Summer Cravings

I realize that it's been months since I last wrote, but life has been CRAZY! Nathan and I are still alive and doing well, but barely.

This semester has been the hardest either of us has ever had. I've been student teaching about 8 weeks and I have 6 weeks left. Over halfway done! I'm getting excited to be done, then I can join the real world and get a job!

There's one thing I'm more excited for than graduation, and that's SUMMER! I really can't wait any longer. This winter has been so cold and so long.

I'm craving flowers, BBQ's, walks in Logan Canyon, gardening, warm summer rains, cantaloupe and watermelon, Jello, sunburns, the smell of fresh cut alfalfa, and riding my horse.

I've still got to wait until at least the middle of April for it start being nice. 6 weeks?! I can't wait that long! At least tomorrow is Day Light Savings (about time!). Now when I get home from school, it will still be light!

So here are some pictures from last summer. I can't wait to start complaining about hot it is!

Springs in Clifton are the best!

I'm excited for fresh produce!

Fresh Cherry Tarts!

Alfalfa Blooms

Baby chickens!

The best part of summer!

Top 12 of 2012 and 13 goals for 2013

Whoa it has been about a whole month! December was so busy with finals, holiday parties, and a little R&R. I love the holidays, but I'm glad they're over. Now I can concentrate on student teaching and graduating college! Woo Hoo!
2012 was quite the year, we both may have lost our childhood dogs this year, but everything else was fantastic! I learned how to quilt and can, I voted for the first time in my life, and I got to see Def Leppard for the third time. Nathan learned how to saddle his own horse and made more friends. Here's our year in review and what we hope to accomplish in 2013.

Our Top 12 Favorite Happenings of 2012

1. Survived our first year of Marriage! Go us!
2. Stephanie never has to take another college final
3. Nathan got an A in 4 out of 6 classes fall semester
4. We added a kitty named Clover to our family
5. Finally figured out how to keep fish alive, now we have an awesome fish tank!
6. Had a great time in Spring Creek & Wells NV with Silver Sage FFA and the Brough Family Ranch in March
7. Def Leppard and Poison Concert in June, and RockStar Uproar Festival in September
8. Getting to be a flag girl for the Preston Night Rodeo
9. We didn't get pregnant! ;)
10. Nathan got to play in Clifton's 24th of July Softball Tournament 
11. Summer horse rides 
12. Recruiting for USU through Nevada in November

13 Goals for 2013

1. Work out at least twice a week (laugh now, but we're really going to try)
2. Nathan finishes this spring semester with a  3.5 GPA
3. Steph survives student teaching and graduates college!
4. Steph gets a full-time job with her degree!
5. Go on a honeymoon (hopefully to the Oregon coast)
6. Go to at least one concert together
7. Find an actual house to live in where we can have our horses and animals (no more apartments)
8. Go on more horse rides this summer
9. Have a really great time at Nathan's 5-year Class Reunion in July
10. Go on a date the first weekend of every month
11. Have awesome Halloween costumes!
12. Finish my Halloween Quilt and the Double Wedding Ring Quilt
13. Watch the Star Wars Trilogy all the way through (Steph will probably fall asleep)

RockStar Uproar Festival

Scholarship Banquet

Halloween

The night we got Clover

I voted for the first time ever!

Addi now has a friend that she absolutly loves

Addi's 2nd Christmas

Poison and Def Leppard

One Year!

3rd year as a flag girl

Learned how to can

Learned how to quilt (hopefully this one gets done this year)

Day 30

This month of gratefulness has been a lot of fun, but alas the end of the month has arrived. Now we can celebrate Christmas!

Stephanie: Today I am very, very grateful for my wonderful husband. I have been so blessed to have him in my life. He has an amazing work ethic, drive to graduate school, and love for me. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to have him in my life. He's everything to me and I try to make life easier for him to the best of my abilities. Our first anniversary is on Monday (when did that happen?!). Time sure flies when you're having fun! Marrying Nathan has been the best decision I've ever made. So here's to surviving our first year of marriage and to many, many more anniversaries to come!

Nathan: Today I'm thankful for my old dog Patches. She helped me so much growing up. That's the beautiful thing about good pets, they literally love you more that they love themselves. While growing up we were inseparable, I could seriously never get her to stay home. She followed me everywhere because she always wanted to be with me. She taught me so much about responsibility and how to take care of another life. She also taught me how to love, she helped me through the hardest years of my life and I love her now and forever for it. She might have loved me more than I loved her but I sure tried my best to match her. I'll never forget her, no matter how many other dogs I'll own, she holds a special place in my heart.

Day 28 and 29

Day 28:

Stephanie: Today I am grateful for my little cat Clover. She drives me crazy sometimes, but I still love her. She loves to run around the house raise hell and then come over to me and sleep on my shoulder. She's now almost four months old and I can't believe how much she's grown in the past couple months!

