Halloween!

Halloween in was one of my favorite holidays growing up, but unfortunately it doesn't really do anything for Mark. We didn't really have anything really planned this year, but we did have a little bit of fun.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the corn maze at Thanksgiving Point with Jeff and Dakota and Logan and Cami. It was really fun, and it was nice to get out and do something fun as married couples.

For Halloween I actually got Mark to dress up TWICE! We went to our ward's Trunk or Treat on Friday night since we teach the sunbeams and thought it would be fun to hand out candy. However, it didn't really end up being a "Trunk or Treat" afterall because they didn't even hand out candy like we thought they were going to. When we got home I finally decided to carve our pumpkin. I was hoping Mark would carve a pumpkin with me, but he didn't want to, and decided to go to bed while I was carving the pumpkin. I'm not the best at it, but I am definitely proud of my work!

Then on Saturday I got him to come to Walgreens to take a picture together in costume. I think it turned out pretty cute although he was trying to grab my butt.

James and Alecia came to hang out with us after I got off of work too. We went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse then went back to our apartment to watch the World Series (of course...) and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. (We had 4! haha) After we were done watching sports we played a board game and by then were super tired and ready for bed.

On Halloween we went to church (exhausting!.. especially since all of the kids were probably loaded with candy!) Afterwards my parents and my grandma came over and we had pulled pork sandwiches. Then Mark and I watched the Giants game and went to bed!

Although Halloween wasn't what I was used to this year, it was kind of nice to just stay home and relax. (Even watching baseball!) I think it will be so much more fun after we have kids, and get to do all of that fun stuff again, but hopefully that won't be for a couple more years! :)

Mr. and Mrs.

Mark and I finally got hitched on July 31st. There's no turning back now! (says Mark) I can't believe it's been 2 months already! It's taken me almost a month to finish writing this blog post...
The day went by so fast I could hardly take it all in! We got married at 9:00 in the morning, so I had to wake up at 4:30 to get ready. I couldn't sleep because I was so excited and ended up only getting around 3 hours of sleep anyway.

It was so busy inside the temple I was glad we were there pretty early. The temple workers all kept trying to give me stuff that wasn't mine, and they even lost my dress bag afterwards! I can only imagine how hard it is to keep all of the brides straight!

Everything was so surreal; I couldn't believe that our wedding day came so fast!

After we were done taking pictures we went to the chapel where our reception was going to be held, and had a luncheon. It was pretty tasty and it was nice that we were able to socialize with everyone that decided to come.

After the luncheon, Mark had this "brilliant" idea to go the Maverik and see if the clerk would give us a free drink. (Imagine--me in my wedding dress, trying to hold it up off the sticky floors, and Mark in his tux--walking into the gas station to get a fountain drink.) Jeff came along in his tux, too, to supervise and document the event.

Our reception was from 6-9, and it was a blast! But by the time it was finally over, I felt like a zombie! I was so ready to just get out of there.. Mark took FOREVER to change out of his tux and I ended up having to wait even longer before we could leave.

I'm glad that we were able to celebrate our big day with all of our friends and family... I'm so excited for the many years to come.

Here are some of our favorite wedding pictures:

I wish I could share more with you, but there are just so many that I love!

Our First Place

This past week has been so busy I just feel like passing out on the couch! The good news is that I can now officially pass out on my own couch. Mark and I have started to move in to our apartment this week and it is so exciting--I can't wait to get all settled in!

Our apartment is in North Salt Lake which will be nice for Mark's early morning commute to Salt Lake City. Now he can wake up at 4:45 instead of 4:15!

Here's brief look at the outside..

We picked up our sectional on Tuesday which I was looking forward to all week--It actually looks live we have a living room now! When we picked we didn't realize that they gave us two pieces that didn't fit together. Luckily Mark and my brother-in-law Kodie realized this before they got both of the pieces up to our third-floor apartment. But it's so nice to finally have it!


We also went to Big Lots beforehand and bought some storage cabinets for all of our books and DVDs. (Mark had a ton!) Mark and I made a pretty good team putting the first one together. It was a little confusing and took FOREVER, but we managed to come up with a finished product.(picture coming soon!)

Here's a better look at the rest of the place:

Our Bedroom
Guest Bedroom
Kitchen
Guest Bathroom
Our Bathroom
Outside Deck
I know there's a lot of pictures in this post, but I am just so excited for our own place. I can't wait for you all to come and visit!

Summer Fun!

The 4th of July has to be one of my favorite holidays. With parades, barbeques, family, and fireworks, you can't go wrong. In the past, my family and I would go to the Layton Park where they have a parade in the morning and booths set up all over the park with people selling whatever their heart desires. We would stay there all day and then go home after the fireworks.

This year, however, panned out a little differently than usual. Mark and I decided to go out on the Lake since nobody was able to all get together this year, and we hadn't taken out the Jet Ski since last August. It was the perfect opportunity.

