consistency of peanut butter without the nice flavor and VERY messy. Apparently you only eat it with one hand so the other one stays clean to grab your cup with.

We celebrated our 1 yr anniversary in August and just 2 weeks ago celebrated 18 months of being married.

Man does the time fly!

During the 7 week break we went to the sand  dunes with out friends and played Betrayal at the House on the Hill!

Also in the summer we went to Yellowstone with my parents for a weekend trip and got lots of love from a bison. 

Out best friends Katy and Sam got married! =D 

I took intro to Studio Lighting and learned I never want to have my own studio, but also learned some fun stuff:

Like textured lighting

 How to shoot glass, which is evil but slightly less evil than metal spoons. 

Had an AMAZING Christmas break with my family where we saw and fell in love with the movie Frozen and had lots and lots of fabulous family time. 

Also I have been growing my hair out and Garett grew out his very attractive beard!

I got my first smart phone and immediately loved snapchatting with my little brother and friends from back home!

Garett's mission president became a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and gave his first talk in General Conference in October! Also I got to meet him for the first time in April and let me tell you, he is an awesome, powerful yet funny man. 

I was on track for spring and fall where I took lithography and watched people build a teepee in the middle of campus. 

Got addicted to Community! Thanks Sam! Anyone who considers themselves even slightly nerdy should watch this.

Saw the edge of a storm.

And enjoyed some lovely rainbows after long days at work.

 Fell in love with our popcorn maker!

 Tried out bangs a few weeks ago.

I like them some days.

Also watched the Superbowl this year with friends and ate WAY TOO much, but it was totally worth it!

Remembered my deep deep deep love of Mexican food and places to eat that have "taco" in the title. 

Trimmed Garett's beard

And got taught my this awesome lady for 3 weeks during my studio lighting class. Hoping to take portraiture from her in the fall! Her husband was eh...(he was my main teacher)

Overall is was a fun year! One more post soon to come to finish off this year in review!

Here's to the cutest 2 year old ever!

If you don't want to see a million pictures of my nephew you can skip this post. But if you love adorable two year olds then stay and bask in all the cuteness! 

During the Christmas break I got the best present ever! Catherine, Jesse and Nikolai came home for Christmas all the way from Michigan.!Wasn't that so sweet of them?

Seriously though, that was THE BEST PRESENT EVER! 

Thanks mom and dad for helping make it happen!

His penguin pajamas, man I wish I could be 2 and have awesome pjs like those!

 Stuffin his face full of goodies. And look at those beautiful blue eyes! 

Who could say no to those eyes?

 Grandma and auntie with that sweet munchkin!

Okay sorry this one just kills me, this sweet little face!

My heart is melting!

Teaching him to make puffy faces as any good aunt does =]

Also to wink!

And then embarrassing him ;D

Some good ol dancing, look at those moves!

 I love his blond locks that get curlier as the days go on. 

Then after New Years they came over for a fun night of Nikloai showing us that he can fit in that box perfectly and playing games!

I like to think he learned this face from his awesome mommy!

Oh man I love these guys!

This picture fills me with many warm fuzzies!

Come back soon y'all!

I love and miss you TONS!

Have a smiley day full of popsicles and hopefully less snow!

Meg

I'm Not Dead I Swear!

Sorry I don't blog much anymore. School is over thank goodness. One more week of it and I was going to explode. So summer break came in the nick of time. Now my days are spent sleeping in (we need to fix that, I don't like sleeping in so late), reading and/or watching random TV shows. There is a show about every little thing, seriously. They even have one called "My Teen is Pregnant and so am I". Is anyone else as mind boggled as I am that anyone would actually want to admit that?

Garett's favorite show lately is "River Monsters" which by the way is on Netflix instant streaming (as well as Fullmetal alchemist: Brotherhood). It's kind of cheesy, but cool. Mostly the narrator's voice is just amusing to me.

