Provo in Summer = Crazy Time

Well I thought I would update on our summer so far to the 6.5 people who read this blog. :)
Ryan and I are both working full time still up in Riverton and Sandy. Life is pretty nice when you don't have homework after a long day and all you have to do is decide whether or not to be active enough to go to the gym or just lay around and watch a Redbox...
So yes, we are enjoying the working life and have had some fun times already this summer!
As you can see from our last post, we bought bikes and have become the hottest bike-riding hipster-hitters in town and we love it. We have ridden all over kingdom-come and even have gone down to the lake on the trail and also ridden through the canyon! Although the canyon ride we did at night when it was PITCH DARK (though Ryan will not admit that point, claiming that he is basically a bat with night vision... I did not know about that genetic trait when I married him... ) And I could not see a thing and I was worried about falling into the raging river of death and also being side tackled by a mountain lion, but no biggie. We made it down after much grumbling on how slow I was going on my part due to the lack of sight... Regardless, we are in love and have a great time together.. As long as I am going the appropriate speed on a dark canyon path at 10 pm.... :)
We have gone to the lovely BYU duck pond a couple times already to enjoy the splendor of animal life and baby animals that I would love to take home and let live in my bath tub if only my husband and landlord would allow that... Here are some pics from that fun adventure!

And we also got to have the awesome excitement of watching a solar eclipse the other day!! I have always wanted to watch one and I finally got the chance! Utah had an amazing view of this super awesome event and it really hit home to me just how wonderful this world is that we live in... I am always in awe of this Creation and how absolutely perfect it is.
I know this pic doesn't show anything useful but it's proof that I was at least out there...

We have Memorial Weekend coming up soon (AKA 2 days from now) and we are excited to say that we are going down to California to spend the weekend with Ryan's parents. Our friends Dan and Tia are going to come with us and hang out to celebrate their one month anniversary together on the lovely Newport Beach! It should be a blast and we are all very excited since Utah decided to get cold and rainy this week... No bueno..
We have also been brilliant enough to buy the Seven Peaks Summer Pass and are very excited to spend our evenings and weekends at the water park soaking up some sun and enjoying a watering hole that we can swim in. Along with that we have also gone midnight mini golfing with Evan and Travis (yes they had a man date...) and we had a blast tooling around Orem and realizing how ghetto that city can look late at night. No offense to any Orem-ites who read this... I love it there... You have delicious Thai food and Five Guys.
We are moving to a bigger town home in July that we are very excited about! We will finally be able to settle somewhere for a couple years while Ryan does his Master's program... And, inshallah, it will be the tender abode that we bring our baby home to! (No I am not prego... Just planning ahead for the future...)
Ryan turns 25 next month and we are super excited for him to be a quarter century old! :) I got us a zip lining adventure for his bday and we will be using that sometime this summer.
As well as going sailing on the Great Salt Lake! We and a couple friends are going to embark on a wonderful sun soaked day of sailing out on the salty waters of our state. We are so excited to try this this summer!
We have July 4th plans to hang out here in Provo and see Stadium of Fire and Ryan's parents have decided to come up for a quick visit around then as well! So we will have some fun and probably float down the Provo River!
We also will have the chance to see our nephew get baptized this summer! Roland (Ryan's sister's son) is turning 8 in July and we are so excited to go to Cali to spend time with him on that awesome day!
And, of course, Ryan and I are going to see Journey in August with Pat Benetar up in Salt Lake. This will truly be a glorious day and we literally cant wait!
Hopefully my parents will be able to come out at some point this summer! It has been ages since we have seen them and definitely don't want to wait all the way to Christmas to spend time with them!
I promise to post on all these fun events throughout the summer and hopefully you all have as much fun as we do! :)

Bikes!

