Our First Double Date...

...with the Johnson's, that is.

The girls were in charge of dinner. We started the evening with our own version of Olive Garden. After a divine meal of Herbed Italian Sausage and Pasta, breadsticks, and a gourmet salad, we were off to the Olivlympic games.

Here we are after the first event: Javelin Throw (with straws). Seth won this one.

Other events (and winners) included the discus (Seth), the Balloon Blow and Pop (Jeffree), and the "Shot-put-it-in-the-bucket" (Lori).

Here we have Lori making Jeff feel better about disqualifying in every round of the discus.

And here are the Johnson's: Seth and Katrina. She's admiring his mad olivlympian skill.

We're not sure who won the final event. Seth felt bad that Katrina hadn't won yet, so he kept trying to push me or trip me to keep me from winning. It's hard to run backwards while rubbing your belly and patting your head, especially if someone is clubbing your kneecaps and your hot husband is distracting you. Luckily everyone came out physically intact, as you can see below.

It was a fun evening... Oh, we almost forgot to mention our cheerleader, Alexis. She is Seth's and Katrina's 6 week old baby girl. She accompanied us throughout the date. We had frozen hot chocolate (we made the hot chocolate before the games, left it outside the door during the games, and when we came home it was frozen), and the boys handed out the awards.

We're so blessed to have such wonderful friends up here in Rexburg. We LOVE the Johnson's so much! Good friends are such a tender mercy and we are abundantly blessed with the most wonderful friends! And while we're being thankful for wonderful friends, we want to give a shout out to our other FCF's (the married version of BFF). We have the most AMAZING neighbors, Alex and Orchid. They are even more crazy and loud than we are (hard to imagine, we know)! They are always so helpful and wonderful and thoughtful.

Last night, we went on a Snow Walk with our other FCF's Matt and Jaime McMurry. Jaime is an ol' roommate of Lori's and Jeff and Matt go way back :) The McMurry's are some of the most INSIGHTFUL people we know. We love having deep discussions with them.

We also want to give a shout out to Lori's miraculous student teaching placement: Madison High School in Rexburg, Idaho. What a miracle that she doesn't have to drive 45 minutes, but instead gets to be 2 blocks away from Jeff's school. Heavenly Father continues to pour out His blessings upon us.

Last night, as we were falling asleep, Jeff said, "Being married is real neat." That about sums it up. We LOVE each other, we love being TOGETHER, and we love all of the DIVINE experiences we are having as a married couple.

Our first Halloween

While we aren't the biggest fans of Halloween, we thought we would milk it for what it was worth. Saturday was our temple day, so we wore black and orange church clothes.

For lunch we went with the theme and tried to make our dinner as black and orange as possible...

Next stop, the ward activity. Lori went as Miley Cyrus and Jeff went as Billy Ray Cyrus. We couldn't find a mullet wig, so no one really understood. Lori had to be careful not to kiss Jeff, not only because he was supposedly her pa, but also because when she kissed him, it smudged his flavor saver/soul patch.

The activity lasted 4 hours for us, because we are the new ward activities chairmen. We got to set up and then clean up. But the activity was a success and we're enjoying "our first calling."

Tune in for next time's post... "our first 'Snowed in? No problem!' theme date."

Our first escape to a fantastical world...

Come with us now and experience the fantastic world of Shirlibithia. The legend dates all the way back to September 19, 2009. As legend has it the only way to this new world is to set up a magic tent inside your apartment. So that is exactly what we did in our "Camp to Shirlibithia." We came out of the tent to find a whole new imaginary world with surroundings similar to Rexburg... actually, very similar. We traveled through this whole new world and found some secret artifacts. Shortly thereafter we viewed Bridge to Terabithia on the "magic stone" we found. The "thia" (popcorn to Earthlings) was delicious. We camped there overnight and woke up to our apartment and sore backs. It was neat as a pickle.

