Oops!

It's been over a month since I last updated! I'll try to not let that happen again...
Lately...
We've been working and going to school. Nothing fantastic. We call it the "uzhe" (the usual). I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but my intelligent hubby is taking 21 credit hours! He's nuts! Fortunately, he's been keeping up with the course load and still has time to spend with me (he's probably SUPERMAN).
Speaking of Superman, I am OBSESSED with Smallville lately! (We got rid of our cable because we were mindlessly watching TV whenever we were home... so we got Netflix!) Now we only watch DVDs, our own, and our TV shows that we get in the mail. We try to keep the TV as a "night only" thing, so as to allow us wind down before bed. It's really nice.
So we have been getting Smallville and 24 in the mail lately. We're hooked! Another one I'm hooked on (online) is Glee! It's adorable; everything my favorite show would be: singing, drama, romance. I love it!
Please don't worry too much about us, though. We only watch these shows when we are winding down for the night... a nice way to relax.
I think that's about all that's exciting for us these days. The middle school job is same old, same old. Drew isn't working at Western Wats anymore. His course load plus a job was getting to be too much for him.
OH! I've been going to Zumba classes on campus. They're fun and I get a great workout! I'm also starting back up on my own Weight Watchers kick. I'm actually eating breakfast, taking Lean Cuisines for lunches, trying to cook light for dinner, and drinking only water. It feels good! Drew goes to work out while I'm in my fitness classes. Yay for getting in shape!
Well, I think I'll leave this as is. More updates another time!

Anniversary Celebration: Day 2!

We decided that since we didn't get a chance to go anywhere fun for our anniversary, we would celebrate a bit the following week. Tuesday was a full free day, so we made plans to see a movie and go out to eat for lunch.

We headed out to the 12:15 showing of Avatar in Idaho Falls! Unfortunately, it wasn't a 3-D showing, and the next 3-D was at 3:05, so we bought our tickets for the 3:05 and drove over to the mall to walk around and window shop! We actually had a good time!

Then we went to eat lunch at the Chinese place next to the theater. It was really good food for a really good price! We also had some dim sum, which Drew said was very authentic Chinese. Surprise, surprise: an American Chinese restaurant with authentic food! On top of that, there were American girls working there! Whoa!

After a great lunch, we headed to the theater to see our 3-D movie! (To tell you the truth, I wasn't so stoked to see Avatar because it looked a little weird to me and I didn't know much about the story. I only agreed to seeing it because I knew Drew wanted to see it really badly!)

Let me tell you... AVATAR WAS AMAZING! I keep hearing from people that they thought it was just a good grown-up version of Fern Gully, but it was so much more than that! Director James Cameron had been working on this film since his last, Titanic, hit the big screen. It's true that taken by itself, the story was pretty generic and predictable, and some of the dialogue was cheesy, but for the two of us, it totally worked! We bought into it 100 percent, and that was probably because the art and visuals had us totally enveloped in James Cameron's fantasy world. It was the first movie we saw in 3-D where we felt like it really made a difference (we saw animated films like Up! and Monsters vs. Aliens in 3-D before, and they really weren't very different from the 2-D versions), and what a great difference it made! Everything about the world was so beautiful and detailed, and we had the feeling that we were there, it was so cool! The movie is long (almost 3 hours), but neither of us felt that way while watching; we both loved it so much! We even spent most of the car ride home talking about it, and how different and amazing it was, and how it really was the perfect movie... at least for the two of us. It was awesome! Go see it!

And that was our night. Happy Anniversary to us! (Again!)

(Kudos to Drew for writing part of this post!)

1st Anniversary

We've had an amazing first year, and we wanted to write a little about it.

As for today, our 1st Anniversary, we made sure it was a perfect day! We slept in until 11am, leisurely got ready for church, went to church at 1:30 and stayed with each other throughout the meetings (Drew came to Nursery with me), made chicken curry together once we were home (and had a great time!), watched Up!, opened up some sparkling cider and chocolates, watched some Law & Order: SVU, and then went on a late late late night adventure (at about 2am) to the gas station to get some snacks! We had such a great time being together all day long!

This year has brought so many new experiences, and we'd like to individually share some of those memories...

