5 Years

At the end of May (and I'm just getting around to writing about it now?) Bryant and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We couldn't find anyone who could babysit so we decided to make it a family outing with the kids. We had no plans at all, and we just kind of went with the flow. 

I had class that morning, so Bryant and the kids came and picked me up down in Orem, and we started our adventure off by picking up a half-dozen bagels from Einstein Bagels. Their honey almond shmear is to die for! 

We then cruised up to Salt Lake City. We first stopped at the City Creek Mall and slowly meandered around. Savannah thought the river going through the mall was just about the coolest thing ever. 

We then found ourselves crossing the street and walking around Temple Square. We are usually only up there during the holidays when it's freezing and crowded (but so beautiful with all the lights!) so it was nice to be out in the sun with fewer people (3 wedding parties, one Asian tour group, and a handful of other people)

After walking around the grounds, we crossed the street again and found ourselves at the church history museum.

 

Bryant and I had stopped to watch a video, and I looked over and saw Savannah all nestled in on the replica ship bunks. I immediately freaked out and started chewing her out, telling her to get out. And then I noticed that there was a sign saying you were welcome to climb on and try it out. Opps!

 

We didn't know there was a kids play-area of the museum. That was a nice surprise!

 

Savannah especially loved the area that taught traditional Mexican dances!

After the Museum, we stopped at our favorite Mexican food restaurant for dinner.

I think Deagan ate his weight in re-fried beans.

We also decided last minute to take the kids to see the Muppet movie. Savannah loved it, Deagan was wiggly and so Bryant and I took turns walking with him in the back of the theater.

I remember when Bryant and I were heading home from our honeymoon in Florida and I thought "I want to come back here and do this all again for our 5th anniversary!" Little did I know that we would have 2 kids and crazy schedules and limited funds that would prevent us from doing that. But it turned out to be a pretty good day-out with my little family anyway. Besides, we plan on having plenty of anniversaries in our future to eventually make it back to Florida :-)

I love you Bryant! Thank you for an incredible 5 years together!

4 Years Later and Still Going Strong

Last Wednesday was Bryant and I's 4th anniversary.

Where did the last 4 years go? It doesn't feel that long. Although, we have technically been "together" for 5 years, and friends for 6. Saying that makes it seem longer.

And I am more in love with him today than I was the day I married him. And I will be more in love with him tomorrow than I am today. (Sounds so sappy, but It's true!)

Bryant had to work most of the day, and I was thinking we would just do a quick dinner out somewhere like Texas Roadhouse or Olive Garden (thats about as fancy as we get around here these days because they are still pretty kid-friendly...) 

But Bryant surprised me by getting off work a little earlier than I was expecting him, and he told me to "Dress fancy. Not 'prom' fancy, but fancy casual" (his words, not mine). Since I only have one maternity shirt that is short-sleeved and still fits, I had to go with pink stripes and khaki pants. A little too casual for a fancy dinner, but it's the best I could do.

We took Savannah to my parents house and took off. Bryant told me that the place we were going was about 40 minutes away, so I was thinking we were headed to somewhere in Salt Lake, but he headed south towards Provo. As soon as he turned up the canyon, I knew where he was taking me.

The Tree Room at Sundance! 

Ahhhh! 

I've lived in Utah my entire life and have never been to Sundance. Is that crazy or what?!? I've done half the Alpine loop several times, but never made it down the backside into Sundance, but I have heard a LOT of good things about the Tree Room.

The whole restaurant is so cozy. I felt like I was just having dinner in a really nice cabin with Southwestern decorations. The only thing I found weird, is that they sat us at a table, which had a couch to sit on, on one side, and nothing on the other. So Bryant and I sat next to each other, and had a beautiful view of the trees out the large window, which was really romantic, except that we were both in front of all the other tables and guests. Bryant told me he felt like we were at the head of a table or something. I wondered if people thought it was weird that we were essentially watching all of them eat.

The food was amazing! I always feel so awkward when I go somewhere really nice to eat, like I'm really out of place. When they asked what I wanted to drink, I asked for just a water. Then the waitress said "We have water, bottled water, sparkling water, bottled sparkling water, which do you prefer?" and I just, very dumbly responded, "um, just ice water" and she replied "so just tap water?! Ok..." 

They first brought out these weird spoon things with a tiny dollop of a pea puree, a single slice of a strawberry, a mint leaf and an almond slice. Like, the whole concoction was slightly bigger than a dime. Bryant and I looked at each other and I said "how the heck are we supposed to eat this? Do I use a fork, or do I just lick it off?" I ended up just licking it off all awkwardly. Bryant then said "Honey, we are not very good at being fancy..." No, we are not. After that weird little bite of food, they brought out a mango sorbet. Yum! I ended up ordering the peppered steak with what I think was an apricot sauce, mashed potatoes and spinach. Bryant got the buffalo with a semi-spicy blackberry sauce. We unashamedly reached over and ate off each others plates. I tell ya, we are classy...

