Halloween

As disappointing as it is Michael and I have work and such so we haven't been preparing costumes or parties like I had hoped. However, we did go to Dr. Slaughters so we have had a little bit of Halloween excitement :) 

For the past 2 years the Farrs Crew took a little drive to Idaho Falls to visit Dr. Slaughters 

year one

year two 

It kinda became tradition, well at least Mandy and I feel like it is.. So we did it again :) 

year three

It was probably the highlight of my October. That and working at a straw maze! My friend Ashley gave me a job for the month and we have had some good times together :) When we aren't freezing to death. And when she hasn't been having false labor contractions.. haha its been fun :)  I'm glad I have had it.

Fall is my favorite season. I have decided it is because its so short. All the other seasons I get sick of and i'm ready for the next! But with fall, it begins, its pretty and perfectly chill for about two weeks, and then it snows and its over. You have to enjoy it while it lasts! Rexburg has some areas where there are lots of beautiful trees, I loved watching the leaves change.  But as of this week the snow has come and I could not be more excited for Christmas!!

Its our little families first Christmas and I have all these ideas of how I want to spend it! I'm excited about continuing Quinn family traditions and starting new ones. I'm not sure what those new ones are yet, so if anyone has any family holiday traditions I would love to hear about them!

Starting in November I will be decorating Thoroughly. Taking down the fall and putting up the Winter :) We're looking forward to having a little Christmas joy in our little home. 

conference weekend

Conference weekend was eventful for us! I LOVE conference weekend!

On this particular conference weekend Michael and I were able to go to his mission reunion in Salt Lake. It was wonderful! While waiting for Michael while he served I got to know a lot about the people he was blessed to serve with through letters. Since he has been home I have met a few of them. It was exciting to meet so many more this last Friday and the reunion. I feel so lucky to have been a part of Michael's life during his mission. I loved putting faces to the names of the people I already felt so familiar with. 

It was an enjoyable night of lots of hugs, memories and food. Driving back to Rexburg following the reunion Michael and I talked about what we enjoyed most about the evening. I was surprised to see that there were some Norwegians there. If I remember right there were 6 people there that came from Norway to come to conference. Since they were in town they came to join the reunion. President Johansen asked everyone who had come from Norway to introduce themselves. I was thankful to one woman who stood and expressed her gratitude toward the missionaries who labored there. She told them how much it excites her to watch new missionaries come in to the Land of Norway because they change lives. This woman was a result of two LDS missionaries who changed and shaped her life to what it is now 35 years ago. I couldn't help but get emotional to hear her speak of the marvelous work the missionaries do every day.

I was lucky to be born into the family that I was born in. I was lucky to be raised with parents who taught me about the Gospel and to have the priesthood in my home. I was lucky to live in Idaho where almost all of my friends were members. I am lucky to live so close to Temples! The members in Norway have to travel to Sweden to attend the Temple. On the way home from Salt Lake we passed 5 temples in a 4 hour drive! Those 6 people came to see conference live when I have always lived 3 hours from it and I have never gone. I am thankful that I was there to hear that woman's testimony. I am thankful that I was reminded of how truly lucky I am. It was also the perfect thing to prepare me for listening to conference. 

6 months ago conference weekend was a little hectic for me and I didn't give it the attention that I should have. I was thankful that I got to view every session this last weekend. I don't know that I could say that I had a favorite talk, I loved so many. Although there was one talk that really stood out to me. Elder Perry's talk Saturday afternoon was focused on family/parenting. In this talk he read a letter that he had once written to his mother. The letter was tender and led my thoughts to the wonderful mother I have, and to the mother I hope to become. 

If you missed it here is the link :) 

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/10?lang=eng&vid=1882748016001&cid=4

On Sunday, along with enjoying conference we enjoyed our 6 month anniversary together :) I cant believe how fast the first half of this year has gone. Its been a great adventure so far. 

my beautiful 6 month roses :) love you darling

People say that the first year of marriage is the hardest. Being half way into that year for us we find that hard to believe. But I sure hope its true! Because if this is the hardest part of marriage then we have a great life ahead of us! :) 

Boise

Michael has never ever been to Boise. I know, its all very shocking. 

So we took a quick trip randomly. 

along with Boise being a first we had a couple more firsts. 

First TGIFRIDAYS 

First banana split.

That's right people. Michael had never had a banana split before. And I didn't even know until we were sitting outside this darling bistro listening to some man that we couldn't see playing bongos underneath the stars. That is when he dropped it on me! This is my first banana split! WHAT!? I feel like I should have known ya know? A girl thinks she knows her husband and then she finds out something so shocking out of nowhere. 

Blew. My. Mind. 

