Summer Happenings

I passed my test! I can officially put more letters behind my last name.  That was a great stress relief to get my results back, so now I can go do all sorts of adventures this summer without worrying about studying. 

I went to Girls Camp for a couple of days.  It was fun, I forgot how much I loved going to camp back in the day.  I haven't downloaded any of my pictures from camp, but I was able to go on one of the hikes and I loved it.  If I could have a job that just included going hiking everyday with well-behaved, happy teenagers (which mine were), and I got paid well and it had good benefits ... I would be happy as a pig in poo.  So, if anyone sees an opening like that (Stan would prefer one that paid enough for him to be a stay at home dad with no kids), let me know so I can apply for it. 

We went to Georgia!  I think I could live in Savannah, it was gorgeous!  We went to see our BIL and SIL and their cute kids.  Here are some pics of our week there. 

River Street in Savannah.  I can't get over how gorgeous it is there!  Kyli and I went running down there one morning, but after a mile I got sick (stupid stomach, hopefully getting it fixed soon) and wimped out, I feel like I need to redeem that run.

 My dream home.

 The park that Forrest Gump was filmed.  There actually isn't a bench there like the one in the movie and for the movie traffic went the opposite direction, but I still had a great time seeing it all.  We even stayed just down the street from the café that Jenny worked at. 

 It wouldn't be a trip to the south without learning a little about the war of northern aggression.  I honestly don't think I read any of the signs, I was just excited about the hike here.

 Braves Game!  It was Freddy Freeman night, so we all got free Freddy Freeman bobbleheads.  Could life get any better than 10th row seats and a free bobblehead?!?  Oh, and the cow doing the tomahawk chop?  I think not. 

 The Georgia Aquarium.  The whale sharks were my favorite.  They are huge!  And have a posse of fish swimming around with them, it looked like the wimpy kids hanging out with the bully so they get spared giving up their lunch money. 

 This place was right in downtown Atlanta, I couldn't believe how big just this tank was.  They even had a tunnel you could go underneath on a moving walkway and just watch all of the fish. 

 Not Georgia.  But it was in my pictures.  We went down to see Grandma and the boys and Charlie enjoyed kicking it on the porch.

 More hiking, supposed to be learning about the war.  Kalin and Porter love their uncle Stan!  They wore him out this week!  :) 

 The beach.  Lydia was the best baby!  We were in the car for hours and hours and hours and hours!  And she didn't cry at all, just enjoyed chewing on her fingers.

  I love the look on her face when Porter is tickling her. 

We were so lucky to be able to go down there and be with our family this week.  Thanks guys for letting us stay with you! 

Anniversary Numero Uno

Our first anniversary.  WooHoo! 

 We celebrated our adventurous first year by going to Ruth's Chris and eating the best steak ever.  And by going to a hotel that had an adult's only swimming pool, which in my mind equates to less pee that I'm swimming around with.  It was fantastic. 

The first year traditional gift is paper ... so I got Stan a mini-piñata.  He gave me a subscription to NatGeo.  Currently we are watching a documentary on Victoria Falls, so NatGeo is perfect for me!  Yay for anniversaries, here is to many, many more.  :)

 

 

So, it's been awhile ...

 There is lots to catch up on ... but, I always forget, so here are just a few highlights of life since December.  In no particular order.

 

Me and the birthday girl.  I still have my coat on because their power was out all. day. long.  We almost froze. But, man I love being an aunt.

Valentine's dinner.  Because we're awesome like that. 

The snow on our car when we went to visit my brother and sister in law and their cute girls.  This is the day that their power was out forever. 

 We went hiking this morning.  We also looked for a geocache, but found ticks instead.  Between me, Russ, Stan, and the dog we found seven ticks on us.  I still feel a little itchy just thinking about it.  We have been hiking a lot more, and love that we have so many trails near our house so we can get out and enjoy. 

Charlie is a hiking fool.  She was jumping up over boulders that were taller than me with no problem.  Every couple of hundred yards she would turn around to make sure we were still there, then would trot on ahead.  Hiking, ranger rides, and snuggling with Russ are her favorite things in the entire world.

