The Flood from #5

*Here's the scoop on the news: http://www.localnews8.com/news/rexburg-deals-with-flash-flooding/26973468
As I'm sure most of you have heard, Rexburg flooded yesterday. WHAT?! No one heard? :) As crazy and surreal as it seemed at the time, a lot of people were left with LOTS of damage today. A friend in my ward posted this picture this morning:

That's an apartment under there. It seemed sort of off to me that so many people were wearing booty shorts and taking selfies in the poo water while this was going on, but whatever floats their couch. I've never been involved in something quite like it before, and I hope I never am again! I do have to say that it was amazing to see people so willing to help each other. So many were wandering around asking everyone if they needed anything. It was nice that it brought people together. We had so many friends and people from our ward call and text us to see if we were okay. Everyone was keeping tabs on each other. And I really think that a lot of people yesterday who weren't too badly affected by it didn't quite understand how much of a disaster it was in some areas of town.

Austin and I were nervous, but we were blessed. We live in the basement of our apartment complex which is located down in what I now call the "Rexburg Lowlands" haha here is a view from our kitchen window:

The beginnings. At this point we were like, "Oh cool! That's a lot of rain and hail!"

But it quickly turned to...

"Oh crap! It's all up on our apartment!"

Again, we were lucky. I sent this picture to my brother, Stephen, and he replied, "Beachfront property!"...not quite. We were worried since we live in an older building that there might be a crack in the foundation and it would leak through. However, Austin does cleaning and restoration for his job so he knows how to watch for the signs. So he kept checking inside, and outside, and inside again. And again, and again. We ended up being okay. Especially after I remembered to close our bedroom window (!) So we went outside to take a look at the damage and see if we could do anything. That's when we found that Lexington Apartments (RIGHT next to ours) looked like this:

This one was pretty sad because we saw a couple coming home from being on campus to find their bottom-floor apartment flooded and their car under water. It was pretty heartbreaking. It was just a matter of them being a little bit lower than us.

There was a whole mix of different things going on. It was almost funny just that it happened so fast, but not so funny at the same time. Coming into work in Idaho Falls this morning, almost NO ONE knew it had happened at all! Austin had called his dad last night to tell him about it and at the end of the conversation he said, "Well, be safe. I'm gonna go mow the lawn."

Overall, it was a very interesting experience that I hope to never experience again!
Oh, and let's not forget the quarter-sized hail because that's always an added bonus.

(After it melted down a little)

Six Months of Sweetness

This past weekend we reached our six month mark. Yippee! I have to say, it has flown by so quickly. We've had our share of adventures through the last six months. Just about a week ago we got to attend Blake & Brittney Brinton's wedding in Idaho Falls. Oh, what a special day it was! We love seeing friends we normally don't get to see a lot and, of course, hitting that dance floor. it was a great day. Austin's sister, Jenna, had back surgery this last week so we got to watch Ashley over the weekend. Austin got to have some fun coaching her at basketball, and we ate lots of ice cream and played lots of Mario Party (because we're responsible adults). We babysat our favorite baby in the ward a few weeks ago and he cried the whole time...let's just say we'll wait on the babies. We got our wedding pictures from the awesome www.paigeandblakegreen.com (complete with a sweet movie gift card) and let's be real, the pictures are incredible (see Facebook for details). Austin is a trooper as always working more than part-time hours a week and taking 14 credits. He stays up late doing homework most nights, but still manages to find time for me since I'm so bored. :) I'm still working full-time at his dad's insurance agency in Idaho Falls and trying to find ways to fill up my other time...and to dance! We're getting ready to head to California at the end of July to visit my family. They're moving from Riverside to Beaumont within the next few weeks so it will be weird to not go home to Riverside! We have plans to go camping in Mesa Falls for the 4th of July weekend and then go see the fireworks in Idaho Falls. We don't get to spend as much time enjoying the summer weather as we'd like because we're either working or in class all day and Austin is usually doing homework the rest of the time (and we have church from 1-4 PM on Sundays), but we get out when we can! We love to play games and watch movies and be with our friends! Most of all, we love each other. :) Hope everything is going well for everyone else! Here's some motivation for you on this Monday afternoon:

Fransen Facts

I've decided to do what I so cleverly call "Fransen Facts". I will post a random tidbit of information about Austin or myself (or both), because I know everyone really wants to know more about us. At least I assume you do if you're making the journey all the way over to this blog! So, the Fransen Fact of today is............

HOW WE MET!

