Brandon's Graduation

Before anyone could say "Finals"-graduation was upon us. Granted-we were both excited but I was able to catch Brandon's excitement on camera.

The graduation festivities started in the late afternoon/early evening.  It was the same as when I graduated a year prior only this time- Brandon was the graduate. We were able to snag some pictures before the ceremonies started-

This guy- Elder Brown also referred to as M. Brown. He's pretty great.  He is one of Brandon's mission buddies and he was coming down the stairs as we were taking family photos. So naturally- I had to get a picture of the two of them :)

Professor Miles- great guy. Not only was he one of Brandon's professors, but also a great mentor and a friend. 

Professor Carter (left) and Professor Smith (right)- Brandon LOVED "tormenting" these professors with questions and comments during class discussions.  Brandon always had a good story to tell when he got home from school on those days. 

Professor Adamson- another one of Brandon's favorite professors.  He taught Brandon's Senior Seminar class and from what I heard from Brandon- Professor Adamson was an all around great guy. 

After the ceremonies, Brandon and I went up to the Ricks Building to take one last walk through of the Political Science, History, and Geography department- our academic home the last 3 years.  We stopped by one of the classrooms because of this-

Professor Inama- one of the oldest professors at BYU-Idaho and also one of Brandon's favorites.  He retired at the end of the 2015 Spring semester.  The classroom that he always taught in was dedicated to him.  This is the plaque that now hangs in that classroom in the Ricks building. Brandon took a couple classes from him throughout his undergrad studies.  Even though I never took a class from him, if he saw me sitting in the hallway he would say "Hello Brandon's wife. How are you today?" and if he didn't see me, then he would ask Brandon how I was doing. He will be missed in the Political Science department. 

We had to get a picture of Brandon next to the plaque since Professor Inama wasn't present at the graduation ceremony.

As we walked out of the Ricks building for the last time, I looked toward the hill and caught this picture-

We will both miss this view but we're excited for the adventures that await us :)

First Birthday

Once again- I'm playing catch up. Luckily it's only been about a month give or take a couple weeks.  Anyway.  This post is about our cute little girl.

She turned 1 on July 1st!  I'll let the pictures explain the rest-

In her new birthday outfit

She thought Daddy needed some frosting- 

Loved the frosting- not the cake part so much.. 

Mom and daughter :) 

Birthday haul! 

Overall it was a pleasant day.  I'm grateful that we just did a very small and simple family party. I know that in years to come the birthday festivities will be a little bit more than what we did this year but for now- I will enjoy the simplicity of it all :)

Final Move back to Rexburg

Very shortly after Christmas, Brandon, Giselle and I loaded up the car and made the trek back to Rexburg.  We didn't move back into the house unfortunately.   We moved into a small-ish 2 bedroom apartment somewhat on the outskirts of Rexburg.

We were grateful that we only had to drive 4 hours seeing that it was the end of December, and when we had left Pleasant Grove it was snowing.  The roads were fairly dry so we made pretty good time getting back to Rexburg.  Giselle slept for all but 20 minutes of the trip which was AWESOME.

We got checked into our apartment fairly quickly and then we began unloading the storage unit.

Did I mention that we also live on the 3rd floor?

Thankfully Brandon did most of the stair climbing with the help of some of our friends.  But for the most part, Brandon got the boxes, totes, and furniture into the apartment himself.  That's a manly man right there folks :)

While the apartment was getting filled with boxes and such, Giselle and I hung out and tried to empty as many boxes as we could.

Well, I emptied boxes, Giselle watched Rio and Tangled.  She kind of has a crush on Flynn Rider.

It was very cold in Rexburg and kind of cold in our apartment when we first moved in. So needless to say, Giselle loved being bundled up.

She was also a very good supervisor to Mommy and Daddy unpacking and figuring out where to put things.

We really pushed unpacking the house fast because Brandon started school a week after we moved in.  So I only had his 'undivided' help for a couple days.  He also was able to get hired on at another local Subway so that was a blessing.  Especially since we moved back to Rexburg unemployed.  Oh the joys of moving in the middle of winter.

Keeping it real- we STILL have some boxes that haven't been sorted and haven't been unpacked. Our apartment is far from being spotless.  And we've rearranged piles multiple times instead of just taking care of them.

Granted, when we DID unpack a majority of our things, we took a couple car loads to DI (for those of you unfamiliar with DI- it's very similar to Goodwill) and even ended up selling some of our furniture.

Why did you put things in storage that you ended up giving away/selling you ask?

Well when you have 4 days to pack and clean a 3 bedroom house with a newborn, you don't really stop to sort things.  You just throw it in a box or a tote and then put it in storage. Plus, when we did pack up the house, we thought we would keep it all.

Amazing how 4 months away from most of your belongings will change your mindset on what is most important to keep and what can be passed on.

All in all, we got settled in and have liked living in our little apartment thus far.  However, in keeping with our "tradition," we might be moving again shortly after Brandon graduates. Who knows? At least we have the experience of moving at the last minute with a child.

