Bryce and Kaylee

Out with the New in with the Old?

2012-01-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

Yup... That is about right for our family right now. We are trying to be a little more budget savvy at our house and we figured starting with cars would be a good way to go. For about the last 2 years we have been driving around the prettiest car.

We loved our Red Kia Optima! It was nice to drive, it was fully loaded, and it was beautiful! But, looks are not everything. We also were paying quite a bit for it each month. We figured it would not kill us to sell the pretty new car and get an older one that would be a bit more affordable. We also had to make room in the budget for a commuter car for Bryce. He was offered a summer seasonal position with the Division of Wildlife Resources. The office is down in Ogden. I do not love driving the truck and there is no way we could afford to have Bryce drive it down to Ogden everyday. A commuter car seemed like the obvious solution.

This is the "old" the post is about. We found this little Camry on KSL a couple days after we sold the Kia. It had 184k miles on it but we figured that was only about half the life span for an old Camry like this. My mom and dad have a Camry that is the same year as it and it has over 300k!! We are hoping this ol' girl will be just as reliable. We paid cash (only $1600) and brought her home. So far so good. We think we got a screamin deal!

New Years

2012-01-03T22:41:00.000-08:00

We took a super fun New Years road trip with Melissa and Justin Schmidt. We headed down to Zion National Park and St. George for a couple days. It was perfect! The company was great, the weather was gorgeous, and the vacation was the perfect way to end the holiday season.

We stayed the first night in a hotel just outside of Zion National Park. We went into the park the night we got into town and the next day. We did a couple hikes that were pretty fun. It was lovely. It is amazing that just a short drive can get us to such different scenery! The rock formations you can find down there are really something! We had a lot of laughs and adventures!

~Justin and Melissa~

~Jumping off a cliff while the boys hold up the rock~

~Beautiful lookout we hiked too~

~Bryce the rock climber~

~Going back into the park~

~Being silly in the car~

~Weeping rock~

~Where is Bryce?~

After exploring Zion for bit we headed to St. George. We stayed in a nice little condo. The night we got into St. George was New Years Eve. We went out to dinner at Olive Garden and rang in the new year watching The Work and The Glory on TV. Justin was a bit disgusted at our choice of party movie but it was fun nonetheless! We popped streamers and watched the ball drop on TV right when it turned midnight so we felt we gave 2011 a proper send off and 2012 a proper welcome :)

New years day was Sunday. We went to a sacrament meeting in town then Bryce and I headed home for a Sunday nap. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the nice weather and playing games. The condo we stayed in was part of a sports complex so there was plenty to do! We played tennis, pool, ping-pong, foosball, basketball, shuffle board, and attempted to hot tub (I was too cold so we headed back to the condo). It was great! We all said how we have never played such a variety of games all in one day!

On Monday morning we woke up and headed the the St. George temple. Thankfully, that temple is open on Mondays for a half day. We were so glad! That temple is such a beautiful one and none of us had ever attended it. We did a session and it was just wonderful. I felt overwhelmed by the spirit as I finished up and met Bryce in the Celestial room. I am thankful to be a member of the church and be able to have faith building experiences like that one!

~In front of the temple~

~A beautiful temple on a beautiful day!~

This was a wonderful little trip! Melissa and Justin were so much fun! We had a lot of good laughs and made some good memories. We appreciate their friendship and were glad we chose to spend the holiday with them!

2011, you were good to us. Thank you!!
2012, welcome! We look forward to a great year!

Birthday!

2011-12-29T10:50:00.000-08:00

I have always kind of hated the fact the my birthday is so close to Christmas. It just is not fair. It seems it is always overshadowed by the holiday. People are busy, money is tight, and thoughts are often on other things. Now, having said that, I had a wonderful birthday this year! It was just perfect! I appreciated the time off work because I was able to be at home relaxing with Bryce. On my birthday we got to sleep in. Heavenly! Then went to get an inspection on our new car (details to come soon). We also ate pizza for lunch with my Gygi family. It was fun to get to see them. Later we came back home and did some Christmas present returning. We lost track of time and had to hurry to the store and back home so we could make my birthday cake. Bryce has taken it upon himself to make my birthday cake each year. Poppy seed cake! YUM!! He does a great job! Thanks honey! We had family over for cake and ice cream. It was fun to have them! Wyatt ended up staying the night even! Thanks, Wyatt! I was spoiled as usual!

~Some presents from Bryce~

One thing I really wanted for my birthday was to get a pedicure with my sisters and mom. Bryce and I tried to make a plan with them but the day of they all kind of bailed. I was quite bummed. To say the least. Bryce knew I was feeling kind of sad about it so while I was in the shower, he came and told me an Asian by the name of Fortune Cookie had shown up at our door and was willing to give me a pedicure. When I came out he had the living room set up with a blanket, the foot bubbler, and the fixings for a pedicure. He is so thoughtful! It was the best pedicure a girl could ever ask for!!

~Master Fortune Cookie~

~Getting ready to paint my toes~

~Husband of the Year!~

I know what you are thinking... How the heck did this girl get so lucky?!! Well, to be honest, I feel the same way all the time!

Thank you, Bryce, for making this birthday a special one!

Christmas Day

2011-12-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

First off, I realized I never posted a picture of our tree:

I love our tree so much! This year we put it up a day or two before Thanksgiving! I just could not wait any longer! We loved decorating it and loved having it in our living room! Our house has a perfect Christmas tree spot right in front of the window! Oh it looked so beautiful all lit up! Ah!! How perfect it was!

This Christmas was a wonderful one! Bryce and I were spoiled everywhere we went! Originally, we had a busy day of travel all planned out so we could make the rounds and see most of our family. Funny how plans change though. We had a bit of a rough night and slept in much longer than we expected. We woke up, got ready, and headed out the door. We did not even open our gifts!! This is certainly something neither of us had ever done before. It was great though! The drive up north was beautiful and we had a wonderful time visiting with Bryce's Roholt family. We went to Gail and Clarice's house in Grace for lunch. We saw most of the aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was good to visit with them! We do not see them nearly enough!! After lunch we headed to Garland. Cole is serving a mission in Peru and he was calling home for Christmas! We made it just in time. He is doing great! I cannot believe what grand adventures he is having! The church is so true! I am glad he is out sharing it! After we talked to Cole and visited with my family, we went to Bryce's house. It was fun to see what they all got for Christmas and visit with them. We had pie and treats and it was a lot of fun! When Bryce and I finally got home we had about an hour left of Christmas to open our gifts to each other. I appreciate Bryce's constant thoughtfulness so much! He is always so kind to me! So, like always, I got quite spoiled and made myself a really good haul! I think Bryce would say the same!

{Kaylee: jeggings, skirt, sweater, candle, necklace, yummy lotion set, makeup, a whisk, iTunes card, chocolate, gloves, headphones, 3 movies, hat/glove set, carved temple picture, earrings, and probably more!}

{Bryce: Cabelas gift card (new fishing pole and broadheads), water shoes, pearl snap shirt, t-shirt, socks, gun cleaning kit, grill box, griddle for the camp chef, tow rope, hot dog roasters, fly rod case, and probably more :)}

We are spoiled! Thank you to everyone who took such good care of us this Christmas!! We appreciate it all! The best part of the day was seeing all our family! We sure have a good one!

Christmas Eve {Gygi & Roholt}

2011-12-29T10:19:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Christmas Eve! Bryce and I had a nice morning at home together and we headed to my mom and dads house a little later in the afternoon for the party. For years, my Christmas Eve tradition was to go to Salt Lake for a party and dinner with my mom's side of the family. Potato soup was always on the menu! This year the festivities were at my parents house. At first we were not quite sure who would be coming to the party, but the day of, we found a full house! My mom's cousin John made it, her cousin Sue and her family came, her cousin Mike and his family were there, my aunt Paula and her family came, and my grandpa also came up. Tyanna and our husbands were also there. It was fun to chat and catch up with the family!

Bryce's Christmas Eve tradition growing up was opening new pajamas and reading a Christmas story with his family. So, after my party, we headed to his. It was also a lot of fun! We had soup together then opened up pajamas. They were all so cute! Once we got all cozy, Shelli read the family The Tale of Three Trees. It is a sweet little book. Three trees are standing on a mountain top and they all have their own hopes and dreams of what they may become some day. Although it is not in a manner that they expected, they all got what they were hoping for by playing a role in the Saviors life. I really have enjoyed hearing the book the last several years. Wyatt also read us The Legend of the Candy Cane. It's a cute little book about all the symbolism behind the candy cane. It was fun to have some nice, quite time with Bryce's family.

