First Christmas

So I realize that these are kinda blurry and there is not very many but I did want it to be noted that we had our first christmas together this year and we greatly enjoyed it. :) We even had matching pajama's!

We Have Fun :)

So one night we randomly decided to take some pictures of us and found some cool furry hats to do it with and as such this is the result.... :) (Feel free to be jealous - you know we look good!)

Honeymoon

For our Honeymoon we went to California. It was a very nice change weather wise. It was sunny and warm everyday while we were there except the day we left and then it rained.

We spent the majority of our time at Disneyland and California Adventure. I myself had never been and so was excited to see and go for the first time, Brett was simply excited to go again and to take me on my first time.

Brett doesn't like rollercoasters, however by the end of the trip he had gone on all the rollercoasters at least once and several others more than that. I think he even liked them by the end. :) My favorite and least favorite ride are one and the same, the tower of terror. I don't particulary like that feeling of your stomach flying into your throat when riding an elevator, which this ride did to the tenth degree. However it was fun like the rocket at Lagoon, so we went on the ride multiple times in a row. Brett got quite a kick out of my reaction the first time. I screamed bloody murder, then as soon as we got off the ride I turned to him and said we had to go on it again, right then, because it scared me, and it was a blast!
One night when leaving the park to go back to our car and go home for the night, we got onto one of the trams which was to take us the the parking lot. It had barely gone maybe 200 ft when it started lurching and eventually came to a complete stop which left us stranded for about a half an hour while other trams passed us and waved while we waited for another one to come and get us since ours had died. It was frustrating at the time as we were tired, however makes for a pretty good story.

We also spent some time on the beach, we got a few good sunset pictures, brought back some sea shells and a sand dollar, and froze our feet in the water, but it was all fun! :) Another adventure that happened while in california is my phone died. Don't know what happened, it just died. Luckly we got me a replacement one soon after we came back. We did also return with some matching t-shirts and other memoribillia. It was a wonderful trip with good memories. :)

13 November 2010 = Wedding

So again this is late, but as of the date above I have been officially married for time and all eternity to my love Brett Jaque Francis. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple that morning. We had been hoping for a nice sunny day, but instead we got a somewhat cold and rather wet one. However we still had fun.

As we were walking around the temple grounds getting some pictures we were all freezing and happened across a vent that blew hot air just outside the temple, so needless to say we were huddled there for a little while in hopes of warming up. We had to leave the warm spot a little too soon for me but it all worked out. Once all our pictures were taken we went to go change so that we could go to lunch, but apparently my parents didn't see us head inside and as my mom had my key to my locker so Brett had to go back outside to the cold to find her so that we could leave.

The food at the luncheon was amazing! Instead of the normal tapping of glasses to get us to kiss however they had little bells that they would ring. It was fun and looked really good, and we had to kiss a couple of times of course.

The reception that night turned out beautifully. It was exactly as I pictured it would be and actually didn't seem near as long as i thought it would. We had fun cutting the cake, and dancing together as well as me with my dad. We stood in line for a long time and met lots of people that we knew and didn't know. We did a boquet throw, which my roommate Angela caught to the disappointment of my sister. Afterward we did the garter toss, which Brett pulled off with his teeth first then his nephew Jeff who is eleven caught. We unfortunately didn't get any of our own refreshments (rootbeer floats) but we heard they were good.

When the time came to 8pm Brett and I made a quick escape out of the reception. We discovered our car to be decorated with window stickers and wrapped in plasic wrap. I suppose you could say that we cheated in getting it off though because we borrowed a pocket knife and cut through all the layers then just pulled it off. I'm glad that it wasn't decorated too badly though, that was probably partially cause the rain, but we were honestly worried about it a bit, so we were glad it wasn't too bad.

Overall the day was an amazing success and we loved every moment of it. Thankyou all who helped and came and shared this special time with us. :)

Bridals

So I realize that this is a little late in coming.. but i've been busy. However I still wanted to share some pictures with you from my bridal session. I had a photographer named Angela come and take them for me. We took them at the Joseph Smith Memorial building in Salt Lake City and a few over around the temple grounds.

