Playing Catch Up

Well Christmas break came and went way to quickly but it was so great. And now January is almost over. Time is just flying! Here is our documentation of our break. (This will be the longest post ever.)

We watched The Hobbit with the fam in the best theater ever (the chairs reclined all the way down!!)

We played games almost every night, Garrick and Mom loved it. Kayla and Dad were good sports.

All this kid wanted to do was eat pizza and wings over the break, he got his wish. And his pizza skills improved immensely since our last trip. 

He loved participating in our epic Beck family Christmas traditions, I loved it more.

Kayla, Garrick, and I participated in an after party most nights after the parentals went to bed. This entailed movies, food, and more games. This would often last until 4-5am. The power went out one night so we cuddled up in our bed while we watched a movie on the computer and played pandemic. (arguably the best board game ever created)

We were able to go on a temple date with my parents and it was so wonderful. It was the first time we had been back since our wedding, it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

And Garrick had to experience our world famous zoo!

We also made a point to visit our engagement spot, exactly a year later. (So precious, I know)

We even were able to spend a couple days with Rebekah and the kids, they are seriously the cutest. I can't believe how fast they are growing up, we love love love them! We even squeezed in seeing the movie Frozen right before we caught our flight. (see Alicia's incredible reenactment here)

Basically this was the best break we've ever had. We ate food allllll day, stayed up till 5, slept in until noon, went to plays, movies, caught up with friends, and spent some good quality time with my fam. Needless to say it was rough adjusting back to school life again. Thanks for the good times Iowa, you'll see us again soon. 

                                                                

Merry Christmas!

Since we are poor we aren't sending the card out but it made it on the blog so that's something! Here are our  13 highlights of the year. 

1. We got married!!

2. We moved into our first apartment

3. Went to the family ward then switched to a married ward

4. We went on a cruise to Mexico!

5. Our cousin Travis and his wife Holly moved next door to us!

6. Jamie got a promotion at work and became the office manager and supervises all student staff. 

7. We camped, a lot! (Jamie learned how to survive in the wilderness with no bathroom)

8. We started the big brother big sister program and have become best friends with our little bro, Tommas.

9. We got to see my family multiple times throughout the year, which we loved!

10. Garrick got Jamie to try Tilapia, Chicken, and Turkey (no vegetarian in the family now)

11. We survived 2 weeks apart! (that really is an accomplishment!)

12. Colby and Kelsi got married, Dallas and Lauren got engaged, and Michael and Janette got engaged!

13. Garrick solidified his major and starting working towards his degree

Christmas Time

Because this is our first Christmas as a married couple we thought it would be so fun to make a Christmas card! So I asked my friend from work if she wouldn't mind taking a few photos for us and then I enlisted the skills of my talented sister Carrie to turn it into a card. Here are a few of my favorite pictures we took on Saturday. 

Our Christmas card is still to come!

November

This month has come and gone so stinkin fast! I can't believe that November is over and Christmas time is here already! We were so grateful for Thanksgiving and the little break we got from school, we were able to relax and catch our breath before the craziness of the end of the semester. During our little time off I realized how much we really did this month, no wonder the November flew by!

We made our gratitude trees with our lil bro Thomas, the activity was such a success! It was so fun to think what we're grateful for. Some of the things on my list included Garrick, heaters, and our home. Some things on Garrick's list were oxygen,  his brain and flirting with his wife. 

 Becoming gun owners was another exciting thing that happened to us. Garrick has loved having a gun, he feels in complete control when it comes to protecting our family. 

We also attended the Marine Corps ball this month, it was so fun! We dressed up, ate at the Joseph Smith Building which was beautiful, and hung out with good friends all evening. It was even better going this year since we're married (but everything is better when you're married).

Garrick has been volunteering with Toys for Tots with the Marines.

 Here he is at Toys R Us with his good friend Chad. 