Christmas 2014

A couple days after Brandon got home, we started preparing for Christmas. And by preparing, I mean we were finishing up getting gifts together and prepping for the family Christmas Eve dinner.

One thing people don't know about me, is that I prefer to have a majority (if not all) my Christmas gifts figured out and DONE by Thanksgiving.  Not necessarily wrapped, but I do NOT like doing Christmas gifts at the last minute. That's a very good way to blow your budget.  Plus, I like to make most of my Christmas gifts-so family that's reading this blog, don't be surprised if yours are homemade :)

There have been a couple years where I've done store bought gifts and not a whole lot of homemade ones, but now that I'm done with school, I'm hoping to bring back homemade gifts in full swing.  Yes, I will have 2 kids whose schedules I will need to work around, but it's amazing what can get done when you put your mind to it :)

Anyway. The Christmas dinner.

The big Christmas tradition that my family and I had growing up was having a Scandinavian smorgasbord Christmas Eve. We would cook all kinds of foods and then invite a family or two to celebrate with us.  I don't remember one year where we didn't share this tradition with another family.  It was AWESOME.

So for this Christmas, we shared this tradition with my Mom's family.  This was the first Christmas in 32 years where they were all together. So it was a BIG deal and we were ALL excited.

Since Sabina was busy with culinary school, I spear headed the cooking and the planning.  I gave people assignments (who was to bring the cheeses, cold cuts, plates, cups, napkins, etc.) and then focused in on cooking the main dishes.  To stay real- Sabina and Brandon did help me with the cooking since Giselle needed attending to, but I 'ran' the kitchen.

Also in keeping it real- we cut the food WAY down from previous years due to higher food prices and budgets.  But we had our favorites and that's what matters :) For those of you who are wondering what our favorite/staple dishes are-here's a list:

-Swedish Meatballs

-Potato Sausage

-Pilsa

-Fruit Soup

-Mashed potatoes

-Cheese Tray: Provolone, Muenster, Cheddar, Gouda, Havarti, Colby Jack, and Edam

-Cold Cut Tray: Genoa Salami, Hard Salami, Ham, and Turkey

-Cracker Tray: whatever crackers we feel like that year and Hard Tack (if we can find it)

So here are a couple pictures of the table:

Left to right: Potato Sausage and Swedish Meatballs 

This is probably my favorite meal of the year. Don't get me wrong, Thanksgiving and Easter dinners are great too, but Christmas beats them all :)

Since it was Giselle's first Christmas AND a miniature family reunion, there were pictures taken:

Grammy and Giselle

Left to Right Back: Uncle Nathan, Papa Gerber, Nana Gerber 

Left to Right Front: Mom and Aunt Sarah

Four generation shot! :) 

So that was Christmas Eve. It was so great to be able to see my Aunt Sarah and her family after 4 years.  What was even more special was that they were able to meet Brandon AND Giselle for the first time! I had a hard time NOT smiling that day.

Christmas morning we all decided to sleep in.  And by sleeping in, I mean that Brandon and I woke up when Giselle decided to get up-which was NOT late enough.  Sabina woke up shortly after Brandon and I did and since there's the unspoken rule (well....unspoken now that us kids are older) that we don't get Mom up before 8 am Christmas morning, we all hung out in the room that Brandon, Giselle and I were staying in until that time.

It's amazing that no matter how old you get, your inner child is ALWAYS excited for Christmas.

The tree with the presents

Excited for gifts! 

She had to have a snack before opening gifts. 

Mmmmmm...candy canes. 

Playing with her monkey from Aunt Emma 

And that was our Christmas in Utah!

Reunited and Decorating

A couple weeks after Giselle and I returned from Hawaii, it was time to decorate for Christmas and get ready for Brandon to come home!

I had lots of fun decorating with some vases that Mom and I had got at DI.  Sometimes, the most beautiful decorations come from second hand stores and a creative touch :)

This is the masterpiece that I did to help bring the holiday spirit:

LED lights for the win! 

I LOVE decorating for the holidays- especially Christmas.  Mainly because you can do bright, bold colors, or you can go for the more subtle, soft colors.  OR you can mix the bold with the subtle and it looks awesome :)

Brandon got home from D.C. the week before Christmas.  This was the first family picture we took:

Well, ok....this was one of a BUNCH of pictures we took. But this one is one of my favorites.  Oh, and the NCIS hat? Yeah, Brandon got that for me back in D.C. It's pretty much my favorite show :)

I was really happy that Giselle warmed up to Brandon so well. The last time she had seen him was when she was barely 2 months old.  She was 5 1/2 months old when he came home.  She sure does love her Daddy :)

Needless to say, we were VERY happy to be reunited as a family. And we can now say that we can survive 4 months being apart if the need ever comes again.  We're hoping that in the future, we'll be able to stay together when opportunities like this come up, but ya never know what curve balls are coming your way.  All we can do is to enjoy the time we do have with one another and make the most of life :)