OUR FIRST HOME!

Well, the stars aligned at the very end of our house hunting trip in March and we found the perfect home. The market up here is crazy and homes sell incredibly fast due to the large influx of medical residents every year. And since we didn't think about it, we planned our trip the week after match day, so it was extra hectic! For example, on the first day with our realtor, we looked at 18 homes. By the end of that day, 16 had gone under contract. Every single day was like this, so it was an exhausting and emotional process! We put an offer on a home and got into a bidding war and then lost. We found another home we liked, put an offer on that and same story. So we put an offer on a third house and left out of town. Literally on our drive home, our realtor called us and said, "I'm driving around town and saw the for sale sign being put up in this yard. I walked through the house and it's perfect - it's everything you're looking for. I'll send you the pictures I took and the link to the listing. Look it over and call me back ASAP!" After realizing that this was our favorite home so far, we pulled our other offer and made an offer on this home. We received verbal confirmation that they accepted our offer, and got it in writing later that night. (And it's a good thing too because apparently the previous owners got a few cash offers later that week.) God was looking out for us. When our previous offers would fall through, our parents would tell us not to worry and that it would all work out. It was hard to keep that mentality all the time but they were so right! 

Are we crazy? Yes. Is this the perfect home for us? Yes! Our realtor is seriously amazing! After spending 5 solid days with us, he knew exactly what we wanted and how much we were willing to spend. He definitely went the extra mile for us and we trusted him completely...enough to buy a house without seeing it in person! We felt so good about this home that we weren't that surprised when it worked out. By the time we got back to PA at the end of May, we were dying to see our home! And you know what? We walked around it with our realtor and said, "It's perfect" probably a hundred times and he just grinned and said, "I knew you'd like it!"

We closed on June 2, 2015 and basically felt like we were signing our life away! Haha. It's sad but true. The moving van met us at our house immediately after and we were so excited to see OUR stuff coming into OUR home. Our first home! Such a momentous day.

LEAVING OUR SWEET HOME ALABAMA & GATLINBURG, TN

After our month in Utah, we flew home to Alabama once more (so sad!). After packing up, cleaning, and saying our final goodbye's, we began our drive to Pennsylvania. It was surreal and sad leaving Birmingham; I remember tearing up as we pulled out of the city, looking over all the places we loved. That place and time was so good for us! We established some truly life long friends, grew together, G excelled in graduate school and I completed my undergrad, and we experienced a place and culture that we instantly grew to love. Alabama will always be home to us, that's the beautiful thing. Heck, I even picked up "y'all" when I told my family before we moved to Alabama that if I ever did start saying that to slap me. That right there proves my love for Bama! Also, #RollTide.

Luckily for us, we had planned to meet some family in Gatlinburg, TN for a few days on our journey. We had so much fun with the Dahle's and were in awe of the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains!

I LOVE BYU

As I mentioned earlier, I finally graduated from BYU in May!!! (Well, technically I finished my last class in May and graduated in June.) I really felt so accomplished, mostly because it was so hard to finish online. But also because I got my bachelor's degree and that is something to be proud of, for me anyways! It only felt appropriate that I took my last final ever on BYU soil where it all began for me. (Side note: Gordy just said out of nowhere, "You know what I want, I want to be the mockinjay. Alright, G.) I know that a lot of people feel a sense of pride and loyalty to their alma matter, and I feel that right along with them. BYU was the perfect college experience for me. I learned and grew in all the ways I hoped. I'm someone who has always enjoyed school and learning, but BYU felt different for me. I studied things I'm passionate about and the whole campus has this feel that just by being there you're improving yourself. I'm a big fan.

Perhaps the highlight of my BYU career was going on my study abroad to Jerusalem.  I will be forever changed from this! It was a busy semester full of 15 credits; daily adventures in the Old City; weekly field trips all over Israel; trips to Turkey, Jordan, and Galilee; delicious food; amazing cultures; incredible professors who taught me so many truths; literal lifelong friends; and pretty much a big party for 4 months straight. I have so many memories that I could literally write about for years, but I'll spare you those. Except for this: in the informal talent show I licked my elbow. I practiced for weeks and had a friend coach me. You heard me, that really happened.

Thanks BYU for helping me reach my dreams and plan new ones. Go Cougs!!!

