So much to be grateful for...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I know it's been foreverrrrrr, and there's lots of things I need to catch up on, but not today. Today is a day to just be grateful.

What most of you may know is that I was expecting a baby girl at the end of February, we were so excited and had started getting everything ready for her big arrival.

What you may not know, is that two weeks ago, I went into labor, and delivered her. She was born sleeping, and I'll be honest, this is the hardest thing I've ever had to go through. We don't have very many answers yet as to why, but it looks like she had a chromosomal disorder, something similar to Down syndrome that made it so she couldn't develop and grow properly.

While this in and of itself isn't something to be grateful for, I am grateful for the endless love and support from friends and family who simply dropped everything to come to our aid and serve us when we needed it most. I've been awestruck by the random acts of service and the kind words given by so many people, even though it happened so quickly and suddenly. It has renewed my faith in  how Heavenly Father uses us to  be His hands  in the lives of His children.

I am also so so so grateful for my testimony in the life after this. The knowledge that I'll see my little girl again, and that she'll be my baby forever may not make this any easier, but I can't imagine how hard it would be if I didn't have a testimony of that.

I am grateful for a loving husband who has been nothing but supportive and kind and loving, even though im an emotional wreck more times than not these days. Going through this has reaffirmed to me that there is no one else I would want by my side to weather the ups and downs of this life.

I am so thankful for the tender mercies of The Lord I've been able to see through all this, things could've been so much worse, especially for me physically, but instead I was able to recover really quickly.  I am grateful for the peace I've been able to feel and the everlasting love of my Savior.


I usually don't like being particularly public when it comes to my beliefs and religion, but I know without it, and without my wonderful friends and family, I wouldn't be able to make it through this.
It will always be hard, but I know we'll make it through because of them.

So all and all, I really do have so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, and I know that I always will for the many Thanksgivings to come.

So have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone. I love you all.  Next stop, Christmas!

Why did goofy throw his clock out the window??

 Because he wanted to watch time fly! And that it has. These past couple months have definitely come and gone in a flurry of awesome times. And this is the post where I'm going to brag about it.

First off, happy anniversary to us! Holy cow, one whole year under our belt! We took liberties while still being young and not yet burdened with little people and splurged on a first anniversary trip to Orlando Florida. It worked out quite nicely that my friend from growing up, Jen, was getting married a few days before our actual anniversary, so it was the perfect excuse! We were really lucky and got some really good deals thanks to family and friends. If we hadn't, we probably wouldn't have been able to go! We were able to use David's grandparents timeshare and stay in a really nice hotel for super cheap! We found a crazy good deal on a flight, AND my friend Angela from living in Cedar was working for Disney at the time, and was able to get into Disneyworld for a day! It was so great. For those who may not know, I lived in Florida for 9 months in 2010, also working for Disney, so we were able to access all my insider knowledge and got to do all the important stuff in the one day we were able to go. DisneyWorld is absolutely huge, but I was proud of all we were able to do. :)

These gallows were in magic kingdom where I used to work, I thought they were cool and I wanted a picture in them, so we got one. :)

The toy story ride is probably one of my favorite non-roller coaster rides of all time, and the line you wait in is so cool!  All sorts of giant game board pieces and even crayons, it brings out the kid in all of us, as you can see David demonstrating. :)

I will always love Disney! We probably won't make it back for a long time, we kept joking that it probably won't be until we have kids who are old enough to appreciate it, which is a long time. but that's okay, it was fun with the two of us, but it'll be a whole different level of fun with the kiddos!

The wedding was also wonderful, I got to be a bridesmaid and get all dressed up and it was so wonderful seeing old friends and catching up!

It was on a lake in Orlando, so the scenery was lovely, and the weather cooperated, well for the most part, it started pouring as the reception was drawing to a close. Traditional Florida downpour. I guess Florida wanted to show David all it was capable of. :)

We also got to go to Seaworld! I don't know what it is about marine life, but I LOVE Seaworld. David had never been, and was a little skeptical at first, but luckily he fell in love with it, which made for a wonderful day. :)

Dolphins have always been my favorite animal, and I got to pet a couple! This one came right up close and I got to pet it as it swam by!

                                                     Shamu and baby shamu! SO cute.

They've added a couple roller coasters that I hadn't been on before, this one was called the Manta Ray, and you actually ride the roller coaster on your stomach! It was way trippy. It was fun, but there was some sort of technical problem and we ended up stuck on our stomachs for like 10 minutes, it was pretty uncomfortable but we were able to snap a couple of pictures that most people probably can't get!

