Outdoor Adventures

The weather is finally starting to warm up here in Provo-land and we have been enjoying the chance to get out and play. Fresh air really is good for the soul.

Last night we went up the canyon for a picnic and to hike Bridal Veil Falls. We walked along Provo river for a while and then ventured up the falls. There is a nice, relatively easy path for hikers... but we started off on the wrong path and took our life in our hands as we clung to dirt trying not to slide down the edge at one point. We also had to cross the rushing water about halfway up, but don't worry the water was pretty low and we made it just fine. We didn't venture beyond the "don't go past this sign" point, but did enjoy siting in the fresh mist at the base of the waterfall. (for those of you unfamiliar with the area, we were at the base of the 2nd fall, basically at the bottom of where this picture shows)

We have also obtained our 7 peaks water park passes for the summer. One of my favorite activities is sitting in the shallow water at the edge of the wave pool, people-watching, relaxing and talking with Brett. I hope our schedules will allow for lots of pool time this summer.

The one outdoor thing we haven't done yet this summer is go camping. We keep talking about it, but it never happens. (usually because Brett has to work Friday nights) Starting this week, he no longer works on Friday nights (yay!) so we need to get our act in shape and go camping. Brett brought home a fishing pole from our last visit to his parents house so hopefully we can get some fishing in soon too!

For those of you around the Provo area, we need ideas of places to go. Where do you like to spend time outdoors? camping? hiking? fishing?

Thoughts on dating

One of the best things about being married is always having someone to go on a date with. None of the anxious waiting and wondering if you'd have something to do each weekend. And let me just say, I love going on dates with my hubby. It is such a great time to forget about the stresses of work/school/everyday life and just enjoy the time together. We get to try new things and act a little silly at times. Plus, after a long week it is exactly what I need and I'm always looking forward to it. We have made it a priority to go on a date every week and we alternate turns planing what we'll do. It can be hard to think of something new and exciting to do each week, but it is so worth it. Putting a little thought into the night changes the time from time simply spent with each other to time spent together. In the last few months we have: gone to comedy shows on campus, gone to the Orem festival/carnival/parade, played frisbee golf, gone bowling, stayed in and watched House (we may or may not be addicted), gone mini golfing, and watched a BYU baseball game.

We remembered to bring our camera to one of those date nights, and because I want to brag... I'll post those pictures. This was the night we went to Trafalga and played some mini-golf and then hit some baseballs at the batting cage. These pictures are me bragging because I got THREE, yes 3, hole-in-ones that night. Amazingly, we both got a hole-in-one on the last hole. And, as you can see "a hole-in-one wins" so we were both winners! We then headed over to the batting cages and attempted to hit some baseballs. Brett actually hit them, me on the other hand.. I hit a few... but was mostly too scared of the sting of the bat to hit (that and I don't have much talent in that area).

Hole in one.... or three

I made it in, he got it stuck behind the concrete slab

Both winners!


Brett is far more talented at baseball and actually looks like he knows what he is doing.

What do you guys like to do for date nights?

bad/good news

So we've got some news I'm sure you will all appreciate. I share the bad news first... We never found our camera cord. The good news, however, is that we went out and bought a SD card reader! I had a few blogs that I "wrote" but never published due to wanting to add pictures. I finally posted those. So, sorry for the outdated posts below but hopefully you enjoy the pictures. I'll work on finishing the updates and get back in the groove of posting.

1 year done, many to go!

We made it! One year! Brett planned a "surprise" get-a-way weekend trip (meaning I knew it was coming, but didn't know where). We went up to Park City and spent the weekend relaxing. With such crazy schedules it seems like we rarely get time together (think: only seeing each other at 7 am and 10 pm). It was such a nice treat to get away and such a great excuse to celebrate.



When Brett checked us in the front desk lady asked what brought us up to Park City. He told her it was our anniversary. That night we received a call from room service stating they had something for us. We told them to bring it down! To our surprise the nice lady at the front desk sent us some sparkling cider and chocolate covered strawberries. How sweet of her!



On Saturday we did the "tourist" thing. We went up to the Olympic Museum and walked around the grounds. Those hills they ski down are SO steep!


We got all educated up on Olympic history and decided we will probably never make it to the Olympics ourselves. Inside the museum there were some games. Brett dominated the downhill slalom and got the high score for the day!

After leaving the Olympic Park we drove around a little and gawked at all the nice houses.


We also ate lots of good food, walked around the historic parts of town and went shopping at the outlet stores! On our way home we stopped at the lake to check out the fishers and enjoy the beautiful day.