In other news we met up with an old friend of mine. Aside from Michael's first banana split this was probably the highlight of the trip. On the Sunday before first grade I met a curly red headed girl in church. Her name is Karli, we became best friends. We were attached at the hip from first to sixth grade. Then she moved to Boise. Since then it has been difficult to spend time with her so I was happy to do lunch with her :) 

It was a fast trip but im glad we got to go. I am afraid I don't have much to blog about other then then. Except for maybe that we're really excited for Fall! YAY!! I LOVE LOVE Fall. At the first of September I got overly excited about it and started decorating. This is my current centerpiece :) 

which is darling :) 

Salt Lake

Once upon a time Michael went into the MTC and met his first companion Elder brown. 

And good news! Logan (Elder Brown) had a girl waiting for him too :) 

This is Kayla. We met up and put together a package for them! 

More good news.. 

we both waited :) 

go MG's 

Logan and Kayla got married this last weekend! We went to their sealing at the Salt Lake Temple. We have been excited about this wedding for a long time! We were very happy to be going. To be honest, it was a miracle that we made it! We were told the sealing was at 10:20 and needed to be there a half our early. So we arrived a little late.. we got to underground parking at 9:50 only to find that the lot was full. A nice man holding an umbrella on neither a rainy or particularly sunny day sent us to a different parking lot. We drove in the direction that he told us to go and couldn't find the lot. 

Its 10:05 now and i'm getting a little stressed. 

We drove back to the nice man to receive more detailed instructions. A different man was standing in his place and he was very helpful! We parked at 10:13. 

We are now running toward temple square in my heels, but not to fast because 1. I cant run fast to begin with and 2. modesty would probably be a big issue if I tripped clumsily wearing my high heels. So for me it was more like I was prancing and Michael was jogging. My level of stress is increasing and i'm feeling a little emotional with worry of being too late.  

For those of you who have never been to the Salt Lake temple the entrance isn't actually located on the building. That would have been good for us to know before we arrived to the temple 23 min late, but we didn't. So the shoes came off and we started to run a little faster. Its now 4 min until the wedding is scheduled to begin. We are running past several brides and their families wishing that somehow we will make it in time. With 3 min left my hopes are low and i'm close to giving up when I feel something hit my shoulder and fall to the ground. Looking back I see one of my favorite earrings on the ground. Quickly I ran back picked it up. I started heading back toward Michael and he asks 

"did you get the other one?" Holding my left earring in my hand I reached up to touch my right ear to find my right earring was gone. 

I was almost positive we were to0 late, I was tired and incredibly frustrated. Losing my ear ring topped it off for me and I started to cry. We only had 2 min left so I don't know why I even tried to keep going after that. My poor husband is scanning the ground trying to find my right earring hoping that if he does he can stop my tears. And I started running faster. More like sprinting faster then I probably ever have. Looking back this moment is really quite funny. I had completely fallen apart so I didn't think it was at all funny then. Now I cant help but laugh imagining what people were thinking watching me sprint red faced, sweaty, shoe-less with tears streaming down my face and Michael chasing after me toward the entrance of the temple. 

10:20 and we enter the temple. The man the greeted us informed us that we had come to the wrong entrance. I wiped away my tears and tried to fight back more looking at the clock above him. We quickly turned and ran to the correct entrance. The second we walked inside they asked the group inside to follow them to the Brown wedding. 

We made it! It took me a few min and a couple jokes from Michael for me to compose myself. I'm so glad we made it in time! The wedding was wonderful! They had a perfect day! The weather could not have been better. Logan and Kayla were truly happy. 

It was an awesome weekend. We're so happy for them! And it was fun to have an excuse to go play in salt lake :) Going to Trolley Square to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory is a must, along with the new mall. LOVED IT! We went thinking we would just check it out and then leave. Nope, we were there for 5 hours. I'm pretty sure we still didn't see everything. Next time we go, we're both wearing more comfortable shoes. :) 

goodbyes are always sad

Well, vacation is over.. back in Rexburg trying to get used to real life. 

our trip was AMAZING :) 

We left late Thursday to Pocatello, Slept there and got up bright and early to get on the road! Although to be honest it wasnt very bright. It was kinda gloomy for most of the trip but for those of you who dont know I LOVE gloomy weather. Rainy days are my very favorite. Well.. other then when its raining and sunny in the middle of a beautiful street with lots of trees covered in beautiful Autumn leaves. That has gotta be my favorite. But that is not at all the point. The point is I was with my husband on a beautiful day headed on a road trip and the destination was sister time!! I was happy :) 

It was a happy week. 

 If you would like a summery of each day spent in Nevada continue reading :)

DAY ONE 

7:00 a.m. the happy couple is sleepy.. but excited :) 

We drove about 8 hours were we met up with the Millwards at Scheels in Reno. We went on the farris wheel, played on the escalator, and looked at fish.

