September! The most wonderful time of the year.

I love September! Why you ask? Well, let me count the ways....

Brayden and I both celebrate our birthdays!
The most beautiful season begins.
Saving more money! (Since we don't get to play EVERY day like we do in the summertime.)
FOOTBALL!!!!!
Our shows start up again! (Yeah, I know, lame. But I am not ashamed, we are avid show watchers.)
We get to whip out the hot cocoa!
Oh, and did I mention....? FOOTBALL!!!!!

The only bummer September brings is Brayden going back to school. He says that this semester is going to make or break it for him, so I try to leave him alone most of the time. Although he still finds a way to spend time with me! He is so great.

Here are some pictures from my favorite month....

Brayden is 24!

Brayden's Birthday activities of choice included, yummy homemade burgers, watching the first kickoff of the 2013 NFL season, and getting Farr's Fresh Ice Cream.

Happy 23rd to me! My Co-workers decorated my office and made me feel so special!

I chose to go to the park and play tennis and football.

I just liked this picture :) It is also blackmail for when Brayden tries to tell people he doesn't like Ellie.

Then Brayden took me to Red Lobster and shopping :) What else could a girl ask for??

The snow came this past week! Eeek! I feel a nasty winter ahead!

Even if we don't make it to anymore BYU games this season, we at least made it to one! Froze our buns off, but well worth it :)

We got a great deal on tickets to the circus through my work, so we just couldn't pass it up! It was great!

Oh yeah, and our house got flooded from a monster storm that hit Provo. So we are living on this hideous linoleum until we can find a good deal! Fingers crossed!

Red Castle Backpacking

We don't have many traditions yet, but one that we do have is an annual backpacking trip. This year Brayden found the most beautiful place on earth to hike! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it was by far the most incredible place in Utah that we have been. It took us 3 and a half hours to get there, but it was well worth the long drive. Our adventure started Thursday night, and ended sooner than planned on Sunday night. The hike was 10 miles long (that includes the bush whacking to our camp site) and we did two day hikes that were each about 5 miles long. So for all ya'll who don't like math, that's a whopping 30 miles. We were quite sore after arriving home, to say the least. We were so excited to come home that we hiked out in 4 1/2 hours... to give you something to compare that to, it took us a full 6 hours to hike to our destination. We were practically running. Anyways... here are our fun pictures!

We hiked next to the river the whole time! Which obviously resulted in Brayden looking for fish the whole time :)

That's right. A cow. This stubborn thing wouldn't move even after Brayden MOOOed at it. So we had to go all the way around.

Wow, I looked so happy at the beginning....

Look how darn handsome my husband is! I just have to say that backpacking would be absolutely horrible without a macho man taking care of business the whole time. Brayden is the best.

See? I told you it was amazing!

That huge thing is Red Castle. All of the lakes are surrounding it.

This was our day hike up to Red Castle Lake.

Again, handsome husband.

I only caught 8 fish....

Brayden caught over 30.... I am catching up! Slowly, but surely.

Tiger trout are so pretty!

Red Castle Lake

This little lake off the side of Red Castle was lots of fun because you could see the fish so clear and they were hard to catch! Smart fish? Who would have thought?

Hahahaha best fish of the trip.

We were trying to show how majestic Red Castle Rock was, but pictures just cannot do it justice!

Can you find me?

Oh, that's right.... We saw Moose!!!! They were so close to the trail and just stared at us until we continued walking.

They must be buddies.

Usually I catch the biggest fish, but this time it was Brayden's turn ;) This thing was huge compared to anything we have ever caught in the Uintas. Brayden was very proud.

Don't worry, we are still alive. I was beginning to wonder if we would survive after bookin' it out of there!

 

 

Introducing Us

Well, I have finally decided to create a blog. It has been over a year and a half since Brayden and I got married, but better late than never! For my first post, I am going to catch everyone up on our many adventures beginning with December 22, 2011....

We got married, and a week later headed up to good ol' Utah. Brayden is at BYU getting his Bachelors in P.D. Bio which will lead him to dental school! He also works at BYU as an online course designer. After going through 6 different jobs over the past year and a half, I have finally found one that fits me great! I am the Warranty Administrator at Mercedes-Benz of Lindon, and I plan to stay there until we leave Utah. Let's see, we lived in a hobbit hole (a basement apartment with a very short ceiling) for 8 months, and then bought our first place. We will definitely be staying here until we head out of Utah! We love it. Now on to the fun! Here are some memorable adventures from our marriage thus far.....

We went on our actual Honeymoon 6 months after we were married since we were married 3 days before Christmas and wanted to be with our family! We took a road trip. From Provo to St. George for a night of camping, then St. George to L.A. for 4 days of the beach and fun, then L.A. to Las Vegas to stay in the Vdara for 2 nights, and finally from Las Vegas back home to Provo. We had a blast!

Last summer we went backpacking on the Highline trail up in the Uintas. Brayden taught me how to fly fish and we just about DIED! Okay, not WE, but I just about died. Nonetheless, we made it!

Here are pictures from our Birthdays in 2012. Brayden made me the most delicious cheesecake I have EVER had! You can't get much better than a turtle cheesecake!

Halloween 2012 we dressed up with our awesome friends Justin and Holly, and carved pumpkins with Caitlin and Laura.

Christmas! We went down to AZ (luckily away from the snow seen above!) and had so much fun with our family! It is a bummer living so far away from our family, so the time we do have with them we eat right up!

Oh, we also brought this little thing back home with us :) It took her some getting used to.... but she knows that Provo is her permanent home now!

 We spent 4th of July in San Diego with my family this year since we don't know what will happen with Grandma Black's house and we may not have another family reunion there. We made the most of the trip by bike riding, shopping, surfing, boogie boarding, snorkeling, and visiting places full of childhood memories!

Since Brayden will be applying for dental school next summer, we decided to make the most of summer 2013! Above are some of the random fun things we have come across. Josh Turner concert, AMA Super Bike Race, Salt Lake Bees game, weekly temple trips to multiple temples in Utah, and of course PLENTY of time spent on the Provo Parkway.

 For all of you who know us well, the pictures above do not surprise you! We try to make it to ANY sporting event nearby. Of course football games are the most fun :), but through my jobs we have come across a lot of free tickets to other games! We aren't complaining ;)

 

Oh, and...... as much fishing, hiking, and camping that we can fit in to our schedules. We could probably live in the forest for days and be perfectly happy :)

Well, that's it! There are lots of little adventures here and there, but overall, Utah is the biggest adventure of our marriage so far. We sure miss Arizona, but we are lucky to be spending time up here around so many great people. We are also lucky that Brayden is able to get such a great education and be prepared for his future career. We are so incredibly blessed!