Christmas 2015

Our Christmas 1,000 miles from home. It was a white Christmas, with about 6" of snow. But it was sunny and warm.

We woke up early to watch my younger siblings unwrap presents over Skype. Little Dylan saying afterwards "Sorry we woke you up early. We were just excited." 

Afterwards we got up and made breakfast, and then went shooting at the range.

I made dinner (first meal I've home cooked in months) 

This would have been a chicken twin! Too bad we ate him... Them. Lol

Then we enjoyed the last day to wear our Santa hats and watched Netflix all evening.

It was a lovely 2nd Christmas together. And we can't wait to go home and visit our family's we missed very much this Holliday season.

Our First Anniversary

Today marks 365 days of marital bliss. 

Our first year together was full of amazing moments and perfect days. There were some really hard struggles and decisions as well. But it all brought us closer together and made us stronger together.

When you find the other half that makes you whole your whole life makes sense. It has a new and better purpose. I can't imagine what my life would be like without my sweet husband. He brings me up, makes me a better person, and puts a smile on my face every single day. I cannot thank God enough for him. And I hope our future is as bright and beautiful as our life right now.

Amber's 21st Birthday

For my 21st birthday Michael bought me this beautiful necklace. The blue topaz are my birth stone.

He also got me new charms for my charm bracelet. The blue one is also my birth stone. The snowflake is because Winter is my favorite season. And the paw print is because he also got me something else for my birthday/Christmas...

 We got a puppy! He was born last week! We wont be able to bring him home until January though. He is a pure schnauzer, salt a pepper. I am SO excited to get him!!!

It has been a wonderful birthday. Its my "Fun" year, and I cant wait to see what it brings.

Our puppy was born

Our puppy was born November 20th 2015.
There was only 1 boy and 1 female in the liter. If both had been girls we wouldn't have gotten a puppy.
Thankfully we got lucky and he was born.
We get to bring him home January 15th 2016. And we are incredibly excited!

Thanksgiving 2015

This was our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple.
It was odd to not be surrounded by family on the Holliday that is ment for gathering and spending time with the people you love.
We still had a good day though.
We had some friends over for dinner, and then played board games for awhile.
And we took some cute pictures while we were all dressed up and matching.
It was a good day, but we can't wait to go home and see our family soon. Wesley even got dressed up in his bow tie for dinner. His friend Jarvis came over for dinner as well and they played the entire time we had dinner.

The Secret is Out

Some exciting news...

It's about time we announce our big secret.

Today marks 10 weeks 6 days

Ignore the negative test, it was dumb. We are due June 3rd 2016

I started to wonder if something was off when I wanted fast food Cheese Burgers, like ALL the time. I rarely eat fast food, and I NEVER eat meat from a fast food restaurant, so this was very odd. Assuming I was late because of the stress of the move, I didn't worry about taking a test until over a week. I took one (the left one) and it was faint, so I took another the next morning and it said negative. I decided to go with that answer and not worry about it.

A few days later I started to worry so we got some more tests, I took one, and then made Michael go in and check it. After a minute he calls from the bathroom "what does 2 lines mean?" And I said "your just giving me crap" so I went in and sure enough 2. So then I took 2 more tests, and all 3 said positive. Determined they were defective, I insisted that Michael take one. He is not pregnant. Lol

We will get to know the gender in January. And our estimated due date is June 3rd.

UPDATE: November 17th 2015

There is no gentle way to break the news- but we are going through a miscarriage.

It is never a good idea to share your pregnancy before the first trimester is over as 1 in 4 pregnancies fail. I am posting an update rather than removing this post because it was something exciting that we don't want to forget.

We're getting a new Baby!!

We are excited to bring home a new puppy in the next few weeks!

We have put a deposit down on a new puppy. He will be born around Thanksgiving. And will get to come home with us in January! 

The mom is a silver miniature schnauzer, and the dad is platinum. So fingers crossed we get a white one! So excited for Smith Schnauzer #2. We love this breed! 😄 

Moving to Minot

Trying to move is never easy, especially when you have to move 15 hours away from home. It amazes me how different one state can be from another in the same country.

 We found an apartment at the edge of town, on the third floor a very nice buildin. It had a great view, but it has 30 stairs to our front door.  Maybe I'm just lazy but walking up and down three flights of stairs four times a day is not worth the view. LOL Unfortunately I did not figure that out until we were already settled in.

 They call it the magic city and I've been trying to figure out why that is. Nothing special ever happens here. Unless you count 90 mile an hour winds that will blow the siding off your house.

