ABC's of Thankfulness.

ABC's of Thankfulness.

a

Affirmation. One of my top love languages.

b

Best friends. I love my group of girls, the love & support.

c

Church. I love being at church so, so much. 

d

Dried dandelions. I love making dandelion dust and 

blowing wishes.

e

Elephants. They remind me of my Great Grandmother and Cambodia.

f

Family. I am such a huge family girl. 

g

Grilled pineapple. Oh how delicious.

h

Hunting. Yes, I am Daddy's little hunter girl.

i

Iced tea. 

j

Jesus.

k

Kiddies. I love being around children and have so much fun with them and their imaginations. 

l

Letters. I love snail mail.

m

Mallow. I love my little furr-baby.

n

Number 7. 

o

Outdoors. I absolutely love being in the outdoors, 

especially my mountains. Camping, 4-wheeling, etc.

p

Potatoes. I absolutely love potatoes in any shape or form.

q

Quotes.

r

Reading. I love learning and I love being swept away 

with the characters. 

s

Scott <3

t

Traveling the world.

u

US Navy. 

Hott Corpsman Husband.

v

Vernal. My small hometown that I love.

w

White chocolate + creme brulee coffee.

x

eXamine your...zebra! ;]

y

Your smile. {See, you just smiled} 

z

Zoos. I love all the animals + date nights.

Would you like some cheese with that wine?! ;]

This past week I spent some time with my in-laws and sister! 

They just moved to North Carolina, so we put house together and of course explored. Such a beautiful place. 

They are about 3 1/2 hours away, WAY closer than Utah. 

Excited.
But not as much as Mallow is, she has a new playmate! 

Driving around Greensburo.

 Yeah, we are a little crazy! 

North Carolina is home to gorgeous wineries. 

Two words, wine tasting! 

And I am old enough, even if I was carded everywhere.

And only liked the few sweet wines at the end.

-Scott and my conversation-

Me: We are at my first wine tasting! 

Adorable Husband: Awe!!!! My baby is growing up so fast...

"sniff sniff"

He's a dork, but that's why I love him! 

He makes me giggle, and giggle, and giggle.

Mallow and a fire hydrant.

I just had to.

This next winery was our absolute favorite. 

Spectacular view,I finally was able to see MOUNTAINS! 

Scott's step mom told me that they decided my sister-in-laws will both be having their weddings here, a family party, or...

 I suggested that Scott and I could already have a vow renewal. It really is THAT beautiful! 

 Not my Utah mountains, but mountains nonetheless!

Mallows new best friend, Mia. 

They were so fun to watch, especially when Mia got jealous of Mallow and everyone paying attention to her.

Sorry Mia, she's just that fully & adorable.

My Father-in-law found this park. 

I wish we had this park in Jacksonville,

Mallow and I loved it! She's an adventurous puppy. 

This past week was a blast. 

Family, restaurants, coffee, exploring, wine, movies, swimming, shopping, walks, farmers market, sister time, laughter. 

Ah, a mouthful, but such a fun week. Thanks family for having us!

"I know the Lord is always with me.

I will not be shaken,

for He is right 

beside me."
Psalm 16:8 

Shouting it to the world from the mountain tops!!

I seriously am the luckiest girl in the entire world.

I am living and loving my fairytale,  

being Scott's wife!

Annnnnd guess what?! It's already been 3 whole months! 

I can't believe that three months ago we were in Vernal, and I was about to walk down the aisle towards my prince charming and MARRY HIM. 

The most handsome man, ever! 

(Especially in uniform..aweeee)

After our beautiful ceremony and reception, we headed off to our perfect, shortly-lived honeymoon. Then, with the help from my Dad, we drove 2100 miles to our new home in North Carolina. 

Married life was something that I had always looked forward to. And with the right timing, I am LOVING being married. 

Being able to be with my best friend all the time or when the military allows.

Sharing everything with him. Finding a church family. 

Making new friends. Exploring & Experiencing life together. 

Cherishing new memories. Reminiscing old memories. 

Praying together.

Playing with our puppy. Falling asleep in each other's arms. Waking up together. Spoiling each other with the small things. 

It's seriously the best thing ever!

So, here's to three months Sweetheart! I can't wait until we have been married for fifty years looking back onto the sweet memories of our first year... 

And probably laughing hard at ourselves as we sip sweet tea in our rocking chairs on our porch. 

These are a {few} of my favorite things...

The Sound of Music is a classic. 

"When the dog bites [MALLOW!]
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad"

And has inspired me to make my own list of a few of my 

favorite things lately.

Ready?!

Bible studies. 

I found two great women's bible studies that I really love. 

Great verses and teaching, good conversations, and frrrrriends. 

