A Little Summer Update!

I have been putting off writing in my blog for way to long now.  So now that means I am going to be lazy and group a few events together so I can hopefully catch up a little quicker.  

This summer flew by, just like summer always does.  It was a good thing too because half of my summer was spent away from my Bradley.  From the time Brad left for Alaska till the day I did, my weekends were booked with a lot of family time.  I couldn't have asked for a better family to get the time to go by faster!  My last post was about our trip to Lava that is usually about the middle of July.  So from there till the time I get to Alaska is what this is going to be about! :)

First off, was Rodeo Weekend.  We go to the Famous Preston Night Rodeo along with the parades and carnival every year since before I can even remember!  It's a tradition that I look forward to every year!

On the Sunday of Rodeo Weekend, we also always have a family reunion in Preston.  It was fun, as always, and after we went back to my grandma's and played a few games!  This is when I had to say good-bye to my cousin Katie!  She was headed out to play college soccer at Iowa Western (the same place I did!!), and it was a bitter-sweet moment!  I was so excited for her, but sure do miss her at all our family get-togethers now!

The weekend after Rodeo weekend, my grandma asked us to join her in the Relay For Life that was being held in Preston.  She is a cancer survivor, and we were so excited to support her in it!  I was amazed by how many people were there either because they survived cancer or had a loved one who they lost from the dreaded disease!  It was really fun, and I'm so happy that we got to be there for my Grandma!

  

The Saturday after the run my cousin, Connor, made the decision to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I was beyond proud of him.  He is so lucky to have such an amazing group of supporters around him, and even more a little sister who made that decision just a year before! Their lives are going to be forever changed, and words can't express how proud I am of both of them!  This world is so crazy these days, and when two kids like these two can decide at such a young age where their priorities lie you know that they are something special.  No matter what anyone tells you, Connor Boy, this church is true and it is going to make you the happiest person ever.  I know for that for a fact!  So proud of you!

That was the last of my summer before I headed out to Alaska!  My summers continue to get better and better each year.  I have the BEST family to spend it with and Brad and I are so blessed to have them in our lives!

Lava Hot Springs

Every year for as long as I can remember we have gone to Lava Hot Springs over the weekend that Josh's birthday falls.  I think that ends up being about the 3rd weekend in July every year.  It used to be that we'd just go to the pool on Sunday, but as of the last few years we've gone camping for the whole weekend!  It's always a weekend I look forward to!  We do the same thing every year, but it's still so much fun!

We got there on Friday and set up camp.  We had dinner as soon as we could because we were all starving.  Then we played bocce ball, horse shoes, some ninja game that I forgot the name of, word on the street, animal noise games, and others that I'm sure I'm forgetting!  We are full of games, and ALWAYS find ourselves laughing!

This is just a quick little video we caught did of Jack!  He's my mom's most favorite dog, and he is spoiled to say the least!  We all make fun of him that he's not too smart even though she'll argue with us that he's the smartest out of all the dogs.  In this video he actually does seem pretty smart ;)

The next day we always float the river all day.  We've learned over the years that if we get the huge quad tubes we don't come out with river wounds.  To anyone who's ever floated the river there you know that it can be pretty brutal if you fall off your tube!  We always hang out by the big waterfall, and the boys look for sunglasses that other not-so-lucky people have lost.  Then we usually float the river a couple times!  We had a few head bonks going off the waterfalls, but overall our injuries stayed at a bare minimum...which is good for us!
That night we played more games, and we celebrated Josh's birthday because that was his actual "birth date".  We threw in my mom's name when we sang happy birthday to him because hers was just a few days prior.

This video made me laugh so hard because my dad sings "jolly, jolly, jolly" the whole time (standing for Josh and Molly). 

On our last day we always spend it at the pool.  It's been tradition for our whole family to have a competition down the slides to see how can get the farthest.  There's always like 10-15 of us lined up at the bottom of the slide from standing where we stopped.  It's always so fun!  This year we also played lots of soccer and had a Bocce ball competition!

I have the BEST family in the world!  It was so fun to be together with everyone, and we all missed Brad so much!  Having such a fun weekend to look forward to, though, did make the time go by much faster!

To A Beautiful Person

July in our family is full of birthdays!  It's always been the month of weekend trips, camping, parties, and lots and lots of family time.  July flies by to say the least!