 Stan and I at Jordan's mission farewell luncheon. 

 

The week before Jordan left we went down to do a session in the Manti Temple.  Oh, how I love that temple.  Here we are on the car ride down.  What dorks.  Haha. 

 

 My little brother got married a few days before Christmas.  For some reason no pics of him and his bride at the wedding or reception (they must be on my phone), but here is Stan and me at the reception.

 Not so much a fan of me in this pic, I think I was getting sick here, but this is when Jordan got set apart. 

 

 Family pics.  Love it.  This is the first time my mom has had all of us in a picture.  Every time we try to get family pictures something happens to Russ, like he falls off of a horse and breaks his nose and face, or he is in a small explosion at work and his skin is falling off of his face and all yucky looking.  So, for these ones we made no mention of pictures until right before they were going to be taken.  Looks like our strategy worked.  We have better ones too, this one was just funny.
 

 Jordan, Mom, and Russ before she is leaving.  She is doing really well right now, lives in a ghetto, but seems to be enjoying it.  I'm excited to get to talk to her in a month.  Her weekly emails are hilarious.  15 more months.  Yay.

Yep, we're classy like that.  My grandma got us an electric fireplace for Christmas.  It is awesome!!  So, when we have fancy candlelit dinners we can also eat by fire-light if we want.  Yes, that is a batman picture hanging on the wall in the background, don't judge, we still haven't hung pictures yet, but we did get a new (to us) table, no more fold up chairs and lifetime table in our kitchen.  

Unfortunately, I am studying for a big certification exam at the end of this month, so we don't really have much else going on, just living life and loving it.  Oh, I also signed up for two half marathons this summer, so I've been running, and Stan said he might run a 5k with me in July, so it has been nice to have a running partner for at least a mile, it is surprising how much my mile time improves while I'm running with someone.  If anyone is interested in running a half (or two) with me, let me know, there is still PLENTY of time to train, and you get a t-shirt out of the deal, hard to pass that up.   

Just kickin' it

 At our SIL's bridal shower.  Jordan and I enjoying being dorks.  Haha, initially I typed forks. 

Yay for pregnant ornaments!

 This sweet girl is going on her mission soon and I will miss her.  It will be exciting for her, but I am looking for someone to send me funny texts everyday.  If you feel up to the challenge let me know. 

Having fun on our Black Friday adventure. 

I miss living close to this cute girl and her sweet sister.  They are some of my favorite kids in the world.

Another picture of me and my gorgeous sister.  She went through the temple on Saturday.  It was amazing to be in the temple with almost my entire family (missed you Jenafer!). 

Not sure why I don't have any pictures of Stan and I lately, but he's still alive and I'm sure loving being married to me.  I'll try to get a picture of us over Christmas sometime.  :) 

I have nothing else exciting to say, but hope you enjoy the pics. 

Circus

A couple of months ago we went to the circus.  It was so exciting for me, Stan mostly just enjoyed hanging out with me. 

This is a motorcycle on a tightwire!!!!!  It was awesome!  Then they did a flip on the tightwire.  I'm pretty sure that I was squealing the entire time. 

 The elephants were my favorite.  I desperately wanted to ride one of them, unfortunately, they don't allow riders anymore.  Lame. 

I was so excited that I forgot to take too many pictures, but I did get a picture of this steel sphere, they had eight motorcycles riding around inside of this.  Some times I'm excited to be a mom so I can take kids to enjoy all of these exciting things that few other people love with me, but then I see a little kid at church with snot and grossness and screaming and then I remember why I don't want kids. 

Brownies and Random

I got new recipe for brownies, that is so yummy!!!  It is so easy too!  All you do is put a regular brownie mix and one can of black beans, drained and rinsed and pureed.  You don't add the eggs or the oil.  I added a squirt of chocolate syrup and a little water to make it less dry.  Then bake them following the directions on the box.  That's it!  You seriously can't taste the beans at all and you get fiber, protein, and a little less fats!  How awesome is that?!?!?

