Hawaii

So in the beginning of November we got to go to Oahu, Hawaii! We had so much fun. It was amazing! We can't wait to get a chance to go back. I know it's taken me a while to get a post written about this but I always like to say better late than never! So without further ado here are our favorite Hawaii memories!

The first day we were there we went and visited the USS Arizona Memorial. It was very humbling to be there and we both really enjoyed getting to see it.

Then we got to go visit the Polynesian Cultural Center that same day. It is so fun there! We got to go to the luau they have for dinner (they even cooked the pig in a pit in the ground)!We had the once in a lifetime experience to go to the Laie Hawaii Temple Open House! What a gorgeous temple.Then we went to Pali lookout. Brandon didn't believe me when I was telling him how windy it is there, but I think the picture of my hair says it all :)We also got to visit the USS Missouri while we were there.We went to the Dole Pineapple plantation which was a lot of fun. We got to have a dole whip which is basically frozen pineapple ice cream heaven! We actually ended up going back our last day to get just one more before we left.Our last day watching the sunset over the ocean. That's diamond head in the background which is one of the volcanoes on the island. We didn't get a chance to hike up to the top so we're going to save it for next time we get to go :)

November Quote

Well it's officially the last day of November and I'm just barely getting around to posting the monthly quote. I really like this one and I think it speaks for itself so I'm not going to say much about it. It is:
"If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory." - William Hazlitt
It's a good reminder on how important our faith is in everything we do. As I'm sure you know we went to Hawaii at the beginning of the month. I have finally gotten our pictures on my computer and now I just have to find time when I have that and the Internet to post about it. Don't worry, I'm hoping it will be this week. :) Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, it was good to stop and think about everything we are blessed with.

October

I love October. It's such an awesome month, and the quote of the month this time is just as awesome. It says...
"Think big, for there's no greater delight than living your dreams." -Anonymous
I think I may frame this one somewhere. It's just so inspiring and is a good reminder to always think big so you can live your dreams. Well, that's all for now, I just wanted to share the quote with all of you. (since it's now almost the end of October and it will soon be time for the November quote. :) )

Anniversary #2

Wow! 2 years already! This month was our 2nd anniversary and I can hardly believe it. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun! We have accomplished a lot in the past year and have had a lot of fun adventures while doing it!

First was that we bought our house! Yay! We moved in on Halloween and spent the next 2 months fixing it up and basically completely re-doing the upstairs. We're talking paint, carpet, deep cleaning, and new trim. But it was so worth it, we love where we live and it was well worth the wait.

I graduated from college. Woo Hoo! and Brandon started college the same semester I finished...which was a little stressful but we made it work.

We each hit a milestone birthday. Brandon turned 25 and I turned 20!

We went boating a lot this summer and had some really fun times.

We went to Moab.

We got a rat, and said goodbye to our fishy friend who has been with us since the very beginning.

We kept up our tradition of getting a foot long corn dog at the State Fair!

It has been an amazing year. I'm more in love with Brandon every day and I wouldn't give up the life we have together for anything. Happy anniversary to my best friend for eternity!
P.S. I will be adding pictures on Saturday...but I wanted to get this up when it was still September! :)

Nina the rat!

Meet our new hood rat! We got Nina just before the fourth of July and we love her! She is adorable and has some of the quirkiest habbits. I think Brandon and I attract odd pets. I mean Missy is way cute but she is such a goofball and now Nina is the same way! It's okay because that just means they fit in perfectly with us. :)

London. Paris. Moab!

So maybe some day we'll get to visit those first two places, but we can now say that we have been to Moab! And it was so much fun! So this vacation was like clear back in June...but we've been so busy since then that I'm just now getting around to telling you all about it. We went for a combined graduation trip for Nathan and I and we visited Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It is so pretty down there, it just made me love Utah even more. We had such a blast seeing everything, there are some really amazing and beautiful landscapes down there. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Brandon and I made sure we go a picture in front of every arch we hiked too, some of them were a pretty big accomplishment! Enjoy!

September!