They offered us the dessert menu to look over, but we both decided that we didn't want to pay nearly 20 bucks for a dessert and declined. They ended up bringing us 2 little chocolate tarts with a raspberry on them anyways. 

After dinner, we kind of snuck around the restaurant and the lounge next to it just to check it all out. I MIGHT have also been snooping around to see if I would bump into Robert Redford... but no luck there.

We then headed outside and walked around for a bit. There were a ton of people riding the ski lifts up the mountain and then biking back down, and we had fun watching them for a bit.

Afterwords, we debated going home and picking Savannah up. Most of the time when we go on dates, we do dinner OR a movie, so that we are not forcing whoever is babysitting to deal with our crazy, high-energy child for more than a couple of hours. But I told Bryant that we should just do the whole date enchilada and go see a movie too. So we headed back down the canyon to the theaters where we saw the new Star Trek movie! We got lucky because the theater sold out minutes after we got our tickets. Who knew Wednesdays were such a popular day to go see a movie?

The whole night was perfect! Bryant always spoils me on our anniversary. And now that we have a daughter, dates in general are far and few between, so something like this is extra special and extra romantic!

I'm so happy to be married to my best friend. I know the term "soul mates" is a little cheesy and sappy, but I truly think of ourselves that way. If you think about it, so many factors and details of our lives had to work out just perfectly for us to even meet, let alone fall in love and get married. Not to mention that I do believe that we are sealed for time and all eternity. It's not just "till death do we part" for us. We will be together forever. We are a team, and we work together in everything we do. Marriage is hard work guys, but it's so worth it if you put the effort into it. I am a very lucky woman to have married someone who sees my potential, who pushes me to accomplish my goals, who walks beside me in all my decisions. When I told Bryant I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, he fully supported me and did what he had to do to make sure I could stay home with Savannah. And I know that if I went to him and told him I wanted to be a working mom, that he would fully support me in that too. It's a beautiful thing to have someone who loves you unconditionally, and who wants to make you happy, and I was so lucky to find Bryant, who loves me as much as he does. 

Happy 4 years baby, and here's to many, many more anniversaries!

Our Anniversary Weekend

Today is Bryant and I's 2nd anniversary.

We had gone to Disney World for our honeymoon and Disneyland for our 1st anniversary, and we kind of wanted to go again for this anniversary and make it a yearly thing. But, I just didn't think I could have left Savannah for that long since she is only 2 months old.

So instead, we decided to stick close to home and spend the weekend in Salt Lake.

We left yesterday afternoon and stopped at the Jordan Commons megaplex theaters, where we had lunch and watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I though it was a pretty good movie. I actually liked it better than the last 2, and I thought it was a lot funnier.

After the movie, we headed up near Sugarhouse and checked into The Parish Place, which is a cute little bed and breakfast. 

We booked the "Daybreak" room, which was a Victorian/garden theme. It was really cute and cozy and we loved it! 

 

(this was the lamp behind the bed. Love it!)

 

We then got all dressed up and headed to Temple Square and walked around for a while and enjoyed all the tulips. We even did a tour of the Beehive House. 

Then, Bryant surprised me by taking me to the Roof for dinner! And to make it an even bigger surprise, there was a bouquet of roses waiting for me on the table! Bryant always spoils me too much. 

We got the perfect table. We were right next to the window and had an amazing view of the sunset behind the temple on one side, and the evening light hitting the capitol building on the other. 

The food was amazing! My two favorites were the top sirloin in a spicy peanut sauce and chicken in apple curry. The best part was the dessert! They had every type of dessert you can think of out and we went up and got 4 or 5 different things to try. We spent a good 2 hours there, talking, enjoying the view and eating to our hearts content.

This morning, we slept in (something we don't get to do with a baby anymore) and outside our door was a basket with bowls, cups, silverware, a jar of milk and a jar of orange juice, yogurt, fruit, muffins and granola. We enjoyed our breakfast at the cute little table next to the giant windows in our room, in the comfy bathrobes they provided. 

 

(my beautiful roses!)

 

(There was even this cute moose to greet us! I wish I could have kept him.)

It was a fun, relaxing and romantic weekend. 

I am so lucky to have Bryant in my life. I love him more than anything.

One year later!

So It's been a year since I got hitched to the most wonderful person in the whole wide world! And after a year I am still madly in love with him.

