Mothers Day

I'm not sure if its my newly found wifely instincts, or the fact that I just graduated and don't have a job, but I have been on a crafting kick lately. Thus, my mothers day gift takes me back to the 2nd grade, not only because it looks like a 2nd grader did it, but because I burned myself with the hot glue two times in the creation of it.  

I decided I'd make my mom a cute little jewelry holder for her earrings. And, because I get major anxiety spending money, I made this little craft for less than $4. 

$1.00 picture frame DI

$1.00 cute vintage tissue paper from the dollar store

$1.00 small wire wastebasket from the dollar store

>$1.00 leftover paint from painting our apt, ribbon from my house, mod podge in my closet, and hot glue from my sister (and neighbor) Alyse:)

Cute ya?

Hope she likes it.

Is it really already the end of March?

I'm not going to lie. The only thing that gets me through this dreary (and long) month of March is Basketball. Really though, what were the Egyptians, Babylonians, or whoever else made the first calendar thinking by giving us such a long cold, wet  month without holidays? I guess I should actually blame our founding fathers or BYU for this holiday-less portion of the year, considering there aren't any national holidays and most definitely not a hint of a spring break here Provo.  Oh and I guess I should blame the cold part on living in Utah, the egypitans probably weren't subject to random blizzards in their geographic location.

Anyways, while March is not my favorite, I sure am grateful for it because I think its my husband's favorite month of the entire year. The basketball filled weekends have kept him happier than a little kid on Christmas. (Obviously his bracket has done a little better than mine:)) So, as a married woman, I have come to accept the month of March as a good thing.

In other news, last week we went out to a new place Mexican place called Milagros on 8th North in Orem, right next to WinCo. We went with a bunch of Brent's high school friends and their dates/fiances/girlfriends. (So thankful I am no longer in that category). It was really fun. The food was pretty good. Not my favorite but enjoyable. I still think Cafe Rio tops my list.

Brent's friend Chance and his girlfriend Melanie

Brent and I in the car after dinner, forgot to take a picture of us inside:)

Also, since it has been more than a little while since I last posted, I'll let you see the cuteness of my husband this past valentines day. *Don't worry that Brent and I have an extra special love for Valentines day because our first date was actually a blind set-up that somehow happened on Valentines day.

So somehow we still didn't have a dining table so brent picked up a table for the evening:)
Don't worry that I am slow to decorate... everything in my entire house.

Brent cooking up a secret dinner in our kitchen.

I made him try on my cute apron my amazing cousin JanaRae made me.

Hopefully his brothers don't see these pictures:)
Best Sweet and Sour chicken ever.

HOMEMADE German Chocolate Cake.

So Happy

Dinner... hopefully he decides to cook again one day. Haha

Hope you all made it through March. Anybody have any good ideas for Mexican restaurants? I'm looking for authentic spicy stuff. Very open to "dives" as well:).

Two Things

I am very excited for two things this week.

One: I got some wedding pictures back from my wonderful photographer. As I was looking through some of the pictures I couldn't handle how attractive my husband looked. I am so lucky. Anyways, I'm excited that I can finally make up my thank you cards and get them out. Yeah, sorry I probably was supposed to do that a month ago:) I already revealed that I struggle with normal wifely duties.

Two: BYU plays SDSU tomorrow for what appears to be the biggest game of the century. I spent half of today watching Jimmer on YouTube and reading articles about the game. Apparently its BYU's first time playing a top 5 team since 1978 in the Marriott Center. This game is going to be the best thing ever. I'm debating if its necessary to go to school tomorrow, I need pre-game prep time to make snacks:)

BYU wins 83 to 81
Jimmer with 26

One day I'll be a better wife.

Brent works for Comcast. Its been a good job, but his schedule is horrible. He works after school from 2:00 pm til 11:00 pm in Sandy. In addition to his hour-long commute, he also has to work Saturdays. So, instead of doing normal wifely things that I assume I should be doing on a Saturday afternoon while my husband is off working, I research things that don't really matter on the internet.

For example:

My name recently changed to Andrea Staheli. I used to be a Hales. So obviously the first thing any normal person would do when their name changes, is type their new name into Google and see what comes up.

A search of "Andrea Staheli" brought up 283 results in .23 seconds. It appears that there are at least 3 Andrea Staheli's in the U.S. The most famous Andrea Staheli is a business professional in Arizona. The others were a real estate agent and a fraud prevention specialist. Looks like I have some competition. One day I hope to make the first page of the Google search for Andrea Staheli.... but only on good terms.

Also, as part of my nonessential research I found out that there are *statistically speaking* 11 Andrea Hales' in the United States, while there should only be 1 Andrea Staheli in the US based on popularity of first and surnames. How popular is your name?

And so I'm a Staheli

I think the last month of my life can be summarized by one word:

Joy

Its hard to even express the way my heart feels when I think about the opportunities I've been able to experience during the last 31 days. 

Dec  : Numerous Bridal Showers and parties from my family and friends.

Dec 9:  Going to the temple to receive my own Endowment.

Dec 13: Finishing six classes worth of finals by the second day of finals week.

Dec 17: Marrying my best friend Brent Tanner Staheli in the Salt Lake Temple

Dec 18: Wedding open house and being able to see all our friends and family, thank you for your love.

Dec 21: Moved in to our first apartment together. No couch, no dining table and no internet or television connection. Good thing I'm living on love:)

Dec 24: Sledding, homemade chicken noodle soup and games with my new family in Payson on Christmas Eve.

Dec 25: Christmas with two amazing families, including a long conversation with my favorite brother and best friend, Elder Daniel Hales, currently serving in the London, England mission.

Dec 28: Finding out that we not only passed all of our classes during the craziest wedding, working, and schooling semester of our lives, but we got A's!

Dec 31: First new years eve kiss with the love of my life:)

Jan 4: First day of my last semester at BYU. And, only three classes!

Jan 7: Brent and I got to go see his best friends wedding at the Manti Temple, just three weeks after we were sealed. 

I'm excited for many more months of joy, love and hard work!

*We haven't gotten any of our wedding pictures back yet, but here are some of our engagement pictures.