The Ranch

I'm pretty sure Mitch's favorite place in this world is his family's ranch...and now it is one of mine too! We go out there quite often to ride fourwheelers, canoe, camp, eat food...or all of the above!

One of the first dates we went on was to this ranch and we've been back so many times since. My favorite thing about it though is definitely that

THIS IS WHERE MITCH PROPOSED!

and it was perfect.

Anyways, I've kinda fallen behind on keeping up with this blog, so here's just some pictures from the ranch so far this summer! Enjoy!

Four-wheeling!

How could  you not love that?!

Beautiful!

My handsome husband

Jumping the wheeler

Shootin .22!

One of the lakes

Derek and Kinley

I think that's Derek...

Loadin' the gun

Birdy

Sunset!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Canoe Ride

Lake!

The hottest man ever!

Chasing a beaver...to shoot. I think its a Sommer thing.

Lookin for the beaver to shoot...

Still chasing the beaver

Yellowstone!

The other day Mitch was reading the newspaper and discovered that admission into Yellowstone is free for eight days right when the park opens. We decided to take advantage of such a good deal and we headed up there for the day on Saturday!

We went with our really cool friends Jared and Whitney and it was basically just a blast. I think half the reason Mitch wanted to go was so he could eat lunch at the Gusher in West Yellowstone (they serve really good pizza!), but unfortunately they were still closed for the season....and so was pretty much every other resturant. We finally found one though and it was pretty good!  No idea what the name of it was...but they had some great burgers and chicken strips and grilled cheese. Plus they had a train going around and around the wall near the ceiling. It actually got a little annoying. :)

Here's some pictures from our trip!

Elk!

Barfallo!

Lots of elk!

Mitchell and a buffalo

Those things have huge heads.

This one got way too close to the car. Even Mitch got a little uneasy.

Mitch and Ana

Jared and Whitney!

Mitch and Ana!

So cute!

 

Old Faithful!

Waiting.....ha they look bored.

 

Old Faithful actually doing something!

 

Coyote!

....and it won't let me add anymore pictures for some reason, so that's it for now!

April already?!

We finally got the internet at our apartment! I actually didn't even realize how much I missed it since Mitch and I both have it on our phones...and if we ever REALLY needed the real internet we could go to campus or his house! It is definitely nice though to be able to be on the internet on a computer at our house.

Holy smokes, a lot has been happening! Such as....

• I got a job teaching 1st grade in the fall! I'll be at Burton Elementary in Rexburg and I am incredibly excited. It is such a blessing because I get to get in a year of teaching while Mitch finishes up his Bachelor's degree.
• Mitch finished his internship on campus last week and started working concrete again this week! He came home on Wednesday saying it felt good to "really" work. I guess he didn't really enjoy all the sitting around he did during his internship...not that there was a lot of it...just definitely a lot more than there is with his concrete job!
• I tend to have a lot of time on my hands so I've been doing a lot of little crafty projects--and totally enjoying it. I'm currently working on these....

          They're for my classroom and then eventually my own kids one day! They are super easy to make and incredibly inexpensive. They each have a letter on them and you use them to make words. Perfect for teaching kids how to read and spell. Don't worry, Mitch is already getting a lot of use out of them.

• While we were both working we had a ton of time in the evenings to do whatever, so our latest adventure was putting together puzzles. It took us like...12 years to finish this one.

Yes, Mitch picked it out. I liked it so much when we were done though I put it in a frame...and bought another puzzle. I guess there's like a bunch in this set, so who knows, maybe by the time we're eighty-eight and doing puzzles everyday we'll have finished them all. I bought another one the same day I bought the frame for this one...we got the outside border done! ...but haven't touched it since. Its just been sitting there for the last two weeks. It has a fox in it and its really cool. Mitch just gave me a spoonful of Tillamook ice cream but it was way too big for my mouth. Sheesh. Shows how helpful he is writing this blog!



• Oh our plant! I have to write about the plant! On Monday this week Mitch didn't have to go to work because his internship was done, and he didn't start his next job until Wednesday, so he had a day to get ready for school and such. Well, that took him half an hour, so he basically had a day to play. I got to work at 8:00 Monday morning and found out the student I work with was sick, so I had the day off too! That afternoon we basically toured Rexburg. What is there to see you might ask...well a whole lot if you go to every major store possible. We started out at Broulim's to do some grocery shopping, but then ended up back there a little while later to trade in all our coins. We came out with a whopping $27 to spend freely at D.I. Yeah...D.I. had nothing for us. So then we went and wandered Walmart, Big 5, Ace, CAL Ranch, Porters, Valleywide, Subway, DollarTree, RadioShack, and K-mart....where our adventure ended with us buying a beatiful Dracaena that is durable and exotic. That's a plant by the way. So I kinda veered off subject, but that's basically what happened Monday. We wandered all of Rexburg just for fun, and it really was fun! We ended up spending most of our coin money on lunch and our plant--so fun! And random...but definitely fun! We weren't exactly on a quest for a plant...I just saw one at Walmart that was ugly and we both  had really bad ADHD so we it took us a long time to find another one. Subway doesn't have plants, just in case you were wondering.

Gorgeous, ain't it?!

Let's see how long it lives.

•  We bought a new printer! Its so nice to have one at our apartment! We saw it on a really good sale Tuesday and decided it needed a good home. Anyways....we'll try to be good parents. Not much else to say about a printer.

