Mother Ben

For Halloween, Ben was a nun. And... well, that's really all I have to say. I'll just let the picture tell the rest. 

Oh dear. What did I get myself into? :P

Yikes! Accidents!

There was one weekend this past month when about a million accidents happened in town. And big ones, too. There was a car that rolled off the road over by the mall, a guy that got his foot cut off in a motorcycle accident, a semi truck hauling bees rolled on the freeway, and then there was this.. 

I know what you're thinking.. how did you get that close? Were you ambulance chasing? No, we sure weren't. This is right behind our apartment! I was so freaked out driving home from Ben's parents house that night when I saw the lights, because we hadn't heard about this wreck yet and I thought it was the semi that had been hauling the bees. I was terrified that our apartment complex was going to be surrounded by millions of bees! But no, this wasn't the bee accident. It was another accident involving a semi, and it happened because of the traffic backup that was a result of the bee incident. Although we weren't ambulance chasing, there were plenty of people who were. As we were standing outside taking pictures and just looking at all the fire trucks and ambulances, multiple cars drove up, asking us what had happened. At one point, the life-flight helicopter showed up and was trying to find a place to land. I was just watching and Ben was taking a video of it on his phone when we heard a voice yell, "EVERYONE INSIDE!" I looked over to the freeway and there was somebody in a light reflector vest yelling at us to get inside. So, we did as we were told. Only later did we find out that the person who yelled at us was none other than Russ Leavitt.. our brother-in-law. Needless to say, we felt pretty silly when we found that out. [:

Merry Christmas to Me!

So a few weeks ago, we got a bunch of ads in the mail, and there was a Wal-Mart one in the mix. On the front it said that they were bringing back their Christmas Layaway Program. I was just curious, so I opened it up. In the electronic sections, they had advertised a camera that I really want. It's a lot of money though, so I would never really ask for it for Christmas. But, that didn't mean I couldn't have some fun. So.. I did this...

Then I left it somewhere I was sure Ben would find it--on the keyboard of his laptop. I really just wanted to see what his reaction would be! He pretty much just laughed his head off at me until I told him that I was only kidding. I mean really, did he think I was being serious? The price of that stinking camera is more than the amount of our rent each month. Ha!

Ben's Birthday

On October 14, 2011 Ben turned 26! And he was a busy boy all day! He worked in the temple from 6am - 12pm (like he does every Friday), then met up with some buddies to play in their brass quintet. After they were done rehearsing he brought them over to our place and watched a couple of episodes of Pushing Daisies. Then he worked that night. I didn't get to see very much of him that day, but on Sunday we had cake and ice cream for him over at his parents house. I made his birthday cake, and it was a lot of fun to make! I took two white cake mixes, divided them into six different bowls, and used gel food coloring to create six different colors. Then I baked them and let them cool before stacking them and frosting the whole thing! I need to say thanks to Lyndee, because she was a big help in mixing up the colors and making the frosting!

I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful husband as Ben is. I'm really the luckiest girl in the whole world! He works really hard to provide for our little family, and is such a great example and inspiration to me. I love you Ben!

Experiments

We're just a couple of kids living in grown-up bodies. 

I'm growing an avocado tree..

And Ben is growing a potato plant.

Yep, we're definitely little kids. :]

Yummy!

A few weeks ago, I found a recipe for beignets, the dessert that Tiana makes on Princess and the Frog. I totally had to try it!

They are basically like a doughnut.. a rectangle doughnut. Haha You just mix up the dough, fry them in oil, and dust them with powdered sugar. They were really good!

There were a ton of them though.. we shared them with a couple friends and with the missionaries when they knocked on our door the next day! [:

Under the Sea

On October 3, Ben and I went to see The Little Mermaid at Tuachan. We had heard from lots of people that it was amazing, and we couldn't wait to see for ourselves! The weather looked a little threatening, so we brought our rain jackets and a blanket, just in case. And it's a good thing we did, because the show was stopped three times because of rain!

At one point I looked at the audience in front of us and saw a sea of umbrellas.. we thought it was pretty cool!

The show was amazing, and I'm so grateful to Grandma and Grandpa Berry for essentially giving us free tickets! I wish we could go again, but the show ends this month, and is most likely sold out for the rest of the season. The night we went was the 53rd consecutive sold out performance of the play!

Look What I Can Do!

On conference Saturday, I went over to Dad and Danielle's house to listen to conference and to have craft day! I started on a paper flower bouquet to go in the vase we have on our table, and I made a shirt! Tricky, huh? Well, the really tricky part is that I made it without any kind of pattern to follow! I just saw a picture of a shirt that I liked, and decided to make one for myself! :)

Ta-da!

Crash & Burn

This past Tuesday, I was riding my bike to work when I got hit by a car. I had stopped at the corner and when the light turned green I started across the street. But there was a lady trying to turn right and she didn't see me. My left ankle got caught in between my bike and her bumper, and I fell over. 

Next thing I knew, I was being scooped up off the road and talking to dispatch. Almost instantly a police officer showed up, then the fire department, followed by the ambulance. Ben was at work when all of this happened, but I called and left him a voicemail and sent him a text telling him what had happened. The EMT's put me on the board and loaded me into the truck. When we got to the hospital Lyndee was standing there waiting for me, and Russ magically appeared behind me. They rolled me into a room and said the doctor would be there in just a minute. Ben got there, and I was really glad to have him next to me, holding my hand. The doctor came in and ordered an X-ray, which told us my ankle wasn't broken, just beat up pretty good. I got an ankle brace, a pair of crutches, and a prescription for loratab and was sent home.

Green Fuzz Monster

On August 9, we moved out of our hotel room, and into a little two bedroom apartment! It got remodeled right before we moved in, so now it's practically brand new!

