Okay so school started Monday.

It is my last semester of classes.

In the winter I start my student teaching.

Let me tell you this senioritis is KILLING me.

I have no motivation at all!!

I just want to start teaching.

Oh and Alex will be done in April as well.

But will just start back up in Fall for his masters.

Poor kid.

Other than that, summer was amazing.

We had the best summer traveling and spending time with each other and family.

I will update soon about our Boston trip.

But for now, just be jealous you're not in school

(and if you are we feel your pain)

This post is long overdue.
But since we aren't celebrating until Friday, because we've been out of town and Alex's has been working...I think it's okay that it's a little late!

Two years ago on August 14th, I married my best friend.

This year on that same day we had a family reunion and celebrated my grandparents 50th birthday.

It was a great way to spend it because I loved seeing the love my grandparents still have for eachother.

My grandpa still grabs my grandma's hand, and still hugs her all the time.

And today is my parents anniversary.

They have been together for 26 years.

My dad thinks my mom is the most amazing woman in the whole world.

I always wanted to find someone who loved me as much as my dad loves my mom.

I'm so lucky that I found someone who will want to hold my hand when I'm old.

And hug me all the time.

I'm also glad I found someone I can constantly have fun with all the time.

I'm glad I found someone my family absolutely adores and someone whose family I absolutely adore.

I'm glad I found someone who loves me like my dad loves my mom.

So here's to 2 years to my sweetheart!

Can't wait for our adventures ahead!

Spudman Triathlon:

Saturday we had the Spudman triathlon.

The night before I didn’t get a very goodnight sleep because I was so nervous.

We headed up to the race in the morning and we were running a little late, which was kind of good because I didn’t have time to get nervous.

Alex and Jared started in wave 2 and they were off!

Cecilie and I started in wave 3 and when they said go I just started to swim.
The race started with the swim in the Snake River.

It was so nice because the current helped push you along.

I got through the swim by doing the backstroke and the sidestroke.

One hundred strokes on the back and one hundred on the side, switching back and forth.

I saw the end of the swim and looked at the path by the bikes and saw Alex.

I called his name and said hi, and then was right out of the river.

Getting out of the river, I started taking off my wetsuit and ran by Alex.

I heard Alex say, “Babe I think someone stole my socks! I have no socks!”

He couldn’t find his socks so he did the bike and the run with no socks on.

Ouch!

I had my wetsuit off by the time I got to my bike and dried my feet off, threw on my shoes and ran out of the bike area.

I hopped on my bike and started biking.

The bike was horrible.

I didn’t train very well for the bike, which was a huge mistake.

I felt like I was pedaling like everyone else but like I wasn’t getting anywhere.

I would mess with my gears go up and down and just couldn’t get it.

I was getting really discouraged because I was just being passed and passed and I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.

I beat Cecilie out of the river but both her and Cheryl passed me on the bike.

I got really discouraged and was having a hard time on the bike.
I kept talking to myself saying, “you’re doing awesome you’re doing great”

When I finally saw the bridge near where we started I wanted to cry I was so happy.

I could not wait to get off that stupid bike.

I got off the bike and my left foot was numb!

I hung my bike up and decided to eat one of the goo things that are supposed to give you energy.

Oh my goodness it was disgusting.

After that I headed out on my run.

The run felt like a complete relief from the bike.

I felt in my element and I knew I could finish it without stopping.

At around a mile and a half I was so sick.

My stomach was killing and the lady running next to me said I looked really pale.

At mile two I went to the side of the road and puked.

I’m pretty sure the stupid goo made me sick, but after I threw up I felt so much better.

I just ran and ran; finally I was the one passing people instead of getting passed like on the bike.

It was a great feeling passing people that had passed me on the bike.

The only time I had to stop on the run was to use the bathroom at about mile 4.

Other than that I ran the whole way.

My back did amazing.

The night before I made a deal with my back.

I said that if it would not hurt until the last mile, it would be perfect.

I knew I could bare the pain for about a mile but anything more than that wouldn’t be good

During the last half mile of the run it was almost instant.
My back just started to kill.

In my head I just thought, “You said it could hurt at this point just push through.”

Running and seeing that finish line was one of the best feelings ever.

I kicked it into high gear and ran past the finish line.

It was so good to see Alex.

So good.

It made me so happy to be down and to have actually enjoyed myself.

I will participate in the Spudman again, probably next year!

But I will absolutely be working on my biking more because I could have been way faster if I would have just figured out that stupid bike!!

Washington Trip:

On Tuesday we headed up to Washington.

On the way up we stopped at Mount St. Helens because neither Alex nor I had ever been there.

While we were headed up Alex and I read all about Mount St. Helen’s on my phone.

It was so interesting because I didn’t know much about the 1980 eruption.

When we got to the Mountain it was kind of sad because they had pictures of the mountain before the eruption and it was so beautiful.

After the eruption the mountain looked completely different and didn’t even look like a mountain any more.

