Our Home Away From Home

Have you ever left a place that you thought you wouldn't really miss too much,

 but looked back and realized the imprint it made on your heart?

That's how I feel about Rexburg.

It was the place I landed in after High School 

and had one foot out the door ready to leave when I first drove into town.

It was the place I found home within the white, cement walls of the freshman dorms.

It was the place I met my BFFE's :)

It was the place that strengthened my testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was the place I had to trudge through in the 

cold, snowy, -30 degree blizzards to get to class.

It was the place where summers couldn't be more fun.

It was the place I met my sweet husband.

The place we had our first home.

It was the place we brought our first baby boy into the world.

It was the place we watched him smile, laugh, learn to roll over, eat solid foods, take his first steps, and learn his first words.

It was the place we made good friends.

It was the place we ate wayyy too much and stayed up wayy too late.

It was the place where we learned of health, business and everything in between.

It was the place that changed our lives forever.

It was the place that we left, but loved.

Thanks Rexburg for the cherished memories we had. 

We will never forget our adventure there!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Although Christmas is over and I'm terribly behind, like always,

I would still like to jot down a few favorite memories,

 for recollection sake :)

In early December we took a quick trip down to Salt Lake City to visit my brothers and sisters and their sweet little kiddos!
 It is so much fun seeing the kids interact, I just love it!
We had the opportunity to enjoy beautiful temple square and the incredible Christmas lights and decor.
Afterwards, we met up with my Aunt and cousins and went out for a bite to eat.
It was wonderful having a little family get-together :)

And I had to throw this one in.
I caught this while we were staying at Chris and Laiz's,
 I just couldn't resist, it's a Hessing thing ;)



After our fun with the family, we made our way back up to Idaho, busted out the Christmas decorations for all of two weeks (but I didn't want to deprive Bryson just because we were moving),
and entered into a whirlwind of craziness.

After walking across the graduation stage together,

we packed up our house, said goodbye to our good friends and headed for our next adventure!

We arrived after our long, kind of eventful trip and settled in fairly quickly.

 It was hard to get in the spirit of Christmas this year because of all the

graduating, packing, moving, unpacking, starting my internship just 2 days after arriving, etc.

 We received bounteous loads of help from Ben's family

and survived the move ONLY because of their support-thanks for everything everyone!!

On Christmas Eve we did the traditional Hessing family festivities with everyone-crab and prime rib dinner, the children acting out the nativity scene, laughing over our white elephant trades and listening to the beautiful rendition of "O Holy Night." 

Christmas morning came and it was another good one! Santa and grandparents brought lots of presents and Bryson enjoyed playing with them all, especially his cozy coop :)

It was low-key, cozy by the fire, and with the family, just the way I like it!