Carissa: Oh, Drew... What many wonderful memories we have... ALREADY!

• I remember when we used to go on late Sunday night adventures! We'd go after midnight to get fresh donuts and chocolate milk at the nearby Byrne Dairy/Shelby's Donuts! Can we do that again?
• I loved when we would take our Sunday afternoon naps together and wake up after 4 hours and I would tickle you to wake up...
• It's sweet how you like my quirks... like fixing your shirt collar and sleeves. I remember one time you messed up your shirt on purpose a few times when I wasn't looking because you knew I'd re-fix it every time.
• People watching is always better with you, like at Universal Orlando while we were off on our own. We had a fun time sitting there talking about what those people were thinking or saying.
• One of my favorite memories is when we were laying on the couch at my parents and were blowing up each other's noses! We're so goofy! My mom looked at us funny...
• I loved it when you would sing "Ring Around the Rosie" for the kids in nursery just because you knew they needed another person singing. They have so much fun with you.
• When we were at Universal, it made me so happy when you were willing to go to the kids' part of the park with me. : ) We had a great time on the Carou-Seuss-el!
• Remember how we went to Applebee's on our wedding night? Then we got a free dessert to-go (that we never ate) because I told the server that we had gotten married that morning. Yay for free stuff!
• I loved being introduced to your family's traditions and non-traditions. It was the perfect New Year's Eve going to the Watertown Regal to be with your family. Then we watched Marley & Me. And we cried.
• Thank you for taking care of me every 12,000 times I got sick during the first year. And thank you for never getting frustrated with how often it was and how needy I got.
• Hey, remember that time (not too long ago) when you taught me about what is going on with football? Thanks for finally letting me into the club! : ) I'm all knowledgeable!
• The first haircut I gave you turned out pretty great! We sat out on the deck, then in the garage. It took forever, an hour PLUS, even, but it was fun. And now that the beginner's luck has run out, I can only use clippers, and the haircuts are getting worse and worse... Haha Thanks for being a good sport!
• One thing I love about you is your sensitivity. I remember when you and I first talked about having children once we were married. Something you told me made my heart skip a beat and made me tear up. You told me that someday you would like for us to adopt a special needs child. Am I really so blessed to have such a sweet husband?
• I will always remember your smile from the first time I showed up at the movie theater unannounced. I was so glad I could surprise you, and then I stayed and watched a movie and you brought me a free drink. : ) This memory, and all the others at the theater, were more than just the free movies and drinks, it was how happy it made me to know that you loved seeing me and that I could make you feel good. Sometimes I started to feel like there was no reason for you to get so excited to see me because you were with me all the time, but you made me feel so special, so beautiful, and so loved. I love you.

Thank you, honey, for all of our special memories. I wish I could write so many more...

Drew: This has been a great year for me, where I have learned and grown so much with you. Here are some of the great memories that come to mind when I think about our first year of marriage:

• I remember our wedding day, when your mom was worried about you being late to the temple, but it was actually me that was running late, and after the ceremony, when we were out in the snow forever taking pictures until it started pouring so hard that we finally had to stop, and then our moms were stuck under the same umbrella running out to the car! That was a really eventful and great day
• I remember our first time going "out" as a married couple, to Kyle and Whitney's reception the week after ours, and how happy both of us were to call each other "my husband" and "my wife" to our friends
• I remember when you would come visit me at work on a Friday or Saturday night, when I was closing, and you would watch a midnight movie even if it wasn't one you wanted to see or you had already seen it, just so we could ride home together
• I remember Easter together, when we hid eggs for each other in the morning in the family room and videotaped each others "egg hunts"
• I remember the multiple times we went to the pet store and played with the little puppies and talked about having our own (it will happen someday)
• I had a lot of great memories with your family members on both sides in Youngstown, Zanesville, and Kansas City, and with my Uncle Kevin and his family in Orlando
• I remember all the times you would drag me out of the apartment this past semester to be social - Halloween, the ward Christmas party, the temple, you would help me get out and then we would always have a good time when we did
• Most of all, I will always remember and be grateful for the times that I really needed you and you were there for me. Its been a rough year in a lot of ways, and between losing a friend in February, my grandmother in September, and all the other little struggles and issues we had this last year, you were there when I needed you the most and you have been such a great support to me through it all. Thanks so much Carissa, I love you and look forward to many more years of memories!