Baby Clover!

She was so cute as a tiny, tiny kitten

Four weeks old

Four Months old

Nathan: Today I'm thankful for the Constitution of the United States of America. It is the greatest, most inspired document that's ever been written. It's the people's job to protect it by electing appropriate officials, I feel like we have failed in the last decade, but I have faith that we will come back and rise to the challenge again.

Day 29:

Stephanie: I am so grateful for my Addi dog! She's such a fun and sweet spirit and makes our lives so much better. I can't believe how lucky we got when we found her outside of Smith and Edwards for 20 bucks. She's the reason that Nathan and I decided to finally get married (I guess you could say we had child together before we got married). I love her so much and I'm grateful everyday for her!

Baby Addi!

She was so adorable as a puppy!

This is how she sleeps most of time

She loves her dad!

This is my most favorite picture ever

Nathan: Tonight I'm thankful for the end of the semester. It's so close but yet so much to do till then.

Day 27

Stephanie: Today I am grateful that I live somewhere that has all four seasons. I absolutely love the changing seasons, even winter. There's something to be said about a mountain side that will bloom with spring growth, be green and lush in summer, colorful in fall, and look majestic and romantic with winter snow.

Summer

Fall

Winter

Spring

Nathan: I'm thankful for modern transportation. It allows us to be more productive by spending less time traveling. Plus walking everywhere would get old.

Day 20 through 26

Okay, okay, okay we are complete slackers and we know it. Life got incredibly, nut-so busy last week. So here's a week of thankfulness!


Day 20

Stephanie:This one will sound silly, but I am so grateful for indoor plumbing. There are parts of this world that people don't have it, I am SO glad I have it!

Nathan: I'm thankful for a warm bed and a wife to fill it.

Day 21

Stephanie: I am so thankful for family traditions. I love my family's traditions and I can't wait to start my own! I already have some ideas!

Nathan: I'm thankful for cheese and the amazing food that it is.

Day 22

Stephanie:I love Thanksgiving! I'm so glad that we get to celebrate it every year!

Nathan: I'm thankful for Thanksgiving and the chance to spend time with all our families.

Day 23

Stephanie: I am grateful for warm showers. My house does not have very warm water, so I really appreciate it when I get to shower somewhere that has scalding hot water.

Nathan: I'm thankful for my constant drive to better myself and that I'm not lazy.

Day 24

Stephanie: I'm grateful for birthdays, everybody's birthday! I plan months ahead for Nathan's Birthday, I love to spoil him because it's his one day to be selfish (Nathan isn't good at being selfish). My birthday is a month away and I'm already planning my party :)

Nathan: I'm thankful for FFA and all the learning experiences I've had.

Day 25

Stephanie: I"m thankful for cuddling. It's my favorite. I love it when Nathan comes home from work and wants to cuddle, but falls asleep within five minutes of cuddles. I also love to cuddle Addi. Cuddling is Addi's favorite too.

Nathan: I'm thankful for amazing in-laws and the love that they've shown me.

Day 26

Stephanie: I am grateful for my glasses. I literally cannot see without them (my eyesight is 20/500). I'm truly impaired without them, I can't drive, clean my house, go to class, or even watch tv without them.

Nathan: I'm thankful for happiness because life would be sad without it :)

Day 18 and 19

Day 18:

Stephanie: I am grateful for all the wonderful teachers I have had in my life. I know that I would never have passed any of math classes in high school if it wasn't for the patience of Mrs. Bingham. I wouldn't be anywhere in my life if it wasn't Mr. Summers, my ag teacher. He helped to fuel my passion for agriculture and motivate me to become an ag teacher. In college I have had so many wonderful professors. Thank you Dr. Warnick and Dr. Lawver for being such great examples and leaders!

Nathan: Tonight I am thankful for my sister Natasha (AKA Tasha). She is such an amazing sister and has been there for me my whole life. When we were younger she would have loved to kill me but now I like to think that she would love to kill anyone for me. She's an amazing mother and a loving sister. I hope to someday be as good a parent as she is.

Day 19:

Stephanie: I am so thankful for the FFA. This program has given me everything in my life. I wouldn't have most of the friends I do, my self-confidence, my future career, or my husband if it wasn't for the FFA. I love the FFA with all my heart and I hope to be a good adviser one day. Learning to do, doing to learn. Earning to live, living to serve. - FFA Motto

Senior Year of FFA

State Degree

National FFA Convention 2011

I got to marry an FFA Nerd just like me!

Nathan: Tonight I'm thankful for Monday Night Football. This program has provided me with hours of entertainment. Some of the most memorable events of the last decade and of my life has come from MNF.