Updates and Birthdays!!

Wow...it has been a little bit since I have written. Let's see...Jon got really sick for a couple days this week, which was no fun. I felt so bad! He can usually push through what ever illness he gets, but this flu knocked him out for almost a week! We pretty much slept the entire weekend because he was so exhausted! But he is feeling much better now, thankfully, and just in time! It was his birthday yesterday! Yay! It was definitely a different feeling being his wife and getting ready for his birthday! I loved it because it was the only day that he couldn't escape getting spoiled. I was kinda nervous knowing that I was pretty much in charge of the whole day, but then I got excited. I made breakfast in the morning...and we both learned really quickly that bacon has the most potent smell, and that while it is really nice to wake up to, it is horrible to come home to later when the smell is still just lingering. My clothes smelled like bacon all day....mmmmm. After school and work, we went to dinner at Tucanos, his favorite restaurant and we loaded up on the delicious food! As usual, we ate way too much, but it is so good, we couldn't stop! When we got back, we had a bunch of friends over for cake and ice cream! It was a lot of fun with everyone over and as usual, stories of the Brotherhood were told till all ends of the night! We were so busy all day, that he didn't get to open presents until later that night...at midnight! Along with some candy and iPod accessories, he got some MUCH needed shoes and clothes. I sewed two pairs of pants up a couple days ago, because he had torn completely through the knees! And then, when I went shopping for Jon at the mall for his shoes, I got lost (Provo Towncentre...never been) and somehow managed to walk right past the dumb "Dead Sea Salt" guy, and without Jon, I am hopeless with sales people. The salesman had this terrible accent and he made my nail all shiny, which was cool, but I didn't want his product. All I know is that I somehow went from trying to find Journeys to buying the dang kit! I kept telling the guy that all I wanted was shoes from Journeys and he kept putting products in my hands! AH! He kept trying to sell me on the fact that his nail kit would be a perfect gift for Jon...haha...and he just kept pushing and pushing.... I was so overwhelmed and I am terrible at saying no, so when he dropped his price from $89 to $24, I said yes to just get away. The minute I walked away, I suddenly found my wits again, and I was SO mad I gave in! Pretty sure that I will never go to the mall again without Jon. This is the picture of the stupid kit...a symbol of my weakness. I gave it to Jon as a birthday gift, just like the guy told me too, haha...just so I could tell him the story. All in all, it was a fun day and I loved spoiling him rotten!

Moab and Family!!

So the men in my family have a tradition every year to go to Moab. I normally couldn't go because of school, and my mom couldn't go because of her health. So this tradition became a "man" only tradition. Until this year, when Jon and I and one of my girl cousins decided to crash. Neither Jon nor I had been to Moab even though we have driven through it a million times to other hiking trails...and we have NEVER been to Arches! How crazy is that! So we were super excited. Except for the fact that day number one was to be spent mountain biking. Bikes and I do not get along. I have no balance, have a slight fear of speed (especially on a bike), and I have no trust in the bike's sturdiness to keep me from falling off of a cliff...which is what we biked on all day. But of course Jon and I stepped up the plate...my little brothers were peer pressuring us so off we went. It was possibly the hardest thing ever, especially for someone who hasn't ridden a bike in forever. We rode all over Moab's slickrock trails...most of the time right on the edges of slanted cliffs. It was steep and hard, but it really was fun. I focused most of my energy on getting up the mountain, while my little brothers ran circles around me and were doing insane tricks off of the cliffs. The day was so fun and being with my brothers was hilarious. These pics were taken at the very top of one of the harder trails.
The only thing we didn't like was that our bottoms were extrememly sore. I thought I could cry when we got back on our bikes for our second trail. Jon and I walked a little bow-legged for a couple days afterwards.
The next day, we went to Arches! Yay! It was so amazing! We didn't have too much time, but we went on some really awesome trails. We look fairly disgusting, since we had been hiking all day, so ignore that. The first pic is of Landscape Arch, which is expected to fall very soon, and the second is on the trail to Double "O" Arch, which was my favorite. The view was incredible!

Tackling Timp!!

So Jon and I went camping with our friends Steve and Rachel two weekends ago and we decided to tackle Timp! I wanted to post pictures of our triumph so you all get the story behind it. I had done the hike before and it was a terrible experience, complete with blood soaked shoes. So I was hoping this time would be better. We backpacked up to Emerald Lake Friday and camped there overnight, which was way more fun than just straight hiking! We even got a really good fire going! But because we were so close to the glacier (or maybe it was because we only brought one tiny sleeping bag and a blanket for the two of us), Jon and I froze during the night. I was so grateful for the morning sun and the fabulous oatmeal we drank out of lidless waterbottles. We were sore and tired from packing in all of our stuff, so that last bit of the hike to the top was not so fun, but it was worth it! The views were spectacular and my dad went out into the street in Highland and flashed a mirror at us and everyone on the point could see it. I think I thoroughly embarrassed Jon when I said excitedly, "That's my dad! That's my dad making that shiny thing!" I repeated it several times and people were looking at me oddly. But it was really cool and fun to see everything! We tried to slide down the glacier but it was so rocky that Jon and I only made it about 100 feet of the way. By the end, my bum was soaking wet and sore from pointy rocks, and my hands were beyond freezing. But I think the worst part of the trek was hiking down. My knees were practically screaming at me! Overall, Jon and I decided that we would not hike Timp again for at least a year, but that the trip was way worth it and really fun.

THE BLOG...

I can't believe I gave in. The minute I got married, everyone in the world gave me their blog addresses and told me that I should start mine. I held out for almost half a year! but the pressure got to me. And I guess there is some sort of married blog club that I now officially belong to! Those of you who persuaded me can give themselves a pat on the back. As for being a blogger...I am struggling to figure out how this thing works and am failing miserably at it. I think it hates me...I can't put things where I want them and I can't find a template that I want. I guess this is when it becomes addicting...

So let me give an intro to us...the story is pretty crazy now that I think about it. I first met him in May 2007 when his friend Nate fell asleep in a Sacrament meeting and loudly snored himself awake. Due to our loud laughter at Nate, we started talking. Jon had just gotten back from Florida late the night before, and looked wasted...long shaggy hair, slumped in his seat...and then it turns out that his first kiss was my old roommate! Small world... So my friend Nicole decided that she liked Nate, the kid who snored, so we started to hang out with them. Coincidentally, Jon was part of this famous Brotherhood of the Scooters (all of his friends had scooters in high school), so when I went to be the wingman for Nicole on these scooter rides, I usually ended up on Jon's scooter...I found him to be hilarious and amazingly handsome. So then the scene switched...Nicole came on scooter rides to be my wingman.
So we hit it off on the scooters (he still thinks that is the only reason why I love him), and then one night, I invited him to come watch "Italian Job" and he held my hand...a few short days later we kissed and from then on we were officially dating. It was fast and fun and I loved every minute of it. It felt so natural to be with him and natural that things moved so quickly.
So we dated for the summer and it was the best summer I have ever had. We went on trips with our friends every weekend! We went wakeboarding, boating, camping, hiking, and we even hiked with llamas (we packed them in Jon's dad's van). It was a blast. And then I went to Ethiopia...and he was the biggest support...we talked marriage while I was gone and when I got back, he patiently waited for me to sort out some missionaries...what a great guy.
He proposed very sneakily on Jan 27 2007 using my friends and family to create a web of lies that kept me out of the loop. Anywho, so of course I said yes, and that was that! He is the best man in the world and it amazes me everyday how lucky I am to be married to a man who treats me so well! I love him!