1. Step One. It all began back when some good friends of mine convinced me to move to The Ivy apartments in Rexburg. It actually began when I decided NOT to transfer to BYU Provo even after I had been planning on it ever since I started attending BYU-I and had been accepted for Fall 2012 (which ended up being the semester I moved to The Ivy).
2. Step Two. Austin served a mission in Oklahoma City. GO THUNDER! He was the best missionary ever and made some awesome missionary friends. One of the best missionary friends happened to be an Elder Jesse Timoteo.
3. Step Three. I call these steps, but they didn't quite happen chronologically. I moved to The Ivy while Austin was on his mission. My first semester living there I happened to be in the same ward as Jesse Timoteo who thought I was pretty cool for having a brother who was a video game programmer for the Madden Football games. Needless to say, our friendship flourished.
4. Step Four. In the beginning of February 2013 Jesse tells us he will miss whatever Sunday festivities we were having that day to attend the missionary homecoming in Idaho Falls for one of the Elders he knew from his mission who had just gotten back. Lame. 
5. Step Five. It's a gloomy Valentine's Day (and I'm not just talking about the weather!) when Jesse says some of his mission friends are up in Rexburg visiting. I had just gotten home from teaching ballet classes. I was exhausted and wanted to see no one. Jesse said they were going to come over anyway because the recent RM's "needed to learn some dance moves"....(I found out later that Jesse had been showing Austin my pictures on facebook and our Obama Dance video we made for our ward talent show the previous semester and he wanted to meet me :) I, jokingly, said I liked fresh meat, and so they came over. We met, it was pretty awkward, Jesse played "Call Me Maybe" on his phone (which ended up being our wedding song later--the Boyce Avenue version, not Carly Rae). Finally, and after much prodding, Austin asked me if I wanted to do something that weekend. I proceeded to put my number in his phone, and then they left. 
6. Step Six. We went on our first date, fell in love pretty immediately, got married, etc. But more on that later.

(This is the first time Jesse and I officially met. He was so excited to meet me that he Instagrammed it)

*Fun fact: Austin would later move into this very apartment*

-October 2012-

(This is Jesse actually meeting his hero: my brother, Jacob. The ultimate maker of Madden Football games. This was at our wedding in San Diego)

-December 2013-

(Austin's mission homecoming that Jesse went to. If only I had known then what I know now...I would have gone with him!)

*Fun fact: Mark Linford (to the left of Austin) also served in the Oklahoma city mission with Austin and Jesse.*

-February 2013-



If you'd like to watch the Obama Works it in Rexburg video I mentioned, here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RreGQgi9PsE

Since the Wedding...

Our lives are super exciting. Since we've moved back to Rexburg after all of our wedding festivities we moved into our apartment and started full-time jobs all within a week. Maybe anyone who received a thank you note four months after our wedding now understands why that happened. Anyway, I started working as the secretary/receptionist for Austin's dad at his insurance company in Idaho Falls. Austin went back to what was only his part-time job before doing cleaning and restoration at ARS in Rigby. We moved into Galaxy Apartments (and despite what's probably going through your head right now they are not far, far away). We got a pretty good deal on them. They have two bedrooms and are pretty spacious compared to some of the closet-sized apartments we saw for the same price. They're a little older but they were just recently renovated. Score! We spent the first couple weeks utilizing all of our gift cards at Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond to get the stuff we needed for our apartment. We got integrated into our ward pretty quickly by being chosen to participate in The Newlywed Game for a ward activity right after we moved in (only fitting since we truly were newlyweds of only two weeks). Austin got called to be ward membership clerk and I was called to compassionate service. That's quite the task with how many babies and pregnant women there are in our ward. Our days usually consist of: waking up early, going to work for eight hours, coming home, eating dinner, watching Studio C on DVD, eating some more, and going to bed pretty early. We'll throw in going to the gym (mostly Austin), going to some dance rehearsals (mostly me), seeing friends, playing Phase 10, and watching superhero movies. We go to the temple once a week and take temple names my Aunt Sarah gave to us. It feels like we'll never run out which is a great blessing! All in all, we have a good time. Austin starts a new semester this week and will be going back to working part-time while taking 14 credits so he can get his academic scholarships. He's a superstar. I'll just continue to work full-time to help put him through school and keep myself busy. We're definitely in a transitional stage what with Austin still being in school and me working at a full-time job that has absolutely nothing to do with dance (but is still a great job!) but we're so blessed all the time with little things and big things happening in our lives.

Also, here are a few pictures of our apartment. Yay for home!

(Don't mind the Valentine's Day candy on the table...

this picture was taken a few months ago.)