CHriStMaS BeRUBe StYLe

Christmas was so wonderful this year. I love this time of year we get some much needed time spent with our families and friends. What would the season be without them? I have to say that we are extremely blessed to live close to both of our parents so that we are able to spend time with both sides on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

As with every year we were extremely spoiled. We have three Christmas mornings. One with just us, Justin's family, and then with my family.

We are just too excited to wait to open our presents. I love taking the before and after pictures of our Christmas. We seem to spoil each other when it comes to Christmas! Who knows this could be our last Christmas to spoil just each other :)

This year I made sure that Justin was stocked up on the basic needed clothing. Since Law School is coming to an end I he was in desperate need of some dress shirts. This coming year I think that he will be living in them!

Justin as always surprised me with some wonderful gifts. My big surprise this year was a Kindle. Now before Christmas morning I had never seen one or known exactly what it was. Well, now it is mine. I love to read and so here is my new avenue.

Let the reading begin!!!

After the wrappings come off we need to show off our loot!

The thing that I hate the most is when all the presents have been opened :(

Merry Christmas Baby!!!

The best present given this year was to Justin from his brothers. Ever since he started Law School he has been playing Ping Pong with the other Law School peeps. He comes home all the time telling me how fun it is and how it helps them to take their mind off of school for a little bit. Seriously ping pong is really the only aspect of Law School that I know a lot about :) His brothers talked my brother into letting them buy his ping pong table that has been sitting in his garage for two years. Now we have tried to buy this table from him for a year and he would not give it up. I guess he didn't want our money! Justin was so surprised. The only sad thing is I did not get a picture of him and his table.

His championship paddle! And of course the game face that he needs to win!

I am so good at taking pictures of just us opening presents but when it comes to getting together with the rest of our family I always seem to forget. I am going to have to remember to snap away.

The loot from my mom's house.

We are so blessed to have the wonderful family that we do. Thanks to all for making this Christmas one to remember. Here is to the new year! We are so excited for what is to come in our lives. Who knows maybe next Christmas we will have a bundle of joy that we get to unwrap!

DEaR LaW SCHooL,

Oh sweet Law School you are at it once again. Your claws have encased my husband to the point that he cannot tell when one days ends and the other begins. I cannot believe that you have sucked the life out of him, and for that much our wonderful life together. Please release him from your intoxicating grip.

I have asked you before to return my husband to me, but to no avail. I am done with this so called relationship that you have with him. And oh so ready to no longer be jealous of you because of the fact that my husband spends more time with you then he ever has with me.

With all of my sarcastic love,

Stephanie

P.S. The best thing about you is you will only be part of my life for five more months. Maybe I can handle that. That is as long as you return my husband back in one piece.

Four years down...Eternity to Go!

Today marks four years of being married to the love of my life! I cannot believe that it has truly been four years. Man time sure does fly by fast. I am so excited to see what this next year of marriage will bring in our lives. For sure we know that there is only seven months left of Law School. The unsure well we will just see what that will be ! (That is what I am the most excited for!)

I am the luckiest girl alive. Thanks Jus for making these past four years the best ever. Here is to the rest of our lives together.

What did you come home to?

So today when I came home this was what awaited me.....

I was on the phone with Justin and just about died!! Our healthiest tree was gone. It just snapped in half.

How does that happen??? Well let's blame it on the wind. When I told Justin what had happened he said, "...well someone must have hit it. Was there any other damage?" Well no one but mother nature had her time with our tree. So the bad thing is I cannot do anything till Justin comes home. Oh and it is laying on top of one of the utility boxes.

Goodbye Summer, Hello School

Well it is true the summer is officially over! I cannot believe how fast this summer went. My mind set is no where near where it should be to be going back to school. The good news is I still have a job at the same school, in fact same classroom only it is a different grade. This year I am a second grade teacher! I am so excited. (If today is anything like what second grade is going to be like then I should have changed grades earlier.)

Having the end of summer also means that Justin is back to grindstone. But guess what?? This is the last year ever of school for Justin! Words cannot describe how excited I am for this year final year of Law School to be here and also to be over with!! This year means a lot of new experiences and exciting things in the Berube household. Hopefully all that I want to have happen this year will. It really is not in our hands but we are praying things will happen. We have been so blessed so far in our lives!

We had such a fun summer, but now it is time to get back to our regularly scheduled life.

Happy 3rd, 4th, 5th of July

This year was so fun when it came to celebrating the birth of Justin. Since his birthday is on the 4th we normally have all the traditional 4th celebrations all pack into one day. And we have to choose where to go and celebrate. But this year we were able to celebrate with everyone and everywhere.