So, as you can see, we had another wonderful Christmas day! We are so fortunate to have family so near! We sure love them all!!

Bennington {Christmas Party and Fun Story}

2011-12-23T22:47:00.000-08:00

We had a great night tonight at the Bennington Family Christmas Party! Getting together with the Bennington's is a favorite thing. It always has been for me. I so appreciate and treasure the close relationships I have with all the Bennington family members.

Quick story before I talk about the party. Bryce and I sold our car. Yippee! It has been on the market for about 3 months. We had someone drive it yesterday and buy it today. We sure loved our fancy red Kia, but we really think it will be smart to get into a less expensive car. Before the party, we went to drive a little Nissan Sentra that is for sale by owner out in West Haven. The kid was not home so we spoke with his dad. He gave us the keys, we took it on a little spin, and we arrived back at the house shortly to drop it back off. We got to talking to the dad (Lynn S.) and he was telling us about growing up and hunting in West Haven. I told him my family was from Roy and they have similar stories of hunting in the area. He asked me my maiden name and when I told him Bennington, I got the cutest reaction. He said he knew I looked familiar and certainly had a Bennington face! He knew my uncle Lynn quite well growing up and he knew my grandma and grandpa well too. We chatted for a bit about the Bennington family and he seemed to be quite fond of them. What a small world it is! When Bryce and I got in the truck to head to the party, I told him I am so proud to be a Bennington! I love letting people know who my family is! I love to claim Norman and Marilyn as my Grandma and Grandpa! I always get such positive feedback from people who know the Bennington family and it sure makes me grateful to know I was born in to such a great family! I shared the story with some of my family at the party and I got a little emotional after. I really am so proud of my family and the legacy they have left behind! I sure hope I am working on doing the same!!

The party was a hit! Good food, fun gifts, Santa, and great company! I did not take too many pictures to document the occasion. I started out well...

{The YUMMY trifle I made}


{The husbands playing ball}

...But as the party got going my camera was forgotten. We all just got to visiting and I got playing with the cute babies and by the time I knew it, the party was over. My Grandma and Grandpa gave us some beautiful towels and we got a sweet lantern and a Chick-Fil-A gift card as well. All great!! We sure need the towels too! It was wonderful party! Something I always look forward to and hope we keep doing it long into the future! Yay for such a wonderful family! Life is Good!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-17T21:34:00.000-08:00

It really is the most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

From our family to yours,

We Wish you a Very Merry Christmas!

Best Anniversary EVER!

2011-11-14T10:43:00.001-08:00

I married a good one!! I mean a really, REALLY good one! Bryce is the sweetest thing! He is thoughtful and kind in everything he does. This past week we celebrated our second anniversary. It was just magical! And, we did not just celebrate the day of, but the week of! That's right, it was Anniversary week at our house! See what I mean?! Totally a romantic! Here is how it went down:

Bryce brought me this at work Monday. Total surprise!

I LOVE this! I had one that broke so Bryce replaced it! YAY!

Cute sign and yummy chocolates!

Pretty necklace.

I was out of town Thursday and Friday for work. Bryce was at my office when we pulled in Friday afternoon to pick me up. He said we needed to get checked in to the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at. We debated on whether or not we should stay somewhere. It is hard for me to justify spending hundreds of dollars on a room when we have a perfectly good room in the house we pay for each month. But, Bryce was making the plans here. On the drive Bryce gave me clues as to where we were actually going by the conversation we were having. I asked if the place was pricey. He said it was a really good deal. He said we had the whole house to ourselves so that was going to be nice. He also said it was close by and I probably knew where it was. He said the management did not really care if we checked in early. We could pretty much do whatever we wanted at this place. By now I kind of had a suspicion that I knew right where we were going. As we got closer to our house, Bryce told me to get in his back pack and find the brochure for the place.

Homemade with love!

So sweet right?! We rounded the corner onto Teal Loop and came up to our house, AKA "The Romantic Inn Bed and Breakfast." Bryce had done up the house SO cute. He covered every little detail!


He was SO thoughtful all weekend!

I really could not believe how clever Bryce was. The kindness and surprises just kept coming! I am so thankful to be married to such a kind guy! The rest of the anniversary week gifts went like this:


Beautiful pink daisies.

I had no idea this was coming! Yeah!

Heated blanket! Best idea ever!

We had a wonderful anniversary week! I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband! I love you Bryce!

Season of Thanks

2011-11-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been a bit of a complainer lately. Mostly about work. There have been a lot of changes in my office and it has been pretty rough for me. It seems I have something new to whine to Bryce about regularly. I have never used this blog as a venting place for the goings on in my life... Today I was going to make that no longer true. I was trying to decide how I was going to properly express how fed-up I am with work and all that goes with it. Then, it occurred to me, that many people around me are spending their time expressing how grateful they are for the little things around them. That is a much better way to go about things! I sure have a lot to be grateful for! Things are going so well for me and Bryce! We have a beautiful home, we have friends and family all around, we are both able to be going to school, we have reliable cars, the list seems to go on and on. I decided I better give a shout out to the season and make a list of all the many things I am thankful for. I'm sure there are things I left out, but you get the idea.

We are so blessed! Life is good!

Pumkins

2011-10-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

We had a fun night carving pumpkins with Tyanna and Trevor last weekend. I think we all did a pretty good job!

We all got really creative this year!

I especially loved the way my pumpkin turned out! :)

Go Aggies!!

I love what Bryce did with his:

typical jack o'lantern face, a fish, and an A (for Aggies).

We are now ready for Halloween!

Dye It!

2011-10-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

I did something kind of fun and out of the ordinary for work today...I dyed fabric! It went really well for a first time! I am quite proud of myself actually. Here is how it all went down...


Supplies {fabric, dye, aprons, gloves, tote to work in, thread (for later)}

Soak the fabric

Eat homemade Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup while you wait {YUM!!}

Wring out the fabric

Tada!

This little project is a picture backdrop that we are using at recruitment events for my work. It is not something I necessarily wanted to do but I am glad I at least got to have this fun project because of it! I am sure this will not be my last dying experience!

Canoes

2011-09-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

We had the best weekend ever last week! We got together with Melissa and Justin Schmidt and rented a couple canoes from the Outdoor Rec Program up on campus. It was a total blast! Bryce and I were saying that was the first fun summery weekend we had all summer. With him working so much we were never really able to do that. So it was great!

Cutler Marsh ~ Unloading the canoes

Here we go!

Melissa and Justin

Kaylee and Bryce

Besties! Tender :)

Trying to fish

Such a fun night!

It was actually quite beautiful!

The next day we decided we had not had quite enough. We packed up again and headed to Porcupine Dam. It was another fabulous day! We parked the canoes and checked out the salmon running up the river, the boys jumped off a huge cliff, and we all really enjoyed the beautiful weather. Could not have been a better day!

Bryce

Justin

Cute right?!

We "let" the boys beat us back to shore.

We are so glad we have the Schimidts as friends! Love you guys! What a great weekend! Life is good!

Feelin' Domestic!

2011-09-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

The other day I was feeling pretty outgoing! I had lasagna, fresh corn, and a fresh peach pie on the table before Bryce got home from work! With the way things are in our life right now - BUSY!!!! - we are lucky if we have dinner at all! Let alone a pie!
We were doing good!

I also got my fall decorations up!
I just love fall! It is my favorite season!

I was not the only person on a roll that night! We were given a fridge from Bryce's mom and dad. We coined it the "garage fridge" and decided we could use it for random foods we did not have room for in our kitchen fridge. Well, it worked for a couple hours...then it reset the GFCI outlet. Over. And over. My mom talked to a fix-it man a while back about a similar issue they were having with a deep freeze they keep in their garage. He said it was a quick fix if you just replace the GFCI outlet with a regular one. Bryce went to Home Depot, bought the new outlet, and he and Trevor had it swapped out pretty quick!

Don't worry...he is joking :)

Thanks guys! Now our freshly butchered deer meat has a place to live! We are busy...but we are still getting things done! Life is good!

FHE Tonight

2011-09-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

My brother Cole is serving a mission in Peru right now. Today he wrote home and asked for pictures of where he was from. He said the people that he talked to thought he was a "city boy." He wanted to show them pictures of corn fields, tractors, mountains, and the open space that he calls home.

For FHE tonight we decided to get the pictures!

It was fun to drive around and get them! It was good to reminisce about Cole and memories we've made in good ol' East Garland! It really is a beautiful place to live!

