Matt and Paige Cahoon

A Long Time Coming.....!!

2010-07-05T18:17:00.001-07:00

So it has been incredibly long since we last updated! Words would just be a waste a time so follow along on our picture post!

Shay, Chelsea, Grif, Jonas and Cooper come to visit us in Idaho!

Here we are at an old railroad tunnel.
A little Leatherby's!!
Nothing like a rotting deer head pulled from the freeway!
Matt's trophy buck!
What a handsome fella!
Lara has her little boy, Jackson, the first Cahoon grandbaby!
Matt has a close encounter with a young moose.
Whoa big game!
Another darling boy!
The family gathers for a wedding!
We meet baby Olivia, Cassidy's third!
Brody is our little Romeo!
Grif and Kate get married.....finally!!!
Our friends Dane and Laurel have their first little baby, Zoey!
We take our little canoe for a float down the river!
Matt gets one step closer to becoming a true cowboy with his new truck!!
Jonas and Matt get creative with a few sticks and a young archer is born!
AWWW I love this baby boy! Little Cooper!
We get an up close and personal shot of a black bear with Matt's trail cam.
Another big kill for the hunter!
A little bow fishing for some GIANT carp!
NASTY OLE FISH!

Just a small taste of our fabulous life in Idaho!!

Christmas and New Years!!!

2010-01-17T14:42:00.000-08:00

I can't believe another year has come and gone!! It's amazing how quickly time passes!! It was fun to look back on all of the fun things Matt and I were able to do! It has really helped us to see how blessed we are to have wonderful families and wonderful friends!!

Matt and I were lucky enough to be able to go up to Oregon to spend Christmas with my family!! It was such a blast to be with family!! We had a lot of fun doing various things. It was awesome to meet Griffin's fiance, Kate, she was a lot of fun and fits perfectly into our crazy family!! It was also really nice to be able to spend Christmas with Mac before he heads to Afghanistan!

We didn't get a lot of pictures but here are some!!

Cute little Jonas eating breakfast!
Mom and baby Cooper!!
Look at his form!! Shay and his bowling awesomness!!
I actually look like I know how to bowl!!
Shay and Cooper!

The New Year was also very fun!! Matt and I were able to bring Abby back to Rexburg for her first semester so we rung in the New Year with her!!

High rollers, I know!!
Here we are!!

We had an awesome Christmas!! We were so glad to be able to be with family and then bring Abby here with us!! We have had a lot of fun with her and I think she is really liking college!! We are so grateful for the so many blessings we have!!

BIG BUCK DOWN!!

2009-11-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

To many, Friday the 13th is a dreaded day; a day guaranteed to be filled with bad karma, bad luck, and bad juju! Well…....NOT FOR US CAHOONS!!!! WAAAAHHOOOOO!

This year Friday the 13th brought Matt, not only his first buck ever but a large one at that!! I received a phone call today at about 5:45 PM from an ECSTATIC Matt announcing the harvest of ONE HUGE 7 x 8 (or 15 point) BUCK!

Here he is!!!
Close up on the antlers!
Haulin' him across the river! Tough men!
Another close up!
This gives you a little idea of the size of this guy!
Matt and Dane, 2 proud hunters!
You might be a redneck if......

This is just a preview, more pictures and a better update to come!

Man Does Time Fly By!

2009-10-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

So I thought that I was really on top of things but as I reflect on all of my "things", I realize I'm not that on top of it!! The biggest example is our blog! I didn't realize how long it had been since I last updated! So just like my last blog, this is going to big a sum of everything we have been up to the last 2 months!!

Well I'll start off with the most important thing......Matt got his deer! His first ever doe and she was quite the doe! It was fun to see all of his time and hard work reaping a reward! He made a perfect shot, double lunging her!! She only went about 20 yards before she expired! You would think that would calm his craving but it has indeed only fueled the fire! He has continued to be diligent in his efforts in hopes to get his buck as well! He has had a lot of opportunities but has passed, he knows the "Big Daddy" is out there....it's only a matter of time!

Matt and Dane with Matt's first doe! This is how the boys hauled her out...what rough and rugged men!
Here he is, as you can tell from Matt's face, this is probably pretty close to the best day of his life!
What a great feeling to know you won't starve and all because of a loving husband's dedication!

Unfortunately I have not had such luck with my hunting ventures. The first day of the season I was given the perfect opportunity.....only to blow it, twice! I had a deer within 20 yards but shot right over her back! I couldn't believe I missed...that is pretty embarrassing, but Matt was quick to lift me up and encouraged me to try again. So far I haven't been successful but the temperature has dropped and the deer are moving!! I have a few days left and I feel good!

Just call me Hunter Woman!
Just hangin' out in the tree stand!

I also had the opportunity to surprise Cass and visit Texas!! I got a phone call from Brad and he said he was going to his high school reunion and wanted to make it up to Cass by surprising her with me!! I was ecstatic and quickly agreed! He was so great, he made all of the arrangements: he told Cass that his old roommate was coming to visit and asked if she could drive the 2 hours to the airport to pick him up! Cass was very good and said she could do that!!

The day finally came and I couldn't wait. When I arrived I called Brad, who then called Cass to tell her where to pick up "Ryan", the old roommate. It was funny because Brad had found out what I was wearing and told Cass to look for the blonde girl in the black shirt because Ryan was right by her. Cass responded, "Well I can see that blonde girl but not Ryan". I had to really wave her down, she probably would have kept driving. When she finally realized what was happening all she could say was, "What is this?". It was such a fun weekend! We went to the outlet stores, th fair and rodeo, the pumpkin patch, and ended with a girl's night out, just Cass and me! It was so fun to see Cass, Brad, and those little kids! I was happy to have been received well by Brylie and Brody! We definately had a lot of fun together!! I loved seeing Cass and just spending time with her!!

Brody with the pumpkins!
Brad, Cass, the kids, and I at the Heart of Texas Rodeo!
Ahhh I love these little babies!
Us at the Pumpkin Patch!
Curious much?

Matt is half way done with this semester and all is going well! He hasn't been nearly as stressed as some of his other semesters......thank goodness! He will be totally done with all of his classes in December, with only an internship in the Winter to go!! We are excited and look forward to graduation! Work has been just fantastic! My team ended #1 for the month of September with a score of 398.4 out of 400! This was pretty awesome, especially being my first official month as a supervisor! This month has been a little crazier but my team continues to perform really well! It is tradition at the call center to decorate for Halloween and this year the theme was 'Movies'. My team chose the movie "Hocus Pocus" and if you were to see our area you would be very impressed. We have recreated the Sanderson Sister's Cottage, complete with the black flame candle and the spell book! I was given the task of making the spell book and have been very pleased with the final product! Friday is the big Halloween day at Melaleuca so I will keep you posted with contest results!!!

This is the final spell book! Pretty fun!

Matt and I are just dandy, as I've said before, we are probably having too much fun! But you won't hear us complain, we are loving it!

The CRAZY month of August!!

2009-08-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

Matt and I have been so lucky this month!! It has definately been our month of travel!! We started our adventures on July 17th, when my parents, Abby, and Mac all came to our home!! We had a lot of fun that night and the next day at the Melaleuca picnic! We then headed down to Provo to attend the blessing of my new nephew, Cooper! Matt and I had to leave Sunday because finals were the next week, but after hearing of the exciting events that would be happening the next weekend in Panquitch, UT, we decided to head down for the 24th!! We had such a blast with my family!!! We got home only to prepare to leave 5 days later!!

July 31st, we set out to visit Matt's family in Seattle! After 2 quick flights and a 4 hour layover we finally made it to Seattle! Matt's entire immediate family were able to all get together for this mini Cahoon reunion!! We were able to stay busy in Seattle, hiking to Lake 22, seeing Harry Potter at the IMAX, visiting the Animal Grossology Exhibit at the Science Center, Fondue Night, flying kites downtown, and having a Flip Flops and Lemon Drops tea party with the girls while the boys went shooting!! It was such a blast to be all together for a few days!! We wish we could have stayed longer but we had yet another adventure to get to!!

Here we are hiking to Lake 22!
Matt and I on a bridge during the hike!
This is from the Animal Grossology Exhibit....hilarious exhibit!
Anyone for a treat?
Here we are in front of the Space Needle!
Don't I make quite a lovely insect?
How about Matt?
Here is the fabulous looking food at our Fondue Night!
Matt and I at Iron Works Park in front of Lake Union!!

August 7th, just 2 days after returning from Seattle, Matt and I were off to Boise for a river trip down Hell's Canyon with our good friends, Brannan and Brittany Hoover and his family!! This was the first time I had ever gone rafting and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous!! I can report, though, that all went well and I might be a little bit addicted to the sport!! We cannot thank the Hoovers enough for inviting us and sharing their family tradition with us!! Not only that but they made us right at home while we were staying there!! How lucky we are to have such wonderful friends and family!! We have probably had too much fun in the last few weeks but are happy to be home and back to normal life!

Here is the whole gang right before we put into the river!
Matt and a small mouth bass he caught!
Brittany and I looking oh so fabulous!
Matt preferred to be out of the boat during the rapids!
Matt in fishing action!!
Brittany and Brannan looking for crawdads!
Here is Matt and Brannan with the huge catfish Matt snagged!!
Here we are on day 3!
This is when we were picking blackberries after we got off the river!
We scored a ton of oranges, soda, and chocolate milk!!
Here are the boys packing up all the soda and milk!!
A little Nacho Libre for ya!!
Matt's geared up and ready for war!
A big thanks to Wayne and Sandy Hoover for hosting and running the river trip!!

