Moab Red Rock Relay

Brady was invited to run the Moab Red Rock Relay for the first time this year with his dad and some friends from the home ward. The race is 70 miles long (seriously) and ran by a team of six people. Each person runs two legs of the race. Brady was a little nervous since he hasn't ran a lot this year, but he ended up being assigned a total of 8-9 miles and did AWESOME! It was super hot all day, easily in the 90s, but got super cold once we were in the mountains. We even had hail! Crazy but seriously fun experience :)

We had two total teams in the race. The first picture is of both teams together, and the one on the bottom left is our team. 

We had lots of fun decorating Craig's car! Didn't really come off too easily though...

The course was so gorgeous! 

Map Cupcake Toppers

I recently made these cupcake toppers for my brother's mission call opening (Brady helped out a lot). They turned out super cute! :) I used a large oversized world map, a 1 1/2" craft hole puncher, a glue stick, and a box of toothpicks. The steps and pictures are listed below:

1. First punch circle out of the map. Each cupcake topper needs five circles, so punch out however many you need for your amount of cupcake toppers. (If I have a dozen cupcakes, I'll need 60 circles)

2. Fold each circle in half with the colored part facing in and stack in groups of five. 

3. Grab one of the stacks. Take the first circle and fold it closed so only the back of the map can be seen. Put glue one side only. Grab another circle and fold the same way. Press one side of circle #2 onto the glued side of the first circle. Only the sides with the back of the map should be touching. 

4. Close the circles together so that the blank sides are on the outside. Put glue on one of the blank sides. Grab another circle from your stack and fold in half, with the map facing in. Attach this circle to the glued side. 

5. Repeat this process until you have used all five circles. Your topper should look like this: 

6. Glue the two blank sides of the topper together. Your topper should have no remaining blank sides and only colored map sides on the outside of the topper. Turn the topper upside down and insert a toothpick in the center. Press the sides firmly around the toothpick, in order to hold it in place. 

7. Your cupcake topper is finished! Ready to stick into a cupcake :) 

Happy Birthday to You...

Unfortunately, I didn't sing anything for Brady this year, but I don't think he minded :) I had been planning our date for a few weeks now, but found out I was awful at keeping secrets this year. Brady still had an excellent birthday though, thanks to all our friends and family!

My parents took us out to eat at Tucanos on Thursday, and the food was wonderful! I mean, all you can eat meat?? How can you go wrong?? My dad and I had an evil plot to let the waiter know it was Brady's birthday while he was at the buffet. But...we ended up telling them right when Brady sat down :)

Saturday night, I took Brady out on his birthday date! We ate at Nicolitalia's Pizzeria in P-town, and loved it! Brady loves anything pizza. Afterwards, we went to BYU campus for bowling at the Wilk. I had talked with Brady's friends to come and surprise him at 7:30. We got there at like 7:20, and I didn't want to be too early, so I dragged Brady around the student center looking at advertisements and trying to keep a poker face. Which failed, horribly! I kept laughing, and Brady kept saying I was acting super awkward. Needless to say...he knew something was up :) Bowling was fun though! We both want to bowl more so we're not so terrible at it haha. We'll see how often that happens. 

Brady's parents took us all out to eat at Outback. We love ourselves some Aussie Cheese Fries :) His grandpa has a birthday the same week, so he came with us too this year. Some of Brady's spoils this year included a harmonica, slippers, gift card to Fleet Feet, a t-shirt, and a hard drive! So grateful for this amazing man! No one else makes me smile as much. My life wouldn't be the same without him.

Merry Christmas

Ho ho ho...

The only thing our Christmas could have used, was some mistletoe ;) Brady and I had a fun time with our first married Christmas!We decorated our tree, made snowflakes, and slept out by the tree Christmas Eve night. It is so much fun giving gifts to loved ones and seeing their excitement! Brady loved his new earbuds and office toy! He also surprised me big time by getting me a step stool haha and I love it! I'm too short to reach my closet shelves...or pretty much any shelves in our apartment...so that was genius.