The grand prize photo has to go to this one:

God Bless America!

I think it is one Cole would be proud of! This flag flies proudly at the home of Brent and Colleen Shaffer. They own the farm Cole worked on for several years before he left for his mission. I have never known anyone to have more pride in America than Cole! Hee hee! If he saw anything with even a hint of patriotism, he had to have it. It was funny! He usually makes mention of how great America is in his weekly emails home. We sure miss him! But, I know he is on the Lord's errand! He is having a heck of an adventure too! We are thankful to have him serving!

It was a great night!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

It is true that this post is coming several weeks late! Work and school keep Bryce and I busier that we could ever imagine!Sorry for the delay...this was just one family outing I did not want to leave out!

We decided to head up to Bear Lake and camp over Labor Day weekend. Saturday morning, me and Bryce, Tyanna and Trevor, and my mom and dad set off for the adventure. What a lovely day it was! The sun was shining in full force and we were all looking forward to a relaxing getaway.

We made camp at the Sunrise Campground, near the new Bear Lake Overlook. The sign said "full" be we took our chances and drove in...Bingo! There was one spot left for us! Nice! That never happens! We got our tents set up and made a quick lunch. We went on a short hike called Limber Pine. It was beautiful. We all laughed and had a great time together. Next we headed down to Garden City to Pickleville Playhouse. I highly recommend trying it out! We saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. It was such a fun play! Bryce had never seen it before so it was new and exciting for him. Have you ever seen it? Remember how the songs are super catchy? Especially the one that goes something like "It was red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet..." And on and on! Well, you guessed it. We were all singing the songs all weekend :) We ate dinner at Merlin's Drive In.

The next morning we woke up and went to church in Garden City. My, my, was it a sight! The church was PACKED! I could not believe how many people were there! The locals were ready though. The ushers handles the masses like pros. All the rooms surrounding the chapel had flat screen TVs mounted in them so the service could be broadcast to accommodate more people. Because it was the first Sunday in September, it was a fast and testimony service. It was interesting to hear the testimonies of so many strangers. It was a nice service. We spent the rest of the day finding adventures and enjoying nature. We walked to a spring, crawled into some ice caves, and hiked to Bloomington Lake. Everything we saw was so beautiful! For dinner we had dutch oven potatoes and cobbler. So yummy!

All the kids rode in the back of the truck...fun yet bumpy!

The water was really coming out of no where!

We had to CRAWL into this place...I was proud of myself!

Bloomington Lake was totally beautiful!

A small bull moose just chilling in a pond.

Sunday dinner at camp.

We planned to go swimming in Bear Lake Monday, but, unfortunately, the sun decided to never show her face. We drove to the beach but we just could not bring ourselves get out and try the water. So, we headed home. Tyanna and Trevor were with us because, sadly, their truck blew up that morning... like seriously, blew! Bryce and Trevor went out fishing Monday morning and on their way back to camp Trevor's radiator blew. They parked it off the side of the road and we waited for a tow truck. It sounds bad (and it was) but it made it kind of fun because they had to drive home with us :) We went home through Emigration Canyon and Mink Creek and stopped to shoot the guns. I am glad we had them! It was a lot of fun! The Bennington girls were proud to show the boys their skill! Thanks dad and Bennington family for teaching us well!

This is a tomato Bryce blasted!

We can shoot! Oh Yeah!

All and all it was a fabulous camping trip! Might I just add that Labor Day weekend + Bear Lake Parade of Homes + a sold out Pickelville + beautiful weather = a crazy and VERY crowded Bear Lake! It was all so fun though! Thank Heaven for long weekends!

Deer Hunt

2011-09-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

Hunting has always been a part of my life. I am happy to say, now that I am married, it still is. Even more so then I could have ever imagined! Bryce is...obsessed is probably the best word choice. Not in a negative way, but he really does LOVE to go all out!

Doesn't he look good in his camo?!

This year we took a couple days off to spend the opening of the deer hunt in the Boulder Mountains. Bryce loves to hunt down there. He went down there with his dad the first time her ever went bow hunting. He has been hooked ever since! I don't really blame him. It is a very beautiful place!

Our camping party consisted of me, Bryce, my mom, my dad (for the weekend only), and Scott Twiss. Scott is my boss's husband and an even more obsessed hunter than Bryce. He was a fun addition to the family outing!

We had a lot of fun in the Boulders! It rained almost every day, but we still had beautiful weather! The boys had a great time hunting and I had fun relaxing at camp with my parents. I spent some time out on the mountain with Bryce too and that was very fun! I grew up road hunting for the most part. So, spending time sneaking around the woods is not something I have spent too much time doing. We saw a lot of deer (bucks, does, and fawns), some wild turkeys, we got POURED on during an evening hunt, and we saw a double rain bow. I really appreciated being able to enjoy nature with Bryce! He is so much fun :)


Some fun pictures from our hunt at the Boulder Mountains.

Unfortunately, we came home form the trip empty handed. Bryce saw 14 bucks in all and even got a couple shots off, but nothing. I think he really wanted to shoot something, but I also think he was OK with not getting anything because that meant his hunt could continue.

The next time we went out hunting we went up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. The first deer we saw was a pretty nice 4 point. Bryce jumped out and started to sneak. If you did not know, it is hard to be sneaky for deer. Needless to say, between the dry ground cover, the steep hill, and Bryce's not-so-sly way of tromping up after the deer, he was never able to get a shot off. He came back down and we continued up the road. That evening we saw several more deer, shot at one, and came home empty handed again.

Bryce went hunting up the same canyon the next evening with my dad. They saw the same 4 point buck, Bryce shot at another 2 point buck, and again, they came home with nothing.

One would think at this point a hunter (Bryce) would get very discouraged...wrong! Bow hunting is not an easy task! The hunter must get pretty close to the animal to be able to get a good shot off. If they hit the animal, often times the animal is able to run quite a ways, and finding it then becomes the challenge. Persistence is the key here! Bryce is very good at being persistent!

The next morning, before school, Bryce headed up the same canyon in hopes to find something to shoot. Well...if you can see the picture below, HE DID!!! The same 4 point he had been seeing was right near the road and he was able to get a great shot off. He hit the deer in the lungs and it dropped right where he shot it!! YAY!

Bryce's trophy buck! Not bad, right?!

Good job honey!

Bryce shot the deer right before his class was supposed to start. So, with no time to get a big project done, he decided to just drop the deer off at a local butcher. We picked up all the meat yesterday! It was exciting to put it in the freezer and know Bryce was the reason we had it :) He was pretty proud!

The finished product!

The deer hunt was a long and drawn out adventure! It was a lot of fun and I look forward to more hunts to come!

Wild Hair

2011-08-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a wild hair to make zucchini jam. I was thinking about how much zucchini I have and was wondering what in the world to do with it all. I have never had zucchini jam before, but I've heard how easy and yummy it is. I figured I should try it out!

{2 kinds of Zucchini Jam}

It turned out great and it was so simple to make! I found 2 recipes that I tried: Peach Zucchini Jam and Raspberry Zucchini Jam.The zucchini really did take on the flavor of the fruit jello I added! The best part is that it is yummy and very inexpensive to make! If anyone one wants to try it out please get some zucchini from me!

Guy of My Dreams

2011-08-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

All my life I wanted to marry a good ol' country boy!
I love a guy who knows how to work hard, isn't scared to get his hands dirty, and loves the great outdoors!

BOY DID I FIND ONE!

{Deer Antler Shifter Handles}

Are you kidding me?! I drove the truck to work today and I chuckled the whole way! Who has antlers for shifters?! Well... the answer is we do! Doesn't really get any better than that! (Alison, that Browning sticker sure paid off, am I right?!) I love my life! Thanks honey for being the guy of my dreams!

Tribute!

2011-08-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (August 15) is Cole's birthday! He is serving a mission in Peru right now. This was the best present I could think up :)

I hope you have a great day Cole! We sure love you and miss you! Thank you for serving!!

We had a day off!

2011-07-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

I have a summer passion...POOL DAYS!! There is nothing better then having a hot summer day to sit pool side and soak up some sun! I really just enjoy it so much! I also like to take Bryce with me whenever possible! I am not sure he likes it as much as I do, but he puts on a smile and seems happy to go! Thanks honey! With Bryce working 7 days a week this summer, I knew I would never get the chance to go to the pool with him. So, at the beginning of the summer, we picked one random day to both take off so we could set it aside specifically to be a pool day. We were both so excited to have a day we could sleep in together and have some fun! When the day off finally rolled around, of course, the forecast was thunderstorms! Naturally! We had some errands to run so we figured we'd get them done and give the day some time to clear. It sprinkled and threatened rain all morning! Finally, after lunch, I made an executive decision and said we were going to the pool rain or shine! I was determined to get there with Bryce! It ended up being a great time! I got a bit chilly when I was in the water and the sun was behind the clouds, but for the most part, it was a beautiful afternoon!


