3 years, 1096 days, 26,304 hours....

3 years + 1096 days + 26,304 hours + 1 cat + 2 homes + 3 degrees + 5 jobs + 5 cars + 2 ER visits + 1 surgery + millions of kisses + countless blessings = best 3 years of my life 

Last weekend Tyson and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary by going on our annual trip to Zion National Park. We are lucky enough every year to get to stay in the same hotel as we did on our honeymoon.  In my opinion, Cliffrose Inn and Suites has one of the best views in Springdale right out their back window. 

While up there we decided to go on a fun hike to get some exercise and fresh air. Tyson said we should hike Observation Point. He had done it once in high school and from what he could remember, "it wasn't too hard". Well that was the biggest understatement of the year! Ha he must have forgotten that he was much younger, more in shape and not recovering from a knee surgery when he was in high school. Although to be fair, he took that steep hike like a champ! I complained the whole way up and he had to keep encouraging me that I could do it.  

To be honest, I barely even took my eyes off my feet the whole way up, but on the way down I made sure to enjoy the views. 

When we made it to the top I teased Tyson that I was going to scream, "Hallelujah" at the top of my lungs, and do a few fist pumps out of pure joy for making it there. Although to save him some major embarrassment in front of the other hikers I held back. The view was actually quite breathtaking. I was shocked to see how far down the popular Angels Landing hike was. I always thought Angels Landing was one of the toughest, highest hikes in Zion and boy was I proud when I realized we made it far beyond that point. Although the hike up may have been miserable, the view was very worth it!

         

       I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband who pushes me to become the best version of myself and who believes in me no matter what. He puts up with a lot and I don't know what I would do without him constantly reassuring me that I can do hard things.

Tyson, you are my greatest adventure. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. 

Spring is in the air

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year! No more hiding indoors. The sun comes out, we open the windows for the breeze, and we spend as much time as possible outside before the summer heat hits. 

The one thing that makes spring even better, is spending it with my favorite ladies. I am so lucky to have my sisters, (including my sister in law) and mom as my best friends. We have so much fun together and there is never a dull moment. 

 

One of our favorite springtime activities is our group bike rides. We load up the kids on our bikes/backs/chest and ride where ever our heart takes us. 

Christmas 2015

Why does it always seem like it takes forever for Christmas to get here, then it's gone in the blink of an eye? That's how I feel anyways. I wait ALL year for it to get here, then before I know it, it's January and I'm having holiday withdrawls. 

To start off the season right we went with my family on our annual excursion to get our Christmas trees on Kaibab mountain.

I loved our tree this year, but I am pretty sure Kitty took it the hardest when we finally took it down. Anytime we couldn't find him we would check behind/under/in the tree and there he would be. It's gonna be a rough year for him to adjust without HIS tree. Let's not forget all of my hand crocheted ornaments that he was sure I obviously made solely for his pure enjoyment. 

To make this years Christmas even better was this handsome, hard working brother of mine.

Kyson got to facetime home and chat with all of us for the first time since he has been out for 6+ months. It was so good to see his smiling face and even better to hear the love in his voice for his mission and the people there in Texas. He just lit up when he saw all of us, especially all of the kids. He got to meet Ryker for the first time since he was born after he left. I'm so grateful for my wonderful family and the amazing support they give Kyson while he's serving the lord. 

P.S. Thank goodness for selfie sticks :)

To add to the fun and excitement of Christmas time we went on our annual Winder family trip to the cabin. 

Every year I am counting down the days, not until Christmas, but until this family trip. I have so much fun going up to the cabin each year that I can't wait until the next year. I am so lucky to have these ladies in my life! I am even more blessed that we are all so close in age and get a long so well:)

I guess I like all the men in the family too, they're alright ;)

After the cabin trip we got together with this awesome group for some pizza and ice-skating. Not only do I love Tyson's side of the family, but my side is pretty awesome as well. I love having a twin who is also married and I love having such amazing cousins. It also doesn't hurt that most of them are married now. Tyson and I are always looking for more married friends. Any takers?? ;)

After skating for a few minutes and watching Tyson, I realized that this was his FIRST time ice-skating. Like EVER. That made me feel like a failure in the wife department. So I made sure to never let go of his hand and of course I had to show off a little with some "cool" tricks. It's not very often that I am better at something than Tyson. We don't need to bring up the fact that he was still recovering from his knee surgery though....let me have this one ;)

All in all, Christmas 2015 was more wonderful than I could have hoped for and I owe it all to my amazing friends and family. I've learned it's not what I have in my life, but who I have in my life that counts. 

