Tabernacle Christmas Concert

David and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert with David Archuleta. It was a long drive for a quick concert but it was well worth it. David Archuleta was great and it really put us in the Christmas spirit. The beautiful temple lights along with the cold weather and hot chocolate finally made this Christmas season feel real.

 I love this picture of Amanda :)

ASU Graduate!

Last week, David graduated with his Bachelors in Business Management degree from ASU. HOORAY!! I am so proud of him. I am so glad he is done for a while and we actually get to see each other in the evenings.  He is such a great example to me and I can't wait until I am done too! CONGRATS DAVID!

Oops!

Apparently, David takes coed softball a little too seriously!

About 3 weeks ago David slid into 3rd base (and was safe) but hurt his wrist pretty bad. Because we had Trek coming up in 2 days he didn't have it looked at in fear he wouldn't be able to go. Well his wrist continued to bother him. Then, this past Friday, he again felt it was necessary to slide into 3rd base and re-injured his wrist. He finally had it x-rayed today and came home with this black beauty. His biggest concern at this point is that when the cast comes off his arm will be too skinny. I don't know what our softball team is going to do without our most dedicated player!

Pumpkin Carving

I am not a big fan of pumpkin carving. It's messy, sticky, stinky, time consuming and mine always turn out looking lame. However, pumpkin carving is a traditional Halloween activity and it doesn't feel right to not carve. Last year we carved watermelon. It was tasty and not so stinky but mine still turned out really lame! Plus, the shell of a watermelon is a quite thin which makes carving extra tricky.

Mine is on the left, go figure!

Well, this year David had a stroke of genius when he suggested that we carve a block of ice. What could be better than ice sculpting? Way better than carving pumpkins! Due to our lack of experience in ice sculpting we decided that sculpting a shoe would be enough of a challenge. 

Isn't it impressive :)

I'm just not sure what to do with now... 

Fall Festivities!

I love this time of year! I love the cooler weather and all the fun outdoor activities we get to enjoy after a long, hot summer. This weekend David and I went to Vertuccio Farms.

This place was equipped with all of the fun fall activities. Although, David and I trying to determine between a donkey and a goat was fun (David was right, it was a donkey), the corn maze is always my favorite part. There were six stations within the corn maze that we had to find and without a flashlight it was quite tricky.

Just before going into the maze

Wandering around the maze

The boy at the entrance of the maze said that it would probably take us five hours... we must look stupid or something. However, I made sure he noticed when we came out in under an hour. Fall is way too short in Arizona and I'll be sad when Halloween is over and winter comes around, but until then I am ready to enjoy the beautiful weather and fun festivities. 

Third Time's a Charm

David and I just got back from a three day pioneer trek. I went on trek twice as a youth, but this time I was lovingly known as Mama Bean. David and I had been preparing for the trek since April and were so excited when it was finally time to go. We had 9 lovely pioneer children who were awesome. They called themselves the Bean Team and were troopers as we pulled the handcart a total of 22 miles. We weren't allowed to bring a camera on the trail but here are some pictures we took before and after.

Before

After

Although we came home dirty and exhausted, it's hard to describe how much fun we had. We really enjoyed getting to know the youth and sharing our testimony with them. I gained a greater appreciation for my own pioneer ancestors and all that they did for me. I think that I have had my fair share of trek experiences though :)

We're NOT Gardeners

But I feel more and more like a nurse all the time!

D.I. Treasure!

We walked into D.I. looking for some old books for a decorating idea I had, and walked out with a couple of awesome bowling balls. We felt pretty cool walking into the bowling alley with our $4 bowling balls! I think mine is lucky!

Summer Time

When your backyard isn't big enough for a pool, there is only one answer to the AZ heat...

Idaho!

A couple of weeks ago we went with David's parents and brother to Idaho to visit his grandparents. We had such a great time! The weather was perfect and the surroundings were gorgeous. I really love David's family and had so much fun hanging out for a few days.

We got to go white-water rafting! I had never been before and was a little nervous but once we got going, it was a blast. Somehow I ended up in the very front of the raft and got soaked. I was glad I never fell completely out of the raft because the water was freezing!

We got to go rock climbing. I love to rock climb so it was fun to try a new place and hang out with David's family.

Idaho is so green and David's grandma has a beautiful backyard. I took one look at it and decided it was a perfect setting for an intense game of croquet. Mind you, I have never played croquet before but I just knew this was a perfect place for the game. So,  I convinced everyone that we needed to play an intense yet classy game of croquet. So we rounded up a croquet set and watched some instructional videos on youtube and had ourselves a lonely game.

One of my favorite things about our trip to Idaho was the illegal fireworks! David, Shawn and I had a blast shooting roman candles at each other!  I am sure if you live somewhere that allows you to buy fireworks, this is an old trick but we couldn't get enough. We even had to go back the second night and buy more.

All in all it was a really fun trip and I am glad that I finally got to met most of David's family!

BBQ Anyone?

This past week we bought a barbecue grill for the back patio! We have wanted a grill for a while and now that it's summer, we decided it was the perfect time to get one. David was really excited until he opened the box and started sorting through the many pieces. David will be the first to admit that he isn't the handiest guy but who knew it would take him 3 hours to put together a grill? :) Needless to say, we have been enjoying some yummy barbecue.

A little update on our garden. The corn, watermelon and carrots are coming along great... we lost our peas :( 

Escape from the Heat

Last weekend we went with my parents, Lexie and the Wilkinson family to the cabin for the long Memorial Day weekend. The cabin is one of my favorite places. I love the relaxing feeling and beautiful surroundings. We spend all day saturday on the dirt bikes in the forest. I absolutely love dirt biking and this trip was no exception. I would have rode all day long if I could have.

We are now sporting awesome sunburn lines

It was nice to get away from the heat and enjoy a relaxing weekend. Unfortunately, the weekend ended with my dad being flown to the hospital. He has had a few complications with since having his gull bladder removed but is recovering! At least my mom enjoyed the flight :)

Visit to Provo

In May,  I went to Provo to visit my cousin Jessi.  The plane ticket was a birthday present from David and I was so excited to go. Jessi and I had so much fun together, as always! Some highlights from my trip include:

- Brian Regan
- Lots of girl talk
- Studying on BYU campus
- Making homemade bread
- Yoga with Heather
- Being sore the whole trip from yoga
- Catching up with old friends
- Making new Friends
- Bridal Veil Falls
- Methylene Blue Brownies
-Visting grandma
-Amanda cutting my hair
-Todd the travel agent

Thanks Jessi for making my trip so fun and thank you David for buying me the plane ticket! I love you both!

                          

R.I.P. Jello