Does not get much better than this!

I got to work on my tan and Bryce got some color too...unfortunately, it was nothing but RED :) It was a fun day though! It's days like these that make us wish we never had to work so we could be at home all-day, every-day with each other! Too bad that will not be a reality for another 60 years!
Oh well...until then...Life is Good.

Colorado!

2011-07-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July vacation this year. We went to Colorado with the Gygi clan (my mom's side of the family). Several months ago my mom's brother, Darrell, moved from Thailand to Denver, CO. For our family vacation we figured we may as well see some new country and meet them in Durango, CO. Not meeting in the middle whatsoever for them, but hey, what a great idea it turned out to be! We all had a blast! It was a TON of driving but that is usually how Bennington Family vacations go! It really took me and Tyanna back...there we were...driving in a mini van. Mile after mile. Hour after hour. Seriously! But, this time we had our husband with us! It was great!

The pictures will show the highlights.

Here we go in the RENTED min van!

Beautiful Monticello Temple.

Finally to Colorado!
They need a more beautiful sign if they are going to claim they are colorful!

Mesa Verde National Park.


Climbing down into a kiva.

Another state to add to the tally!

Four Corners...we've now kissed in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico...all at once!

Waiting at the station for the train to leave.

The train from Durango to Silverton was a BLAST!!

The train went right past our hotel. It was so fun to waive at the passengers!

Like I said, such a fun trip! We saw a lot of beautiful country and made a lot of memories with the good ol' family! We missed those that were not able to come! Thanks Grandpa for taking our family on such a great trip! We love you!

How does your garden grow?! And more!

2011-07-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

Our garden has been growing like this...

It has been so fun to see the progress!

It is also fun to know we will be eating out of it soon! I can't wait!

~Broccoli~

~Carrots~

~Zucchini~

~Raspberries~

And way more! YUM!

Here are some pictures of other things we've been up to.

So, as you can see, summer has been good to us! We can't believe it is half over! We still have so much we want to do!

How does time fly so fast?!

Over the 4th of July we took a great trip to Colorado with the Gygi family. More to come on that later! Life is Good!

Summer!

2011-06-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

Summer is here now bring on the fun...

Ichthyology

2011-06-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Bryce has been having a ball at his summer jobs! He finds everything they do totally fascinating. I'm so glad! With him working 7 days a week it better be something he can enjoy!

Yesterday he came home and said "Want to see some live fish?!"
I thought he was kidding...nope!

He pulled out the nice little zip lock bag that once held his lunch and I saw that it now held a bunch of little fish. He brought them home so he could take them to the hatchery and find out what kind of fish they were. He sterilized and froze the ones that died and decided to keep the ones that lived as pets.

He told me he was an "ichthyologist" and had to study his fish.

I'm glad he is excited about what he wants to be when he grows up!!

Doing it!

2011-05-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

I am a gardener! I have things growing in my garden...and no! NOT only weeds! I was so excited when I saw the little green tops of the potatoes stickin' up! I was kinda proud even :) Potatoes and carrots are all we have in there right now, but I have big plans for our little garden! I have tomato, broccoli, and strawberries plants and I have seed for zucchini, 2 types of cucumber, peas, and pumpkin. What a fun summer we've got ahead of us!
Now, bring on the nice weather!

Funny little guy!

2011-05-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I just had to laugh at a funny little sight…pictures this with me now…black, little pygmy goat standing on a donkey, also standing. I know, right?! It was really a funny thing! I laughed as I drove down the road! Well, I really wished I had taken a picture because as I told the story, Bryce found it kind of hard to believe. Needless to say, each time I drive past my little barnyard friends, I have my camera handy. Today as I was heading back to work after lunch I had to pull over and snap a couple pictures…

Not quite what I saw before, but still worth a laugh and a picture! The little black goat was lying on the donkey! I had to pull over for a quick picture! When I was getting ready to drive away, he stood up! So there you go! Not quite what I saw before, but still entertaining! Thank you little goat for making me laugh this afternoon :)

We are busy!

2011-05-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

My oh my!! It is mid-May! We cannot believe how fast time has been flying by! And, there are no signs of it slowin' down! It seems like a lot has happened since I last posted. Lets see what I can come up with:

Bryce finished up the school year: A, B+, C+, C-...we were pretty stoked about the results! I am so proud of you honey! Way to go!! 2 semesters down... :)
We are still working on getting settled at our house: planting potatoes, carrots, and bulbs, pulling weeds, mowing the lawn (we tried 3 mowers before we found one that worked...thanks Dad for all your help!), hanging pictures, pulling weeds, organizing the garage, pulling weeds (who would have thought 1 yard could have SO many weeds!), and painting a new desk for me (pictures coming soon). We LOVE our house! It is so fun to have something of our own to take pride in.
We got a new desktop computer in hopes that I will start working from home part-time! We are really excited about that possibility! I LOVE the new computer! So nice!
Bryce stared his summer jobs: 7 days a week! SEVEN!! He works 5 days a week at the Logan Fish Hatchery and 2 days a week at the Division of Wildlife Resources main office in Ogden. He has already done a lot of sweet things and he is having fun. He decided to give job #3 (sorting pallets) a break for the summer. We are really glad he did!
I was accepted into the Professional School Counseling Education masters program at USU!! I am so excited to start this fall. It should be a lot of fun! AND....I received a SCHOLARSHIP!! Does not get much better than that!
Bryce had several concrete jobs...we spent a lot of our days off doing concrete...yes WE! He let me help :) I was very impressed with his skill and the extra money was a BIG help for us.
I completed year 1 in the USU Admissions Office! I really do enjoy my job. It certainly has it challenges but it is also very fun. The big thing going on now are high school scholarship awards nights...I went to Bear River last week and it was fun to see some familiar faces! The student are definitely one of the highlights of my job!
Easter, mothers day, birthdays, FHE's...we have had a lot of opportunity to be with family! Things are going really well there! We love our families so much! It is nice to have them near by!

I'm sure there are things I am missing, but I will stop there. As you can see, we are so blessed! We have a lot of fun things going on and we are truly blessed in ever aspect of our lives!

Mornings with Bryce

2011-04-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

I love waking up with Bryce! It is so nice to wake up and roll into his arms! I just love being there! This morning was one of those mornings. I knew I was risking being late for work, but I just could not bring myself to leave the bed. I have never been much of a snoozer. When the alarm sounded, my feet hit the floor and my day began. That has sure changed a lot in the last year. I can snooze for a half hour! I'm sure I would do it longer, but my phone alarm finally shuts off after a half hour worth of snoozing.

Thanks you so much Bryce for cuddling me! It is one of my favorite places to be! Not so good for my punctuality...I am willing to make sacrifices though :)

Birthday Boy!

2011-04-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

As of last Wednesday, Bryce is one year older and wiser too! We had a fun week of celebrations! It started 2 Saturdays ago when we traveled up to Idaho to visit Bryce's grandparents and we finished it up last Saturday with a BBQ with Bryce's family. With his birthday being in the middle of the week and our life being so hectic, we decided it was best to celebrate on the weekend. We were pretty low key on his birthday. We just had tacos and some ice cream. It was a good birthday though!
Bryce got some really nice things!

~Bow string wax and a quiver for practice~

~2 different cases for all his bow accessories~

~A very nice bow case~

~HIS BEAR RUGGED!~

~He was SO excited for this!~

I know what you are thinking?! He is a bit obsessed, isn't he :) Well, yes, he is! But, it is so cute! And I'm glad he got all set up for the hunt! (Hunting is quite the expensive hobby!) It was funny, after his family left he went and got all his bow stuff and brought it into the living room and got it all situated.
I'm glad he loves it so much!

Happy Birthday, Bryce! I hope it was a great one! Love you!

