A Very Merry WHITE Christmas!!

Well I thought that leaving Idaho and going to Oregon for Christmas would mean that we would avoid driving in snow.........I WAS DEFINATELY WRONG!! We actually chose the perfect days to travel and arrived in Oregon right before the big storm!! There was definately plenty of snow when we arrived and with a little work our little car made it up my parents gigantic hill!! The next morning we woke up to our car buried in snow!!

This is what we thought we left behind in Idaho......this never happens in Oregon!!

We managed to dig it out and do a little last minute Christmas shopping!! Unfortunately our car wasn't able to make it back up the hill so it spent the entire vacation parked at the bottom!!

We brought our Wii with us and had a blast dukin' it out!! Dad and Grif testing their boxing skills.....hilarious!!

Basically Abby was crazy, I do believe she won the match though!

Although our little snow in was unexpected we definately had a blast with it!! How blessed we were to have been able to make it up to Oregon!!! Christmas was fabulous because we were together as a family..well half a family!!

Me and my little baby Oscar!!

Cute mommy!

Uh well not much to say about this pic.....but man do I love the guy!!

My little baby boy!!!!

There's nothing like a nice bowl of mac 'n cheese when you are snowed in!!

My cute baby sister!!

What awesome parents I have....lucky me!!

Matt and Griffin

Big sister and little brother!! Grif you are a stud!

It definately went by WAY to fast and we could have easily stayed for another week!!

And this is what we came home to!! We made it the entire way home without using our cables and then when we were literally 75 feet from our door we got stuck.....figures!!!

I love this season and although the actual holiday is over, I am going to draw it out for as long as I possible!!

Merry Christmas from Us!

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Another Semester Finished!!

Matt is officially done with Fall '08 semester and we couldn't be happier!! It was a loaded semester, 17.5 credits, but Matt was a trooper and made it through!! I am so proud of his hard work and for managing such a heavy schedule!! This upcoming year is his last and I know he is definately looking forward to it!!

So with the end of school came the real beginning to a cold cold winter!! We got our first real official dump of snow the past couple of days and it is only to get worse!! The snow really isn't that bad...its how darn cold it is here!! This will be the first winter that Matt and I actual man here in Rexburg!! We are already freezing and everyone is saying to just wait!! This worries us a little, as of right now our only source of heat in our apartment is our small Walmart space heater! Unfortunately, because our apartments are so old we have to old floor heaters that suck the energy!!! Therefore, it is too expensive for us to run those heaters!!

So far we have managed quite well but with the temperatures dropping we are starting to wonder if only one space heater will be enough!! I guess the good that has come from this is that I am a whole heck of a lot more tolerant of the cold!! For all those that know me, I am NOT a cold person!! I absolutely hate being cold, but because it is unavoidable here my body has had to adapt!! Which has actually been a huge blessing!!

Other than a little worry about the coming winter, Matt and I are doing very well!! I continue to enjoy work and Matt has had a good time with school and his after school activities (of which I am sure you can all guess)! We are extremely excited for Christmas and the opportunity we have to be going to Oregon to spend it with my family!! I cannot even wait!! It will be nice to have a break from real life and be able to enjoy some quality Allen time!!

And A Fantastic Thanksgiving It Was!!

Matt and I were so lucky to be able to go to Utah for Thanksgiving to attend the infamous Cahoon and Sorensen reunions!! It was so fun to get to see Matt's family and to spend a little time with Shay, Chelsea, Jonas, and Grif!! I was lucky enough to get the entire week off and Matt also had the whole week off from school so it was a good long vacation!!

The first couple of days we spent in Provo with the few Allens in Utah!! We had such a blast just hanging out and being Aunt and Uncle to cute little Jonas, who we absolutely could not get enough of!!


