we went to moxies tonight for dessert.

you could call it a date. (if it counts as a date when you share your booth with a carseat. guess that just makes chet the third wheel).

we were craving a white chocolate brownie. and oh, was it ever delactable.

i went golfing today with my grandpa. it was so cute. i have never been any good at golf, and i haven't gone in years. so it wasn't a very competitive round of golf. i still stink. we didn't even bother keeping score. but it was really fun. i had a good time visiting with good old gramps. i hope i get to go on some more grandpa dates while i'm in town. my grandma passed away just a few weeks ago, and my grandpa has been pretty lonely. i can't even imagine how empty he must feel. it breaks my heart. i have told matt many times that i hope to be the one to pass away first because i don't want to have to be lonely like that. but, i don't want to pass away when we are young enough that he might re-marry. then i'll just be super jealous!

we woke up early yesterday morning to start our journey up to canada. we were on the road at 7am...and matt was drinking red bull by 10!

i don't know how he drinks that stuff. even the smell of it makes me feel gross. but as long as it keeps his eyes open and our car on the road i'm happy.

being in a car for 10 hours always makes matt and i a little loopy. (the red bull probably doesn't help!)

we start out normal, but by half way through the drive we are nuts. it makes for lots of laughs and fun memories. and it helps the time go by faster. but we are always grateful that we don't have any one else driving with us, because we are pretty sure they wouldn't want to be our friends after seeing that side of us!

chet was such a good boy on the drive. we were able to do the trip in 10 hours this time. last time it took us 12. and the time before it took even longer.

thanks chet :)

we are excited to spend time with our family and friends while we are here in calgary. we have already done lots of visiting. chet has been loooved by his cousins. (well, some of the 21.) it has been too fun.

cousin jane...

cousin mac...

matt and i were playing around with google maps this morning. you could waste a lot of time on there. it's unreal. matt and i were finding some of the places we went to in france and some of his favorite places from his mission. now he is 'france-sick'. we CAN'T WAIT to go back there again. the plan is to go as a celebration when matt graduates. sooo hurry up matt.

he's done! (for the semester)

matt finished up his last exam and project today. how exciting.
now he has a 7 week break from lectures, labs, and homework...and then it all starts again.
chet has been matt's most loyal study buddy.
in one of matts construction classes he got to build a miniature house. they had blueprints to follow and had to make the entire thing to scale. today his group had to stand on the roof of the house as a final test. one member of the group wasn't there, but matt assures me that the house would have held him too!
while matt has been at school learning all these manly skills, i have been doing my motherly duties.
this is a 7 pound bag of poopy diapers! (yes, i weighed it!).when we go on walks, chet likes to stare at me. he makes me laugh. i'll look down at him, after several minutes of not looking, and he will still be staring.
sleeping pictures are never very flattering, but matt snapped this one and i thought it was sweet.

matt is done 2 of 5 finals. he's getting there...

since we are leaving so soon we haven't bought many groceries lately. so our food selection is pretty lame. our fridge is full of condiments and soda. mmm. i bought a loaf of bread yesterday because i thought it would help tide us over till we leave. and matt said, referring to the fact that we now had bread, "now, the world is our oyster". pitiful, huh?

we checked one thing off our idaho bucket list yesterday - cafe rio. it was de-lish. as always.

we had major issues trying to get the restaurant in the background of this picture!

the chips at cafe rio remind us of the ones we eat on our vacations in mexico. and make us reeeally want to go back.

matt refused to pose nicely for a picture in the restaurant. he said it was a stupid idea. but, who looks stupid now matt?

we spent the rest of that day having fun with dave, ash, and summer. we checked out this place called 'the riot zone'. it has all sorts of things to do - go karting, bumper boats, mini golf, and so on. but we just ended up walking around because we were too cheap to pay! except for the climbing wall. matt and dave sweet talked a girl that worked there into letting them goof around on the climbing wall for a while.

summer baby sat chet for us! she is too funny.

we hear that the weather in calgary has been kinda crappy so far this summer. we're crossing our fingers that changes when we get there. but, incase it doesn't, we are taking full advantage of the perfect summer rexburg is having. today we had another sunday afternoon picnic. tank was on squirrel watch. (can you see it?).

