Numero Tres

Three years ago today, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to make it to my early morning hair appointment, followed by a rushed makeup application, and a quick dash home just in time to meet Tyler at the house before our drive to the temple. 3 years ago today, I wore a long white dress, greeted hundreds of people, accidentally yelled at my new husband's good friend from Maine, and blushed when I had to ask for Tyler's help in untangling myself out of my overly large slip. More importantly though, 3 years ago today, I promised my forever to the sweetest man I have ever known and smiled when he promised his in return. 3 years later, I am still the luckiest girl on the planet and here's why:

- I have a husband who plays with my hair, packs me lunches, learns to ride motorcycles because he knows I like it, packs me umbrellas when it rains, pulls me close to him in his sleep, tells me I'm beautiful, lets me act like a child whenever I get the urge (sadly, this happens often), and reads to me when I can't sleep at night even though I know he's exhausted.
- He is a hard worker. Whether it's going to work or school, beautifying our home, or serving in the church, he always gives it his all.
- Tyler held me together this summer when on more than one occasion, I came home and collapsed on the ground into a big ball of stressed-out-girl.


And last but not least, here are a few of my favorite memories from this past year of our marriage:
- In line with my goals to live a well-rounded life, Tyler has gone camping, seen expensive Broadway plays, traveled, attended motocross races and sporting events, gone on hiking trips, visited theme parks, attended dance concerts, read books, tried weird foods, volunteered at political campaigns, and everything else I have requested of him, in spite of his own hesitations.
- I showed Tyler my 2 favorite love songs from Moulin Rouge and he surprised me by learning the lyrics, then coming home from school one night and singing them with me. We have loved both songs ever since (hence our blog music).
- While I L-O-V-E love dancing, Tyler is not fond of it. This year, he voluntarily took a dance lesson so he could take me out and he has happily agreed to participate in this activity with me ever since. On Christmas, we danced in the streets of Disney World together under fake snow. People on the streets watched us and clapped when we were done. He also took me to a big band show in Logan with a fancy dinner and danced with me until we were both exhausted. And as if that wasn't enough, Tyler agreed to perform a Polynesian dance with me in front of 40,000 people at the Spectacular. This was a HUGE stretch for him!
- I have a hilarious memory of early in the year when I gave Tyler a peck on the lips. He instantly frowned and stomped out complaining that I kissed him, "like a two year old" and I fell to the ground laughing.
- During the World Cup, I discovered that I really enjoy watching soccer. I've always known this, but I've never been able to pay attention to sports on TV until now. When I told Tyler about an exciting game I watched, his face lit up and he asked me to blog about how much I love soccer now... which I never did... sorry Ty!

I'll end it there because I'm pretty sure I've embarrassed him enough already. The past 3 years have been completely awesome and I'm excited for many more to come.

Cute Goats

Lucky me! Some friends of ours who are aware of my mini goat fetish, asked us to take care of their goats for a couple of weeks and they have been so much fun. In spite of several peoples' protests, this experience has only strengthened my resolve to own goats one day. They are so cute and sociable and they play with you just like puppies.

Tyler tried very hard to get some decent pictures of them, but apparently they refuse to look at the camera when there is perfectly good food to be eaten and people to play with. Hopefully you can still get an idea of how cute they really are. Trust me though, the camera does not do them justice.

P.S. Check out my totally charred leg.



And just in case these pictures don't do it for you (which unfortunately is a very real possibility since we are not excellent photographers), here is a picture my friend sent me of one of the goats smiling into the camera:

The Rantings of a MAd WomAN

The above image is a perfect depiction of my thoughts on our lives this month. Summer has started and we have both finished school so you'd think we'd have all kinds of time on our hands, right? Wrong. This past month has been completely INSANE!! I had a free night for the first time last night thanks to a cancelled meeting and used my unexpected free time to barely touch the tip of the iceberg with the weeding that we've been neglecting all summer. It was so very nice to be at home for a day though.

Between youth conference, girls camp, high adventure scouting, Tyler's birthday, the Spectacular, a new roof and a subsequent asbestos scare, I have many many posts in the making. However, since I have no pictures to display as part of these adventures, we'll stick with my cartoon persona posted above and save the rest for later.

Suffice it to say, we are running around like headless chickens this summer, but still enjoying life to the fullest. Tyler has been so very patient with his busy/emotional wife and has no doubt benefited from the magic of the World Cup. Amidst all the chaos, he has worked his tail off without a single complaint. Maybe there's more to this soccer thing than meets the eye? ;)

Additionally, we have discovered that we are still very much newlyweds. The separation between all of the camps and such has made us rather homesick for each other, so I am pleased to report that even three years later, we are quite fond of one another :)

Last but not least, I wanted to write about one of our new favorite things to do together. For the past few months we've been reading books together and we love it. Mostly we just read them when we're in the car together and at night when we should be sleeping. Neither of us have ever pursued leisurely reading as we should, so we've both been surprised at how much we have enjoyed this activity. Our latest undertaking has been this series and we are totally thrilled with it. It seems like the entire world has read them already but just in case you haven't, I totally recommend it!



And with that, I'll call it a day. Hopefully I will have more posts soonly regarding the adventures behind my headless chicken act. Hopefully you're all having a wonderful summer. Toodles!

New Pics

Okay so maybe I was a little slow with getting these on here, but I finally made it! We have somehow been blessed with the opportunity to have our pictures updated on a yearly basis and it has been awesome! Here are the latest courtesy of the lovely and talented Donna Shelby.

Ah! I bet you thought I was going to go right into the pictures there; I sure fooled you. Instead, I'll close with a brief update.

