Baby Kylee

Darren and I became first time Uncle and first time Aunt on February 6th. Darren's brother Jared and his wife Kathy had baby Kylee and we are so excited to have a precious little niece. I am so sad that we can't be there to see her as a newborn but we are planning a trip to Oregon to go see her over spring break. I am really excited to hold that little baby!

The Andrus Ranch

On President's Day we spent the day at the Andrus Ranch in Lava Hot Springs and there Lava is pronounced with a long a. We had a lot of fun and we did a lot of things. Kevin Andrus was Darren's roommate his first semester of college and he invited Carlee, Maddie, Jordan, Darren and I down to his ranch. In the morning Kevin castrated some horses and we were invited to witness that but we arrived too late. We did get to see the remnants of them littered about the ground and were even offered to eat them but I guess they used too strong of drugs to put the horses out that it might have traveled all the way down to the nether regions. Anyway I would have NEVER eaten them, even though Kevin's uncle claims they are a delicacy and delicious, but Jordan probably would have. After we visited the newly castrated horses Kevin took us up to see some new baby lambs but on the way up to the lambs we met this little guy... Meet Thomas my boyfriend. I LOVE this dog and I am pretty sure he is in love with me too. He followed me around and wanted me to pet him all day. He was the biggest, fluffiest, friendliest dog I have ever seen and I wanted to keep him. He was definitely the highlight of my day. He may have only loved me so much because he doesn't get much lovin' because he is just a guard dog for the sheep and not a pet, but I gave him a lot of lovin' that day so we bonded. I hear that there is a Mrs. Thomas around somewhere but we never found her on that big ol ranch. I told Thomas to go find her and make me some puppies though, so hopefully they get on that! After I bonded with Thomas we got to hold the baby lambs. They are so cute but they are hard to hold cause they wiggle around like crazy! You really have to grip them tight! The mama sheep are a little scary and they make weird noises, but they make cute babies.

Oh, and here is me with my boyfriend again :)

Later on in the day we got to feed the cows! There are so many cows around and it was a little intimidating at first, but guess what? Cows are scared of you! If you just talk to them they walk away. Here is a picture of me and Carlee with the cows.

And Darren was there too...

While you feed the cows someone drives the truck and someone pulls the hay off and shoves it onto the ground for the cows to eat. Darren drove the truck and Kevin, Carlee and I rode on the back to feed the cows. It was a little scary at first because there was so much hay on the back of the truck and hardly any room to stand but once Kevin had taken some hay off there was more room and Carlee and I moved our way to the back of the truck and started to pull the hay off and kick it to the ground. It was really a lot of fun even though I ended up with hay in my eyes and all over my clothes. Overall it was a great day at the Ranch and those ranchers are pretty impressive! After we froze our little tootsies off we headed over to the hot springs to warm ourselves up. I love the hot springs, they are so toasty warm and I love the gravel bottoms. When we were done soaking we went out to dinner in a little hotel that we have eaten at before and then headed home. It was a great day off and thanks to the Andrus family for teaching us a little bit about ranching!

Basketball

Darren is playing on a rec basketball team this year at school and he loves it. His team is pretty good and it is really fun to go watch all of his games. He is pretty studly if I do say so myself. Last night at his game he had me take pictures because he needs a picture of him doing a recreational activity for one of his classes. I handed the camera over to Jordan to get some good pictures but it is kind of hard when you are sitting far away on the side lines and everyone is running around like crazy. Here is what we got...

Before the game

3 points!

The gangster in him comes out when he plays...

Free throw

I guess this has something to do with shooting 3's. Never seen it before...Jordan told me what it meant

Passing the ball

Valentine's Day

Darren and I celebrated our first married Valentine's Day together. I know so many people think it is a a stupid made-up holiday,but I really like it. It is just a fun day to do nice things for each other and a good excuse to be super lovey! We started celebrating Valentine's Day this past weekend. I have been wanting to go to the mall and so we went down to Idaho Falls to go to the mall and to go out to dinner. I am the one who wanted to go shopping but Darren is the one who ended up getting stuff. He has really been wanting a new coat and we found a coat that he loved and it was 80% off. We just had to get it. So we got a 210 dollar coat for only 50 dollars or something like that. Anyway, I am glad we could finally get him a new coat. After we went shopping we met up with Maddie and Jordan who were also in Idaho Falls and we went out to dinner at Rumby Island Grill. It was so good and we had a lot of fun. After dinner we went to chic-fil-a for shakes. We celebrated Valentine's Day again on the real day. I had do work all day and Darren had school all day but when I walked in the door this is what I saw.

Darren had also cleaned our room which was a huge disaster and I am sure it took him forever. Little things like cleaning our room mean so much to me. It is just one less thing I have to do! Darren also wrote me the nicest card ever. I cried and cried...good thing he was at work when I read it. My big thing is cards and notes. I don't need or want a present I just want to be told how much I am loved, and Darren knows that and so he gave me a wonderful card. When Darren got home from work we went to Costa Vida for dinner which was perfect because my parents got us a gift card for Valentine's Day. When we walked through the door guess who we saw in line? Maddie and Jordan. So we had our second Valentine's Dinner with them too. I got Darren a few presents for Valentine's Day...I made him a map journal, I ordered a memory box thing, and I got him a kindle fire case. We have been wanting a kindle fire case forever so it was kind of just an excuse to buy one. At 10:15 Darren had a basketball game. Who has a basketball game at 10:15 on Valentine's Day? Well we went to his game and they won by a ton. They even ended the game early because they were winning by so much. Overall it was a great day and I am glad I got to spend some extra lovey time with the man I love!

Darren and I before we went to Idaho Falls

Darren's new jacket

Me with my flowers

Darren with his present

Sledding

We went sledding a few weekends ago with some of our friends and it was so much fun! Seriously I miss being outside. Living in Rexburg I feel like I am cooped up inside all day long and it really doesn't help that I live in a basement! Walking to the car is miserable and the cold seriously aches my bones. But it really isn't that bad once you get 2 pairs of pants, a sweater, a coat, gloves, a hat and a scarf on to go sledding. It is quite nice actually, except my nose runs a lot. After we went sledding I kept telling Darren how I just loved being outside and I wish we could have stayed all day. I guess I should go out and play in the snow more except we have had hardly any this year. One day when it snowed a lot Darren and I took the kids that I watch to the park and played in the snow with them. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of how much I liked to play in the snow when I was a kid. Anyway... back to sledding. We went at night and it was a little scary because the hill was so icy but we all had a lot of fun. We also got to watch some little kids go off huge jumps and fly of their tube. I guess when you are raised in the snow you are fearless of sledding. Darren and I aren't so fearless. We steered clear of the big jumps and one time we accidentally hit a little one which ended up being a lot of fun... Here are some pictures!