A Night Alone

2011-04-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

Bryce has worked for the same pallet warehouse for about a year and half now. We have been so fortunate for him to have the job! His boss, James, is absolutely wonderful! Bryce is such a good worker that James pretty much lets him come and go as he pleases. It has really turned out to be a huge blessing. Recently, Bryce's role at the warehouse has changed. He is now the official pallet sorter. It's great because he will be able to do it during the summer part-time so he can keep doing it during the school year full time (not 40 hours, just every day). He does it every evening right now. This means that when I come home from work, I tend to have a lot of "me time." It is a time I have really come to appreciate since I've been married. I love to be with Bryce, but every once in a while it is nice to just have some down time when I don't have to be entertaining Bryce. (Wives, you know what I mean...husbands are like kids! Am I right?!)

Tonight when I found myself at home alone I was a little unsure of what to do with my time. All I knew was it was a beautiful day outside and I wanted to take advantage of it. I walked out on our deck and decided to take a trip around the yard. We have a beautiful yard! It is quite a nice size and now that the snow (FROM THIS MORNING) is gone it is super green! Directly around the house we have curbed flower beds. There are a lot of plants in them...what they are...I'm not quite sure yet, but I'm sure we'll find out soon ! In the front yard we have 3 trees with curbed flower beds around them. As I walked out to get the mail I noticed there were several little weeds in these front beds. I figured there was no better time to get them out of there then a beautiful evening such as this. I went right inside, changed my clothes, found me a weed bucket, and went to work. I remember one summer when my dad had me and Cole weed the garden. I swear weeding should be against child labor laws!! It is hard work! But tonight, I found it rather relaxing. It was nice to feel the cool spring air and hear the birds chirp. I weeded all of the beds!

I'm actually quite proud of myself!

~My FULL weed bucket~

~Proof of my hard work~

The beds have no weeds, dinner is in the oven, clean dishes are put away... I think it was a very productive night alone. And, I already know what I will be doing next time I find myself at home on a nice spring evening...

~The garden...my next project~

I'm so excited to have a garden! It will be fun to put some hard work into something that is mine. I think that is one of the best parts about having a home of our own. Now when we work here, we can take pride in it! I have one more task that I want to get done...

~Wierd moss like feature found in the east flower beds...will this flower? What the heck is it?!~

Find out what all the plants are that are in the beds!

Things I have learned tonight:

1. We have a beautiful, healthy yard.

2. The soil here rocks!! After all those years of having my dad complain about the crappy Garland soil, now I know what he means! Our dirt is so lovely! It is dark and does not make a rock soilid ball when you try to move it.

3. There are sure a lot of worms in our yard! I hope our kids can go find night crawlers with their dad like I did :)

4. I enjoy weeding! Who would have thought?!

5. Blogger is not very user friendly some days!

Kinda Special!

2011-04-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Bryce and I had a great weekend!

It started off with the Twiss wedding! Congrats Jenn and Scott! We love you guys! We went to their reception on Friday night and their sealing and luncheon on Saturday. What a beautiful wedding!

After the luncheon we headed to Idaho. First we stopped to see Bryce's grandpa Zoellner. We had not seen him for a while so it was fun to visit. We left his house with several treasures! Bryce's uncle recently passed away...his grandpa gave us several things that belonged to him. I know they will be things we will value forever! He also let us take a look around his "Antique Room." There were SO many neat things in there! Old lanterns, books, radios, stoves, roller skates, shotgun shells...the list goes on and on! We are going to get a really sweet old typewriter from him. One of the things I liked best about the room was it reminded me of a shed in the back yard of my old house. It smelled just like it! It was so fun!

Our next stop was the main event!! Bryce's grandpa Gail's house. Bryce's grandpa is a very creative and handy guy! One thing in particular that we love that he makes are coat/hat racks. We have seen several that he's made and each time Bryce has said, "I would love to have one of those from him." I figured I could help in the matter!! Bryce's birthday is this Wednesday so a couple weeks ago I called Gail and asked if he wouldn't mind taking some time to make Bryce one of his famous racks. He was so wonderful and said YES! It was a huge surprise! I got to tease Bryce about it for almost 2 weeks! He had no idea what he was in for! We got there and the rack was sitting on the front porch! I brought it to Bryce's attention as we walked up the porch. He got a huge smile! I think he knew then what was coming! We had a great visit with Gail and Clarice! They are so kind! We had cupcakes and ice cream with them! I loved getting to know them better!

Our last stop on Saturday was Riverdale Resort for some relaxing in the hot pools. We didn't stay too long because the bottom was kinda slimy and we got bored, but it was nice while it lasted.

On Sunday we went down to Roy for Kaiya's blessing. Jeremiah did a beautiful job! It was fun to see my grandparents and family and play with all the babies!

Over all, it was really a special weekend. I have not really spent a lot of time around Bryce's family so it was good for us to get to know each other a little better. We also got a lot of neat things that we will be able to cherish for years to come! We loved being able to spend so much time with each other and our family!

~Birthday Cupcakes~

~Bryce and Grandpa Gail~

~Cupcakes for Kaiya's baby blessing~

PS...I made these cupcakes with a little help from the brilliant Whitney Robbins! She is so great! Thanks for the help Whit!

Concert!

2011-04-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

Spoiled as usual, Bryce and I went to a concert this last weekend.
GEORGE AND REBA!!! Best concert EVER I am sure!

We saw 3 of country music's greatest!
It was Bryce's first concert! Go big or go home right?!

LeeAnn Womack opened, Reba sang for about 2 hours, then George sang for about 2 hours.
That's right, it was a 4 and a half hour concert!!

Not only did we get to see our favorite country stars, but we also were surprised with Melissa Peterman. She came out when Reba was mentioning her role in the Reba tv series . She was absolutely hilarious! She and Reba talked for a bit then she stayed on stage as Reba sang the theme song for the Reba tv show; I'm a survivor. Certainly not a favorite song, but I was laughing so hard through the entire thing!

The day was so great! We ate dinner at Tucanos, got our favorite Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company caramel apples, then headed to the concert. What a blast!!

Congrats my Sister!

2011-03-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

Congratulations sister! I am so happy for you!!

Tyanna and Trevor got married this past weekend!
It was such a beautiful day!
Welcome to the family Trevor!
We could not be happier for you both!

Day Off

2011-03-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

Last week Bryce and I both took a day off work and went up to The Canyons together. What a beautiful day!! We both got a bit of a sunburn in fact! Ahh! Perfect ski day! We had season passes to The Canyons during high school so it was fun to go back to the resort together and reminisce about our old memories. A lot has changes up there! We have changed a lot too! We were once able to ski hard ALL day long...not so much anymore. We were only up on the mountain for a couple of hours when we decided to call it a day. Our old bodies just could not hack it! But do you know what, it was fine! We just enjoyed being together!

House Pictures!

2011-03-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

This is truly just a Sneak Peek. I have not found the time to get new pictures of all the rooms with our stuff in them...ok, to be honest, I have not found the rooms clean enough to want to take pictures of them! We are still trying to figure out how and where we want our stuff. But, here is a look at the inside of OUR house.

The tour: looking from the dining area to the stairs and hallway to the bedrooms...looking from the dining area to the front living room...Looking from the living room to the dining/kitchen area...kitchen...master bedroom.

So there you have it :) We love it! Hopefully I will get things organized soon so I can post more fun pictures.

My Love

2011-03-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

Now, don't mind the weird face, but isn't this just adorable! I get such a kick out of Bryce! Last night I got out his "foot bubbler" and filled it with hot water for him to relax with.
He did his homework as he sat. He is so funny!

Thanks, Bryce, for taking on such much! You work so hard for our family and I really appreciate all you do!!
You are my best friend! I love you!

New thing!!

2011-02-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

May we proudly present our families latest big news:

We are buying a house!!

Here she is!! 35 Teal Loop!

Bryce and I have been looking at houses for quite a while now. We really are sick of paying rent! We know we will be in Logan for awhile, so we figure why not take the plunge and buy a home! We are really excited that we finally found the perfect one! We worked with a great realtor, Mary Ann Grover, and looked at a lot of homes. We liked some of them but none of them really felt right. When we went in this one, about a month ago, we both felt really good about it. We made and offer and after a lot of work meeting different conditions for the loan, we are ready to close! We close Monday, February 14, and we can move in the following Friday.

This is a big deal! We feel so grown up to be making such a big decision! But, we know it's right! We could not be happier with the way things have been going! We are so blessed to be able to be doing such a thing!

More pictures will be coming soon!!

LOOK what I won!

2011-02-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Thank you Pretty Life Anonymous!! I love winning pretty things!

I follow this new great blog! You should go on over and check it out here! I won this little beauty today!

