Boulder, Utah.

We tried to enjoy the great outdoors of Utah as much as we could this Summer. 

We still didn't get enough. 

This picture is taken in Boulder, Utah near Capitol Reef. 

Stunning. 

Home is where your Family is.

I sure do miss Dave but man I love being in Utah. 

It has been so much fun to spend time with my family. 

I miss just stopping in and hanging out with everyone. 

It is the best. 

Here is a little update in picture form: 

1. Boating in Utah Lake. 

It was almost 90 degrees that day and the lake wasn't even that cold!

2. Does it get better than s'mores?

Nope. And you can always have S'more of them too. 

3. Brady's first birthday!

I have been hanging out with this little man a lot lately. 

He is non-stop giggles, he has so many adorable tricks and he can walk!

4. The new smoker!

My dad is so amazing at smoking meat. It melts in your mouth. 

He got a new toy the week before I came and we are all reaping the benefits. 

5. These two are my favorite. 

They seriously belong in a jcrew for kids magazine. 

They are definitely my little buddies. 

6. My mountains!

This picture got cut off a bit but it is the view from my parents back yard. 

I walk outside everyday and stare. They are so stunning!

7. My first time wake surfing!

It is so much better than wake boarding, I loved it!

How are your first weeks of Summer going? 

Living your life like a Senior Citizen (101)

I realized I am living my life like a senior citizen,

at least in one area of life. 

I lived in Florida from August to May

with a three week Christmas vacation to Utah. 

I will be living in Utah from May to August. 

Weather in Florida from August to May

does not get below 50 in the day. 

(and 50 is really rare, it hit 80 a couple times in January)

Weather in Utah at Christmas means snow... 

magical, and very much needed to convince me it was Christmas.

Weather in Utah from May to August

is usually between 70 and 100.

And it is DRY heat, not humid heat. 

If that is not living like a senior citizen, then I don't know what is. 

Hello Utah, I have missed you. 

We have some catching up to do. 

Airplane Smell.

Flying is my absolute worst enemy. 

Good thing it usually means I am going some where fun. 

I get super duper sick on airplanes. 

So sick that my husband doesn't even want to sit by me.

Apparently I make him sick just by having him sit by me... 

When I was really little, my family flew to Disney Land and it was my first time on a plane. 

I threw up. 

All over my Mom. 

Don't worry, she still loves me. 

During my teenage years, I would get super sick during take off and landing. 

I would put a pillow over my head and blast music in my hears to distract me. 

Now, just the smell of an airplane makes me nauseous.

I seriously feel like throwing up almost the entire time. 

Dave thinks airplanes do not smell and that it is all in my head. 

Somebody tell me it is real and I am not making it up?

Wish me luck. 

Utah, here I come! 

You need one.

Isn't this print adorable? 

I found it here. 

What comes to your mind when you use the word Family? 

I realized that I immediately think of the family I grew up in. 

My Mom, Dad, sisters and brother. 

They will always be my 'Family'. 

Then I think about the other family I am in, you know.. that cute guy I married.

We have a family of our own. 

Just me and him. 

For now at least.

However, I don't think of that as 'my Family'.

I guess it is just that strange stage of life that I am in. 

Is the turning point supposed to be when you have kids? 

Then they are your 'family'?

Anyways.. those are my thoughts today. 

Oh AND..

one week from today I will be on a plane to see 'My Family'

and 

I am going to really miss that other family of mine that I am leaving in Florida!

Two weeks.

Have you ever left your spouse for a significant amount of time? I am not talking about the silly little one week vacation you took with your girl friends... I am talking 6 weeks (or more). See, Dave and I had never spent more than 48 hours away from each other until last August. I went home so I could go to two of my cousin's weddings. I was so happy I did and it definitely helped the transition with the move but boy, I sure missed him. I was gone one week. Well friends, I am heading home to Utah exactly two weeks from today. I am thrilled with excitement and super nervous about it at the same time. Dave isn't joining me in Utah until 6 weeks after I get there. WHAT!? yep, 6 weeks. That may sound like nothing to you people who have been married for years and years but really six weeks is a very long time. 