•  Mitch started school on Tuesday! He's not excited at all...or so he says. He'd rather be doing the construction than reading about it. He only has classes Tuesday and Thursday and a couple online. That way he can still work his concrete job Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He says it keeps him sane. I say it keeps him buff.
• Last week I had Spring Break! Best holidayish thing ever! I got three days off of school (Rexburg is...Rexburg...and they don't get a full week...but I'll take what I can get!) and it was amazing. We went four wheeling up at the ranch one of those days and it was fantastic. I came away with a nasty sunburn and so did Mitch. His turned into a tan in about ten minutes, while mine stayed for days and is still peeling a week and a half later. Hopefully our kids get his skin. Four wheeling was a blast! Such good weather and we went with such good people!

Well......I think that's long enough for today.

Basically the only thing you need to get from this is that we're both doing great and loving life! If we could offer you any advice it would be to marry your best friend!!!!!!!!!!!

 

St. Patty's Day!

(What a creeper!)

Exactly a year ago today, on St. Patrick's day, my BFF Heather and I sent out a text that said the following:

"Its St. Patrick's Day! Let's have a party....you plan it."

We sent it to tons of people and we got a lot of funny responses, but only one response that agreed with our request. Ryan invited us over to Stewart's house to play Mario Kart on the 64. Since we had nothing else to do, we went.

Turns out my future husband was there with his buddies. And to think, I was scared of him back then! Funny to think about how things got started!

Catch Up!

Well, life as we know it is currently fantastic. Things are going really good! Mitch is doing his internship this semester on campus with the Mechanical Engineering department...but more specifically he works with all the plumbing. He seems to enjoy it, although it isn't really the kind of hard work he's used to. But the people he works with are great! He actually only has a couple more weeks left. Its been a huge blessing for us to have him doing this internship this semester! He's making money and fulfilling education requirements at the same time...with no homework! (That's not saying much though, he rarely ever has homework anyways.) I'm just working as a paraprofessional at an elementary school right now. I work one-on-one with the same student every day. He's a second grader and he has more energy than anyone I've ever seen in my life. Everyday is an adventure, and I really love it!

Let's see...some cool things that have been happening...

First of all, it was my birthday last month! Mitch and I are now the same age for a few months...but neither of us really act like it so I guess that's not important. My birthday was awesome!

Mitch took me out to dinner at Applebee's where I ate some delicious steak and potatoes.

I got a million birthday cards from some wonderful family and friends, as well as a box of cupcakes from my brother Jeff and sister-in-law Sarah! The cupcakes came all the way from DC!!! When I was there visiting in the summer we went to this place called Georgetown Cupcakes (maybe you've heard of it, there's a tv show all about it...or there was...) and they have every kind of cupcake imaginable. I think they sent me every chocolate one possible and they were DELICIOUS! I was so surprised to come home from work and find a dozen of those things sitting on my porch! Best cupcakes ever!

Mitch's family also had a birthday dinner for me complete with cake and ice cream. They also got me two of my very favorite movies, Megamind and Tangled. Honestly, if I could choose any movie to watch it would be one of those two. Megamind is HILARIOUS and so is Tangled! And they are both cute. :) They also got me a box of ammo....

FOR MY GUN!

Mitch bought me a .22 for my birthday! I've been saying I want one forever, but I didn't think he'd take me seriously. I was pretty surprised when he pulled it out of no where, and he'd even wrapped it! (only after his sister and brother and other brother turned down his bribes to get them to wrap it, but nevertheless it looked great) Everyone thinks Mitch bought it for me so he could use it...which is what I figured would happen...so originally I asked for a pink one. Mitch was not impressed by that request, and pretty much gagged everytime I mentioned it. Hahahaha. He looked all over Idaho Falls and Rexburg for a pink one, but couldn't find one anywhere--except for a little kids sized one. SO he ended up buying me a black one, but made up for it by buying it an awesome case! Its camo with pink in the background. Not that tacky pink camo that is everywhere, but a cool pink cause it looks more like a sunset in the background. Yeah ok, anyways, just look at the picture.

Ha, I also added a bow to the gun. Mitch didn't even take it off when we went to shoot it. Probably only because its a black bow with silver polka dots, and cause he didn't want to cause a scene with my little sister there. (Or maybe it was just because I was holding the gun most of the time, and it was loaded...)

In short, my birthday was fanstastic! I'm so blessed!!!

Some other things that have been happening...

We've been cooking! Mitch actually did most of the cooking the first month and a half we were married. I think he really likes it, but probably wouldn't admit that too freely. He's really good at it too! Lately we've been tryinging some new reciepes off of Pinterest (yes, I love that website! Mitch doesn't get it though ahahaha) and so far they're turning out pretty well!

This was the first one, I don't think it had a name but it was good. And a heart attack waiting to happen. Basically its just little smokies wrapped in bacon and covered in a brown sugar-based sauce. I made it more for Mitch cause he's obsessed with bacon, but I actually liked it too!

...but its probably more of a twice-a-year-meal.

Then just this week we made some homemade pizza pockets! They were soooo good! Good enough in fact that Mitch asked if we could make more so he could take them to work for lunch this week. Plus they were ridiculously easy. Gotta love that.

A blog?!

I'm bored out of my mind. That's why Mitch and I (okay, technically just me) are starting this glorious blog! And since neither of us are that great at journal writing...maybe this will count for something someday....