A New Beginning

I realize that it has been a very long while since we have posted anything on our blog. Believe me, I am kicking myself for that reason now! I had been working on posting a big entry with tons of pictures that we had taken in the last little while. However, I just saved it into a word document so that I could just paste it onto here when I got a chance. On Friday night, our computer hard drive failed. Out of the blue, our computer just froze up. We turned it off, but then we could not get it to restart properly. We took it over to the mac store and found out that the hard drive was toast. All of the pictures of our courtship, engagement, and newlywed lives are pretty much gone. All of our wedding pictures were saved onto CDs, so we have those, and we have the pictures that we saved onto facebook and this blog.  

I was devastated! All of our pictures, documents, music, and some little movies we made were there one moment and then completely gone the next! I started bawling in the Mac store and the guy that was helping us started to get emotional too! He kept saying, "Please, don't cry" and then wiping his own eyes. He was awesome. He helped us get a new hard drive, installed it for us, and then downloaded a newer version of mac software for us...and only charged us for the hard drive. The new software has a built in program called "Time Machine" that backs up our documents automatically. All we need to get is an external hard drive. We will be needing that!! We will not make the same mistake twice!

This picture was one of the few I had on my camera (I just downloaded a ton of photos before this ordeal and then deleted them off my camera). We had our first snow last week and it was beautiful for the hours that it lasted! I love it when there is a fresh sheet of snow on the ground! It just feels so NEW and FRESH. I guess thats how we are feeling about our computer now! We have to start over with pictures and downloading all of our programs! I know that I am going to spend a lot more time blogging now! I've learned my lesson!

Todd here, now, and I just wanted to say that I am so glad Christianne put at least some pictures on our blog and on Facebook! It really was a terrible day. But things are getting better. We have a nasty two weeks of school ahead of us and we are hoping we make it till Thanksgiving! Things should be a bit easier then. That is...until we have to study for finals! Other than that, Christianne has been teaching me how to play Sudoku. I stink. It takes me a half hour to do an "easy" one, while she gets done with it in a matter of minutes. I'm so glad I married such a smart girl!

There's No Place Like Home

Welcome! We decided that it is finally time to post pictures of the place we now call home. We finally got rid of all of the boxes and have furniture! Yay! I can't even remember how many carloads it took to get everything into this house. I don't think we will be moving for awhile.


Our living room. Susan gave us the chair when she was getting ready to move. Lucky for us, we found a cheap brand new couch that matched the chair perfectly at RC Willy. It was in the clearance section, and a guy from our ward who was working there gave us an even greater discount. It was meant to be.

A closer look at our new couch. The pillows came with it.

Todd's office and our laundry room. The little love seat on the right is what we were using for a couch for a while in our living room. We bought it for 35 bucks at a yard sale.

Our dining room

The tiny kitchen. There isn't very much counter space, but we are used to it. Our kitchen color is red. Everything is red. Even the microwave. We have had fun experimenting with new recipes and coming up with meals. We eat a lot of pasta.

We don't have a dishwasher, so we have fun washing dishes together after every meal. The scissors that are sitting on the counter are used primary for cutting off the tops of otter pops. We have almost consumed two entire boxes since we have been married.

Our bedroom. So cute.

The bathroom.

Todd brought me a flower on his way home from work the other day. He is so sweet! I love him more and more everyday. Even though we are pretty busy with work these days, it is always nice to come home and relax with each other. We are best friends, and Todd can always make me laugh.

We recently got to babysit Max while Aaron and Hauni went on a date. He is so cute! We had fun taking him to the park and playing with him in our house. He knows Todd's name, and calls me "Pretty" or "kiss", meaning "chris".

Mmmm...we love pizza! We made this chicken/pineapple one together. It was lots of fun!

Todd and I went to see my good friend Katherine Way in a play. She is such a great actress.

Ace in the new house. Poor kitty! He looks pretty worn out from the move and his recent health problems, but at least he is eating again. We love Ace.