July 16th is my beautiful Momma's birthday!  This year us kids tried to do something special for her because her birthday and my parents anniversary are in the same week.  We bought her tickets to the Kenny Chesney concert that was on her anniversary.  She had to get work off for the day and ended up switching someone and having to work on her birthday!!  Darn...half fail!  Well I made sure I was till able to spend a little time with her!

With how hot it's been this year, we didn't even check out the weather for her birthday, and just went straight to the pool.  Well....it rained.  It rained quite a bit actually!  So in celebrating her birthday, we sat huddled underneath an umbrella on top of a table.  It made for a good laugh.

Just as we were about to call it quits, the sun finally decided to come out!  We had about an hour left before she needed to get ready for work, so it was better than nothing right?

That is one of the many things I love about my mom!  We can sit underneath an umbrella because of the rain, and talk and talk and talk!  We always have something to talk about, and it takes a lot for us to get mad or disappointed in a situation as long as we can just be together!

I have said many times how lucky and blessed I am to have a mother like her in my life!  I just can't say it enough because she is simply amazing!  I look up to her in so many ways!  She truly is a beautiful person on the inside and out!  It's rare to come across these days, but it's true!  She's the best mom out there!  I sure do have a lot to live up to! ;)

I know it's a little late, but happy birthday momma!

I love you!!

Blacksmith Fork Campin'

The weekend after Brad left my family and the Fenton's went up Blacksmith Fork canyon to go camping for the weekend.  I absolutely love camping!  It was bitter-sweet because it was a good way to have time go by quickly, but it would have been perfect to have my Bradley there with me.  I'm just happy that I have such an awesome family to keep me distracted!

On the way up there I sent Brad a picture of me and Lucy (Lucy LOVES Brad...and I knew he was missin' her ;))  I laughed so hard with how the picture turned out because she looks hilarious in it, not saying I look fabulous by any means...but you get what I'm sayin'!  She really is cute I promise!

The first night we made three bean soup and just hung out by the camp fire!  It was such a gorgeous night!

They are all a little obsessed with her!

The next day we got out lawn chairs and headed to the river!  It's tradition when we go anywhere with a river that we lay out in it with our chairs!  It was so hot, and I thought the river would feel so good, little did we all know that it was FREEZING!!  You went from the shock of it being so cold, to pain, to almost instant numbness...which was fine if you could get past the first two steps!  It was still fun though!

Ki and I got daring and floated in the little area we were by!  Ki did fine because apparently she didn't even get wet!  Haha just joking...it was safer to get as little as possible wet! haha...the dogs joined in with us also!  It ended up being really fun even though it was so cold!

After a long day of playin' in the sun I got some pretty mean tan lines!  It's a good thing I don't burn way bad or it could have been really painful!

We played a lot of Bocce Ball.  This is just one game, but we had two sets of it so we were able to do a big huge game with all of us!  It was really fun!

Then, later that night we went fishing!  We didn't catch a whole lot but we all had a really good time!

The next day we were at it again!  The river was still cold as ever, but we got through it and had a good time still!

 We had so much fun...which is not a surprise when we are with the Fenton's!  It's always full of laughter when the two of our families get together!  The only person missing was Brad, but we thought about him lots!

When we got home later in the afternoon Josh and I played frisbee while my dad was mowing the lawn.  We almost hit dad a few times, but for the most part we all made it ;)  The only thing we came out with was lots of laughs and grass-stained feet!

Thanks for playing with me Jshy!  

The Hyatt's

On July 9th, 2013 one of my best friends got married.  Amber's day was everything she wanted it to be, and I couldn't be more happy for her!  Her and Braeden are perfect for each other, and I am so excited for them to join the married life.  I had the privilege of being in the temple with them when they got sealed.  They were sealed in the Bountiful temple.  It was beautiful.  I always love going to sealings because the feelings I felt at my wedding day are instantly brought back to me.  I was overwhelmed with so many happy feelings for the two of them, and for being reminded of the covenants Brad and I made together there.

Mr. and Mrs. Hyatt

Amy Jo and Amber

Sheb and Amber

 After their sealing there was a lot of hugs, tears, and pictures.  We hung out at the temple for a bit, then headed to her luncheon at the Wight House in bountiful.  The food was delicious and lots of funny memories were brought back about Amber and Braeden as people got up to speak about them.  Their reception was later that night just before sunset in Amber's parent's backyard.  It was so pretty! 

Decorating their car!

We got their call all decorated just before we watched all the "reception traditions" and then they were off!  It was fun sending them away...even though Braeden didn't like all the balloons we filled their car up with ;)  I'm so happy for you two!  Congrats on your beautiful day, and thanks for letting me be there!  Love you Amber and Braeden!

