Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all who read this (and even all those millions and billions who do not). I hope this season is a special and sacred time for you! Here are some words of wisdom from a child - super cute!

Hehehe . . . er . . . hohoho :)

We set up some stuff for Christmas!! Well, Matt surprised me and put up the Christmas lights one night so they were on when I got home. - Loved it - Love him! :)

We also found our Christmas tree :) It is perfect for our little apartment!

Anyone? Anyone? . . . Charlie Brown? Bring back memories?

Since not many Christmas presents would really fit under our tree, we wrapped some little ones for Santa's elves :) Also, candy canes wouldn't fit on the tree either, so we did what we could with peppermint Lifesavers.

Hehe Life is fun! :)

THE Best Bed and Breakfast in All the World!

This one is a whole month behind, sorry about that.

Sister Heather came to Utah for a fantastic weekend in November to spend with the girls. We got to stay in the world's BEST Bed and Breakfast. Come with me as we re-live the awesomeness . . .

Heather, Jenni, and I have the entire bottom floor to ourselves. As you walk down the stairs, this sign is posted at the entrance:

On the main door to the floor, this sign is posted:

Then, upon further exploration of the room, the following thoughtful deeds had been done:

Fridge stocked full of goodies (including yummy fruit tarts and lots of veggies)

Pedicure set for free use!

The finest Egyptian towels in all the world, just for our use!

Free hot chocolate (with marshmallows) and apple cider (with cinnamon sticks - my favorite!)

Lots of fruit! And a list of house rules including: no set bedtime/curfew, must have fun together, no cleaning up, etc

Oh, and complimentary welcome gifts (fuzzy socks & lotion) as well as complimentary good-bye gifts (Christmas ornaments!). Best ever right?! Heather, Jenni, and I definitely loved the pampering! Grandma Harman is so sweet and thoughtful! :) We all had such a blast Friday night visiting, doing nice pedicures for our weary feet, watching The Christmas Lodge (provided for the occasion by Grandma Harman as well). Saturday we made banana pancakes, got lost in the Christmas isles at Hobby Lobby, had a picnic on the warm floor in the house, hiked a way up Rock Canyon, and then spent the evening at the Festival of Lights at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. The dancing was astounding! Absolutely amazing (sorry the picture is from such a distance!)

Such a wonderful weekend! And what an amazing Bed and Breakfast! We loved it and the staff as well ;)

Life Gets Busy . . .

Of course, you all know that I am sure!

I just want to take a moment to tell you about an amazing sister I have. She is super cute, very friendly, a hard worker, very cheerful, has a talent for enjoying and uplifting children, and is a very dedicated student (even more than many BYU students I have met). I read her blog recently and discovered that this wonderful sister of mine read the Book of Mormon in 24 hours. As challenged by her leaders, she now has a goal to read it again in 31 days (that's 17.1 pages, or about an hour a night). Two times through in just 32 days. DANG! This girl is absolutely amazing! I wish I was more like her sometimes - such dedication to putting the most important things first. Love ya sis!

With that said - any tips from the more knowledgeable people out there on how in the world to balance working part time, going to school full time, keeping up a home, and making sure these most important spiritual things get priority in life? 

Finals week is next week . . . I have two finals (woot!) Call me crazy (cuz yes, I am), cuz I am bringing on the insanity. I decided that I really want to be bilingual (we'll start there and then keep going on). So, next semester I am going to take an accelerated French course (101 and 102 in on semester instead of two) - could not be more excited for that! 8 credits. I am also trying to finish up my courses so I can graduate next year and move on with life (and learning languages hopefully). Thus, I have 2 courses left for my minor - 3 credits each for a total of 6 credits - and one course left for my major - a simple, 2 credit class. Then, I have to do two internships. One is a small, 400-hour internship for my minor that I will complete by April 2012. 1 credit. The second is my senior internship/capstone project, which I started a few weeks ago at my current job and will continue until the end of April 2012. 9 credits (I have to get additional permission to actually get these credits during Winter 2012 semester). Folks, that is 26 credits total (anything over 12 is a full-time student - anything over 18 needs special permission).

Hehehe, guess what I will be missing though? One, simple G.E. credit - History 202. Hello Independent Study. The goal is to get started on this history class, as well as getting a head start on French with my personal tutor (Matt :) ), as soon as I am done with finals. 

Whew, it almost feels  good just to get that all written down and out of my head :)

Thanks for listening . . . er . . . reading :)

My amazing husband, he is so patient with me, so willing to help around the house and with my French studies. I am so incredibly lucky to have him for all of eternity! Seriously, I would not even think of attempting this next semester without him. 