4th of July Weekend

I know its a little late, but we had a great 4th of July weekend and I just wanted to share some pictures! On the 4th, Todd and I attended a bbq hosted by Ryan and Julie! SO good, guys! Ryan was the master chef and cooked amazing hamburgers. There was so much food, it was incredible. Julie made homemade vanilla ice cream and served it with blueberry and strawberry sauces. It was quite patriotic! We played Apples to Apples ( I always lose terribly when we play with the Holbrook family), and Julie kicked our tails. I finally got to try out the "Motorino" which was a blast! Mason was fearless of that thing! Ryan actually had to make him hold onto him.
Speaking of Mason, look how cute he is! I have never met someone so young and daring and just SO CUTE!

Later that night, we went to the park and laid on the grass and watched the fireworks. They were so close! It was a pretty good show. It had most of us captivated, but I think Mason got bored after the first 5 minutes, and was sound asleep when the fireworks stopped.

Fireworks

Todd and I after the fireworks



The next day, we hosted a little family get together. It was the first time we had a lot of people in our little place so it was our house warming party! Todd and Ryan made a wonderful artichoke pasta dish and we had otter pops for desert. :-)

Ryan and Julie and the vacuum they gave us in the background (thanks guys!!)

Mom Holbrook, Von, Todd, Mason, Julie, and Ryan enjoying their dinner

We walked to the park from our place. The kids needed more room to run around!

The Crew

Max loves the slide

Crazy Mason

We are so blessed to live close to family! It is so fun to get together and hang out, watch movies, and play games. We love our cute nephews!!

Riverton Reception

Two weeks after the wedding, Susan hosted an open house for us in her beautiful backyard in Riverton. The yard was amazing! She really did a great job. We weren't really sure who would show up, but it ended up being a wonderful night. A lot of people from Susan's ward came, and Todd and I both had family come. It was really fun to meet some of Todd's aunts, uncles, and cousins. My family was able to make the trip down to Utah, even after my little brother Michael broke his collar bone at football camp.

Von and Susan sampling out the yummy fruit baskets before the open house.

Doesn't Mason look sharp! He is just so darn cute!

Todd and I with our moms and Grandma Johns. Aren't they beautiful? Todd's good friend Preston also came.

Here we are with Liz and Katherine, some of my friends. Katherine and I have been good friends ever since I came to BYU. People think that we look alike and are sisters! Its funny, because she is half Chinese.

The Casper and Holbrook crews enjoying the evening.




Caleb actually had a really big smile on his face! Susan asked these twins in her ward to pass out favors at the open house. They were adorable!

Well, now that the wedding events are finally over, I guess we can get back to "real" life!

June 12, 2008

What a day this was! It has always been my dream to get married in our small, but lovely Columbia River Temple and to have an outdoor reception at my grandma Casper's beautiful house! Well it all happened! Both Todd's family and mine were able to make the trip to Basin City, WA and witness our wedding! It was the first time Todd's brothers had been together in years, and it was such a blessing to be able to see Derek and Brianne and Easton! We are so glad all of you made the long journey! My mom is amazing! She took care of most the planning, and allowed me to just enjoy the day. I know that my grandma, aunts and uncles, and cousins spent a lot of time working at my grandma's house, getting it ready for the reception. It looked beautiful! Todd's mother did a wonderful job with the luncheon, and she even had vanilla ice cream served with chocolate cake for desert, just because she knew that I would like it! My aunt Jill did a wonderful job with the flowers, and my aunt Lisa made an amazing cake! My Grandpa Allred also did a wonderful job with the music, it was so fun to have him play. It is quite overwhelming to describe the days events so I thought I would just post a bunch of pictures! Enjoy :-)

The people who made this day so wonderful! We love you guys!!

The greatest day of our lives! I'm so glad that I am finally sealed to my best friend for time and all eternity! Todd is such a strength to me, and he is always helping me be a better person. I love you, babe!

It was such a blessing to have so many family and friends present!

Todd and his brothers...reunited again!

I love this picture!

Casper kids

Neices & Nephews

Todd, Mason, Ashley, Madison, & Caleb

Our Families!

Ladies in blue!

The girls

The most darling picture ever!!

Another very cute picture!

My dad caught it, and then gave it to Meg

My shadow!

Wow! There are so many pictures, its hard to just choose a few of them! I am so grateful for families! They are forever! I truly married into an amazing family, and I am now proud to be a Holbrook girl!