They all have been so friendly and have made me feel so welcome. 

I love learning more about God, craving more and more every day!

Building the right foundations of our marriage and home.

Rain.

In Jacksonville it rains ALL THE TIME. 

And it doesn't just sprinkle and then gradually get harder, it begins as a single drop of rain and then its a down pour. 

[Haven't been caught in a storm with Lucee's top down...yet] 

But I have learned that we absolutely LOVE the pouring rain... the amazing -wakeyouupinthemiddleofthenight- thunderstorms, the gorgeous lightning shows, the romantic drenched kissing moments, the cuddling and movie watching. 

All of it. 

Cuddling.

Read it. 

Kills depression, relieves anxiety, and strengthens the 

immune system. 

So WHY in the world would cuddling not be a favorite?!

Scott and I love just being with each other, our arms around each other, enjoying whatever we might be doing right then. 

Whether we miss each other, talking, watching movies, watching lightning, wishing Mallow would leave us alone, eating ice cream, you get the picture. 

It is our favorite...and healthy too, 

not just physical but emotional and intimately!

Blogging.

I Love blogging, with a capital 'L'. 

It's such a fun and creative way to keep all my family and friends aware of what is going on in our life. 

Plus, it's such a great way to journal.

The only thing?! I tend to think of things through my 

'blogging glasses' now and I need to take in the scent of the roses, not just stop and smell and take a picture. 

Coffee.

I know, I know... "Duh", right?! 

White chocolate and caramel, my weakness.

Well, it's true. And my love for coffee has grown even more.

All the different coffee shops, the ambiance, the flavors, 

the dates, the friends, the conversations, the smiles, the smell, the taste, the reading, the mornings, and most of all...the love!

 Exploring.

Living on the East Coast is so, so, so different than Utah.

A couple of reasons: the beach, none of my beloved mountains and All of the States are so much closer, which means more states to explore.  

We love taking off on a Friday and exploring somewhere new for the weekend! 

Cooking.

Yes, you did read that correctly. 

I have never been much of a chef, besides helping my dad with his dutch ovens. 

I'm not much of a fan of cooking for one, but cooking for my Husband and I?! I really do love it. It even sounds crazy to me. 

I love finding new recipes and trying them out.

I love surprising the Hubby!

I love showing love through food and I love my "wife duties"!

Yes, yes, I know.. enjoy it now. But my goal for our marriage is to always love my wife duties. 

God wants me to be the best wife I can be. 

Reading.

I love to read a book. Not just any book, but HEAPS of books. 

I love getting so into the book that I can't hear anything around me, the characters become my best friends, and yes.. there are usually many tears. 

It is such a great adventure to live through the 

character's eyes.

Annnnnnd a way for alone time, that's a biggy!

My favorite author is Karen Kingsbury.

Take some time, find one of her books, enjoy and 

be changed for forever! 

Walking Mallow.

She is a little dog, but has the energy of...

like ten energizing bunnies all at once!

One way we like to handle this is walking her. 

But it's not just about her energy, it's about the time spent. 

We love going on a walk after dinner, hand in hand, walking our precious, a mind-of-her-own, puppy and talking about our days. 

I love walking Mallow throughout the day, making all these friends who just want to kidnap her. 

But Scott and I decided that if anyone took her, she'd be back that night after they had enough of her sweet self!

Working out.

While I was living in Australia, I fell more in love with working out. When I moved back to Vernal during Scott and my engagement, I loved working out with my mom and aunt! 

Now?! My husband is my workout partner and I love that it's one more thing we can do "together". 

Definitely makes us happier, we love being active. 

Exercise gives you endorphins.

Endorphins make you happy.

Happy people just don't shoot their husbands.

So yes, we will still continue to work out! ;] For Scott's sake!

*Thank you for taking the time and reading about some of my favorite things! Now think of yours, it's actually really fun and will make you all smiley. It's stuff that you love!*

Our Honeymoon>>My dreams!!

I have always dreamed about my wedding, honeymoon, and of course my future Husband. Not planned, just dreamed! 

But all my dreams were surpassed by reality! 

1] I was blessed with Scott. My wonderful, amazing, loving, handsome, sexy, caring, honest, 

God-chosen, (I could go on for forever!) Husband. 

2] My wedding was better than a fairy-tale wedding, seriously. Go watch the video and gasp at the photos. 

3] Our honeymoon had to be re-planned due to Scott's work and moving cross country, but we had the best time together. Jacksonhole and Yellowstone. In the mountains, my favorite place to be! 

So you see, reality definitely surpassed my dreams. 

God knew what was best and knew the desires of my heart!

{Psalm 37:4}

Here are some pictures of our amazing first adventure as Husband and Wife! 