So overall it was just wonderful! Once we got back it was kind of stressful because we moved apartments like the day after we got back, but now that we're all moved in, I love it. Our first apartment will always have that special place in our heart, but it was old, and cramped and small. This one is bigger and much much newer, so it just feels better and we actually have room for all of our stuff! I'll probably post some pictures later. Its just a cute apartment.

Now we're just back to the grind really. I'm still just working away and David is studying like crazy for the DAT (dental admission test) and is taking it next week! After that, we'll apply to dental schools! We've decided on applying to 15 schools, all across the country. So its definitely a grab bag on where we'll end up!

We still find time to have fun though! David has his birthday! We are now the same age for the next six months! He got tickets to the Iron Man 3 premiere, which was awesome! He also got a gift card to fix up his bike, so now we have two bikes so we can ride around and stuff.

                       We ride to Utah Lake sometimes - it takes a little time, but it's pretty! :)

We have a pretty awesome trip to Yellowstone planned with our families here in the next couple weeks which will definitely deserve its own post, I love Yellowstone, absolutely beautiful! Well I'm off for now, but I'll end this lovely post with a pretty picture!

This was at my cousin Diane's wedding! Yay happiness and weddings and life! I hope everyone is having a lovely summer thus far. Keep in touch friends!

'til next time!

Girl's night out!

As much fun and awesome being married is, sometimes a girls night out is what you need! Not just any girls night, but a girls night with the mom and sisters! It has been way too long since we've all been able to get together and do something for fun, just the four of us. And what better way to bring us together, then to go see Phillip Phillips! He was the winner of American Idol this past season, and he was awesome! He basically can sing any song in his style, and have it sound amazing, that's talent! It was great. It was a quick trip for the 3 of them, as they all had to be back to work and school the next day, but we were able to go to dinner and visit, and watch Phillip! It was just, great, here we all are!

                                                                       The sisters!

                                                                The four of us!


Yay life! In other news, Easter this Sunday! Not too exciting, I have to work half the day, so we don't really have any plans. The semester is coming to a close quickly! The end of the month brings a vacation to Florida for my friends wedding and a move to a new apartment! I'm excited. I'm going to miss this place, afterall, it was our first apartment together, I'll probably put some pictures up soon to remember it by when we move, but this new place is bigger and definitely a lot newer.

I think that is all I have for now. Until next time!

Our first Christmas! And New Years... And valentines day... ;)

I know I know, yet another catch up blog. I just tend to get discouraged sometimes because I feel like there is absolutely nothing exciting going on in our lives ever, and I don't want to bore anyone. But regardless of what I think about it, life happens and it should be recorded in one way one way or another! I like blogging because I get to include pictures, and I can hardly read my own handwriting anymore, plus as much as I hate to admit it, David and I are becoming one of those hermit couples who always do stuff just with each other. So this is a way for everyone to see our adventures!

Soooo to catch up, we spent Christmas in Oregon, and it was awesome! We were sooooo spoiled from our families, I mean just look at this pile of presents!

And that was only from David's family! We got more from my family too, we are so blessed! We were able to spend like 4 days with my family and 5 with David's because thats all I could get off work, but that was okay. We got to go skiing up in the Oregon mountains one  of the days, which was wonderful, David is slowly picking up snowboarding and I got to ski! Look at the view!

Isn't it gorgeous?? I love how there's tons of snow, but you can look down into the valley and have it be completely green. You don't get to see that very often!

Sadly we didn't get much of a New Years celebration because I had to work, and we were so busy that David had to come in and help me so I could finish up at a decent hour. But because he did we were able to get home 5 minutes before midnight to properly ring in the new year, and celebrate the anniversary of our engagement! Throwback picture time!
                                           
Speaking of work, these past few months have actually been pretty crazy! I was transferred over to the Provo location right before they switched to a brand new location, so I got to open a brand new store! It was stressful for sure, but now that things have settled down, I love it.  It has all the brand new equipment and it's like 3 blocks from our apartment so I can walk once it starts warming up again!

2013 so far has been great! For Valentines Day, David took me to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, where I've always wanted to go. For a landlocked state, it's a really cool aquarium! David liked the piranhas and the giant snakes, I liked the otters and the penguins. :) We decided to brave the crowds and go out to dinner and ended up waiting like 2 1/2 hours to get in at Texas Roadhouse (last time we ever
do that!). To pass the time we went to Scheels, a giant sporting goods store that opened up last fall and I kid you not, they have a Ferris wheel inside! A Ferris wheel! It was a dollar to ride, so of course we hopped right on!