While we were on one of our many trips, Matt celebrated his 25th birthday!! It was actually a well celebrated birthday! We made Matt Hello Dollies, also known as Magic Bars, one of his favorite treats! We then went miniature golfing, where I proudly placed 3rd and Matt won!! It was really a good day and I think Matt enjoyed himself! I got his a funny Redneck game for the Wii and I believe he has decided on a GPS for his actual present!!

Miniature golfing for Matt's birthday!
Another picture of us at the golf course!!

After we got home from the river we were excited to have Cass, Brad, Brylie and Brody come to stay with us for a short visit!! It was a lot of fun to see how grown up both of these little guys were and to learn of the new little one on the way!! Everyone went for a walk up to the temple while I was at work and then, after a few rounds of Wii golf and bowling, we headed to the park to feed the ducks and run around!! We ended the evening with a fabulous dinner at Applebees! It was a lot of fun to spend a little time with the Gunnells!! Thanks for coming guys!!

Cute little Brody!
Brylie and her sunglasses!
Gunnells in front of the Rexburg Temple!
Here we are with the Gunnells!

We also celebrated our 2 year anniversary yesterday, the 22nd! As we reflected on the time that we have been married we both felt like it had been a lot longer, not in a negative way though! I think it probably had to do with how long we have known and dated each other! But we both were overwhelmed by how lucky we were to have found someone that fills the gaps in our lives. We were also overwhelmed by how blessed we were to have been married in the temple! Although we are still new to the whole marriage thing, we feel like we have a greater understanding of what marriage is really about because of the covenants we have made to each other and the Lord! I am so happy to have found Matt, he is such a wonderful man and I love him more and more everyday!!

Happy are we!

We are so blessed and grateful for this little life we have started together!

4th of July and Summer Festivities!

2009-07-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Boy has time flown by for us here is Rexburg!! It is definatley because we are having so much fun!! The 4th of July was so much fun! We started the day off with the Rexburg Parade and it was there that we realized how much we like living in a smaller town!! The feeling of patriotism and excitement was literally felt the second you stepped out of the car!! I love parades, no matter how big or small, there is just something about them! After that we went home and got our picnic all put together!! We had an arrangement of fruit, veggies, pasta and treats!! We got together with Adam, Stephanie, Brannan and Brittany and headed down to Idaho Falls to the Festival and Freedom Celebration put on by Melaleuca!! This fireworks show was said the be 1 of the 3 best shows west of the Mississippi so I was super excited to check it out!! Lucky for us one of the girls I work with was working the Celebration and had an extra Family Pass to the reserved seating area!! We got some of the best seats there!!

Here are Matt and I!
Stephanie and Adam!
Brannan and Brittany!

After waiting in line for a good hour or so we headed in!! We had such a blast, eating junk food and playing cards with our friends!! And then the fireworks started!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE fireworks and they definately went to great lengths this year to make this show awesome!! I really enjoyed the commentary and music that went with it!! Normally you just watch the fireworks but the program they had going along with it made it so much more!!

FIREWORKS!

I love this time of year, especially here in little Rexburg! It was a lot of fun, a long day for sure but definately not anything to complain about!!

Matt and I also had the opportunity to go to an Elk farm the other day!! Holy Cow!! Actually Holy Bulls because there were no cows...it was so awesome! We went back with friend of Matt's who feeds and cares for them! They were feeding them and we tagged along!! As lame as this may sound, I saw my first bull Elk in the wild, in person, this last Memorial day weekend and they were far away!! But this experience was amazing because you actually were right next to them!! You could touch them and everything! I didn't get any pictures and only 1 short video because I was so fascinated with them!! I stayed in the truck the whole time but Matt actually got to be out on the tractor! Of course Matt was in his little heaven, which was really fun to watch!!

Life has been really busy with work and school but I don't think we can complain at all! Matt is almost done with his 2nd to last semester, which he is VERY happy about!! I continue to love work! Melaleuca definately takes care of me! In a matter of 2 days last week I "won" a Playstation 3, an iPod Nano, and $50 to Target!! I have the greatest boss' who make sure that we feel appreciated for the work we do! Although I love my job and that is enough for me, I am really grateful for those that go the extra mile anyways!!

Ooooo Aaaaah!!
My fun prizes!

So if you think life for the Cahoons is crazy and exciting enough....my family will be here this week!!!!! I cannot wait!! Matt and I have been so excited to finally get to see family! Plus they get to see our little home, which is something that I have been waiting for!! We also get to go to the Melaleuca Picnic on Saturday...all of us!! And right after that we are heading to Utah to see Shay, Chelsea, Jonas, and little Cooper!! Boy are we excited!!

Oh that Dam Marathon!!

2009-06-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

The Teton Dam Maraton to be exact! Every year in Rexburg they have the Teton Dam Marathon around the anniversary of the Teton Dam breaking! So a few months ago a friend of mine, Brittany, asked if I would sign up to run in the Teton Dam Marathon with her and a few months ago it sounded really fun!! So we signed up to do the 10K, 6.2 miles, and set up a training schedule!

I have to explain that I hate to run....hate it!!! You hear that you don't like it until you get into it and then you love it, nope...not me!! I have been where I can run for miles but not once have I ever really liked it! I love how I feel after but not during! So the whole time I was preparing for this I kept asking myself why I signed up!! Well last week it dawned on me that I only had one more week until the actual race and I got a little bit nervous. So this past week I worked really hard to get as much running in as possible! On Wednesday I decided I wanted to give the course a try before the actual race on Saturday!! My goal was to do it in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Now I know that sounds like a weeny of a goal but I felt it was a good goal for me without over doing it! Well I finished on Wednesday in 1 hour and 26 minutes.....totally inside my goal!! So after that run I started to feel more excited than nervous for the race!! The big day came and I had prepared myself every possible way!! I followed all the instructions given to me, made sure I had a good carb filled dinner the night before and a good breakfast about an hour and 1/2 before the actual race!

I met up with Brittany and got all warmed up!! And then we were off!! It is amazing how different it is when you are actually racing, energy was amazing!! I was glad that I had run the course a few days before...I didn't have any surprises! I finished 16 minutes faster than I had run it the Wednesday before, finishing in 1 hour and 10 minutes!! What a cool experience this was!! I was so glad to have been able to accomplish something that I had actually worked hard at!! It was fun to be part of something that big and exciting!

Finishing strong!! WAHOO!

This is me, Brittany, and her mom Cindy!

And this is what I was left with....two big ole blisters!

As silly as this sounds, I think I may just shoot for the half marathon next year! Granted I still don't like to run and who knows what state I may be in a year from now but I definately am considering it!

So a quick update on Matt and I since it has been so long since I last posted! Over Memorial Day Weekend we went up to Henry's Lake and Yellowstone with our friends Brannan and Brittany! The weather wasn't the best but we were able to enjoy some fishing! Yellowstone was amazing as ever! I love it there! We saw a cinnamon black bear eating a fresh kill while we were there! It was probably 25 yds from the road and of course we all had to get out and see! While we were watching it Brannan decided to do a little elk cow call, just to see what the bear would do. The first call the bear looked up, he had definately heard it...the second call he totally stood up and stared right at us! As cool as it was to see him respond, we realized how big he was and decided it was a good time to go!

The fish were spawning and I got a picture of some eggs, I thought it was pretty cool!

This is the cinnamon bear we saw....pretty sweet!

This is almost the whole group in Yellowstone!

Matt fishing away....of course!!

No other big trips or events have happened....we do have an exciting summer planned, if we ever get there!! We have had constant rain for the last 2 weeks or so! I feel like I am back home in Seattle! I won't complain though, we did have some sun peek out quite a bit today!

Work is just fabulous! I love my job, I am having so much fun working with the management! Matt is plugging along in school, bless his heart! He has a pretty decent load this semester but after this it should be an easy ride to graduation! I am pretty sure he only has 2 more classes to graduate but he will be taking 2 additional classes to become GIS certified! Not a tough fall semester for sure! Other than that life is pretty normal! We are continuously having way too much fun!

Our Camping Adventures!

2009-05-05T17:29:00.001-07:00

So we had yet another adventure...this time it was a camping adventure!! Two weekends ago Matt and I, along with our friends Brittany and Brannan, headed up towards Mesa Falls to do a little camping! When we got there we hiked a little ways in only to end up in one of the best camping spots ever! It was this little piece of land that jutted just a little...right on the river!

The guys thought it was perfect because fishing was just a skip away and the girls loved it because of how beautiful it was! It was so much fun setting up camp and cooking up an amazing dinner! Brittany was the fabulous cook and we definately did not eat like we were on a camping trip! We had chicken, mushrooms, onions, green peppers...and some other yummy things all marinaded in italian dressing. Then it was cooked over the fire, I don't know about you but food totally tastes better cooked over a fire!

Matt and Brannan had fun hunting and fishing while Brittany and I treated ourselves to a little girl talk! The weekend was so much fun and to top if off we stopped and ate at Big Jud's! Nothing like a huge burger, fries, and a milkshake to complete a camping weekend! We totally ate more than we needed but I don't think any one of would say that we regretted it!! It was awesome food and we were satisfied! It was such a blast and we really enjoyed ourselves!

