Lake Powell

Scott & I were fortunate enough to be able to take a little vacation this summer thanks to Rebecca and her family.  We were invited to join them down at Lake Powell.  Rebecca's family has a time share with a houseboat down there and they were nice to tell Rebecca she could invite some people.  We can't thank her and her family enough for allowing us to come down and hang out with them on their family vacation.  Scott & I had a blast as it was our first time there.  On the way home, we decided to make a Top 10 and Not Top 10 (courtesy of ESPN) list of our time at Lake Powell.

Not Top 10 at Lake Powell

10.  Started losing water where we were at—about 4 inches of water in 2 ½ days

9.  It was a little hard to sleep the first two nights.  It was just a bunch of little things like sharing a twin mattress, the weather being warm at night & waking up when the sun came up (we were sleeping outside).

This is where we slept.

 8. With so much stuff, it was amazing we only left one thing behind.  I tried so hard the entire time to keep all of our stuff together.  Luckily, the thing we left behind was just a small, individual cooler that we hardly use.

7. Poor Greg (Rebecca's brother) knocked himself completely out after he face planted in the water wake boarding.  

6. We had to wait about an hour and a half for the rest of Rebecca's family to arrive.  It was no big deal except that it had started to get cloudy and windy so dust was flying everywhere.

5. One of the kid's sleeping bag (Annika's?) fell off the houseboat and into the water one night.  It was rescued the next day, but it was pretty funny to hear that had happened.

4. I lost my favorite pair of running shorts.  We were out wakeboarding and on the way back, they just flew off the back of the boat!  Luckily I had another pair to wear the rest of the time, but they were my favorite.

Goodbye favorite blue running shorts!

 3. When we arrived, it was discovered that something was wrong with the generator and it needed to be fixed before we could leave the marina.  So, we did not leave until Monday afternoon.  We did get in some good jet skiing time while waiting though.

2. I had is what we guessed a nasty bug bite.  I did have this before we went to Lake Powell, but it continued to get worse while we were there, so my leg was definitely something that was noticed by everybody.

I drew on it to see if it got bigger.

1. Poor Annika fell off a counter on the houseboat onto her arm and mostly likely got a green stick fracture.  Luckily she was still able to play in the water, but poor girl had to worry about a cast and a hurt arm the whole time.

The counter Annika fell off of.

Top 10 at Lake Powell

10. The scenery was beautiful and we were able to experience a houseboat for the first time.

9. We had an endless supply of food. There was so much to eat for each meal and there were plenty of snacks.

8. At night, we saw a ton of bats flying around the houseboat eating up the bugs.

7. There was plenty of game playing.  Here are a few of what was played: Settlers of Catan (Scott's favorite...I think he played it about 5-6 times), Skip-Bo, Golf (with Skip-Bo cards), Nerts, Scum, Oh Shoot, Ladder Ball, & a version of Charades/Telephone.

Thanks Rebecca for the picture!

 6. Meeting and getting to know Rebecca's family was a lot of fun.  They were very nice and willing to take Scott & I out on the boat whenever we wanted.

5. Rebecca, Scott & I (with two kids) took a paddle boat to a little ledge not far from the houseboat.  It was the closest thing we could find to a cliff to jump off of.  It was fun & the kids loved it.

Sharlynne was fearless!

Yes, I still plug my nose.

Scott doing a flip.

Gracie jumping off.

4. Rebecca got the idea to pull this blow up chair behind a jet ski with Sharlynne & Taren riding.  The kids didn't weigh enough though and the chair would sink the faster Rebecca went.  So, we switched and I rode on it.  It was actually a lot of fun, but it made my arms so sore.  Rebecca's sis-in-law Amanda caught a picture of me riding it!

3. I had a ton of fun taking out the jet skis.  The kids loved getting rides as well, so they would ask any adult that seemed willing to take them out.  I took Sharlynne out and she drove pretty much the whole time.  Anytime I would try to take over, she got mad and took control back.  It was pretty funny. (I'm sad we didn't get any pictures with the jet skis)

2. Wake boarding was so much fun!  Scott & I asked to go out every day and Rebecca's family was so nice to take us.  It was Scott's first time wake boarding and he did so good!  I had been a couple of times before and it was fun to go again.  We both enjoyed it a lot.

