for reals

 so we really celebrated our one year of marriage by kayaking the colorado river. upstream. it was hard. but gosh, it was sooo beautiful. the husband really likes a challenge (and i guess i do too) so this was a perfect way to celebrate wedded bliss. ha.

we started at a little place called willow beach. the water was so clear. it looks peaceful, but let me tell you, it is an illusion. the current was really strong and for some reason always seemed to pull us left. lets just say our left arm got an awesome workout. ugh.

we had to be back by 4pm so the husband and i paddled our little hearts out. for 8 miles, and dont forget about the strong current. oh, and we found a little beach we pulled off to for a quick swim and to rehydrate.  then on the way back we found a cool little cave we hid in for a bit and just soaked in our surroundings (and rested our arms;))

kayaking is one of our favs. even though my muscles are sore and i now have blistered hands i cant complain. i love nature. i love doing activities in nature. and i love being in nature with the one i love. duh. happy one year. now we'll try and make it to two:)

xo

our first

 wait....is it already september 18th? where has this year gone? i cant believe i have been married to this guy for a whole year now. its crazy because i thought i loved him with my whole heart the day i said "i do" but its a year later and i love him even more!!! 

crazy.

 

  imade 100s of little cards that say all the things i love about the husband and we enjoyed a yummy breakfast in bed. after we taught our little ctr 4's we headed to the beautiful lake las vegas. there was yummy chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate cake, my favorite candies (which im still trying to figure out how the husband hid these from me), and a sweet note waiting for me in our hotel room.  

then we hung out by the pool. the ravella is amazing. so pretty and very quiet. we ate a yummy mexican dinner...my fav... and just hung out around the lake listening to the local mexican band play. ha.

then we did the traditional things...like eat our wedding cake (which was still sooooo yummy!!!! thanks anne:)) and other traditional one year anniversary stuff;) i love him.

we were lucky this year. we got to celebrate labor day and my niece's birthday all in one. my mom and kace flew in saturday afternoon to spend the weekend with us. i haven't been able to be with kace on her actual birthday for 3 years now so i wanted to make it extra special....and because she is pretty special too. 

we went shopping right away. duh. then i took them to the outdoor movie at the district, secretariat. we ate lots of treats and played on the carousel. 

after church we drove out to see the new bridge at hoover dam. i made everyone watch a documentary on the making of hoover dam before we went. i think it made it much more interesting. 

p.s. it was our first time back at our church for over 6 weeks and i had excited butterflies to see our little ctr 4 kids. they are so dang cute! i had really missed them:( 

the mother did make it all the way up to the bridge, she just didn't walk out to the middle. it was really high....and it was 108 degrees outside. fun.

we cooled off at the pool and then had a yummy bbq to top it off. 

september 5th is a pretty cool day....my baby...is now 12 years old!!! i seriously cant believe it (no she is not actually MY baby, but i like to think she is:)). also, she gets to share her special day with another amazing person, my brother. 

happy birthday jeff!!! i miss you. 

we of course went shopping and then ate at her favorite place, panda express....not so much ours, but it was HER bday. thats real sacrifice;)

then g-ma took us all to the shark aquarium. yipee. 

kacelyn is a real life animal lover/whisperer.  

i think "glo" just keeps getting better with age:)

then we went to 'the lion king'. we got awesome third row seats. the show was great. the costumes were amazing! i got all the girls ready and we all wore tribal/animal to get into the spirit. nerds.

to top off the night....we had a dance party of course. lady gaga was there, along with beyonce and a few others. 

happy birthday kacelyn! 

we love you sooooo sooooo much!!! 

21 day challenge

"the inner self of every human waits patiently until we are ready to discover it; then it extends an invitation to enter the luminous mystery of existence in which all things are created, nurtured, and renewed. in the presence of this mystery, we not only heal ourselves, we heal the world."

~deepak chopra

the husband had us meditating for deepak chopra's 21 day meditation challenge...we even got the fam in on a few meditation sessions. we made it to day 21. yeah, the husband is a consistent mediator, but me, not so consistent. i have to confess i woke myself up in half lotus and forehead slumped touching the floor after a couple of those mediations, but for the most part, it was pretty awakening.  each week we focused on 3 main questions ...... 

1) who am i 

        2) what do i want 

         3) how can i serve

it is kind of nice to have a few minutes in your day to just be, slow down, and reflect. mostly it helped me realize what matters and interestingly enough, the more important things seemed to slip into place.

   

thanks deepak. you are a wise man. 

back track

home sweet home. i didnt realize how much laundry we had accrued over the last month. we are happy to be in our little apartment that we call home, but we miss our families and the joy of having the beautiful mountains of utah in our backyard:( 

now i have a lot of catching up to do. we partied hard (and worked a little) this last month in utah. it

was a blast! everyday was an adventure. get ready for lots of pictures. 

we decided to have a little party in the mountains for my brother's birthday. everyone came up to help celebrate. 

jaycee helped decorate nate's tent and even collected all these flowers (weeds) to give to him when he got there. surprise!

nate is the s'more master. he made us all reeses s'more delights. yum. after s'mores we all sat around the fire and each took a turn telling ghost stories. noah was quite the story teller (the husband...mmm....adopted baby from kenya.... not so much:))

we even had a stealthy visitor in the middle of the night. it scared all the "men" so much....they thought it was a human coming into our camp....they spoke loud enough for our night visitor to hear...."nate, get my gun ready" (we dont own a gun)

you guys really showed this little guy. 

we love camping. there is something about being around a fire and looking into 'the night sky' (inside joke) with all those stars. the husband made a delicious breakfast for everyone when we woke up....cinnamon french toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, chocolate milk, orange juice, hot chocolate, and doughnuts. wow. he really knows how to camp. he's an eagle scout.

we couldnt let the party stop there. nate is just to great of a brother to only celebrate once. we kept the fiesta going with pinatas and more back at the pack residence. we love celebrating our brother. he is one cool dude. i dont know anyone with a more caring and considerate heart. he has seen and been through a lot and still keeps going strong. i am so proud of where his life is today. i love you brother!!!

 happy birthday.