 We had our family pumpkin carving party last week.  I love getting to hang with my familly so much, cause let's face it, they rock.  :)

 I love this cute man!!  My family did a bike race, but I wasn't back on my game from the tonsillectomy, so we cheered them on.

Apparently, my body was so ready to gain my weight back, I made Stan take me to a nice restaurant just so I could get a chocolatey, yummy dessert.  He spoils me. 

Zane is getting ready for the hunt tonight.   

Before I went back to work we went mini-golfing and I got two holes in one!  We have so much fun together.  :)

Tonsillectomy

I would post pictures of my tonsils, post-op, but I don't want to completely gross anyone out, so just imagine some nasty hunks of meatball-ish yuckiness well over an inch in diameter.  I was having problems breathing at night, and when I would open my mouth my tonsils would squish my uvula together, so I had them removed a couple of weeks ago. For the first couple of days it was pretty painful, so I just hung out at the house and Stan took care of me.  As the 5th day was ending I mentioned to Stan, "This has been pretty bad, but if this is the worst day, I think I'll be alright." Those were the worst words I could have spoken.  The next day I was eating a couple of bites of applesauce and I felt like a river of warm flooded down my throat (weird for eating cold applesauce), I went upstairs and spit in the sink ... more blood than I even knew a human body could hold.  I called Stan at work and he rushed home, but when I called the hospital they only seemed partially concerned that it looked like I had murdered a small pony in my bathroom, so I had to wait a couple of hours.  We went to the doctor and he re-cauterized my throat and gave me some antibiotics just in case there was infection.  The re-cauterizing was really bad, I stopped talking and just started writing notes to Stan for a couple of days because I was hurting so much.  The antibiotics were pills and I almost died when the pharmacist gave them to me, so I had him make them in smaller pills, but I still had to take six a day.  After I had been taking the pills for a few days I realized that I am allergic and I was completely covered in hives. Lovely.  I called my ENT and he prescribed another antibiotic, but still had to go to my primary care to get rid of the hives.  When I saw him he told me that I was probably allergic to the second one, too.  I was a giant, purple, miserable, hive for over a week.  But, now I'm mostly back, thanks to my sweet nurse who took care of me 24/7, he even woke up at 1am to me freaking out thinking that I had ringworm, actually I'm just allergic to the heart monitor stickers.  So, that's my tonsil story, I did lose ten pounds, if you're looking for a really awful diet plan, try it. 

Borrowing Internet

Stan and I don't have internet (or TV cause we're like hippies), so I'm borrowing some and catching up on the last six months.  We have been super busy, without a free weekend since April and it has rocked.  First, I graduated!  Glad to be done, but it is a little weird because I still am trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up.  My last semester was tough working, doing my internship, going to class, and trying to plan the wedding. I'm so grateful for the support of everyone, by the time I graduated I was a walking zombie.  My pics aren't on my computer though, sorry. 

The week after graduation Stan and I got married.  Yay!  I LOVE being married.  I'm so lucky to have found someone that is as crazy and silly as me. 

This is probably my favorite picture from the wedding day, Stan and me with all of the nieces and nephews.  Love all of those kiddos!  They give me my baby fix so I don't have to have any of my mine anytime soon.

Just another cute pic.  We got married 5-May in the Logan Temple.  I was so nervous being in front of all of the people in the sealing room, I don't like being the center of attention, I was shaking and thought I was going to throw up (which would have been slightly embarassing).  Stan was holding my hand and was pretty certain I was going to run because he could tell I was so nervous. 

 I think my lips are turning blue in this picture, it was so cold that morning!  It was snowing/sleeting when we were driving through the canyon.  I was a super chilly penguin.

Being goofballs.  :) 

My life is almost complete, because I saw the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile!  It was awesome!  One more thing off of my bucket list.