Here's to many more great years!

Valentines is for lovers

Our first V-day as a married couple! The weekend was mostly spent packing, moving, and unpacking-- how romantic...not. Luckily, we were able to forget the clutter of boxes for a little bit and enjoy some together time.

Warning: the following may contain lovey-dovey details, feel free to stop reading now....

....

okay, I warned you :) Here are a few highlights from our celebrations.

1) Breakfast in bed. My amazing hubby woke up early on Sunday morning and made me breakfast in bed. Now this would be a feat of accomplishment on a normal morning, but let me remind you that we had JUST moved in. This means, everything we owned was still packed away in boxes. Brett had to search through multiple boxes to find all the necessary items (plates, syrup, griddle, seasonings, etc etc). But he did it! And it tasted delicious. I was too amazed slash hungry to remember to take a picture, but lets just say it looked good! Pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, hash-browns, eggs, and bacon! Yum-my!

2) Celebrating all month. Knowing that the holiday weekend would be busy and hectic I planned "14 days of Valentines". The title is pretty self explanatory but basically each day we opened an envelope with a different activity for the day. Understanding that our days our busy and time together is limited most activities were small, simple and cheap. But they were also very meaningful and full of love. We shared foot rubs, danced to our wedding song, made cheesy v-day cards, mailed love notes, read quotes about love, looked at old pictures, listened to our favorite love songs, the list goes on and on. I was so grateful that my tough "all-man" husband was willing to humor me and share in the romance.

3) Delish Dinner. Not to brag, but I made a delicious dinner Sunday night! I made Fettuccine Alfredo with Parmesan topped Italian chicken, a yummy side salad (complete with nuts and strawberries) and Brett's favorite... garlic bread. We were able to clear off the table of all the boxes and found a few decorative items and made the most of the moment.

4) My miracle flower. I specifically told Brett not to get me a big bouquet of flowers. Crazy? no, I don't think so. I did this for two reasons. One- because I'm a fan of simple and often the big bouquets are anything but simple. And two- because there was no way they would have made it unharmed in the move. Anyway, back to my miracle flower. Brett bought me a single pink rose on Friday night. We then navigated around it as we packed and moved. We had to transfer it from table to counter to car to new home. And when it finally got to rest on Saturday night it was more than a little droopy. I thought it was a goner. But, Sunday morning we woke up to find it standing tall and as beautiful as ever! It found new life and lasted all week! I was so surprised I accused Brett of sneaking out and buying a new one.

5) Spending it with the love of my life. Of course, the best highlight of valentines day this year was having an excuse spend time with Brett and celebrate our love!

The Big Move

What happens when you find out that the owner of the home you are renting has put the house up for sell in attempts to keep from being foreclosed on and your contract now ends at the end of the month? Well, you start searching for a new place to live and hope that being mid-semester doesn't ruin all chances of finding a decent place in Provo. We were lucky and we actually found a number of places to look at, and even saw a few we wouldn't mind living in. We finally picked "the one" and hope that this was our last move for a while. (Note: this is our third place since being married for 9 months.) After a whirlwind weekend and thanks to help from our old ward (and awesome home teachers!) we are finally settling into our new place. We've had a week to settle in, and we are loving it. Despite the hassle of moving, we really think this was a good move for us. I mentally compiled a list of reasons to be excited and went over them multiple times during the ordeal.

Pro's of our new place:

• Still has 2 bedrooms and dishwasher and a washer/dryer
• The washer/dryer are hid away (not open to the living room) and have TONS of storage above them
• The closets are twice as deep (yes, seriously... the other closest barely fit hangers) and longer (Brett can finally bring his clothes back to our bedroom closet.. haha)
• Still has nice carpet
• Kitchen is decent sized
• Covered parking for Kirsten
• On street parking for Brett - he doesn't have to walk as far as he used to
  
• Heat/AC that we control
• MUCH more natural light
• A new [smaller] ward in which we can make friends
• We now live on the top floor, no more basement = no more footsteps
  

Problems we ran into:

• Child locks on almost all the cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom
• The burners on the stove are crooked making cooking difficult
  
• The heater startles me- it seriously sounds like someone is breaking into the front door
• We've heard the neighbor baby cry once.. hopefully that doesn't become too much of an issue

Things we will miss:

• The beautiful kitchen with nice cupboards, counters and appliances.
  

Here is a collage of the few pictures we took of our old place....


And this is what our new place looks like so far....


For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the "after" pictures of the couch covers you can see them in the above picture. I don't love them and honestly now that we have moved out of a basement I wish I had the cream color back, but such is life.