I am going through this strange phase of missing Utah so much. Missing my family, my girls friends, running into people that you know at the grocery store. You know, the usual stuff that you get to experiencing in the town you grew up in. Some days I miss Utah so much that all I want is to jump on a plane that very second. Now that the very second is fastly approaching... all I can think about is how much I am going to miss Dave. There won't be any Friday night date nights, late night giggles and tickle fights, dinner with just the two of us... you know, all the good stuff. I keep reminding him that we are going to need skype every night. And I keep telling him how important it is for him to eat a balance diet while I am gone. 

You see, I think about how much fun I am going to have with my family and how much I am going to miss him. It is like no matter where I am, I will miss something. (Until he comes to Utah with me, that will be the best ever!) BUT when I really think about it, I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so grateful to be so close to my family. There is not a day that goes by that I don't wish I could stop in and see them. I try to talk to all of them every week and I probably call my mom way more than the average daughter would. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family. And then I think about my marriage, I am so grateful to be married to a man that I feel like I can't live without him. Some of you may think that I am ridiculous and I need to be more independent. No my friends, I am so happy to be in a marriage that I truly feel like going more than a day without seeing my spouse is going to be really hard. So here is to 47 (i think) days with out Dave... I can do it, right? 

Any tips for me?

It's Summer Time.

To say we are excited for Summer would be an understatement. 

For once, the reason I am excited for Summer is not because of the warmth. 

Yep, it has already been 90 degrees and 70+% humidity here. It is death. 

The reason we are really excited is because we are spending most of Summer in our favorite place. 

The other day we started talking about the things we are most excited about. 

It was a pretty great list we made so I thought I would share.

This will give you some insight about what we miss the most...

Watching the sunset from somewhere above.

Giggling with nieces and nephews. 

Campfires in the mountains. 

Camping in the mountains. 

Eating at Cafe Rio for Date Night. 

Cuddling with Charlie (Dave's dog).

Sunday dinners with family. 

Lunch dates with my mom and dad. 

Watching my nephew walk for the first time (hopefully).

Dry heat, no humidity!

Laying down on nice grass with no chiggers in it. 

Rock climbing on real rock. 

Laying in a tube on the lake. 

Going to the temple a lot more often. 

A lot of girls nights with my best friends. 

Eating Bob's Brainfreeze a LOT. 

Being able to visit family anytime I want. 

The list goes on and on. 

This Summer is going to be Great!

What are you most excited about this Summer?

Five FOR Friday

Here is to five fabulous things that are happening as of late: 

1. Dave randomly just decided to celebrate for really no reason 

and take me out to dinner on WEDNESDAY night. 

We never go out mid week and it was a treat!

2. I get to go visit my family a lot sooner than expected. 

Details to come on this but it is GREAT news!

3. Dave only has FOUR weeks of school left this semester. 

Summer here we come!

Oh wait, I have a full time job. . . 

4. This article was a treat to read during all the contention 

this week about gay marriage. You should read it. 

In case you are wondering, 

I believe marriage should be between a man & a woman. 

And don't worry, the article is light hearted. 

5. It is Easter Sunday this weekend and Monday is April Fools Day.

Seriously one of my favorite holidays. 

Now I just need to think of a nice way to Fool Dave this year :)

Dreaming of Summer

The move was a success!

We LOVE our new town home so much. 

We finally got internet late tonight. 

I am super excited to share pictures this week.

But for now, 

this is the most exciting part of my weekend...

That's right baby. 

Salt lake City, here I come!

#summerinutah

#familytime

#cannotwaittospendtimeinmymountains

President's Day is for Utahns?

Last year for President's Day weekend we went down south

for some warm weather and climbing. 

We spent a couple night's in the local bouldering area called Moe's valley. 

It is just right outside St. George. 

We had a fabulous time with some of our favorite people.

And we really enjoyed REAL rock. 

This year, Dave has school on President's day.

How lame is that? 

I think it is a Florida thing or something. 

We did go climbing this weekend but it was in a gym on fake 'rock'. 

So this weekend definitely had me missing my Utah...

 Yes. I let him grow his hair that long and I have no idea why. 

Yes. My mom thought it looked good on him and he should keep it that way. 

Yes. All these pictures are from our trip down south last year. 

Happy President's Day...

go do something FUN!

Wedding Series: Wedding!

Love is one of my favorite things. 

I enjoy reading stories about love. 

I enjoy listening to songs about love. 

I enjoy watching people fall in love. 

But most of all I enjoy talking about our love story. 

In honor of LOVE month, I want to post more about our wedding. 

I started posting about our wedding in December for our anniversary. 