As newlyweds, we don't have much furniture, but we're well on our way to fixing that problem

On August 15th we went on a little shopping spree at DI. We were looking for a couch, a desk, a small entertainment center, and a queen sized bed frame. We managed to find everything on our list except for the bed frame. Yay!

Not too shabby for a DI couch, right? That's what I thought too. Sure, it's been used, it has a tear or two ( that are almost completely out of sight), and it's comfy. I was happy with it, until we moved it into our apartment. After we (very awkwardly) carried it down the stairs and into our front room, I found that I was covered in green dust. It was like a green fungus had taken over my left shoulder.

So, I went to work. I vacuumed of the whole thing, making sure I went over every inch of that couch at least twice. But it still wasn't good enough. So I pulled out one of our extra lint rollers. And I used the ENTIRE thing. All 50 sheets. And they we all entirely covered in green dust.

But now the couch is pretty much dust free, and it smells like Hawaiian Breeze Febreeze. Refreshing. [: And it's still as comfy as ever!

As for the desk and the table that was going to be our entertainment center; they are in the process of being refinished. Soon I'll post before and after pictures of them! [:

Dinner Time!

Our first dinner guests in our new apartment. [:

Don't worry, it's a LOT cleaner now. [:

Emerald Pools

On August 17, Ben & I went to Zion and hiked up to Emerald pools. It was so much fun! Right when we got to the park, we saw this..

On the back, it had a bumper sticker that said "Back off - I'm a Musician!"

Turkeys!

Ben likes to take pictures of signs that show people falling off of things, so here ya go. 

We got up really close to this little guy, who was just chillin' in the tree, eating acorns.

Ah! These little guys were so cute! I tried to catch one for about twenty minutes.. haha.

I have no idea what he's doing.. haha.

Trying to catch a tadpole..

It seems that whenever we go somewhere that's outdoors, Ben becomes a pro photographer. He's always giving tips on what to get pictures of and at what angle. This one.. He said something along the lines of "You stay right here, and I'm gonna walk down running my hand against the wall. Try to get a picture, it'll look really cool!"

He's silly. And I love him. [:

(And the picture didn't turn out half bad, either.. :P)

This waterfall was SO COOL!! I took about a billion pictures of it. 

Man, when they named them "Emerald Pools," they weren't joking!

We had a lot of fun up in Zion! I took a TON more pictures, but I'm too lazy to wait for them to upload. :P

Adams Family Reunion

The weekend of August 5th, we went to the Adams Family reunion. (My mom's side of the family)

Friday night we went to the Lion's Park in Parowan and had dinner and played games and caught up with everyone.

The next morning, we all travelled up Cedar Mountain to the Adams Family cabin. I absolutely love going up there.. I have so many memories of playing in the tall grass and drinking the ice cold spring water from a copper ladle, eating on Picnic Rock and having watermelon seed spitting contests.

I love being in the mountains!

We found a huge patch of these daisies and trudged through muck and mud to get to them. They were so pretty!

This is the prairie in front of our cabin. It's so big and beautiful! The grass gets really tall in one spot, and it's perfect for hiding in. [:

When we were on our way back from the daisy patch, I slipped and bit the dust. I know it doesn't look super bad here, but it stang so much! And when it did scab over it looked pretty grotesque.

Uncle Bob did a presentation on how to make sourdough biscuits! Before we left to come home, we took some of my mom's sour dough start. It's got a pretty neat history, it came across the plains with our pioneer ancestors!

We like to be cute and share our food. [:

Sloppy joes, watermelon, and corn on the cob. This was only the first round.. Ben went back about three times after that to sample all the salads and desserts. And we probably ate a pan of sourdough biscuits between the two of us!

This.. is what happens when you don't wear sunscreen! Because the elevation is so high at the cabin, you sunburn a lot easier. Poor Josh!

Anyway, the weekend was so much fun! I'm really glad we were able to go and spend time with my family, at the cabin, and with amazing food!

Speaking of hiding in the tall grass..

Oh yeah, and then there's this.

Oh my goodness I love my husband! :D

Vacation Face

While we were at Lake Powell, Ben didn't shave. We left on a Monday, got home on Friday, and Ben didn't shave until the next Thursday. He was a fuzzy boy!

By the time it had grown out this far, it was soft, and I almost didn't want him to get rid of it!

Two-Face!

All clean!

Powell!

Last week, we went to Lake Powell with some of Ben's family. His uncle has a house boat time share, so we got to have a really nice place to stay for the week! There was a total of 27 people staying on the houseboat, so at times it got a little crowded when everyone gathered for meals and such, but it wasn't horrible. We had so much fun the whole week!

Ben & Brandon built a super cool sand castle that withstood the test of time, and the test of the tour boat waves.. until it rained and the water level rose. 

Carrying a big rock to use for the wall

The castle in all its glory

One of the many things we did was fishing! Matt was the fish champion of the week, with one carp and four (I think) catfish! Lyndee caught a couple catfish and a small mouth bass, I caught a little catfish, Kerry caught a striper, and Brittnae caught this one!

Brittnae's striper

Something I thought was crazy.. is that they have gas stations on the water! I guess it makes sense though, haha.

Tying up the boat

The boats at the marina

We found this boat sitting in the marina.. :] We thought it was pretty great.

There were some pretty big boats!

Another thing we did was go exploring.. I had no idea just how big Lake Powell was until we started exploring on the boat. It seemed like we drove forever.. and we only covered about 2% of the lake!

We saw some really pretty stuff though!

More fishing! The water at this spot was a beautiful emerald green.. I couldn't take my eyes off of it!

One thing is definitely true.. nothing beats a sunset on the lake!

I'm so glad we got to go and spend time at Lake Powell with Ben's family! I just hope Ben can survive my Adams Family Reunion this weekend! Haha. [: