Weekend Getaway

I guess it is about time to post something somewhat recent on our blog. I have actually been meaning to post this a few weeks ago so it is not that recent but I am just getting around to it. :) Anyway, Brandon has worked so hard this last semester! It was a great feeling for him to finish finals so we decided to take a little break before Summer classes started and go down to St. George for the weekend. Brandon's Dad recently bought a house down in St. George, so we were lucky to have a great place to stay. Thank you, Bill, for letting us stay in your house!

We actually didn't rest much at all when we were down there. We were consistantly finding things to do. Our first stop was the Temple...

I love to see the Temple This was both Brandon and I's first time to go inside the St. George Temple. Just a little heads up to everyone, if you are feeling a little down on yourself and need someoone to make you feel good, just go to the St. George Temple. Brandon and I walked away with our confidence completed boosted. I could not believe the amount of love that was shown to us while we were there, in the Temple and on the grounds. People were so kind!

Hiking the Red CliffsAfter the Temple we headed straight to the beautiful red rocks to do some hiking. Brandon supposedly had been on this hike before and knew what he was doing but when the trail ended and Brandon started boosting me up the huge red rocks, I started to question it somewhat. We eventually found another trail after we climbed around on the huge red rock mountain for awhile. We had some pretty scary moments but I don't dare write anything down for the fear of our parents (ok my dad) being worried about us. Brandon led us both back to safety and we now have some great memories. :)

Brandon showed me how to get across this seemingly impossible part in our hike...

My amazing husband showing off some muscles.... he is so strong. :)

Golfers Many of you may not know this but Brandon and I are extremely good golfers. Well not really, but isn't that the thing to do when you are in St. George? We decided to give it a shot and hit some balls on the golfing range... that is what it is called isn't it? I have to say that my form is looking pretty good. My knee is slightly turned in and I look very focused. Plus I have plaid short on, just like a real golfer. :) Knowing that, it is going to be a shocker to find out that Brandon's golf balls actually went a lot further than mine. I guess he is the better golfer. Surprised?

Viva Las Vegas Brandon and I decided to head down to Las Vegas for a night. The last time that Brandon and I went to Vegas together I realized that I was in love with him.. it is just such a romatic place. :) Ok I don't know how many people really fall in love in Vegas but for Brandon and I, that is where it all started. It was fun to go back for just a night. I decided that Circus Circus was my favorite place to go. We saw some great free shows there and were able to get an idea of what our future child will look like. Not sure if we wanted to know after we saw the results... you are looking at some pretty messed up ears, a mohawk, and something is wrong with her lip... yes it is a her. :) If you look at her long enough though, she can start to look pretty cute. We are actually the ones not looking too good in this picture.

Our last adventure in Vegas ended on the Stratosphere. We did some of the crazy rides on the top and I thought I was about to throw up on "The Insanity" ride. Brandon loved every second of it, but I couldn't stop screaming. I didn't realize what I was getting into. People were staring at me, loving the show that I was putting on. We should have bought the picture captured on the Big Shot. My face is screaming with terror and Brandon is just looking at me laughing. Good times. Not sure if I will ever need to experience that again.

The Crack Before we headed back to Salt Lake, Brandon took me to a place called "the crack". As you can see, that is exactly what it is. It was pretty crazy. There were some points where I wasn't sure if Brandon was going to make it through. This was actually probably one of the safest activties that we did.

Making ArchesCheck out Brandon's flexibility! I was very impressed. I of course had to copy him and make my arch as well....

Overlooking St. George
As you can see, it was a great weekend!

Catching Up

OK apparently there are a few people that have been checking our blog each day to see if we have a new post. Well today is your lucky day! :) So far I am enjoying this blog thing. I have been going through all of our pictures (we have hundreds!) and reminiscing about all of the things that have happened in just the few short months since we have been married. I have just a few more things that I wanted to post and then I can move on with some more recent things we have been doing.

Brothers Don't Shake Hands... Brothers Gotta Hug!

We were able to see Brandon's brother, Robby, in AZ for a few hours on our layover back from Cabo. It was for a really short time but it was great to see him.

Go Utes!

Wait... I am not really a big Ute fan, but I need to support the hubby. He is an avid Ute fan! It is all good.. till they play BYU. I usually don't have any options when it come to football since I can barely even figure out what it going on in the game, but something from my childhood comes out when BYU plays the U and I become a huge BYU fan. Brandon and I learned this was the case this last year when we watched the game together. We don't plan on watching the U vs. BYU game together ever again :)

Frecks Frecks was a great Snowman. We made him on one of the first snow falls of the season. We actually had a lot of fun making him. You can kind of see the great detail we put into him. Check out that fang tooth!

Hotel SheilaHas anyone ever gone to their in-laws to crash for the night and you find a basket of goodies, a little bubbly, flowers and book on their bed to welcome them? I can't say I have ever received that kind of love until I met Sheila! She is amazingly loving! I have a lot to learn from her. Thank you Sheila!

St. Patricks Day I have to say, in the past I did not think twice about St. Patrick's day but now that I am a Patrick... this day seemed to mean a little bit more to me this year. Since it is our day, Brandon and I decided to do a litte celebrating. What better way to celebrate than to go Classic Skating! Brandon had some pretty sick moves on the floor. The 14 yr old girls apparently thought so as well, one was bold enough to put the moves on him! I had to lay down some lines! I guess that is what we get for going Classic Skating.