We have gotten to do some fun things though. A few weeks ago we went to the sand dunes with some of our friends. We brought snacks, blankets and some wood for a fire. While there was still sun the men ran off to go jump down the sand dunes and us wives had some much needed girl time. Once the husbands came back we played "Betrayal at the House on the Hill", ate some snacks & enjoyed the fire, especially because we all forget that it still gets pretty cold at night in Rexburg and were wearing shorts. It was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend that game to everyone. =]

Friday night we had our friends over again. It was originally going to be a movie night, but ended up being a game night. We played Buzzword (thanks Jess & Nik) but quickly realized whoever was on Garett's team would win. Guess who never got to be on Garett's team....yeah me. xP So instead we decided to go around the room and have someone read the card and everyone else guess the phrases. Strangely that ended up being a lot more fun and we laughed our heads off. Partially because as married people we don't stay up late so everything after 11:30pm becomes hilarious. I felt like a kid again. It was great. =]

Yesterday we got to help some people move out, which felt great because I've felt so useless lately and being able to serve felt really good. Sad though that we're losing more people. 4 families are moving out this week which means we have about 40 people left in our ward at church. =[ (not even kidding....I counted on Sunday).

Garett has more books to read since we went to the library and I'm finally getting around to my never ending reading list. I'm currently reading "Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. He is definitely a favorite of mine already. =]

But I digress, so yesterday we got to help people move, went to the library, then work went really smoothly which was nice. We came home and got to take a walk together. That was needed even more-so since we haven't gotten to take any walks since we were in California. and we haven't really gotten to explore this side of Rexburg (aka married and family housing) I'll take pictures one day.

And then we came home, ate dinner and probably my favorite part of the day, we curled up in bed and read our books. It sounds simple but it was a wonderful feeling. There is something sweet and altogether happy about just being side by side reading. I don't expect many to understand but I hope at least Catherine might know this feeling. It's just a peaceful blissful feeling. Needless to say, yesterday was a really good day.

Not sure how the rest of the week will compare....but I hope it goes well. Saturday at least should be fun.
Oh also we've been getting a great deal of rain which means Rexburg has been nice and cool the last few days. Lets cross our fingers and hope it lasts a bit longer.

Next week we'll be headed down to Utah to see my family and Garett's family. We can't wait to see everyone =D

Love you all. =] Hope everyone has a fantastic week =D

Meg

Movie Critic 101

So I have been quite fortunate lately to see Wreck- It-Ralph and Skyfall in the past two weeks.

No worries. I won't give anything away but I will give my opinions of the movies without giving too much away.

First of all Wreck-It-Ralph was AWESOME and AMAZING!

Why? You'll have to go see for yourself to find out.

But for me, I thought it had a great mix for everyone.

It had the girly games, the battle games and the old school games, so no matter who you are, you can relate to this movie in one way or another.

Though it won't show you all the games, you will see lots of familiar characters such as Bowser, Sonic and Pac-man. 

 It makes you appreciate games in a way you never thought before.

It's funny, goofy and creative with a simple story that leads on a crazy adventure. 

I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it and it was wonderful.

I recommend EVERYONE go see it!  As it is, I am kinda picky about movies, so if I say it is great hopefully you can trust that it is. I know seeing movies in theaters can cost and arm and a leg nowadays but this is one movie that I would say is definitely worth it for the whole family.

Now Skyfall, I will have to admit was pretty good.

I haven't seen the other James Bonds movies (I know, I'm terrible) so I have nothing to compare it to. But it was a great action movie that was pretty intense with some gorgeous scenery.

 Also Judi Dench is M. 

I have to say she played the roll well, but lets face it. 

Judi Dench is awesome.

If you don't know who she is you should be ashamed.

 Anyway I thought the movie was good. 

Wish Bonds wasn't such a ladies man...could've lived without it. 

But other than that the story was awesome and intense and I LOVED the house (pictured above).

Wish I could've seen it in its glory.

If you took out his "love life" I would've given it 5/5 stars.

So maybe just wait until it comes out on Redbox and then see it. 

(Sorry, told you I am picky).

Anywho that's whats up. Take your pick.

But one I am looking forward to is The Hobbit! Anyone else up for that?

It's going to be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

In other news Garett and I are headed to Utah next week to see my family!

(YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! Doing a little happy dance)

Can't wait to see everyone and eat LOTS and LOTS of PIE!

For now we are relaxing and Garett is recovering from possibly a mini cold and enjoying the fall weather here.

Random side note, it smelled like snow outside last night even though it was probably 60 degrees. Weird eh? (Don't hate me you Idahoans). 

Gah I am missing Bones! Bleh 

TTFN

Meg