After church on Sunday, we drove up to get the jet ski out of storage so we wouldn't have to worry about it on Monday. But when we got it home, it wouldn't start. We figured it was the battery, so we tried to charge it, but it still didn't work. We then had to search online to find a place that would be open on Monday so we could buy a new one. It turns out, there was just a blown fuse, but we got a new battery anyway since the old one was 3-4 years old.

Finally, we headed out to Utah Lake. It was so much fun to have a day of fun since I have been so stressed lately! Mark's brother and sister-in-law met us there after a few hours for just a little bit since they were in town.

We went from one side of the lake to the other to meet his brother, and so we had to take my cell phone to the other side so we could call them. Mark already had gotten his phone wet, so we took mine. I was a little nervous, since last year when we went out on the lake, my phone took not one, but two swims in the water. We found a plastic bag and put it in the "dry storage" area. Turns out the "dry" storage isn't so dry after all and plastic bags don't always keep out the water, and my phone got wet anyway.

Amazingly, my phone started working again. (It's a trooper!) But sadly for Mark, his phone is toast. Obviously, we have learned our lesson that you shouldn't take your phone out on the water even if you think it will stay dry.

I still got to see my fireworks, even though they weren't up close. We watched them from Mark's uncle's backyard which has an amazing view of the city. (You can see the Bountiful Temple from his back porch in Layton!) It wasn't as good as watching them close up at the park, but it was still nice to see some fireworks, especially since Mark doesn't really like them for some reason!

A Sneak Peek..

I had my bridals done this past Wednesday at the Ogden MTC Learning Park. Luckily, the flowers were in bloom, which normally wouldn't be a concern for me in the middle of June, but considering how Utah-ish the weather has been, you never know.


I was afraid the weather was going to be bad, as the forcast looked dismal, so we took them earlier than originally planned. Here in Layton the wind was blowing like crazy! I decided to go for it anyway, (I didn't want to wait another week to take them and wear my dress!) The place where we took the pictures had perfect weather. It wasn't too hot, or too cold, the sun peeked through during a lot of the shoot, and it was only slightly breezy making perfect winded shots.

After we were done, I could see the storm clouds rolling in from both sides. I was relieved that we didn't keep the original time.

I had only 10 or 15 minutes to do my makeup, which is about the same amount of time I usually spend in the morning, so I hoped that it wouldn't look too rushed. The girl who did my hair did it pretty quickly as well, but it turned out great!

I had so much fun! I didn't want to take my dress off afterwards! I realized how hard it was for me to laugh and smile without it looking fake, especially without Mark there goofing off. So my mom and photographer started talking about Mark, which made me smile somehow. ;)

So here is a little sneak peek for everyone! It doesn't really show anything off, and I probably could have put up a better picture of the dress, because Mark probably isn't going to see this anyway! But just in case...

Goodbye, Geo!

Today I said farewell to my trusty old '97 Geo Prizm. My car that has been with me since I was the ripe old age of 16. I will miss it. I will miss it's squeaking when you start it up, the shaking at over 55 miles an hour, the one and only hubcap on the front right tire, the missing light, and the glued on driver-side mirror. But most of all I'll miss the embarrassment of driving that thing around...So this post is to say hasta la vista to my old car and to say bienvenidos to my new '07 Ford Fusion.

It's quite an upgrade, don't you think?

Engagement Shoot

On Tuesday, May 4th, we had our engagement shoot at the Union Station in Ogden. It was tons of fun, and we ended up with a lot of cute and goofy shots. I love them! (Well, most of them.) Our photographer, Cecily Cook, was amazing and did a great job! Here's her blog:
http://mychaosmybliss.blogspot.com/

Right before the shoot, Mark and I sort of fought about him wearing his cowboy hat. (He would tell you I was pretty pissed off.) I was adamant that he NOT wear it at all, but apparently, I somehow lost that battle. Although we did agree that none of the pictures with his hat are going on the announcements. I'll admit, not all of the ones with the cowboy hat are horrible, but I have only seen him wear that thing twice before. (Halloween and the Jason Aldean country concert.)

Anyways, my little rant aside, I just wanted to share some of my favorite shots that we had taken.

And some goofier ones:

(This one is Mark's favorite!)

As you can tell, Mark cracked me up pretty much the entire time. I couldn't stop laughing! He was being such a goofball, but we had a fun time.

We're Engaged!

First things first, we're engaged! Mark proposed on March 21, 2010. I knew it was coming soon, but I definitely wasn't expecting it that day since I knew he had just picked up the ring the day before. It was a really nice, warm day, and after church we decided to go up to the mountains to explore. We ended up going to Snowbasin, and the mountains were very beautiful and still covered in plenty of snow.

We explored a little bit, took pictures, and just talked. We were in the parking lot and about ready to go home, and took a few more pictures of us. Then, he kissed me and after he pulled away and got down on one knee. It was so adorable! I hardly remember anything he said because I was so shocked and excited, but it went something like this: "I love you more than anything..."[blah blah blah] "Don't cry, babe." (I didn't). [blah blah blah] "Will you marry me?" (So much for my good memory!) Anyways, here's a picture of my cute ring which suits me just right!

The big day is July 31, 2010 in the Salt Lake Temple!