Our First Cruise

After months of saving, we were finally able to afford our "dream vacation": Europe! We went on a "cruise" yesterday to a few of our favorite countries. Our first stop was Germany, where we enjoyed German pancakes! Next it was France, with lemon chicken and French bread. We had dinner in Italy, alfredo, an Italian salad, and some herbed bread. Then we were off to Spain for some Spanish games! Lori made the brochure, which she presented to Jeffree that morning.

It was a fun, all-day date. Here's a professional photograph of us playing our Spanish game.

We were exhausted at the end of the day, but it was fun :) Most of all, we were with each other, knowing that wherever we are, as long as we're together, it will be the most beautiful place in the world!

Jeff's first day of school

My (Jeff) first day of school was exciting and intense (note: it was not in-tents, it was in-building). Luckily, I didn't have enough time or energy to be very nervous. The students were pretty good and I was able to establish most of my routines and even enjoy and little guitar playing. They loved meeting my guitar named "Gi-tar" (said with a country accent). I made sure they wouldn't make fun of him because he was green. I briefed them about this and told them he wouldn't come out unless they were nice to him. I finally brought him out and there were an impressive amount of comments like, "Wow, it's green. That is different and neat." I chuckled. But their favorite thing was (and continues to be) "Shirley Studios." Lori and made a clapper (film thing, "and action") for one of our dates that is used as the starting of different improv activities. They are good little actors and just love it. I have a great class this year. I have 21 students that all keep me on my toes.

This is Jeff on his first day of school (attention: reenactment)

Our First Apartment

Moving in is no easy feat and we did our best to make it more complicated than normal. First, we tried to make a queen bed frame hold a double mattress set. To our merit, we were told it was a queen set. We also managed to flood our hall in the attempt to hook up our washer. Jeff went to infinity different stores infinity different times until we finally had the parts and the know-how to hook up the dryer. But we managed to survive sleeping on the mattress on the floor, wearing dirty underwear (not really), and now that we're settled we're happy to report that we LOVE our new apartment!

As promised, here is a tour....

Welcome to our humble home. The first thing you'll see is all the furniture that was given to us, along with a plant we call bracheasoauras. Pronounced the way it is spelled (or rather spelled the way it is pronounced).

Above our bookshelf you'll see...

Shirley you must be wondering about the sparsely decorated wall. We're still working on it.

Here is Jeffree in the kitchen. On average, Jeff washes 50 billion times as many dishes as Lori does. He's so wonderful.

Our laundry room/closet/exercise room/recreation hall/swimming pool. Oh, and we have a linen shelf.

Off to your right, located conveniently near the swimming pool, you'll see our bathroom, including a toilet that clogs daily just because it can.

Bad-bum picture display. Male model: Jeffree. Oh, and Lori wrote the words. Hanging in our bathroom.

Bedroom. Don't worry about it. The disc display inspires us regularly. Carpe diem: seize the disc.

We hope you enjoyed the tour. Tune in for next time's post "Our first baby"

...to be conceived...

Our First Camping Trip

After working on Jeff's classroom for a couple weeks, we decided it was time for a break. So we headed toward Yellowstone for our first camp out. We camped about 1 mile south of Yellowstone's Cave Falls. Our campsite was about 30 feet from a gorgeous river, which hummed to us all night.

Our tent was a 2-man, but it felt like a 2-infant. We were so cramped all night and in the morning we tried to get some sleep in the car, which wasn't much bigger, but was a lot softer.

Jeff brought his guitar and we sang by the fire, roasted starbursts, and listened to the sounds of nature (or rather, listened for approaching bears).

The next day, we waterfell for each other. We hiked Cave Falls, and it was absolutely beautiful!  Well worth the drive and the miserable night.  Almost worth the mosquito bites.

Our First Blog

There comes a point in ones life when the culmination of events leaves one with no choice but to blog.  Some things in life can only be adequately expressed through the gift of blog.  And our lives have come to this.  And so, it is with great pleasure that we begin our first blog.  Tune in for next times post... "Our First Apartment".  

...to be continued...