It was a beautiful day and actually rather warm, which was surprising with it being November. It made me hopeful that my wedding would be as nice. Here are a few to give you an idea, hope you enjoy. :)

Home... for now.

So Brett and I found an apartment finally and have been slowly moving things into it. It is becoming more like a home every day as we add more things to it little by little. It's not much but it will do.

Our favorite part of it of course is our lovely old school brown couch, quickly followed by the toilet in the middle of the bathroom, the dryer in the closet and of course the cracked and peeling paint on the walls and ceilings.

Its a little place in the basement of an old house but considering everything we believe we got a pretty good deal overall.

Although the pictures aren't that many or that great it gives you a good idea. We also have a couch in our entryway. As it turned out it just couldn't quite make it through the second door to the living room and so is stuck in the entryway... but i suppose it keeps us from having to find a bench or something instead so it all works out.

This will be our home for now, but eventually we hope to get something better, but for now it will do. :)

Updates

For those of you who may be curious.... Wedding plans are coming along. Quickly, stressfully, and consistant. The day has been set for November 13, 2010 which leaves about one month until we will be married.

In the meantime, I am working in the south, while he is working in the north, and we travel between. However despite the distance between us during this time, we are still very happy and looking forward to being married soon. :)

Engaged!!!

So exciting news, I am officially engaged! His name is Brett Jaque Francis and we will be married on November 13, 2010 in the Salt Lake Temple. As for the story, we met through my younger siblings who were working at scout camp with Brett. I had gone up there one weekend to pick them up and we were introduced. After a month or two we went on our first date and have hardly been apart since.

On Friday September 10th I was at work training. Brett was supposed to come pick me up afterward and I was looking forward to it. In the middle of my training one of my co-workers came to find me and said that there was a customer looking for me. My trainer let me go out to see and talk to them. In my head I was thinking, "Brett, be patient you know that i'm working and if i was done i would have let you know..."

So i go out there and Brett comes over and is all dressed up and looking nice. He asked me how work was going and after telling him that it was going good but i wasn't done and needed to go finish he says "Ok great but first i need to ask you a question."

Turning he hands a camera to the same co-worker who came to get me, kneels down on one knee and asks if I would marry him. I of course said yes. :)

So here is the ring and the pictures of him asking me.:)

Summer Extension

Recently I have had the wonderful opportunity to do several things that I either haven't done or haven't had the chance to do in quite awhile. It has been quite the adventure and hopefully will continue.

School is for now put on hold while I work and save and play in the meantime i suppose. One experience that is strange is having all my friends and roommates head off to school and work while i sit at home with nothing much to do but fill out job applications. Lucky for me I now officially have a job and am able to be gone at least sometimes.

Within the last three weeks I have traveled to and from Provo area at least three or four times, gone hiking in adam's canyon twice with different people, gone to the zoo, been repelling, horseback riding, pistol shooting and just having fun :)

The first trip to Adam's canyon was with an old friend from high school. She and I wanted to catch up and spend some time together and the result was Adam's canyon; in the pouring rain. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, however by the end we both had mud up to our knees and were soaked through. It looked like we had just stepped out of the shower with clothes on and all.

Everything else done in the last few weeks has been with another friend and has resulted in many laughs and pictures. When I went pistol shooting, it wasn't for long, but i wasn't sure exactly how mucht the gun would kick and so when it did, it suprised me and almost flew back and hit me in the face; so even though i was expecting it the next few times, i would flinch everytime i shot the gun.

