We have had fun in July! We stayed here with no vacations, so we made our own! We went camping 2 weekends in a row and Brandon went 3 weekends in a row! Our friends Brit and Travis took us to the Uintas to camp and fish the first weekend.

So we took my friend Kenna and her dog Adah the following weekend and found the most amazing campsite ever.

What are they looking at?!

Brandon taught me how to use our fancy camera. I am just starting and just experimenting, but I am proud of myself!

Kenna and I started the fire! We are super proud of ourselves!

Adah didn't leave Brandon's side the entire time.

We also went to my friend Jessica's wedding. She married Bryan Kehl, of the New York Giants. It was the nicest and fanciest wedding I have ever been to.

We have been mini-golfing, on double dates, bike riding, fishing, birthday parties, and to Seven Peaks. It was been fun!

Mini Golf.

I gave Brandon a ponytail! His hair is getting pretty long!
Seven Peaks. My husband tells me it is cool to wear jerseys.

So we sadly found out last week that Brandon is not set to graduate in December like we thought. Instead he has 3 semesters left and will hopefully graduate next summer (I will hurt his counselor if she messes it up again!).

This has changed things for us and has set us back in creating "our lives together." Vacations will be postponed since school is so cheap and all.. and the baby plans will have to wait for a while longer.

We have been super bummed for a week... but after a nice session at the Salt Lake temple, we decided that the Lord obviously knows what is right for us and knows that this is necessary in our lives right now. He knows a lot more than we do.

With this, we are trying to find a new place to live (that allows animals) so we don't have to hide our cats anymore.

And I am also looking for some advice. Brandon will be on his computer all day EVERY day for the next year. Since I am not in school anymore, I have nothing to do at night. I will be so BORED!

So I need your advice please... I want to pick up a hobby. Maybe start reading. But I have never enjoyed reading in my life until the Twilight series. So I need a suggestion for a good book. Maybe a romance novel... but a PG one? Or should I pick up a different hobby? We don't have TV, so I can't start watching a show. And crocheting can only entertain me for so long. I would like to learn to play the piano, but I am too poor to pay for lessons. ANY ADVICE???

... and one more to go. It is so crazy to me that it has only been 11 months. I feel so comfortable with Brandon and feel like I know him so well. The past 11 months have been incredible. Since it was our last month to be able to celebrate on a monthly basis, we decided to celebrate the anniversary. After this, it will always be annual anniversaries (which is not enough by the way!).

We had a softball game on the actual anniversary(Wednesday) so we celebrated Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday!

Brandon got me flowers! And wrote me a very sweet note that I hung up at my desk at work.

We went to eat at Cafe Rio (to use a free meal coupon) and went to Tomasso's afterwards for dessert (to use a buy one get one free coupon!) Tomasso's is in the Riverwoods and has tons of flavors of italian ice! We then went on a walk around Riverwoods and enjoyed the weather.
The next night we cooked dinner on our grill that my parents got Brandon
We went and played in our softball tournament.
These are the girls I work with! I love them so much!
After the game we went to Sonic and used another coupon for a 99 cent Chiller!

*copy and paste the link below to get the coupon!*
http://www.sonicdrivein.com/prmtns/2009/chiller/index.jsp

Thursday we made an awesome meal that our friend Matt Stanley made in Bear Lake. It is so good! I swear. Here are the details.

Put in a crock pot:
2 chicken breasts (I put them in frozen)
potatoes
carrots
cream of chicken soup (I use 1 can)
ranch dressing
diet coke or dr. pepper
seasoning and salt to taste
*this is all up to you. Put as much of everything as you want. Put it all in the pot on low heat for about 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken before serving.

We then went on a bike ride. I haven't had a bike since I was in 6th grade and I have really wanted one! So my parents gave me one of their old bikes and I love it!
We decided to ride to Sub Zero (that way we didn't feel as bad about eating ice cream, right?!) and we used another free coupon we had.

(We are trying to save money for many bills we need to pay in the next month. Can you tell?! We live by coupons!)

And lastly...
I LOVE BEING MARRIED!!!

So this has been one of my favorite quotes for a while and I believe it is so true.

“Maybe some women aren't meant
to be tamed. Maybe they just
need to run free 'till they
find someone just as
wild to run with.”

