Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Better Late than Never

I know I know I know it has been forever since I updated our blog, but I figured since we will be moving away soon I better get on it. I got to stay in touch some way right! I can't believe Bracken and I have now been married for two years and eight months. Life just flies by! We have lived in Roseville, Chicago, Houston, and Springville! And........... yes we are moving again to Bentonville, AR to accept a position working for General Mills. Ask me if I am excited..... ahhhhhhhhh yes and no! I am so sad to leave my family, friends, neighbors, ward, people I work with, and good old Utah, but who doesn't like an adventure and change. I haven't had a break down yet because we are moving far far away, but it will probably come sometime soon! Wow, Arkansas! I will love it! Okay well I want to post some pictures from this past summer and this fall. Life is exciting and I couldn't be any happier! I am married to the man of my dreams, have two wonderful dogs, a great job, friends that mean the world to me, and a family that is so supporting and loving, nothing else could make me more happy than I am now! Oh wait, I lied, probably being pregnant would! jk

Well let's get caught up on our lives! Here we go! Last Christmas Jon and Darlene introduced us to a new family tradition. We fell in love with it and decided to do the same with our ward family Springville. It is the neatest and most rewarding tradition. This is how it works. At the beginning of December we choose 12 different little Christmas gifts, along with 12 Christmas stories and do the 12 days of Christmas for the widows and widowers in our ward. This year Bracken and I choose a Christmas bell, a nativity scene, homemade soup and rolls, picture of Christ, Joseph Smith Video, a bookmark, hot chocolate mugs, little turtles from our cruise, picture frames, wrapping paper, a Christmas book, and on the last day we pick them at their homes and feed them a Christmas dinner. We are able to get to know them all a little bit better and truly come to love them. Last night was our first night, December 2! It was a little struggle finding their homes, but I can not wait for the rest of the days!

Are not these the cutest little old ladies you have ever seen. I am so grateful to have such wonderful grandparents in our lives as well. I love older people. They always have stories and full of such perfect love.


Bracken did such a wonderful job on choosing a purse for me! I absolutely loved it! I am still using it! Wow now that is a miracle! Jon and Darlene gave us a new digital camera. It is amazing! Thank you! We love you guys so much!Bracken and I are also wearing our new pj's from Darlene! This is when I fell in love with nice pjs.


I got a sewing machine! Yeah!!!!!! Too bad I have only used it a few times! I promise I am going to get better at using it!

Christmas day Bracken and I headed off to my parent's home! I love having two families now! What could be better than more love and presents! jk





My parents took us to Vegas for New Years. We spend two days shopping, the boys went golfing twice, and went to a couple shows. At the MGM hotel we went to the Circus o le' show Ka', and also went to Lance Burton's magic show! They were both great, but our favorite so far is O'!!!

We love Vegas. I am sad we are moving far away from Vegas. We are going to have to find another exciting city to visit near Bentonville.

The spring flew by and Tanner put in his mission papers. My family met us in Salt Lake at PF Changs and opened his call. Tanner left on June 16, 2010 to Dallas Texas. He has been serving for almost 6 months now. It is insane how fast time flies by when you are busy. I don't think my parents would agree with that. My mom is always sending him packages and my dad is constantly writing him letters. I think it has been good for my parents to spend some alone time together. There whole married lives they have been focusing too much on kids and not enough time on their marriage. The weekend before Tanner left we went and spent a few days in Swan Valley. We had so much fun in Jackson hole and hanging out together. We also went bowling which is something my family never does.


Kelsey is 7 months along! She is almost there! Little baby MaKoy was born on Sept 9! Yeah Bracken and I are aunts and uncles. Holding baby MaKoy was one of the best days of my life. I am so happy for Nick and Kelsey. I love them both so much. They have been the best support to Bracken and I. I am really going to miss them when we move to Arkansas and especially seeing MaKoy grow up! I have a feeling we won't be gone too long hopefully!



This is on our way to Jackson Hole, Wy. We stopped at Palasades Damn to take a few pictures!


Before Tanner left to Dallas he developed this passion for card tricks. It was so funny to watch him as he practiced on people. He also loved any type of magic. He thought he was pretty tricky when he fooled someone, which was not that often.
The Alpine Slide in Jackson Hole is a blast. A little pricey, but worth it. When Tanner was a little tike my mom told him to hold the break forward the entire time to go faster. What she forgot to mention was it was also the break. Tanner got going a 100mph and ended up going around a corner too fast and flew off his sled. He was completely traumatized for life. It was amazing we got him to ride on it again!
After Jackson Hole we went back to the Cabin and ate dinner and roasted marshmellows! It was so much fun doing something together as a family that didn't involve just golfing. I love being with my family. As you can see Bracken wasn't able to come because he was in Houston selling APX alarms.




After Tanner left for Dallas I had the opportunity to run in the Ragnar Relay with Brad and Sarah Fears. It was a 12 man team relay that ran from Logan to Park City. We were in van 2 that ran during the night. We slept and ate in the van and had a blast cheering each other on. It was the longest day of my life, but also one of the most rewarding. Next year Jon and Darlene asked our family to be part of their family team. I am so excited!


This is our team's last leg. We are almost there! It was the best feeling in the world when we crossed the finish line!


Sarah and I almost ready to run our 3rd leg. Yeah I was not looking forward to it! It was straight up hill, on a dirt road, in 100 degrees weather. Yes it was not enjoyable.



Tuesday, January 5, 2010

First Time Cruiser









Bracken and I decided to take our first cruise to the Mexican Riveria. We had three stops, Cabos, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. Our favorite spot was probably Puerto Vallarta. We went on an amazing zip line tour













































Lilly - The new addition to our family! She is a mix between a lab and a poodle, a laberdoodle!


Yes, we have another dog. Bracken got her for my graduation present last year. We named her after a chubby lady in Bracken's mission that he totally adored. Lilly is the most lovable and goofy dog. As you can tell Bracken loves Lilly as much as I do. However, both our dogs love to make a mess.
For some crazy reason I decided to run in the Top of Utah marathon. Yeah I wanted to die! It was the hardest thing I have ever done. However, as wierd as this sounds we two more in March and May. Sounds like fun! ha, right!!!

Bracken has a new love, golf. This fall we played a few times and had a great time. Guess what, he got a birdie, and I don't think in all my years of playing golf I have ever seen someone so happy. It was rather funny to watch.




Remember I said they like to make messes, yeah they have completely destroyed everything that we own, including five pairs of my shoes, Bracken's play station paddles, text books, decorations, brushes, my toothbrush, all our DVDs, and yeah plenty more. You would think we would learn our lesson by putting things away, but I swear she digs and finds things.