Easter

Easter is kind of a strange holiday for young married couples. Do you get each other baskets? Do you hide them from each other? Do you make a fancy dinner? Or do you just think of the Savior and go to church and wait to start traditions until you have your own kids?

Ethan and I talked about what we wanted to do, and we decided that we would do Easter baskets. Anytime we would see an Easter section in the months leading up to Easter, we looked for baskets, but could not find anything cute. We ended up finding these cute matching totes in the dollar section at Target (holla! I'm obsessed.) And the Easter planning began.

For several weeks, we secretly decided what to put in each other's baskets. With stockings, baskets, and pretty much every holiday in general, we try to set a budget/limit so we are giving and receiving similar things. On Easter morning, I set out our baskets and when Ethan woke up, I told him we had to see if the Easter bunny had come yet!!

He did.

Our First Married Christmas!

Since this is the last Christmas before Alec goes on a mission next summer, Ethan and I headed to California to celebrate with my family. I can't help but be extremely grateful to be in the warm sun again for a few weeks before we have to go back up to the snow. We drove down to California about a week before Christmas because part of our family Christmas present was a surprise trip to Los Angeles to compete in The Amazing Race!! None of the kids knew what we would be doing until the morning that we left and it was such a fun surprise. We decided to split up into girls vs. boys and boy was that fun.

Christmas in College

This year, we are headed to California for Christmas and I couldn't be happier about that. I usually get pretty home sick around this time of the year... home sick for my friends, California, the sun, and especially my family. I can not wait to see them all. We're leaving just in the niche of time too because it has been snow-free all semester and just as the snow starts to fall, we get to put our car into fourth gear and get out of here! ( I think it's fourth gear, I don't speak anything but automatic.)

It's Fall, Ya'll!

I'm not like your typical basic white girl who loves the fall. I don't like wearing boots and scarves, and I'm not pumpkin's biggest fan. However, it wasn't until I moved to Rexburg a couple years ago that I saw the leaves change for the first time, and that is beautiful. 

I don't love fall because it means that Rexburg is going to get really cold, but I do love that it means the holiday season is coming quickly, and holidays mean family and the pure love of Christ. I love that, so I don't hate fall all that much.

To celebrate the month of October, we decorated our home with some Halloween decorations, but nothing too fancy since I finally decorated our house to begin with. Ethan and I decided that we needed to bring some Halloween traditions into our lives starting with attending the pumpkin patch and carving pumpkins! 

My family went to the pumpkin patch every year growing up with all of our extended family, but Ethan hasn't been for like 15 years. We decided it would be best celebrated with some of our favorite people, the Nystroms!