The horseback riding was an adventure as well. The horses were a little skittish at first but seemed fine when we first put the saddles on them. It wasn't until we had moved out to the pasture and actually got on the horses that they decided they weren't going to do anything that they didn't want to. In my case it resulted in a couple of full gallops, hanging onto the saddle for dear life, yelling at the horse, pulling on the reins, and ducking the tree branches, while the horse chased a stray dog back to the fence near the other horses. Once back at the gate to the pasture that we had just moved out of there was absolutely no getting the horse to do anything but move from one side of the gate to the other and keep whipping it's head so as to continue eating the grass that was growing nearby. Luckly my friend had better luck and had a couple good runs around the pasture. However strange and unexpected the riding was, it was still quite fun and worth the trip.

Later I went repelling with this same friend, who on my way down convinced me to hang upside down on the ropes at two different times. It turned out to not be quite and scary as i had originally imagined, however the harness dug into my hips and felt similar to when you go backpacking for a couple of hours.

The zoo trip was fun as well. They had a baby elephant there, who was about a year old I think, but we were able to watch it play with some of its toys. The favorite at the time was a 15 gallon plasic barrel with a small hole in the top. The little elephant kept putting its' trunk in the hole and either pushing the barrel around the enclosure, or trying to pick it up. At one point the elephant just sat on it for a time. It was rather comical to see, and you could easily relate it to a human child playing with a plastic bucket or somthing.

There are of course many other stories and adventures, but this at least gives you an idea, and perhaps a few laughs. :)

Horse Play

So I should have posted this forever ago but I forgot until now.

It was one of those nights when the family is all just sitting around and talking or teasing one another. Marissa and her boys were all there with us and kept asking one of us in turn to give them a ride on our backs as if we were a horse.

Braeden eventually came up to me and asked if i would ride him as a horse, he meant that he would ride me of course but said it wrong, so I said sure get down like a horse. Suprisingly he did and hence the pictures of me riding Braeden as a horse. :) Definitely a night to remember.

Oregon!

So last week my family and I took a vacation up the the wonderful states of Oregon and Washington. Reason: Because we needed a break, and my brother had another wedding reception that we needed to attend. We left for Oregon on tuesday the 3rd. We took the road up through Boise, Idaho and then over toward Bend, Oregon. Then toward the coast, up to portland, then washington, along the Columbia river, and home again through Boise and Montpelier.

On our way through Idaho we stopped to see the Shoshone Falls. It was beautiful! The place itself has a dam that blocks a good share of the river and what the falls should be, but it still allows for the water to go through which creates such beautiful falls. A funny story with this is as we were all in the car about to drive out of the parking lot and back on our way to Oregon, there was this random lady that started flaging us down to stop. She wanted to talk to us and had a huge camera in her hands. Mom said "I hope she isn't planning on interviewing us or something..." So the lady gets up to the car window, asks us if we heard the gunshots and then sticks the camera in Dad's face. As it turned out we hadn't heard them and that was disappointing to her...but it got the camera out of the car. :) Much to everyone's relief I'm sure.

Later that same day we eventually managed to get to the actual state of Oregon, but that was a very long drive. While there this first day we decided to take a bit of a senic byway and drive by what they call the Pillars of Rome which is of course near the city of Rome. I had found some pictures of them on the internet while planning our trip and was excited to see them. As it turned out... they were a bit of a disappointment. We ended up driving through them about 3 times and still never saw much of what the pictures on the internet were advertising... so disappointing. After that we continued on our way west and found a hotel to stay in that night near the city Bend.

The next day we stopped by to see a lava cave. Its called the lava river cave and we were able to self tour the cave as long as we had two sources of light with us. That was kinda funny as we brought a lantern and two flashlights, but as it worked out all of them gave off a very pitiful source of light and we ended up renting one from the rangers so that we could actually see where we were going and the structures of the cave. It was very dark and cold, but so cool to see.

The cave itself is about a mile long one way and only has the one entryway so to see the whole thing you would have walk about two miles. The cave had some pretty cool structures to see, but because of our bad lighting and the general darkness, the pictures didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea. When we were about halfway through the cave my mom unfortunately twisted her ankle and decided that it would be a bad idea for her to continue any further, so my parents returned to the entrance to wait, while me and my younger siblings continued to the end. It turned out to be quite the adventure.