So, Ryan and I bought bikes... Online... Which means they do not come assembled...
Needless to say Ryan and I have learned our lessons and will NOT be those parents who are trying to assemble a blasted bike for one of our kids on Christmas Eve... So, lesson learned.
Anyway, my bike was delivered the other day and I was, of course, delusionally excited to put it together in about 15 minutes and be out riding within 20. Obviously I was wrong.
I started out by fighting with the box and finally got everything out. Then it was onto deciphering the assembly book. AND of course they had sent me the wrong assembly book. Happy day. Now maybe some of you are able to whip together a road bike in my anticipated amount of time... But I am no connoisseur of road bikes and that means that I am a babbling idiot when it comes to at-home assembly.
So, I waited for Ryan to come home and for him to take a stab at this awful bicycle that I was ready to pack up and ship back to the hole it came from. But I was patient, lazy and frustrated. So I ate a 'healthy Oreo' (yes I bought the kind that say they are healthy) and played Scramble with Friends until the hubs got home from the gym.
He asked me how much I had gotten done. I proudly told him that I had put on the pedals and that was it. Even those pedals took me 25 minutes to screw on. Little did I know that I was doing it wrong...
Anyway, while Ryan was working away on my bike, My dear friend Nate offered to come to the rescue. He came over and he and Ryan were successful in putting it together and I was able to go on a completely undeserved ride (since I really didn't do much)... But I put my feet on those pedals that I worked so hard to put on and I rode like the wind! Well more like a slow breeze through the parking lot next door...
Either way, success was ours and it was so sweet.
Ryan's bike will be coming soon and we will not be defeated in that assembly! So, insha Allah, we will be the new biking gang of Provo before you know it! Watch out Provo! The Coles are taking over the bike lanes!  

I love spring

         So these past few weeks Ryan and I have been able to enjoy the bliss of springtime here in Utah. A couple of weeks ago Ryan picked me up from work and told me how his Mom has told him that they were all going as a family to the beach the following day (Saturday) to rise bikes and enjoy a day together. Well, I automatically decided that we were part of the family too and that we should be there too. So Ryan and I decided that we would go home, pack and head out to surprise his parents that night. Well the drive was going swimmingly and wee only had one hiccup when we came to a dead stop right before Vegas. We were stopped for 2 hours because an SUV rolled and the rescuers were trying to get some survives out of the vehicle to safety. It was a scary accident that made us all very grateful to be alive and that we were safe.
Well we ended up getting to Ryan's parents house at 2 am. We ran the doorbell and surprised Pam and Scott by waking them up to see our pretty faces. Needless to say, we were so happy to be there and we enjoyed going to bed with their dog, Beyonce, and to sleep finally.
Well since we only had one day to enjoy with the family we made the most of it by waking up and heading down to Laguna Beach. Well it turned out to be cold and overcast at the beach. So we quickly had lunch and headed back to Pam and Scott's house where it was sunny and hot. We laid out by the pool and lounged in the sun with family and friends. We played a fun yard game called ladder golf and we swam and soaked up some much needed rays! Here are some pictures from the day! My nephew Roland had fun making silly faces and Ryan had fun floating around the pool with Beyonce.

Sadly then the time came to leave for Utah again. We left early on Sunday morning very fulfilled from our 24 hour trip down to sunny California!
Later on in the week, once we were back in Utah, we got to attend some very special experiences with our friends. Our friend Brenden was set apart as a missionary! He is such an amazing man and Ryan and I were so blessed to have met him over in Jordan and for Ryan to have been able to teach him the mission prep lessons in the Holy Land. So we were so proud to be a part of this experience for him and that Ryan was able to stand in on the blessing. Then the following day was the day we got to take him to the MTC! Ryan had breakfast with him and then I got to join them to go to the MTC. We had lunch and went to the madness that is an MTC dropoff day. We said our tearful goodbyes and I gave him one last handshake before we sent him off for 2 years to serve in Nevada! We are so proud of him and are so excited to hear about his experiences and to see him grow! Excuse my haggard appearance... I am a cry baby and this setting apart was no exception... And yes, this is right before he was set apart... I didn't make him sin.

Lastly, this same week, we were able to attend an amazing and beautiful sealing for our friends Dan and Tia. We adore this couple and are so excited for them to start their new life together as an eternal family. It was I the Salt Lake Temple where we were married and the temple president performed the sealing. He spoke some beautiful words about the importance of marriage and the sealing ordinance. The happy couple was glowing and, of course, I was crying away happily as I saw two of my closest friends be sealed to one another for the rest of time. Couldn't be happier for them! Ryan was one of the groomsmen and he was dashing in his vest! Here are a couple pics from the day!
We enjoyed a beautiful reception later that night at Thanksgiving Point in the gold club house. It was a beautiful homage to a gorgeous couple! Congrats!

