2 Year Anniversary

Chris and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary this past week, July 11. Yes, that is free slurpee day, and yes we did get one!!

We booked a 2 night stay at the Hilton in Salt Lake City. We have stayed there before and love it!! Whenever we go anywhere, or we buy anything, I try to get the most from our money. Believe it or not, we are not rich. So when we do spend money, I want to make sure we get a good deal. This has embarrassed Chris in the past because I am always asking for something free. Free is for me!! As my mother would say. I am not pushy, I just like to get extra things!!

We got there on Saturday afternoon after a very eventful camping trip with some co workers, that included me falling into a stream! Scratch that, falling into a rushing rapid!! Anyway, after two weekends of camping, I was ready for a nice hotel.

Once we did get down there, Doug was the person to check us in. I asked Doug if there was anyway he could upgrade us since it was our anniversary and we loved the Hilton so much. He said he would see what he could do. He was able to upgrade our room to a suite and even gave us free parking which saved us $26!! We loved Doug!

As we headed up to the room, Chris figured he just told us he upgraded the room but really didn't. We open the door and the room is huge!! Rather the ROOMS are huge!! There is a bedroom, living room and study! (See pictures for more details.)

We had the perfect weekend of napping, watching television, swimming, suanaing, if that is a word, and it was wonderful! It was nice to just relax and be with each other. Our lives have been really hectic so this was the perfect getaway. I am so glad I have Chris. He is working so hard for us and I appreciate all the he does for me. He always knows how to make me smile!
Our bedroom

The living room

Our Study

The "Great" Outdoors

Chris' family goes camping a few times each summer. Chris loves camping, I do not share the same love. But I went happily, kind of. This would be the longest I have ever been camping for, 4 days and 3 nights!
Chris and I live the farthest away from all of his family so we do not get to see them as often as we would like. So these trips are great because we get to see everyone all together. All of his siblings were there so it was really nice.

We left Thursday morning and made a few stops on the way. As we started getting closer, the weather started to get a little sketchy. All of a sudden we were stuck in a hail storm!! I have never seen so much hail in my life! It covered the road completely. But it didn't last long.



We got there set up our tent. We have a little two person tent that fits our air mattress and not much else. We had a nice little area, far away from other people, because we like to sleep in. Then we park our car right next to it and live out of our car for the next 4 days. It has our cooler, jackets, soap and water i insisted on bringing, books, and anything else we could possibly need.





We went 4-wheeling a lot! I have been practicing my driving and Chris really loves this place we went because it has a ton of trails for 4-wheeling. I do not like the trails as much, they are steep, tiny, and scary. My fear only increased after an "incident". I was driving and I took the corner the wrong way and there happened to be a tree on the side of the path. I hit the tree and we started to tip. Chris FLEW off and landed a few feet away. I jumped off. I looked over at Chris and he was lying in the bushes and he was telling me to catch the 4-wheeler. I turned around and it started rolling down the mountain!! (I don't know how to catch a 4-wheeler) So i run after it and grab the grate and hold it long enough for Chris to get up and help me. He was fine, a few grass stains, nothing Oxy clean couldn't get out! But I am a wreck. I threw my husband off a 4-wheeler and nearly killed him! I am never driving or gettting on one again. But the problem is that we happen to be far away from camp. So after crying and checking each of Chris' limbs 100 times, he convinces me that it is fine, he is fine, and I should get back on. So i hold on tight and close my eyes!
I did end up driving again but not on the paths, just on the road. I am too scared to drive on the paths again. But I did go on some jumps, well hills for me I guess. And I went about 8 mph!! Which is fast considering I threw Chris off just the day before!

I am very grateful for Chris' sister Camille and her husband Matt. They have a tent trailer so whenever it rained, or I needed to put contacts in, or was just sick of the bugs, I could go hang out in there. They were very nice to the fact that I hate the outdoors. As an added bonus, they also have the cutest kid in the world, Molly, and we love her!

I don't think I will ever get over how many stars you can see out in the woods. It is so beautiful. We could even see the milky way! And i think i saw at least 5 shooting stars. It was incredible. And to top off the whole trip, I invited a new campfire dessert, roasted oreos! They were yummy!!!

We were planning on leaving pretty early on Sunday morning since Chris had to work a grave shift that night. Everyone else was leaving then too. But we woke up to some scary looking skies and just about everyone in the whole camp ground packing up! It started pouring and it was freezing. Luckily we got all of our stuff packed up before the heavy rains but some were not so lucky.

We headed back to Logan for a 3-4 hour drive. We were deep in the Spanish Fork Canyon, about 10,000 feet above sea level. It was raining pretty hard as we drove and then it turned to snow! It was sticking to the road and grass. But we made it out and of course, outside of the canyon, it was sunny and 90 degrees!

It was a good trip, it was nice to be around family and have time with Chris without worrying about work and everything else. Though I do not love camping, I love Chris and I will continue to keep going and hopefully be a little more fun to be around!

