Fall Festivities

I love autumn in Utah. Being from Vegas, I'm not use to the beautiful colors on all the trees. Palm trees don't change color, and that is what was all around me growing up. The brilliant colors of orange, red, yellow, green, and everywhere in between is remarkable! I love it!


Below are pictures of the redish-pink bushed outside our bedroom window. They use to be green but they turned red and produce a red glare into our bedroom. It's awesome.





Last week Doran and I carved pumkins. It was so much fun! I love doing fun things with Doran. His pumpkin turned out so much better than mine, but they were both cute. His is a wolf, and mine is an owl with "Hoot! Hoot!" next to is so people can tell its an owl. haha.











Oh, how I love life. Marriage is awesome. Every day is amazing and exciting and everything I could ever ask for. I love my husband and I love the fun, busy lives we have. I wouldn't change anything. :) Thanks for visiting! I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween!

Canadian Thanksgiving

Monday, October 11th was Canadian Thanksgiving. Since Doran served his mission in Canada, I wanted to do something to celebrate this holiday and to have a chance for him to tell me even more about his mission. We had turkey and mashed potatoes, and i attempted to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. However, I made them wrong, which is really hard to do, so they turned into pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes. I think they turned out great, and so did Doran considering he couldn't stop eating them. We delievered a lot to neighbors since it made so many!


I love him :)

Our fancy turkey dinner.....

And our fancy potatoes.





They seriously look so cute! I even decorated them like I was a professional cupcake maker. They are so adorable.





Here are a few pictures of Doran's mission. He served in the Toronto, Canada East mission. I am so proud of him for all of his service and for the great example his is to me. We decided to make Canadian Thanksgiving a tradition in the future so Doran can sit and talk to our kids about his mission and set a good example for them. I love my husband and had a great time listening to him talk about all of his memories. :) Happy Thanksgiving!

As of Late....

We're still slowly settling into our new apartment! This is the most recent project I've done that I'm pretty proud of. I bought a bunch of old frames at the DI and painted them fun colors. It was a really cheap and easy project.





Also, my new niece was born on September 20, 2010. My brother and his wife Sarah had their first baby, a little girl. Her name is Lucy and she is the prettiest darn thing ever. I have visited her the past 3 weekends and I have loved every minute of it. Isn't she beautiful?

San Francisco Anniversary!

For our one year anniversary we went to San Francisco! We skipped two days of school and enjoyed a wonderful weekend in the sun!

DAY 1: San Francisco

On the first day we drove into San Franciso and did the typical touristy things. We rode the trolly, saw the hilly streets, went to the aquarium, went on a boat ride under the Golden Gate bridge, and walked around a lot!


Waiting for the trolly :)



At the aquarium

A very foggy, but beautiful Golden Gate Bridge.

DAY 2:
On our second day we went to Vallejo, CA and went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It was a very fun day full of roller coasters and animal shows. The theme park had a zoo built in so we got to see whales and dolphins and many other shows in between riding fun roller coasters. It was a great day!

That green one was my favorite. We rode it 4 times in a row. Doran didn't enjoy the 4th time so much....

The whale show! We were for sure in the WET ZONE.

Doran loved the birds. They had a bald eagle! It was cool!

We were wet from the wet rides.... :)

DAY 3:

On the third day (our actual anniversary) we drove down to Santa Cruz and went to the beach. This was Doran's first time at the beach (since he was very small) so it was fun to see him run around like a little boy picking up sea shells and playing in the waves. We had a nice dinner on the pier and enjoyed walking around and talking about what had happened 365 days before.





He was so cute :)

At dinner :)





I love him.

The trip was wonderful! I've loved the first year of our marriage and I'm excited for all of the years to come! Doran is such an amazing husband and I feel lucky every day to be with him. Marriage is amazing! I can't wait for the rest of our lives together!

Spiders.....

So, I hate spiders. A lot. Maybe not the most irrational fear, but I think I hate them more than most. On our way out the door yesterday, I noticed a rather large spider on its web outside our door. I asked Doran if he would kill it and so he did (or said he did). He said he lit the web and spider on fire until it all burnt away. I was pleased. Upon returning later that night, he said, "See! No more spider!" He then proceeded to open the door and said "Nevermind!" The rather large spider was right there in our door frame. I stepped back a couple steps and asked him to please kill it so I could come in. He grabbed his lighter (a boy thing?) and lit the spider on fire. Upon hitting the ground, I hear Doran say "oops" as he noticed the spider's 50, not exaggerating, 50! spider babies that were chillin on its back scatter across the tile. He starts squishing all of them as I stand far away repeating, "Oh my gosh..... Oh my goodness.... Oh my gosh..... Oh my goodness.....". It took me a couple minutes to come inside and a couple hours to get the "there are spiders crawling all over me" feeling to go away. I hate spiders, but I love my husband for killing them. All 51 of them.