As now for a quick Cahoon update: Matt just got his bear bait pile set up and is anxious to get his first bear ever with his bow. Most of his time is dedicated to his bow, hunting, and fishing! I love how much he enjoys himself and probable lets him play a little too much sometimes! But I love seeing how excited he gets and how much fun he has...how can you not let a little boy play with his toys? As for me, I am just happy! Work is really really good and I have loved being the supervisor! My team is #2 out of every single team! It has been such a good experience for me and I have loved working with my associates to help them accomplish the goals they have!

The Cahoons are just wonderful, happy as ever! We will hit our 1 year and 9 month wedding anniversary this month, which really isn't a huge amount of time but was just satisfying to think about! There really is nothing better than being able to live, play, and spend eternity with your best friend, and we are grateful for the opportunity!

Adventures of the Cahoons...Episode 1

2009-04-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

So our lives are constantly full of crazy adventures, thanks to my oversized child of a husband. We have so much fun and Matt has so much energy we just never slow down, I was thinking our lives would make a pretty awesome movie!

Our latest adventure is a story about 2 little boys, 2 little bows, and a whole lot of fish! It takes place in the dry beds of Rigby, Idaho last Friday. It just happened to be a beautiful spring feelng day and we felt like having a little bit of fun! So we gave our good friends Brannan and Brittany Hoover a call! They were definately up for an exciting day so we gathered our necessary belongings, packed up the car, and headed out for some fun!

When we arrived the "2 little boys" grabbed their "2 little bows" and head down to the river bottoms to do themselves a little fishin'! Yes bowfishing is correct! It's amazing how you seemed to be drawn to the people that you absolutely 100% click with! Not only do Matt and Brannan share their child like love and excitement for the outdoors and extreme sports, Brittany and I have a blast laughing and talking about OTHER NON-HUNTING OR FISHING topics while the boys are busy!

Matt drawing back!
Matt's first snag!

We had so much fun watching these guys attempt and sometimes succeed in their game of bow fishing! I attempted to pull out the fly rod and cast a few out there but by the time I got there the boys had already made their presence known and there was no way that amateur me would ever have a chance. Brittany and I rooted on our husbands until it got a little too chilly for us, then it was off to the car for some non-fishing non-hunting girl talk! Matt and Brannan were in little boy heaven! They ended up snagging 6 fish, all of which were of very approving size!

Matt and Brannan, 2 little happy boys!

We ended the night cooking up some of the fish and hanging out at the Hoover's! Totally fun day and we are glad we have friends like Brittany and Brannan who are crazy enough to allow us to be our crazy selves.

Saturday was a very good day! No better way to start the day then to listen to our prophets and apostles! The first two sessions of conference were awesome!! During the Priesthood session, Brittany and I rented the movie "What Happens In Vegas", which I was honestly a little nervous about! Surprisingly, the movie was pretty clean, thanks to our Clearplay we were able to get rid of the bad language and just when you think bad stuff is going to happen...it doesn't!! Thank heavens! So I liked the movie, probably more so because there could have been a lot of crude stuff in it that wasn't! After Priesthood session, we met up with Adam and Stephanie and went to Applebees for a little date. Afterwards we all met up with Chris and JJ! We played the XBOX 360 and watched The Pacifier! It was a lot of fun to get together with these guys...we haven't all done stuff for a while so it was nice to see them!

Sunday was just as fabulous as Friday and Saturday! The third and fourth sessions of conference were just as amazing as the first two! We learned a lot and are definately grateful for the opportunity we had to watch! After conference it was so nice outside that us and the Hoovers went on a nice walk! We walked around beautiful Rexburg, Idaho and enjoyed good conversation. When we got back Brittany and I made an amazing homemade BBQ Chicken pizza, I guess I should give all the credit to Brittany, all I did was cut up the chicken and onions. It was her recipe and man was it good! After stuffing ourselves with deliciousness we played cards until the wee hours!! We had so much fun and literally laughed until we were told to be quiet!!

Craziness In The Cahoon Home!

2009-03-30T15:31:00.001-07:00

So the other night Matt was dying to go fishing so I said why not! We didn't have any plans and I thought that would allow me some quality chick flick time! Little did I know, while out fishing Matt had arranged for an unexpected guest to come home with him! Now being married to Matt, I've pretty much come to expect any and everything, he being so adventurous and all, but this was definately NOT expected!

Matt and his porcupine!

Matt in all his glory!

After a few hours of what I thought was fishing, Matt walked into the house accompanyed by oh ya know......a huge PORCUPINE! Freshly hunted, shot, and skinned! What a perfect addition to our already skinned raccoon, beaver, jack rabbit, rattlesnake, and squirrel. He was pretty excited and immediately began to plan out what he was going to do with it! Oh that boy!

In other news, we got some venison (deer meat) from some friends and cooked it up! It was good, I was a little worried about under cooking it, silly I know, so I ended up over cooking it just a tish! We got more from Matt's buddy so next time it will be perfect!

This is our venison meal!

We are getting excited for the spring, even though Rexburg can't figure out whether or not it wants to proceed to that point! We had an awesome day 2 Saturdays ago and then yesterday we were smashed by snow and 50 mph winds! It was yucky driving to work today and I totally expected freezing cold temperatures and snowy roads when I got off work but to my delightment the sun was shining and the snow was gone! WHEW! Let's just hope it stays this way!

We are happy and crazy as ever!!

Catching Up!

2009-03-18T14:05:00.001-07:00

Holy Cow how time flies!!! I have loggod on to our blog a numerous amount of times but just never had the time to actually create a new post!! So we are going to sum the last month up for you the best we can!!

First and foremost, Matt's life is complete!! After a long wait, Matt's brand new 2009 Martin Cheetah bow has arrived!! I cannot even begin to tell you have funny it has been to watch as Matt patiently and not so patiently waited for his little goody to arrive! He was literally like a little boy on Christmas morning when we finally got it! Within 2 minutes of having it in our house, he had it unboxed, unwrapped and set up!! It definately made it worth it to see how excited he was! So I have included below pictures of the treasured bow as well as the little boy it belongs to!

The happy little boy!

So the bow was Matt's exciting news and my exciting news came rather quick and unexpected! So there was a supervisor at work that was pregnant and there had been talk of me possibly taking over her team when she left on LOA, well 2 weeks ago I went into work and got an email that Amanda had had her baby early...10 weeks early! So my supervisor and I were pulled into the manager's office and they informed us that I would be taking over for Amanda as supervisor and that Chris (my supervisor) would have to find a new team lead! Holy Canoly! After a few days of holy cowness, I finally got settled and have, so far, loved being the supervisor!

The Crazy Cahoons!

Other than that we have pretty much just been the same! Matt has been able to float the river a few times and of course loves every bit of it! We have also had the opportunity to watch our good friend, Jessica's little boy! He loves Matt and totally brightens our day! We love that baby!!

This is Matt on his pontoon boat!

This is Matt and Adrian!

Life is good!

Valentine's Day Weekend!

2009-02-18T16:59:00.000-08:00

Boy was it quite the weekend!! Matt and I were happy to have Spencer and HUGE SURPRISE Molly visit us this past weekend!! It was so fun to be with family because it doesn't happen too often!

On Friday we headed over to pick up Spencer and when we found him he asked if we could give this girl that he'd met a ride back to her apartment! Of course we were more than happy to and when she walked over to get in the car........IT WAS MOLLY!!! We were so excited for this fun surprise!! We all squished in the car..Matt, Paige, Molly, Spencer, and Carolyn....and hurried back to our place to get ready for our "Redneck Party"! It was a blast making the necessary preparations for our party..we even got a "Hillbilly" pizza to get us in character!

The party was a hit, we enjoyed the country delicacies of le Poo-poo Platter and a roadkill Porcupine cake, topped off with a Root Beer Kegger!
Porcupine Roadkill Cake...mmmm!
Le Poo-poo Platter, complete with a John Deere Tractor!
Nothing like a kegger!
We then participated in some good ole redneck games: Pin the Rattail on the Mullet Man, You Might Be a Redneck If... Game, design your own mullet, and Charades..redneck style! It was such a blast and we owe a huge thank you to Carolyn who was the main woman behind the party planning! You are so fun and creative!
This is Molly pinning on her rattail! We had loads of pictures so I just chose one but if anyone is wondering we do have the other pictures!
This is the "You Might Be A Redneck If.." game that Matt was so lucky to get for Christmas!
Just a couple of redneck broads! You girls looked awesome!

Saturday we woke up and had a fabulous breakfast of fruit and heart shaped waffles! Then we were off to the hillsides to go shooting!! No this was not a continuation of our Redneck party, this is simply the life I live being married to Matt!! A life that I actually really really love! Matt was excited to shoot his new Rough Rider Pistol (Valentine's gift..the spoiled little booger) and share all of his toys with his siblings!! We all took our turns on the guns and had a blast!

This is me shooting our Rough Rider Pistol!
Matt and Carolyn with the Ruger!

Molly got most of the pictures while we were shooting so as soon as we get those from her we will post them!

