Unexpected Christmas Gift

So far married life has been great. I work a lot, but Brandon has been cooking and feeding me well while still working and going to school. He is amazing. Which is a good thing. Saturday we found out that we are going to be parents!!!! To a 14 year old! Gotcha didn't I? But it's true we are becoming "Responsible Adults" for my half brother/nephew Zach. Now it is a long and confusing story to explain how we are related.......so to skip all of that and get to the rest of the story. Zach will be coming around Christmas. My Grandma who is raising him and his younger brother is having some health issues and it's become to much to do on her own (this is the Grandma who lost her husband in August). She was at her wits end and Brandon and I agreed to take Zach in.

Its overwhelming to be honest. I cried a few times on Sunday because I was overwhelmed. I would probably be better getting a 4 year old, I'm much better with kids.  Also I'm not ready to be a mom. That is why we had decided to wait for children. I was a little frustrated as well. How were we going to afford moving and taking care of a teenager? What about our goals and plans and dreams? I wanted to help and give him a better life, but I was also being selfish. Since then I'm better. I've been praying and number crunching and calling schools and I feel better.

Brandon and I found a house to rent through the company I am currently working for. Its a 2 bed 2 bath for $650 a month. Well within our price range and we are very excited. We talked with the school district and we now have the paperwork to be the responsible adults for Zach. Grandma willing be sending money each month to help with Zach's expenses. We plan on getting Zach involved with several activities and thankfully I have friends and family that have children Zach's age. I'm also getting a little excited about have a place of our own. We have enjoyed living with Kathleen, but it feel right for everyone to be moving on now. I will continue to work at the college part time just to continue to help pay all the bills. Needless to say Brandon and I will be very busy, but all will be well. I'm just very grateful that Brandon has experience working with teens. Thank goodness! I'm going into this with a lot of uncertainty, apprehension, hope and faith. I have a feeling though that everything will be alright. Heavenly Father has blessed us so far, I have no reason to believe he wont now.

Besides that I'm also freaking out.....just a little......because Christmas is around the corner and soon after that our Open House! I'm looking forward to getting the lastly mentioned chore out of the way. Don't get me wrong I'm excited to see family and friends, but I have NEVER wanted to plan a reception/open house thingy. Ever. Thankfully I have Bonni and Terynn Jones helping me out. Also my mother-in-law Jackie has been a great help and she doesn't even live here. I have been very blessed to have wonderful people to share their talents with me.

 I can't think of anything else to write about at this time.....okay I have a lot racing through my mind, but the effort and energy it would take to write it all down....forget. Wish us luck and I'll write more at an unspecific time in the future.

Mr. and Mrs. Roth

Well readers it's true. I am a married woman.

 Brandon and I had a planned elopement (we had a date, but we literally planned everything three days before....so I think it still counts as an elopement) on October 11, 2012. Or in another way 10.11.12! We had our bishop marry us in the beautiful Snow Canyon Park. We had three witnesses, four if you count the one and only Rex Jones. The ceremony began around 8:45 and was only about 15 minutes long. We snapped some pictures, signed the papers, hugged everyone, and that was it! It was simple, sweet, and exactly what I wanted. I will admit I was missing my parents....but in the end it all worked out and we are now happily married.

It was a beautiful morning!

 

We both said "I do!" Actually we both said "Yes" because we are boring like that. 

Our wedding party.

Love these ladies! Also a shout out to the amazing Sarah who created my vintage inspired necklace. She hand strung each of those pearls. Check out her website http://www.jaydjewelry.blogspot.com/ for more amazing creations.

We both love the red sandstone of St. George!

I have to say....my shoes are amazing!

Rex and I have been so excited for this shot! We have been scheming as to when and where for weeks!

This a favorite.....love this panoramic view!

Shortly after the wedding Brandon and I began our....very unique and also simple honeymoon. We head east to Kanab! We had a couples massage, dinner, and then a quiet night at the Mesa suite at Bob Bon Inn (excellent place to stay). This room was awesome! Great big comfy king size bed with a custom bed frame. 44" flat screen TV, awesome heater....and surprising quite for being so close to the main road.

Anyway...the following day we were suppose to go the Lake Powell for  a kayaking trip, but the weather had other plans. Due to raining and thunderstorms we decided to be spontaneous and adventurous.

We started driving south-west to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! The drive was beautiful! Neither of us had been to the North Rim so we were pretty excited. We were about 30 minutes away when we started seeing snow flakes, that's right folks snow.

 Now I love looking at pictures of snow and the beautiful landscapes.....but I honestly struggle liking snow. I am a desert girl, and it takes a lot of mental convincing to bring myself to enjoy snow. Now you tell me if you saw this scenery if you wouldn't be a little....shall we say skeptical?

We arrived at Angel Point and saw.....incredible views of....gray? Yeah we didn't get the breath taking vista's we had read about instead there was a gray foggy abyss. Well so much for that brilliant plan! So the two of us came up with another plan. Lets go for a hike! With some compromising we finally decided on a 2 mile hike down into the Grand Canyon. We were hoping that if descended in elevation we might be able to get below the cloud line. No such luck....as you can see from the pictures.

