Fall is here!

Kristy came for the weekend and we decided to do something fun so we drove south to Santaquin, Ut to the Big Red Barn at Southridge Farms. They have fun activities such as a hay ride up to their pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin and little activities (mainly for kids...) but we had fun!

HAY RIDE!

They had a little maze made with crates. The rule was we couldn't look over the crates and cheat but you know Tanner, he's not very good at following the rules.

"Take me for a ride on a big green tractor"

Kristy: the horse whisperer

Look at all those pumpkins! So many to choose!

After much deliberation we all three finally found decent pumpkins to take home and carve.

I didn't get any pictures but after the hay ride and picking out pumpkins, the Big Red Barn was full of fun things! They make delicious homemade fudges, carmel apples, apple donuts, fresh-pressed apple juice, they have an apple tasting station so you can buy freshly picked apples and pears, lots of crafts and cheeses and all sorts of things! We definitely couldn't leave without some souvenirs... too bad our souvenirs were all edible. ;)

Later that night, Tanner & I went to our ward's annual Halloween costume party and chili cook-off. I entered in some chili found on pinterest... It didn't win anything but it was still good. I recommend it!

YeeHaw! :)

Gotta love FALL festivities! More pictures of our pumpkin's all carved to come! 

Labor day

At first, I was a little disappointed that Tanner & I weren't able to go on a vacation for my two-week break between semesters but the break I had at home was just what I needed to rejuvenate and relax before school started up again. I did get to travel a bit- I spent a weekend in Boise with my family which was much needed. Coincidently, the day I was driving back, my little sis Whitney found out she would be going back to NY to finish her mission and she left 7 days later! Good timing on my part!

Labor Day was the day before I started back to dental hygiene school for my last semester! Tanner & I planned a hike for the day since we wanted to get out and enjoy the weather. Little did we know that most of Utah decided to do the same thing, on the same hike we chose. Tanner kept saying it was like an "amusement park" trying to get through the 4-mile round-trip trail to Stewart Falls and back. Utah is a bit more crowded than we give it credit for. All-in-all, it was still a GORGEOUS hike and it was so nice to be outdoors. 

This pic barely comes close to how many people we were fighting just for a spot to see the waterfall.

Beautifully scenery!

I think this was the most people Sadie had been around at one time and she did great! We had a blast taking her and it's a good thing because she pulled me most of the way :)

Busy Bees

Last weekend Tanner & I purchased all the perennial flowers I wanted for my flower beds/pot in the front yard! I am just thrilled to pieces about how my yard turned out. When we bought and moved into the house, it was November so it was difficult to tell what kind of shape the yard was in at that time. When Spring rolled around, we realized quickly that we definitely had our work cut out for us to get the yard looking even half decent. Tanner spent hours upon hours fixing the sprinklers each summer and when Tanner's Dad came to Utah a few weeks ago, they spent a few days getting them all running well. The lawn this summer looks better than it's ever looked! While I was busy planting my flower beds, Tanner decided to build something. If you know Tanner, this is not unusual since he's always got some kind of project he's working on. Finally I took the time to look at what he was doing and it turns out he was building me a raised garden for the backyard! Best birthday present ever!

Sadie checking out the new garden box Tanner built.

YAY for planting my flower beds!

Sadie just wants to be all up in your business with whatever you're doing. She REALLY wanted to help me.

Finished product!

Planted all the plants! We have tomatoes, red and green bell pepper, two types of squash and cucumber!

So the peach tree on the left is the one that's been at the house for years but got very neglected from previous owners so it's completely infested with boars. We bought a new one (little guy on the right) and we'll get the fruit from the old one and dig it up this fall.

The right side of the front door receives much more sun so this has all the "sun required" perennials.

Left side of the front door has all the shade perennials. :)

OUR HOUSE! :)

Finished garden. I'm so excited!

Each Saturday morning Tanner & I spend hours together in the morning manicuring the lawn and pulling weeds and watering our plants. I used to dread it but I've learned to love it now that we are seeing such great results from our hard work... and it's kinda fun to spend the time together! We can't wait to see if our garden will give us any vegetables this year. We will keep you all posted!

Happy Birthday to me!

What I love most about birthdays is spending it with family and having my friends wish me happy birthday. Although I don't have family super close we still got to see Tanner's sister, Kristy, when we went up to Salt Lake on Saturday to celebrate! We started out the day by sorta sleeping in (my curse is my body RARELY, if ever, lets me sleep in) and going to this awesome, hard core cross-fit gym class that totally kicked my rear. Afterwards, we got ready to go to the temple. One of the neatest things about living in Utah is we get to pick from a few different temples that are close to attend so I decided I wanted us to go to the Draper Temple since we've never been there. 

In front of Draper Temple

 After the temple, we went to Kristy's house to say hi and see her new car. She was so sweet to let us park at her apartment since she lives soo close to Temple Square and City Creek Mall which is where we went to dinner. City Creek has one of our favorite restaurants: Cheesecake Factory! One of Tanner's best friend's, Matt, met us there with his girlfriend Emily. Although we spend most of the dinner grilling Emily  (and she probably felt like she was being interrogated) she was a champ and we had a great time.