Later on we all went to a Thai restaurant here in Rexburg and it was delicious! I got the yellow curry, which turned out to be a little too spicy for me, but Matt was more that willing to make the ole switcheroo (he's a spicy man)! So I was able to enjoy his meal while he downed mine! We ended the night with a movie and a lot of laughs! Sunday we had a FANTASTIC Indian meal prepared by Spencer and enjoyed each others company!

What a fun weekend! One that Matt and I were definately sad to have come to and end! But we were so excited that we were able to have visitors and we can't thank Molly, Spencer, and Carolyn for providing us with a lot of fun! We love you guys!

A Tribute to My Daddy!

2009-02-11T14:48:00.000-08:00

My dad's birthday was on Monday and I just love him so much and I thought he was well deserving of a little tribute! It was always weird to me when my friends would say that they couldn't wait to get out of the house, or it was weird to just be with their parent, especially their dads! I have always been able to share anything with my dad.....even the girly stuff!! Though he probably didn't necessarily love to sit and listen, he always did and he never made me feel stupid or embarrassed!!

I have so many memories with my dad and I am so grateful that I have been blessed to have him in my life! He has always had my family's best interest in mind and has worked extremely hard to provide us with a good life! Well Dad, I can say that you have definately given me a choice life! You have always been there for me whenever I have needed someone to talk to, someone to cry to, or just someone to hug!

I hope that each day when you look in the mirror you are able to see the wonderful man that I see, the good friend that you are, and the loving father you will always be!

I love you so much!!

Matt's New Hobbie and Happy Birthday Brylie!!!

2009-02-05T15:16:00.000-08:00

The other day I got a message on my phone and it was Matt informing me that he was on his way to Jackson to go snowmobiling with a friend!! As much as I love my job, I can honestly say that I was wishing I hadn't had to work that day...that would have been a blast!! Now this may not seem like a big thing but for Matt it was!! You see Matt had never been on a snowmobile in his whole life and coincidentally we just happened to be talking about how he needed to try it earlier in the week!! When I called to see what he was doing he was ecstatic!! For all of you who know Matt, he LOVES any kind of adventure and he had just discovered a new one!!!

Him and Scott had an awesome day, full of exciting trips with the snowmobile!! They didn't get home until later that night and immediately had to put all of the pictures and videos on the computer so I could see!! It was so much fun to see how excited Matt was and to listen to their little stories!!

A big thanks to Scott for inviting him to go!! You have definately made a big fan out of Matt!! I look forward to going with them next time!!

As a little update...Matt started his intership this week working for the same company he did over the summer break!! Thank heavens Matt's boss loves him because we were having quite the time finding him an intership!!! And we can't express how grateful we are to her for taking him on, especially with work being slower these days!! Matt enjoys working with her so it turned out perfect!! I am still at Melaleuca and cannot express how much I love my job!! I don't think I have ever had a day go by where I dreaded going to work!! How lucky we are to be so blessed!!
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We wanted to say Happy Birthday to our favorite little niece!! We love you Brylie and miss you tremendously!!

Sledding with Friends!

2009-01-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

So with all the snow Matt and I had yet to go out and actually enjoy it!! So we got together with Adam, Stephanie, Dane and Laurel and headed off to the dunes for some snow fun!! Although it was blasting cold we thoroughly enjoyed sledding the giant hills of the sand dunes!! We have a bunch of videos but everytime I ever try to put those on here it never works so if you see a video that means that it worked, if not please enjoy all of the fun pictures we were able to get!!

Adam and Steph!!

Matt's go at the dunes!

Here we are!

I totally ate snow on this one!!

Cute Dane and Laurel!

Ready to take the plunge!!

After our sled fest we headed over to Chris and JJ's house with Adam and Stephanie for a winter barbeque!! Nothing like a hot steak in the middle of Rexburg's January!! It was a blast eating, talking, and playing games with our fabulous friends!! Unfortunately we left the camera behind, so we don't have any fun pictures but we really are grateful for good friends and good times!!

Matt and his desert ghillie suit!

Matt and his new forest ghillie suit!

We are still truckin' along!! Matt just got over a fun cold and I was lucky enough to pick up on it!! Although I must say that it affected Matt much more than me...a blessing since I have work!! I am grateful that I have only had to miss one day of work instead of 2 or 3!! Matt has been busy working on his new ghillie suit, the forest ghillie suit, that will go along nicely with his desert ghillie suit!! I love how interesting he makes life!! We have been pretty busy, shooting guns, playing with friends and working our little hind ends off but life is fabulous and Matt and I are just as happy as can be!! We continue to love our time here and look forward to more memories to come!!

2008 Recap!!

2009-01-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

So I will admit that I am actually copying Liz on this blog!! She did a recap of last year and I loved it so I thought I would do the same!! Thanks for the idea Liz!! So as Matt and I put our little newsletter together we realized that we have been sooo lucky!! We really have had the opportunity to do so many things, even being within our first year of marriage!!

To start off the year 2008 Matt and I were in a little village in Mexico! We were so fortunate to spend Christmas 2007 and the New Year in such a beautiful place! We look forward to going back soon!!

I also had a MAJOR haircut this year!! It was a big deal but I was sick of everyone thinking I was just out of High School!!! I wanted to look my age.....probably something I will never say again but it was fun to have a new look!!

We also moved into our cute little apartment in Rexburg, ID! Not only were we able to move there but we also got to paint it how we wanted!! Everyone that I talked to thought that a green kitchen might be too much, and when we opened the can of paint we too were a little nervous, but I really liked how it turned out!!

We also went to Disneyland for the Cahoon Family Reunion!! What a blast that was!! Unfortunately we lost our camera and didn't find it until the very last day that we were there!! But lucky that we have a fabulous family that made sure they had plenty of pictures of us to share!!

Summer was crazy!! We had lots of fun at my work picnic, riding horses, fishing and swimming the river, and a little campout at Yellowstone!!!

In August we celebrated our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! It was a fun day!! We probably didn't make as big of a deal of it as most people because in all reality we had really been together for almost 7 years!! But it was nice to reflect on all of the fun times we have had together!! I am so lucky to have been able to marry my very best friend!

In the fall we went to St. George, Utah to celebrate my Grandparent's 60th Anniversary and my Grandma's 80th birthday!!! We stopped at Cedar Breaks to look around and take some pictures!! The rest of the fall we spent most of our time in the great outdoors on our hunting excursions!

Thanksgiving we celebrated with Matt's family in Utah and we had a white Christmas in Oregon with mine!!

2008 was an awesome year, full of fun!! We look forward to having another awesome year full of it's own little adventures!!!

A Very Merry WHITE Christmas!!

2008-12-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

Please click on the newsletter!

Another Semester Finished!!

2008-12-14T12:32:00.001-08:00

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!!

2008-12-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

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!!

2008-11-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

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!!

2008-09-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-08-26T13:13:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2008-08-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Melaleuca Picnic!!

2008-07-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

So this last weekend turned out to be really really fun!! On Saturday Matt and I went to a work picnic, the Melaleuca Picnic, and it was amazing how big it was!! Each day I learn more about the company that I work for and the big wig behind it and I am so impressed by how well he treats his employees. At the picnic they gave away 25 Wii's, trampolines, bikes, tents, a Carribean cruise, a trip to Disneyland...ya know just a few small prizes!!!!

This is me with 1 of I think 10 fully roasted pigs...they were amazing!!
This is Matt and I with our good friends Trevor and Emily Perkes!! I look kinda stinky, I wasn't ready for the pic!!

Here we are again!!

Matt and I won a $40 giftcard to both the Texas Roadhouse Grill and Jakers, a nice grill as well. Plus we won 2 tickets to the movies!!! They had unlimited food, cotton candy, snow cones, soda, basically anything you wanted they had. We played some volleyball and hung out with friends. It was super fun and I can honestly say that I really like my job! So since we were already in Idaho Falls and we don't go out there too often because of gas prices, we made Saturday our date night as well!! We went and saw the movie Iron Man, which we loved, and then we went to Jakers and were able to get $20 meals each....wahoo!!! We really had a fun time together!!

These are the cute girlies on my team at work! Meagan, Amanda, me, and Tina

Other than that, Matt finished his last final on Friday, passing every single one of his classes. I was so proud of him and his diligence with school!! This semester he managed 17.5 credits...which is a huge work load. But there were very few times he complained and even then it really wasn't that bad. I am glad that he as come so far and it will be a nice little break for him! Work is going great with me. I am now acting as Team Lead while our actually Team Lead is out on maturnity leave. This may not seem to be that big of a deal but I have only been there for a little over two months, so for me it was a HUGE deal!! But I like the responsibility, it reminds me of managing the beauty supply, before it went all corporate, back when it was fun!!

Me and my cute husband on our little date!!

We are going horse back riding this weekend and I can't wait. Matt has never been on a horse before and I can't wait for him to have that experience. I love it and I am sure he will. So stay tuned for those fun pictures!!

Our 4th of July Weekend!

2008-07-09T13:49:00.001-07:00

So this past holiday weekend was super fun...the one thing we forgot to do was take very many pictures!!! We were so busy playing we just didn't think about it!!! Friday we got together with our good friends, Angel and Jessica, and we had a yummy breakfast!! Then it was off to the river to play!! When we got there Jessica and I were the tough chicks...jumping into the freezing cold water first!!! It took the guys WAY longer to finally make the jump!!

Here Jessica and I show the boys how it's done!

