What a Great Summer!

I was just looking through all of the pictures on my phone from this summer and I found myself amazed at what a wonderful time I've had....so I thought that I would share a few of my favorite pictures/moments with the two or three people who actually follow our blog. ;)

The family get togethers have been such a blast for me this year (even though we haven't broken out the croquet set). It's been wonderful to have Ariel around to get to know everyone and experience bocce ball, frisby golf, Barksdale BBQ's, great board games (thanks Al), our "unique" Birthday songs, etc, etc... (sorry about the formatting...the published post came out nothing like the preview...I had all the pictures bunched together and looking nice...oh well)



Ariel has also been taking me to the arcade from time to time and that's been a blast..surprisingly. ;) I had never thought about playing arcades with my fiance on a Friday night, but it's been fun.



Of course, the engagement and wedding planning have been the biggest highlights of all. I can't believe how much I love Ariel. Our wedding is just 30 days away and I can't wait. I've had a great time being involved with the wedding planning..from the proposal, to doing invitations, picking a wedding dress for Ariel, to deciding on food, location, etc..I've had a great time being involved in any way possible.




And the most recent highlights from this summer have been the 4th of July and Camping up AF canyon. The 4th was so much fun..from start to finish. We got together with the family early on in the afternoon and had a fun time BBQing and chatting with everyone. Then we had our own little firework show in the driveway with Mom, Dad and Mary and Liz's families. Afterwords, Ariel and I went to the lawn in front of the Provo temple to watch the stadium of fire fireworks and later took a stroll down to the creamery for ice cream. We ended the night with sparklers and roasted marshmallows on Ariel's stovetop (yes, we're that classy).



So, back to what I said at the beginning..What a Great Summer! And the best is yet to come. August 14th!!!

Engagement photos

Hey, so we've narrowed it down to this photo for our invitations. Any input on whether we should go with black and white or color would be wonderful. :)

Thanks!

Yesterday, Ariel and I had Dustin take some engagement photos for us and he did a great job. These were his first portrait photos that he had taken, so I'm quite impressed. Anyway, I thought that I would throw a couple of them up here so that everyone can see how gorgeous Ariel is. For anyone who doesn't know, we're getting married on the 14th of August. Yay!

Actual cruise/Florida photos

A few of my younger brothers, from left Nathanael, Aaron, and Daniel.

The people we sat with for dinner, a fun New York couple.

We bought an underwater camera and the pictures turned out surprisingly well.

Except this one, where I look like a skeleton. Seriously, my hand looks like its wasting away.

Fishies.

Mom and I, looking fancy and tan on our last night.

Daniel and Nathanael, hilariously goofy kids. :)

cruise photos

hey! I put up cruise photos online, here's a link to the album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018860&id=1062376117&l=d44681ed72

black holes

Dave and I enjoy some very entertaining texts volleys. Example: We were talking about how scientists are attempting to create a black hole--mostly how ludicrous the idea is that they, on purpose, are trying to create something whose destructive power cannot be controlled (hypothetically). Anyway, Dave sends me this text with the caption "They did it! They finally did it! They created a black hole!!" A few days later I got sucked into one, too, then Dave came in to save me in the third photo. :)

cruise

I'm in Florida! My mom and I leave for our cruise ship in a little bit and we are SO excited. I'll post pictures when I get back. :) love you all.

V-day present!

So, my sweetheart got me the most amazing Valentine's Day present....a sewing machine! (Thanks to all the sisters who helped Dave pick one out) I've been wanting one for a while, I love that he listens to me and remembers these things.

So! Here are some pictures of my first "project" with it. I have a couple tank tops that have been coming apart at the strap seam (don't know why, definitely not "busting out" if you know what I mean), and here is my repair job. (Picture 1: my sewing set up, I got a cute buffet table at Bed, Bath and Beyond for way cheap, LOVE IT! Picture 2: Torn seam. Picture 3: Repaired!)