we just got back from meeting our neighbors brand spankin' new baby boy. and chet looked like an ogre next to baby colby. i can't believe that chet used to be even smaller then that. i remember when we brought him home from the hospital he was a wopping 5lbs and we thought he was big. colby is 6lbs 12 oz and he felt like a little peanut.

babies change so fast.

i am so glad that we have taken a bazillion pictures to document chets life so far. i really hope we continue to be as diligent. before chet came along matt and i didn't even know where our camera was. and now i won't leave the house without it.

congratulations tara and andrew!

chet is 4 months old today. craaazy.

matt and i love going on dinner and/or movie dates.

but, now that we have mr. chet, they aren't as easy to do.

when i was pregnant our family and friends (who already had kids) told us to go out on lots of dates. they told us that we would miss how easy it is to go out without any littles ones to worry about.

we appreciated their advice, but definitely didn't know how right they were.

until now!

we used to go to so many movies that we would have a hard time finding one in the theaters that we hadn't seen. now, there isn't one movie showing that we have! oh, how things have changed.

so...all you parents-to-be listen when i say GO ON DATES!

and hold hands. strollers, car seats, and chet make it a lot harder to hold hands.

matt has been super busy with school lately. finishing up final projects, presentations, and exams. he is almost done another semester. he is doing so well. i am very proud of him. but, all his school work means that we haven't been up to a whole lot. we did manage to spend some time outside yesterday. it was another lovely day. we all looked at little red by the end.

we played frisbee, ate freezies, and...did homework.

tank stole a cookie from a little boy at the park. what a bully.

matt's brother, mitch, bought chet a blanket. not a baby blanket. a big, fuzzy, nature blanket. with an eagle on it. and a dreamcatcher. (mitch and matt have a silly love for nature things. and mystical things. things like unicorns, centaurs, fairies, and wolves howling at the moon. oh dear.) i wasn't too sure about the blanket at first, but it has honestly been so handy. so, thanks mitch! we take it on every picnic and trip to the park. the only problem is that we get a lot of funny looks when we whip this beauty out!

last night we looked over at the couch and saw this...

i have always thought that clouds are what made wind until just recently. i blame this misunderstanding on pictures like this:

very misleading.

today there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but it was windy. i guess it is kind of like when there are clear blue skies in the middle of winter. you look outside and think that it will be a nice day, but it turns out to be extra cold.

here's another ironic thing i noticed this week:

i lived here in rexburg for one year right after high school. the first semester i was here matt was still at home. he didn't leave for his mission until my second semester. so, we did the long distance relationship thing for that first semester. we talked on the phone every night. and since i didn't have a cell phone then (which is crazy to imagine now!) he would call the landline in our apartment. boys from our ward would often be hanging out at our apartment and thought it was funny to pick up the phone and bug matt when he would call. one boy, in particular, drove matt nuts. i would assure matt that he had nothing to worry about. but he still hated it. understandable. if the roles had of been reversed, i would have hated it too. anyways, it turns out that this boy matt once despised is all grown up - married with a kid - and is our sunday school teacher! and matt now likes the guy. who woulda thought!

our friend, jeff, called matt last night and told us we need to try eating at this hole-in-the-wall place just outside of rexburg. we decided it would be a good family night activity. so we drove out to the

thornton merc. and cafe.

unfortunately it was closed.

permanently.

sorry jeff.

but, it might be for the best. we peeked in the window and it was even more of a dive then we were expecting! our quick dinner outing turned into a 2 hour search for somewhere to get matt the burger he was craving. but, in the end, we found a cute small town diner. and a tasty burger.

the poulation of the entire state of idaho is 1.5 million.

the population of the city of calgary is 1.2 million.

today a guy asked me if i knew this girl from calgary that he knew. hey, i love playing the "do you know ____?" game. but it was annoying when he said i would probably know the girl because calgary isn't that big. you know, dude, there are big cities in canada too. it wasn't worth correcting him.

we have less then 2 weeks left here in rexburg before we head home to calgary. there is a short 7 week summer semester that matt won't be taking any classes in. so we are going home for most of that time, and to my parents place in arizona for the rest. we are excited to be able to spend time with our family in calgary, and time around the pool in arizona, but we are actually going to miss it here in rexburg. we have had a good time here. we just have no idea where the time has gone. it's hard to believe that this semester is coming to a close.

we have a little bucket list we would like to do before we leave:

eat at cafe rio.

go to the sand dunes again.

finish decorating chets room.

