Tiff and the snow!

I finally took courage to take Tiff outside to experiment with the snow...I bundled her up really good and there we went! There was a lot of ice, so she was very careful walking, but we told her to kick the snow and she apparently enjoyed that! I think she was just happy to be outside...we spent 40 days in the middle of the summer, going out ALL the time, and then we come home and we're stuck home because the other car isn't working!
We sat her on the still too huge pile of snow in front of our house and she was very skeptical about it. Here is the sequence of what happens next: she touches the snow...
She doesn't like to have ANYTHING stuck to her hands and feet (like sand, dirt, food, and now snow!) so she complains about the snow in her hands...
Then we tell her to wipe it off herself... looks at the disgusted look on her face! Oh, how I love my daughter and her many little obsessions!

But all in all it was a good experience...her cheecks were really cold but she didn't want to go inside...I need to try and do it again now that it snowed another foot last night! (no, that's NOT a good thing, but she might as well enjoy it while it's here!

I haven't done one of these in a looong time!

1. When is your "engagement" anniversary?

Of the top of my head I don't remember, but I know it was in September/05.

2. When is your "marriage" anniversary?

March 17. It's coming up!!!!

3. How long have you known your spouse:
I met him 6 years ago, but I've only really known him for about 5.

4. How long did you date/court before you were engaged?
About 9 months.

5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time?
It was actually in his own house...I had just gone snowmobiling and my host sister stopped by his house (which was her boyfriend's house at the time) and I just remember feeling terribly dirty and tired, and I had to sit there and do some small talk with his family. My English wasn't great at the time so imagine how embarrassing the whole thing was for me! I do know from later that his mom kept telling him he should ask me out but he thought he was too old for me!

6. What is you and your spouse's full names:
Audrey Stephanie Holjeson (I know, my dad never forgave me for taking the Baer out, but at the time I didn't think it was a big deal...)
Bryan Robert Holjeson

7. Do you have any children:

Yes

8. How many - boys/girls:

1 girl

9. Do you have any house pets:

No, and if it depends on Bryan, we never will...but we'll see about that!

11. Do you live in the country or town/city:

Hehe, well, we're not toooo in the country, we live in a small town but not too far from the country. And we're loving it!

12. What are some of your favorite activities together:

It's very typical for us to go out to eat and then rent a movie and come home to watch it.
In the summer we love to go to the park and play Frisbee or just hang out.
We also love going to Bear Lake and play Frisbee in the water, it's fun cuz there's not waves!
Since we don't have much alone time, we like to just sit and talk any chance we get.
Sometimes we plan a special meal and work on it together, that's always fun!

13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot:

Bear Lake, Idaho
Brazil, whenever we can afford it!

14. When did you first kiss?

Again, I'm terrible with dates, but I remember the day perfectly. We were at his brother's house watching a movie and for some reason I had to go outside. We were just standing there and there was a full moon...and needless to say more!

15. What church do you attend?
LDS Church

16. Did you get married in a church?
We got married in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.

17. What town is your current address at:
Kamas, UT.

18. Do you work or stay at home:
I'm currently looking for a part-time job.

19. Where did you go on your honeymoon:

Right after we got married we went to Montana and stayed in a Cabin for a few days. Then a few months later we travel to Brazil for my brother's wedding.

20.What was the funniest gift you gave when dating?
I really can't think of anything right now.

21.How long have you been together?

For 5 years now!

22. How long did you know each other before you started dating?

For probably a year since we first met. But I went back to Brazil for 6 months and he just thought he would never see me again.

25.Where do you each work or go to school?

Bryan is a Personal Banker in manager (but he's about to change branches) and he's taking online classes at WWCC.
I graduated from BYU-Idaho.

26. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
All the time we've been apart in the past year and a half. Now life is getting back to normal and we're excited to start living it to its fullness!

27. Did you go to the same school?
We went to the same high school just at different times...

28. Are you from the same home town?
Definitely not. We're not even from the same country!

29. Who is smarter?

Hehe...I think we're just different. He learns things incredibly fast and retains it. I only keep what really matters or what's most recent. So I guess he is.

30. Who is more sensitive?

It depends. Sometimes he can be a lot more sensitive than me.

31.Where do you eat out most as a couple?

Well, we're still getting to know the area, so currently we don't have a favorite place.

32. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?

Brazil.

34. What attracted you about him/her?

Lots of things. First the fact that he was reserved, so when he approached me I knew it meant something to him. Second how he treated me when we first met. Also, how he danced in our first date (which hasn't happened much since!). Another thing was the fact that he was older and more mature. He didn't want to just play around anymore. And the very first, of course, since I didn't know anything else about him was his good looks! ;)

35. Who does the cooking?

I do. But he'll help me when can or even take over when I can't.

36. Who is more social?
That's pretty obvious: me! He hardly keeps in touch with his old friends, and I always have to beg to get out of the house!

37. Who is the neat-freak?

We both are. He can't stand dishes in the sink and stuff all over the house, but lately I'm the one doing most of the cleaning.

38. Who is more stubborn?

He would say I am, but I think he is.

39. Who hogs the bed?
Bryan says I do. He always sleeps clear on the other end of the bed because I elbowed him ONCE and now he's traumatized. I do like to spread out though...

40. Who wakes up earlier?

Lately Tiff has been waking up before both of us, so we end up waking up with her. But there are days that I get to wake up after he leaves for work.

41. Where was your first date?

On my birthday in 2004. My host sister invited me to go swing dancing with her and I secretly hoped I would dance with him. Turned out they had set us up to be partners. We got talking and at the end of the night he asked me if he could call me when I left for BYU-Idaho.

