celebrating our 2nd

When I thought our first year of marriage went by fast, I had no idea how fast our second year would go. It FLEW by! 

To celebrate two years of marriage, we took a little trip down to Castle Valley. It's a little valley about 30 minutes outside of Moab and is soooo beautiful. My grandparents have a cute little house there that we got to spend the weekend in. 

On our way down, we passed yet another wild fire. This has been one crazy summer as far as fires go! It seems like two or three new ones start up each week! This one was just right off the road so it was pretty neat to see the helicopters flying water in to try and put the flames out. 

My grandparents don't live at their house in Castle Valley so we got to enjoy it all to ourselves. I love the memories I have of when I was younger in that house and how everything reminds me of my grandparents. And I love that green couch! It is the cutest thing ever.

Let's take a closer look at that, shall we?

We had the most relaxing time. We slept in, watched some of the Olympics and then went on a hike to Castle Rock. This is the view from the yard. I love the contrast of the bright red dirt against the blue sky. Absolutely breathtaking. 

My roots :)

We snapped this picture at the beginning of our hike and thought it would take at least an hour to get to the top. Boy were we ever wrong! We didn't plan our hike out too well and ended up starting right around noon - basically the hottest part of the day. We made it about half way up before we decided to turn around and head back. We'll prepare better next time and bring more food and water and make sure it isn't 100+ degrees outside.

My cute hubby making me happy and posing for me!

I've always loved that these are used to mark the trails. The fact that they stay standing and don't get knocked over is a miracle. I always wonder who took the time to set them up so that we could follow the trail.

View of the valley. A little oasis. :)

Just before we decided to turn around and head back down. 

Millie & I 

I think we failed to mention that we gave Millie a haircut and it turned out......HORRIBLY! You can't tell but her hair has actually grown out some from when she first had it done. Poor thing was just too hot with all of her hair on in the summer so we decided to do her a favor and give her a trim. Let's just say it turned out to be WAY more than a trim! We take full responsibility for making her the world's ugliest dog. I just keep hoping it grows back sooner rather than later. lol. Doesn't she look like a mini hyena?? 

Matching shoes :)

Preston has told me for a while now about this house that he loves in Castle Valley and he has always wanted to show me. Well, we drove around looking for it and when we finally found it the owner was outside so I couldn't take a decent picture without looking like a stalker. So I snapped this one. I absolutely love that house! It is adorable! 

Preston's little friend he rescued from the garage.

For dinner we ate at a lodge that sits right on the Colorado River. The same lodge we ate at the night we got engaged. :) The dinner was amazing, as usual, and the scenery can never be beat!

We come from a beautiful place.

I just couldn't get enough of the house we stayed in. So many little details around the house I just absolutely loved. Like this picture of the Indian chief. I love the detail and color in it. 

This is another one of my favorite parts of the house. I hope I have two little kids that can one day sleep in those beds when we go down to visit. I love the simplicity of the room and have always loved side by side twin beds in a room. 

And I need this lamp. Isn't it so cute?? It is just wishing it could be in my house on my nightstand (hint hint Grandmother :) 

Castle Valley was an absolute blast. We attended the little ward they have there that consisted of maybe  20 people and we thoroughly enjoyed it. There is just something about those tiny wards that has such an amazing spirit. And the people there are so genuine and kind. It really is a wonderful place there and I am just itching to go back as soon as I can. 

just the girls....oh and the two boys that came :)

This past weekend, Preston went backpacking up in the Boulder Mountains (hands down his favorite place on earth) with his Dad and one of his brothers. What could have turned out to be a very quiet weekend turned out to be just the opposite!

I spent some time with the Bishoff girls at my sister-in-law Brittany's baby shower in Mapleton. She will be having a sweet baby girl any day now! I'm bummed I don't have any pictures of the event. Her shower was sooo cute!

Then for the weekend my mom, sisters, nieces and....Corgan & Stephen came up to celebrate my sister Lindsey's birthday. We did some shopping at the City Creek Center in Salt Lake on Friday night while Linz & her cute hubby went to Wicked. I want to see it so bad!

On Saturday we celebrated Lindsey's birthday by going to Seven Peaks here in Provo. We had a blast! It was fun to see these two little buddies play together. Can you believe they are only four months apart?? Sweet Claire just celebrated her 2nd birthday. She is crawling and learning how to walk with her cute pink walker. It is the cutest thing ever! For those of you who don't know, Claire was born with a rare syndrome called Wolf Hirschhorn Syndrome. Go here to learn more about it. It's a beautiful and informative website about kids just like her.

Being the only aunt that doesn't live in Moab has its perks sometimes. The little ones are always fighting over who gets to be with me. I have to admit, I kind of like it. :) The little girls (including Miss Emily) were glued to my side the whole time. I love it and it makes me sad they won't always be like that!

Here's Miss London after we went on the slide that looks like a half pipe. The kid running the slide asked me if she was 48" tall as we sat down in our tube, ready to go. I said yeah and then off we went. Turns out she is only barely 42" tall. haha! She loved it though, can't you tell??

Cute Corg. Right after I took this picture he toppled head first into the pool right there. 

Me and the cute birthday girl on her golden birthday!

Amber & her little man :) Soon there will be one more little man to snuggle!! 

The five girls. Seriously love them.

He was loving that cupcake! I thought he looked a little bit like the Joker...perhaps I'm a little too addicted to the whole batman thing right now. haha

We always have a blast when we get together and I always look forward to having family come and visit. So please, COME MORE!! :D

quick getaway

A few weekends ago, Preston and I headed up the Nebo Canyon Loop Road for a quick little camping trip. One thing to know about me, I enjoy camping the most when I'm surrounded by beautiful scenery. Well, let's just say I was getting a little bummed as we made the drive up the canyon. We were surrounded by fields of dead grass, trees that had once been caught in a wild fire and it basically looked like a big dry desert. I quickly was becoming disappointed but tried to put on a happy face to act excited for Preston. 

Well, my opinion of this canyon quickly changed the farther up the mountain we went. Within five minutes of me feeling disappointed I was suddenly surrounded by tall mountains jam packed with huge pine trees. It was GORGEOUS! It's safe to say my attitude quickly changed and I was immediately enjoying myself. Funny how the surroundings of an area can change your attitude so much! 

It's always so fun to get out of the valley, away from all the people and spend some time in the mountains. We pulled our little camp trailer and had a blast in the great outdoors. :)

Little Millie dog experienced swimming for the first time and absolutely loved it! She turns out looking like quite the little rat once she is wet though! 

My favorite part of camping is most definitely the food. :) I was spoiled and Preston did all of the cooking. Dutch Oven potatoes & grilled chicken for dinner, s'mores for dessert, and corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. Yeah, I'm a lucky girl! 

I am so glad we live so close to the mountains that a quick little getaway like this is so easy and convenient. I only wish that the summer lasted forever so that we could have trips like this all the time! Let's hope the cold weather is in the far, far future! :)