Here's a picture of my new bookshelves, too. I painted my room this perfect green 2 weeks ago and I love being home now. :)

Valentine's Day weekend

Hey! Ok, back from our mini-vacation. It was so great. Very relaxing. While I hate paying for my timeshare, it really is nice to be able to stay in such a great resort and feel like its free. :) Our condo was huge! Full kitchen, large living room w/fireplace and flat screen, murphy bed (in the living room), and a large bedroom also with flat screen. Though, my favorite part was probably the bathtub. Sounds weird, but in my new apartment, the tub is only for showering (the surface of the tub has been worn away by the constant drip from the faucet, not so good for bathing). So, this bathtub with limitless hot water was AMAZING. Anyway, moving on. Our first day there, we walked around downtown. Dave got up earlier than me and went to scout out the town, then took me to some really neat places. Theres a coffee shop/bookstore called "Off the Beaten Path" that we liked (Dave took pictures, very cute place). Then we went to a sweet little bookstore called "Epilogue," which was probably my favorite place. They had an Antiquarian section in the back with all these old-book-treasures. We sat on the floor, looking through tons of books, checking copyright dates and trying to feel out their value. We both found some really amazing things. Dave will have to write about his, but I found a book of poems with a letter inside, postage was 2 cents, 1914. It was so incredible to get this insight into that time period through the simple letter and poetry. I also found 2 volumes of a history collection, copyrighted 1847 with beautiful gold filigree on front, back and spine. Its worn a bit, but they're wonderful. We went to a cute 50's themed diner after that, as seen in the Dave picture. Then we went back and napped for a while. (BTW, when Dave came back from his exploring that morning, he brought flowers and my favorite juice. What a sweetheart!) We then went to the hot tub (outdoors, so freezing, but really nice in the water), then to dinner at a cutesy little italian place for calzones. Next day, we went back to the bookstore, found some more treasures, took a nap, saw "He's Just Not That Into You" (not for kids, we felt terrible for this poor kid in the theater with us, far too scandalous) which was an OK movie. Then we went hot tubbing, then up the mountain to this cool pizza place for dinner. After, we went to watch some live music (a very odd band, rap-funk I think Dave called it?). We drove back on Saturday and tried to stop at all the bookstores/DI's along the way, and I bought more books. We made it home in time to get all dressed up and go to dinner at La Vigna, then we rented Lord of the Rings. I don't know if this weekend sounds ideal to anyone else...but it was by far the best Valentine's Day I've EVER had. Its definitely the first one where I dared to be excited about it, dared to hope that my significant other would take care of me. I don't think any of you are in the dark about this, but I'm crazy about Dave. He is the most wonderful man I've ever met (sorry, daddy), and I love all the time I get to spend with him. I'm so grateful to have him in my life.

Valentine's Day

So, I may be a terrible blogger. :) It's been a while. Dave and I are headed out of town tomorrow, bound for Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I'm SO EXCITED. This week has been really busy at work, and the busier it is, the more I dislike my job. Here's a picture of where we're headed:
Looks pretty. I'll post pictures when we get back!

So I've seen quite a few of my friends and family doing this "Random 20 Facts" thing on Facebook or on their blogs...so I thought that I would follow suit and put up my own 20 random facts about myself list...(this is Dave by the way)

1. I used to have a giant mole/birthmark thingy on my face until I was 13 years old
2. I’ve worn glasses since I was in kindergarten
3. I served a mission in the Canary Islands (owned by Spain, just off the coast of Morocco)
4. My brother Jim was the first person to convince me to read the scriptures
5. John convinced me to read novels (Thanks John!)
6. I first grew my goatee when I was 15 years old
7. In high school I played football, wrestled, threw shot and discus, and ran in a couple of 4X100 relays.
8. I was engaged after being home from my mission only 3 ½ months.
9. I was divorced after being married for 2 ½ years
10. My brother and I used to fight each other with various “weapons” (croquet mallets, sticks, steel bars, etc.)
11. I can play (to one degree or another) the guitar, piano, ukulele, saxophone, clarinet, and timple (look it up, it’s a real instrument).
12. I have been to the “Fire Swamp” and the “Cliffs of Insanity” from The Princess Bride.
13. I went to school at BYU Hawaii for a semester after my mission.
14. When I was a kid, I was rushed to the hospital, bleeding from my ear, because my sister Liz pushed my head into a rocking chair.
    
15. I have broken my femur, tibia, fibula, 2 vertebrae, several fingers and my big toe (John should remember the toe. I actually severed my big toe and had to have it sewed back together)
16. In 2007 I lost 70 lbs in 3 ½ months. Dropping my body fat down from 26% to 7%
17. In late 2008 I gained 30 of those lbs back.
18. I’m in the process of learning several programming languages (MXML, Actionscript 3.0, and Ruby)
19. My favorite food is Sushi
20. In high school I bench pressed 405 lbs. I weighed 192 lbs at the time.

BABY!

My first nephew came on Monday night!! His name is William Andrew Athens, he was 9lbs and 22in. He's pretty much the cutest ever. I got to hold him today and I fell in love.

Name the Dave face

Here's a collection of photos Dave sent me yesterday as a game, "Name That Dave Face!." See how you do!