This is Matt and Angel FINALLY jumping into the river, I took 3 videos before they actually made the plunge!!

This is cute little Adrian (Angel and Jessica's little boy) in his giant swim diaper! This is Jess and I making the plunge! This is Matt jumping into the river!! Then we headed to Rigby Lake and played there until it was late!!! After Rigby Lake we to the Rexburg Temple grounds to watch all of the fireworks around the area!! It was a ton of fun just relaxing and hanging out!!! Saturday we had a huge water balloon capture the flag war where the girls KICKED BUTT!!! We did a girls vs. boys and they totally thought it was going to be a piece of cake.....they were wrong and ended up losing!!! We seriously are so exhausted because we have been playing constantly since then!!! Sunday we got together with Angel and Jessica again and had dinner!! Then us girls made an AMAZING dessert...our own version of Strawberry Shortcake!!! It was super delicious!! Here we are in the process of making our dessert and then the final product and no Jessica is not flipping us off, that just happened to be the finger she was licking at the time!! Pretty good for made up huh!! I also wanted to show this picture of Matt and Adrian!! Matt is so good with little kids and it was super cute because Adrian zonked on Matt's shoulder!! It was a really fun weekend and we are so glad to have such good friends to go and play with!!

Did we fall off the face of the Earth....Nope!

2008-07-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

So I realized that it has been forever since I last updated our blog!!! I have been super busy and then when I get some down time I am so pooped I don't want to do anything!! Anywho!! So two weeks ago Matt and I went down to California to the Cahoon Family Reunion at Disneyland!! We were so excited that we were able to make the trip!! We got there Wednesday night and crashed...then on Thursday we swarmed the beach and had a blast!! There some pictures from the beach....we don't have pictures from Disneyland yet, we lost our camera the day of Disneyland so we had to use other peoples cameras and therefore we don't have those pictures at this point!! We need to just email people but then again I am lazy!! But we really had a blast! I went to California Adventure for the first time and I loved it!! We had a crazy experience on the Tower of Terror.....the ride stopped in the middle of the action and they escorted some girl off the ride.....we have no idea why......it was super crazy but we did get to ride it twice so that was a bonus!!! It was really fun spending time with the Cahoons!! I am so lucky to have married into such an awesome family.....I come from an awesome family and I married into an awesome family! What a spoiled little brat I am :P!!!

Jake, me, Matt, Jann, and Grandma Cahoon

This is me in front of California Adventure!

Things are going well for Matt and I here in Rexburg!! I won $250 buck a roos at work for selling a lot of specials and Matt was able to get his shotgun!!! So now he is as happy as a little boy in mud!!! I am glad that he has these little hobbies to keep us entertained!! I have yet to decide how to spend that $250, I am such a cheap I put it straight in the bank but I am determined to spoil myself just a little!! We'll see if that really happens!!! So this is our update.....tomorrow is the 4th of July and we have some pretty exciting plans!! My work puts on a huge fireworks show in Idaho Falls, it is said to be the biggest firework show west of the Mississippi so we'll take tons of pictures!!!!!

Finally some summer weather and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

2008-06-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

So the past few weeks here in Rexburg you would have never guessed that we were in the month of June!! Tons of rain and can you believe we had snow last week?!?!?! But on Saturday the rain clouds rolled away and gave a beautiful 80+ degree day!! We went to the Legacy Museum Air Show and had a little picnic, it was totally fun!! Although we loaded up on the sunscreen both Matt and I did get a little burned!! But it was fun and that made it worth it!!

We also made a little video of Matt riding on his motorcycle, it is pretty sweet!! You can search for it on google video...matt cafe racer, but we will provide the video, hopefully, on this post! We have had a great time lately, just hangin out with friends, I won a ice cream maker at work so today we tested it out and we are very pleased with the turn out!! We have been able to really meet new people and have had fun hanging out with new friends!!

Also, I am so proud of Matt because he was awarded a scholarship for school which is going to be such a blessing for us!! As many of you know, he is not a huge school fan but I must say that he has been very good and has done very well this semester!! I love that he has such a huge determination, so much so that he will pursue and endure through things that he isn't too fond of! He is a great guy and I love him so much!! Also HAPPY FATHERS DAY to both of our wonderful dads!! I love my dad so much and am so grateful that I was able to be his daughter!!! I love his outlook on life and his fun personality, he is such a good example to me and I want him to know that I love him so much more than I will ever be able to show or express!!! Though I will continue to try my best!!! I am also glad that I married into a family with such a wonderful dad as well. Matt's dad has always been a big support to us and we appreciate the time and love he gives his family, even with his calling as bishop! We are lucky to have the two greatest dads on the planet!!

Rexburg is treating us pretty well and we are enjoying ourselves!!!

And then there was darkness......

2008-05-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I had a brand new experience, one that I have never ever ever had to deal with before...because of this I thought I would share it with all of you!! So yesterday I was soo excited because I was finally going to get my hair done and I had made my appointment for 1:15, right after work. So I got off work and headed to the salon!! The appointment went great and I was really happy with the results, everything was good. I had started to get a little bit of a stomach ache but all was okay. So I was standing at the counter waiting to pay when my stomach really started to hurt and I started to get a cold sweat and then my eyes kind of went weird. You know if you get up too fast how your eyes will go kind of weird, it was just like that. I just thought "oh maybe I just stood up to fast" and I waited for it to go away!! WELL it didn't and I really started to feel weird, so I told the girls at the counter that I wasn't feeling to hot and that I was going to go sit down for a second. So I turned and I took a couple steps....AND THEN THERE WAS DARKNESS!!!!!! I had totally passed out!!!! Luckily they had a couch right there that I landed on but not before I smashed my face into the wall. I didn't feel myself hit but I heard it and that is what knocked me back to the real world!! The next thing I saw was the two girls running over to see if I was okay!!! THIS EXPERIENCE WAS TOTALLY WEIRD!! I didn't ever feel scared or embarrassed, I just felt bad because I had freaked the girls out! The scared part came a little later when everyone started asking if I could be pregnant!! I am soo excited to be a mom...just not yet so I got scared!! But I can tell you right now that I am NOT pregnant!! There were a lot of things that could have factored into why this happened. For instance, Matt and I had donated plasma the day before so it could have been that, or I got that stomach ache bad right before so maybe it was the pain that did it! I am feeling 100% now(I was actually okay right after), and we've been able to laugh about it. I only have the left over battle wounds....a little black eye, a bump on my head, a scrape on my foot, and I nice bruise on my thigh!! It was a first for me, the passing out thing, and I wanted to share it!! :D

This is my eye right after I got home!

This is the goose egg on my forehead!

And this is what my eye looks like today, the day after!!

Happy Memorial Day!!

2008-05-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

So Matt and I were so excited for our big camping trip we had planned for Memorial Day Weekend.....only to have our excitment dashed to pieces by big fat black clouds and lots of rain drops!!! Instead we just hung out here, Monday, Memorial Day, it wasn't too bad and Matt was dying to get out and fish so we packed up a cute little picnic and headed out to go fishing!! The fishing really wasn't good so instead we just drove and explored in the nearby forest area!! We were really enjoying ourselves, looking for animals and next thing we know we reach a sign that says..."Welcome to Wyoming!" Yeah Wyoming isn't too far away but a good two hours or so!! We had just been jabbering away and drove all the way to Wyoming!! We had a good laugh about that!! Although we didn't get to have our camping trip we did still have a good Memorial Day!!

This is a super cool mailbox we came across when we were on our little adventure!

This was the dream house locaton, in my opinion! Well I actually just love the huge field!

Other than that life is going really well! I am loving my job and I have caught on really quickly..thank heavens!!! Matt is truckin along in school...loving every bit of it I'm sure!! We do manage to have some fun though....we broke down yesterday and bought Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii and we've enjoyed our Wii time!!

We have this cool little tool that hollows out a pineapple so you can have a mug as well as enjoy the fruit!! This is me drinking from our pineapple mug!!

I thought when you got married you grew up...guess not!!!

One Fun Week!!

2008-05-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

Last week was quite an exciting week for Matt and I!!! First and foremost, we got our kitchen done!! Yay! It actually turned out to be really fun!! The wallpaper wasn't as bad to remove as I thought it would be and I found out that Matt is quite the wallpaper remover!! Then we got to paint it!! We painted it green, I know most people cringe when they think of painting a room green but this actually turned out really nice!! I then got really creative with our decorations!! I have always wanted to have a huge clock on one of the walls and I was able to come up with something pretty cute! We haven't completed all the decorating yet, we are still trying to accumulate kitchen decor but what we have we like!! It is definately a huge improvement then what it was before! This is the kitchen before we removed the wallpaper! This is me removing the wallpaper above the fridge and cupboards....such a pain! This is my clock creation! And this is the final product....almost! Next Matt and I got to do some fly fishing!! Matt actually did a ton more than me but I did manage to catch a nice brown trout.........after I had hooked and lost like 5 big ones!! It was a lot of fun! On Saturday Matt headed the school fly fishing clinic and had a good time teaching newbies the skills of fly fishing! Not only that but he was able to enjoy the beauty of Idaho! We love that it is starting to get warm and everything is becoming green! It's hard to see me in this picture but this is the brown I caught! After Matt's big trip on Saturday, we headed out to go shooting with our new gun, Remington 7mm magnum! Matt had already been shooting with it and was anxious for me to give it a try!! I, too, was anxious!! When we got out far enough we set up a milk gallon full of water and a appletree apple juice gallon full of water about 150-175 yds or so for our targets! We also gathered some things that had been left there from other people, a brown glass bottle and some small water bottles!! Matt was the first to shoot and he blew the milk carton to bits, then I took over and nailed the apple tree carton and the little glass bottle! It was a fun day and we really enjoyed each others company!! This is our damage!!
This coming week is normal school for Matt and I start my job!! Unfortunately my training is from 4 to 10 PM!!! We aren't too excited about this but the fact that it is a good job is more important!! Life is pretty good for this little couple!!

