This year for Thanksgiving we headed to Chicago to get together with Nathan's family. Here are a few pictures to sum up our trip!

Would you expect anything less from Nathan?

We waited in line to go up to the top of Sears tower,

we made a stop at " the bean",

we attended a minor league hockey game,

and lastly of course we played with the BABY! We just love her and it was so fun to FINALLY get to see her.
It was a fun and much needed break from both Rexburg and School!

This portfolio is 5 years in the making and tomorrow could be the biggest day of my college career! Tomorrow I get to present this portfolio to a committee made up of teachers and community members. This portfolio will come along with a 15 minute speech of what I have learned and a question/answer period where the committee can ask me anything they think I should have learned in the last five years. Scary.... I think so! Wish me luck!

As most of you already know for the past few months we have been blessed by the Lord to have this wonderful little girl living with us. Everything we have done has been in the best interest of Emily and we have strived to give her everything she needs and the right tools to carry on successfully in life. We are so proud of Emily and the progress she has made in the last few months. We are so proud of the friends she is making at school, her social interactions, and her ability to follow the rules and make good choices without being micromanaged. Unfortunantly the parenting decisions that we, the therapist, and the school have been making regarding Emily is not what the family that gave her to us wanted. Because of this Emily was taken from our home this morning by the police and her parents. We don't know where she is headed or what her future plans are because there has been no communication about this from the family to us but we love her and hope for the best in every aspect of her life, and we leave this situation knowing that we did exactly as our Heavenly Father wanted and we gave not only our best but literally everything we had. We hope that all future decisions that are made are in Emily's best interest and that she continues to progress as the wonderful daughter of God she is.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I love love love holidays, and that is exactly why we in my favorite part of the year. There is a holiday to celebrate every month. October was of course Halloween and Nathan and I couldn't resist dressing up as skeletons (don't judge our home made costumes). We tried and begged and pleaded with Emily to be a skeleton with us but all she could do was say, "I don't want to be that because It is scary." I am sure if I was 7 I would much rather be a Unicorn than a skeleton to0. Maybe next year.

Happy Halloween! Saturday afternoon we drove out to a pumpkin patch in Idaho Falls. Picking pumpkins and carving them was one of my favorite things to do as a child so I was really excited to go. It took Nathan and Emily a little bit of time to get into the "pumpking picking" spirit but after they did it was so much fun. Sunday afternoon we carved them with our good friends the Haderlies. I forgot how hard it actually is to carve pumpkins but overall I think they look pretty good.

Bear World! We finally went to Bear World this weekend. We had been talking about it for a long time but it was just so expensive so we never made it out there. My sister came into town this weekend and she really wanted to go, so she did a little research and found some awesome discount coupons online. These pictures are uploaded all out of order but just so you know I never used my zoom! The bears were really that close and they were so cute. We also feed some animals in the petting zoo and took a little guided tour that tells all about the different animals and lets you feed the Bears. It was so much fun for all of us, much better than we actually expected. At one point in the drive there was a huge Bear sitting right up against the car window... it was awesome! Nathan was getting so nervous the Bear was going to scratch the paint on our new car... I just laughed. If your ever in town it's worth the stop... with the discount coupon.

" Comparison is the thief of Joy"
-Anonymous

We decided after a hectic and crazy first week of school we needed an outing, so we drove out to Mesa Falls and had a picnic.

We then walked around a little bit but there were LOTS of people who had the same idea we did so we didn't get to do as much exploring as we would have liked.

After we left Mesa Falls we headed down to a spot on the river where you can feed fish. Apparently this place has been there for at least 30 years so there are fat fish a plenty just waiting for your cheetos, ham, cookies, or just about anything you might have left over from your lunch!

I have to say it was such a beautiful day and so nice to just get out and enjoy Idaho!

Today was Emily's first day of school! She will be going to Lincoln Elementary here in Rexburg. Yesterday she went and met her teacher and her new classroom. She was so excited this morning and could harldy wait for it to be 8:10 so we could leave. When I asked her what she is going to do at school she said, "make lots of friends." I guess Nathan and I are just not that fun.

Proceed at your own risk! Here is the update and some of the pictures from our trip. August 26th Nathan finished up the last day of his internship at Flint Hills. It was a bitter/sweet moment. He was ready to get back to Rexburg and finish up his education but sad to leave Flint Hills. Luckily they made the leaving a little easier by extending him a job offer. If all goes as planned we will be headed back to Corpus Christi in April, this time as permanent residents.

Our good friends Derrick and Amanda flew in to Corpus to drive back to Idaho with us. Before we could drive out we had to visit a few places around Corpus. We started off at the Lexington...

and then we headed to the beach! If there is one thing Nathan and I love about Corpus it is the beach!

