Britt Spit

I just love having Brittany go to BYU Idaho - it means she visits me on her way to and from semesters! She stopped by last weekend on her way to fall semester. Sam was in California so she actually got to sleep in a bed instead of on the couch. We found a way to make it to Cafe Rio 2 times in 3 days, rollarbladed the river trail, caught up on chic flicks, and, of course, went shopping. I love spending time with Brittany. She is one of the sweetest, most fun to be with, people I know, and Sam loves when she is here because she can handle his teasing and give it right back to him.

When shopping, Britt bought some jean slip on shoes that she was sooo excited for. That is, until we had left the store and I mentioned something about them being jean, and she realized she had nothing to wear them with because you can't wear jean on jean :) She was too embarrassed to return them half an hour later, so she bribed me to do it.

Every time Britt visits we get asked if we are twins, and this time was no different. Brittany hates it because I love teasing her that she looks old like me :) Brittany was a little bit angry after she found out that the fondue she had been dipping her fruit in was made with avocado and carrot purees, he he. I have a slight obsession with trying to cook healthier by adding purees. Brooke was a victim of my applesauce cupcakes, which turned out nasty, but I have had many successes which have tricked Sam into eating his veggies.

Last year...

Last year Sam and I were just getting back from a month in Hawaii. We were living in Ogden so close to all our best friends, I was in a job I loved, Sam was about to graduate, and we were so completely ready to have a baby, for Sam to get a great job, to buy a home and live in la la land :)

This year our life has turned a 180. Right now Sam is outside selling his motorcycle to pay for next months round of infertility treatment. Sam has been without a job for the past four months, after the job we moved here for didn't turn out as expected. Our savings is going quickly to medical bills, and we miss our Ogden friends and jobs daily.

But something amazing has happened. I have gone from being bitter and wishing I had this and that, to really appreciating our current situation. These last few months have been some of the best of my life. For the first time in my 26 years, I have been able to really understand that I am not the one in control. That even though I think I know what is best for me, I really don't. That just being alive is a blessing enough, and I am not really entitled to everything working out just how I want it to like I previously believed I was.

Next month I start taking injections (well, I guess I won't be taking them, Sam will be giving them to me) that cost more each month than both of ours cars put together, yikes! There have been more than a few times when I have felt like taking a couple trips to Hawaii instead, but something inside me is telling me these little shots might be worth it. Of course we are crossing our fingers and our toes and praying they will work, but if not, we will be just fine---and I don't think I could have said that last year.

Professional Conferencer

I have been working for the Utah County Health Department for the last 4 months, and have gotten to go to 4 conferences. It is, by far, my favorite part about the job. Nice hotels, great food, and the feeling of being in school again, just without the homework. This last week I went to Denver, and it was the best trip yet, because Sam got to come with me. We had so much fun together. We spent the evenings downtown going out to eat, going to a Rockies game, avoiding eye contact with freaky people on the bus, and watching The Office late at night in our hotel room.

I can check one thing off of my bucket list. I did something I have ALWAYS wanted to do on the final day of our conference. They were drawing raffle tickets for prizes, and kept calling and calling people but no one that they were calling was there to claim it. So when they announced, "Kelly ..." I gave a big holler, my table cheered for me, and I ran up and claimed my prize. Woo hoo! Never mind the fact that as I walked back to my table with my prize, a nosy man noticed my name tag didn't exactly match.

Rich and Rach

Richard and Rachel took the trek down to Provo to join us for a day. Each time we have gotten together this summer, we seriously are jinxed with weather conditions. From our 30 degree, extreme winds, camping trip to tubing down the freezing Provo river with zero sunlight, we have been left with some pretty funny memories.

We thought it would be great to rock climb first, then tube down the river when we were all hot from climbing all day. We ended up climbing longer than we planned on, got to the river as the sun was going down, and finished the river run near frozen. We definitely realized it was too late to be tubing when Rachel almost got pegged in the head by a bat :) We were all literally shaking and were laughing at just about everything by that point. We made up for the pain and ended the night at Carrabbas.