Everything else seems to going just great!! Life is good all around. David is finishing up probably his hardest semester yet, and is getting ready to take the DAT in June! He'll start applying for dental schools then too, crazy stuff! I think that sums up the last little bit. I promise I'll be back sooner rather then later! Until next time!

happenings as of late!

Lots of goings on! Hence the delay in posting for awhile. I really thought that once I graduated college, I would have tons more time to do things like keep the house totally clean, or workout everyday, or make wonderful meals, or keep up on this blog! But no, it seems that I'm just as busy as ever and my apartment is currently a mess. Oh well, I do what I can and have been extremely blessed in the past couple of months to do awesome things and be with awesome people.

Halloween was awesome. It's David's all time favorite holiday, and I've always liked it for the candy and getting to dress up all pretty. We hit a little bit of a crossroads because he's all into the scary bloody gorey guts halloween, and the scariest thing I've dressed up as was Hermione from Harry Potter. He convinced me to dress up scary for our ward halloween party, and we actually won the costume contest! I'm pretty sure it's my turn to choose the costume next year though, and I'll get my revenge by making him dress up as Prince Charming or something. ;)

After Halloween came my birthday! It was lovely I must say. It was a pretty chill day, I turned the big 23. I've been an adult officially for 5 years. I think that's really the only landmark that 23 brings. Funny story though- David awhile back started joking that I was actually turning 24 because he knew it bugged me. Anyways, he did it long enough that I actually slipped up and told a couple of people that I was 24! And then to make it worse, as David was decorating my birthday cake he decided to put my age in the candles, and started to put 24 before I realized and stopped him! We both had a good laugh at it though. Guess it goes to show that if you say something long enough, you eventually believe it yourself!

Its a good thing you can make a 3 pretty easily out of a 4. :) David made the pink funfetti cake at my request, we ate it with Farr's Playdoh ice cream. My mom thinks its gross, but it's super colorful and yummy! I'd suggest you all try it. 

Thanksgiving was also wonderful- I was able to take a couple days off of work and we went to go see my family in southern Utah- we were able to see everyone and eat lots of delicious food! David got to go mountain biking with my step dad and brother and only came away with a couple of scrapes- which was a relief and I saw the trail they went down, scary! and I got to spend time with my mom and sisters just hanging out- we even went to a zumba class the afternoon of Thanksgiving to work off all the calories we ate! Best idea ever! It was a lot of fun. We thought about going black friday shopping, but all ended up sleeping in until like 9:30, so that didn't happen. haha.

Now it's almost Christmastime! Its a crazy time for me at work, and David has finals around the corner, but we found some time on Monday to go and buy some Christmas decorations! I love Christmas so much, and our little apartment is starting to feel a little festive! We have a little baby Christmas tree that is smack dab in the middle of our living room, cuz frankly that is the only place there is room for it, and we have lights in our two main windows and a snowman on the door! It just makes me so happy! I'm getting so excited to be able to have our first Christmas together! We were apart last year with both our families, so this will be really nice. We get to go to Oregon to be with David's family, which will be a nice break for both of us. I think that's really all that is going on in our busy lives- unless you want to hear about all the crazy pizza hut happenings from me, but you can just ask if you want to hear about that awesomeness. 

I will say before I go though, that I am so blessed! I've been thinking alot about that this past week, just how everything always seems to work out in our favor, even if they don't seem like it for a little bit. I have such amazing friends and family who are such angels to me! And of course an awesome husband who just seems to get cuter every day! :) Until next time! 

This is a flashback picture to just over a year ago! I'd say we are just as cute now as we were then. :) 

We climbed a mountain!

The title of this post is true! Both literally and figuratively as a matter of fact. Over the past month, I climbed not one, but two mountains! The first time I thought I was going to die, and if it weren't for my supportive husband, I never would have made it. Of course, he had to lie to me in the process... haha, we climbed up to squaw peak up in Rock canyon, and at first he told me that it was a mile, maybe two, and it wouldn't take that long, then all up the trail (he had done it before so I trusted him) he would be like I remember this, we're almost there! Just through this meadow and we'll be super close! Yeah,  he was never right, we hiked for like 6 miles straight up it seemed like before we finally made it. I'm super glad we did though, the views were spectacular! Below is the proof!

So the moral of the story here is, even if they seem super hard at the time, climbing mountains is worth it. The other mountain we climbed wasn't as bad, we went up to the Timpanogos Caves with David's dad and sister, and while it's steep, it's paved the whole way with benches and stuff, so it's not too bad, and the caves were way cool! I don't have any pictures of that hike yet, but when I get em, I'll post them, because they too, are awesome!