Also, after a whole year I:

Finally got my wedding pictures from our photographer (we have been trying to get them all year and he kept saying he hadn't printed them, then my parents saw him at a ball game the other night and they were all in an album sitting in his car. I'll post some of my favorites soon, after I make a copy of them on CD)

I still have not legally changed my name (Sorry Bryant! I'm making it my goal to get it done my next day off)

I finally got my photos from my honeymoon all on a CD (I had them printed out but lets face it, I live in the age of computers, I wanted them all on CDs)

and the top of my wedding cake is still taking up my whole freezer. (It's also my goal this week to thaw it and eat it!)

Our anniversary was amazing! We had a blast in Disneyland! We left about 6:45am on Friday and got there around 3:30pm California time. We took a nap and watched the end of a movie before we headed off to medieval times where we had dinner and watched a jousting tournament thing. Out knight was kind of a wimp and ended up losing, then got "killed" by the bad guy in the end. But it was still fun to watch and we were front row center! The food was pretty good (and you had to eat it all with your hands, which is always super fun).

Saturday we got up bright and early and got to the park as soon as it opened. There was NO ONE in the park until about noon so we walked onto every ride!


(all photos are from our trip to disney world last year, I have not gotten this years pics on my computer yet but i'll post them as soon as I do!)

Since Saturday was our anniversary, we had made reservations at the Blue Bayou, which is a restaurant inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was so good! I got a salad, and new york cut steak with potatoes and asparagus and Bryant got the Jambalaya with the gumbo.

Sunday we decided to sleep in a bit and do California Adventure first and stop at dennys for breakfast. Our hotel was situated perfectly. It was on the same block as Dennys which was across the street from the park. everything was a quick 5 minute walk. Sunday was a little busier but everyone cleared out after the fireworks around 9:45 so we got to go on all our favorites again without a line.


(I LOVE Disneyland's chocolate covered frozen bananas, and I made Bryant buy me one almost everyday last year and again this year. Yummy!!!)

One of my new favorite rides is the toy story midway mania. It's a 3D ride where you play classic boardwalk games. The Michel Jackson 3D movie called captain EO they brought back for this year was pretty awesome too, It as so cheesy you couldn't help but laugh the whole time. Plus there was an adorable little kid sitting next to me who kept giggling at the alien spider looking lady and he kept tapping on my knee to make sure I was laughing too.


We left Monday around 12:30pm and we stopped in Las Vegas to visit my Cousin Cody, his wife Katie and their super adorable baby Zion. He's got the biggest eyes ever! I hope I can see him again this summer.

We got home around 1:30am Utah time and we were exhausted. But as I walked into the bedroom what do I find? The room was flooded! Apparently, it had snowed pretty hard while we were gone, then jumped up to 65 degrees and the window well filled up again. The only things to get wet were a pile of cloths that are going to be donated to DI and my little sisters Percy Jackson and the Olympians book. The rug got soaked too and it's still drying out.

But overall our anniversary was amazing! Although it was short, we both had a lot of fun and I can't wait until we can go back.

Now it's time to look forward to our next big summer trip to Mt. Shasta in July! I'm so excited!!!

In just a few hours...

In just a matter of a few hours (I should probably be sound asleep right now!) Bryant and I will be on our way to Disneyland!!!

We have almost everything packed except for our toothbrushes, hair brushes, my makeup bag, (things we will be using in the morning and can just toss in) and our cooler needs to be packed still but we will do that in the morning so it stays cold all day.

I went to wal mart to make some CD's of my pictures from our honeymoon in Florida last year and It was so fun to go through them all and reminisce about our wedding day and our trip. I can't believe we have been married almost a year. A YEAR PEOPLE! This year has gone by so fast and it's been the best year of my entire life. I'm married to the most wonderful man in the whole world! Bryant is my best friend and I couldn't have asked for anyone nicer, sweeter, funnier, kinder, out-going or loving. I am so lucky to stand by his side throughout all of our adventures and trials.


I love this man (and all his funny little quirks)


On a different note, that I feel I should add, I ate a jdawg the other day for the first time. They are pretty popular around Provo and Orem and everyone talks about them all the time. But, lets face it, its just a hot dog stand and I don't really eat anything from a pig unless its at a baseball game, but Bryant took me to lunch there before I went to work.

I thought it was pretty good. I got a polish dog (you probably think this is weird, but I don't know what the difference between a polish dog and a regular hot dog are, but Bryant assured me they were much better)


So for me not really being a hot dog kind of gal, I would have to say that I would definitely eat there again. Whatever those Poles are doing to their hot dogs definitely works!

Adorable

Warning! Cute and cuddly alert!