Last month we got to go to Lagoon together as well. We had a blast at the water park in the rain, almost making Richard lose it on the spinning swings :) , getting drenched on Rattlesnake Rapids, and eating out at Pei Wei afterwards. I love it that Utah is finally catching on to all of the great AZ restaurant chains!

Lazy weekend

Saturday was nice. We rode Sam's motorcycle up the Payson canyon where we met up with Jamie, Kolby, and baby Mckenzie at Payson Lake. Jamie and I walked the trails while the guys fished. I know we really should be making new friends here in Provo but we just enjoy meeting up with our Ogden friends every chance we get :)

AZ for a weekend

I was lucky enough to get to fly home to AZ for a few days, and some much needed family time! We spent the first couple days in Snowflake at the Flake Family Reunion, and the last couple days swimming, shopping, getting spoiled by all mom's good cookin', and just hanging out. Having all sisters is too much fun... it makes it too hard to be away! (We missed you, Ash!)

Our looooong Road Trip

Sam and I took a true road trip last week. We drove to Washington and had a great time visiting Aaron's family for a few days. Then we drove down the Oregon coast to Sam's hometown, Crescent City, CA. This little city was amazing. It has the ocean on one side and the redwoods and the most beautiful lakes/streams on the other side. We loved spending the mornings hiking through the redwoods, the afternoons at the beach, and the evenings going out to eat and staying up late eating IT's ITs (an amazing ice cream treat that we have only been able to find in northern CA) while watching TV in our hotel room.

Aaron and Janna spoiled us big time. We went crabbing and caught about 20 of the big guys. Sam learned how to knock their heads off and we were eating them 20 minutes later. On the 4th of July we set off more fireworks than you could believe. The night ended with the guys shooting the Roman Candles at each other from 5 feet away, and Aaron got a pretty good battle wound.

Josi made me "fancy" several times throughout our stay, and Levi is the sweetest kid I have ever met. We had a blast roasting marshmallows, going to the beach, and just hanging out.

Believe it or not we spotted Bigfoot! (See above photo). Ha ha. Either that or a vampire. I am sending it in for my Twilight audition. Sam loves to take flattering pictures of me :) The redwoods in Crescent City were amazing. Some were over 20 feet wide, and 300 feet tall.

Finally feels like summer!

After a long, long winter, our 90 degree days are here and I am loving every second of it.

I survived City of Rocks

These last 3 weekends have been all camping. It has been GREAT to take a couple of mini vacations. The first 2 weekends were with Sam's family and last weekend was with our friends. Who knew that 30 degree weather, extreme winds, and rain is possible in mid-June? Good news is we survived. ad news is there was zero rock climbing on this rock climbing camping trip.

The sun shade ended up being a wind shade. Thank goodness for Spencer and Rachel's amazing dutch oven breakfast that warmed us up a little. If it wasn't for that I don't think I would have ever gotten out of my tent.

Even with the crazy weather, I would do it again in a second to hang out with these girls. We took off back to Ogden after breakfast because a chic flick in a warm house sounded pretty good.

Our husbands braved it for a couple more hours, and had fun running around on all the rocks that we wished we could climb. Next time!

Days like this should never end.

This last weekend was one of the best. Really. It included:

• Frozen yogurt and TP-ing with 2 of our best friends, Richard and Rachel (Yes, TP-ing... started out kind of as a joke and we ended up going for it and it was awesome. They let us stay over at their house so we didn't have to wake up at 3 am for the...

• Ogden half marathon (Sam and Richard did the 5k)... loved it.

• Helicopter ride through Ogden canyon, beautiful.

• Mountain biking on the Ogden trails that we LOVE in 75 degree weather

• Late night, fall asleep during, movie at home with Sam