Ian's Day On March 30, 2008 Ian was baptized! This was a special day for all of us. Brandon was honored that Ian asked him to baptize him. Ian had amazing support from his ward, friends and family. So many mentioned how impressed they were at his decision and the great example he has been. Below is a picture of Ian with his parents, Sheila and Brent. Congratulations Ian!


Lions, Tigers and Bears.. oh my! I just love this picture! And I figured I would spice up our blog with some children on it :) This is my adorable niece, Brinley Jean (named after me!) and Brandon's parents dog, Noofy.

She is the cutest thing! She did this face just for the picture. :)

Getting Started

So I decided that I am going to give this blog thing a shot. I have been stalking people for months by looking at their blogs and decided that I would let people in on what is going on in our life. So here we go....

Brandon and I got married on Sept. 28, 2007. It has been about seven months now and we have enjoyed a lot of adventures since then... Here are some of the things we have been able to do.

HONEYMOON
Brandon surprised me by taking me to Cabo for our Honeymoon. It was awesome. We stayed in an all inclusive resort and enjoyed days of laying by the pool and soaking in the sun. I am so ready to go back! Do you love the guy on the side of our picture? I knew he was going to be in it! At least he's got a good body :)

Zip lining in the desert! Zip lining was one of our favorite activities that we did on our Honeymoon. I am a fairly cautious person, as many know, it took me some courage to make the intial jump and this is even my second time going zip lining. This was Brandon first time and he had no fear from the beginning and offered to be the first to give it a go. Not a big surprise.

The Honeymoon was amazing, but it was really weird when Brandon started hitting on another woman (or maybe that is a man?)....

CABO CRUISE
About 2 weeks after we returned home from our Honeymoon to Cabo, my kind kind brother, Jason, invited us to join him with his company, NorthStar Alarm, on a cruise to Cabo. We couldn't pass up this opportunity so we packed our bags again and went back to Cabo. We had so much fun hanging out with everyone.

Our amazing Glass Bottom boat tour around the famous Cabo Arch (for the 2nd time that month)!

Enjoying some love in Cabo :)

Me, Brandon, Mervis and Dave all made the wise choice of being Pirates for the Halloween party on the Cruise! We got into charactor and made up pirate names.. Boneyard Brandon, Barnacal Becky, Scurvey Mervy, Dangerous Dave. Say those out loud in a pirate accent. lol.

The whole gang all decked out....

And of couse we finished off the party with some dancing.... You can totally notice Dave's glass eye in this picture :)

HAWAII
We finished off 2007 with a trip to Hawaii! We first went to Maui for a couple days and then spent the rest of the week in Oahu. I was very excited to take Brandon to Maui and show him all of the places and people that I love. It was so great to go back!! It however rained more then I was planning... I planned no rain and it rained the whole time so we didn't get to swim in the ocean as much as I would have liked. Not knowing that was going to be the case, we wore our swimsuits the whole time. Luckly I brought a sweatshirt!

We found the Red Sand Beach!

One of our first stops in Maui was Hana. There is so much to do out here so we were running around trying to see and do everything. The Red Sand Beach has been a place that I have wanted to go for a long time. It is somewhat difficult to find... and the last time I thought I found it just to find out when I got home that I didn't. So this time... We found it!

Black Sand Beach

This is one of my favorite places. It was starting to rain so we didn't stay here as long as I would have liked.

Seven Sacred Pools Maui has had a lot of rain, so these once calm pools that we used to swim in and jump off the waterfalls, were gushing out water! So unfortuantly it was way to dangerous to swim. It was really cool to see but we will have to go back when the rain stops so Brandon can jump off the waterfall. I know that he was a little sad that he wasn't able to do that.

Bamboo Forest

We attempted to hike to a waterfall (there was too much water so we didn't make it) and on the way you walk through a huge bamboo forest. As you can see, I am trying with all my might to hold myself up, barely getting my feet off the ground... meanwhile Brandon makes it look easy. Keep in mind it took me a while to get the camera going so he was hanging like this for a while.

Corrina!!! I love this girl! Corrina took good care of me out in Hawaii. It was so fun to see her and her family again.

Little Nalani! Brandon and I were able to stop and see my favorite family. And little Nalani isn't so little anymore! Nalei and Nalu have grown up as well. It was so fun to hang out with them for awhile.

Dinner at Duke's

Stone Security treated everyone to a dinner at Duke's one night. We went all out!

Hanauma Bay

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay was an adventure. It was kind of chilly and started to rain. I stuck it out as long as I could but I could not focus on snorkeling becuase my body was freezing! Needless to say I did not see much. I think Rob was the one that had the best time.

Northshore of Oahu

Rob and Brandon are scoping out the surf with the local surfers with their $10 boogy boards that we picked up at Foodland. They fit in perfectly :)

Polynesian Culture CenterYou can't go to Oahu and not see the Polynesian Culture Center. It was awesome.

Waikiki Beach

We spent our last day in Hawaii on the beach. There are so many people on Waikiki Beach!

On our way to the airport... We rode in style to back to the airport! It was really sad to leave...

We Love Hawaii!!! So many good times!