1. Scott did not get a sunburn!  With us being in the sun quite often and Scott's skin tone, it is a miracle that he did not get burned.  He was very good at putting on sunscreen all the time.

Lather up!

Going to Lake Powell was a great way to end the summer before school and our busy life starts back up.

Two Wonderful Years

:Warning: Long Post Ahead:

This second year of marriage has been more than amazing and Scott & I have been greatly blessed with all that has happened.  I can't believe how much different this second year has been compared to the first.  Here are some things that happened during our 2nd year of marriage:

1. I started this blog.  At first I thought that blogs were only for people who have children, but I am so glad that I started one.  It is great to have something to look back on to remember all the good and bad times.  What I love, is that this year definitely had more good times than bad.

2. I started to become more creative with cooking.  Scott was very supportive with this and I've actually found some good recipes that Scott loves.  Luckily, he doesn't make fun of me too much for being on pinterest all the time. :)

 3. We ran our first Turkey Trot run together.

4. I did a 24 days of Christmas for Scott.  It was fun to do something nice for him for 24 days and it allowed us to do some fun activities to celebrate the season.

5. We did so great financially that I was able to get a new phone, computer & camera.

6. Scott graduated from school with his associates in nursing in December.  Because of that, he was able to get the job he has now, which has been such a blessing for us.

7. Scott & I were both able to pass our big tests for our careers!

8. We were able to go to the Festival of Colors together for the first time.

9. We went down to California to celebrate my sister getting married.

10. We ran a marathon together (my first & Scott's second).

11. We bought our first house.

12. Scott was able to meet the prophet, Thomas S. Monson.

13. We got another kitty, Madeline.

14. We were able to go on a vacation to Lake Powell (a place we had both never been to).

To celebrate, we went to the Jordan River Temple (the one we got married in) & had a picnic on the grounds before we went in.  Also, I brought my computer & we watched our wedding video.  We then went out for frozen yogurt later and packed for our vacation to Lake Powell.

Beautiful flowers Scott surprised me with!

 

 

What a stinker!

His is all fruit & mine is all candy.

I can't believe that I am here right now...starting on the 3rd year of marriage with the man I love.  I can't thank God enough for bringing him into my life; for he is exactly what I've been needing to help my life make sense.  I can't wait to watch our love and life grow more and more.  Happy Anniversary!

First House Visitors

For three days, Scott and I had our first visitors stay overnight in our new house.  It is so fun to be able to have the space for people to stay.  Our friends Austin & Erin came up to Utah for a wedding and we were able to hang out a little bit while they were here.

Since it was more than just Scott and I, we figured it was a good opportunity to try out the 26" pizza at this pizza place called Big Daddy's.  It was definitely a lot of pizza to eat and we had a lot of leftovers.  It did make for a good picture as Erin pointed out.  It was fun to try and the pizza is not bad either.

I've realized that the chandelier gets in the way when taking pictures.

Look at that huge pizza!  There were about 30 pieces.  We had to turn it sideways to get it out of the car and it all slid to one side, so we had to put it back together for me to take a picture of it.

 This place also has really good shakes!

Since there were only 4 of us, there were a lot of leftovers.

Austin & Erin also treated us to some Chinese food and to see the Dark Knight Rises again.  They also bought us a bath mat & trash can for our second bathroom.  Having guests did make me realize all the things we're still missing in this house of ours, so it's very nice to have a few less things to worry about.

Thanks for staying with us Austin & Erin!  We hope you had a good time staying here.  We enjoyed having you.

To Eat or Not to Eat More Chicken?