The next day we packed up all our things, cleaned the apartment, and headed out of town.

Our first stop was San Antonio. After checking in at the hotel, we stayed in the historic Emily Morgan hotel, we headed down to the River Walk and hopped on to a boat for a tour.

After the River Walk we came back to the hotel for pizza and swimming. Anyone who knows Nathan and I, or Emily knows we will never miss an opportunity to swim. This pool was actually pretty cool because it was 1. made out of stainless steel and 2. changed colors every 15 or 20 seconds.

The next morning we headed out to see the Alamo.

Emily couldn't get enough of the fountains and the large fish.

Next we headed to IHOP for probably the worst restraunt eating experience I have ever had. To say this IHOP was ghetto would be a large understatement. Two hours later we left, still hungry, slightly sick, and feeling pretty gross. Don't be deceived by the smiles on these boys faces, it really was that bad.

Before heading out of San Antonio we stopped at the Temple. This could easily be one of Nathan and I's favorite Temples. If your ever in San Antonio stop by because the stain glass alone is worth the trip.

After that we head to Austin, Oklahoma, Denver- to see the outlet malls, and then Friday morning we finally rolled into Rexburg! We are so excited to be back and hopefully the next 8 months will be great as we finish up with school and then head out of here for good.

Happy (almost) Anniversary Nathan! Our Anniversary is actually August 30 but since the next two days will be filled with packing, cleaning, and preparing to move and the then the next 5 after that will be spent on the road with some of our best friends I had to post an early celebration of our two years of marriage!

I love this boy! And I am so grateful for everything he does for me! These last two years have been an absolute dream and marriage has been way more fun than I could have ever imagined! So here is to the past two years and an eternity to come!

Saturday: Have a late lunch out on the beach.

Build a few sandcastles.

Play some Frisbee

Relax... and then go home.

And some of you wonder why we love this place.

Since Nathan and I both LOVE baseball, we have been really lucky to go to a couple of Hooks baseball games (they are the minor league here in town) this summer, and even luckier that it has all been on the dime of Flint Hills. Last night we were extra lucky and we scored some box seats with a dinner buffet!

Nathan is the ultimate babysitter, and i think this picture is proof.

I just got back from Girls Camp and all I can say is that it was wonderful! Here is a picture of the Young Women from our ward, who are all so GREAT! Don't worry I am in there but you can hardly tell because I can easily pass as 14.

This is what you get when you play in a competitive softball league with a bunch of old men...

The biggest downfall to moving to Texas has been that we had to leave most of our stuff behind. So naturally we didn't have room for our bed, so therefore we have spent the last two months sleeping on an air mattress. The problem is as soon as we patch up one hole we find another. I think Nathan is now working on his 11th patch and you know what that means, there have been 11 nights (or more) that we have woken up on the floor with an empty air mattress. We try and find the humor in the situation but I don't know if we have enough to last until August. In the mean time I will go help Nathan put another patch on the air mattress.

Do you like Nates striped sunburn?

Just a quick update....

Life is back in full swing for Nathan and I. I finally broke down and got a job. I am working for a daycare running there summer camp program for school aged children. So far so good. It keeps me pretty busy working almost 50 hours a week plus the out of school time planning two field trips a week and three days of fun and crazy activities. It is an 11 week program and each week has a specific theme. Next week the theme is gross and gooey.... which should culminate a lot of crazy projects and fun stuff.

Nathan is still working full time as an intern and loving it. A couple weeks ago he started playing on a softball team with a couple of guys from his work. The games have been really exciting because these boys are competitive.

Lastly we are both still trying to muster up the energy to finish our online classes. I think we are almost half way done. It's amazing how much harder it is to motivate yourself when your outside of Rexburg and no longer in the school zone.

Overall though we are having a GREAT time in Texas and we really love it!

This past weekend Nathans parents came to visit! Before heading off to San Antonio for the weekend we went on a tour of the USS Lexington. I thought it was going to be lame but it was AMAZING! I can't believe the amount of history on this one aircraft carrier. It really was truly an experience.

After the Lexington we headed out to San Antonio for the weekend. It was so much fun and San Antonio is such a cool city to visit. You would be amazed at all the fun and random things there are to do. We will most definitely be back.
Here we all are on board a small river boat that gives you a tour of the river.

Of course we had to stop at the Alamo. I felt a little uneducated when we were there, we stopped and listened to a volunteer tell the story of the Alamo and there was so much I didn't know. I guess I will have to add reading a book on the Alamo to my summer list of things to do.

Overall the weekend was wonderful and we had such a good time!

P.S. my brother is coming home from his mission on Thursday! He has been in England for the past two years and next week I finally get to see him! I can't wait!