The last month and our Anniversary

This is been such a crazy month!! We were not able to go to Rhode Island this summer because it was just to expensive. But it worked out that my family came out to visit instead. Mom came at the end of June and we had a great time. Mom was here for about a week. She also came with a lady from Russia and her daughter. The unemployment in R.I. is over 10% so she was hoping to find some work out here. She loved Park City and is hoping to move out here eventually. Dad and Bettyann were heading out to Vegas in the beginning of July and decided to drive down here for a night. It was just great to have family around. And we were able to show them the house and test my cooking out on them!!

Then Dad drove us down to the airport and we headed to Vegas. Only we made there it A LOT faster than Dad and Bettyann. Chris and I were going there to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Can you believe it has already been 1 year!!!

We had a lot of fun. It was a little stressful because we didn't really plan the trip. We went to Vegas because we had a free trip for a few nights and we decided to extend it. So the first few nights we stayed at the Sahara which is on the strip but waaaaayyy on the end. So it was a pretty long walk to anything fun. It was also 112 degrees. So the next few nights we stayed at the Riveria. Which was a lot nicer. But still not very close. On the final night we stayed at the Luxor which was beautiful! We loved it there. We just relaxed and took in the sites. But we both kind of got sick while we were there. Only Chris and I would get sick on vacation! It was just nice to get out of Logan for a while.

When we got home we celebrated our anniversary here. We made a nice dinner and took out our wedding cake top. We had a delicious wedding cake, well it was last year anyway. But I got a white chocolate cake with cheesacake filling and Chris had a chocolate cake with some kind of chocolate filling. I do not like chocolate cake so on the wedding we each ate our own kind. But the top happened to be the chocolate kind. So I was not looking forward to eating it, especially after it sitting in our freezer for a year. When we took it out, it looked pretty good, considering. And it honestly wasn't terrible to eat. We only took 1 bite each but still.

So far it has been a great year. Some very good memories. Expecially starting our marriage off with Mono. If we can get through that we can get through anything! I really do have an amazing husband who continues to impress me each day. I am looking forward to the next 50 years!!

Looking for a good background

So I want to get in on this blog thing. I like the idea of designing the blog and I have been looking for a good background for our blog, but I can only find girly backgrounds. I want to find something a little more manly. If anyone knows of a good site to get background for the blog let me know.

Chris

The Hunt for Red

As you know Chris and I have been looking for summer jobs. I have a great job during the school year, but during the summer I am unemployed. I did get a part time job at Kmart. I went to my first training yesterday, 5 hours of sitting and watching those really fun videos. Who knew you were supposed to TALK to the customers? You learn something new everyday. All joking aside, I really am grateful that I was able to find a job.

Anyway, I thought the Kmart shirts were provided for you. But low and behold, they are not. You need to wear a "Kmart Red" shirt and black pants to work everyday. It can be any time of shirt really as long as it is Kmart red. I thought, I have a few red shirts at home, this will be fine.

When I get home, I find out they are not Kmart red, but maroon or another shade that would not pass at Kmart. We wouldn't want the customers to get confused. So Chris, being the wonderful husband he is, came out to find some shirts with me.

We started at Ross...nothing. Then we hit Shop Co. I actually got a cute red sweater there but other than that one sweater not a single other Kmart red item. I was avoiding going to Kmart to shop since I am going to be there all summer but we decided to go anyway since they are sure have to have Kmart red. But guess what, they didn't!!! We get 20% off if we buy something we can wear to work but there was not anything red at all!! I am not even being picky but there was nothing!!

Lastly, we went to Kohls. This is where Chris came in and helped a ton!! He found a ton of red!! All on Sale!! We found a shirt for $3.60!!! Then we got another one- buy one get one free and he found a pair of black pants for $8! Who knew he would be such a good shopper?

Two and a half hours later we came home with 4 red shirts, actually we bought the same two shirts twice, a sweater, and a pair on pants. Now tonight I get to train on the register!!

I know this wasn't the most fun entry possible but I am trying to get into the habit of writing on here. Thanks for reading!!

Camping Extravganza!

I went camping for the first time a few weeks ago with Chris' family and had a great time! But I am not a camping pro yet. So to help me get used to it, Chris and I camped out in our living room. We set up the tent and air mattress and turned off all the lights. We just used a lantern to get around! It was so much fun!

The next day we went for a drive to find some real camp sites in the canyon. I agreed to go as long as there were bathrooms. We found quite a few! Once I am feeling better we plan on going!

Our summer lives

This summer Chris and I are both taking a break from school. We will both be going back in the fall and Chris will graduate with a bachelors in Psychology and Speech Communication. But don't worry, he will be back in school shortly after that getting his PHD.

The job market is pretty rough everywhere right now and we are both trying to find jobs. He is still working at the group home but he is hoping to find another one. I work at the school during the year, but in the summer, I need a new job. I did get a job at Kmart, which pays a whopping $6.55 and hour! But it is something. I am still looking for something else. Thankfully we have this great CHEAP house!