New Year, New Things

Wow, it has been an extremely long time since I updated my blog. I think that last thing I updated everyone on was our anniversary. So I will try to recall all the important, life changing, and noteworthy experiences that happened since then.

#1.   Brandon and I went through the temple on November 30, 2013. We always planned on going through, but we were both excited when the day finally arrived. We decided to do it on the 30th because it was the Saturday right after Thanksgiving. This allowed for our families to make it without having to miss work and school, we are grateful we made that decision and that so many family members were there. I loved every minute of the temple and we both cherish the experience.

One year anniversary picture. 

#2. It snowed 6-8 inches here in St. George.....and stayed for several days. I have NEVER seen that much snow here. It snowed Saturday and because St. George doesn't even own a snow plow the entire county was advised not to drive on Sunday, unless you absolutely had to drive. So consequently church was canceled and it was an official snow day!

#3. We moved! The week before Christmas we moved into a quaint little home in downtown St. George. We acquired more space, a fire place, gorgeous wood floors, a nice backyard, and chickens (see #4 for more details)! We are loving being in a house. It was super overwhelming at first unpacking and trying to find a home for everything, but we are pretty much settled in.

Here is our living room....I  need to take pictures of the other rooms but haven't. 

#4. We have chickens!!! We spent a lot of time building a chicken coop for our chickens. The previous tenants asked if we'd like them and we said sure. We didn't know that they didn't have a coop or that they hadn't been taken care of properly. Despite all of that our chickens are in their new home that Brandon spent a lot of time, money, and effort on. They are well fed and happy, so happy that one of them has been leaving us an egg everyday for the last week! I didn't expect to like our chickens as much as I do. They are pretty much our pets. We have named each of them (there is Betty, Pepper, Duck and Ganja), they eat out of our hands, and they are always excited to see us. I'm pretty sure that is mainly because we give them treats.

Brandon working on the roof of the chicken coop. 

Our very first beautiful egg!

#5. We celebrated our 3rd Christmas and New Years together!

Thanks to Kathleen and Mark we had a Charlie Brown Christmas tree this year. 

#6. We bough furniture....new furniture from a store! We got a bed and a dresser as well as a new memory foam mattress!

#7. Ouray Ice Climbing Festival. Brandon has been talking about going to the climbing festival since I first met him. This is the first year that we had the time and the means to go. We left after work on Thursday and and spent that night in Grand Junction with our friends Adam and Tricia. We traveled the rest of the way on Friday and spent the rest of the day and Saturday climbing in Ouray. I had pretty much convinced myself that I wasn't going to climb, then I thought I might try it it, and finally I decided I would give it a go. I actually really enjoyed it. It was new and a lot fun. However it was just as hard as I expected it to be. My arms are still sore.

Entrance to the Ouray Ice Park. 

Brandon doing some splits. 

Gorgeous Colorado Mountains. 

This was just one section of the park. There were several other sections with just as many people. It was amazing!

I want to add that I also climbed this route, but my picture wasn't taken. I was a little peeved that Brandon didn't think to document my amazing skills. 

This was me trying ice climbing for the very first time. Brandon said I did really well :)

Made to the top!

Snap shot of Ouray

Well I think that pretty much sums up the major events in our life. Its hard to believe that a whole year has passed and a new one has already started. I feel like time is rushing by, but overall I have enjoyed everything this last year has brought. We both are still loving our jobs. Brandon is working on another project and is enjoying it. I have been busy with a few new families and we are also working on getting registered to do adoptions from Kyrgyzstan. We have been so blessed and we are looking forward to another year and all the adventures it will bring.