All in all it was an amazing little while to be spiritually uplifted an to focus in all the good that is going on in the world today!

Easter!!

So, since Easter is a favorite holiday in our house, we had a great week full of fun activities to celebrate it! We started out the week with a bang and dyed Easter eggs for Family Home Evening last week :) We had a lesson with my absolute favorite talk from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "None Were with Him." It is a beautiful and powerful talk describing the lonely path of our Savior in His final days on Earth. For a person of any denomination, this talk is a stunning portrayal of what He went through to save us all and redeem us from death. I think it is so important for us at this time of year to remember this moment in time from His life to and ponder on what it means for us. Below is the link for the talk from www.lds.org Please listen to or read and show thanks for all we enjoy.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/none-were-with-him?lang=eng&query=none+with+him Onto the Easter egg dying! Ryan and I are both professional egg dyers and we thoroughly enjoy making our eggs as vibrant and colorful as possible. Here are a few pictures of the process and the finished product! :)

Well Easter was certainly a busy week for us. We had a scouting potluck to throw for the young men in our ward, it was such a great success. We had a lot of people show up and we got to see our scouts be awarded for their hard work. 

I also had a Stake Relief Society event to help put together last week as well. It was a beautiful setting and it went off without a hitch. 

Friday night I had to finish getting supplies and planning a bridal shower for my wonderful friend Brittney. But the shower went off without a hitch and it was so fun to spend some time with my soon-to-be-married friend. Thankfully after the bridal shower I had the chance to indulge myself and get a much needed manicure and pedicure. And oh was it ever nice to do this... I need to make this more of a habit. 

And finally, on to Easter Sunday! Ryan and I slept in late on Easter and had a delicious breakfast of fried eggs and German pancakes. I would have taken more pictures but we were hungry and didn't want to wait to eat.

We went to church and wore our new outfits that we got over conference weekend and took pictures to show them off! 

 Then we came home after sacrament to finish getting Easter dinner ready! We had a bunch of friends and some family come over for dinner. We had ham and green beans and salad. Brie and raspberries for appetizers and some delicious brownies and strawberry trifle for dessert. I love Easter dinner... It is seriously amazing. And this dinner was no different.

Well all in all, Easter Sunday was a success on all levels of food, family, and fun and ended the night playing 'Last Word' (a fabulous board game) with our friends Sean and Nate and watched part of We Bought a Zoo (one of my new favorite movies). 

I love Easter and all the significance that the holy day holds. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and for the blessings that come from the knowing that I have a Savior who has overcome all things. Nothing means more to me in this world than that fact and the knowledge that I can be life him. I am grateful for my family and my life. I have the most amazing husband in the world and I know how blessed I am. I hope we all can remember and enjoy how special life is and to enjoy every moment of it.

General Conference!

I love General Conference. Hands down, best and most uplifting moments of the fall and spring. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, every six months we have a gathering of Saints here in Salt Lake City and we listen to our church leaders who we sustain as prophets of our time. They, as well as other authorities in our church, give talks on different topics relating to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is always so uplifting and rejuvenating to listen to these wise men and women and to gain more insight on how to be a better disciple of Christ.
For me, as a young, newly married adult, I find it amazing and awe-inspiring to see thousands of members of the church descend upon Salt Lake into our conference center and to fill it to capacity every session. But more so, I find it amazing to see the faith of others my age who are here in Utah at college, away from family, who still are dedicated to their faith enough to attend an ENTIRE weekend of church.... It strengthens my testimony to see their resolve to come even though no one would be any wiser. I am just so happy to live in such a marvelous place and to have these opportunities around me always.
For me, this conference focused a lot on families and the worth of a soul. Most of the talks inspired Ryan and I to be better disciples in our church service and in our resolve to share the restored Gospel with those around us. It helped us to know the areas in which we need to prepare for when our little family starts to grow in the coming years. It helped me to better understand family dynamics and how to be a more patient and loving person to those around me. My favorite talks were by President Packer, Elder Holland and Elder Ballard. Each of those talks really helped me to change my perspective on different aspects of life and to move forward towards a brighter future for myself and for my family. There were so many wonderful talks that I just cannot say enough about them... So, in lieu of that, I am attaching below, the link to watch the conference online through lds.org. Please watch any sessions that you missed or would like to watch again, or even for the first time. These are true messengers of the Lord.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch?lang=eng