Going to Nickle City was another really fun activity we did with Tommas. It was his first time going and he loved every minute. Garrick and I love this place a lot so it was a win win for everyone. We even wanted to go back after we took Tommas home, unfortunately homework won that fight. 

The other night we had a stakeout of sorts. I  had a class assignment that involved sitting in Krispy Kreme's parking lot for an hour gathering data on cars idling in the drive-thru. We felt like cops the whole time, especially while we ate donuts. It turned out to be really fun!

Unfortunately Garrick and I both lost our phones temporarily during the Thanksgiving festivities so we have no pictures to document our holiday. But we had 2 amazing dinners both Wednesday with his Mom and Thursday with his brother's family. We feel so grateful to have so much in our lives, we are truly blessed. 

               

6 months down!

This past weekend Garrick and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary! We weren't planning on doing anything too special, just a group date at BYU with free food and Despicable Me 2. I had signed up a few days before and they told me I was good to go. Well 6 pm we show up at the Wilk and wait in line for a good 10-15 minutes to get our food but when we got to the door we discovered that I had only signed up for the movie, the dinner tickets sold out a week ago. We were frustrated and explained that no one had clarified that with me, they simply said sorry charlie, show up for the movie at 7.

 Feeling rejected we wondered out the door and brain-stormed what we should do until the movie started. We decided that we would just walk to the Creamery and grab a bite and run back to catch the movie! We quickly ran to the creamery and were fortunate not to have a line (there's always a line on the weekends). We ordered and sat at the bar. After 20 minutes of making fun of the waitresses we were getting upset that our food wasn't ready yet Garrick who was pretty ticked off at this point, asked the supervisor about it. No food had been made for us, they had lost our order. 

Frustrated, Garrick simply asked for a refund and we walked out. Garrick gets pretty annoyed with inefficient and  inept people, so after 2 rejections he was fed up with BYU campus and wanted to get a real burger from real workers not byu freshman. It was pretty entertaining watching him get upset. We ditched the movie and started driving to 5 Guys but on our way there I called and they had no veggie options for me. So he had to settle on Smashburger. We get to Smashburger and after waiting around a few minutes Garrick has a great idea of leaving me to order here while he quickly drove to 5 Guys to get his favorite burger. 

Finally we make it home and sit down with our anniversary movie playing, How to Lost a Guy in 10 days (we love that movie), I open my burger and I see beef. Of course this would happen! By the time I discovered this, Garrick had eaten half of his already so I ate fries until he was done and then he ran back to Smashburger for me. He came home with a new burger and our money back. On top of the burger he came home with ice cream and flowers. What a guy! All in all it proved to be an adventure of a night. I'm so grateful for my best friend, we have so much fun. Married life is good. 

Saturday Mornings

Garrick and I have really been enjoying our weekends, they are often filled with anything and everything other than homework, thus making it so great. Each Saturday morning we try to do something with our little brother, Tommas. We've had so much fun going to the library, playing soccer, being outside on the playground, throwing the frisbee, getting donuts and drinking hot chocolate. We've learned so much about him and about interacting with younger kids. It has been so fun for me to watch those two play and see how all boys are the same no matter their age! Garrick is so good with him, I'm so excited to see how great of a father he'll be. Recently we carved pumpkins, introduced him to the world of Harry Potter, and ate delicious pumpkin seeds. 

Life is Crazy

Life is crazy, busy, stressful, and plain difficult! These past few weeks have been super stressful for both Garrick and I. Midterms are the worst! But even though this has been our hardest semester yet it has been by far the best! Basically marriage rocks. Seriously, it is the best. thing. ever. It helps that I have the best husband in the world!

This guy carries me to bed when I fall asleep on the couch, builds shelves for me at 1 in the morning, arranges and rearranges our home until I decide its just right, belts out Celine Dion with me in the car, and most importantly, he loves me even when I'm emotional and crazy (which is more often than I'd care to admit). I don't know what I would do without this guy! School is much more bearable when you get to come home to your smoking hot husband, who also happens to be your best friend, every night. Life is so good.