Weekend football trip

So this past weekend was quite the adventure!  Ever since Matt found out that the WSU football team (where we currently attend graduate school) was playing BYU (Matt's all-time favorite college football team), we had been planning to drive down to Provo, UT to watch the game.  It's about a 13 hour trip each way, but we both have family down there, so the combination of the game plus seeing family was too much to pass up! :)

Well, those of you who know us know that we have horrible luck when it comes to trips and our car.  We almost missed Christmas with family one year because of last minute car problems, we had to rent a car to move to Idaho once because of engine problems, etc.  Needless to say, the streak continued!  The day before we were supposed to leave, our transmission went out!  I am beginning to wonder why we expect anything different :)  Despite almost calling the trip off, we were able to rent a car at the last minute!  Yay!  The best part of all was that when we went to go pick up the car, they gave us a 2011 Mustang!  It was by far the nicest car Matt or I had ever driven, so it turned out okay :)  We were able to make the trip as planned and our minor setback turned out to make the trip even more fun!  

So once we were there we were able to go see some family and then go watch the game!  It was sort of fun walking around the BYU campus in all our WSU gear.  We definately got some funny looks, but most people were still nice to us :)  We spent Thursday night at the game then Friday hanging out with our brothers and sisters who live there.  It definately made for a great weekend!  Conner had a blast at the game and absolutely loved seeing his cousins!  Overall the weekend was a huge success! We are now safe and sound back home and enjoying the peace and quite... although we were a little sad to trade the Mustang back for our broken down 2002 Mazda :)

                                              Lavell Edwards Stadium, Provo, UT

                                             Sitting in the forbidden WSU section :)

                                                    Too much excitement for one boy to handle!

                                                              Butch!

                                                              Happy boys!

                                             Our awesome rental car :)

                                                Cousins!

                                                              Fun sleepover

Conner's week with Grandma and Grandpa!

So my (Korissa's) family has a tradition, dating back to when my siblings and I were little, of going over to our grandparent's house each summer for a whole week all by ourselves with no parents or other siblings allowed! An entire week of nothing but getting spoiled rotten by grandma and grandpa... pretty much every child's dream :) Well, since Conner was four years old this summer, he was old enough to carry on the tradition and spend his first of many summer weeks with grandma and grandpa! Yay!! He has been looking forward to it for months and was so excited to go! While he is usually a fairly clingy little boy and doesn't like to leave mommy and daddy, when it was time to go with grandma and grandpa, he couldn't get out of the house fast enough! He had his suitecase packed well in advance and had been counting down the days until they would come pick him up. He took off and never looked back! :) Needless to say, he had the time of his life! He got to stay up as late as he wanted, do whatever he wanted, and grandma and grandpa catered to his every whim. What more could a little boy want? He got to go to the ocean, see lots of animals at a place called Wildlife Safari, go to McDonalds for lunch, play in the sprinklers, go to parks, stay up every night watching Scooby Doo, go to bouncy houses, help water the garden, play with lots of new toys, build dinosaurs, feed the ducks, ride on trains, grab toys out of a "magic bag", and much much more. He had so much fun that we only got to talk to him a few times over the week. The other times he said was far too busy to talk to us :) When we picked him up earlier today, it only took him about 5 minutes to start crying because he missed grandma and grandpa. Even the offer to talk to them over Skype so he could see them didn't suffice. He continue to cry saying "but I want to play with them.... I just love them so much!" I guess you could say he had a good time :) Anyway, while these are only a few of the many pictures taken of their fun activities, they still give you an idea of some of the many activities they were able to do! I think it's safe to say he's already looking forward to next summer! 

                                                      It's Mophin time!

                                                  Playing in the hose :)

                                                      Helping water the garden

                                                      Got a pepper!

                                                A place called Jungle Jump

                                                   Chess :)

                                             Trying to build a dinosaur

                                             Crazy straw! :)

                                             McDonalds playroom

                                              The beach!

                                                          Burying Grandpa!

                                                   A real train!

                                            Feeding the ducks

                                              Riding in the train with Grandma!

                                          He had so much fun!  He loves his grandparents!

30 fun, random facts about our family!

So I was trying to think of what to write on here today.  We are done with our bucket list for the summer and nothing overly exciting has been happening since our last post.  I figured it would be a little boring to write about how Matt started work again, I started babysitting kids again, and we are starting our very last year of graduate school in a couple weeks.  So instead, I decided to make a list of fun, totally random facts that would help those of you who don't know us very well get to know us better and learn some fun things about us!  So here it is... our list of 30 fun facts!

1) Korissa grew up in Roseburg, OR and Matt grew up in Idaho Falls, ID.

2) Korissa is the middle of 5 kids and Matt is tied for second oldest out of 7 but is technically 4th as well.  (Yes, you heard me right; see fun fact below)

3) Matt is a triplet!  His parents thought they were having twins, but Matt surprised them at delivery by being the third baby to come out :)

4) Korissa ran track and cross-country in high school and Matt played football, basketball, and baseball (baseball was and still is his favorite though).