(I was going to post a picture of a spider with babies on its back so you could all see how HORRIBLE it was. However, the pictures gave me the heebie jeebies and made me want to cry again. So I will refrain, sparing both you and I that horrible image.)

Bridal Veil Falls

On Wednesday, Doran and I went to Bridal Veil Falls in the Provo Canyon. I had never been here before, so it was really exciting for me. There is a large, shallow pool of water at the bottom that we sat and put our feet in. It was fun to watch the little kids play in the water and just talk. Because this summer has been so busy, little dates like this help me get through the week. I am so grateful for my hot husband :) and for his wonderful heart. He always makes me so happy

so beautiful....

:) (yes my hair is VERY dark).

Summer and Birthdays!

I'm so behind on posting updates. The truth is, this summer has been so hectic. For once in my life I can say that I can't wait until this summer is over! I'm counting down the days. Currently I am working 35 hours a week, taking 7 credits in school, and going to my internship (at Child and Family Services) twice a week. I'm gone from 5:30 a.m. until AT LEAST 6:00pm every day. I don't like growing up. I don't like it one bit.

Doran has been my superhero. He is working very hard and putting in his 40 hours a week at work. However, he doesn't have class and is usually home by 2:30 every day. This means I always get to come home to a sparkling clean apartment and dinner. It's hard for me to switch roles with him like this, but I have to admit it, if he didn't do it, it probably wouldn't get done.

July 7th was my Mom's birthday! We were able to go up to Smithfield for the 4th of July weekend and spend some more time with my family. Weekend getaways to Smithfield are really helpful in helping me clear my mind and enjoy life before another crazy week starts again. I am so grateful for my mom who is such an amazing woman. I look up to her more than she could ever know. She is such a strength and support in my life. She is always there when I need her, on good days and bad days, and she always knows just what to say to make me laugh or to make me feel better. I love her and I love every second I get to spend with her. She has always been an amazing mother. I want her to raise my children, because then I know for sure that they will turn out alright. :) Happy Birthday Mom! Thank you for everything! You couldn't be a better example to me. I love you!


So yesterday, July 8th, was Doran's birthday. He turned 24! I owed him the world since I've been so busy. I put every stress aside and tried to make it a wonderful day, where he would know how much I appreciate him and how much I love him. It started out with both of us going to work around 6am. I surprised him a couple hours later with 2 dozen doughnuts that I took to his work for him and his coworkers. I then had to go back to work and then had 2 classes that went until 2:35. I rushed home so I could enjoy as much time with him as possible. I gave him a gift (a medical game for the wii) and we sat and played that for a while. We then enjoyed a tasty meal at Tucanos.


Crazy eyes....

Nothing makes my man happier than some Tucanos meat. Of course we can only afford to eat there when one of us has a birthday (because then we get a free meal for one of us). We enjoyed it very much. :)



We then ended up going to a movie (Grown Ups), which was really funny. We had more adventurous plans for the day, but we abandoned them for something more relaxing where we could just be together.






We also went to the store and bought Doran some new running shoes. He was very happy about this gift, which would have been more exciting if I picked them out myself. However, I had no idea where to even start!

I bought Doran a cake from Albertson's. Some wife right? However, I did buy some green frosting to write Happy Birthday on the cake. This is not as easy as it looks, and turned out sort of sloppy, but he didn't care. He ate it anyways.






We then took a quick nap before I had to go to work at midnight. I'm sad his birthday is over. I love spoiling him. He is seriously the most amazing man ever. He does so much for me, and I couldn't even begin to thank him for everyting he's done.

We've been married for over 10 months now. It feels like yesterday, but then again, it feels like we've been together forever. Isn't that the way it should be though? When I was single, I would always say that I didn't understand how people could get married after such a short time of knowing each other. How is this possible? How do you know you want to be with them after a few months? Well I knew after such a short time with Doran that I could never, ever be without him in my life. And I was right. He is the most amazing man I have ever met. He makes me so happy every day. He came to me at the perfect time and swept me off my feet. I love him so much and am forever grateful for his kindness and humor that makes me smile and laugh every day. So happy birthday to the most wonderful man in the whole world. Forever doesn't even seem like long enough. I want to be with him for 2 forevers. Maybe that can be arranged....

Happy Birthday Husband!