What a way to start off the year

I am so proud of this handsome man of mine. He just started his final semester of college last week and found out he got chosen as student of the semester for the Integrated Studies department. Then to top things off he started orientations at his new job today! He is the newest physical therapy aide at the hospital. He is such a hard worker and is going to do great things with Intermountain. In may he will graduate with his Bachelors and start applying for Doctor of Physical Therapy programs. I have no doubt he will succeed in anything he sets his mind too and I consider myself very lucky to be his copilot through this journey. 

DIY Christmas Decorations

It's the most wonderful time of the year and I am celebrating it in every possible way. I had a bunch of extra wood lying around the house so I decided to paint them to decorate for the holidays. I can't wait to find more wood and do some more projects.

DIY Office Desk

First, let me start off by saying that I have the worlds BEST dad. Last weekend my sister, Shauni, and I decided that we wanted to build office desks. We have been searching for the perfect desk, and then I finally found free plans for the most adorable DIY desk from a Shanty2Chic pin on Pinterest. 

Without even having to beg or bribe him, my dad jump on board to help build our desks. And when I say he help, I really mean he did all of the building while we "supervised". 

The first desk took about 3-4 hours to build. Although, once he had the hang of it, the second desk popped up in about 45 minutes. My dad always amazes me with his talent and knowledge when it comes to building all our many projects we throw his way. 

After he built our desks, we just had to sand and paint them and they were done!

I absolutely love how the desks turned out. The hardest part for me has been deciding on how to decorate mine. 

I have settled with this for now, but if you know me at all, you won't be surprised when I change my decorations in a week or two. Until then, I am in LOVE. 

Yellowstone National Park

This past weekend Tyson, Logan, and I drove up to Rexburg, Idaho to visit Logan's girlfriend Christine and one of Tyson's old mission buddies, Kyle. While visiting them we decided to go visit Yellowstone National Park since we were already so close and none of us had ever been. 

Wow, was I glad we decided to go. Yellowstone is amazing! 

First we went and watched Old Faithful explode. Boy, is she faithful!

It was so fun to have Kyle and Christine there with us. Kyle was a wonderful tour guide....

"You can tell that it's an aspen tree, because the way it is"

 "Nature is neat" 

"Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm3JodBR-vs

Then we walked along the pathways to find some smaller geysers. 

I was so tempted to just throw my suit on and hop in the "natural hot tubs", which I am sure I would regret immediately after. Not to mention the trouble I would be in for disturbing a  "FRAGILE THERMAL AREA". Still, I was very tempted.

After exploring some more we went and watched the Grand Geyser. It was probably my favorite geyser, even over Old Faithful. It was so fun to sit up closer and feel the heat from the water.

After watching the Grand Geyser we headed back to the car and saw some more beautiful views.

On our way out of the park we noticed TONS of people had pulled their cars over on the sides of the road and were gathered out in a huge field. Naturally, we were curious to see what was going on, so we stopped and joined them.

As we made our way over to the crowd of people, we noticed about 100 yards away up on the hillside was a HUGE bear! I was so excited because "seeing a bear" was definitely on my Yellowstone checklist. I was even just complaining in the car that we were leaving before I got to see one. So I was thrilled. Later down the road we got stuck for 45 minutes in stand-still traffic, only find out later that we were stopped because of a herd of buffalo that decided to take over the road for their evening stroll. It was pretty amazing to be that close and see how huge these animals really were.  

I can't wait to go back one day and do some more exploring of this beautiful park!