Live...Laugh...Love...with Casey and Amanda

We are in November, or what I like to call TURKEY season. This is obviously because of Thanksgiving, and I love the food! (And nope, I think I'll eat Turkey for Thanksgiving!) :) We went to Logan in September and had the opportunity attend the dedication of the Brigham City, Utah Temple. It was a lot of fun since I had never been to a dedication. And I get to do it again here in a few weeks because the Boise, Idaho temple is being rededicated. It is a wonderful experience to see the Lord's work growing. Well there have been some changes happening around here. I am doing well at work. I am officially M.I.T. or "manager in training." That means that I basically do everything a manager does, and am preparing to be one. So I am essentially running our department called TU right now. This department has really been the pet project of the 2nd CEO of the company. So it has created a lot of open doors if I perform well and keep the team progressing.  It has b...

Autumn is my favorite time of year! This time of year is so pretty, and since I am always cold it gives me an excuse to bundle up and wear my sweaters all the time. And of course fall brings the new school year. This is my last semester, last class and I will graduate with my associates in December! I am very excited about that, just because it gets pretty difficult to run both Casey and I around to work and school at the same time. We have done some fun things lately. At the end of August we went out to the good ol' state of Kentucky and helped Casey's mom move to St. George. We flew out, helped her move boxes, pack the truck, and drive about 40 hours! It was a long ride, but it was a fun trip for us to get to spend time with Casey's family and friends.  Our good friends Joe and Juanita got married just a week ago. It was so great to see their joy when they walked out of the temple. It was also very cool to be in attendance at their sealing to see them make prom...

So "UH OH" is right! On our lovely 4th of July we had probably the biggest literal bang ever! Our car was totaled by a 15 year old who only had her permit. We were hit from behind and sandwiched into an SUV type car. She had her 3 younger siblings in the back seat with the family dog, and her boyfriend in the front passenger side. She did not have an adult with her obviously, she had no seat belt on, and she was NOT paying attention at all! Casey, Alyssa (my sister), and I were in the car. Thank heaven we were all belted up and none of  us were seriously hurt. Apart from some bumps on our heads and some serious whip lash we're doing well.  So naturally since our car was totaled we had to look into getting a new one. We did some shopping, price comparing, and finished up our homework before we did anything. We finally figured out everything, test drove, and entered into negotiations on a car. And we now have a Toyota Corolla LE.  In the midst of all of th...

Time sure flies, it's already June! Well over Memorial day weekend we had some fun. Jason, Casey's brother, came up and stayed with us which meant lots of fun for the boys. Jason and Casey stayed up late and played games and had fun just like they did when they were little. It was fun to watch them just relax and have fun together since it hasn't happened in a while. On Memorial Day we went to Yellowstone since none of us had ever been and had fun seeing all the sites, geysers, and animals. We all thought Old Faithful was cool and even got video of it going off. We were pumped to "maybe" see a bear and guess what?! We didn't see one! :(  There are people we know that did that day so we were pretty jealous. But we did see lots of Bison, birds, Elk, moose, and a fox. There was also this huge waterfall that was super scary to stand on top of! We all got quite queezy looking over the edge.  Yellowstone is a beautiful place! As far as school goes some big c...

          Well there has been a lot going on lately. Obviously we're still super busy with school and work, but on the days that we don't work we do tons of homework and try to do something fun. I went and got my hair cut the other day during some of this down time. Yesterday we decided to go on a photography spree at the temple since we are both very into taking pictures. We ended up playing around with our rings trying out different angles and composition. Here are some of the results... There are a lot more, but those are a few.           As far as school goes, we've had our noses to the grind stone. The past couple weeks one, or both of us have had at least 3 tests in a week. That makes for a pretty eventful week with homework and studying for those tests. But we're learning a lot. Casey's chemistry class, and his statics and dynamics class are what keep him busy. For me it's my philosophy classes. It has been r...

Well we are both back in school. It is quite the challenge. We are working 20+ hours each, and have over the minimum credit hours. It gets pretty interesting doing everything and running around all the time. So we're super busy busy! So for one of our classes, called the American Epidemic, we talk about obesity, heart disease, diabetes, exercise, diet, and healthy living. Thus for this class we are required to work out 5 times a week for at least 30 mins. There are also other requirements that we have to complete. One of which was going to our wellness center on campus and getting a lipid profile/panel done. This means that they "prick" (more like stab!) your finger with this blade that has a spring attached and then take a certain amount of blood from your finger and test it for different cholesterol levels (good and bad), and glucose levels. In short, I was TERRIFIED that we had to do this and ended up crying (I HATE getting shots, or needles poked in me, or anything ...

Well it's April and life keeps moving forward. Casey and I have moved to a studio apartment so that we can start putting away some money into savings. Moving has been a rather big pain. We were up till 4 in the morning moving everything over the other night so that we could be out of our other apartment on time. But I think that the move is worth it. We are in what used to be a hotel that has been remodeled. So there is a pool and a hot tub! I am still unpacking and organizing though. :) With conference being this past weekend, we went to Casey's mission reunion. That was rather fun. It was really interesting meeting people that served with him in Russia and meeting several Russians as well. There is one particular couple whom I had the pleasure of meeting that I think is quite remarkable. They are members over in Russia and the brother is a branch president. They were here for conference and for the reunion. It was amazing to see and feel their testimonies of the gospel and ...

Well, it's almost April! Hopefully that means that sunshine is one it's way. It has stopped snowing off and on, and is now raining off and on here. The weather is quite bi-polar here in Rexburg. You never know what season it is until summer. Life of course is busy as always. Casey has still been doing school and work. The semester ends the beginning of April and then we'll both be going to school. For mechanical engineering he had to build a hover craft with his group out of materials  that they bought from the DI. It was rather interesting seeing them all try to find things that they could use. Fans, old hairdryers, bowls, kites, plastic bags, and string. Let's just say they are pretty smart, and came up with amazing ideas and were spitting out engineering jargon that went way over my head! Casey and I are moving to another apartment complex at the end of March. LOTS cheaper! We are excited about that. It's also closer to campus and will be easier for us becaus...

It's already February! Time flies! We are keeping busy over here. Still running around to school, and work. I have switched to Full shift at work and there are days I work till 10pm, which makes for extremely long days. Casey is still tackling school and about 20 hours of work. He has straight A's right now!! He is having fun figuring out what he is going to do with his mechanical engineering. He has a lab where they work with a machine and make different tools and such, and is finding that he really likes doing it. He is Acing all his tests in his classes and is a genius when it comes to his calculus class. 100% on his last test. Yup that is right, for all of us who can't even add 2+2, that is an amazing feat. He found out today that he is going to get to take a rocket science class and is very excited and intrigued by the idea of  "fluid dynamics." Another works, making things fly! Pretty cool stuff. I was emailed today by a guy that runs a radio station and r...

Yup that is right, a birthday. I am now the big 21! It feels so weird....So, Casey, the wonderful husband that he is, made me a russian dish for my birthday dinner. Russian blini! The best thing ever!! Imagine a crepe but a million times better with chocolate syrup and a sweet sauce drizzled all over with strawberries and whip cream. It looked like it came out of a super expensive designer restaurant! It was the best! Yup I have the best hubby ever! :) So we are just super busy working and making sure that Casey's homework gets done somewhere in between all the work. He is discovering that he really likes a computer program that is used for his mechanical engineering major. He likes using it to draw the things he has to design. It looks super cool when he is doing it, but I have no idea what all the math and all the numbers mean! (that is why math is his major and not mine!)  But it looks like he is going to do an amazing job in the mechanical engine...