A Year In Review 2014 Edition

This will be a long post, but I promise it'll be mostly pictures. I won't be offended if you just look at all the pictures though. 

This year by far has been the best yet (though I know 2015 is going to beat it).

We spent winter semester hanging out with friends and having an epic married couples sleepover.

We played Betrayal at the House on the Hill, had lots of snacks and lots of laughs.

 We have been blessed with such great friends here in Rexburg and I will hate to go whenever the time comes. 

Oh and we built a fort!

Later on we went down to California to visit Garett's family for a weekend and to take a break from the Idaho winter.

I must say I love going down there to see his family and also the beauty that is southern California.

 Our friends Katy and Sam added a new member to their family, their cute puppy Marley. 

 In the srping my mom came to visit and we go to go to the drive-in theater. 

In the spring Garett and I found out we were pregnant with Joshua.

I have to say it was a beautiful surprise right before mother's day. 

Though that brought about morning sickness which lasted all semester.

I was taking ceramics that semester and throwing on the wheel made it worse.

I'm surprised I survived that.

(No that wasn't thrown on the wheel, but I'm not particularly proud of the stuff I threw)

We had our first appointment right before my birthday and it started to settle in that Joshua was really there, growing and becoming an awesome little person.

I remember my doctor telling me not to increase my exercise dramatically and of course I had a travel study down to Moab, UT the next week where we got 3 hours of sleep and hiked 15 miles. 

It was worth it though! 

I made some great friends on that trip and had tons of fun despite being sleep deprived.

Goes to show that you can still handle a lot even with being sick, or maybe I just got really lucky.

 After our 2nd appointment and making sure Joshua survived that semester as well, we decided to announce his arrival!

Garett graduated with his Bachelors in Microbiology.

And my dearest friend Haley married her love Bryce.

She made a beautiful bride!

Around our 2 year anniversary we went down to California and got to go camping at Carlsbad beach with Garett's family. I loved it and would do it again in a heartbeat!

I got to see Garett surf for the 1st time in 5 years and it was by far the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Surfing is a very attractive sport. 

Shortly after that we found out Joshua was a boy!

To prepare for Joshua we moved to a 2 bedroom apartment in our complex. 

For Halloween we continued our tradition of carving pumpkins with our friends Katy and Sam.

Not pictured is that his past semester Garett and I got to have a pretty fun game of D&D with several of our close friends. Garett was our DM and made it fun for all of us.

During Thanksgiving break Garett and I went down to Utah to see my family as well as Grandpa Bonds one last time.

He was thrilled to hear that his great-grandson Bonds was on his way. 

(FYI Joshua is the 1st great-grandchild to carry on Grandpa Bonds name, so he was pretty thrilled)

My final semester kept me busy with walking lots and climbing 4 flights of stairs every day. 

On the bright side it helped me keep my pregnancy weight under control. 

In December I graduated with my Bachelors in Photography at 37 weeks.

Then we played the waiting game over Christmas break.

Due to being so pregnant, Garett and I spent our first and only Christmas alone in Rexburg.

Luckily we had great friends (Ron and Bryton) to share Christmas day with.

Shortly after the new year I went into labor and gave birth to our son Joshua. 

Grandpa Bonds despite his health lived to see Joshua being born.

Though they never met in person it was wonderful that Grandpa Bonds got to see pictures of Joshua and his arrival into this world.

It was a roller coaster of a year thanks to Garett and I finishing school, making new friends and me being pregnant for most of it.

We had a wonderful year and loved getting to share it with such great friends and family!

We love you all and this year shall be even better!

-Megan

Almost the End and A New Beginning

First and foremost I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah or any other holiday that you may celebrate this time of year. I know we had a nice quiet one which will probably be our last quiet one for possibly the rest of our lives. 

We are at an odd place in life right now. As of last week I have graduated with my Bachelors in Photography and as you can see just about ready to explode. 

I am so grateful for an incredibly patient husband, as these last 2 semesters have been a roller coaster ride between morning sickness and other pregnancy adventures and finishing up my degree. Garett graduated in July so he was working and waiting for me to finish these last few months. I could not have survived all of this without him. 