We had the fun chance to meet up with a lot of friends at conference and to enjoy this weekend with them. On Saturday, Ryan and I went up for the afternoon session in Salt Lake and got to scope out the new and BEAUTIFUL mall, City Creek. It is right across the street from Temple Square and it is amazing. The Church definitely held nothing back from this City Center project. The mall is clean, open, pretty and inviting. They have fountains that shoot fire and water. A creek that follows the entire mall that has live trout swimming in it. The mall even has a retractable roof for when the weather isn't ideal. For 2 whole city blocks, this new downtown is safe, fun, inviting and revitalizing for Salt Lake.
After the afternoon session, Ryan and our friends and I enjoyed the beauty of temple square on a perfect Saturday afternoon and had some lunch. It was 80 degrees, sunny and lovely. Usually when conference is rainy and dreary, it is not fun to go up to Salt Lake. Then, during the evening Priesthood session, we girls participated in the age-old tradition of shopping while the men are away. It is quite the sight to see thousands of women descend upon the nearby shops in Salt Lake and overwhelm the stores and fitting rooms. It is not the place for someone with claustrophobia nor impatience. We girls had a blast going to the stores and seeing the newest and latest clothes that we 'had to have.' I got a new summer church outfit and some new skirts and shirts to replace old ones that have been given to others.
Then it was finally time for the boys to be done. Ryan wanted to do some shopping too and we parted ways with April and Moose and went to H&M to get Ryan a new summer suit and to just enjoy an evening out together. Needless to say I have an amazing husband and we had a great time just walking around the new mall together.
Here are some pictures from the day to show you just how fun and beautiful it was... Sadly, I forgot to get a picture of Ryan and I... But the temple and conference center were sooo pretty. And the one of a dress is my new Easter outfit! :) Hope you all had a wonderful conference weekend like we did!

Recent Happenings!

Well after Las Vegas, Ryan and I had some fun little events planned for ourselves.

On the 29th of February we went to a Utah Jazz game that my company gave me tickets for. It was so fun to go with my brother in law and his girlfriend. We had great seats and a great time.

Ryan and I went out to dinner beforehand to celebrate his receiving an 'Excellence Award' from work! It's so awesome to be married to such a stellar man :)

So yes, we went to dinner and Utah decided to turn into a blizzard. Literally it snowed at least 4 inches while we were eating dinner. INSANE. But so pretty! I love it when it snows here in Utah.

So then we went to the game. It was against the Houston Rockets and we had such a blast just catching up and having fun with the group. Here are a couple of pictures...

Next, Ryan and I cashed in on the Valentine's Day gift I got Ryan! It was a glassblowing class at Thanksgiving Point! It was so fun! We did it on Saturday morning and it was just the two of us and the instructors. Needless to say, it was an awesome date. We each made these big glass flowers. It was awesome to watch the process of them heating the glass to almost 3000 degrees and then having us mold it and melt glass fragments into it to make the flower different colors. Here are a few pics from the event. For some reason some of them would not let me edit them and make them the correct way up. I am just having technical difficulty I guess. But you get the picture. Enjoy! We totally suggest it to anyone who is in the area! Definitely worth it!

And then of course we had to have a sushi night. Ryan was craving sushi so we went to his favorite place, Sakura. He knows the owner :) Evan and Travis came along and we all had a lovely time enjoying sushi and the most awkward bachelor ever at the table nearby. I don't need to go into details... Suffice it to say that it was different. I guess you just had to be unlucky enough to be there. But we had a blast. Yay for family

Love is in the air

First off sorry this took me 8 and a half years to finally post this...

Secondly, sorry blogger is being weird and not letting me post the pictures in any correct order or in place. So I hope you can just look at them and enjoy for the time being. Lame. If you have any questions, please ask.

Well February certainly was an exciting month for Ryan and I. We have both been working hard at our jobs and the weather has been quite nice here! We have had some pretty snowfalls and some beaitiful sunny days. We have also been excited to celebrate our first anniversary!

