White Christmas

I'm getting my first white Christmas
whether I like it or not!
See, the cars are covered
with fluffy white stuff
and it's very cold outside
[it's very cold outside!]

I'm getting my first white Christmas
and I'm not quite sure how I feel...
it is very pretty but the wind is nippy
and I'm just a Mesa girl!

I'm getting my first white Christmas
I prayed for it for many years
but since it gets colder each night
I am doing my best to stay inside!

Christmas Shopping!

In the beginning of December,
Joseph and I made a paper chain to count down for Christmas.
However, rather than label each day
with the number of days until Christmas,
we supplied a Christmas-time activity for each night.
It's been a lot of fun. We have family night/date night every night!!
I'm thinking we need to make a chain for every month!
Anyway, tonight's activity was to go do our Christmas shopping.
One of the things we got is a puzzle to start off our family's tradition--
we want to do a new puzzle as a family every year for Christmas.

We wanted to get the "Autumn Whitetails" puzzle, but alas, it was not available.
So, this year's puzzle is "Time Well Spent." 750 pieces.
(This picture shows 700, but our box definitely says 750)
We decided to start it tonight, but realized that we have a problem--
we don't have a table big enough to hold the entire puzzle!
Our apartment was partially furnished, though mostly unfurnished.
Still, there used to be a kitchen table in it,
but it disappeared when the last tenants left... so we don't have one.
Nonetheless, we are excited about our puzzle and
our first Christmas as a family of our own.
I am so grateful that I married an incredible man
who loves and cherishes me so dearly.
It makes all our time together wonderful.
I'm so happy that I get to spend eternity with him.

The First Snow

Technically, this is the second snow, but the first one was really random back in October and then it got warm again, so I don't think it counts as the official first snow. That being said, here are a few pictures of my wonderful husband shoveling the sidewalks during the first snow, and one of our car, GG, covered in the first snow. Poor GG!

Our First Christmas Tree

It's not done yet, but we've got our Christmas tree up and the lights and tree topper are on it! We've also got the nativity that my parents gave us up. It looks great. Hooray for Christmas! "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" :)


A few fun ornaments we have yet to put on the tree.

My Champion

Joseph played on a competitive frisbee team this semester and absolutely loved it. Not only that, but his coaches loved him! They were always saying how they love that he just "plays smart." I love going to watch him play... it's fun being the wife of the best player on the field! ;)

Anyway, Joseph's team won all but one of their games and made it to the championship finals. It was Joseph's team (the Titans) verse the Wildcats. It was a good game. The teams took turns being in the lead, it seemed. Still, the best team won in the end-14 to 10. Titans not only took the championship, they only lost one game all season.

Go Titans!

We Moved!

On Tuesday, October 28th, Joseph and I found out we were accepted as the new assistant managers of Sunrise Village Apartments, a BYU-Idaho mens approved housing complex just across the street from the campus stadium. We packed up GG (our car-G for Grandma and G for Grandpa Jamison!) a lot of times and moved just about everything by the end of the week. We finished on Tuesday of the next week, and now we are in a 3 bedroom apartment. We still don't get to use our beautiful washer and dryer, but at least we get to store them inside now, rather than outside. We like our new apartment, and it's so nice to be back across the street from campus. A little extra FYI, Joseph and I both lived in complexes right next door to where we are now before we got married, so we're back in the old neighborhood! This time though, we get to live together and we like it much more this way!

He's a Boy!!

That's right! Our appointment was October 30th at 2PM. The lady doing the ultrasound asked before she started if we wanted to know. Then, just before she told us, she asked again, "are you sure you want to know?" We told her yes and she made one tiny adjustment that showed us everything we needed to know - we're having a baby boy! We are very excited, but no name has been decided on just yet. :)

Four More Days!!

Just real quick. We went to our friends' baby blessing yesterday. Holding their little baby made me wish mine was already here! I actually looked a little pregnant in the dress I was wearing. Still, people said I look way too small to be finding out the baby's gender already. Oh well. Joseph and I are so excited to find out on Thursday! I stayed in bed for a long time this morning with my hand on my tummy and just enjoyed feeling the baby kick every now and then. The first time s/he kicked was Friday the 17th and I've been feeling him/her more and more ever since. It's fun, but it's amazing too, that something so real can be coming from inside of me. I have lots of experience with kids and pregnant sisters, but experiencing all these things from the mother perspective is definitely something new. I love it.