Home Sweet Home!

2008-05-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share our new little home with everyone! I have pictures before and after we painted, I don't know if you will see how much better it is after we painted! I am seriously turning into your typical homemaking house wife. Nannying last semester gave me the opportunity to watch A LOT of HGTV (home and garden tv) and boy did I get the bug!! I love to decorate now and this is what I have come up with so far!! Now we don't have a whole lot but I was pretty pleased with our arrangement!! Matt and I really like our place! You may not realize how big and roomy it is with the pictures, they never seem to really show how spacious places are!! I don't have pictures of the bedrooms or the bathroom yet, they are still under construction!! But they will be darling when I am through with them!! The kitchen has a lot of work for us, as you can tell the wallpaper is a little on the old grandma side so we will be removing that and painting!! Maybe that will be next weeks project!!

Other news...I got a job at Melaleuca!!!!! Hooray!! I don't start for a week but I am okay with that, at least I have a job....we won't starve after all!!! Well Matt and I are great...he's off fishing with our buddy Pedro, which means I am cleaning and watching the girliest chick flick ever filmed!!! We are super happy!!

Good Ole Rexburg, Idaho!

2008-05-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

I changed our look to reflect the feeling of our new home....Rexburg, Idaho. This was actually a very exciting thing for Matt and I, we actually really like Rexburg! We love our apartment, much larger than our former apartment, and we get to paint! I am going to Walmart today to get the paint to begin the masterpiece!! I don't have any pictures to post of our apartment right now but I will for sure do some before and after shots!! Off to the store!!!

A Lot of Catching Up To Do!!!

2008-04-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

So I have been kind of a flake with updating our blog lately but I've been busy with life!! So to start off....about 3 weeks ago Matt and I went down to Portland to visit my awesome family!! We played a game called "Quelf", it was hilarious!! It was a fun weekend.

The following weekend me, Matt, and his sister Molly, all met up with our friend at the Evergreen Speedway!! Matt and I went here in high school when we were dating and loved it! Imagine a bunch of rednecks, then add school buses, boats, and a demolition derby.....and you get the Evergreen Speedway! It was hilarious and we enjoyed every little bit. Really its one of those things you'll never really know the beauty of it until you go!!

That next Monday, we went to a place called Paint Away and painted cereal bowls! It was super fun and we were pretty excited with how they turned out!! I am sure you can all guess which one is Matt's bowl and which one is mine..!

So last weekend I flew to Utah to be with my sister Cass, my niece Brylie, and new little nephew Brody, while my brother in law was in Texas!! It was quite the adventure! First, I missed my plane there and had to come back to the airport the next day at 4:30 a.m., then when I get there we all got sick!! It was still a lot of fun and I loved seeing my niece and two little nephews!

Last of all it was super hard to leave Washington this past weekend!! I got so attached to little Jacob (I was a nanny) and it was really hard to leave him! But all is well! Matt and I moved to Rexburg, ID this past weekend so Matt can start school again!! The 12 hour drive from Seattle was actually not bad at all!! We talked and laughed the whole time which made the drive go by really fast!!

When we got here we were a little nervous about our apartment because we hadn't seen it, since we had to do everything over the phone!! BUT we were pleasantly surprised! It is definately dated but huge compared to our old little apartment, we get to paint it however we want so the ugly floral wallpaper in the kitchen will not stay long!! We are happy and are actually really glad to be back here in Rexburg!! We are really happy and are definately loving life!!

A Little Face Lift For Our Blog!!

2008-03-31T21:39:00.001-07:00

So I thought that it was time to be done with the St. Patricks Day background and on to a more Springy background! Although we haven't had too much sun so far, I can still see a glimmer of Spring around!! So for an update on Matt and I, we are doing fantastic!! We hopefully have secured a place to live in Rexburg since the last two places we signed contracts and paid deposits for overbooked and kicked us to the curb!! So in a desperate search we settled on a place that is close to campus, cheaper that the others, but we have no idea what it looks like! I would be lying if I said that didn't worry me a bit but oh well, what do you do! All I know is that there is new carpet, its supposedly spacious, 2 bedrooms, AND my favorite thing....we can paint it however we like and they will pay for it! So I am excited but not getting too attached yet, hopefully it won't fall through!!!

Happy Birthday Mommy!!

2008-03-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

I had to publish a little tribute to the best mom ever!! It is a day late because I was with her yesterday and didn't have time! I am so glad that I have been blessed with a mother that I can rely on 100% of the time! I never have ever felt stupid or silly when I talked to her about anything, even if it was stupid and silly! She is a wonderful person who is always thinking of others and what she can do for them instead of the other way around!! I only hope that I will be the same with my own children some day!! I love you mommy....to infinity and beyond!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

2008-03-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

I know we are a little late but I wanted to share pictures of our St. Patricks Day dinner! Although I didn't remember it was actually St. Patricks Day, I was reminded when I got home and we were able to have a wonderful dinner!! In the morning, Matt's mom had gotten the cereal Lucky Charms and we had that with green milk! Then that night we had Shepards Pie with green mashed potatoes, green sprite, green jello clovers, and green salad with green dressing. It was a fun dinner and we are excited for Easter this weekend! Hopefully we will be able to update our blog sooner rather then later!!

Snow Shoeing Fun!

2008-03-10T21:12:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was Matt's dad's birthday so Matt, me, Molly, Matt's parents, and Andrea all went snow shoeing to celebrate! This was my first time ever snow shoeing and it was a blast! It is kind of a weird thing, I thought it was going to be a lot harder but it actually turned out to be really easy! We met up our guide and the rest of the group in a little lodge/shop and while we were waiting we found some interesting things. Andrea was pretty excited about the little stuffed animals, she is an avid beanie baby collector, and Matt, Molly, and I found humor in the book section!

It was fun to be in the snow and to play around plus it is always so beautiful up here, and to be out in the trees it only made it better! When we were out there our guide was saying that they had about 10 feet of snow there, so we were 10 feet above ground! It was super cool to know that we were that high up! It was a nice little tour, we mostly goofed off, threw snowballs, and tried to white wash each other.

After we were done with the snow shoeing we went back to the car and had hot chocolate and whipped cream, we got a little carried away with that as well! All in all we had a fun day! We were totally exhausted by the time we were home so it was nice to eat dinner and then snuggle up and watch the movie "Stardust". Both Matt and I really enjoyed the movie so we ended a fun day with a good movie!

I also wanted to post pictures of Matt on his beloved motorcycle! These aren't super recent pictures but the most recent that we have. He has had a fun time fixing it up and customizing it to his desire and I must say I have really enjoyed watching him!

Although it may not look super pretty it runs well and by the time we are through with it, it will be a beauty!

The Cahoons are still doing well, nothing really to complain about! Happy and content!

Weekend of Excitement!!

2008-02-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well the past couple of weeks have been pretty exciting! Two weeks ago we went into Seattle for a day at Pike Place Market! We saw lots of fun and interesting things! But we really enjoyed ourselves! Last weekend Matt and I went to the Sonics vs. Blazers game! It was pretty much the Sonics kickin' butt the whole time but it was fun and we enjoyed ourselves! Also, Matt was pretty excited to get his bike running! He has been working hard on customizing it and it is coming along just wonderfully!

Early Saturday morning I got a phone call from Cassidy to let us know that we were an Aunt and Uncle to another nephew! Brody Allen Gunnell was born on Saturday at 2:52AM, 25 (I think) days early! We were super excited and are happy to have another nephew! Matt and I ended or began, however you look at it, the week speaking in church! This was our first time speaking as a married couple and I think we did quite a darn good job! We also attended a baptism for Mary, a woman we have had the pleasure of getting to know over the last 2 weeks due to our calling as Ward Missionaries. It was a wonderful Sunday!

WE ARE OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED HUNTERS!!!!

2008-02-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

So this past week Matt and I took hunters education so we could be certified hunters. I at first went simply to support my husband in his interests but the first class I was hooked! I really learned a lot and I got excited about actually going out and hunting! I talked to Shay and Chelsea during the week and they found it pretty amusing and I totally agreed! Who would have thought me, the little blonde hairstylist, into something like hunting! But I really have developed a huge interest in it! The class was a lot of fun and we enjoyed ourselves!

Thursday came, the day of the big test, and to tell you the truth I was really nervous! I felt like I was in high school all over again taking the final that would either make or break my grade..........this just determined whether or not I could ever hunt, which like I mentioned before, has become something I really would like to do! We did our share of studying and to our excitement passed the test! It was a lot harder than I thought but at the same time I felt pretty confident! We got our little certificates and are waiting to receive our actual cards in the mail. Below are pictures from our shooting portion of our class...mine is the first picture and Matt's is the second, more wrinkled one!