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matt got his hair cut by a gay man named yan (pronounced yawn) this week. there are dress and grooming standards at the university. boys are required to keep their face clean shaven and their hair can't be too wild. matt's hair was getting a little long so he made his way to the paul mitchell hair school. i was nervous for him to get his hair cut by a student. but other then the fact that it took over an hour, yan did a good job. he even gave matt a head massage! poor matty. you know what i think is really silly about the grooming standards? boys can't have beards, or goatees, or even be a little scruffy on his cheeks. but...he can have a mustache. weird.

the weather has been perfect. so we spent saturday morning at rigby lake. it's not the prettiest lake and the beach is kinda rocky but we have really been craving jumping into water lately, so we took what we could get. it was chets first time at a lake. he didn't go in the water for fear that he might get angry, but soon enough he will be taking a plunge. i definitely want him to like water. chet has recently realized that he likes taking a bath. it makes it a lot less stressful to give him a bath when he's not screaming the whole time!

matt and i were mathcy matchy on saturday night - cut off jean shorts and grey tops. if only chet had some cut offs too...

we had our neighbors that live across from us and below us over for sunday dinner today. we made pizzas and salad. and alexis (in the pink sweater) made a tasty cake. after dinner we played apples to apples. alexis won. we were pleased with our succesful dinner party. we have been meaning to invite them over since we moved in, but i was always too chicken. and now i'm sad we didn't do it sooner.

matt and i have a new obsession. FREEZIES! we went for a stroll downtown st anthony tonight. st anthony is a small town 15 minutes north of rexburg. it's a funny place.
our favorite part of our trip to st. anthony was getting this picture. two quads parked out front of the spurs saloon. does it get anymore stereotypical idaho then that? matt thinks he should get a quad to drive to campus. or a scooter. it's funny how many people here have scooters.
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we got a picture of TANK on a TANK. clever, right?

wrong.

i told our funny joke to two girls that watched us take the picture and all i got were blank stares. heellloooo...his name is tank and he is sitting on a tank. it's funny. it at least deserves a courtesy laugh.
we think, in a way, tank has been good practice for having a kid. getting him was a good stepping stone before chet came along. we learned a little bit of responsibility. although, we can leave tank at home alone for hours on end and shove him in a kennel at night. not exactly the same as a child. the other day i gave tank some peanut butter on his food. (he has been a little too spoiled since his near death experience). i mixed it in real good so he wouldn't just eat the peanut butter. or, that was atleast my plan. tank was a brat though. he licked all the peanut butter off and spit his food on the floor. what a weiner. chet will be making messes like that soon enough.

if you haven't figured it out yet, tank is spoiled. rotten. he has his own special seat in our car.

chet is spoiled too. of course. with lips this kissable, how could you not spoil him?

we hiked R mountain yesterday. the whole fam. our camera battery was dead so i have no pictures to prove it, but i promise we did. for those who haven't been to rexburg, hiking the R is a similar idea to hiking the Y in provo. except the trail is a little more rugged. and R mountain is more of a big hill then a mountain. actually it's an old volcano. FYI. so you climb to the top and then around the crater.

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i have never ever ever experienced wind like we did on the top of that mountain. ever. EVER. it was unreal. at times you would be leaning so much into the wind that when the gust stopped you would lose your balance. and at one point i assumed a wicked 'triple threat' position because i thought i was going to get blown off a ledge. matt laughed.

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matt and i had taken a lunch up there to have a picnic, but didn't get to have the cute picnic we were hoping for. we walked and walked in hopes of finding a place that was protected from the hurricane winds. but never did. so it was a quick, windy lunch. we saw cactus on the mountain. weird, huh? idaho is a crazy place. it has everything. matt thought he saw a lizard, but it was a twig.

