One Year

Can you believe it was a whole year ago when we got married? Time really does fly when you're having fun, but most of all, when you spend it with your best friend. Yesterday was our one year anniversary!


Grant surprised me with a trip to San Antonio to celebrate! It was the first trip we've been on with just the two of us since our honeymoon and it was amazing!


Our hotel was downtown so we walked most places. We ate along the riverwalk, visited the Alamo, saw lots of cool buildings (as shown here), and checked out the artisans' market. I could walk around those places for hours but it only entertains Grant for about one. There's a river north of the city that we were going to float but the line for tubes was about 2 hours. Instead, we just jumped in and swam it instead. We decided it turned out to be more fun swimming anyway. It was a quick trip but just the break that we needed.

And in reference to our anniversary, it has honestly been the best year of my life so far. Grant and I have done lots of little things this year. We've cooked dinners, learned how to budget, and adjusted to sharing space on a (not so big) bed and in (not so big) apartments. But this year has also been filled with big events and changes. We graduated from college, moved across the country and started on our journey to becoming the kind of family we are striving to be. I can't believe I was so lucky to find the man who not only is perfect for me, but loves me just as much as I love him. I can't wait for all the years to come!

A Simple Pleasure

I was desperately craving this:

The ridiculously tasty "Chunky Strawberry" use-a-spoon smoothie from Jamba Juice. However, the budget doesn't allow for such indulgences (mostly because if I had one then I would be compelled to come back again day after day...). So I found a recipe and made it myself! For unbelievably good tasting stuff, I found this recipe.

2 .OZ of Vanilla Low Fat Yogurt
4 . OZ of Vanilla Soy Milk
2 TBSP of Peanut Butter
6 OZ of Frozen Strawberries
Some Ice
One Banana
3 OZ of your favorite Granola

Makes 16 OZ serving
Place everything in blender except granola and banana
Blend everything untill mixed well
Pour into big glasses add granola and sliced Banana

However, I have no idea what an ounce looks like, and I didn't have soy milk, vanilla yogurt or even a banana...... So I used regular milk, strawberry banana yogurt and nixed the banana and it was still AMAZING! It's the little things that make life so good :)

Catch Up!

I recently uploaded the current pictures from my camera and realized that I haven't done that since April or so.... hence there will be a few catch up posts letting you know what we've been up to but just haven't told you!

First, we visited my Nana and Papa a while back and took lots of pictures. It was just a quick weekend escape, but it was good to see them and take a break for a day or two.

We checked out the temple. Nana and Papa worked at the visitors center on their mission so they showed us around.This was right after I decided to try brown hair. It was supposed to be reddish brown and it didn't take long for my hair to decide it actually wanted to stay blonde. I haven't colored it since and it's pretty darn blonde again.
We also drove up to Tuacahn to check out the theatre. What a cool stage and setting!

And did I mention that we moved?! Yep, it was a big fatty process getting ourselves down here and I have many (horrible) pictures taken from the car because I was so bored driving.
Grant drove this beast with my car attached to the back. When we picked it up he said, "Do you want me to put your name down so you can drive it too?" I think you can guess what my answer was....

We stopped in Arizona to visit some of Grant's family. We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Tanner's beautiful home for a few days and I got to meet a lot of his extended family that I hadn't met before. (Grant probably has more family within a 4 mile radius down there than I have of total living relatives hah)
We went to the temple while we were in Mesa and it was beautiful, of course.
We drove through New Mexico...
And we FINALLY got to Texas! What a funny sign... (I think it should read, "Drive Quickly, or get out of the Texan's way" instead)
I am aware this is a crappy, taken-while-driving picture, but it illustrates two things I have since become accustomed to: giant interchanges and giant storms.

We finally made it! This was taken when we arrived at our complex. The building in the back is actually our building, but we didn't know that when we took the picture.

Phew! Well there are more pictures and posts to come detailing our exciting lives as "Texans." (We have decided that we may never actually call ourselves that... to be continued)

Quick Update

Life is good:
1) Kelsey got accepted into a Masters program at Texas Women's University (TWU)! She will be pursuing an arts or fine arts degree in dance. She starts in the fall. We are very excited about that.
2) I got my car window fixed, $160 later. It wasn't too bad...lesson learned I suppose.
3) It has been 103-105 degrees everyday of the week with the forecast indicating the weather will continue to be like this for a while. If you live where it's not this hot, enjoy it for us.
4) I am liking my job alright. College to the full-time grind is a hard transition. I'm surviving.
5)Kelsey has a birthday on Saturday. She'll be 21 and alcohol will finally be legal ;).

Pics of the Robbery :(

Learning the Hard Way...

This week has been a tough one to say the least. First off, it wasn't too easy to come home from the family and great weather in Salt Lake to the stifling heat at home. But more than that, we had some unexpected (and unwelcome) experiences this week as well.

On Thursday my friend Emily and I went to the Rec Center to work out like we do every weekday. We made the mistake of putting our iPods down (which we had never done before that day) and within probably a 4 minute time period between checking on them, they were stolen... They watched the security tape and could see the woman who took them, but unfortunately couldn't identify her. She snuck past the front desk while staff wasn't looking (with her young daughter), sat down next to our iPods, put them in her purse and took off.... yeah...

Then, this morning as we walked outside to drive to church, we were met by two police officers asking if we were the owners of the silver Camry with the window busted in. We told them what had been taken (pretty much just our brand new Garmin) and they're going to file a report. It took about 2 hours to get everything cleaned up (Grant fixed up the window with some leftover plastic stuff) and now we need to get a new window. We had stored the GPS was in the glove box but left the cord plugged in so they must have been looking for that.

So, basically we're left this week iPod-less, Garmin-less and passenger side window-less. Luckily we didn't lose anything we can't live without (beside the window) but we'll certainly be more careful from now on about where we leave things....

Meet the McFarland Family

We spent last weekend in Salt Lake City because Lindsay got married! Taylor and Lindsay got married in the Salt Lake City Temple and it was absolutely beautiful. It was a perfect day (a lot cooler than the 105+ we've been dealing with) and everything went off without a hitch. Lindsay looked chic and gorgeous and I was proud to be her sister.

In addition it was so nice to see family and friends again. I didn't realize how much I missed everyone until Sunday afternoon when we had to leave again. Luckily, Linds and Tay will be moving to Kansas- only 5 1/2 hours away!

At their rehearsal dinner

The newest newlyweds!

This is the best picture we have of her fabulous dress

No longer "the newlyweds"!
And I HAD to include this picture of baby Bridgette-- so cute!!!