We spent a lot of time with our family. The Maynes got us adult-sized footie pajamas for Christmas Eve, and they are awesome!! Brady's is Batman with a cape, and mine has owls on it. I will be posting pictures soon :) My brother and I played in the snow, and instead of making our traditional snowman, we made a little snow cave. The Nielsens were excited to talk with Elder Nielsen this week too! It was sweet to hear his stories and his Russian! Kate made us a fabulous Christmas card!! Seriously, check out grey square designs!

So grateful for our family to really make Christmas worthwhile! My parents took us to the Christmas Carol at the Hale Center Theater, a tradition that we have each year. Every time I see that play, I always feel inspired to change my life and work harder to become a Christlike person. Two traditions Brady and I have started is watching the Christmas video from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It truly testifies of our Savior, Jesus Christ. After watching it, we think about what we would want to give to our Savior this next year, and write it down and keep it in an envelope to open next year. That's what Christmas is really about - remembering and becoming like Jesus Christ. And I hope we can learn to share the love we feel strongly at Christmas with each other always.

WE SURVIVED!!!

After many hours of studying and late nights, Brady and I made it through finals week!! The last day, we had five total tests to take, and we did very well. I love how being married helps you work harder and focus better. Now our break can begin! WOOOOOHOOOOO!!! :D

The Big 21

It's official, I'm legal! This year made for another awesome birthday. So grateful to spend another birthday with Brady :) The fam spoiled me big time this year! I am so lucky! Some of the spoils included boots, a cute outfit, and our first nativity set!

Every year, Brady and I make it a tradition to take each other on surprise birthday dates. It's one of my favorite traditions we have - what better way to spend a birthday than with my man? So a few months ago, my parents took Brady and I out to dinner at this place in Provo called The Old Town Grill (yummy!!!). Since half of the restaurant is a bar, waiters check your ID card at the door to know how old you are, so they know if you can sit in the bar area or not. My parents were already seated and eating their appetizer, when Brady and I got to the restaurant. Since I was only 20 at the time, the waitress moved my parents to sit with us in some dark corner on the opposite side of the restaurant. It was super embarrassing, and Brady and my parents teased me to no end :)

Back to today...Brady thought it would be hilarious to take me to eat at the Old Town Grill for my 21st birthday so we could sit wherever we wanted! He had been planning this for a while, and unfortunately, I kind of ruined the surprise. Let me explain... Brady's parents take everyone to eat for family birthdays. We were going to eat with them the night after my birthday, and I had to pick where. So...of course...since we have the worst luck at giving gifts to each other....I ended up picking the Old Town Grill. Brady, kind of bummed that his surprise wasn't going to be as funny as he planned, was a good sport and took me there for our birthday date night anyway. I think it's times like this where the phrase "it's the thought that counts" applies. Seriously though...super great food! We would definitely recommend it :)

After eating, we walked up and down center street and looked at all the shops. Brady remembered that I had wanted to do this for a while, so he made that apart of our date night. The shops are super cute! I ended up buying a cute ring. For the last part of our date night, we took the Provo River Christmas Cruise with a deal we got off Groupon. It wasn't what we expected, but we loved looking at the lights and just making it fun :) Here's some pictures to document the day!

Turkey Day!

This Thanksgiving, Brady and I continued our tradition of running the American Fork Turkey Trot. Even though it was hard and long and sweaty, it felt so good to run again. It made us feel a little healthier...before we stuffed our faces with yummy goodies :) Our parents had wonderful food, as usual, and we enjoyed spending time with the fam. Brady's grandma taught me how to crochet, we played a super competitive game of Pictionary, and of course, watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is taking the time to list all of the things I am grateful for, and getting on my knees to thank God for them. More and more each year, I realize just how spoiled I truly am. There's no way that I can adequately express my gratitude for all the people in my life who make holidays (and life) so special. Somehow, "thank you" doesn't seem enough.