Much Needed Update

Well, here's a much needed update, as I have not posted anything but the story of how Joseph and I came to be Mr. and Mrs. Free. :) We are still in Rexburg, Idaho, going to school and living the poor college student life. A little more fun is the fact that we are expecting a new little addition on St. Patrick's Day-March 17th 2009! I hope our baby doesn't turn out green if born on that day, but we will find out whether to plan for lots of blue or pink the day before Halloween. Our second ultrasound (the pictures here are from the first) is October 30th and as long as the baby cooperates, we'll find out if we're having a baby boy or a baby girl. We are very very excited. Other than that, it's just our usual around here. We both have school (my classes are in the evenings since I'm off track), Joseph works on campus and is trying to get started with his dad's company, I babysit once a week for a mom who's in school, and we try to keep the house clean in between. Joseph's calling in the ward is 4th Sunday teacher in the Elders Quorum, and I was just called as the primary pianist, which means I will probably be released as 4th Sunday teacher in the Relief Society. We'll see.
Our friends, Darr and Cara, had their baby about a month ago, so we'll be attending their baby's blessing this Sunday. Fun stuff! I keep seeing friends with their new babies and it makes me think mine isn't growing fast enough, because I want to hold and play with my baby now! But I have to give the baby time to grow so that we'll have a healthy one that I can play with.
We've sent in our resumes for an assistant manager position for a boys apartment complex. We would live there, in one of the 3 bedroom apartments and work off our rent through clean checks, check ins and outs, answering phones, outside maintenence, etc.. It would really be a great thing for us, as I could do a lot of the work with the baby, and Joseph could still have another job, so we're hoping for it to work out in our favor. Interviews haven't started though, and I get more and more nervous the longer it takes. We'll see what comes of it.
I talked to my mom on the phone this morning and realized just how huge our break will be between semesters. We'll get out of school a week and a half before Christmas, and then we'll have all of next semester off as I'll be deferring, and he'll be off track. It will be so great to have that, with the baby coming that semester, and just because we've been going going going ever since our wedding. We had a nice long honeymoon, but it was busy with lots of traveling, and then we moved straight up here and started school. So, we'll finally get some time to organize our house, and really have time for each other, to reevaluate our goals and such. Whoohoo!!

Our Story

Once upon a time, a family moved to a different part of town, not too far away from their last house. Still, they were suddenly in a new ward, in a new stake. There was a 15 year old girl in this family, who found herself liking the new Bishop's 17 year old son! He (Joseph) was a senior in high school, she (Elizabeth) was a sophomore.
The two became friends by hanging out with the same group of kids during lunch (a group of boys from their ward). When Joseph's cousin, Jessica, moved to town, she and Elizabeth became fast friends. Also, when the second semester rolled around, Joseph and Elizabeth were put in the same seminary class! These things only made their friendship stronger. A bunch of their friends turned 16, so the group planned a big group date.
On May 1st, Joseph and Elizabeth went on their first date. On May 2nd, they went to church, where a rumor started, saying that the two may have held hands during their date the night before! They hadn't, but the whole ward seemed to be questioning them. (Thanks a lot, Daniel Morris!) On May 3rd, Jessica told Elizabeth that she had talked with her cousin the night before about all the rumors that were going around. Joseph had admitted to liking Elizabeth, but he wasn't sure what to do about it. After all, he was her home teacher at the time! Elizabeth was worried Joseph would start acting "weird" around her, but when 1st period seminary came, Joseph walked in and greeted Elizabeth with a smile; same as always. After another date, and a whole lot of "hanging out," the two became, according to their friends, "an item."
Well, not long after their relationship was established, Joseph graduated from high school, and a little while after that, he moved to BYU-Idaho to begin college. On labor day, Elizabeth and her mom headed up to Rexburg. Her mom needed to visit with a distant cousin about geneology stuff, and he just happened to live near Rexburg! Elizabeth, however, got to spend the entire day with her boyfriend. The entire day was fun. They ate dinner at Gringos, and Joseph talked about Joseph's upcoming mission, and how he did not want her to miss out on any high school experiences by having a boyfriend on a mission. Deciding it was the best thing, Joseph and Elizabeth broke up.
THE END
Just kidding! When Joseph left on his mission, he and Elizabeth wrote to each other as the best of friends. Two years later, she was finishing her first semester at BYU-Idaho, and he was coming home on March 9th. The next semester, he moved back to BYU-Idaho, and the two found out they were going to be neighbors, living just around the corner from each other. It didn't take long (about 2 weeks) for them to start dating again.
They went on their second 1st date on Thursday of their first week back to Rexburg. On Sunday, they went on a walk to "talk." After asking how she felt about him after the last two years, she expressed her surprise at how quickly her feelings for him and the memories of all the fun they had had back in high school had come back to her upon seeing him again. He expressed the same, but added a little twist. "I don't plan on holding any girl's hand or anything for a while. I want to make sure that the girl I date (and eventually marry) is my best friend first." Five days later, Joseph and Elizabeth were at a concert with some friends. Before the night was over, they had discussed the fact that they would both like to be dating each other, and with a sigh of giving up, Joseph grabbed Elizabeth's hand. :) It was still a perfect fit! Long story short(er), they dated that entire semester, and by July or August, they were confident they wanted to be married.
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The weekend before Thanksgiving, Joseph surprised me and officially proposed at the Mona Lisa restaurant, in Nampa, Idaho.
On March 29 2008, we were married in the Mesa Temple for Time and All Eternity.
Now, four months later, we live in a basement apartment in Rexburg, Idaho. We are both attending BYU-Idaho, and are living that wonderful, penniless, exciting, newly-wed life.
Around March 20 2009, we are expecting an addition to our family. We couldn't be more excited. :)