Salt Lake Trip 2014

I've been SLACKIN on my blog lately, been so busy with life. I promise I'll start being better about updating it regularly, I am motivated!

So last week we had Friendsgiving with our friends Bethany and Shawn Adame. It was a lot of fun! We made all the traditional trimmings; turkey, green bean casserole, stuffing, cheesy potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie…yum! We just spent the whole day relaxing and cooking. Then they were nice enough to watch Reese for us so that Jake and I could go see Hunger Games 3. I really liked the movie, probably my favorite out of all of them so far.

The next day we drove down to Salt Lake with the Adame's to spend the day and night there. We went shopping at City Creek mall, ate dinner at Benihana (DELISH), then went to Temple Square to see the lights and the gorgeous temple. I love Salt Lake during Christmas, because it's not only decorated with the usual christmas lights, but it emphasizes on the true reason for the season. We definitely had a blast!

The next morning after we checked out of our hotel we went shopping at the Gateway mall downtown Salt Lake since Jake and I had never been to that mall before. Then we ate lunch at California Pizza Kitchen and headed home. It was a super fun trip. However, the night ended horribly when I dropped my phone on the concrete outside our apartment bringing in our luggage from the car and shattered the screen…..I'm still currently without a phone but should be getting it back from Apple in the next couple days.

Jake, Reese and I outside the City Creek Mall after dinner

This is a super cool scaled model of the Salt Lake temple with a slice out of it 

showing what the inside looks like

With our friends Shawn and Bethany

Father and son selfie inside the temple visitors center <3

Pumpkin Patch

This past Saturday we decided that we should go to a pumpkin patch so that we could do something "fall-esk". We were originally planning to go to the Ashland Produce farm in Rigby, but I ended up doing a little more research and found an even better one in Idaho falls called U-Pick-Red Barn. So we headed out and it was such a cute little farm! They had fields of pumpkins to pick from, a train ride for kids, a little maze, pedal carts, chickens, and a little store inside the barn that sold all sorts of treats. We got a few mini donuts (yum!) and two different flavors of popcorn. We picked out our pumpkins then headed out. Although it would have been more fun if Reese was a little older, we still had a lot of fun and definitely got our fall fix!

After the pumpkin patch we decided to walk the greenbelt right in the falls, it's so pretty there. Then we grabbed some dinner at Olive Garden; hello soup, salad, and breadsticks! Overall it was a very fun and much needed day of family time and fun

Playing with his toys during our walk <3

One of the beautiful view while walking the falls

Cuteness overload, I just love this little pumpkin so much!

Jake's Birthday weekend!

This past Sunday was Jake's 25th birthday. Since it fell on a Sunday this year we decided to celebrate on Friday and Saturday instead. So on Friday after I picked him up from work I took him to his favorite restaurant in town, Mandarin Chinese. Of course he was pumped. Then we just spent the rest of the night relaxing and home and watching the shark tank premiere. Saturday night I took him to Outback for dinner and surprised him by inviting our friends Bethany and Shawn to show up without him knowing. He was definitely surprised even though he wouldn't completely admit it! (Pretty typical of my husband). We had a lot of fun at dinner then did a little shopping at target afterwards. Then on his actual birthday yesterday I made him a nice breakfast, and we went to church. After church there was a ward dinner with Hawaiian haystacks, yum! Definitely back on my diet today after all that delicious food this weekend. Hope you had a good birthday weekend Jake! Love you!

First day of school!

Today was Jake's last first day of Fall semester since he will be graduating this coming April. So of course I had to snap a picture of him on his way out the door this morning. It really still hasn't hit me yet that I'm done with school and that I don't have classes anymore….I still can't believe that we're down to our last two semesters here in Rexburg and we'll soon be moving!

A Quick Trip

This past week we made a trip to Seattle to visit family. It was Reese's first time on a plane so I was super nervous at how well (or not so well) he would do, but to our surprise he did great! He slept the entire time both ways which was awesome! We definitely won't hesitate about taking him on a plane again in the future. 