Here's a short video of their send-off!

Two Week Mark

It's been exactly two weeks since I last got in bed with my sweet husband and said goodnight in person.  Since then, our goodnights have been through phone calls, texts and my favorite, skype.

I can't really tell you why I put off writing about our goodbye on July 5th.  Whenever I had a moment to sit and think about what I would write, tears would swell in my eyes and just as they would begin to run down my cheeks I would find something new to distract me with. 

Our goodbye was more than difficult.  

Call me a baby or whatever else you'd like for being so emotional about a month of distance.  I don't really care because I'm the only one who feels that emptiness.  I look up to anyone who can be away from their spouse for any amount of time...especially if it's longer than a month.  I'm not sure I could go much longer.

Our drive down to the airport was filled with laughter, a few tears (on my part), stories, inside jokes, and reassurance that one month really isn't that long.  It's long.  It's reallllly long.  His hand was constantly in mine as he complained about all the pictures I was taking of him at the wheel, and made videos demanding that he tell me how much he loves me.  I may have watched them every night since. That drive to Salt Lake never felt so short in my life.

We arrived at the airport almost a whole hour earlier than we needed to be.  We parked, got his boarding passes and luggage taken care of, and we waited as long as we could before he had to walk through security.  We sat where people came to meet their loved ones as they came off the plane.  So many emotional moments only made it that more bitter-sweet for us.  We sat in silence as we watched many "welcome homes", and I couldn't help but just let my tears sink into the shoulder of Brad's gray shirt.  He didn't realize I had been crying until he heard me sniffle.  He raised his shoulder I was laying on to raise my head, gave me the biggest grin, and warned me, as he laughed, that I wasn't aloud to cry yet.  We both laughed with our eyes swollen with tears just dying to come out.  We decided we had better say goodbye before it just gets harder.  We hugged, kissed, hugged, cried, laughed, kissed, hugged, and so on.  It was so hard letting him go.   He snuck through security quickly, and I was back in my car already wondering what I was going to do with myself.

I've heard that distance is good for relationships.  I like this quote I found that says "Absence is to love as wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small and kindles the great." -Roger de Bussy-Rabutin.  I always knew that Brad and I's marriage was strong.  He hadn't even been gone a day yet, and I had realized how much growth we were already experiencing.  It's been two weeks now, and yes, it's been so hard, but we are strengthening everyday in ways I never really thought we would.  It's amazing.  We have been apart before...when I lived in New Jersey while we were dating, and I thought those months were hard.  This is by far harder.  I have gotten comfortable having my loving husband with me throughout most all of my day, and that comfort has been replaced by this odd emptiness I've never felt before.  I've never been so in love with my husband.  My love has continued to grow since the day I realized I loved him, but it has never felt so strong.  I never thought I was capable of loving this much.

We are about half way there now.  I've had so many loved ones and friends show their love and concern, and it has been so helpful.  Distraction has been key.  I've been able to keep myself pretty busy.  I can't help but keep my phone with me at all times just in case Brad gets service or a little break from fishing, but I'm occupying my time and that helps the most.  I've been working lots, seeing old friends, hanging out with family, planning trips for the weekends, staying on top of treatments, and of course watching my TV shows ;)  I've recently rediscovered all my old journals.  I kept a journal since 8th grade up until about last year, and I was diligent about writing in it every night.  It's been my favorite to read about when we were dating, and re-reading all the letters he sent me while I was in New Jersey.  These documents are getting me by.  I'm surviving, and so is my husband so we are okay. 

My favorite thing is when the boys post pictures of them up there in Alaska.  It doesn't happen too often, but I love when I get to see my Bradley in action, and see that he's doing good!  The pictures are beautiful and I can't wait to get up there in just a few weeks!

Trev sent me this pic of Brad talking to me on the phone.  Something so simple made my day.

I finally did it!  I guess I just needed a little bit of time to get all my thoughts out clearly.  My husband is amazing.  Our relationship is stronger than ever.  I know that he is my other half, and I love him with every single part of me.  We are getting by, and this distance will be over before we know it!  All we can do is just keep living our lives.  We can't stop and sulk all day about how much we miss each other...we already know how much we miss each other, so we just have to keep going and keep smiling.  I love you Bradley!  Can't wait to see you in 18 days 22 hours 45 minutes and 7 seconds! :)

Picture I sent to my Bradley on my way into work.  Big smiles!