So the Cahoons are doing well! Matt and I have certainly been blessed with good jobs that we both enjoy and that pay us well. It is a comforting feeling to know that we are actually saving money, at least for now! Hooray!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYLIE!!!

2008-02-03T21:32:00.000-08:00

We wanted to say happy birthday to the cutest niece in the entire world! Plus this gives us an excuse to put a picture of her on our blog. And trust me we have plenty to choose from, we laugh that people would think she was ours because of the many pictures we have! She has been fun to watch learn and grow and we are excited to continue with that! Happy Birthday and we love you Brylie!!!

We will miss you!

2008-01-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

With the passing away of President Hinckley we wanted to share our feelings about him. He has really been the prophet that has effected me the most because he has really been the only prophet I feel I really knew! I can truly say that I love him as a man and as a prophet. Never have I ever felt any doubt or had any disagreement with anything he has taught. He had an amazing way of showing his love for us as members as well as the gospel itself. I will greatly miss him but am excited about his reunion with his cute wife and our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. I am glad I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I know that this is the true gospel of Christ.

A New Do!

2008-01-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

So I finally got the guts to cut my hair! Matt and I came down to Oregon for the weekend and I had my friend Tara do it, and I was very pleased! I thought I was going to be a lot more nervous but I didn't have much of a problem! Afterwards, Abby was so inspired we came right home and cut her hair as well! It was alot of fun cutting her hair!

Anyways, since we've been here we have had a lot of fun! Friday night we watched a movie and then Saturday we played, went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday, and then watched Disturbia with popcorn, both kettle and extra butter, and root beer floats! So far it has been fun here in Oregon and we hope to have an exciting day tomorrow!

FELIZ NAVIDAD Y FELIZ ANO NUEVO!!!!!

2008-01-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, some may not, Matt and I spent Christmas and New Years in San Blas, Mexico with his family and three uncles and their families. This has probably got to be one of the very best Christmas' I have ever had. On December 15 Matt and I drove to Portland to spend some time with my family and to welcome home Griffin from his mission in Brazil! It was super fun to see Griffin again after so long, he looked great! We then went to a beach house to play for a couple of days! It was fun to finally have the entire family there and to play and mingle! It's amazing how everyone has grown!! Matt and I had to leave the beach house a day early to meet his parents for the LONG drive to San Blas, Mexico!

The drive down wasn't as bad as I was expecting! We ended up driving all the way from Portland to Tuscan, AZ in one trip and met up with the Uncles and their families! We then drove another entire 24 hours to San Blas, arriving on Christmas Eve. I know you are all probably thinking 'crazy people' but once you see the pictures you will know that it was all absolutely worth it! The first thing we did after setting up camp was the beach!!! We played for probably an hour and then had to get out because funny enough a shark was hangin' out right there. We stayed on shore and watched it for maybe 30 minutes and then jumped right back in! I am glad to be one of those people that can say that I spent Christmas Eve on the warm beaches of Mexico! Christmas was awesome because it was totally about giving to others, our present was just being there! We were able to have a pinata in a teeny tiny town with all the little kids and they loved it! More so because they probably haven't ever seen so many gringos, considering our four families had between 30 to 40 people! We also gave out little bags of toys and games to little kids we saw on the streets and you wouldn't believe how excited they get over even the smallest gift.

It really humbled me and helped me to really appreciate things as simple as clean running water! San Blas isn't like Mazatlan or Puerto Vallerta, touristy and established, it is true Mexico, little houses, some made of sticks, and no english at all! It was a totally unique experience, one that Matt and I are wanting to continue to do! While we were there some of the things we did included hiking down a ravine to a fresh water pool thing complete with a beautiful waterfall, the crocodile farm, a jungle cruise through crocodile infested waters and at the end you get out and swim! Funny thing when we got to the end our boat driver told us that we could now get out and swim and play in the water and right after he said that he calmly said oh look another crocodile........it was literally 10 yds. away from where we could out and swim...comforting huh! Regardless we all jumped in and played in the water!

Basically Matt and I had an amazing first Christmas! This crazy adventure is definatley one that Matt and I are going to continue to do! Every 2 years or so! If we are lucky! It was fun to celebrate Christmas in a different country with different traditions! It was a great vacations!

Now Matt and I are in Redmond, WA working for winter semester while Matt is off! I am a nanny for the cutest little 3 month old boy, Jacob and Matt is looking to do an internship for his Construction Management degree! We are happy as can be, loving married life and doing great!

The First Real Snow!

2007-12-10T07:13:00.000-08:00

So we've had our share of little snow flutters here in Rexburg but nothing ever stayed around long enough to call it real snow!! But last night it seems Jack Frost was busy as a bee! It started late last night and never let up! We got about 4 or so inches last night and it is still going strong at 8:15 this morning!! We were kind of hoping to get out of here before any of that hit us but now that it's here I am kind of glad! It's been so long since I really have had any snow and its kind of a breath of fresh air! Matt, I am sure, probably doesn't feel quite as excited as I do about it but hopefully, if packing up doesn't keep us too busy, we'll be able to get out there and play a little bit!!

Yesterday Matt and I finally got around to eating all the fish in our freezer! Us, Dave and Yadira, Ken and Pam, and Scott, all got together last night for our first and last Fish Fry! Yadira and I filleted the fish, 3 in total equal approx. 10 lbs, and then added dill, fresh garlic, salt and pepper, fresh lime juice, and cajan pepper! We then broiled it and man was it delicious!! It easily fed 7 people with some left over. It was fun to spend some time with friends, espescially Dave and Yadira because this is Dave's last semester and then they are off to his internship and real life! It's sad to know that we won't be able to see them as much but as close as Matt and Dave are I'm sure we'll see them every once in a while, hopefully!!

Well we are on our last week here and it is kind of overwhelming since it arrived so quickly!! I have never had the responsibility to pack up all by myself before so it's been a totally new experience! Matt hasn't been able to help a whole lot because finals are among us and we want all his focus to be on those! But he has definately helped me out with little things as he can which has helped me tremendously! Now it's really time for me to crack down and get it done, that will be interesting since there is a ton of snow outside and we need to get more boxes and man it sounds exciting! Matt and I are really excited about moving and being back in the Northwest for awhile! Plus from Friday on it's pretty much play, play, play for us! We are heading up to Seattle on Friday and then to Portland on Saturday night and we'll be there until the 21st! We then meet up with Matt's family to begin our three day drive to San Blas, Mexico! I am so excited to be going to real Mexico, I have been there once but it was only Ensenada, which is barely over the border!! Plus the place we are going is out in the middle of nowhere so it'll be a brand new experience for me!

That is pretty much the life of Matt and Paige Cahoon! We are doing well and are loving being married and enjoying everything that comes with it!

Late Night with the Keefes!!

2007-11-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

Whoever said late nights playing Nintendo stopped when you get married was clearly misinformed! As you can see from the pictures the Cahoons and the Keefes don't let little things like school, studying, and a bedtime keep them from doing the really important things, important things like "Gauntlet Legends".

Here are pictures of us at, yes, 1:00 AM on Friday morning playing nintendo 64! We are well into the third hour of this game, and this is the second go 'round, so in all actuality its really the fifth or possibly sixth hour of this game. Stephanie and I spent the time very differently then the boys, I finished the last Harry Potter book and Stephanie finished all of her homework! Though I am sure we are all going to suffer come tomorrow morning, we have all had an extremely exciting night together. We first started with a couple intense games of Hoopla followed by the first attempt at Gauntlet Legend, then a brief trip to Walmart and then back home for round number 2 of Gaunlet Legend! Life as you can see doesn't end at marriage and we are glad to have good friends, Adam and Stephanie, who see it the same way we do!!! For those who care, it is now 1:40 AM and the boys are still going strong!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2007-11-28T20:41:00.000-08:00

Well this past week was a great escape from the everyday life of school! Matt and I went down to Provo the sunday before Thanksgiving to spend some time with Cassidy and Brad, Shay and Chelsea, and the little babies. We were there until Thursday morning and then we met up with the Cahoon side of Matt's family. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and ended the night with a big game of tornado, or lightening, whatever you call it.

The next day we headed to Camp Tracy to a lodge there to begin the festivities with the Sorensen side of the family! It was really fun, big, much different then I am used to but I enjoyed it!! We are so grateful for such wonderful families! Matt and I were talking the other day about how close we are to our families and how fortunate we are to have such strong relationships! We love being close enough to at least some of our families, and we can't wait for a couple weeks when we will be going to Oregon to see Griffin and then off to Mexico with Matt's family for Christmas!! We wish that we could be close to our families all of the time but are grateful we are lucky enough to see them as often as we do!! We are including a bunch of pictures and we are going to try to put up some of our videos, we hope you enjoy!!

HE GOT A HUGE ONE!!!

2007-11-11T23:04:00.000-08:00

So for all those who know Matt you know that he is a fly fishing fanatic!! Every time he catches a fish his goal for the next fish gets even bigger! So on friday Matt met his match and one the biggest trout he has ever gotten in his entire life!! It was a 5 lb. 23 1/2 inch yellowstone cut throat! He was pretty stoked about it! It is funny because we have a picture of him with his former big cut throat and it is nothing compared to this last one!! I see this fish as a blessing from Heavenly Father because at the beginning of the day Matt had a rough time at class. When I picked him up the first thing he said was "I am going fishing today!" So being the good wife I am I let him go out with his fishing buddy!! They had fished for close to most of the day and hadn't gotten anything!! The monster was caught on the last cast Matt threw out, pretty amazing!!!