Ty and I have been dancing our hearts out with the youth of our surrounding stakes and learning a lot about the Polynesian culture, commitment, faith, and ourselves in the process. It really has been a fabulously trying experience and I hope to post pictures of it once we all perform live at Weber State University's football field.

We are very much looking forward to this summer with girls camp, youth conference, scout camp, Island Park trips, and motorcylcing to look forward to. In the mean time, we've been enjoying the sights and sounds of spring time.

Tyler has been hard at work building flower boxes on our patio and a path of flowers following the side of our driveway. I had no idea that my husband was such a gardener, but he really and truly loves it. This is great news considering the fact that I don't know the first thing about yard work. All and all, it's been an excellent learning experience and we're looking forward to many more improvements throughout the year.

We hope you are all doing well and are so thankful for those of you who blog and provide us with heart-warming/laugh inspiring reading material every day. Keep it up!

And with that, I'll turn your attention over to our latest and greatest graduation images:

Tired of hearing about this yet?

Tyler and I have long been against sending out graduation announcements for ourselves, but between the talent of our friend Donna Shelby and the constant pleading of a very dear-hearted mother, we caved. Donna took many lovely pictures of us and if all goes as planned, I'll be posting them within the next week. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek, along with my very favorite graduation picture of all time:

P.S. I can't figure out how to upload these images so that when you click on them, they get bigger and you can actually read the writing. If anyone would like to advise me on how to alleviate this problem, I would be forever thankful.

Update

Have I totally neglected this blog or what? I frequently read peoples' blogs in my down time and find myself disappointed each time I log on to find no new posts to peruse. Then it occurred to me- I haven't updated mine since our post-valentines day entry, so I have no room whatsoever to complain. With that in mind, I'll add my two cents to the blogging world and let you all know what we've been up to so I can feel free to complain about the rest of ya'll without feeling guilty ;) Here's what's new:

Tyler is one assignment away from finishing this semester. We are very much looking forward to walking together on April 23 and thrilled to be hearing from this man at our commencement:

PRESIDENT MONSON!! How cool is that! We really weren't planning on attending commencement until we read the program and of course changed our minds the instant we saw his name. Needless to say, we're pretty stoked. Tyler will officially be done with his B.S. in June and plans on pursuing his MBA next spring. Whew. Moving right along...

We recently had an awesome opportunity to participate in the Weber County political process. Tyler and I both recognize a need for our generation to be actively involved in politics. Regardless of political parties and agendas, young people NEED to become educated and actively involved in politics. Sometimes it really scares me to look around at all of my crazy liberal professors and the students who believe every crazy thing those professors tell them and wonder what our world is going to be like when I'm raising children one day. Another thing that scares me: maybe it's due to my limited perspective but from what I've seen, people are becoming less and less patriotic. Whenever I attend the Celebrate America show at Utah State University, I marvel at the seasoned men and women who would give their very lives in defense of our freedom. Their eyes fill with tears when they hear the national anthem and they stand up proudly when given opportunities to be recognized as veterans. Why don't we, the younger generation, have any of that emotion or commitment?

We are so blessed to live in a free country with rights and processes! It's true that there are several corrupt politicians making and contributing to decisions that change our society from both parties, which is exactly why we all need to speak up and do what we can to create positive change.

I just went off on a soap box, didn't I? Ahem. Sorry about that.

I'll tell you our story in a nut shell: Ty and I attended our neighborhood Republican caucus meeting and rallied people to vote us in as county delegates. We were lucky enough to be voted in together and then we watched in awe as our mailboxes and email accounts were FLOODED with literature supporting different candidates. We did our research, picked what candidates we thought were best, and then met all of the other 500+ delegates at the Weber County Republican convention. Here, we ate many yummy treats and visited booths of different candidates, attended a few meetings, and casted our votes to help determine which Republican candidates would end up on the next ballot. The convention was full of very formal processes and several votes regarding resolutions, motions throughout the meeting, and of course candidates. What a completely and totally awesome and educational experience!!

Though we've always had good intentions to get involved, the real kicker that convinced us to step up to the plate was my Uncle. Terry Thompson ran for Sheriff and asked for our support. We rallied supporters, wore pins and t-shirts, wrote letters to the editor, and even danced around at the convention holding campaign signs for all to see. In the end, he won and became the next Weber County Republican candidate for Sheriff. Woo hoo! Sadly, I only have one picture to display as part of our political extravaganza, but I'll share what I've got. It was an awesome experience and I encourage all of you to gather up your courage and get involved; I think you'd be surprised at what an enlightening experience it can turn out to be

(Please excuse the bobble head appearance. This picture was taken on a cell phone that was apparently unhappy with the short length of our faces.)

I think I'll end this post here, but stay tuned. I'll be posting some neato graduation pics soonly.

Feelin the Love

I've been a slacker about getting on here and posting this, but our Valentines Day was great this year so I thought I'd share the love.

In previous years, we've spent our Valentines Days at the student dorm computer lab, surrounded by several weird computer junkies watching anime movies loudly. As a result, I'm pretty laid back about Valentines Day; all I ask is a nice dinner with my husband and I'm cool as a cucumber.

Tyler knocked my socks off this year by setting a beautiful table and making every part of our dinner (I wasn't allowed to help). He made us orange glazed chicken with rice, a lovely dinner salad, and chilled sparkling white grape juice with champaign glasses; he even lit candles!

Just to clarify: YES, I am most definitely bragging about my husband :) He made the night lovely and fanciful and as a result, we had a fabulous evening!!

I feel so blessed to have Tyler in my life! He is awesome and it's always fun to reflect on what a joy it is to be married and to be able to enjoy one another and grow closer together every day. I hope all of you had equally exciting holidays. From what I've read so far, that has been the case.

Here is a picture of our table minus the food. Aren't husbands the best?