Grizz

I think this picture is hilarious :)

Since I'm home all by myself each day, I thought it would be nice to have a dog to keep me company. I *really* wanted an American Eskimo dog but 1. they shed A LOT, 2. Tena is allergic to dog hair, 3. I wanted a purebred from a reputable breeder and they were all out of state, 4. they are VERY expensive, and 5. all the breeders I contacted weren't going to have puppies for a long time. So I slowly started to see that dream slip away :( I was watching Good Things Utah one morning and they had a segment where a local shelter brought a dog on the show and they talked about adopting a sheltered animal. They mentioned a website where you could see all the animals in the shelters across Utah. Just for fun I hopped on and started looking at all the dogs. Tena found a 5 month old puppy that looked super cute. After many emails back and forth to the shelter, we drove 4 hours down to Price to check him out.

They pulled him out of his cage and let us play with him. He was such a cute dog but SUPER hyper. (That should've been our clue right there, but we ignored it) We took him for a walk and tried to determine if he would be a good dog for us. He definitely needed a lot of training, but we saw potential in him. So we decided to foster him for 2 weeks while we made up our minds.

After the two weeks, we weren't sure if we could handle his energy and attention needs long term but Tena's brother had a friend who wanted him. So we adopted him and tried and tried to get a hold of the friend. But no luck. So, long story short, we still have him. But I'm pretty glad. He's so much fun to have around the house (most of the time). He's so cute and does weirdo things that just make me laugh. (I think we should change his name to Skitz cuz sometimes I swear he is Schizophrenic) But he's way sweet. Maybe it was meant to be :)

He loves to be with people. He follows me around the house wherever I go, even if its just a couple steps. If I'm in the kitchen, he will lay right on top of my feet. When I walk to the other side, he gets up and follows, laying right back down when I stop walking even for a second. Or he'll just intently watch everything I do. He's so curious. He also loves to sit in our laps. When he's playing with his toys he does it right on top of you. He always has to be right up against us. He's weird. But I don't mind usually; he's pretty cuddly.

Frosted Mugs and Sleep-overs

So today is our 2nd anniversary! We celebrated yesterday by going out to dinner and then coming home to chill (we're waiting on warmer weather and/or plane tickets so we can really celebrate). Tena bought us these massive glass mugs a few days ago so we decided to try them out and make rootbeer floats! We weren't completely sure how to frost them, so I got them wet and stuck them in the freezer. In the meantime we finished a Japanese movie we had started earlier. I kept checking on them and they weren't getting frosty. They were super cold tho.... I finally decided we just wouldn't have frosty mugs. I pulled them out and they frosted right up! Haha, of course! How did we not know that :) So we made our floats in our giant frosty mugs and they were delicious!

Then came the sleep-over... We bought a bunch of our favorite songs (Lady Gaga, Killers, etc.) to play on RockBand2 and rocked out all night. I looked around at the messy family room. We had a bunch of blankets and pillows out cuz we were gonna sleep out there. We had Blizzard Creme Oreos (amazing. you gotta try them), sacks full of gummies, watermelon, our laptops, and games out everywhere. It totally made me feel like a kid again. It brought me right back to my childhood when we would have sleep-overs and the family room became our room. It was cluttered with all our stuff and was no longer a family room. We would make a fort and had our blankets, pillows, candy, and games all in it... Good times :) It was fun to share that experience with Tena. So around 1:30 am we quit the RB2 and finally went to bed. It was an awesome night :)

Our Garden Reception

Another perfect day :) About 2 weeks after we got back from Tahiti we had a reception in my parent's back yard. We all worked hard to get it ready in time. We had to build a deck, plant flowers and put bark in. (Three hours before the reception started, we finished the deck!) It was a lot of hard work (mostly on my family's part), but so worth it in the end. The yard was absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful place to have a reception.

For a long time I knew what I wanted to serve at my reception. I wanted ice cream in waffle bowls from Rob's Frosted Creamery. They make homemade waffle bowls and Tena and I chose 5 ice cream flavors and 7 toppings to serve. They came and served it at my parent's house. You could choose any combination of as many flavors as you wanted. It was awesome! So delicious :)

Our cake was gorgeous. I was so happy with it. Everything was just wonderful- the yard, the cake, the ice cream, the decorations, the company... It was so nice to have all our friends and relatives come see us and celebrate with us. What a perfect reception!

Tahiti

We went to Tahiti for our honeymoon! After we got married and had our wedding dinner, we drove up to LAX and left for the islands. We flew into Papeete, Tahiti (the main island) and took a small plane to the tiny island of Fakarava where we spent four days. We stayed in a bungalow right on the beach just feet from the ocean. We went snorkeling, ate amazing fish and gastronomique type foods (where the food is arranged on your plate like art) for every dinner, biked to a gorgeous remote beach with not a person in sight, and just relaxed in the sun. This island might have been my favorite because of it's untouched beauty. It is so small, there is only one hotel on it (the one we stayed in) and only one road. There are trees and flowers everywhere. Since it is a donut shape, you are never too far from the ocean. I absolutely loved it here and my heart aches to go back.



From Fakarava we flew back to Tahiti and took a ferry to Moorea where we spent 3 days. We stayed in an over-water bungalow this time. Our room was so amazing and it had a glass window in the floor so we could see all the tropical fish swim by. On this island we mostly hung around our hotel. The hotel grounds were absolutely breath-taking. I have never seen anything like it. We ate more amazing food, went canoeing in a Tahitian canoe (we saw a manta ray!), and did more snorkeling. This small island was not quite as primitive as Fakarava but still stunningly beautiful.




After Moorea, we took the ferry back to the island of Tahiti and stayed in Papeete for 2 days. The big island is a little crowded and somewhat dirty, but I still loved it. We stayed in a regular hotel this time but it was still really nice. We went to the marche (market) and got cool souvenirs, ate french food at McDondalds, swam in the ocean, went to the roulette (where a bunch of vans set up little food places and you go and eat), and went and saw all Tena's family that lives there. It was neat to meet them all. I saw where Tena lived, went to school, went to church, where he used to play, etc. It was a cool experience. The sand on Tahiti is black because of the volcanoes. It's pretty cool to see black sand.
In Tahiti, a few of the older people still speak Tahitian, but most people speak French. I loved it cuz I took French for 5 years. I have such a passion for the language and it was fun to be able to communicate with people and read the signs. After about 9 days in paradise, we had to come home. I didn't want to so bad, I considered doing something that would make us miss our plane...but I didn't. Should have though ;) It was an unforgettable experience and I really hope I get to go back. I would love to live there someday... We'll see if I make it ;)

The Wedding

On May 23, 2008 we were married in the San Diego temple. It was a dream come true. Everything was absolutely perfect! I know a lot of people who said they were sick the night before their wedding but I was the complete opposite. All I felt was pure excitement. I couldn't wait to get married. I had no doubts or worries whatsoever. I was just so happy :)
After we were married, we had a wedding dinner, then drove up to LAX to leave for our honeymoon.

Our Engagement

Tena and I met on a blind date. He had just graduated from BYU and was working up in Ogden. My uncle, who happened to be his boss, set us up. We dated for a year and a half. On April 4, 2008 Tena bought me the cutest motorcycle jacket ever and we went for a ride through the canyon on his sports bike. We parked on a big cliff over looking the lake and Tena told me to look in the pocket of my jacket. I pulled out a ring :) Tena got down on one knee and proposed.

My Playlist