Halloween 2015

 I have always loved Halloween. Since I can remember I've always looked forward to night of dressing up and eating candy. Really, what more could you want in life? Our first Halloween as a married couple was non-eventful. Bryson had work and so I just threw on an old costume I had and hung out with my nieces and nephews.

This year was different. Bryson was the one who really wanted us to dress up and find something that would include Rocky. We looked up online all the "3-Some" costume ideas. The internet was no help. Then the idea of Flintstones came to me! We looked online for costumes and wigs, but everything was just so expensive. So thanks to YouTube, DIY ideas and little creativity we created our own costumes. This is the finished product:

Photo Credit goes to: Andrew Branch

Real Adults.

Well! We bought a house! That's right. We are home owners! Over the summer Bryson and I started to look at houses with the thought, "Maybe we could find a place that had a basement apartment we could rent out so it could help with the mortgage payments." We went back and forth with the idea. I had some freak outs about taking on a mortgage. Bryson always had a clear head. We kept searching. And then we found the perfect place.

It is located off the center street exit in Provo. It has a basement apartment and it is perfect for us! It is 2 bedrooms on each floor, with 2 kitchens, a shared laundry room, and a garage. We are all moved in and we are just loving it.

This is the day we became official owners!

So logically, buying a house, also means getting a dog. We got Rocky September 10th. He is a pitador, 8 months old and a sweet heart (sometimes). He has a bit of a problem with separation anxiety. The vet gave us some Xanex for him, but we feel its made him more hyper. So I think we are not going to give him any more. He loves his people so much its a problem. Its endearing to a point, but when you come home to your front room blinds on the couch and the front door frame chewed...its not so endearing. We are working with him, and I'm sure he will turn out to be the perfect dog. We just got to get through the puppy phase. Here are some cute pictures my brother-in-law took of Rocky:

He has little scars on his nose, the vet gave us some medicine for him and it seems to be making it better.

He is super good with kids.

One Year.

Time has flown and a year has gone! It has been the most amazing year of my life. I can't write or speak enough good about this amazing husband of mine. I feel so blessed to have him as my eternal companion. He is so thoughtful, loving, caring, supportive, kind, funny, handsome, spiritual, dutiful, fun...I could go on. Bryson has made me a better person over the course of this year. He has been such a rock and handles my emotional days so well. Sometimes I can't believe that he is my husband. June 12, 2014 was a wonderful beginning to our lives and I am so glad we have eternity together.

Bahama's Cruise

These photos are just samples. I posted a ton on Facebook. This cruise was perfect and we had a blast!

Saturday June 6th: We flew into Florida and got there about 9pm. We went to rent a car and the car rental convinced us to rent a convertible Mustang...only $10 more for the day...we said YES!

Sunday June 7th: We had a whole day in Florida to drive around in our Mustang. And so we did. We went to the Hollywood Ward, drove by the Ft. Lauderdale Temple and took a drive by the beaches. It was fun and great way to start our vacation!

Monday June 8th: We got on our cruise boat. It was docked at Miami. That night we met our table mates for dinner and we instantly connected with them. Jarred and Tabitha are from Michigan. They were pretty awesome and it was fun to sit with them each night and talk about our days.

Tuesday June 9th: Nassau, Bahama! This day was an adventure. We brought our own snorkel gear and so we were planning to find a good beach for snorkeling. We asked a lady trying to sell us a scooter where the best snorkeling was. She showed us a map and the beach was the farthest point on the island from us. So we decided to rent a scooter and make a day out of it! We got our scooter, drove about 15 miles and ended up on a beach we thought was "Jaws Beach." Then...it started to rain. It only rained for a little bit, and then we got in the ocean and snorkeled for a little. Then we realized we had the beach to ourselves and it was a little sketchy. So we decided to find another beach. The next beach we went to was called "Love Beach." This beach was the best. Snorkeled some and then it started to rain. This time it poured. We found shelter the beach's restaurant/food shack. We had lunch while it stormed. There was loudest lightning I have ever heard! It freaked me out. When the rain died down a little bit we went for a walk on the beach. We then decided to check out another beach. So we got on our scooter and started heading back. But then it started to rain. And rain. And rain. So we decided to just head back to the ship. There were a bunch of roundabouts and Bryson was really good at going slow through them. The drainage was awful, so we literally were riding through rivers. It was an adventure! Although our snorkeling and sun got caught short, we still had fun at Nassau!