I love you, Drew

At last, my love has come along

My lonely days are over

And life is like a song

Oh, yeah, at last

The skies above are blue

My heart was wrapped up in clovers

The night I looked at you

I found a dream that I could speak to

A dream that I can call my own

I found a thrill to rest my cheek to

A thrill that I have never known

Oh, yeah when you smile, you smile

Oh, and then the spell was cast

And here we are in heaven

For you are mine

At last

At Last: Etta James

Drew and I were married exactly one year ago today. It has been the most amazing one year of my life. We have enjoyed so many firsts, new adventures, and we have grown so much together.

This post is for my honey; my sweetheart; my Drew. Happy Anniversary, love. Thank you for all of the wonderful first year of memories. I love you!

It all started when I burned the bacon...

Our first Christmas Day together was a frenzy of plans falling through and unexpected goings on!

...and it all started when I burned the bacon for our Christmas morning breakfast. The whole morning was going so smoothly! We woke up in the living room, my brother, Dirk, called, and then we opened all our gifts from our wonderful families and friends!

Then came breakfast. It was a little late in the morning, and we knew we should be going to our ward dinner soon, but we wanted a special breakfast anyway. Then I burned the bacon. Not all of it, but most of it. So Drew ate the burnt pieces. : ) Then I accidentally forgot to start scrambling the eggs when I put them in the pan, so Drew had an omelet instead. Oops! Breakfast still turned out okay with bacon, eggs, toast, and orange juice.

After breakfast we got a call from Elder Barron! Luckily he was able to call us (we're family!) after his call home. Yay! He sounded great!

Then we got ready for the day. We were already super late for a ward Christmas dinner we knew nothing about, so we hurried out of the apartment sporting our new clothing from Kelsey.

When we got the clubhouse for "dinner", we didn't know what we'd be walking into. Apparently, we were completely out of the loop for this shindig: there were 3 couples sitting at a table playing games, their dinner plates were scraped of food and piled in the kitchen, and we were completely embarrassed. We stayed for a little bit, watched them play their game of Clue and then started a game of Apples to Apples with them. Eventually we found out that there was a sign-up that went around at church for those who wanted to participate in this dinner by bringing a dish. Being in Primary, we didn't get any of the announcements, as usual... we're on the other side of the building. We were bummed.

When we went home again, Drew and I didn't know what we were going to do with our time. We didn't get the Christmas dinner we were looking forward to and we were discouraged. Correction: I was discouraged. We watched one of our Christmas Classics, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, while we figured out what to do. We knew one thing: we were hungry!

Unfortunately, we hadn't been grocery shopping since we believed we'd be eating with the ward and didn't have anything in the apartment except potatoes and popsicles: not exactly a Christmas feast. We decided to drive around to see if there were any restaurants open... I began to cry and miss home more than ever. This was not what Christmas was supposed to be like! I missed my parents' non-traditional traditions, their usual Christmas activities, and a nice, big, filling, HOME MADE dinner. I was so grumpy and sad. We drove all over Rexburg and nothing was open. Of course not.

Our friend, Tyler Larson, texted Drew and told him we should join his family again for the evening (if you read below, we were with his family in Idaho Falls for Christmas Eve). They had already eaten, though, so we still needed to find food. We headed toward Denny's in Idaho Falls, but once we got close, we just went to Tyler's instead.

As we arrived, the Larsons were getting out their leftovers for a second round of food! THE HEAVENS OPENED! : ) We ate a big dinner with all the fixin's: ham, turkey, funeral potatoes, pomegranate salad, pistachio salad, and poppy seed salad! YUM! Drew even had some pumpkin pie (his favorite)!

That night Drew played nothing but video games all night with Tyler and I wrote down recipes from Sister Larson's cookbooks while watching Home Alone with the family. We are so thankful for the Larsons in our lives!

We got home late and went straight to bed in preparation for work the next morning. Our first Christmas will be one we always remember...