MAY IN UTAH: PART III

Since G graduated at the end of April and didn't start work until July, we decided that we would be crazy if we didn't take advantage of our time off and visit  family for a while! We ended up going for the entire month of May, and I'm really glad that we did, especially because I think our visits out there are going to lessen greatly now that G has begun his career. But that's okay because I keep telling myself that people can come visit us too! 

During the last part of our Utah trip, we celebrated G's Nana's (great grandma's) 105th birthday (can you believe it?!) and went to a cousin's baby shower where it was fun to visit with extended family. We also explored Antelope Island, which I had never been to before, but it was sure beautiful! We saw a few deer, antelope, tons of buffalo, lots of pretty birds, and a few coyotes too! We also walked through the Payson, UT Temple Open House and OH MY it's a beautiful temple! I love seeing the different architecture and decorations throughout each temple, and I especially love the feelings inside. There is no greater peace that I have found than within the walls of a temple.  (Click here and scroll down to "Blessings of Temples" if you are curious what I'm talking about.) Although I didn't get any pictures of us at the temple because of the crazy rain storm, we had a lovely time and I'm so glad that we went!

You can bet that we made another trip up to the ranch too! That place is just magical and houses so many good memories for us.  We came back a little earlier than our family to go see my SIL Lisa and her baby who were in town from California! It was so much fun to visit with them because we never get to see them!! We take whatever time we can and we just love them so much! For memorial day we had a big BBQ at my parents with my Brewer cousins! It was so much fun to visit with everyone and to celebrate Memorial Day together the best way we know how...eating! ;) We also had a good game of croquet and some crazy trampoline jumping. And I decided my mom is officially the cutest ever when I saw her leading 6 tiny grandbabies/grandcousins around the backyard and through the tall flowers on their "treasure hunt." There is no one like her! It made me remember how awesome she was throughout my childhood when she constantly played and explored with us. I love that woman dearly!

We took a few pool days and played at the Provo Rec Center with our nieces, went to dinner with some Jru friends, filmed a project for my last class ever at BYU and I also took my last final ever! I thought it was pretty neat that I got to end my college experience where I started it, despite having been finishing school online on the other side of the country for the past while. By the time I rushed home, my score had been uploaded (I passed!), so G and I celebrated with some Graham Canyon ice cream at the creamery on 9th! Woohoo!! I still can't believe that I'm finished, but at the same time it feels so so good. I am proud of myself for what I've accomplished and I'm so grateful for the institution that provided me so many opportunities to learn and so much growth. #gocougs!

We had such a great time in Utah. It's always a big struggle for us to balance family and friends and everything else that is always going on (thanks for being patient with us), but we still had a good time! It's funny though, because even though we go "home" to visit our families, we always talk about how it doesn't feel like home for us right now. It feels very familiar and lovely, but you know that feeling when you get home from vacation and feel so good walking into your home? You get excited and just feel so good to be back and like that place missed you too? That's how we felt leaving Utah and arriving in Pennsylvania.  That's how we always felt leaving Utah and going home to Alabama. I am really grateful for these feelings that reaffirm to me that we are where we need to be. I'm also so glad that we have felt at home so quickly in these places! It is still a bit strange to wrap our heads around it every time it happens in Utah, though. Life is so much fun and meant for adventuring and I can't help but smile when I think we're doing just that.

^^ My mom is a saint for pushing G and his bum ankle (dang tendinitis!) around at Target! haha. He's such a big kid and always keeps us laughing. After he decided to get his own motorized shopping cart, he kept trying to run us over or play hide and seek. haha. ^^

^^ G worked alllll day knocking over dead trees and chopping them up so that he could make a giant burn pile and have some fun. The pile ended up slightly bigger than what he told his dad it would be, and the explosion it made when it lit up was quite the experience! Boys will be boys? ^^

My Sammy and Jerusalem pals.

Took a celebratory graduation picture with the Y in the background after my last final...

and visited this wonderful family that I used to nanny. No better family! I love them so.

 ^^ Still shot from my filming for my last class at BYU! ^^

 ^^ This is my niece, and I know I'm biased and think that all of my nieces are the cutest in the world, but aren't they really?! ^^

We loved all of our family time and our fun month in Utah! 