There is this one part in the cave where it's like a canyon and it's way cool. Once you get toward the end of the cave there is a part that is mostly filled with sand and so me and my younger siblings all had to get down and practically crawl to reach the end, we were in the position for so long that our legs started going to sleep and we never did reach the end. But it all worked out, and we had lots of fun.

Once we saw the cave we then had another long drive and headed over to Crater Lake. I think it was the most blue lake i have ever seen. The roads around the lake are very curvy and narrow and so it was somewhat scary to drive on but the lake was worth the drive. On one part of the lake there is this island that they call the Ghost Ship. Basically it does look like a ship, however i also think it looks a little sunk or at least beached. I didn't post a picture of it but it was cool anyway.

We drove all the way around the lake and by the time we were about half way just about all of us had had enough of seeing the same lake over and over and over again, but looking back it was nice. That night we camped in the forested area near the lake, and as awed as we were the night before, in the morning we were all pleasantly surprised to see the surrounding forest and its beauty that we had camped in. We took many pictures and Lynette and I were fairly hyper, but it was all fun.

The next adventure that we experienced was in the Coastal city of Bandon. They have a West Coast Wildlife Safari there, which is more or less actually a petting zoo. As it turns out it was expensive, but VERY worth it. See one of my favorite animals happens to be the tiger. As it turns out this zoo happened to have two tiger cubs that we could pet and hold. They were sooo cute, and it was so fun. We also got to pet a lion cub and a karacle cat.

There were of course lots of ducks, goats, deer, lamas and donkeys also around that we could pet. One of these particular amimals, the lama to be exact, decided it didn't like me, at all. This lama is of the alpacka kind, you know the ones you see on the move 'the emperor's new groove,' yeah, this one didn't like me. It kept trying to spit on me, and would follow me until i was a certain distance away. Later i did get to pet a different lama, but any time i saw that particular lama it would stare at me until i went away again. The lama to the right is the one that just happened to hate me, and so you know, right up close it has really ugly teeth and its mouth is about at my eye level, it's a rather large lama if i do say so myself.

Throughout the rest of our vacation we went to the Coastal area where we saw some lighthouses, the sea lion caves, went out on a jetty and played on the beach.

We of course went to Evan and Jen's wedding reception at her family's house and spent some time with them.

We stopped to see the Oregon Portland Temple, which is so BEAUTIFUL! All of Oregon is really. After seeing the temple we also stopped to see some of the old covered bridges. Some of them were really cool.

They were built to keep the bridges in better shape what with all the wet weather in that area. One of the bridges we stopped at happened to have a train track bridge right next to it as well, so rather then pass up the opportunity, some of us took a walk on the tracks for a bit. It was fun :)

Then we drove up into Washington and saw Mt. St. Helen's from a distance. We also drove along the Columbia river and saw a bunch of waterfalls that are there along the old Highway.

Unfortunately for me it was during this time that my camera decided to be stupid and not work, so all the pictures that i had thought i had taken of the waterfalls...weren't there. So a good portion of the trip that i thought was recorded, wasn't. :( I was very very put out by this and even more angry when within two hours after we had passed all the falls my camera once again decided it could work and actually keep the pictures that i took. Grrrrr.... I suppose the one good thing is at least i don't have to get a new camera... yet.

Before stopping for the night on saturday we stopped to see a lock, (one for ships) that was no longer working as the river was much deeper now, but it was kinda cool. It was strange too as there were stairs going down into the river and you go to the edge of the water and you can see more just going down, down, down. We spent Sunday driving home a long way as we had to drop Brett off at Camp Bartlett, Idaho.

It was a very long trip but totally worth it, and as you can imagine... we got a little bored just driving. I have however, now fallen in love with that area of the world I want nothing more then to go back and see more. Perhaps a trip to Washington will be next. :)