There's been a lot of controversy and discussion about the recent Chick-fil-a fiasco.  It first started with the president of the company stating his personal opinion on marriage...that he believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  There was a lot of media and press about what he said and people started expressing opinions back.  There seemed to be a lot of disagreeing opinions (what about gays being able to get married?) which the resulted in a Chick-fil-a appreciation day.  The idea was that people who agreed with what the president said should eat at the restaurant to show their support in his opinion.  It seemed that once this day was created, word of Chick-fil-a "hate" groups on gays started coming up and mean things were just being said back and forth.

Now, I don't know what is true about these "hate" groups since I feel like every other article is saying different things, but I do know that any sort of "hate" group is not right.  I know that this is a big part in why people will not support Chick-fil-a anymore.  It is a part in why people who did go out to eat and support got severely criticized for it.  There's been so much banter back and forth about what is right and what is wrong that it's making me upset.  I feel like opinions are being shoved down people's throats instead of being politely discussed, especially on the support side.  That if you agree on the matter, then you agree and support with what every other single person out there who agrees says, no matter what else you say that's different. (I hope that sentence made sense)

I told Scott earlier today that I am becoming afraid to share my opinion on the matter because if I agree, then I am a hater on the gays and if I disagree, then I am not true to my religious beliefs.  Really? I'm a hater?  I've been seeing that word thrown around a lot online in the many discussions I've read concerning the matter.  A few friends shared this photo on facebook that I really liked.

I feel like basic respect is being lost in conversing about all the issues that are happening.  I've never really been a huge fan of debate and discussing politics.  It's just not my thing to do.  So, I'm not going to share my opinion on here.  The point is that things need to change in the way people communicate with one another before a positive change on any issue can be made.  Now, I don't know how things need to change, I'm just tired of useless conversations and I hope things will change for the better.

Allergic Reaction

So, last Wednesday I discovered a consequence to being allergic to Maddie.  My eyes had been a little itchy and nose a little runny ever since we brought Maddie home.  I was hoping that my eyes were itchy because my contacts were old and that my nose was runny because I was getting a cold.  I needed to have an eye appointment so that I could order contacts and I went in on Monday.  The new contacts felt great, but my eyes still felt a little itchy.

I've never really had allergies before, so I was bad and kept rubbing my eyes every time they itched.  It was early afternoon on Wednesday and I was rubbing my eyes, but this time I felt like I couldn't stop.  As I kept rubbing, my eye started to feel a little funny.  I looked in the mirror and I could see that the inside of my right eye was swelling up!  I ran over to Scott and showed him my eye.  I took out my contact and we went immediately to the eye doctor. 

Scott said my eye looked like I had been hit in the face.  He mentioned taking a picture and I said no immediately.  I didn't want a picture where my eye looked so awful, but now I kind of wish I had just so you could see how badly it swelled. (It actually got to the point to where it was hard to blink, but that didn't last too long thankfully.)

Luckily, we only had to wait a few minutes before the doctor could see me.  He prescribed me some steroid drops and told me that I couldn't wear my contacts while I used the drops.  I had to put the drops in 4 times a day, meaning that I couldn't wear my contacts at all.  Ironically, I had ordered glasses when I went in on Monday, but it would take about a week to get them.  So, I had no way to see while I was using these drops.

The swelling went down pretty quickly and the only place I had to go was to a family bridal shower for my cousin.  I had Rebecca pick me up since I couldn't drive and it was pretty funny to have to ask my family who people were or what things looked like.  I had to stick my face in things to be able to read or see what it was.

Since the swelling went down so fast, I was able to put my contacts in by Saturday.  I haven't had any problems since, but I've been super careful not to touch my eyes after touching Maddie.  We've also kicked Maddie out of our room, so she won't sleep on my head anymore at night. 

I'm glad that the swelling went down pretty quickly so that Maddie can stay around.  We do love that kitty and the entertainment she brings us.

Oh, since I don't have a picture of my eye, here's some pictures of the cat.

 Sitting in the laundry.

I don't know why this is a funky color, but I like this picture of Scott & Maddie.

One of Maddie's favorite places to sleep.  She loves the sink.