 Another thing on my bucket list was to run a half marathon.  My sister in law convinced me to sign up for it and I was training really well for it, but then I tore some ligaments in my ankle, so I couldn't run for an entire month, and my dr didn't encourage (read: he discouraged) me to run it, but I'm stubborn and really wanted to, so with very little training under my belt I ran the Top of Utah half marathon in 2:35.  I didn't even have to walk until mile 9, walked long enough to eat an orange, then ran until mile 11 where I ate another orange, then I ran until I thought I could see the finish line and thought I was past mile 12, but actually wasn't so I got mad and walked until just after the mile 12 marker, then I ran/jogged until the finisher's corridor and sprinted the rest of the way.  I walked like Frankenstein for the next two days, and my ankles and knees are still hurting even though it's been almost a month.  I can hardly wait until my next one.  Next year I have at least two half marathons and one 100 mile bike ride that I want to complete.  But, I have to take the winter off from running so I can let my body heal and be able to train better next year.  So excited. 

As you can see he isn't a morning person, but he got up at 4:30 in the morning to drive me to the start of the race, then slept in the mustang while he waited for me to finish.  Ps. My husband is the best.  :)

My hilarious father in law got me this magnet.  It speaks for itself.

As a congratulations for the half Stan got me my favorite books ever called "All my friends are dead" and "All my friends are still dead"  If you don't have a sense of humor don't read them, otherwise they are hilarious. 

All of my other pictures are on my phone, but the rest of our summer has included camping, hiking, the zoo, visiting family in Marysvale, going to the Manti Pageant, going to Vegas, going to Park City, eating ice cream, roasting marshmallows, semi-adopting our neighbors cat, running, rodeos, ping pong, fairs, swimming, baseball games, adventuring, lots of other cool stuff, oh, and family pictures.

We still have tons of stuff planned (like the circus!!), but I will be taking the next few weeks off of work because I am getting my tonsils out, which hopefully will allow me to breathe at night again.  After that I am totally planning on starting to adventure again, but I really need movie suggestions because the dr said I will not feel up to doing much else, which is a bummer because sitting around all day sounds awful. 

Ok, I think I am updated, I will try to steal internet more often so I don't have to have such long posts.   

Horoscope

So, Stan and I have birthdays that are really close, which means we are the same zodiac sign. I don't actually believe horoscopes, but they are really fun to read. Thursday our horoscope read: You may be waiting for an official word today before starting out in a new direction. Well, we got our letter that day and were able to FINALLY set a wedding date!!! We are getting married 5-May-2012. I almost peed my pants from excitement! We've known that our answer should be coming soon, so on Saturday we went and got pictures taken together so it wouldn't be so stressful on our wedding day. Here are a couple of my favorites.I am so lucky to have found a man that shares a mutual weirdness with me ... and lets me lick his face during pictures. :)

I know you can't really see my face in this one, but I love the way he is looking at me!

We were both so worried that my dress was going to get torn in this one that I'm surprised we got the shot.

We had a ton of fun getting these. Thanks to my photography team (aka. Russ, Jordan, & Mom) who are still working on editing them, but I couldn't resist posting some of them.

Stan + Niki

Who else would put up with my quirkiness (like always having to document our lives)? I haven't really introduced Stan on my blog, so here goes. We started dating in August after an unsuccessful attempt at him setting me up with his friend and me trying to set him up with my friend's daughter. Apparently, both of us have poor judgement in the setting up arena.
So, it started when we realized that our birthdays are just a couple of days apart and I started texting him pictures of my awesome birthday cake that my mom had made me. Then I felt bad for teasing him so much so I sent a piece of my cake to him at work. Then I made him bownies and went to his house to make up for a really awkward date / hangout experience that we had (ps. it is HILARIOUS, so ask me sometime and I will tell you the story, it has to be told in person) and ended up staying for six or seven hours just talking and realizing how we are so freakishly alike, we are even the same height; it's awesome to have someone that isn't adult size with me. The next day he cooked me dinner and we ended up talking for another six or seven hours ... and aside from one awkward movie night we've pretty much been inseperable since. He proposed to me this morning and I am as happy as a pig in poo. :)

I am so excited to get to spend eternity with this cute man that I love more than anything in the world!!!


A pic of my very gorgeous ring. I was so excited to take pics of my ring so I could text them to everyone at work that I forgot to get a pic of us until much later, but the one of us above was taken tonight ... it's just not right after he proposed.