As for me, the only exciting news I have is that on Saturday, as I was so generously giving of my plasma, I got all weird and wuzzy!! No worries I didn't pass out and I wasn't the only one. I had only seen probably 2 people get sick at the Plasma Center the entire time I've been going but on Saturday there were about 6 of us that all got sick at the same time as well as the passing out of one girl! It was pretty exciting!! Anywho, the Cahoons are fabulous, way excited for the holidays and the end of the semester!!

We are still alive!!

2007-11-05T12:30:00.001-08:00

Yes we are still here!!! We didn't realize how long it had been since we last updated our blog. Our October was just fantastic! I had a fun time decorating our apartment for Halloween. You will see from the pictures that although we had very little to work with we did a pretty good job! We went with our buddy Scott to a the Haunted Mill a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed freaking ourselves out. We took video while we were in there, they are totally dark but the audio is really the most exciting thing anyways. Last friday Matt had the opportunity to go Steelhead Salmon fishing with a friend of his who just happens to be a professional guide. They left early early Friday morning and didn't get home until late that night. They caught a lot of white fish and sucker fish but no steelhead. Matt was a little disappointed but from talking to others that were there it seemed that really no one caught any. Matt was still thrilled, after all he was fishing and that has become one of Matts loves.

This past weekend was fun packed. First we went and shot a bunch of guns with our friends Adam, Stephanie, and Dave. Some of the guns were an AK47, a 22, and a semi-automatic shotgun. We had loads of fun blowing away milk jugs, pop cans, and pumpkins. Next we met up with our buddies Parker and Char at Craigo's Pizza, ate some food and talked. Then that night we went to a concert, "Sounds of the Crooked Road", with Carolyn and it was quite the concert. This group was from Virginia and they were true blue hillbillies. I think that is what made it so awesome! After the concert we had to rush to a Halloween party some of our friends were throwing. Because we had to go strait there from the concert, our costumes had to be creative. I found a funny witch mask and a cape at the dollar store and Matt used all of his creative power and went as a leaf blower. His costume consisted of him and a hat with leaves dangling on the front. He definately won the award for originality.

Also since the cat has mostly been let out of the bag, Matt and I got a motorcycle. Don't worry it was wicked cheap, I made sure of that, but now that its ours we are realizing that we really got a steal of a deal. The bike runs awesome, we did replace the battery but other than that its fault free. It is a 1978 Yamaha XS 500, and not bad looking. Matts goal is to turn it into what is called a "cafe racer", they are actually pretty sweet. So he is definately a happy husband which in turn makes me a happy wife.

Married life has been everything and more than what we expected. We have gotten used to the idea pretty quickly. We are doing great here in ole Rexburg, really we are loving every minute of it.

Wedding Pictures and a Cahoon Update!!!

2007-09-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

So we finally got some of our wedding pictures so we can show them off!! It was such an awesome day and I can't believe its already been a month!!! We are loving every minute of it!!! Now for an update!!! Paige is still looking for a job but not allowing herself to get too frustrated!!! Matt is busy with his school work and doing a pretty darn good job at it!!

With all of the crazyness we still manage to get out and have some fun!!! A few postings ago I wrote that soon I would be next to Matt with a big trout of my own....well lo and behold I was right, I scored a 15" brown trout on my fourth cast..........mind you Matt hasn't even gotten one that big!!! I guess I am just a born fly fisherwoman!!! Of course it was Matt's homemade fly that I caught it with so we can give him a little credit!! We also went camping with a group of friends to Island Park!!! It was a lot of fun and we definately can't wait to get out there again!!!

So the Cahoons are doing pretty darn good!!! Rexburg is great, kind of windy but nothing too bad!!! We are a happy little family!

WE ARE MARRIED!!!!!

2007-09-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a time since we last updated our blog but believe me we have a good excuse!! August 22, 2007 started as a beautiful day and ended even better!! Matt and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple and it was absolutely amazing!! We had the perfect ceremony, the perfect weather, the perfect luncheon, and the perfect reception (times 3)!!! Though none of this would have been possible if it wasn't for our two amazing families, to whom we are greatly appreciative!!! Unfortunately we have yet to recieve our wedding pictures so I have nothing to show off but the second I get them I will post them!!

After a crazy day, Matt and I headed to Park City for a week long honeymoon!! It was tons of fun being with the love of my life every second of every day!!! We got to do a lot of things but our favorite had to be the Alpine Slide!! After that we headed to Washington for reception/open house #2, which turned out absolutely fantastic!!! We had a lot of fun seeing old friends and mingling with them!! Then immediately following that we headed to Oregon for reception/open house #3!!! WHEW! That was also beautiful and a lot of fun!!! The madness continued as we traveled back to Utah to gather our goods and head for good ole Rexburg, Idaho!!!!

We got here and had a fun time moving in, full of excitement, panic, and loads of fun!!! Matt and I are definately enjoying married life, although it still is a little weird to think that we are actually really married!!! It has been a crazy couple of weeks but we have loved every second of it and can't wait for more!!!

BRIDAL SHOWER!!!!!!

2007-07-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

TOTALLY WEIRD!!!! It was a super weird feeling to actually be the bride at a bridal shower!!! Things are actually starting to feel real........kinda weird but totally awesome!!! On Wednesday Mom and Tara threw me a bridal shower and it was a lot of fun!! Like I said it was weird actually being the bride but I certainly didn't mind it at all!!

Presents and congradulations, who wouldn't want that!! Just kidding, I really am appreciative of the effort Mom and Tara put into making a fun party for me!! Along with presents we played a few fun games and then ate some yummy desserts!! It was super fun! Only 24 days left and I am soooo excited!! Lets just hope it flies by with no complications!!

REUNITED!!!!

2007-07-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

Matt drove to Portland on the 18th from school and hung out here for awhile!! It was super good to see him since it was the first time since we got engaged! Our time together consisted mostly of wedding stuff, getting the announcements done, stuffed and sent!! Matt did a lot of it while I was working, what a stud!! Monday we went to the beach with a couple friends and had a bonfire and dutch oven cobbler!! It was nice to just relax and enjoy ourselves. We can't wait to finally get married!! Although its only been about a four month engagement it feels like its been A LOT longer!! The plans seem to be falling nicely into place, which is good because I do not want a stressful wedding!!! We are happy to be together and are excited to be sealed as a family forever!

Crazy Day at the Compound!!!

2007-07-09T23:13:00.001-07:00

Today Abby, Mac, and I went to the compound to goof around a little bit!! Tara and I took care of the sun bathing while Mac and Abby rode around on the quad and motorcycle!! I would have showed them both up but I didn't have the right attire!!!
Basically it was just a day of chillin' and lots of playing!! These are a few pictures of us down on the track, we had tons of fun!!

49 Days and Counting!!!!

2007-07-04T16:11:00.002-07:00

ONLY 49 DAYS UNTIL MATT AND I TIE THE KNOT!!! WAHOO!!! The past couple of days Mom and I have really started to work on the wedding and the reality of it all began to hit me!! At this point it's still kind of weird to think that it is all really happening but the excitement of it all well exceeds any other emotion!! I can't wait to spend eternity with my very best friend!! Matt is a good man and I am truly blessed to have him in my life!! I LOVE YOU MATT!!!

Little Cartoon

2007-07-04T16:11:00.001-07:00

Fishing the _______ River in Yellowstone

2007-07-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is Matt at the Targhee National Forest on another one of his fishing adventures in Yellowstone!! Man is he a stud!!! Only a month and a half or so and I'll be right along side him holding a fish of my own!!! The first picture is Matt with a cut throat, size unknown and the second picture is the biggest white fish Matt has caught in his whole fly fishing career. And it was caught using his very own handmade bead head pheasant tail nymph!!!

Paige's Jimi Hendrix Masterpiece!

2007-06-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

This was a little doo dad I did with pen and watercolors! Nothing too fancy but it's the newest thing for me!! Matt has his fun fishing adventures and I don't really have anything that exciting yet so in the meantime you can have some art!! Enjoy!

WE HAVE A HOME!!!

2007-06-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

Although we did sign on our apartment a couple of weeks ago I am still as equally thrilled about it now as I was then and I thought we should share it with everyone!! Even though it doesn't look like much now, I'll have you know it will definately be the hippest, most happenin' pad in approximately 2 1/2 months!!! Simply because the coolest couple will be making it their home!! I actually am really excited to have our own little place!! I have to give credit to Matt for being the little scout and doing all of the hard paperwork......man I'm lucky!!

Fly Fishing in Yellowstone

2007-06-17T19:08:00.001-07:00

Matt has become quite the pro fly fisherman! This past weekend he went to Yellowstone with a couple of his buddies and as you can see they were quite successful!! This is a 13" trout Matt caught at Cave Falls in Yellowstone, with his own hand made fly!

Our Blogging Begins...

2007-06-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

We decided we needed to jump on the bandwagon and get our own blog going! What a cool way to stay up-to-date with everyone! Although we are not yet married, the thought of having our own little family is super exciting and by starting this it makes it all a little more real! So here we go....!