These girls really have some fun ideas! They are right in the middle of doing the 30 for 30 thing and I know anyone could pull some ideas from it! Really, go check it out!

I love my life :)

Guess what I saw...

2011-02-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

The Wellsvilles!

I have not seen these babies for a while!! I took the garbage out before work yesterday and I looked to the West...my heart was warmed by this beautiful image! Even though we have way more winter than any other season, I really do enjoy living in Cache Valley!

Fun Family Outings

2011-01-25T18:10:00.000-08:00

We had a really fun weekend! We went to dinner with my family

for Whit's birthday Friday night and we went to dinner and an

Aggie Basketball game with Bryce's family on Saturday night.

It was so nice to spend time with everyone!

We love our family!

Love them AGGIES!!!

2011-01-13T09:25:00.000-08:00

Bryce and I have had a lot of fun attending Aggie Basketball games this year. My office often has tickets left over so we have been able to attend quite a few. This was our first picture with Big Blue! Ah! So fun! Gotta love them Aggies!!

Month of Joy

2011-01-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

We had a great December. The semester ended for Bryce (he passed ALL his classes, YAY), I got some days off work (not NEAR enough but again, YAY), we visited with family and friends, Christmas, my birthday, and New Years. A lot was going on for our family. We really enjoyed the time we were able to spend together! It seems we can never get enough of it!

We were spoiled all month! We both got a lot of fun things for Christmas. Bryce's favorite gifts were a wild rag (aka silk scarf), a nice jacket, a hunting movie, and a bear rug (that will be done in February). My favorite things were a nice blue coat, clothes, and photography classes. We also got a cool cache cooker and a Garmin GPS from our folks. Like I said, spoiled!

I sure got spoiled for my birthday too! I will add, it was one of the best birthdays ever!! Bryce had my name announced on the Kix 96 Birthday Round Up, took me to Tangled, got me some beautiful flowers, and really just treated me like a princess all day. But, he usually does do that! We had a little party that evening at my mom and dad's house. It was a very nice day.

Over the break we visited Temple Square, went on several rides looking for animals, and went the Hardware Ranch. It was great to be able to have the time to do whatever we wanted!

I also added one sad picture from January below...one of my first days back at work after the holiday I was hit in the parking terrace up on campus. Our beautiful red car has a nice crack right up the corner! I was so sad. I cried! Luckily, it seems like the insurance of the gentleman that hit me is going to take really good care of us. I hope that holds true!!

We are lucky kids! We live a wonderful and we are happy! What a good way to end the year!

Much pleasure thou can'st give me

2010-12-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

Bryce and I put up our Christmas tree. Much like last year, it is so beautiful in our home! I love the feeling of coming home to a warm, cozy home with a Christmas tree in the front window. It is so fun to sit in our house together, just hanging out, with only the glow of the tree for our light. Christmas is such a magical time of year. May your days be merry and bright!

one BIG one

2010-11-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

Bryce and I celebrated out first anniversary this month. How magical!!

Have you ever heard someone tell a young couple, "You've been married one year now. You made it!" I always thought it was odd when I would hear it. Now the thought of it makes a little more sense. Marriage is work! It is most certainly something Bryce and I have had to learn a lot about. And I am sure the learning will continue for years to come. But, what a fun learning experience it has been! Bryce is a wonderful person in absolutely every way! He is my very best friend and I am happy to call him mine.

It has been a big year for us. We have seen good and bad, happy and sad, and ups and downs. I graduated from USU and Bryce started. Bryce changed jobs several times. We sold my car and bought 2 different new ones. We took a lot of fun vacations. I got a really cool full time job at USU. Our families taught us a lot about life and love. We moved. The list could go on. We were lucky to have each other through it all. I cannot think of anyone I would rather spend my time with. Bryce is always lifting up those that are around him and I have learned a lot from his Christ like example.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Bryce and I spent a couple days in Park City. It was a great little getaway.

I gave Bryce a little basket of goodies. Each one mentioned a sense and told him why/how I loved him with that sense. I found the good idea here.

I think he liked it :)

And, of course, Bryce SPOILED me! He got me an iPod Touch! I was totally surprised. He shouldn't have but I sure love it!

We brought our yummy cake topper with us! (Thanks for keeping that for us mom!)

We spent one day looking around at the Deer Valley Resort. It was a pretty fancy place!

We rode up the "funicular" to the main hotel where we found a game of chess. I had never played before but Bryce taught me what to do...

...and guess who won!

It was a wonderful time! I am gratful for a wonderful first year and look forward to an eternity more!

Saturday, November 6

2010-11-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful Saturday in Cache Valley. I noticed the car said the outdoor temperature was a nice 59 degrees! Beautiful!

But, I am sad to say I did not take advantage of the nice weather. I went to a craft fair then went home to clean the house. Nice eh?! It was good though...our house really needed it! Bryce and I have both been so busy that our home has not been getting the attention it needs.

The day did give me something to talk about though...our new apartment! We moved into this new place about 2 months ago. We love it! It is a bigger than our old place, has washer/dryer hookups, an extra bathroom, covered parking for both of us, and is just an all around upgrade. So, here are the long anticipated pictures of our new home.

~living room~

~front door and stairs~

~kitchen~

~dining area and back door~

~downstairs bathroom~

~master bedroom~

~more bedroom~

~our extra bedroom...that is actually functional...love that~

So there you have it! It is a fun little place. We are glad we found it!

Oh, and if you were wondering what Bryce was doing while I was hard at work back at the house...

~opening day of the pheasant hunt...rough day for Bryce huh?!~

Isn't It About Time?!

2010-10-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Our Bennington family was able to go to the temple together this week. We really missed not having Whitney with us but it was nice to have most everyone there. What a great way to start off the day. Families can be together forever!

Fun Fall

2010-10-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

The last couple of months have been very busy for our little family. Bryce is going to school full time and working nearly full time, and the fall months at the USU Admissions Office are crazy busy for me. Between night classes and homework for Bryce, and my travels with the office, we are grateful for any time we are able to spend together relaxing.

With all that said, we have still been able to do a lot of fun things. Here are a few of them:

Have a best friends wedding. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Justin and Melissa Schmidt! It was such a nice day!

Visit Capitol Reef National Park with the whole family!

Go hunting!! Bryce got several good shots at some nice, and not so nice, bucks. He has not got anything yet...thank goodness for the extended hunt!

Camping up Blacksmiths Fork with Melissa and Justin.

Make an addition to our family!!!! One Claw! Our new little red claw crab :) (This was Bryce's idea...are you at all surprised?!)

Go to the USU v BYU football game with Heather and Derrick Mickelson (Go Aggies!!)

Buy Bryce a new shotgun...

And shoot it with the fam :)

And one more thing, we moved! Pictures will soon be coming, hopefully. We LOVE our new house!

So, as you can see, we don't have time to waste time! It has been a great and busy fall! Life is good!

Summer Wrap Up

2010-08-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

Well, fall is officially on its way. The mornings are chilly, the bow hunt is here, and school starts in a couple of days. Where has the summer gone?! I really feel like it slipped out from under us! But, luckily, we do have a lot to show for it. We were able to do a lot of fun things. Here are just a few:

Ok...I do not really know where we were going on this early morning...but I had to include the picture. It was like 9 a.m. and Bryce was starving. So, he stopped at Maverick in Nibley and dressed up this monstrous Bahama Mama. I was cracking up while he ate it. Ya gotta love that!!

Next up we have some pictures from a bon-fire that we had with our friends the Freckletons. We went up Blacksmith's Fork, did some fishing, played some games, and of course ate some yummy food. Bryce's famous dutch oven potatoes are like my new favorite food!!

Over the 4th of July we were able to take a fun camping trip to the Greys River up near Star Valley Wyoming. We went with my whole family. There were a lot of good laughs and Bryce caught quite a few fish. It was a blast!

Now, my personal summer favorite, THE POOL! I would spend every day at the pool if I could. I can't seem to soak up enough sun! I went every chance that I got. Bryce was a good sport and tagged along with me a couple times. Here is is going to go try out the slide!

A really exciting thing that happened this summer is Cole getting his mission call. We all gathered 'round and cheered when we heard him read "Called to serve in the Peru, Cuzco mission...you know! Like Cuzco on Emperor's New Groove. We love that movie at our house! Cole is going to be a great missionary!

Now, a summer favorite, fireworks. They are always fun. This is Bryce and I at the fireworks at Weber State.

