Happy Valentine's Day!

To update everyone since the last post, we are not going to move. No trailer adventures for us. Our rent decreased enough to save us the trouble of moving out. While a new place is always fun, I'm so grateful we don't have to move all our stuff...what a pain that is.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Gavin and I have had a fun-filled weekend. Friday night we went out to eat with some friends (Winger's has a pretty good deal right now people!) and then went to the dance the Stake was putting on and GAVIN DANCED WITH ME. For those of you who know Gavin well, you will understand what a glorious thing that was. If you were there at the dance and didn't see us and think I'm making this up, it only happened once, so if you weren't in the room for that 3-4 minute window, you missed it. :)

Saturday was sunny and beautiful so Gavin and I took advantage of the sunshine and went golfing for awhile. The course wasn't open (we got kicked off after about 2 and 1/2 hours...haha, oops.) and I'm probably the worst golfer you've ever seen in your life, but it was still a blast! Gavin was very patient explaining to me over and over the proper form (which I still can't do, but I have improved) and not being concerned that I only hit it about 1/8 as far as he did every time. It was so nice to spend the time together and to be out in the sunshine; I can't wait for summer!

One of the speakers in church today commented how her and her husband were debating what to get each other for Valentine's Day and she decided she really didn't want anything because every day was like Valentine's Day. I had to laugh because that's exactly how I've felt for the past 6 months. For one thing, Gavin makes me breakfast every morning, complete with pancakes on Saturdays. Plus I work with a bunch of women so there's ALWAYS a bunch of chocolate around. Amazing husband making breakfast + chocolate = every day is Valentine's Day. Man, I've got it good! :) But seriously, life is so awesome right now: happy in love, we both have wonderful families and great friends, and we're so blessed to know our Savior and be able to partake in the wonderful blessings of the Gospel.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

The pictures are from Lauren (Gavin's sister) and Rob's reception in December.

Where to now?

So the big news on the Giraud front is that we are going to move, probably by the end of February. To think we finally got all the pictures hung on the walls just last week...sigh. :) Since I started working our rent took a huge increase (we are in subsidized housing while Gavin is in school), so we decided we should look elsewhere. The big thing we're looking for is cheap rent and we have a couple of options. The first one is a complex where a bunch of our ward members live--it's nice, 2 bed 1 bath, good location, great neighbors...I think it would be an awesome place to live. The second place, is, yup, you guessed it, one of the trailer parks here in Moscow. There were 3 of them available and we went and checked them out today. I really liked the first one--it had a wood stove which would be AWESOME for our heating bill, new carpet, 2 bedrooms and it was decent sized, but the bathroom was...umm...less than desirable, lets just put it that way. The second one is the one we're considering most--new bathroom (major plus! The first one had a mauve toilet...), cheap rent, smaller living room but still plenty big, good sized kitchen, nicer on the outside, but the carpet was old...I really liked the new carpet of the first place. The third one was ruled out the second I walked in the door. I stepped in and was like "AH! THIS PLACE SMELLS LIKE PEE!" Which is really too bad because it had decent carpet, the nicest kitchen and a decent bathroom. But seriously...there's NO way I can get over that smell. And who knows what peed where to make it smell like that. Sick. Anyways. So those are our options. It's $50 difference between the first and second one (first is more expensive). So what do you think? The more sensible side of me says "Go live in a nice apartment for $40-80 more a month!" But there's part of me, I suppose it's my inner-white-girl-trailer-trash, that thinks the trailer park would be such a grand adventure!!! I think it would be so much fun to look back and think how ghetto we lived while we were in school. And $80 a month is kind of a lot to save. So between the trailers, what do we sacrifice? A nice bathroom with old carpet? Or bad bathroom with nice carpet? And is that carpet worth $50 more a month? Can I pee on a mauve toilet? Such tough choices. :) We'll keep you posted. For now, keep your eyes peeled for me some cowgirl boots--if I'm going to live in a trailer I'm totally going to rock the cut-off shorts and boots look. Hot stuff.

Christmas is only a week away and this is the first time in either of our lives that our Christmas shopping is done before the 20th. I was able to find a 6' Christmas tree at a garage sale this summer for $10 which we put up within an hour of being home from Thanksgiving. I'm too cheap to go out and buy full price ornaments (I'm waiting for the after-Christmas-75%-off deals) but we had some neighbors lend us some of their ornaments so we don't have a naked tree. :) An interesting thing I learned about Gavin was that he has a serious talent for making fake trees look beautiful. After I compared the branches I had tried to fix with the ones he did, I found myself something else to do and let him tackle the tree.

Gavin was officially done with finals yesterday and I'm probably just as relieved as he is. It was 2 weeks with a lot of late nights and dinners at the law school so Gavin could stay there and study. It's better for him to stay at the school and study because it's too hard for me not to distract him when he's home. We've had a great schedule this past semester, waking up early and I drop Gavin off at school at 7:30 then make it to work in Pullman, WA by 8:00 am. Then he stays at school and studies until I pick him up on my way home from work, usually about 6:00 pm. The past couple of weeks we come home, he studies while I get dinner ready, we eat, and he studies some more. Like I said, I'm glad finals are over! He deserves a vacation and I would like my husband back! :)

Gavin and I are staying here in Moscow for most of the break. I work half the day on Christmas Eve and then we'll head to Boise. For once I'm praying we DON'T have a white Christmas so the roads will be clear. We are both so excited to be with our families for this wonderful time of year. We're especially excited to see Natalie's new baby Olivia Sue and to attend Rob and Lauren's wedding! It's going to be a crazy trip with so much to do with only a few days to do it, but we can't wait! I love Christmas time and the happiness it brings as I focus more on the Savior and the gift He gave to the world. Merry Christmas!

Autumn in Moscow

Autumn is here in Moscow and it's a beautiful time to be in northern Idaho. The trees are turning and the air is crisp--I love this time of year! We've now been married for over two and a half months and we're looking forward to the 3 month mark because that's when you officially know everything there is to know about marriage and you can start giving advice to other people. :) Haha, just kidding. But it really has been the most amazing few months of my life. It's so much fun to have someone to come home to and to start a home with.