- Hang in there, it won't be like this for long! - 

Most Recent Hott Dates

Sometimes we do take pictures! I know, rare! These next five dates are ones that we have really enjoyed this semester!


1. One weekend, before the beginning of fall semester (technically, in August), we took a trip up to Salt Lake City for our date night. So. Much. Fun. :) So first, we did a session in the SLC Temple, and it was a great experience - what a wonderful spirit was present!

After the session, we ate dinner at the Lion House Pantry on Temple Square, which was very tasty. Then, we watched "Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration" at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building - also on Temple Square. It was a perfect idea from my wonderful husband for a spiritually focused date :)

2. Two months later, on October 8, we randomly acquired tickets to the BYU vs. San Jose St. football game (BYU's homecoming game) from Craig and Ketra (thank you!). It was a late game, but we had such a blast keeping warm and cheering our team on. This was the first time we have seen a live game together - and we both enjoyed being in the LaVell Edwards Stadium.

P.S. BYU totally won that game! 29-16!


3. A triple date with family! We finally got to go see Jenni and Casey's new apartment (and it is lovely), and have a triple date with them and Casey's sister Danielle and her husband Jesse. Jenni and Casey were very creative in that we had a lovely lunch, and ate with random cooking utensils (she's got all the pictures, sorry). We played games, tossed a Frisbee, and just caught up with each other! What a fun date!


4. On October 22, we commemorated the 1 year anniversary of our first date by grabbing some siblings  and friends (Benj & Ty, Jenn & Danielle) and went to Insanity Point and Thanksgiving Point. So fun! They had 5 haunted attractions in their Insanity Point section of the festivities, and we enjoyed them all! We even went for a hayride, and made our way through a non-haunted corn maze (sort of . . . ). It was such a blast, and we are both very grateful for that first date we had one year ago around Halloween. :) . . . sorry, no pictures except a general one found on Thanksgiving Point's website:

5. Just this last weekend, my amazing husband came up with a very clever way to choose, and not choose the date at the same time (sometimes choosing what to do is the hardest). He found about 8 items, laid them out on the bed, and had me choose two. Each item had a date activity related to it, and I ultimately chose what we ended up doing (pumpkin carving). What a great idea by the creative Matt!

Dating is so fun - especially when you always have a hott date who you know won't really turn you down. Keep up the fun dates, it gets even better! :)

3 Months

Best three months of our lives! We've been on some fantastic dates - yes, dating CAN get even better after you get married; especially with a wonderful husband like Matt who plans fantastic dates - learned a ton, started a new semester together, and have a wonderful time with the children in nursery. Matt was so sweet and brought home these in celebration:

So, naturally, I found the camera and had some fun (although not as cool as the picture I have on Cosette's phone that Matt took, which inspired this photography).

Love this picture :)

Last of the Wedding

Cousin Brady did an absolutely fabulous job with the videography, capturing all the beautiful, precious, and even funny moments of our wedding celebration. We've been married for just over 3 months now, and what a wonderful 3 months they have been! We are so grateful for Temples on the earth, and specifically the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple we were married in on June 10th, 2011. :)

Or see it on YouTube by clicking here.

ARE YOU READY TO RUMBO?!?!

Yup, we are definitely still playing catch-up. This one's from way back at the end of July (ya-know . . . when it was still summer break). 

Our FIRST rodeo!!!

We were lucky enough to get some tickets from Grandma and Grandpa Harman and to go with them, Jenni and Casey, and even Eli (who was up visiting at the time)! They got us GREAT seats (probably the best I've ever been on) and we had a blast watching some of our favorite events, some new events, and each other (many of our group were reading books in between events). 

Calf tying

The "bunch" - minus Matt who was taking the picture

My handsome husband! :)

What a blast! We'll have to do it again next year!

Best Gifts Ever!

For those of you who do not know, I work to help run Education Week at BYU - what a crazy week with lots of work during long hours for the whole week (glad that's over). On Tuesday (I think), I was walking around the 3rd floor of the WSC checking on classes and helping some of the hosts with issues that came up. After I walked out of one of the rooms, I ran into an elderly host who was talking to a lovely elderly couple. They stopped me and asked about my name (a typical topic of conversation when I first meet people). After we talked for a moment about that, the host noticed the ring on my finger and asked if I was engaged or married (I do not have a wedding band with my ring). When I told them that I was married, they promptly asked if my husband "knows what a precious gift he has" and if he "treats [me] right?" Of course I responded that I did, and they further prodded by asking if he opened all my doors for me, including the doors going into and out of buildings, and if he pushed my chair in for me as well. I smiled widely and said, "Yes, he is very good at that. Except for pushing in the chair, I'm a bit clumsy with that so we haven't figured it out yet." The woman then responded that we ought to figure that out early because it's a good thing to have in a marriage. I smiled and said I would before they let me go. What a cute, fun couple & host they were. 