Well the first day of fun started with Valentine's Day. Ryan and I both went to work but I was able to sneak a little thing of chocolate and a card into his bag and enjoyed that throughout the day... Yes, I realize that I am the wife and should enjoy getting chocolate for myself but sadly, I am defunct and don't like it. But then we came home and had an amazing evening. I made Ryan his favorite meal, cranberry and walnut chicken with rice pilaf and a spinach and strawberry salad. It was sooo good! I also made turtle brownies for dessert since that is Ryan's favorite dessert. Then after dinner, we went to go see The Vow. Needless to say, I cannot emotionally handle movies and I was a wreck the whole time. I was a little sad about the ending. I wanted to see them date and get closure for myself. But, c'est la vie. Then we came home and Ryan and I exchanged presents. He got me an amazing gift basket filled to the brim with Mary Kay goodies! I was so excited. He did a great job. I got him (and me) a glass blowing class to make flowers and vases in Lehi for the first weekend in March. Gotta love Groupon for giving you awesome ideas for fun things to do! :) All in all it was an amazing day and it was so fun to celebrate this special day with my wonderful husband.

Next! Onto the anniversary! So on February 16th Ryan and I celebrated our one year anniversary! It was a great day although there were (inevitably) some mishaps. I wanted to surprise Ryan with a special Peruvian dinner at home. FAIL. That's all I have to say. I apparently need to go to Peru to learn how to actually make aji de gallina. Because the recipe I followed sucked. Regardless, we still had a fun night together and it was nice to relax at the end of the week and gear up for our real celebration in Las Vegas over the long weekend.

Now... Las Vegas. Have I ever mentioned that I love long weekends and getting out of Provo? Because I REALLY do. Ryan and I headed out to Sin City on Saturday morning and had a lovely clear and fast drive down to Las Vegas. We got there around 9:15ish and went to the Las Vegas temple to do an endowment session. We ate at the temple cafeteria first though because we were starving by then. The temple was seriously gorgeous. It was our first time there and we were so taken aback by how big and beautiful it was! Definitely a temple worth visiting. Anyway, the session was lovely and we really enjoyed having that as our way to start our trip.

Ryan and I wanted to try and see a show while we were in town so we decided to try and hit up the ticket offices before we checked into our hotel. Well it was a madhouse there and were too lazy to figure out plans so we just went and checked into our place. It was perfect. We stayed at the Royal Resort. Literally it is less than a block off the strip behind the Wynn and it was quiet, had great rooms and a beautiful pool and spa complete with cabanas. It was a really fun and chill place to stay and we really enjoyed it.

That night (Saturday) I had made surprise reservations for us at an AMAZING restaurant called Marrakech. It is a Morraccan restaurant in Las Vegas that serves a six course Arab meal. All I can say is that it is totally worth it and a wonderful experience. The whole restaurant is dimly lit and modeled after a Bedouin tent. With low seating and beautiful funirture, it was really fantastic. They wash your hands with scented rose water before the meal and then the barage of food begins. The meal begins with delectable shrimp scampi and homemade bread. It was so nice to eat with my hands again... Sometimes silverware gets very boring... Then they brought out the Harira soup which is lentils and broth and herbs and veggies. OH MY GOODNESS it was so good. I finished Ryan's I wanted more. Yum. Then it was the dipping tray of homemade hummus and babaganoush with cucumbers, carrots and fresh bread. We loved having some authentic food again. Then it was time for the beef kabobs. The beef was marinated slightly in herbs and olive oil and vinegar and grilled to perfection. They were delicious. Ryan finished mine because he loved it. Then, it was onto the chicken and couscous with vegetables. Wow. The chicken literally melted in your mouth. It was cooked low and slow for hours and served with cabbage and zuchinni with lightly flavored couscous. Oh man it was so good. By this time of course Ryan and I were stuffed to the rafters but we still had the dessert course left. And oh what a wonderful way to fill yourself up... As soon as the pastry arrived Ryan and I both knew that this was worth waddling home for. It was a phyllo pastry filled with sauteed bananas, almonds and dark chocolate. It was wrapped in the dough and baked and then dusted with powdered sugar. Needless to say, even I loved this dessert and I don't really care for chocolate. It was no wonder that when it was brought to us Ryan's first sentence was, "What is this blessedness?!"

