There's a Mouse in Our House!

So 2 nights ago I decided I wanted to work out. Darren and I were on the floor doing push ups and when Darren looked up all he said was "Oh. My. Gosh." I thought that he was going to be looking at a huge spider because that was a regular occurrence at our old house and that was his usual reaction. I immediately got tense at the prospect of a huge spider and hurried over to get on the couch. I kept asking "What? What? What do you see?" He finally said there was a mouse running across our kitchen. I could not believe it! A mouse?! So we sat on the couch for a while not knowing what to do and then Darren saw it again run back across the kitchen! We went to walmart and bought some mouse traps but so far there has been no action. It is the weirdest thing because there has been no evidence of a mouse getting into our food and I haven't seen any droppings. We think he just got lost on his way home and wandered through our apartment, and hopefully he is gone now :) It is weird to be so scared of a mouse because they are so small and kind of cute but it is just startling when they scurry around so fast. I don't want to kill him, so hopefully there are no more mouse sightings! We will see!

Alan's Visit

Alan came to visit us last weekend. It was fun to see him and he came bearing gifts. He brought us a beautiful end table and a beautiful orchid from Darren's parents. I love, love the orchid. It is so pretty I just hope I don't kill it! Kaitlin came over to hang out with us a few times and we ate lots of food and played some games. Overall, it was a fun weekend and when we came home from church and Alan was gone, there was a little something framed in our kitchen to remember him by.

A Real Man

Alan, Darren's brother, came to visit for the weekend and he brought an early birthday present for Darren from his parents. Darren has been wanting some power tools because he is sick of putting together furniture and hanging things with dinky screwdrivers. He now feels like he is a real man...and he has already put his new toy to work!

Our First Day of School

San Diego

It was so nice to go home for a few weeks and see my family and vacation! We did a lot of things but mostly we spent time around water. We went swimming a lot, and we went to the beach a lot. We went to the beach almost every day to either swim, hike or hunt for sea glass. I have a new obsession. I am OBSESSED with sea glass. When I close my eyes I see sea glass and at night I dream about finding a piece. Darren and I, with the help of my family found over 300 pieces of sea glass in just a couple of days of looking. I am sad I don't live near the ocean so I can look for it everyday. I guess that could end up being a good thing. Darren also tried surfing for his first time ever. He was actually pretty good! We also had a sand castle building contest, and buried Darren in the sand. We made him be the tourist! Besides going to the beach, we ate a lot of California burritos, bean burritos and Chipotle bowls. We also went rock climbing one day and we watched a lot of prison break with Gage.

I already miss San Diego and my family, but it's good to be back in Rexburg and I guess we even kind of missed it while we were gone!

Darren's New Found Hobby

Darren and I made a very unexpected trip to Rexburg this summer. We were just planning on going from Portland to San Diego and then staying in San Diego until school started. Things changed when we got a call from the apartment complex that we have been on the waiting list for. They said we could move in but we had to move in now or we would  be put back on the waiting list. We didn't want to risk being put on the waiting list again and so we made a trip to Rexburg to move out of our old apartment and into our new apartment. Darren's dad was really nice and came to help us move. We drove to Rexburg one day, moved out the next, then drove home the day after. It was a very quick trip and a ton of work, but I am glad we were able to get all moved, and I like our new apartment much better! Because we were driving back to Rexburg we thought it would be a good idea to look for furniture on craigslist. Rexburg doesn't have a very good selection of furniture around and I knew I wanted a sofa table so we bought one in Portland. We found this one for 20 bucks and it was the perfect size but it was ugly. We decided to refinish it and make it more our style. The furniture piece is solid oak and weighs a ton! It is nice to actually own a quality piece of furniture. Here is the before picture:

This is Darren and I right before we spent all night sanding. It literally took all night to get the old finish off. The table was very stubborn! After we got the table all sanded down, we gave it many, many coats of stain. Darren loved every minute of it! I loved it too, but I think I am just not as patient as Darren is. I think Darren has found a new hobby. He is now always looking around for things he can refinish.

Here is the after picture. Doing this project was so rewarding! We love this table and it is by far the most beautiful piece of furniture in our home! It took a lot of work but we had a lot of fun doing it, and hopefully we will hold onto this lovely piece for a long time!

The Rest of Our Oregon Trip

We did so many fun things while we were in Oregon. We went canoeing, rafting down the river, we went to mount hood and did the alpine slides, and we just hung out with family. It was a nice, long vacation! Here are some pictures of the fun things that we did.

Oh, there was also lots of sleeping! Haha I love these pictures:

My Birthday

My birthday was on a Sunday this year and I got to celebrate up in Oregon. After we went to church I got to open presents. I was spoiled by everyone but especially Darren! He got me all of the things that I wanted, not just 1 thing like I told him to get. I got two new pairs of shoes, some shirts, an applebees giftcard and a new scentsy. Oh, and my camera that I got a little bit early.  Darren and Alan's old first and second grade teacher, Mrs. Hightower, came over for dinner. It was fun to get to know her, she is a very sweet lady. It is cool how Darren's mom has kept in touch with her over the years. 

Overall it was a great day and I am finally 21! Even though this birthday doesn't really mean anything to me, like it does to other people, I actually feel older this year. I feel like now when I tell people my age it doesn't seem so young. I also feel like over this past year I have grown in so many ways and have changed a lot. I am grateful for the past year and what it has taught me. I am glad I got to spend my last year and my special day with Darren. He is so good to me!