Here is a crack up story. We were outside working on Bryce's truck (we did A LOT of that this summer too!!) and then Bryce saw this little bunny standing right by the garbage cans of our apartments. He was the cutest little guy! So, we caught him and brought him in our house. We fed him some brussel sprouts and Bryce was convinced that we HAD to keep him. I named him Charlie. He was sweet but there was no way I was going to keep that thing. I think Bryce may have shed a tear but he finally agreed to let Charlie go.

Over the 24th of July we went to Ennis Montana with Bryce's family. It was an interesting time, but a good one. Bryce got to fish his favorite river and he caught a true LUNKER! We ended up leaving early after a somewhat sticky situation but it turned out to be a great thing. We stopped off to buy some clothes at the DI and were able to do a temple session in the Idaho Falls temple. I was a very nice experience to feel so close to Bryce after having a bit of a rough time. I'm glad I had my best friend around this summer!

The last adventure I will tell is fishing at Devils Creek just North of Malad in Idaho. We spent the day with my dad, bro, and sis on the lake. It was fun. I caught this little beauty. Bryce did not catch anything but he had fun fishing and looking for deer.

It was a nice summer. Bryce and I had a lot of fun together! It is nice to know that even though life is crazy and sometimes throws curve balls we aren't ready for, with a best friend by your side, you are able to make it through anything. Thanks honey for a great summer! I can't wait for more to come!!

6 Day Western Caribbean...

2010-08-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

...AKA Heaven!

Bryce and I were lucky enough to take the trip of a life time with some friends during the month of May.

We drove to Las Vegas and caught a flight to Fort Lauderdale, FL on May 15, 2010. When we got the Florida we boarded the Carnival Freedom, our home for the next 6 days!

Our travel party: Kaylee and Bryce (obviously); Jamie and Derek Freckleton; Sara and Kenny Turley; Melissa and Mario Chavez; Melissa and Dallon Freckleton.

The cruise was great! We stopped at Key West, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios (Jamaica). It was a first for both me and Bryce and it was a blast! Here are some trip highlights:

Day 2: Key West, FL

Jamie and Sara spent several months working in Key West not too long ago. So, it was as if we had our own personal tour guides! We looked around all the fun tourist shops on Duval Street, hit the local pirate museum, and RENTED SCOOTERS! The scooters were a blast! Jamie took us to a fun beach and Bryce saw the ocean for the first time (that he could remember)!

Day 4: Grand Cayman Island

I think it is safe to say this was our favorite stop on the trip. We did some really cool things! The first thing we did was swim with, feed, hold, and KISS stingray! There is a sand bar in the middle of the ocean, and for years people have been going there to see the stingray that live there. We had 2 local islanders with us that showed us what to do. We fed them squid and got 7 years of good luck when we kissed them!! So scary! But SO cool! Our next stop on the excursion was snorkeling. We went to 2 places on a reef. The water was rough and the sky was overcast, but we were still able to see some cool things. It was a beautiful island!

Day 5: Ocho Rios, Jamaica

This is the stop that we were most excited for...but this is the stop we liked the least. We did some sweet things, but the island was dirty and we just kinda felt unsafe. We had several warnings to trust no one...yikes! Luckily, we found a nice local to take us in his van/bus around the area. Mr. Cool, our tour guide, first took us through the Fern Gully Rain Forest. The trees were amazing! The whole island was thick with them! He also showed us some typical Jamaican housing. Pretty much it was cinder blocks with tin roofs! They had water jugs on the top of their houses for their indoor water source! It was a humbling experience to see really how lucky we are to have so much. Our next stop on the tour was Dunn's River Falls. We had to pay to get into the park then we joined a group to start our journey up the falls. It was kind of intense in places but totally enjoyable! We had a lot of fun swimming in the pool and under the waterfalls with the Turleys. Mr. Cool ended our Jamaican tour by showing us more of the island and taking us shopping. Here is a word to the wise, ALL Jamaicans want your money! They will hound you until you want to cry to get something out of you! Jamaica is a barterers dream worked! It was totally ridiculous! They also have plenty of weed to offer :) No wonder Bob Marley always sang "Lets get together and feel alright!"

Days 3 & 6: Sea Days

The ship was amazing! There were multiple swimming pools, multiple hot tubs, a water slide, mini golf, a running track, a basketball court, a casino, bars around every corner, dance clubs, and just about anything else you could think of on board. The dinners we yummy and the live entertainment at night was great! We also enjoyed the famous towel animals that ended up on our bed each evening. We had a lot of fun doing whatever we wanted and eating whatever we wanted on our sea days :)

Day 7: Sawgrass Recreation Park, FL

We had some time to kill between the boat docking and catching our plane. We decided we would spend it in the Everglades. Bryce and I ate breakfast with a couple that told us about Sawgrass Recreation Park and we decided that's what we wanted to do too. We rented 2 cars and found our way around Fort Lauderdale to the park. A crazy, old Florida native took us on an air boat ride. It was totally different than any other boat ride I had ever been on. We were all shocked how it seemed to glide across what we all thought was pure mud. We saw a lot of interesting critters including a HUGE male gator! He came right up to our boat and it looked like he was going to climb on in! He was way cool to see! After our boat ride we checked out the zoo on site. They had a lot of random animals and a lot of gators. We even held some little babies! Kind of nerve racking but fun!

Our trip was a great success! We tried some fancy new foods, saw critters that we had never seen before, visited places we'd only dreamed about, and had a lot of cool experiences. The trip was totally a sporadic thing and we are so glad our friends talked us into it. Thanks Bryce for the fun memories!!

You Better Believe It!

2010-05-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well...

I am officially smarter!!
...by the worlds terms that is.
I have that little slip of paper (well, the cover to go over the little slip of paper that will be mailed in a couple weeks :) ) that says I gave four years of my life jumping through higher education hoops. YES! I could not be more proud!

It was a fun day! We went to the College of HASS graduation ceremony then had a small BBQ at our house with our family.

Thank you to all my family for all the support! Thanks for your love and help throughout the years! I love you!!

Special Guy, Special Day

2010-04-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

April 13...What a fabulous day! Bryce's birthday! Yay!!! 22 years old!

I am so glad that I get to celebrate this special day with Bryce! How magical it is to have such a great husband! I love that Bryce is so patient and caring! I cannot believe how perfect he is for me! Let's be honest...he sure does get on my nerves...a lot! :) But I would not change a thing about him! I'm so happy to call him mine!

We thought we better take advantage of the special day by sleeping in and going in to work a little bit later. We went to breakfast at Angie's! it was really fun to spend the morning laughing with each other. Bryce is so cute!

I gave Bryce a present right when we woke up...a hat! He looks so dang good in it :) But, don't think I am a cheapo and just gave him a hat. A couple weeks ago I gave him his big birthday present, a bow!

Another thing that I love about Bryce is that he loves to hunt. I think it is so dang cute! He recently took up bow hunting so he was in the market for a bow. He looked at lots of stores and shot many different brands and types. Finally, he found one at Sportsman's Warehouse. I said we better not get it yet...then I sent my dad and brother down to pick it up the next day :) The bow hid under our bed for a couple weeks but I could not take it for long. I made a birthday muffin, put up a birthday sign, and gave Bryce this bow a couple weeks ago. I was so excited! I think he liked it a lot! He was pretty excited too!

When we got home from work we decided it was time for dinner. We had been planning to go try out Rumbi Island Grill. They just put one in Logan. It was yummy (not a new favorite or anything, but good). It was just fun to be there with Bryce.

All in all, I think it was a good birthday!

Thanks Bryce for being prince charming! You are an amazing guy! A friend to everyone and a great example to me every day. I love you so much!

Happy birthday honey!

I love to see the TEMPLE!

2010-04-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

I work with some really great gals in the Admissions Office at Utah State. In fact, they are so great that they invite me to temple picture making parties! It is true! Megan Farwell got a bunch of girls together for a fun craft day. It was really a sweet deal! They had everything we needed and it was actually quite an easy and fun process.

First we picked out four boards and matched them up to make the frame. Please notice Breea's face...matching up the pieces to make a nice looking frame was not as easy as it sounded for Breea :) haha, it was funny but after trying multiple boards multiple ways, we were all able to move on :)

Next we painted the boards.

Then, we pasted the temple print to a piece of board and rolled some texture cream over it. This made the print have a canvas-like finish. It was really cool! Don't worry...it dries clear!

After we stapled the pieces of board together, we stapled the board with the picture right to the frame. This tightened the whole thing up and made it a bit more sturdy.

Ta-da! The finished product up on our wall! What a great addition to our home!

We SO love to see the temple!