And then it was off to spend the rest of the week with Matt's family!! On Thanksgiving day we went to the Cahoon Thanksgiving dinner where we enjoyed a fun little family talent show and I totally dominated in the traditional game of Bump or Tornado or Lightening...whatever you may call it!! The next day we headed up to the Camp Tracy Lodge to experience something that no one has ever experienced unless they have attended the Sorensen Bash!! We started off with a delicious breakfast...which is Grandpa Sorensen's favorite!! It was such an exciting day!! The highlights definately have to be the Family Musical Chairs, which generally ends with a mangled mess formally known as a chair!! I was super stoked to be the winner of the 20 and older group!!! Now many of you may not know what a huge accomplishment is but let me tell you, if you win one of these you are definately remembered!! So I was happy to be the lucky one!! Also the Chocolaholic Frolic definately is a favorite...this involves lots and lots of chocolate!! Yum! And then of course the Parade of the Uncles as well as the family skits!! It was definately a fun filled day!!



Saturday we went with Matt's family to the Body Exhibit which was TOTALLY awesome, if any of you have the opportunity I would definately recommend it!! After that we walked around Temple Square and then ended the evening with dinner at Noodles and our Christmas exchanges....in which Matt and I definately got the best presents: The "You Might Be A Redneck If... Game as well as the voluptuous woman...pictures to come!!!




All in all it was a fantastic week and we were sad to leave!! But thank heavens we are sealed and stuck for eternity!!! Matt and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful families and we love to spend time with them!! And Mom and Dad I CANNOT WAIT for Christmas with you!!! Wahoo!!



As soon as we get more pics from family we will definately post more!!

And we are back again...alive and well!!

So I am embarrassed that we have gone an entire month since last posting a blog! We have been so crazy lately, between school and work and the hunting season, we pretty much lost any extra time!! But things have seemed to calm down for us just a little!! Unfortunately we were not successful in our first hunting season!! At first we were really bummed because we put A LOT of time in but after looking back at all of the adventures we had it was definately worth it!! Life is going well for Matt and I! We are constantly having fun and keeping busy!! Matt is cruising through school and I am very proud of him for stickin' with it!! I love going to work which is not usually what most people say about their jobs! But I work with a lot of really fun people!! Rexburg has continued to treat us well! It is starting to really get cold which is not something I am looking forward to!! We bought plastic window sealers to help save some money in the winter and I am happy to report that they seem to be doing really well!! We are happy and will definately do a better job keeping everyone updated!! For now enjoy a little collection of memories!!

We have these huge plum and apples trees in the yard...this was our way of picking plums!
Plum picking!
This is me, all camo'd up!! It was so pretty up here!
We saw a ton of deer, they were all does and fawns though.....nothing we could shoot!
Doin' a little homemaking with cute little Alex!!
This is what we did for FHE one week, do we totally seem like rednecks?!?
Matt and his lone duck!
This is me enjoying the end result of our Family Home Evening activity!!
Matt and Trevor...happy little boys!!
I just thought this was a cute picture!
This was up Green Canyon......it was super cold but super pretty!!

Our First Hunting Experience!!

Well it has been a while since we last update our blog and quite a bit has happened!!! I turned 24 on the 16th and had a wonderful birthday!! I got the movie P.S. I Love You and lots of spoiling from Matt!! It is funny as you get older, at least for me, I lose interest in getting things for my birthdays! Really all I wanted was a day of relaxing and hanging out with Matt! Plus the movie............which I absolutely love!!

Next, Matt and I were able to go down to Utah a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my grandparents 60th anniversary as well as my grandma's 80th birthday!! It was a lot of fun to see family that I haven't seen for a long time! We really enjoyed ourselves and the little break from real life!
This is us at Cedar Breaks!
It was definately a beautiful ride home from Utah!
As many of you may not know, I had to become a resident of Idaho because I had to change my name from Allen to Cahoon. This was really hard for me because they make you give them your old license. So I had to say farewell to my Oregon license, that had a very nice picture which rarely happens on drivers licenses. Anywho, Matt took advantage of this because he is not a resident here so to get a hunting license and deer tag would cost him close to $600! So I was the one who got the hunting license and deer tag!! I must say I am pretty excited about this, I grew up with a dad who was way into hunting and I really like venison(deer meat). So Matt had spent all of this time planning our first hunting trip for this past weekend and we both were pretty excited!! I was able to get half of the day off so we could leave earlier, we checked the weather a million times and packed up and headed off!