Since the 4th has always been one of my favorite holidays it is centered around doing things with family. So Saturday we spent most of the time with my family. As tradition goes we went to the Cherry Days Parade with my family. You cannot have the 4th without a parade it is unAmerican.

The great thing is we can park at my mom's house an then just walk to our spots that we of course have saved. The parade this year was soooo long. It just kept on coming and coming. I really thought that it would never end. The best part of it though was enjoying it with family.

Then we headed up to the park for some good old Cherry Days activities. Basically walking around the park and talking to old friends and of course eating some great food. Then later that night it was off to a BBQ with my mom's side of the family. This is the first year since we have been married that we were able to make it to the BBQ. I was so glad that we could go and see my family.

Later that night Justin and I decided that we wanted to go and see the fireworks just by ourselves. This has never happened. It was so great to just enjoy them with each other.

Sunday came, Justin's real birthday. We of course had to party all day with his family. What is a birthday party without family.

Then on Monday we celebrated by going to the Farr West activities and a friend BBQ for the birthday boy. This was the first year also since we have been in Farr West that we have seen their fireworks show. Let me tell you it really put North Ogden's to shame. We had prime spots in our Bishops backyard sans all of the traffic and people. Hopefully we will be able to have the same spots next year.

Our gang of friends.

This year he finally got the cake he wanted. Barbie!!

What a great was to spend Justin's 27th birthday. We had so much fun. Happy Birthday Justin!!!

Hello President

This is what Justin loves to say to me as of late. Why might you ask? Well because I just received a new calling. I am now the Young Women's President. I just got called, sustained, and set apart today. It seems so crazy to me that I have been called to be in this position at this point in my life. I still feel like I am one of the girls, not a leader by any means. I am not old enough to do this. I am only 25 and I am supposed to lead and direct the whole group of girls, let alone the other leaders who are older than myself!!!! Well I guess there is a lot of learning that the Lord needs me to do.

I have known since the first week in June, so my mind has been racing and can't slow down. It was crazy because I knew that I was going to be President even before I got the phone call to meet with the Bishopbric. (I have never had an experience like that before.) Having that experience helped me to be calm when the call was issued and since I already knew how could I have said no.

When I was asked to come and meet with the Bishopbric Justin was out of town and I told him what I thought/knew what they were going to call me to be. He said no they couldn't call me to that position if he wasn't there in the interview with me. Well guess what even if your husband is not there they still will call you to fill big positions.

It is crazy for me though to think that in the time that I am Young Women's President my family will be starting. I could have at least two kids in the time that I serve. Good thing I will know the best babysitters in the ward.

I am scared, nervous, and excited about this new step in my life. I am going to need all the help that I can get. If you have any ideas for fun activities, girls camps, youth conferences, etc please let me know.

LiFE iS GrAnD

Let me just tell you I am a very happy girl. Justin has complete two out of three years of LAW SCHOOL! That is right folks we only have one more to go! YOu know what that means, babies will soon be on their way! Now that Justin is almost done completing his dream of being a LAWYER my dream of being a mommy is well on its way. I know that I complain all of the time about not having any children right now, and the fact that I just turned the big 25 does not make it any better by the way, but Justin is making it so that one day I can stay home and raise my kids. This means my full time job will consist of: wife, mommy, nurse, driver, homemaker, and whatever else you want to add to the list. That job description could not be more fit for me!

Life is grand because life is happening no matter what we do to try and stop it. So just sit back and enjoy the ride!!!

No MoRe WiSdOm

It is official our house no longer has any wisdom in it. As of this weekend the wisdom teeth have all be taken out.

For the past couple of months my lovely wisdom teeth have been breaking through my gums. Can we say that teething at age 24 is not a fun thing to have happening. I can really relate with little babies now.

Though I do have to say that I am one of the lucky ones because I only had the top two and no sign of the bottom two. I pray that they never show up, I do not want to go through this again.

The pain has been manageable and the swelling, well it really isn't there. When people have come to visit they don't really believe me that I just had them taken out. The chipmunk cheeks are non existent. (Though I feel that my cheeks are larger than normal.)

I have had the best nurses between my mom and my husband. Thanks so much for all the help that you have given me. Now if my mom could just teach Justin how to clean up the house so that I won't have to do it!

Hello Mr. President

This photo is not doctored in any way. Justin really had the opportunity to meet President Bush!