So my youngest brother Sawyer is quite the little farmer these days.
He has 3 chickens that he raised for an FFA project and they have become my family's pets. They are really funny to watch and the best part is that we get free eggs! (really super pretty eggs as a matter of fact, kind of a pink-ish red color) Tonight after work I went to kind of hang out with my mom and watch her bake cookies (who doesn't love watching mom bake cookies?!) and she was adorable when she cracked and egg for the dough and said "I'm so happy we have chickens... by the way, Sawyer has 4 more." So I ran into his room to find...


Aren't they adorable???These ones wings fan outward and they will lay maroon and blue eggs.

Now for adorable photos set number two...


This is my cousin's son Jackson with his grandpa.



My uncle Russel was drinking a cherry coke and he really really wanted it. It was pretty cute. No wonder everyone in my family is addicted...

Also, I have some exciting news!

Next weekend is Bryant and I's anniversary and we are going to....





DISNEYLAND!

I'm so excited! I'm such a sucker for all things Disney. Bryant was making fun of me last night. He was saying that Disneyland would be fun to take me to because I would be just as excited as a little kid. I told him I didn't always act like a 5 year old, and then he pointed out that I was coloring (which, I was, but who can pass up an animal planet coloring book?!)

An anniversary of sorts....

Any reason to celebrate right? Well, I know it's super weird that I even remember this, and even weirder that Bryant remembered this and the weirdest thing of all is that Bryant brought it up. So what is this weird event?

The anniversary of the day Bryant proposed to me. Yup, we actually remember the day....

We say it was February 1st, but it was actually Feb 2nd at 1:00 in the morning. So here is a quick little story of how we took our first step to being together forever.

So it's February 1st, 2009. It was a sunny, very pretty Saturday morning and Bryant and I had the day off. First thing in the morning we drove to Lehi to finish buying his brand new car. I was really excited because I love new cars, even if it's not mine. So we decided to spend the day testing it out. First place we go is Tucanos. I was actually a little confused as to why we were there because we had just been there 2 days before, and it's a little too pricey to eat there more than once in a while, but he knew I loved it there and insisted that we go. He even teased me when I asked what the special occasion was by saying "what? you think i'm going to propose to you or something?"

I had no idea...

After lunch, we went for a long drive to test out his new car. We even stopped at my grandparents for a visit. We then went back to my apartment when I got a phone call from my friend Hettie who works for a local movie theater and who asked if I would like to come and watch a movie after the theater closed. We do it all the time because one of the theaters has a DVD player so we can watch our own movies and it's always fun to have a few friends around and get a whole theater to yourself. So I said yes, and invited all of my roommates and friends, all of whom said no except for my friend Katie.

So we go to the theater, and the four of us get settled in our seats and then Hettie says "ok well I'm going up to the booth to put the movie in" and Katie jumped up and said she wanted to help. Then Bryant said he couldn't remember if he turned his lights off in his car or not so he left too.

So here I am, all by my lonesom in a theater waiting for everyone to come back, when all of a sudden, the lights go dim and my favorite song starts playing. Up on the screen was a slideshow of my life, which progressed into a slideshow of Bryant and I. As the movie ended, Bryant came around the bottom stairs and I walked down to meet him. Then, as you can predict this next part, he got down on one knee, pulled out the most unique and beautiful ring I have ever seen and asked me to marry him. I think I was crying so much from happiness that I'm not sure if he heard me say yes.

Next thing I know, ALL of my friends and roommates and my parents are behind us clapping and cheering, complete with cupcakes. I was so surprised! I was so happy that everyone was able to be there and I can't belive they all had kept it a secret. They had all known for a week and Bryant had had the ring in his car all that day and I never found it. On my list of happiest days of my life, it was number 2, right behind my wedding day.

Cute story huh? I think it's adorable.

We didn't do anything special on the "anniversary". We were on our way to the theater to watch a movie to kind of celebrate it, but I got super sick on the way there and I made Bryant turn around and I had some toast and sprite for dinner and then went straight to bed (i'm fine now by the way...) but today we took advantage of the sunshine and (ever so slightly) warmer weather to take Ace out for a super long walk.
Bryant taking a break in some random persons yard...
So I had this Micky Mouse that I let Ace play with when he was little and would only nibble on it while he was in his chewing stage. And I let him keep playing with it because it was so cute when he would carry it around and then cuddle up to it when he took a nap.

But he's not puppy-sized any more and his chewing stage turned into a tug-of-war stage. Poor Micky... He wasn't even salvageable at this point because Acer Spacer would have just torn him apart again. But the walk was great, there is no better way to celebrate the beginning of our life together than being out in the sun with my little family...