5) Matt worked as an ice-cream maker at a local dairy in high school and Korissa worked at a local movie theater while in high school.

6) Matt served a full time, LDS mission in Perth, Australia from 2004-2006.

7) Matt and I met my second day on the BYU-Idaho campus when I was 18.

8) Our first date was miniature golfing followed by a night of ice-cream and cranium.

9) Matt was offered a scholarship to go play baseball in Virginia following his mission, but decided to stay at BYU-Idaho to be with Korissa. 

10) Matt and I got married on November 18,2006 in the Idaho Falls, ID LDS Temple when I was 19 and he was 21.

11) We have lived in Idaho, Utah, Georgia, and Washington since we've been married.

12) Conner was born on March 20, 2008, 4 weeks early and still 7 lbs 10 oz.

13) Matt has a Bachelor's degree in Business Management and Marketing and will soon complete his Masters degree in Sports Management.  Korissa has a Bachelor's degree in Exercise Science and will soon complete her Masters degree in Teaching.

14) Matt completed internships with the BYU athletics department and the Atlanta Hawks while completing his bachelor's degree.  He now works as a graduate assistant in the WSU student union building's marketing department as well as in the WSU Ticket office.  Korissa stays at home with Conner.     

15) Matt was once Lucky the Leprechaun (the Boston Celitics mascot) during an Atlanta Hawks vs Boston Celtics game and got "beat up" by professional wrestlers.  He was even shown on ESPN because of his antics.

16) Korissa loves to run in the mornings, while Matt enjoys playing basketball before going to work.

17) Korissa ran a 1/2 marathon last year on 13 hours notice and no training and managed to complete it in 1:53 without walking.

18) Korissa has a bone that falls out of place in one of her feet when she walks, and therefore has to wear special orthotic insoles in her shoes at all times. 

19) Conner played T-ball and took swimming lessons this past summer, and is looking forward to starting soccer in September.

20) Matt's favorite holiday is the 4th of July, Korissa's favorite is Christmas, and Conner's is also Christmas.

21) Matt loves power tools and woodworking, and would like to have a cabinet and furniture building shop as a side business one day.

22) Matt has built many things for our house, including an entertainment center, desk, dresser, coffee table, toy box for Conner, bookshelf, nightstand, and more.

23) Matt's favorite professional sports teams are the New York Yankees, Green Bay Packers , and Minesota Timberwolves.

24) Korissa loves to read mystery books, while Matt enjoys non-fiction books, usually related to Marketing or woodworking.     

25) Matt collects powertools, while Korissa collects books and Willow Tree sculptures.

26) Conner has many different interests including: riding bikes, t-ball, soccer, power rangers, spiderman, batman, construction and construction machines, tools, cars, trucks, pretty much anything with an engine, basketball, going to the library, lego's, running, policemen, fire-fighters, and many, many more.

27) Conner was a pea pod for his first Haloween, a bumblebee for his second, batman for his third, and a firefighter for his fourth.

28) Conner's last (4th) birthday party was his first official themed birthday party with invitations, friends, games, and everything.  It was a Power Rangers Samurai party!  He, of course, picked the theme all by himself! :)

29) Conner currently has 4 grandparents, 4 great grandparents, 6 uncles, 8 aunts, and 7 cousins... and absolutely loves every single one of them!

30) Lastly..... we are a very happy family who love to spend time together, laugh together, and just have fun!!!  If you have any questions, or want to know anything else about us, please don't hesitate to ask!!

Hope you enjoyed reading!  Keep checking in to learn more about our family!

  

Summer update!

Hello everybody! It's been a couple weeks since we've posted anything, so we have lots to catch up on! To start with, we are officially back in Washington! Yay! Matt has started work back up and his classes start again in a couple weeks, so he dove right back into things. He loves his work at the ticket office though and is looking forward to starting his Graduate Assistantship up again though, so he is happy to be back. Conner is also excited to be back. He loves seeing all his friends again and is thrilled to have the playground right outside our door again. He has practically spent more time outside than he has in since we've been back and he keeps walking around saying "It's so good to be back in Washington." I have also enjoyed being back and seeing everybody again, so life is good!