September is my very most favorite month for a lot of reasons. September is the beginning of autumn, which is my favorite time of year. I love seeing all of the changes going on in the world and I love the weather cooling down. Have you noticed that everything smells different in autumn? And there are a lot of wonderful sounds too, everything from crunching leaves to rain drops on the window. It's a happy time of year. Another reason is that September is when I got to marry my best friend in the most wonderful place on earth. That is used a lot when talking about Disneyland, but having been to both places I beg to differ. There is nowhere happier or more amazing to be then in the temple. These are some pictures I took when we went to Temple Square for date night this summer. (they have the most awesome concerts in the Brigham Young park across the street from Temple Square during the summer months.) Also here is the quote of the month, I really like this one!

"Act as if it were impossible to fail." -Dorothea Brande

I think that's really good advice and something I'm going to remember. If it were impossible to fail, I think I would try a lot of things I've been nervous to do. How many opportunities do we miss out on in life because we're afraid of failure. This reminds me of how important it is to put yourself out there and be brave. That way you know you won't have any regrets as you're living life.

I hope you have all had a fun summer! There will be a lot of post following this one to make up for everything I've been saying will get posted and never does :)

August quote...

Now that it's almost September...which is weird (time is going by way to fast recently) I'm finally getting around to posting the August quote of the month! It says
"When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them." -Confucius
Words of wisdom I think I could stand to remember. When you really think about it how often do you find yourself saying "I love myself and am happy with who I am." Um, not as often as I think I should. So I've been trying to be happy with myself. Yeah, I have faults. There are things that I want to change about myself. I could make a whole list for you, but I won't. Because I've re-realized recently that to truly be happy, you need to stop dwelling on the negative. You need to abandon your faults and not let them control your life. Now I'm not saying don't set goals for yourself, but be happy on the journey. Don't say, I need to fix this or change that and until then I won't be truly happy. Because I think, no I believe, that if you do that, you're going to end up looking back at your life and realizing how many opportunities you missed. So abandon your faults, and love who you are.
On a lighter note, I finally got my pictures on my computer from my camera. I know, it's been forever since I said I would get them posted, but I'm serious this time. They're just waiting for me! So check back and I'll make sure I'll get them posted soon!

Quote of the Month #5...Finally

Well everyone I'm finally getting around to posting my quote of the month #5. Call it irony but this quote fits perfectly with the fact that I was lagging behind a bit this month. The quote is...

"It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop." - Confucius

Love it! It's always good to remember that we should always be moving forward and that life isn't a race. We all do stuff at our own pace and there is no rule that says you have to keep up with someone, just don't stop moving. Kind of reminds me of a certain bunny and turtle, slow and steady.

We have had so much going on this month, I feel like we've hardly been home. And when we are home, our evening consist of laundry and packing for the next adventure. I'm working on getting more posts up with pictures of what we've been doing. We went on a Moab vacation, 4th of July trip, boating trip, and we have a new furry addition to our family to blog about. Woo hoo, lots of fun updates!

Quote #4

"Admire those who attempt great things, even if they fail." -Seneca
It took me a little longer this month to get my quote posted but I think I did pretty good to get it within the first week. :) I really like this quote. It reminds me of the importance of recognizing people's efforts. And of the importance of recognizing our own efforts. This quote can apply to ourselves just as much as it applies to others. We need to recognize that we have attempted something great. Whether we succeed or not.
It's been a really busy week so I'll make sure to post pictures of what we've been up to. We've gone camping, been to graduation (thank heavens we only had to do one, I guess that's the benefits of having your brother and your brother-in-law go to the same high school :) ) and family bbq's, and we still have another party tomorrow. Yay for summer! (And I thought I wouldn't have anything to do now that I'm done with school!)

Quote of the Month #3

"Imagination is far more important than knowledge."-Albert Einstein
I just think this is an awesome statement. Especially coming from someone who is a genius. I think being smart is really important, and I love learning new things but I think there comes a time where you just need to let your imagination take over. There is a new commercial on t.v. now that is for some phone company. But they have the song from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory playing in the background. I've always felt a very special connection to this movie for obvious reasons and I've always loved this song but it just gave me a new perspective when I read this quote. I'm sure you've all heard this song but here are the lyrics.