The cheesecake factory employees sang to me and the plate even said my name on it! That's our server in the background. She was awesome :)

BYU GRAD!

Tanner is a BYU graduate! Ok so his last semester was in December so his actual graduation year is 2011 but since BYU does not have a graduation ceremony until spring, he walked this weekend. It was such a fun occasion since it gives family an excuse to come see us. 

of course he drove away on his motorcycle in his cap and gown.

Tanner's family: Kristy, Dan, Kim

My family: Suzanne & Greg

THE WHOLE GANG

It was a neat ceremony to which Elder Dalin H. Oaks was the key-note speaker. Tanner didn't want to "walk" the next day since he had his diploma already so the boys decided to go shooting and blow things up while the girls went shopping. City Creek Mall in SLC is amazing. :)

2012 will be a big year for us. We're not quite sure where we will be a year for now but I guess that's the excitement of it all.

My Besties

These girls are my besties in hygiene school. They keep me sane. We spent HOURS on this project and made a poster for it.

Me, Carli, Ambria

We gave a presentation to a second grade class in Orem on good oral health. We taught them the proper way to brush and floss, and did a toothbrush exchange. It was a lot of work but we learned a lot. YAY for dental hygiene!

Last few weekends II

The weekend after Dani and her fam and everyone left the house, Tanner's Dad came to stay and visit with two teenage boys visiting the states from Denmark! Tanner's Dad is back from Afghanistan for a little while so he arranged for a friend of his from Denmark (a guy he converted while on mission there) to send his son and a friend to stay with them in California. Of course, they were not just going to hang around the Redding area. They drove ALL the way out here to Utah to hang with us!  We had so much fun showing them around. I think they thought we live in the wild west since Tanner & his Dad have so many guns! I tried to explain to them that not every American has as many guns as Tanner & his family. :)

We took a trip over to Tanner's office one night to get ice cream and play foosball and pool.

Red jacket: Mathias (Ma-tea-us). Stripes: Emil (E-meal)

Tanner and Dad N catching up.

 Friday, the boys hiked the Y, went shooting and ate at Rodizio. Saturday we woke up early and drove to SLC for conference! The Danish boys went to a session of conference and all the boys went to Priesthood together. We all walked around the new City Creek Mall (the old ZCMI center). It's AMAZING. I think I enjoyed myself a little more than the boys did. ;)

 It was such a neat experience having them stay with us. Some new things I learned:

•  When the Danish boys got here and used the restroom, they thought the toilet was broken because I guess we fill our toilets up with A LOT more water than they do. lol
• Denmark is a very socialist country-so their citizens are not allowed guns. They were amazed that people here are allowed to have guns in their homes and kept asking, "isn't that dangerous? Aren't you afraid people will go around shooting each other?" Dan did such a great job explaining that with freedom, comes responsibility. I could tell they learned a lot from him. 
• Because of their socialist country, getting a drivers license is extremely difficult. It costs them about $2000 US dollars and they can't drive until age 18. Cars and homes cost twice as much. They did mention, "well, we have free health care. We can get heart surgery for free if we need too." Dan explained to them that nothing is free. Their country taxes them 25% sales tax and 40% tax of their earned income to pay for someone else's "free heart surgery". 40%!!! I can't imagine having that much taken out of my paycheck!
• We taught the boys what a chinese fire drill is! SOO FUNNY!
• Tanner couldn't resist introducing them to atomic fireballs. We got some at the store, and on the way home the boys popped the candies into their mouths. About 2 mins in, I hear a lot of exaggerated inhaled breathing and all a sudden Mathias goes, "I'm sweating." Emil wouldn't swallow until we got home and he spit it out. It was hilarious! 

APRIL FOURTH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANNER! Yup, that's Raspberry pretzel salad Tanner wanted for his "cake". I sang happy birthday so he could blow out his candles.

Cheesy pic with our arms all stretched out trying to hold the camera. This was taken on Tan's bday. 

The last few weekends

 Tanner & I celebrated our fourth anniversary on March 14th this year! We drove to SLC and walked around temple square and the JSB and ate dinner at the Roof restaurant. It is so nice we don't have to drive far to feel like we "got away" for the weekend! Boy, four years really goes by fast! Excited for another year ahead with this absolutely wonderful man.

On their way down to Arizona, Dani and her kids and my Dad and Cameron stopped in Provo to split up their drive and stay a few nights with me! I'm sooo glad they came to see me!  Naomi and Sadie became good friends by the end of their stay!

 Sadie sure looks happy to have someone pay so much attention to her!

 On Saturday, it was a beautiful day so we decided to go to the park. Tanner & I live about 30 steps from the Provo River Trail, so we took the trail a while to a duck pond not far from my house. We took a whole loaf and bread and fed the many ducks that were there.

 Sadie definitely has the duck hunting bred in her. She REALLY wanted those ducks. Dad was nice enough to walk her around a different area of the park so she wouldn't go nuts and scare the ducks away while we fed them. After the bread was gone, we let Sadie loose... She went bazerk! She chased the ducks for quite a while, even into the water.

We finally got a hold of her and of course she shakes off right by Dad! :)

Playing with little Liv on the playground at the park.