 When I asked the locals what they did for fun in the outdoors they said… "Well there's the dog park and the walking trails" and "there's a farm downtown that you can go and pick pumpkins". Its very different from home where everyone spends their time in the mountains and the mud.  It's sad because the whole point of life here for everyone, is to go to work to make money, to buy things to make them happy, then to go back to work to make more money. It's very boring and very sad, and  we can't wait to come back home.  

Another bit of good news I got was that winter here lasts for 7 1/2 months.  Usually the first snowfall is the beginning of October and it doesn't melt until the end of May. 

Work is better here and pay is better, but taxes are also higher, sitting at 7%. You don't realize how big a difference it makes to tell you checkout at the grocery store I wonder what you spend all that money on?  Besides milk that runs four dollars a gallon.  Fuel is cheaper though so I guess it all balances out. 

 Let's all just pray the oil goes back up and we can all come back home.

Sterling & Becky's Pictures

Today Sterling and Becky let me take their family pictures. 

They were too cute not to share.

These are just a few of my favorites.

I hope Mike and my kids come out this cute ;)

Our First Place

As our wedding approached we started looking at places so we could have a Home set up and settled before we got married. Especially since we were getting married in the crazy middle of the Hollidays.

We found a duplex for rent across town with a cute little backyard.

It seriously needed repainted (even though they told us we we not allowed to) I painted some of it anyways. 

We moved in November 11th of 2014. And moved out when we headed to North Dakota in September of 2015. These pictures were taken right before we moved.

 We rented the right half. 928. The left half was not as nice inside as ours. And the people who lived there had 3 large pit bulls they kept in a half ass pen off the back door.

 This is the hall from the front door that goes upstairs or into the living room. I painted the hall, and while I thought the Black/White theme was cool at the time, looking back I don't like it.

This is the living room. With all our 'donated' furniture. Because we were just starting out when we moved in everyone gave us old furniture to use.

We got the brown couch and TV from my parents. The TV stand from a neighbor who was getting a new one and wanted help hauling it out. 

 The white hutch was built in. The table set from Sterling and Becky. The black couch was Davids he brought when he moved in with us. And the wooden chest/bench was a wedding gift from my Dad.

 The cute rustic kitchen, which did not have a dishwasher or microwave. And a small stack washer/dryer in the kitchen of all places?

The Downstairs Bathroom.

 The master Bedroom with the Bed / Dresser Set Michael bought from a friend back when he had his own place.

The Master Closet.

The Upstairs shared master Bathroom. It had a horrible shower with giant half seashells sticking out of the wall to use as shelfs. But they were angled down so everything just slid off anyways.

 The Second bedroom, which was Davids when he moved in. 

And then became our workout room/office when he left.

 The drive way to the right of the apartment.

 The large open backyard with lots of shade. It had an apple tree Wesley would chew on the dropped apples from. And we even grew garden boxes here.

And the Shed/shop Michael fixed up so he could use it to work on his buggy and building projects.

After we moved in we invited family over and we were shocked to find out that Michael's older brother Sterling had rented the SAME exact place (same side and everything) several years earlier. And grossly enough- he said it had the same exact carpeting when he lived there!

Harrisons Homecoming

This Weekend Michael's brother returned home from a 2 year mission in Arkansas.

 I have now met ALL of my Siblings in law. lol Poor Harrison came home and was involuntarily related to me. :P

It was a happy reunion. I have the picture of the day Harrison left and Michael went on his own way. He is definably better now than when they split 2 years ago. It was great to see all the positive changes in both of their lives.

We went camping up at Power House and Michael got to take all the kids on the buggy. They had a blast. I was sure Idaho couldn't compete with the beautiful mountains of Utah but I was surprised. I would love to camp there again if we get the chance. The only sucky part was Michael and I trying to sleep in the "Barbie Tent" which was NOT big enough for even 1 of us comfortably. haha

On Sunday Harrison gave an excellent homecoming talk, he is great speaker. Sterling and Becky's kids both got blessed today in Sacrament as well.

Grandma enjoyed all the company and was happy to hold cute baby Cian.

And Michael even got all dressed up and let me take his picture. He must have been in a good mood because that doesn't happen often. lol 

Actually the whole Family dressed up and we took this cute picture by an old rustic barn.

Altogether it was a very great trip, and we already miss everybody.

Family Pictures (Amber's Side)

This Sunday for FHE we went to Remember the Main. Had a picnic dinner. And took family pictures.

 Here is my Grandparents. Parents. Aunt's family. And Siblings.

 My Home Family.

 Wesley insisted on being in a picture with Grandpa

 Me and my sisters. None of us can have the same hair color lol

And my Cute boys. They are so excited to have Michael as a brother!