Notice my fancy MRS. shirt and his sexy ring! 

This is the hotel in Jacksonhole that we stayed at! 

Even had a fireplace in the room :]

This was so special to us. My grandparents had given this card to my parents on their honeymoon and told them to open it their first night. My parents then gave it to us and we opened it on our first night! I can't wait until my brother and sister get to experience that! 

Total tourist moment here, but had to!! 

Ps. Another thing that was special about our honeymoon in Jacksonhole and Yellowstone was that my parents honeymooned here! Also, before Scott and I started dating, we went on a church trip to Wyoming. We went to Jacksonhole for a day, and then after that Scott and I started talking. and talking. and talking. ;] So this trip was extra special for us. Along with the fact that this was our last 'Mountain' trip before heading to only beach country. 

THE best ice cream we have ever had. A special vanilla bean mixed with huckleberry. YUM!

Mr. and Mrs. Cummings! 

Grand Tetons. 

Road trip through Yellowstone, gorgeous! 

We got to stay in the old rooms at Old Faithful! So much fun:]

We drove next to these guys for thirty minutes. 

Amazing creatures. 

One of the bears we saw! 

Scott spotted a mom with two cubs earlier. 

Breakfast at Bubba's. 

Thanks for my dad for recommending the coffee, biscuits and gravy. Delicious!

Our honeymoon was fantastic! We couldn't have asked for anything else, well.. maybe more than four days ha. I loved being able to spend time with my husband in the fresh, crisp air. 

Loving and learning more and more of each other. 

It was an absolutely perfect way to begin our marriage. 

fam{ILY}

I'm the girl that every one knows as an all-time family girl. I'm a daddy's girl, my mom is my best friend, and I love my siblings to death. I was the one who would rather spend time with my family than anything else. 

That being said, my favorite kind of day now is: Husband+Family! What can be better than that?! The truth about that statement is that we don't get that opportunity very often, which saddens me greatly. Scott gets a long with my family so well, and my family loves him dearly. I was planning a trip home this month [along with my trip in December] but decided to just have one trip. Ugh. So instead of spending time with them, I am choosing to write about my awesome family... starting with my Daddy!

This picture was taken right before our Daddy-Daughter dance.

 The dance that I had been dreaming about ever since I was a little girl when I knew I wanted to marry a man just like my Daddy. {And I definitely would say my prince charming fits the mold!} We danced to "I Loved Her First", a song I picked years ago just for this exact moment. 

I truly am a daddy's girl. I love hearing about his work, learning survival techniques, taking long hikes and four-wheeler rides, everything he has to offer. He is such a godly man, a hard worker, and someone everyone can go to. Plus gives the best hugs... and bedtime stories. Definitely the best bedtime stories.

My mummy dearest! Ever since I lived in Australia, I have called her Mummy. 

Right before the reveal Scott and I did right before the wedding, being in my mom's arms was where I wanted to be. She was so breath-taking beautiful and was so happy for me. 

My parents made sure I got the wedding of my dreams, both helping me with their own ideas and suggestions. 

My mom is definitely my best friend, we talk at least twice a day. She has taught me so much in life and the real meaning of love. I love being able to call her up and hear her tell me everything is going to be okay. It is so hard not being able to just get in my car and be with her. We have the best girl's nights!! 

AND... she comes to visit in October!! :D

My brother. 

This moment is such a precious moment to me, the dance between my brother and I. As emotional as this next step in my life was already, we didn't know this was the last time we'd be together before I left for North Carolina. He was away working out of town when Scott and I got back from our honeymoon and we had to leave without our goodbyes. But this, this dance was our precious goodbye.

My brother and I grew up best friends, always outside playing. Cowboys and Indians, building forts, 4-wheeling, car washes, climbing trees, linking logs, everything. There was never a dull moment in our childhood. Being away from my brother is super hard, but it makes seeing him sweeter. I love being the one he goes to about girls and life, I love being that to and for him. I love that our last adventure before leaving was me holding onto the back of him on the Blaster at night, both of us laughing uncontrollably! Priceless.

My sissy! 

My sister was my maid of honor. She's just so darn cute! I love being her older sister, the one she goes to. The one to teach her the little things. To have a million sleepovers, sharing stories and secrets till the odd hours in the night. She is so smart and talented. 

She spent the last couple of spring breaks with me at college and I can't wait 

until she can come spend them and summers with me all over the world! 

I can't wait to give her that taste of travel and new experiences! 

She is coming with my mom and my little cousin in October to North Carolina and I am so excited to show her around and give her a huge squeeze!! 

Phew, that definitely helped with my homesickness for my family. Thanks for letting me tell you all 

about my loving family!