As for the figurative mountains we had to climb, it's been a tough couple of weeks, but we've gotten through it! First off, we sent Eric, David's baby brother off to the MTC to prepare to serve in Mozambique Africa. And although he's not my brother by blood, I was super emotional about the whole thing, which kind of surprised me, but it was definitely for the best. We got to spend a couple days with him before he left, went to the temple, to Tucanos (yum!) and had a couple of family picnics before we finally said goodbye for two years! We're gonna miss him, but I'm super excited to see how he'll progress as he serves the Lord in Africa!

Shortly after Eric left, David's grandpa passed away. It was sad to see him go, but it was for the best. He had been sick for awhile, so it's good to know that he can rest from the cares of the world for awhile. Things like this though definitely allow you to take a step back and think about what really matters in life, and how you shouldn't take anything for granted, because this life is only for a limited amount of time, and you really need to make the most of it. It was really nice that it brought everyone together too, and I was really happy to see that his funeral was a happy one, where everyone just talked about the good times, and knew that he was in a better place now.

As for the last figurative mountain, schools started again... haha, this one is more for David because I'm done, but it's going to be a pretty intense semester! Not only is he taking the dreaded organic chemistry class, he's also taking 7 other science classes... crazy kid! He can do it though, I've never met anyone else whose so focused when it comes to studying. I can only imagine how much higher my GPA would've been had I had that kind of dedication! Oh well. It's going to take some adjusting for me too, not going back to school. It's kind of weird, having gone to classes basically my whole life, and now not having too, but I think I'm handling it alright. Really, it just makes me feel old, especially realizing that a lot of the players on that football team (who pulled off a GREAT win last night by the way!) are younger than me.... but that's okay, I've just moved on to the next stage of my life, and I'm excited about it!

It should be a pretty calm semester I think, nothing to big or crazy going down. I think we're going down to my parents for Thanksgiving, and we're going to his parents for Christmas. There might be some changes going on at my work too, but nothing is set in stone. Regardless, I'll definitely keep this thing updated!

Until next time!

Busy Busy Busy!

Well I think it's safe to say the honeymoon period is officially over for us. Not only have we hit the 3 month mark (yay!), but real life has finally set in. It's not the most exciting, but it definitely has it's moments! For the most part David is in school and I'm at work. I was promoted and put on salary which was very nice, but also meant an increase in hours, so I've been living, breathing (and definitely eating) pizza these days. I can't complain though, it keeps me busy and pays the bills which is all I need. David is super close to being done with summer term. He takes his last final tomorrow before a well-deserved 3 week break. We're excited to have all his family come down for his brother's missionary farewell to Mozambique, Africa! It's so crazy that he's going to be gone for 2 whole years! But I am definitely very very excited for him and for all the adventures he's going to have, going out and teaching the people of Africa!


We had a pretty fun month during July. We got to see tons of fireworks thanks to Utah having 2 firework holidays instead of one. For the 4th we went up to Squaw peak and watched all the fireworks going off in the valley, which was so awesome! There were so many! Then for the 24th, we had a barbeque with his extended family and lit fireworks with all his little cousins, which I've decided is so much better than just celebrating it by ourselves. There's just something about helping a little girl with her first ever sparkler that just adds so much to the occasion. We also had my family reunion up in Heber City. We all just gathered in this huge cabin for two days and ate food and played games, it was really fun. We also went tubing down the Provo river, which is something I've always wanted to do, but it was SO cold. Even for the middle of July, it was almost too much to bear. I had a hard time staying in the middle, so I always fell out of the current and behind everybody, but it was still really fun! My all time favorite thing we did during July though was go to the zoo!  Ever since I was little, one of my favorite animals has been polar bears, and they brought one back to the Hogle Zoo this year! We went with my mom and sister and brother, and we saw everything from the tigers to the elephants, to the giraffes and otters and the polar bear!




















There's been lots of other happenings going on too, like my friend Natalie had a beautiful baby girl that I got to go over and hold! It was so precious. She's gonna be such a great mom. :) We're adjusting to our ward pretty nicely, David got called to be in the Sunday school presidency, and I'm just hanging around. I think they think I'm inactive because I've been rather hit and miss because of work. Oh well.

I think that about wraps up my ranting. I'm going to be betting about taking more pictures of our adventures. Cuz I feel like I'm boring without pictures. Oh well, I'll be better.

Until next time!