Basically long story short, we got up to the mountains and set up camp and got to bed early. It rained that first night but not too bad and it made for a great morning!! It wasn't cold or anything, just really nice so we began our hunt! We were camped so high that really the only thing up that high were elk so we decided to hike down further into the woods to get to a lower point. We ended up hiking about 4 miles in, and I now know it is possible to be going up hill both ways...because we were!! Mind you this is the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 states...true blue wild wilderness! After we had reached a fairly low point we heard this low rumbling noise, something I had never heard but Matt had once!! He immediately told me to get my rain gear on and within 15 seconds of putting on my rain gear we were standing in a huge monsoon type storm!! Rain and hail were falling so hard it felt like we were being pushed into the ground!! Now remember, we were 4 miles deep in forest in the top of the mountains, let me tell you that is not somewhere you want to be with thunder and lightening surrounding you!! Obviously we started to hurry back the way we came but every tiny little trail or path had now turned into a rushing river of water!! Within 2 minutes of the storm coming Matt and I were absolutely soaked, through our rain gear and everything!! It took us a good 2 hours or so to make it back, raining the whole way too! When we finally got back to camp we realized that we were actually blessed by not getting a deer while down there because it would have taken us a lot longer to get back if we had to hall a 100+ pound deer!! So we cleaned up camp and moved to a different area, set up camp, only to finish just in time for another storm!! This time we woke up to a few inches of snow......it was quite the experience!! We really did enjoy ourselves though if you would have asked us in the moment we probably would have said something different!!! Although we had no success we had a fun adventure and the general seasons have yet to open so we haven't lost hope yet!
Here we are on the first night...happy and dry!!
I wish I had a bunch of pictures to post but the only pictures we have are from the very first night before anything had happened...as you can imagine we weren't too thrilled about pulling the camera out anythime after that!!

These are the few pictures we got of where we were!!

I LOVE My Husband!

So this week Matt is out of town for work and I am having a little bit of a hard time not having him around. This is the first time we have been apart since we've been married and it's funny because I would be totally fine being alone before we were married, now I hate it!! Although it has been tough being without him I am grateful for this because it has really helped me see how much Matt does for me, both in material things and in spirit. That may seem silly but Matt really makes me feel like I am someone special and not having him here has made me realize how much I really love and rely on him. How lucky I am to have found the greatest man so early and have been lucky enough to call him mine for so long!! I am so proud of his hard work as well as his ability to have fun through it all! I love you so much Matt!

One Year Down and Ready For Another!!!

Happy Anniversary Us!!! Matt and I celebrated our 1st anniversary on Friday the 22nd!! Holy Canoly I cannot believe how the time flies!! Although its not weird to have been married for a year since Matt and I have been together for almost 7 years, it is weird how fast it has gone by!! I can still remember the first time Matt and I hung out, our first date, all of our firsts like they all happened last week. But I can tell you that I am so happy to have had all of those firsts now including our first marriage anniversary with Matt!!! What an exciting life I have because of his fun, outgoing, and adventurous personality!!! It really has been a magnificent ride so far!! As awesome as it would be to tell you of our fabulous first anniversary and all the exciting activities we did....it didn't quite work out that way!! At three o'clock in the morning on Friday, I woke up and headed to work to board a bus down to Salt Lake for the Melaleuca Covention. This was the only day I was able to go to convention and Matt had to work all day anyways so we just decided we would do something when I got home around 7 o'clock!! Well I got home at about 7:30 PM only to find that Matt was not home!! I thought he might have gone fishing while he waited for me to get home but instead he had to stay late at work to finish a project! I thought I would take advantage of this time so I made chocolate covered strawberries and deviled eggs and bought some bubbly! I tried to make it as nice as possible for him when he got home! So finally at 9:30 PM Matt made it home!! Neither of us realized that the night would start so late but we thought we should make the most of it!!! So at 10:00 at night we headed out to Wingers for a late dinner and it was a good idea let me tell you!! I had the best steak I think I have ever had at a restaurant!! Then we rented a movie...at midnight or so and enjoyed our treats at home!!
So we didn't have some amazing grande anniversary but we both had a good time just hanging out and being together!! That is one thing I love about our relationship, we are okay with just hanging out and talking!!! We are happy to be together and have loved this first year of marriage and look forward to the billions after!!!