ZION NATIONAL PARK

I lived in Utah from my sophomore year of high school through most of college, but I had never been to Zion National Park until this summer! I felt like this was some sort of crime because all I had heard was how amazing this place was and how people from all over the world traveled to Zions to see its beauty.  My parents had recently gone to Zion and raved about it so I was anxious to go too! Plus, G is obsessed with Zions (rightfully so...now I know why) and has loved canyoneering there so he has been dying to show me this place that he loves. I can honestly say that it surpassed all of my dreams and I would gladly go back there in a heart beat! I especially loved hiking up the famous Angel's Landing which was more incredible than I ever imagined. Turns out a bunch of my in-laws hadn't ever been to the park either, so we went down and camped at the Zions Ponderosa Ranch. Even Amanda and Dallin came a day after they got back from their honeymoon! hahaha. #familyhoneymoon!

We arrived early evening and after we set up our tents, we decided to go hike part of the Narrows from the bottom up. We hiked about three miles up and went a little bit past Wall Street. It was amazing to be so small in this huge canyon.  The water was clear and the colors were just beautiful. We made it back just in time to catch the last shuttle out of the canyon.  On the drive to Zions, we skipped lunch because we had been snacking but by 8 pm and after hiking for 6-7 miles we were hungry, so we ate dinner at the restaurant right there in Zions. It was yummy! By the time we got back to camp we were dirty and tired so we showered, doctored up all of our cuts and blisters, and piled into bed.

We woke up early, ate some breakfast, took down camp, and headed to Angel's Landing. I would definitely recommend starting early like we did to beat most of the crowds.  The hike up was pretty intense, especially Walter's Wiggles (not as hilarious to climb as to say haha) but once we reached Scout Lookout and got a view of the canyon rim that we would be climbing, we couldn't help but be excited to keep going! That last part is lined with chain link ropes to guide you which was so much fun to climb. The top of Angel's Landing had the most spectacular views of the canyon.  I've never seen anything quite like Zions.

After our quick descent, we decided to hike both of the Emerald Pools, contemplated eating to keep the hangry at bay, but then decided to quickly do Weeping Rock.  I'm glad we packed that all in and I think it made our dinner even more delicious! We stopped at a delicious Mexican restaurant in town and couldn't have shoveled our food into our mouths faster.  All in all we hiked 20 miles in literally 24 hours...we are totally crazy!  We stopped and drove through foggy and drizzly Kolob Canyon (incredible!) on our way back home and by the time we reached Provo none of us could walk normally.  hahaha. It was a whirlwind trip but so worth it! I couldn't narrow the pictures down very much because it was all too beautiful, so sorry not sorry for the overload. Our planet sure is incredible!

^^ We're angels on top of Angel's Landing, duh! ;) The whole hike up I couldn't get the lines "shorty you're my angel, you're my darling angel" out of my head! haha, sorry everyone. And then none of us could remember what word came next: "__________ than my peeps you are to me, baby." so that was hilarious as we kept filling in different words to see if it sounded right. haha. 

Theme song of the trip? I think yes. ^^

^^ G had to wear his cool Zion's shirt, obviously! Within the shape of the letters are names of tons of different hikes in Zions, which was pretty cool to read after and actually know what some of them were.  It is from a company called Stately Type and I actually used to babysit for this family (plus the couple was my church teachers for a while) and they are awesome! The dad is the designer and is seriously talented. Check out his other designs here. ^^

^^ So this is by one of the Emerald Pools, and while we were dating, G and some of his buddies canyoneered Heaps Canyon which is one of the hardest canyons in America! He has some crazy stories from that trip and I still think it's rather impressive that I didn't freak out when he said "if you don't hear from me by Sunday night then you should be worried" and I didn't hear from him until MONDAY AFTERNOON! Maybe I was a little worried. But anyways, this was the last repel of that canyon that is 500 feet long, people! My husband is slightly crazy but also very cool. ^^

^^ The roads in Zion are paved with some sort of red asphalt so it
 blends in more with nature. So cool! ^^

 ^^ This trip wasn't complete until we got a group shoulder pic! ^^

^^ Or a jumping pic for that matter. :) ^^

^^ I promise I didn't take a picture of Mel praying over her food. But even if I did that would be funny because her eyes are open. haha. This is Mel's "I'm so hungry but I'm trying to wait for everyone else to get their food" face. Bless her heart! ^^

I never expected Zion National Park to be so green! The views were incredible with the bright blue sky, fluffy white clouds, red, cream, and black rocks, and green trees.  I always love spending time in nature because it really helps me appreciate this huge and diverse world that we live in, and to especially be grateful for this world that was created for us to use and enjoy by such a loving Heavenly Father and Savior.