It was an amazing meal. And when it comes with belly dancing and fun Arabs could it get any better? I submit that it cannot.... But then it did.... Right before our last course, Ryan and I were blessed with the opportunity to see the joys of America as an overweight, white American man came into the restuarant with a big group of about 20 people. He was wearing a Pharonic head dress and he looked ridiculous. For those of you who are wondering why this is weird, let me educate you on this culture. First off, Morocco is no where near Egypt. They are a completely different people and culture and even their Arabic is not the same.... So that is for starters.... Now to really help you understand how dumb this was... It would be like someone going into Fuddrucker's dressed as an ancient Incan thinking that they were celebratiing the same American culture. Stupid. Not only are they radically different 'Americas' they are also a thousand years older! Regardless, this man gave Ryan and I some great memories and we thoroughly enjoyed watching this group and their Pharonic leader. We had a good laugh about the whole night and realized how much we miss being over in the Middle East. And we are even more determined now to make a trip to Morocco someday soon.

After dinner we went and met up with our wonderful friends, Moose and April & Kylie and Jason. We went to the new City Center with the shops and new hotels. It was really fun. It was great to see Kylie and Jason since they live in Las Vegas and are expecting their first baby! We loved seeing them and especially Moose and April who are our close friends here in Provo. We just love both of these couples and it was great to catch up and spend some time with them. We walked around and enjoyed the usual moments of the Las Vegas strip... the drunk people, the women falling down the stairs, the homeless men, the porno sellers and the aroma of weed, alcohol, throw up and cigarettes. All in all, its a pretty disgusting place haha. But we enjoyed ending the night off by watching the Bellagio fountains and realizing that only the Belagio could make water dancing sexy. So bravo Belagio. Thank you for all you do.

The next day was Sunday and we decided to relax by the pool and hang out during the day. It was sunny and 65 and it was a great day to lounge outside and catch some much needed sun. We both fell asleep on the chairs. But after relaxing and being lazy, it was time to get ready for our Cirque du Soleil show! We had bought tickets to go see Mystere at Treasure Island for that night. So we both got all dolled up and headed onto the strip to grab some dinner and to go to the show. We ate in the Venetian at an overpriced Italian restaurant. I got a veggie pizza and Ryan got salmon. Mine was definitely better than his :) But then it was off to the show and wow it was spectacular. I highly reccommend going to a Cirque show sometime. The gymnasts were incredible and the dancing was beautiful. It was so entertaining and we just had an amazing time. It is kind of hard to describe the show since there is no real storytelling or lines. Its just, well, French Canadian and they don't really need to make that much sense... But we loved it. After the show we went back to the Venetian and got some gelato and sat on the waterway and watched the gondolas drift by. We loved looking through all the shops and seeing both beautiful and horrific clothing. We found an awesome hats shop and spent a good 15 minutes trying on all the different hats. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and I was asleep within 10 minutes. I was beat.

Well Monday was our last day in Las Vegas. We slept in and got our things together to check out. Sadly it was a little too cold to relax by the pool again but that forced us to go back to the strip for one last hurrah! We checked out and went to the Belagio again to check out the gardens. They were gorgeous! It was all decorated for Chinese New Year with native plants and flowers. They had moving dragons and beautiful fountains, pagodas and rock gardens. The towers of bamboo were amazing and I was once again so impressed with the decadence and beauty of this awesome hotel. We went across the way down to Cesar's Palace and enjoyed walking around the shops there and being out in the beautiful weather. By noon I was starving so we decided to go to the Rio Buffet for lunch to fill ourselves up for the ride home. We had a good meal there of tamales, sushi, salad, chinese food and desserts. My favorite dessert was definitely the tropical cream tarts. So good! Well then we ended our trip and headed back to Provo. We were so sad to see the temperature drop and drop and drop the closer we got and the 4 hour drive felt like a 10 hour drive. But we had great memories of the weekend to help up gear up for work the next day.

We had such an amazing trip and there really is nothing better than spending time with your spouse. I couldn't ask for a better husband or a better trip. We just loved it.