THIS IS A LONG ONE SO HOLD ON TIGHT!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!


FIRST, and foremost I have to say Happy Birthday this 14th day of August to the most handsome and fantastic man on the planet!! Matt turned 24 today!!! Gettin' old! It has been the best first year of marriage and I know it's because of the man I married!! Matt is such a fun and outgoing person who always makes life exciting and interesting!! We have had soo many good times and on his day today I want him to know how much I love him and how proud I am of him!! Happy Birthday Matt, I love you!!!

We have been sooo horrible with our updates and I am soo sorry!! A lot has been happening around the Cahoon household and we have just been crazy busy!! I have recently undertaken the responsibility of Team Lead at work..therefore I am a little bit busier than normal. And Matt got a full time job with a painting company that takes a lot of his time as well. Although we have a lot going on we still manage to have a good time!!

To start out where we left off....a couple of weeks ago we took a little vacation to Yellowstone with our good friends, Emily and Trevor!! I was super excited because I hadn't been to Yellowstone since I was little and so I didn't remember a whole lot!! We started out the weekend going horseback riding and I LOVED IT!!!! This was Matt's very first time on a horse and I think he was a little bit nervous!! Once we got all settled and were off he definately picked it up!! It was so much fun! Matt has decided that it would be okay if one day we had some horses...I like the idea!! We got to hang out with the horses afterwards...they had a little baby that was soo cute!! We had such a blast!!

This is Matt on Amigo!
Here we all are on our horses in the forest!
This is Matt and I with all of the horses afterwards!
Isn't she so pretty?!?! The horse!!
Here are the Perkes! Trevor and Emily!!
This was such an awesome waterfall!!
Cute Trevor and Emily!
On our way to Yellowstone!!
One of the many buffalo we saw while we were there!
The wives catchin' some rays while the husbands fish!
Look at these cute boys!
Good Morning!
Nothin' like s'mores for breakfast!!
All of these elk just hang out during the day here. And let me tell ya, there are tons of people that are walking around and it doesn't even phase the elk! It was cool!

After that we were off to Yellowstone!! We had a super fun time, looking at animals and enjoying the beautiful scenery!! The geysers were super cool!! We also got be around a ton of Elk that just happen to hang out in the town!! It was such an awesome experience for us! It was fun to camp out and play for a weekend!! We stayed even for church on Sunday..it was neat to be able to attend church while we were there!!

When we got back...Rexburg was hosting the International Dance Festival, a festival where dancers from all over the world came to share and celebrate their different cultures. I was totally sucked in, I looked like a tourist as I snapped all my pictures. They had a big dance after the parade so my friend Emily and I stuck around to dance a little!! The boys went off and did boy things while we rocked out and had a great time!

This is Emily's booth at the parade.


It was a fun night and as I got into the car there on the floor in a plastic bag was a rabbit that my sweet husband ILLEGALLY shot. He wanted to skin it...of course!! I laughed, knowing Matt so well, and allowed him to skin it!! We then had the great idea to give it a little try. So off to the store we went to buy some marinade!! It actually turned out really well! We cooked it probably a little long but it was good, tasted like chicken!! Another adventure I probably would have never experienced if I hadn't found my dear Matt!
Here Matt is with his illegal prey.
The boys in the skinning process!
The final result!
And the final final result! It looks pretty fancy doesn't it!!

We are still having a blast here in ole Rexburg! Tonight we are going out to celebrate Matt's birthday and I am sure we will have more pictures and fun stories to add!!!