Also to my dear parents whom invested greatly in me and always pushed me to work hard. I thank them. They have always supported me in doing what I love and have encouraged me to try new things. I owe them more than I'll ever be able to repay in my lifetime.

We loved getting to spend time with them this past weekend and were sad that we couldn't be there for Christmas. 

Regardless we had a wonderful Christmas. Below is my phenomenal homemade, personalized stocking made by Cathie, Garett's mom. (Just fyi Cathie I absolutely love this! You can ask Garett, I was dancing around the house for joy when I got this in the mail. Thank you for working incredibly hard on this for me! It means the world to me). All the Bonds kids had stockings like these and I think it is the coolest tradition ever.

This year it was just the 2 of us in Idaho. We decided to stay in town, being that baby boy's due date is in 2 weeks and I would hate to be stuck in another state when he arrives.

Garett made our Christmas loads of fun by jumping out of bed yelling "It's Christmas!" and dancing around the house. We of course had to be wearing our Christmas pajamas and start with the stockings. Garett pushed the couch out of the way so we could reach the presents easier and then proceeded to dump out his stocking on the floor. His facial expressions were priceless and though we are not quite parents yet, he had enough excitement for us and 3 of our unborn children. 

 It was nice to have one little Christmas to ourselves, but of course we missed out family that is spread over the country. 

We got to enjoy the rest of the day with our friends Bryton and Ron. We had brunch at our place where Garett cooked up a storm and then enjoyed a fantastic Christmas dinner made by Bryton. We were definitely stuffed full with delicious foods for Christmas. It was really nice to be able to share the day with our friends and enjoy some great company. (Thanks for sharing your Christmas day with us Bryton and Ron!)

 Rexburg also did not disappoint as it gave us almost a foot of snow for a beautiful white Christmas. Up until now Rexburg has been unusually warm and you could still see the grass on Christmas eve day. Literally overnight we got this beautiful blanket. I am grateful I didn't have to deal with this during the semester and it was nice timing to have it during the break. I would have been sad if our first and last Christmas in Rexburg was snowless. 

Now I am 38 weeks pregnant (below is at 37) and kind of just waiting.

It's weird waiting to become a parent, to bring a child into this world. I think it is finally feeling real that he can come whenever he wants now. Part of me wants him asap and part of me is content with waiting awhile longer (probably the insanity of having to actually give birth to another human being plays a part in that). I am both thrilled and terrified on a daily basis.

It is also strange to think we are basically done with Rexburg. I have had a wonderful 4 years here and 3 of them with Garett. I have truly grown to love this town as it has become my home. It is where so much of my life changed for the better. I have met some incredible people here over the years including my amazing husband Garett and some of our dearest friends. It is where our story began. It is about to be the beginning of our little family and it will always be dear to me.

Now we are starting a new chapter. 

We are about to have a baby boy, to become parents.

Our lives are about to change forever.

We are working on figuring out where we want to go for grad school.

Everything is about to change and I am sitting on the edge of the cliff waiting.

It seems rare that we get to hold on and savor the turning points in our lives.

Often they happen suddenly without warning, for better or worse.

So here I am waiting, waiting for this new chapter to begin, for everything to change.

I guess I should count it as a blessing that I get to be in this place and take it all in.

It is exciting, terrifying, thrilling, overwhelming and incredible.

I am grateful for an amazing husband to share in this adventure with.

I'm grateful to our family and friends that have supported us in everything we have decided to do and are always cheering us on.

This new road is coming and knowing that I have the greatest support from the most incredible people gives me peace. 

I know it will be a new and challenging road, but I also know it will all be okay. 

I am blessed beyond reason and know that when tomorrow comes I will welcome it with open arms.

Here's to new beginnings and with the new year, will come a new road and a new adventure.

Thank you all for being a part of it. 

I love you all and wish you the best in this coming year.

May it be filled with great and marvelous joys and experiences.

-Megan

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Sorry I don't blog much anymore. Maybe it is because we only have tiny adventures and rarely ones worth noting, or the few that are interesting, I forget to tell you about. 

Not too long ago Garett went hiking up in the mountains.

 Fall here is like spring in the rest of the world. It is warm, but not too hot and fruit seems to never stop growing here.