Honestly, it is not hard to see that my wonderful husband treats me so well and is the best husband ever! He does open all my doors (as long as I let him), he's even started trying to push in my chair (even with clumsy ol' me). He walks closest to the street when we go on walks. And he always holds my hand. There's no guessing that he is respectful of me and is good to me, but just in case you'd like more evidence, here's some photos of the best gifts he's given me, and the wonderful type of husband he is (read on only if you can stomach me bragging about my husband)...

After our Vegas Honeymoon, we came home with some souvenirs for Matt, and other family members, but I had not found anything that I found worth purchasing for me. Throughout the trip, I had been talking about this book that I really wanted to save up for and purchase for myself at some point (honestly, I was REALLY excited about it). So one day, after work one day, I came home to see this on our bed with the sweetest not from Matt...

Since we moved into our little basement apartment, I have also been mentioning (or complaining - man, I'm such a whiny wife!) that our bedroom (and our kitchen) are so dark and do not get enough light (I love light during the day - and lots of it). So Matt gets some mirrors from the store to put up and lighten the room...and I never get to putting them up. So one day, he just takes over and puts the mirrors up, with some of our pictures, into a wonderful collage that reflects the light to increase the brightness in our room:

Before

After :) 

 And, as further evidence (only of those I've been able to document via photos), I had been stressing out about the dirtiness of our apartment and all the things I would like to get deep cleaned before school started, but didn't seem to have the time for. Then (and this happened just today), I come home from work not only to find that he had put away our laundry that had been air-drying, but he had hand washed all the dishes...

...took out the trash...

AND cleaned the bathroom - I'm talking the whole bathroom, toilet and all!

This is just the bathroom faucet that he cleaned to a sparking shine - no way was I going to scar you all with a picture of our toilet (honestly!)

Best of all, my wonderful husband has given himself to me. He's dedicated to his studies so that he can get the grades and learning he needs to be a provider for our family, he's patient with me and all my moaning and groaning, and he loves me through everything!

Honestly, how could anyone not know that my husband treats me so well? He is amazing and perfect for me! I love him and am so grateful for all the gifts he has given me. I'm so proud of hims as well as all the effort he puts into life! 

-Cosette

xoxo

Headin South to the ABQ

With a car full of tired couples (see last post), the Remunds and the Hawkins headed to Albuquerque for their joint reception. Many hours, snacks, laughable moments, and miles later, they drove into the city in New Mexico. It was greener than Cosette expected, this being her first time in Abq, but it was definitely a new place to see and explore. 

The week was filled with some good gardening, and organizing, and such, which was actually a great and needed change of hard physical labor from the R's jobs in Provo. We even got to go to the Albuquerque Temple with Dad Remund, which was a lot of fun! Following such a week with the family, our second reception was went underway with a special thanks to Mom and Dad Remund for all their help, as well as Brittany who gave us nice breaks from the physical labor so we could be graced by her presence, as well as all those who helped with the food, set up, and decor. 

Please, feel free to feast your eyes upon these fantastic moments in time:

Mom Jensen's fantastic job with Cosette's hair (thanks Mom!)

Entrance pathway decor - provided by Mom Remund!

Backyard decorations - also provided by Mom Remund

Colored sashes - in all sorts of colors (Jenni's and ours)

Perfect table centerpieces - isn't the mirror such a cool idea?

Patio decor - provided by Mom Remund as well!

Pretty umbrellas to bring color to the scene.

Jenni & Casey's side of the guest book table - splitting everything was actually quite fun since Jenni and I had very similar ideas of what to do.

Our guest book table picture.

Mom and Dad Jensen were able to make it, and bring little sister with them. It was way fun to have them there... especially little sister (bored sister + camera = the following)

 Even Brittany was able to make it via Skype!! :D We were so excited that she could see the festivities - and so many of the guests were so excited to see and talk with her as well! Honestly, if it were up to us, we would just leave her there to talk to and we would have left. :) What a fun evening it was though!

The beautiful, honorary couple

Someone had to keep up with little sister's faces...

Apparently Matt was thinking the same thing...

So we did it together :)