Sleepover!!!

2010-04-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well, Bryce and I love to go camping...so, naturally, what did we need?!

NEW SLEEPING BAGS!

So, with some of our tax return money, we bought us some sweet new sleeping bags!

Aren't they great! We were so excited about our new toys that we opened them right up and put them on our bed! We slept with them for a couple nights and we still break them out and lay in them in the living room from time to time! We cannot wait to try these out this summer!

New Baby...YAY!

2010-03-08T11:33:00.001-08:00

Check out our new baby! We are so excited to welcome this new sweet red car into the Roholt Family!

We bought this little beauty on March 6, 2010 at Utah Carzz in Logan Utah. We had quite a few problems with our old car and it was going to take quite a bit of money to get them all fixed, so Bryce and I decided it would be best to just be done with it and get something we love.

After test driving tons of different makes and models, talking to friends, family, and car dealers, and reading consumer reports, we decided to get this little Kia Optima. Guys, this car is loaded! Leather seats, heated seats, automatic seats, sunroof, 6 disk CD changer, and, my favorite, RED!

The car has low miles and feels practically brand new! We are so excited! It was a fun and very eventful Saturday!

Pounders

2010-02-19T15:29:00.000-08:00

This post is inspired by the fact that I just found out some of my friends will be going to Hawaii for their Spring Break...how lucky for them right?!! RIGHT! It kinda got me bummed thinking about how they will be enjoying the hot, tropic sun and we will be here in Logan, just workin away...

But, then I remembered everything is fine because we have our own little taste of Hawaii right here in Cache Valley!

I know what you are thinking. Hawaii? In Logan? Yeah right! BUT!! Thanks to Pounders Hawaiian cuisine we can make it a Hawaiian night any night! YUM! Really, you should go give it a try!

The other night Bryce and I were going on a date and he suggested that we invite my parents to go with us. It was actually a pretty fun double date! We ate at Pounders then stopped to shop for a bit at Ross and Best Buy. It was fun! I'm glad we have family close so we can hang out with them from time to time!

A long weekend to remember

2010-02-19T12:35:00.000-08:00

How nice it is to have a long weekend!! Thanks to President's Day, I was able to have Monday off from school and Bryce was able to take work off...BEAUTIFUL!! AND thanks to Alena Johnson, my family finance teacher who so kindly cancelled class, we were both able to take Tuesday off as well! How can life get any better!?

We kicked off our long weekend with the Sportsman's Expo. It was fun to walk around and see what outfitters from around the country had to offer hunting enthusiasts. My favorite part was seeing the mounted animals...there are a lot of talented people out there...taxidermy is certainly an art!

Bryce and I found a great deal on a hotel in the West Valley area...I was a little worried about the idea because, lets face it, West Valley is kinda the ghetto, but against my better judgement we booked our 3 night stay at the Baymont Inn and Suites. To our surprise, our room was very nice! They even brought us a fridge and microwave when we asked...thank you Baymont!

We went to Chili's and Nicklecade the first night. It was so fun! We checked out all the cool arcade games and did quite well at them might I add. Bryce said his favorites were horse riding and basketball. I tried a kayak one that was fun, but mostly it just frustrated :)

And, possibly the best part of all: we got a lot of sweet prizes with all the tickets we won!

On Sunday morning we went to Music and the Spoken Word. It was really neat! Neither of us had gone so it was a fun first that we could do together. The music was lovely and, as usual, MO TAB sounded great!

Bryce made us an exceptional dinner for Valentines day...microwave pasta :) We had to improvise :) It was a lot of fun! We rearranged our hotel room to be a beautiful restaurant. It was the best Valentines Day ever!

Bryce got me these beautiful flowers! We almost left Logan without them because the delivery was late. Luckily, Bryce forgot his church shoes so we went back home for a sec and we saw the flower guy getting back in his car...it made for an interesting morning but I finally got my flowers and man, were they ever wonderful!

On Monday, we went to Cabelas in Lehi and hit up the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point after. It was a blast! It brought back memories from my good old days in Geology...we learned about the different time periods and saw a lot of cool fossils and dinosaur bones. It was actually pretty darn neat.

We also saw a 3D movie. It was sweet. We saw an oceans video. We both kept trying to grab the fish because they really did look like they were right in front of us. Don't we look cool in our glasses?! :)

On our way home on Tuesday we stopped for a bit of church history in Salt Lake. We toured the Beehive House, ate at the Lion House Pantry, and also went to the church history museum. We loved going through the Beehive House and seeing all the cool things from the time period and some things that really belonged to our dear prophet Brigham Young.

Our trip was a riot! We were both so sad to go back to work on Wednesday. It was nice to spend some time together and just relax. It is so fun to be in love with your best friend!

We've been talking 'bout JACKSON!

2010-01-25T09:37:00.000-08:00

My Bennington family (mostly my dad) LOVES to see animals. For as long as I have been alive I have known that if he has free time, he wants to be spending it looking for deer in some canyon.

The National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, WY gives sleigh rides out on the refuge to the public. It was really an amazing thing! My dad has wanted to go for a long time now and so my mom and dad, Tyanna, and Bryce and I all decided to go and see what the hype was all about.

The night that we went all the huge bulls were all together pretty close to the road and quick and easy to get to on the sleigh. We saw some huge and amazing bulls! It was a lot of fun!

You can see that we really were RIGHT out in the middle of the bulls! Bryce was wishing he could be seeing these bulls this close in the fall! Some of the bulls were typical and some were so non-typical they just looked freaky, but we were all very impressed with everything we saw on the refuge! Because there were so many elk, I figured that most of the elk that would come were already there, but the guy that took us on our sleigh said there were only about 4500 elk on the refuge and that winter that would probably see close to 7000-8000.

The elk were not the only things we wanted to see while we were in Jackson. I know I sure had my heart set on seeing some BBQ'd brisket at good ol' Bubba's BBQ! And I did!! YUM!

The next morning we woke up and went for a drive. We saw the Tetons and, of course, had to stop for the photo opp...you might ask where Tyanna is and why we are all laughing hysterically in this picture?!

Well...that would be because she is on the ground between us and the camera! We set the timer on the camera we we could all be in the pic. Well Tyanna got a little too excited and ran to change something on the camera and she fell for the first, second, and third shots :) we all could not help but laugh! Luckily she was ok and it ended up really being a funny situation! It was a good time!

2010-01-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

Going Going Gone

2009-12-30T09:19:00.001-08:00

What a fun December we have had! It seems like we spent most of it in the car heading to one place or another. We have been thinking it has kinda been a bummer to be driving so much, but I don't think we would have had it any other way! We were able to see both sides of my family on Christmas Eve, both sides of Bryce's family on Christmas day and we did a lot of fun things. Here are some highlights...

First things first: We had the most beautiful tree EVER :) Our plan was to go cut one in Idaho but we were too slow on that idea because the store said they sold out all the permits...so we went on to the next best thing: buy the tree at Lowe's! We thought it was the greatest thing to sit and admire our fabulous tree.

My family went to a show in Salt Lake and Bryce and I headed down early so we could check out the lights at Temple Square. We were there when the lights all popped on and that is something neither of us had ever seen before :) it was kinda cool. The night was foggy and super freezing but we still were able to enjoy the sweet spirit of Temple Square.

We were pretty spoiled this holiday season! Both of our parents told us Santa must have not got the memo that we moved out because he left presents for us at their houses! What good parents we have! Some of Bryce's favorite gifts were a Leatherman, Ariat boots and a foot spa. In my list of favorites is a Willow Tree Nativity set, cloths (Bryce did a great job I did not have to take anything back!) and cute jewelry. Our first Christmas was a fun an successful one!

We were also able to go bowling with high school friends, check out the elk at Hardware ranch, cook with our new dutch oven, and...have a lot of adventure like running out of gas completely and literally roll into a gas station :)

What a wonderful married 2009 it has been! The Roholts are ready for 2010!

Life is good!

2009-12-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

May we present...Mr. and Mrs. Bryce Roholt! Well, it has been one month since the magical wedding day. In honor of the anniversary I thought I better officially join the rest of the world with a blog. So...I am still learning, but here ya go for post number one!

Life is good. Bryce and I live in Logan in the cutest little two bedroom apartment on 1000 N. All is well! I am working in the Admissions Office at USU and Bryce supervises the detailing at Deals on Wheels. Our little apartment is pretty much set up and we are ready for the holidays with my favorites part of the apartment right now...the Christmas tree! We have all that we could want or need :) Life is good!