Come with me
And you'll be
In a world of
Pure imagination
Take a look
And you'll see
Into your imagination

We'll begin
With a spin
Traveling in
The world of my creation
What we'll see
Will defy
Explanation

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it

There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You'll be free
If you truly wish to be

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it

There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You'll be free
If you truly
Wish to be
So go ahead, use your imagination. Day dream, doodle, create, read a book, be imaginative.

Recent Happenings

Well everyone, I'm officially done with school! Graduation was on April 15th and my portfolio event was on April 8th. It's kind of weird now having a lot of free time, our house has been really clean this past week. :) I'm going to post more pictures tomorrow, but these are the ones I have on my jump drive right now. (They were the ones that I posted on my design blog so they're not really the fun ones with Brandon and my family, those are still on my camera and will be posted tomorrow.)

Brandon's Post

So, Brandon was telling me the other day that he’s feeling left out from the blog. So I decided to dedicate an entire post to my darling husband so you all can get to know more about him. :)
His favorite dinner ever is wet burritos. Now I know that may sound interesting, but they’re basically microwavable enchiladas. His Mom would even send him all of the non-perishable ingredients for every major holiday and his birthdays while he was on his mission.
He absolutely loves the boat. He would spend every weekend all year out on a lake if he could, if he wouldn’t be a popsicle by the time we got back to shore. During this particular trip he leaned over the bow like that and then turned to me and said “Look, it’s like Titanic!”

He absolutely loves teasing the dog, and says that one day he wants to get a basset hound.

Some of his favorite activities are playing xbox and going hunting. However he never plays a hunting game on xbox.

He also loves John Deere stuff for some reason, and when we recently got a lawn mower, he was so excited that it was yellow and green because then he could put a John Deere sticker on it. :)
He's always willing to go along with whatever crazy idea I have, and is always really supportive of what I'm doing. Thanks Brandon for everything you do, I love you!

Quote 2

Here is my calendar quote for the month. I really like this one because it has been such a crazy month. Portfolio is tonight and then graduation is next week. I've been feeling stretched thin but really happy with myself at the same time because I did it! It's such an awesome feeling to be this close to graduating from college. Here is the quote
"Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it. -Ethiopian Proverb"
Isn't that so perfect. When I'm constantly running around being so busy, I miss everything that is good and I don't enjoy it. I've always considered myself a pretty optimistic person but from now on I'm going to be looking for the good in everything that happens. Hope you all have a wonderful day! I'll be sure to post pictures of my portfolio tomorrow or Saturday. Oh, also, I started a design blog on my own it is kirstenelizabethdesigns.blogspot.com so go check it out!

Life's Story...

I found this quote from the general Young Womens Broadcast on this blog that I read sometimes (more like blog stalk but come on, who doesn't :)). I can't wait to read the whole thing when they get it posted on the church website. From what I can find online his talk was about how overcoming adversity is the key to "happily ever after". I just loved this quote, it was a nice reminder to keep your chin up and keep going. Enjoy!

"Why must all experience sadness and tragedy? Why could we not simply live in bliss and peace, each day filled with wonder, joy and love? In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way."
"None is exempt. You will suffer, be tempted and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned: through overcoming challenges comes growth and strength.
"It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself that determines how your life's story will develop."

- Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said at the Young Womens General Broadcast on Sunday March 28, 2010

Quote of the Month...

At work I have this calendar that has a quote for each month along with a gorgeous nature picture (I'm a sucker for a good nature shot. I think it's the colors found in nature. They're so pure and beautiful.) So I figured that this year I'll make sure and post that quote on the first day or every month. At least that way I can guarantee one post a month. :) This month the quote is from an amazing classic author...
"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many..." -Charles Dickens
How awesome is this quote, and how true. Recently our family has been having some hard times. For those of you who don't know Brandon's Grandma passed away in February. And my Great-Grandpa passed away on Christmas Eve. Although both of these have been hard, I find myself realizing how blessed we are. How wonderful having the gospel in our lives is, and what a blessing it is to have that understanding that we will see our loved ones again and be with them. What a blessing the temple is and how amazing it is that our families are eternal. I wouldn't trade this knowledge for anything in the world. Remember that there are blessings in every trial we go through. We may not see them until much later but they're there.