Wednesday June 10th: CocoCay, Bahama! This was probably my favorite day if I had to pick one. This was a private island owned by Royal Caribbean. Only our ship was on this island and we didn't spend a dime! The ship brought us lunch on the island, so it was free! We snorkeled a ton and saw some pretty cool things...including a BARRACUDA! Freaked us out, but it was funny.

Thursday June 11th: Key West, Florida! Both Bryson and I had no idea about Key West. Tabitha and Jarred informed us of a bike tour they were taking, so we decided to do that! It was so humid. SO HUMID. I probably sweated all the weight I gained on the trip that day. But we learned a lot and got the best Key Lime Pie ever at the end of the tour.

Friday June 12th: Got off the ship and flew home. It was a very long day of waiting in airports and lay overs. Then we made it home! It was our 1 year anniversary that day and Bryson surprised me with a fruit bouquet when we arrived home! He is always so sweet and thoughtful.

So that's it! Our wonderful, blissful, happy, magnificent cruise! I'm already ready for our next one.

Get Ready...

I have failed at this blog. May caught me off guard and threw me off. May we decided to move in with my parents and save money for the summer. We found renters and had 3 days to get moved out! It was crazy. In May, life at school got insane! The kids were done and the teacher's were definitely done. It was a count down to summer and it couldn't come fast enough!

Then May was over and I was so happy.

Since then we had:

Bahama's Cruise

One Year Anniversary

500 Miler Across Utah Adventure


So I'm going to try to post a blog for each. Let's see how far I get!

Age of 25

This month I turned 25. I was mostly dreading it because now I'm closer to 30 than I have ever been. And once you are 30, the next thing you know you are 40...then 50...then 80! Time flies.

Well April 17th came. Bryson informed me that birthdays aren't that big of a deal and that my mom spoiled me when I was being raised. And well yes, my mother did make birthdays a big thing...I still am realistic of my expectations. I worked the day of my birthday. It was mostly like any other day, expect for the fact that everyone said really nice things to me and we had cake, muffins, fruit and juice! The people at my work really did make me feel special. That night Bryson and I went to Denae and Andrew's house for dinner and games. It was chill, but perfect. We then ended the day with seeing the movie "Woman in Gold" (which I highly recommend). It was a great day. But I still hated that I was 25.

Until...I saw the movie "Age of Adaline." I was really excited for this movie when I saw the previews. So of course I went opening night with my friend Jillyn and sisters. It was good, but not AMAZING. I liked it, but didn't love it. However, I gleaned an important lesson from it. Age is something to be grateful about, especially if you have someone to grow old with. A line from the movie that really struck me went like this:

Flemming: Don't you miss having someone to love?
Adaline Bowman: It's not the same when there's no growing old together. Without that, love is just heartbreak.

I love that I have been able to celebrate my last 2 birthdays with the love of my life. He makes life exciting and I'm excited for our future together. When we are 70 and still madly in love it will be great to think of the life we created together. 

So here's to being 25, and to think that I will have infinitely more than 25 years with Bryson!

Moab 2015

 My family started going to Moab about 9 years ago. We use to rent Jeeps, and would have a huge caravan of Jeeps jugging along the trails. We have now have upgraded (at least our opinion) to RZRs! They have a lot better suspension and can move along a lot faster. My Dad recently got a 4-seater, so we had a 4-seater and a 2-seater and totally loved exploring more of Moab. We were there for 3 days, and couldn't have asked for better weather! It sure was a fun way to spend our Spring Break.

Wilson's Arch

Newspaper Wall (Indian writings from over 2,000 years old)

We broke down at one point. We were all pretty concerned about how we would get home. We were about 2 hours into our trail and it would be a VERY long walk back. But luckily the people on the trail are the best kind of people. So many were willing to help. It was a little miracle and we sure were grateful for everyone who helped!


I love Moab. My Grandpa grew up here before Moab was on the map. It feels cool to be there and to think of my Grandpa and his brothers exploring the land.

Next trip for us is our cruise in June. I'm pretty stoaked for it! 7 weeks lefts of school, then 1 week after that is our CRUISE! Let the countdown begin!