Secondly, we finished our bucket list!!! It was so much fun doing this over the summer! We got to do a lot of fun things together as a family and it's been fun seeing the list come together. The last three things we had left to do were camping in the backyard, going to I-jump, and reading a book. To start with, I have to apologize in advance. We didn't end up getting pictures of our campout in the backyard because it ended up being totally last minute and unprepared! We were in Yellowstone National Park and had intended to camp there, but everything was full so we drove back late at night and made it home in the wee hours of the morning. We were all so tired from driving that pictures slipped our mind! So you will all just have to take our word for that one. I promise we really did do it though :) So anyway, that was our camping experience. Next came I-jump. This turned out to cause another slight change of plans. What I-jump is is a place where families can go and it basically has a bunch of bouncy houses and stuff. Well, when we looked up the prices, it ended up being $9 per person per hour, and since Conner would have wanted to spend most of the day there, it really would have added up! So we found a few other bouncy houses and decided to go to those instead. But we have did manage to get pictures of those :) Finally, we definately were able to read a book over the summer. In fact, we read many more than just one book. I'm sure in total we read well over a dozen books, but many of them were checked out from the library or not our copies, so we just snapped a quick picture of me with two of the books I have read. Trust me though, there are many more :)

Overall it has been a very fun summer and we are sad to see it ending so quickly. We are getting ready to buckle down for one final year though and are looking forward to graduation for both of us this coming April! It has been a long road and it will definately be exciting for us to be done with school and moving on with our lives! We will keep you updated on how everything goes and keep you posted on anything new that comes up. Thanks for reading!

Oh, and we attached a few pictures of random summer fun in addition to the bucket list ones :)

                                                     All done! 

                                                       Having fun jumping :)

                                                       Waiting for the bouncy house!

                                                     Nothing quite like mystery and romance :)

                                          Swinging over the sprinkler

                                          Heping daddy build a bookshelf

                                                             I just like this one :)

6 down, 3 to go...

         We are officially 2/3 of the way through our bucket list!  Looks like we will be able to finish it this summer after all :)  Recently we were able to go to the zoo and go swimming quite a few times; more than three actually since it has been so hot, which has been a lot of fun.  Conner loved all the animals at the zoo and has been like a little fish in the water.  Once he gets in, he never wants to get out!  He definately gets that from me (Korissa).  I love the water and would go swimming every day if I could.  Unfortunately, it has been hard to take very many pictures of all of us swimming together because we haven't wanted to risk ruining our camera, so you will just have to take our word for it that we have gone as many times as we said!

         We were also able to go to the cabin this past weekend.  More specifically, it was Matt's grandparents' cabin in Island Park, ID.  It was beautiful up there.  We were able to relax, go out on the boat, and enjoy nature.  It was Conner's first time on a boat, and he thought it was absolutely awesome!  He spent the whole time asking to go faster, putting his hand over the endge so he could touch the water, and laughing as we would scare the ducks and pelicans away.  He was sad to get out and even more sad to leave when the weekend was over, but he had so much fun that the promise to come back someday was enough to make leaving okay :)  We have had such a fun summer so far and look forward to finishing up our list!  We are also going to be heading back to Washington soon to start the last year of grad school for both of us and for Matt to start his job up there again as a Graduate Assistant in the WSU Student Union Building.  We will be sure to keep you posted on how the move, school, and everything else goes.  Thank you all for following and keep checking in to see how we finish up our bucket list!

                                                            Zoo

                                                            Talking to the monkey :)

                                                                   Ready to swim

                                          Loving the water!

                                          Beautiful cabin

                                                           Trying to see some ducks on the lake :)

                                           View from the back deck!
                                     

4th of July!

We had quite the fourth of July here this year!  The day started out with a parade filled with wonderful floats, bands, flags, soldiers, and more.  Conner had a great time!  He sat up right next to the road with his Aunt Jenna and got lots of candy and popsicles.  We did, however, have to divert his attention when one float came.  It was a float that represents the haunted house here in town and is filled with monsters, dead people, bats, and basically a lot of scary and gross things.  Conner has seen it in years past and has had nightmares because of it, so we turned him around when we noticed it was coming, gave him some candy, and kept him talking to us until it had passed.  Some of the monsters walking along the side of the float came within inches of him and he never even noticed!  It was really funny, but we were successfull in fully diverting his attention and he never even noticed all the monsters! Yay!

After the parade we went back home to relax for a while.  However, Conner quickly noticed that the sprinkler was not only on outside but was over the trampoline too and spent the next hour jumping in the water :)  By the time he was done it was time for the family barbeque where we had yummy hamburgers, homemade rootbeer, chips and salsa, watermelon, lots of salads, and more.  After relaxing for a couple hours after the barbeque it was off to the fireworks.  For those of you who don't know, the fireworks here in Idaho Falls are absolutely amazing!  People come from all around to see them and they are said to be some of the best in this part of the country.  This year it was projected that there would be 100,000 people there watching them.  Anyway, we got a great spot pretty close to them and Conner was really excited for them.  Once they started though, he kept his ears plugged the first half of the show, decided that they scared him the second half, hid himself under a blanket, and was asleep by the time they ended :)  Oh well though, it was still a fun day and we are already looking forward to next year!

                                           Parade!

                                               Jumping on the trampoline with the sprinklers on :)

                                                           Ready for the fireworks!

                                                           Waiting for them to start

                                                           Plugging his ears :)