 We bought a Wii and a few games thanks to Amazon and their GREAT deals.
So we have fun playing games and cheering each other on.

The best news though happened today.....
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WE GOT THE APARTMENT WE WANTED FOR JANUARY!!!!!

We have been on a waiting list since May, but we got it!
It's a beautiful apartment with lots of amenities and I can't wait to move in!
Also we finally got to return the gifts we needed to back to Target and got money back for it! It was more than we expected and now I just want to buy everything at Target. =] 

Now we are on to making sure I get all my name changing goodness done.

Basically I LOVE being married and spending 24/7 with my best friend and all the fun silly moments we get to have together. =] 

Also I look forward to climbing UP Poopout Trail..
(P.S. There is a reason they call it Poopout! We only went down it, but it was hard)
Basically it is a 50-60 degree angled slope, with drop offs on both sides and the trail is a lot of loose dirt with not great grasp. 

needless to say, it's a bit nerve wracking unless you can do it while jumping and sliding quickly.

Also my sweet husband tried to save my life from a snake.
He saw that I was close to stepping on it and shoved me out of the way instantly.
Glad to know his reflexes are to save me.
Isn't he sweet?
I was flattered.
Such a great husband <3>

In other news I got to talk to my sister for a long while and this week has been a generally good week for catching up with my family.

I can't wait to see them in a month! =D

Garett and I are now Sunday School teachers for the 16 year olds in the ward. They are very smart but a bit intimidating, I think I rather teach Relief Society (That is a Sunday school class for adult women) 

All in all life is good. Keeping up with my favorite shows, keeping up with people and relaxing in California with my new family.

Hope all is well for y'all and hope to hear from you soon. =]
Shoot me a text, call, email, facebook message or whatever works for you.

Have a great week!

Megan B.

My Hat Goes Off to You

Sitting here I had a sad/happy realization.

I have some AMAZING people in my life who have been working SO hard to help me with my wedding planning but I have not thanked them for their work. =[

So I just wanted to thank my mom, dad and Catherine, along with Cathie & Rob, her sisters, Garett, Glen, and that sweet sister that hemmed my dress.

Y'all have helped me immensely to plan this wedding, to make things flow easily, to take the stress of of me and to get things done on time.

Without y'all I could not do this. Thank you again for all you have done. Y'all are the people behind the scenes that deserve all of the credit.
<3

And thanks to all my friends, family and soon to be family for the support you have given Garett and I all along the way. It means the world to both of us.

Now off to marriage prep, homework(x10), photo class, maybe a walk, and if I can, sneak a little Elantris in there. Though I recommend reading the prologue here.

Anyway, also thanks to Garett for introducing me to some fantastic books. 

Megan

Few Pictures, Lots of Smiles

 California (LA/Glendora area) is beautiful!!!!!!

I haven't really taken pictures though.

Mostly because I didn't feel like digging for my camera in the bottom of my backpack. 

I had THAT stranger fiancee moment in that ward that everyone knows everyone and knows who you are before you meet them because word gets around fast.

I wandered around and met a million people who told me how LUCKY I am to have Garett (as if I didn't know that already ;D)

Isn't he so handsome?

 

I met Erikka, Will, Jessika and Nik. (my soon-to-be-sibling-in-laws)

They're pretty great.

I adore his family, but go figure.

I enjoyed an Easter egg hunt and dinner, 

Movies nights, the jacuzzi and VERY briefly the freezing-ish pool,

Hong Kong Express,

Marie Calendar's Chocolate Satin Pie,

A double date with Erikka & Will,

A hike and picnic in the mountains,

Hanging with Steven,

A beautiful drive up the mountain,

and learning to drive stick shift briefly. 

 

 

 And acting like adults.

=] 

Feeling so grown up

and like my family just tripled in size.

California is gorgeous.

They have really cool houses here.

Aaron architecturally here I think you would love it. 

I may post more pictures later.

But now the jacuzzi is calling mine, Garett's, Tay's and possibly Matthew's names. 

Still have a cookout and two more double dates to enjoy and another hike.

The beach was canceled due to insufficient means to transport surf boards.

Enjoy your weather, 

I met mine is better than yours!

HA HA!  

Megan