I forgot to blog about Justin's big adventure back in February. He had the great experience of being able to meet President Bush. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him and he would not have missed it for the world.

Justin's dad works for Associated Foods and therefore is involved in the National Grocery association. This year he was invited to go to the board meeting and the guest speaker for the meeting was, you guessed it President Bush. He was able to bring his significant other but Justin's mother thought that it would mean more to Justin. Justin could not have been happier after he got the call from his dad about this great opportunity.

He left on February 8th a Tuesday afternoon after school to fly to Las Vegas and then returned at 8:00 the next morning so that he could attend his classes for the day. What a dedicated man I married! Wouldn't you do whatever you could to meet a President?

So now Justin has some great bragging rights. If you were to ever go to his office he might tell you a different story about how he met the President. Just let him tell it, you will know the truth :o)

LOVE is iN tHe AiR

I love it when Valentines Day falls on a Sunday because that means that we get to celebrate it all weekend long. Of course for me it starts at school with all of the 1st grade Valentine activities. I love celebrating with my students on holidays they make it so much fun. They love making sure that they give me and the rest of their classmates Valentines.

Friday night Justin was studying late, which of course is our life lately. So I decided since we were going to celebrate Love day on Saturday that I would make a romantic dinner. So I tried a new recipe and made sure that it was all done and on the table by the time he walked through the door. I was successful. Then we decided to spend the rest of the night watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

Saturday morning I woke up to this little box....

Do you know where this box came from? I never thought that I would ever see this box in my hands. Justin got me something from Tiffany's!

Here is what it was...

He gave me the key to his heart, even though I have already had it for over four years! He also always finds the prettiest roses ever. These roses are called hearts on fire.

Seriously I always feel like I never do enough for Justin. All that I got him were some of his favorite treats. Even though he really liked them, it just does not compare to getting a little blue box and roses. Let's just admit it, Valentines day is for the girls. Justin tried to study Saturday morning and afternoon. He was successful for a couple of hours but then lost his desire and decided that he would study all day Monday instead. (When I say all day that means from 9:00 am to 1:00 am, no joke.) No problem for me. That meant that we could spend the night together sans law research.

We had thought all week about where we wanted to go to dinner. The Braza Grill was our final answer and luckily we had a coupon. So off we went to Layton. We of course decided to go shopping first. But the place we really wanted to go was closed. So then we went to the grocery store to get food for Sunday. Then it was off to dinner. We drove up and guess what it was Closed down too and a new sushi restaurant was in its place. WTH! Seriously we were having the worst luck. By this time it was getting to be dinner rush time. There was not chance that we would find a place. We tried three other places then realized our luck had already left for the day. So we went to Justin's favorite place, The Sizzler. How romantic. It turned out great because I was with Justin. Though I felt very over dressed in a sparkly top and high heals. What can you do? I wanted to go and see Valentines Day but by the time we got done with dinner we looked it up and it was all sold out. So we went to the dollar theater and watched 2012. Man that is a depressing and long movie.

Then today Justin is making dinner for my mom and me! What a sweetheart.

I love my husband so much and cannot and will not imagine life without him. Thanks babe for making this Valentines the best ever!

GoOD NeWS...

Well I forgot to blog about what happened to Justin's car. Well they were able to fix the car and not total it out. Hooray for us! The funny thing is it took about $8,000 dollars to repair. That is a lot of money to put back into the car. The insurance company said that there was not enough damage to total it. That seems like a lot of money to not be totaled. Good thing that we have paid insurance our whole life. We only had to pay the co-pay. So there are no complaints on our end. The repair was all cosmetic as they termed it. Meaning that there was no structural damage at all. She looks as good as new. The only bad part was that we had to wait over a month to get the car back. But well worth the wait to get Justin's first love after his mission back, right?

We are so blessed that the accident was not worse and that they were able to fix it. Now Justin just needs to make sure that when he drives he has had enough sleep and pays attention to the road!

You know them?

So last night I was over at my niece's house and we were playing The Beatle's edition of Rock Band. I started singing along with Yellow Submarine, without looking at the words. The following conversation ensued (mind you she is 12 years old)....

my niece: "You know this song?"

me: "Yes I do. I have heard it before."

my niece: "So you know the band the Beatles?"

me: "Yes I do."

my niece: "Well do my uncles, I mean your brothers know and like this band too?"

me: "Yes, they do."

She just could not wrap her mind around the fact that we too know of the Beatle's and their songs. It makes me laugh. So now she thinks that I am cool because I like the Beatle's just like she does.