(this is R mountain. but you can't see the R. i found this picture on the internet.)

it has been about 2 years since matt and i have gone on a run together. i fired him as my running partner because he is so much faster then me. even if he is in awful shape, or just ate a big mac, he can run faster then me. drives me nuts. but tonight i put my frustrations aside and invited matt on a run. he accepted. we ran. and he ran faster. laaame. it's not like i'm in great shape, but who even knows the last time he ran. boys are dumb! it was fun though. and nice to have someone to ditch the stroller on! we will have to do it again.

my mom wants me to post a video of chet smiling because i told her that he smiles now. but we aren't having much luck getting a smile on film. we have a whole bunch of video clips of chet staring at the camera while we make ridiculous sounds in the background. we'll keep trying. chet is growing lots. i was trying to think of something we could lay him next to as a gauge to show how big he is. but i couldn't find anything good. the closest thing to me at the time was a gnome. (yes, we have a gnome). so...we are pleased to report that chet is more then 2 gnomes tall now.

we have a baby book that says 'take a break. don't shake.' (referring to when you feel like you are losing your mind because you can't soothe your baby). we have always made light of it. but matt's book of mormon teacher is friends with the judge here in rexburg. he has been in that position for not even 1 year. and this man has already sentenced 4 students to prison for causing major damage or death by shaking their babies. isn't that just awful? that makes me so sad to think about.

to end on a lighter note. matt and i were thrilled when we flipped past the jake vs vienna showdown on the bachelorette last night. too funny. did any one actually think they were good together? eww not me.

we can't decide which is better. blurry in the front or blurry in the back? so here's both.

just minutes after we took this picture tank got run over by a car.

somehow he managed to walk away with just one little scratch on his nose. but it was so scary. we were out on a walk on the street you can see in the pictures above. and we had let tank off his leash so that he could go exploring in the fields. it's a pretty rural road so we weren't too concerned about him running around. bad idea. tank spotted a bird, chased it across the street, and got run over by a car going 40mph. we are soo lucky he's alright. he managed to stay inbetween the tires and low enough to the ground. so he rolled out the back end of the car, yelping, but without any major injuries. we were so stressed at the time. both of us ran to help tank, leaving chet and his stroller rolling down the sidewalk, over the grassy hill, and down onto the road. niether of us even noticed chet until the guy that ran over tank honked at us to warn us. (not our finest parent moment.) we hitch-hiked our way home. and then called a pet hospital. but by the time we were home tank was fine. we spoiled him with a buttload of treats. and then left him to go to the independence day fireworks in idaho falls.

we were invited to tag along with our neighbors to the fireworks. they are 'locals'. it's good to be buddies with locals because they always know neat places to go. they had a couple semi trailers lined up with chairs and grills to watch the show. it was a big deal.

the fireworks were great. chet slept through them all. all 3000+ of them!

happy 234rd birthday america.

that all happened on july 3rd. turns out the abundance of mormons in the area made it so the partying happened on saturday instead of sunday. kinda funny, but whatever. so on the real july 4th we went and checked out the sand dunes. it is so neat out there. we are definitely going to have to go back.

rumor has it that idaho falls puts on the best fireworks display west of the mississippi. who would've thought idaho falls? but we have heard there will be 100 fireworks per minute for 30 minutes. that's a lot of fireworks. matt and i are going to see if they are as good as everyone is telling us they will be. i was bummed that we are going to miss all the fireworks in calgary this summer. calgary has wicked fireworks - canada day, 10 nights of stampede fireworks, and the international fireworks competition. but i think this july 4th celebration is going to help me get my firework fix. yay.

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we took a trip to idaho falls yesterday. where we found this. we have no idea who this superstar is. but i dare someone to give me a ticket for parking there. (it was a liiittle windy).

on our way back to rexburg we stopped in rigby at this antique shop that we have been wanting to check out for months.
it was neat to look around. i listened to elvis on a record player, tried on fancy old fashioned hats, flipped through some silly old books (points of view were so different back then. like the way a lady should act.), and we found a peanut butter jar that was best before september 77. it's kind of funny that something my parents could have used are found in an antique shop. sorry mom and dad!

in the past few days there have probably been 5 different people say something along the lines of 'hey, you are the girl i always see walking'. yes...that is me. thanks to our hairy little friend tank, chet and i go on atleast 4 walks a day. and now, i am known to everyone who lives near us as the crazy walking lady. thanks tank. i actually really like getting out for our walks. and i think chet likes it too. but i am absolutely dreading having to do this when winter rolls around. that's when i will miss having a backyard to throw tank in. it's pathetic that i am already stressing over winter in july, but it haunts me.