 We then when to Olive Garden :) 

love love Olive Garden :) 

DAY TWO 

Mini beach day! We drove across the border to California to visit this beautiful beach. I wanna say it was called Vikings Home? I could be wrong about that.. so I guess there was the Sweden queen that spent her summers here and on that little island is a small house that she drank her tea every day, and you can take tours of her castle. We didn't.. I did look through the windows a bit though :) 

Friday nights are pizza movie nights at the Millwards household. But for this week they were with us in Reno Friday night so pizza movie night was moved to Saturday. 

Did you know you can make pizza on the grill? 

Marsha is a genius. It was delicious :) 

DAY THREE

Sunday was one of my favorite days! Marsha does the music for the primary so rather then going to Sunday school Michael and I visited primary with Benjamin and Abram. We sang happy songs and watched the adorable kids learn about the importance of participating in good media and staying away from bad. So cute!

For dinner that night we did something I was especially excited for. Amatriciana :) 
Made with HOMEMADE pasta!

cute outfit :)

awesome and exciting :) 

While Marsha and I are in the Kitchen making preparing dinner Michael (my husband) and Michael (her husband) were outside practicing golf by hitting the balls into a large net. Until Michael (my Michael) hit the ball hard, and outside of the net and hit some guys house. Thankfully not through the window! But both boys came running inside to avoid talking with the person that would probably soon come out of his house to find out what the noise was. I wish I had a picture of their faces. Classic. So Michael joined us in making pasta :) 

also! that night we celebrated national smores day! It was a couple days late.. but still lots of fun! 

DAY FOUR

There is a great swim center not far from their house. We went last time I was there and it was a BLAST! The highlight of that visit was Abram jumping off the diving board into my arms. He wanted to SO bad but was terrified. He got up there and was shaking so bad that the whole board was shaking. I had seen knees knock together before in cartoons.. but never in real life. He finally jumped and squealed with excitement once  in the pool again. That was a memorable experiences for sure!

Abram didn't jump this time. We just watched Michael do tricks off the diving board. One of the best parts of that swim center is they have two large slides and there never seems to be a line at them for some reason. So we run up the stairs and slide down over and over! It can be great exercise for sure!

OH! and Trader Joe's of course!! Trader Joe's is pretty much one of the coolest grocery stores ever! Honestly.. I couldn't tell you why I like it so much.. but happy things always happens at Trader Joe's. The nicest people work there! Its like Costco! Only.. like 1/8th of the size. And, ok its not like Costco at all. But I do love Costco. Anyway, They have cool bathrooms.. that is probably the best part of Trader Joe's :)

DAY FIVE

I honestly cant remember what we did on this day.. it was Tuesday. And I know that we went to the temple in Reno. It rained on that day. We ate grilled cheese. Humm weird. Maybe that was the day that we went to Costco to buy socks and cereal. Haha could be.

RENO TEMPLE :) 

DAY SIX 

BEACH DAY! 
SAND HARBOR 

Other then forgetting the beach umbrella, that day was perfect.

First of all, I normally don't get in lakes and such because its always so cold and i'm kinda a wanny about it. BUT this water was AMAZING!

We built a.. mm.. I don't really know what you would call it actually.. in the sand. And ate sugar snap pees and probably the best PB&J I have ever had. AND PEACHES! We did that on Tuesday too! Farmers market to buy peaches. Almost forgot.

 We all got a little burnt I think.. Except for Michael who got way burnt! The tops of his feet are still red. Poor guy. I guess from now on we should put sun screen on every hour instead of every two. :) And me and Marsha both look like we have a dandruff problem from sun burnt scalp. Still, so worth it! Best day ever! It was SO fun!

We had a dance party and made home made chicken pot pie that night
then went to bed,
and in the morning said goodbye.as
I cried driving away from the Millwards home toward our next destination.

Thanks for the great week Marsha and family!

WE LOVE YOU! :) 
cant wait to see you again!

vacation

In 3 to 4 days Michael and I will be taking a summer vacation to visit some of my favorite people on the planet. 

THE MILLWARDS 

also known as my sister and her family :) 

YAY!! I cant wait!! We're leaving on Friday! (that is if Michael can get off work a day early..) If not we'll leave on Saturday. I'm keepin my fingers crossed for Friday. Because 1 more day or vacation = even more happiness. 

In anticipation of going on this exciting trip I have been thinking a whole bunch about my last trip to visit them. We made some great memories that week. It seems like FOREVER ago. but really it was just under a year ago last September.

 That was a splendid week full of 

inside ferris wheel rides

coloring 

delicious home made food 

Trader Joe's

puzzles 

sandy beaches 

dance parties 

the Tangled soundtrack 

watersides 

the spider man dance 

shaky diving boards 

Donald Duck 

laugh attacks 

late nights 

children's books 

in and out 

pasta made from scratch

 and.. 

lots of tears when the week ended. 

Looking forward to creating more good memories :) 

Greys

This makes us laugh
every time

So, thought we'd share :)