So yeah my husband is pretty awesome. He is just as wild as I am and loves to just get up and go with me. He loves to travel like I do and understands that you need a vacation from a vacation!

2 weeks ago we went to Bear Lake with all of Brandon's college roommates and their wives/ girlfriends/ bad A friends that are girls. We had tons of fun. We went boating, tubing, wakeboarding, played games around the campfire, made tinfoil dinners, slept in tents, got dirty, went 5 days without showering, and it was awesome!

Unfortunately it was a bit stressful for Brandon and I since he planned it and we had some issues with the borrowed truck and the borrowed boat we brought. So we ended up turning around 24 hours after we got home and headed to Lake Powell! This was exactly what we needed. A vacation where we weren't in charge and weren't borrowing any expensive motor vehicles. We ate like kings and queens, slept under the stars, danced, played games, played happy and sad, played in the water for 5 days straight, and built some lifetime (hopefully!) friendships.

And thankfully we came home injury free (If anyone remembers, we went to Powell last summer, 2 weeks before our wedding with the same group and came home with massive bruises.. mine covered 5 inches around on my left arm and Brandon got a bad black eye)

And I feel like I am still on a boat. Once in a while, I feel like a big wave comes and it knocks me over. It is pretty funny.

Check out our awesome pictures.
Oh and beware. Camping means no make up or shower, so I am a little nasty in these pictures.

Lake Powell
Our GroupOur houseboatI caught my first fish in Lake Powell! It was a catfish. He was very squirmy and I felt bad for him. So I decided to let him go.

People surfed with 3 people on the board!

And did cool tricks like these.
Girls rule!They taught us how to tandem surf!This is me last year with the guy who taught us how to tandem. I got on his shoulders!Brandon is good.
I suck
We had a talent night. All the girls on the boat made up a dance. I couldn't stop laughing.
Our friend Jake made shirts for everyone on the boat.
On our way there we took a tour of the Dam. It is huge! 350 feet thick!

Now for Bear Lake.
This is us at Costco buying the food for 25 people.
Our campsite. it looks a lot smaller without all the tents and such.Group shot. Minus a few. Girls ruleBoys droolBoys like to wear short shorts.I am apparently really bad at putting sunscreen on Brandon. I guess we will never be using spray sunscreen again.Tin foil dinners.The "Ahhhh I'm Chon" gameGirls buried Dan and Levi
So we came home after Lake Powell, and found the bagels from Bear Lake that we simply just left on our kitchen counter. Look appetizing to anyone?(That is all mold by the way)

That is all.

Summer is awesome. The warm weather makes me really happy. But it also makes me anxious for activities! I can't wait to live where it is summer all year long!
So lately...

We have been enjoying the outdoors. Outdoor concerts, games, activities, restaurant patios, and snow shacks!
We got a free one because they messed up our order!

This is our softball field we play on with my co-workers (right after it rained and our game was canceled). Ghetto maybe? We have one game left until the post-season tournament. We have a winning record so that's good at least right?!


For those of you who actually listen to the music on my blog (not those that scroll down as fast as they can to turn it off before they begin reading the blog), you will appreciate this. We met Mindy Gledhill. She did a free concert a few weeks ago and I LOVED IT!

I went to the Orem Owlz game with my friend Danee. The best part = the kids at the game.
For Father's Day, my parents got Brandon a grill! "He is a potential father," is the reason they gave me... but some odd reason, they forgot I am a potential mother? :) My cousin Rachel got married! So my family came out and all my relatives came down to Utah for the weekend! This equals happiness for me.
Cousins with Brandon

Girl cousins
Of course we had to go to Iceberg while they were here!
Me and Amber
We just left Zupas having a HUGE lunch. We had to stop at Target to get a Father's Day card. My Dad disappears and I can't find him. I start to search. 10 minutes later he comes with 2 bags of popcorn for him and Brandon. My Dad and my husband are literally OBSESSED with popcorn. Advice anyone?!
And now...
So I have been in denial of this amazing creation for a while. I told myself it was ugly and dumb. But it is time people. Time to admit to myself how amazing it truly is. Plus, I needed it. So without further a due, please say hello to the newest member of our home.
My Snuggie.
I love it.
Brandon says it is cheap and not worth the money. I say it is amazing. I slept in it all night last night.