The sign says this is an overlook.....ha some over look!

After about 45 minutes or so we made it to our destination the tunnel. 

 While stopping to munch on some beef, cheese and nuts (kudos to anyone who gets that joke and I am so excited that I was able to use that phrase in reality!).....the heavens opened! We were able to see some of the Grand Canyon. We were as excited as a fat kid is when he enters a Hostess store during their 50% sale. We snapped some pictures and then decided we better start the two mile hike back.....2000 feet in two miles hike. Yeah....I felt pretty incredible that I, Tasia Ariel Roth, completed this hike without passing out. But the euphoric feeling soon left after we passed 30 people or so that had come clear from the South Rim....yeah these people had left at 4 am and been hiking all day long! My hat goes off to them, but at the same time....they're crazy. I don't know how that could be fun to anyone...all well to each his own.

 Once we returned to the car we changed out of our wet muddy clothing and cranked up The Killers.

Due to the rain, snow, wind....and other cold miserable elements we decided to skip camping (wise choice on Brandon's part....because if I'm cold, I'm miserable, and if I was miserable on my honeymoon you can guarantee I would be a little cranky!) and to go for staying at the Bob Bon Inn again for a second night. We didn't get the awesome Mesa Room but we did get a cozy room with a queen bed.

Saturday came and we travel to Zion National Park to meet Rex and his date Asia. 

We geared up to do Echo Canyon, a slot canyon in Zion. Apparently they do not open this route until July or August because it has snow unit and sometimes even after that time. We went right after a rainstorm which is good and bad. Good because we didn't have a bunch of nasty stagnant water to swim through. Bad because....it was cold. It wasn't too bad, but the last few pools were the coldest. To get to the route you take the shuttle to weeping rock. You then take the east rim trail to observation point for about 2 1/2 miles.....on a very steep trail. Brandon was brutal....needless to say I was a little sore the next day.The route consisted of multiple short repels, some swimming, and a lot of water. We were all in wet suites for the trip. The slot canyon took us about two hours...mostly because Asia and Rex stopped to take pictures.

Following pictures courtesy of Rex and Asia.

 Once we were finished we changed into some dryer clothes and started the hike back to the shuttle. After getting to the cars we said good-byto Rex and Asia and Brandon and I enjoyed dinner at the local restaurant Blondie's. And that ended our blissful honeymoon.

Now I have completed the first week of being a wife (well almost ten days technically speaking)! I think I've passed with flying colors so far. Now I'm still waiting for my certified copy of my marriage license and then I can finish the process of changing my last name. I'm excited! I'm also excited that Halloween is just around the corner and soon after that Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday by far. Well thanks for reading. Will post more soon.

First Comes Love, Then Comes Engagement/Pictures/Planning and Craziness!

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

The quote is what I am hoping is happening in my life.

Basically my life is busy. Monday, Wednesday I work from 7 am to 8 p.m. On Tuesday Thursdays I work from 9 am to 8-8:30 p.m. I've pulled a couple of double shifts. Thankfully I did not work this last weekend or the weekend before!

Our wedding date is approaching so fast! (Yeah like I'll be married in less than 48 hours! CRAZY!!) I've had a couple of mini panic attacks the past few weeks realizing all the things I wanted to have done before then and how little to no time I had to accomplish everything. It didn't help that I was emotional  Thankfully Brandon has just sat down put his arm around me and let me vent. He's listened, offered advice, and  just been wonderful.

Brandon has been doing a lot of little things to make my life easier. He has been doing a lot of moving on his own (he will be moving into my place after we get married but because we are both so busy he has slowly moved stuff over). He has either brought me or made me dinner and then cleaned up the mess this entire week. Brandon is always doing homework. Everyday he has homework and spends hours working on homework. He did get hired as and intern with a company here in town. We are both pretty excited about that, it means we might be staying longer than we planned.

I recently applied for a full time position at the college as a Financial Aid Advisor. It was kind of a last minute decision, but I did it. Now I have to wait. And with the college the waiting can be a long time. I'm a little nervous. It would be AMAZING if I got this job. First, it would be a new experience helping people. Second, I would have fantastic benefits, which we could really use right now.

Saturday we had an amazing photo shoot of engagements pre-wedding/couple pictures with the one and only Rex Jones and Skylar Christensen! They did and AMAZING job. I will post a couple of pictures on here. Be warned there are like 136 in the album and I like a lot of them. It's been really hard trying to pick a favorite. A little bit about where we shot the pictures. We decided to have the pictures taken in Pine Valley. This is the place where Brandon and I had our first camping trip together. We have had several climbing excursions there, and its so beautiful! Anyway I will probably do another post super soon but until then wish me luck!

Still life....that turned out amazing!

He's so gosh darn cute!

I begged Rex to get me a reflection shot....sure enough he not only delivered he got a fantastic shot!

Love this one!

Love Pine Valley....it is always beautiful!

They did several still life shots that I love!

Another favorite. As my friend said "This picture tells a story."

This is usually what it looks like when we're hiking....except he is usually way farther ahead. He speed walks.

Breathtaking huh?

Well I promised only a couple.....but I had so many I had to choose from. There are more on my Facebook page.