We ate at a little café on the way down, and then headed to Enumclaw.

We arrived in Enumclaw at Alex’s grandparents house.

We had dinner that night with his grandparents, his Aunt Gayle and Uncle Tracey and his cousin Rachel.

After dinner his cousins, Angie and Stacey, and their kids came over.

Alex’s Uncle Tracey took us in his plane on a ride.

It was so fun to fly in his plane!

We headed back to his grandparents and had a great night.

That next morning we woke up and did our run.

I got lost and Alex had to come find me.

His grandparents made us a great breakfast.

We then headed to Seattle with Gayle and Tracey.

They showed us around the city.

We went to see the Fremont Troll (which was shown in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, my favorite movie).

We then went and saw the Locks which is were boats going from the lake into the Puget sound go in the lock and the water level changes so that the boats can enter or exit the sound!

We also saw the fish ladders and saw the salmon swimming upstream.

We then headed to Menchies frozen yogurt that Tracey partially owns.

It was perfect for me because I love some frozen yogurt!

We then went and walked around Pikes Place market.

There was so much fresh seafood and produce I would love to have a market like that around me in Provo.

We stuck gum on the gum wall, gross.

Then ate at Ivars.

It had great seafood and was fun to feed the seagulls.

After getting back from Seattle we went to Alex’s cousins Angies to chat and hang out with his cousins Stacey and Scott and Angie and their spouses.

It was fun to meet them and talk with them

We had such a fun night.

Thursday morning, we did our last run of the week, and no one got lost.

We enjoyed breakfast and then went to pick up Gayle and Rachel.

We spent the day at Mount Rainer.

We saw huge trees in the forests up the canyon and learned all about Mount Rainer.

I think Alex was fighting an urge to climb it.

That night we had dinner with everyone and got some good rest.

Friday we woke up early and headed out to Idaho.

We had so much fun in Washington with Alex’s family and definitely will have to make a trip back sometime soon.

Oregon Trip

On Wednesday, the 20^th, Alex and I headed off to Oregon to spend some time with Mabbie and John.

We decided about a year ago we would make the trip to the northwest coast because we both have family up there, plus I’d never been!

The trip from our sweet Provo apartment, to Mabbie's house, took us 13 hours. 
On the way up we stopped at Multnomah Falls.

The waterfall was gorgeous!

We arrived around 7 pm.

We chatted and ate some dinner and then headed to bed because we were leaving to go camping in the morning.

Thursday morning we got all packed up and headed to the Oregon coast.

When driving to the coast it was so cool, the forests were so different then I had ever seen.

They have moss all over them.

I kept telling Alex I thought trolls lived in the forests because they reminded me of the movie Enchanted.

We made it to the campground, which was just outside of a town called Nehalem, got all set up and walked down to the coast.

It was pretty chilly but we had to put our feet in the water.

The water was freezing!

But it was really beautiful.

After that we ate some dinner, and hung out.

The next morning, Alex and I got up and went for a run.

We were still in training for the triathlon.

We got back and had some breakfast.

After breakfast we got ready and headed to Tillamook.

We first stopped to at the Tillamook cheese factory.

We saw packaging cheese, we didn’t see them making it, but it was still really cool.

We tried all the different types of cheeses and Mabbie and John bought some cheese for us to enjoy while camping.

After eating some cheese we decided to have some Tillamook ice cream.

It was delicious!

After the cheese factory, we drove along to the coast to stop at a lighthouse.

It was beautiful, but sad because two boys had vandalized the windows at the lighthouse.

But the view was amazing.

On the way back to the campground we stopped and got some Tillamook beef jerky.

Delicious.

We played games that night at the campground and just enjoyed relaxing.

Saturday morning we work up and ran again.

We had a tasty breakfast then headed into Cannon beach.

We stopped at a beach called haystack rock and looked at the tide pools.

It’s been such a long time that I’ve got to play in tide pools that it was so exciting.

After the tide pools we went to a city called Cannon beach.

It was the cutest little town.

We walked the downtown, got some taffy, and ate at a pizza parlor.

Another great day on the coast.

Sunday, we cleaned up, packed up and headed out.

When we got back we headed to my Uncle Lee’s and Aunt Linda’s to see them and my cousins who also live in Oregon.

We had dinner with them and had a great time reminiscing and laughing.

It was great to see all my cousins who I haven’t seen in years.

Also it was Alex’s first time to meet all the cousins!

I missed them!

Monday we went on a jog and learned how many hills were around Mabbie’s house.

It was killer!

After we headed to Portland with Mabbie.

We got some donuts from a famous donut placed called Voodoo donuts.

We walked around a little farmers market in the middle of Portland.

We also walked on the waterfront, and it was so cool to see the city built on the river.

After walking around, we stopped at John's office to see his company.

We had fun in Portland and loved how eccentric it was.

“Keep Portland Weird”

That night we had fun just hanging out with Mabbie and John and watching the Bachelorette.

Tuesday we packed up and headed to Washington!