You can read more about the proposal and look at our engagement photos 

but this post is dedicated to our actual wedding. 

We were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City Latter-Day Saint Temple. 

It was one of the happiest days of my life. 

We were surrounded by so many people who love and care about us

and I have never felt so much LOVE at one point in my life. 

I was so giddy and happy all day long. 

It truly was the best day of my life. 

I hope you enjoy a few of my favorite pictures. 

Compliments to Duston Todd Photography

Don't forget to go check out my guest post over at  The Meaningful Pursuit today.

I am so excited to be apart of the 14 days of love....

(Nosotros) somos jovenes

Yes, my husband helped me with this fabulous title. 

google translate it, dare ya. 

Sometimes I plan my blog posts ahead of time. 

Sometimes I don't. 

Today I planned to tell you all about my Superbowl experience. 

I was going to tell you about the fabulous cake balls that I made that looked like footballs

 And about the fabulous party we went to with people from Dave's department at school. 

And how I totally didn't really care about the football game, 

I claimed to cheer for the forty-niners because of Steve Young, yep I am that cool. 

All I cared about were the commercials...  and yes, this one was my favorite:

I was going to tell you about how much I loved the half time show because

it took me back to all the fun times with my single lady girlfriends. 

And I was going to tell you about the most adorable baby that was at the party. 

But really. 

All I want to tell you about is how much I wished I was at my family's superbowl party the whole time. 

Celebrating the superbowl is a tradition in my family. 

Every year we go all out. 

Basically we make every party food that you could ever imagine.

There are always five different kinds of dip for chips. 

My favorite little kiddies are there to play with when the game gets boring. 

And all the men are there for when I have 'real' questions about the game and what the call was. 

It is basically a holiday to me. 

This was my first year EVER that I didn't get to go to this shindig. 

 I missed it. 

A seventeen day vacation.

We had the most wonderful time in Utah for the Holidays!

We were able to spend two and a half weeks with our family and friends.

We jam packed our schedules so we could see everybody and do everything we wanted to.  

There is just something about being with family that makes life great. 

I hadn't seen my parents since August and that was far longer than I had ever gone without seeing them. 

So yes, I loved it!

Our trip was filled with so many fabulous things, including:

birthday parties

haircuts (finally for this guy)

Rock climbing, rock climbing and more rock climbing

Parties with friends and dates with more friends. 

Family. 

Presents. 

Shopping a LOT. 

Anniversary celebrations. 

Multiple feet of snow. 

Airport lotteries.

delicious goodies.  

Lunches with friends.

Giggles with niece and nephews. 

and lots love from everyone we have missed so much. 

I didn't take pictures of everything but I did get a few good ones...

We had a fun little birthday party for my favorite niece.

This little man has the best giggles!

And this little man could make anyone smile, he is the happiest baby!

We say the lights on temple square a couple times.

My heavens, it is a MUST do if you are in Utah at Christmas time. 

They light up almost every tree on Temple square and through most of downtown. 

I was able to go to the temple a couple times, which was fabulous!

I miss being so close to so many temples.

This is my mom's amazing nativity that wipes out all the other nativities I talked about here. 

Yes, that is a frog playing the guitar in the background. haha. 

We ate a lot of my mother's amazing toffee, recipe here. 

We had a fabulous meal.

I miss my parents cooking so much!

                                                                        

This is my sister's traditional Christmas salad, it is so good!

My Dad has become a rock star at Banoffee pie.  

Recipe to come soon!

I had to post this adorable photo. His face cracks me up!

My sister made this adorable Santa hat with a matching diaper cover..

I told her she should start an Etsy shop! 

These kiddies loved playing 'Tails' with Uncle Dave. 

They run around and chase each other in order to grab each other's tails. 

It is hilarious. 

This was all I wanted for Christmas!

He is such a sweetheart.

The grandkids... Yes it took all 10 of us to get them all to smile!

The best siblings in the world!

I miss all of them so much!

This photo captures my favorite, most suspenseful moment of Christmas!

My dad bought himself and my mom tickets to fly to Florida in January to visit.

I have known they were coming since October and I have been dying to tell her.

This was her face when she opened up the gift... priceless!

Cannot wait for them to visit!

As you can see, we had a wonderful time. 

I wish I would have taken more photos with all the fabulous people we go to see. 

But it is much more important to enjoy the experience.