I had an open house baby shower at my mom's house on Saturday which was a lot of fun seeing everyone get to meet Reese for the first time. Then on Sunday Reese was blessed in church, which was really special. We were also able to celebrate my 24th birthday while we were there by going to the Puyallup Fair which we haven't been to in 3 years! (And pretty much ate our way through it...but that's what you're supposed to do at a fair right?!) 

It was a great trip, but definitely too short...looking forward to Christmas time when we can stay longer. For now we're back home and getting ready for Jake to start his second to last semester next Monday. So excited that he's so close to finally graduating!

Here are some pictures from our little trip 

Dog Park

So apparently Eagle Park in Rexburg has a dog party every Sunday and Wednesday night. So last night we decided to take Duke to it because he really needs more socialization with other dogs. It was a lot of fun! Duke had a blast being chased and meeting other dogs. There were probably a total of 15 dogs there last night. It was mostly big dogs, which I initially thought would be a problem, but he did great with them! It's so funny to me how dogs greet each other. Let's just say I'm so glad that humans don't greet each other the same way...

                                    

It was really hard to get a good picture of them playing that wasn't blurry! 

Back on Track!

Well, I've been slacking on my blog to say the least! I started the blog three years ago after Jake and I first got married with the intention of keeping it up regularly. Well….here we are three years later and my last post was of our first christmas….fail. So since so much time has passed, it only seems appropriate that I make a list of what we've been up to since my last post.

1. We have lived in four different places in our three short years of marriage. We lived with my parents for the first 2 months, then our first apartment which was a 1 bedroom at The Village, then a 1 bedroom basement apartment, and now we've been in our current 2 bedroom at Stonebrook for over two years now.

2. We have gone on vacations to Las Vegas and Hawaii

                                           
3. I graduated with my Bachelors degree in Business Management this past April. Jake will be graduating with his Bachelors degree in Computer Information Technology next April 2015.

4. We have gone through many jobs. 

Amanda~ I was a professor's assistant on campus for our first semester of marriage. Then for the next year and a half I was an academic advisor. Last summer I completed an internship with Sears by going through their retail management program. They did offer me a full time job after graduation to go into their retail leadership program, however I turned it down to do something even better. My second to last semester of college I took on a different job as an office manager for Phoenix Fire Protection. What was great about this job is that it paid really well, and I was able to work from home. Unfortunately they reorganized the company and evaluated my position and decided that it was no longer needed. I truly believe that it was in God's plan to lose that job, because now I've been able to be a stay at home mom to our sweet baby boy. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Jake~ Jacob worked at the Shell gas station about 3 miles from our home for the first 2 1/2 years of our marriage. That job was such a blessing to us because he was able to to get it the third day that we were in Rexburg, and they treated him so well there. He's been teaching himself how to develop IOS applications, and was offered a great job at the University as the Lead IOS Developer where he has created the school's first iPhone app from the ground up all by himself. I'm really proud of him for all his hard work and his willingness to provide for our family.

5. We have purchased two cars during our marriage, but sold one of them to save money now that I'm not working.

6. Jake has become a developer on the Apple App Store. He's published quite a few apps that are earning revenue everyday. 

7. We adopted Duke, our puppy, a year and half ago. His mom gave birth to 5 puppies at the Rexburg Animal Shelter and we were able to adopt him at 9 weeks old. He's a handful, but also so much fun!

       

8. The most noteworthy event that has taken place since my last post was that we welcomed our precious little miracle Reese into our family on June 12, 2014. We love him so much, and he has been the greatest addition to our family. He is getting into the fun stage of becoming more aware of his surroundings and he is able to interact with us more and more everyday. 

Reese Lochlan Holman

6 lbs 9 oz

21 inches

                                             

     

That's pretty much all the significant events that have happened in the last 2 1/2 years or so. I've promised myself I'm going to start keeping this blog up regularly now that I've the time. Maybe I'll avoid having to cram 3 years worth of events into one post again….hopefully!