42. Who had more boyfriends/girlfriends?

I did.

43. Do you get flowers often?
I used to. Now he says I don't get them because I work with flowers. Yeah right! hehe...

44. How do you spend the holidays?

Every year is different. We usually try to be with family, but lately we've been spending them more at home.

45. Who is more jealous?

I think we're pretty good in this area...neither one of us really gets jealous. We haven't really had reason to either!

46. How long did it take to get serious?
For him, like a month, for me, I still dated other guys a little bit until close to getting engaged.

47. Who eats more?

He does, especially when he likes what I make.

48. Who does the laundry?

We both do. When we HAD a washer/dryer (I miss those days!) he actually did it more than me.

49. Who’s better with the computer?
Don't know... we're both at the same level I think...

50. Leave a piece of advice for the other couples:
Don't let the honeymoon ever be really over. Always remember why you're together, especially during the harder times. Be willing to grow together always!

Here's who I tag:
Ellen, Came, Janelle, Raquel, and whoever else would like to do it!

Brasil, meu brasil brasileiro!!

No, I haven't abbandoned my blog! So for those of you who are wondering where I am...I am in BRAZIL! And have been SO busy! I'm loving every minute of this trip and so I'm trying to do nothing but enjoy it. I just decided to post some pictures of a FEW of the highlights of our trip:
Family time! Tiffany loves her grandparents and this time they're spending together is simply precious!

Summer time! Ok, it's been raining most of the days, but we did get to go to the beach for a few days, and as you can see by the look on Tiff's face, she didn't think it was the greatest thing in the world, but this was more for me than for her!

Priceless moments: my cousing planned her wedding so that I could be there and can you tell it was just amazing?! We couldn't hold back the tears of joy for sharing so many special moments to add to our LONG list through the years...

Trying lots and lots of new things: for those of you who have tried passion fruit, it is NOT the sweetest fruit out there. It's actually pretty bitter to eat it plain, but Tiffany absolutely loved it, and every other fruit and food she tried here. She's a true Brazillian!

Visiting places: I have missed this city more than I realized. Yes, there's a lot of bad, but you always love the place you grew up at. It's a gorgeous city, and I wish it wasn't raining so much so I could see more than just the malls! hehe...

But our trip is almost over....1 week to go and lots of mixed feelings. I'm starting to get homesick, I miss my house, MY HUSBAND terribly, and my life back in the US, but this trip will leave lots of great memories and a new view in life and what it's really all about. It's been great, and I love to know that there's a time for everything!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas 2009

Despite all of the craziness with moving and getting settled, we had a good Christmas. We were able to move into our house on the 23rd and thanks to my friend Carol, we got mostly everything unloaded that same day. On the 24th I just kept unpacking and putting stuff away until Bryan got home from work. We then were able to go buy some food to make a special dinner and buy something for Tiffany for Christmas. Everything closed at 6pm so we didn't have much time to get her anything special, we just found a couple of toys we thought she would like. Our dinner ended up delicious and it was just SO GOOD to relax in our new place.

These are backwards again. Here Tiff is opening her gifts from Bryan's family. We went to Bear Lake on the 25th to be with family.
Here is mine and Bryan's Christmas gift! This house is part of a program that we were able to qualify for where it is a rent-to-own house and we will have the opportunity to buy it in a few years for a REALLY good price. We don't know if we will stay in it for that long, but I don't want to think about moving again for quite some time, so for now this is our house. We get to treat it as if it was our own pretty much and we pay a really good price for rent. I absolutely LOVE IT. It is a 3 bed 2 bath house, 2 car garage and well, after living in apartments for so long, it is a HOUSE! Oh yeah, and this house is in Kamas, UT (I can give our new address to those who want it later.) But yeah, we're about 15 min from Park City, 20 min from Heber where Bryan works and about 40 min from Salt Lake. We will be doing a lot more driving then we're used to, but it's a great town to live in.
This is on Christmas morning. Tiff wasn't very happy because she was hungry and not feeling very well, but she still enjoyed her gifts and scattered them all over the house already!

Again this was on the 23rd, Tiff was helping Carol and I to decorate our tree.
Here is on the 23rd when we took a break from unpacking to put our Christmas tree up.

I just really have to say that I learned a GREAT deal about faith during these past months. We wanted all this change for SO long but we didn't know how in the world we would be able to accomplish it. Then after much prayer, things just started falling into place. Heavenly Father really knew all along what He wanted for us, we just had to trust in Him and let Him guide us. I'm so thankful for this trial period, because it's making me much more appreciative of these blessings.

Season's Greetings!

This is the only one I was able to upload to my blog. I have a different one in Portuguese, and another one in English. We're loading all of our stuff into Bryan's uncle's trailer tomorrow and I don't know when I'll have access to my computer again, so I just wanted to post our Christmas Card for those I didn't get around to sending one. And the ones I did send one to, I don't think they got it for some reason (probably got stolen from our mailbox here!).

I just wanted to wish all of you my dear friends that are with us through this blog a Merry Christmas! Thanks for checking us out every once in a while and for being part of our lives in one way or another! I really appreciate our friendship and hope we'll keep in touch for many years to come! This year I'm having a different Christmas experience and I'm feeling a lot more appreciative of the things I have in my life, so I just wanted to take the time to tell each one of you that I'm thankful for our friendship and for the things you added to my life (trust me, you ALL have in some way). I hope everyone will have a fun and relaxing Holiday Season and will be able to remember the real meaning of it all. I'm so thankful for my Savior, and for all that He has done for me.