Lovely Month

The next month of awesomeness has finally made it to my blog. It took a while to put all of these pictures onto the blog. I hope you enjoy them.

 

The pictures of Cody and I together, below, are from a trip we took with some of his family to a Lot that they have. It was such a nice place to be. It was some hard core camping we did that day. The first part of the afternoon there, Cody's dad wanted to take pictures of us together. His dad is so excited for us to get married. So we took engagement pictures I guess. They turned out really well I thought. It was kind of weird to do them at first because we were not 'officially' engaged but it got more and more fun as time went by.

 

 

That night was so fun. It got so so so so so cold though. I don't prepare as well as I should. I should have brought thicker socks and more jackets I think. Cody kept me warm while we were around the campfire though. It was fun getting to know Cody's family some more. We had hot dogs (which are so much better when roasted around the campfire) and then we had smores. I had been craving smores for a long while and I was so happy that his mom brought some smore stuff. It definatly hit the spot. They take their time roasting the marshmallows and I don't. I go ahead and light mine on fire and pretend it is a comet going through the sky. I love them burnt. It is the best.

 

Yes, yes we did. We couldn't help but carve our initials into this tree. It was fun trying to make that heart look like a heart.

 

 

Before we left we all went on a hike and his brothers were having a competition on who could climb the tree the highest. Of course I had to do it as well. I didn't get up too high. It was harder than I thought it would be. The tree was slippery.

 

 

 

I created a date to do with Cody. I thought it would be a blast to fingerpaint. It was so messy and so much fun. He didn't much like it when I put some paint on his knee. I like all of them so it is hard to know which one is my favorite. The messiest was the hand print one. The black and white one was fun to do. It has three events from our relationship. The first is the derby, then mini golfing, and then camping.

 

We went to Arizona a couple weeks ago and we had a bunch of fun there. It was nice to see my family. Tessa, Cody, and I went to the temple friday morning. It was such a neat experience to be able to go to the temple with Cody. It solidified everything for me about my decision to be with him. Everything is so amazing with Cody.

 

 

On Saturday morning, we woke up super early so that we could go water skiing. It was my dad, Tessa, Cody and I that went. Do you think by the time we got to Roosevelt Lake we would just be able to hop in the boat and go skiing? Nope. We drove the hour there just to have the boat not work. I was so bummed. I have not been skiing for such a long time and wanted to go so bad. Oh well, the drive up and the drive back was nice.

 

Cody and I went to the Utah State Fair. This picture below is completely made out of butter. How crazy is that? One of my favorite places to go was the photography displays. Cody taught me which pictures are better than others. I am now a better critic at pictres.  

 

Pretty much the hugest cow I have seen in my life. He was really old I think because he was so passive or maybe it was just because he was so big. I don't know. All I know is that he is HUGE!

So.... I GOT ENGAGED!!!

 

 

Here is the story. The reason we went to Arizona was for Cody to get to know my family more and for him to ask my dad for my hand in marriage. I knew that he got approval so when we got back to Utah I was so excited to possibly get engaged soon. I was so wanting it so that it could be official finally. I just didn't know when it was going to happen because we were no where near picking a ring out. I had a ring that I liked at Zales but they don't supply that one anymore I guess. So I was wondering what was going to happen. I told Cody that it would be totally fine if he went to get a cheap 8 dollar ring at walmart and then later give the 'real' one. So that is what he did. (yes, the ring up above is the fake one).

 

We went to Cascade Springs and it is such a beautiful place. I can't wait to go again. It is full of all these little streams and bridges. I found my most favorite spot to be and then we traveled more of the different areas. We eventually got back to the place that I liked a lot and we stood there for a long while. I was wondering when we were going to leave but we just kept standing there. I took advantage of being in the arms of Cody as I was focusing on not being cold.

 

Eventually Cody said, "I want to get a rock in the water." I was thinking he was crazy because the water looked cold. Cody knelt down and I knelt down beside him. (I learned later that I kind of ruined his plans with me knealing by him). I was trying to find what rock he wanted to get but I couldn't find it. He said that it didn't matter. So I got back up and as I was getting up I saw it! I saw something shiny in his hand. I thought, "oh. that rock." Cody got on one knee and asked me to marry him and I smiled and said yes. So now I have a huge fake ring and it is fun to see peoples reaction to the huge ring. I eventually tell everyone it is fake but maybe I should just say it is the real thing. Whichever I guess. :) I am still so so so happy to be getting married to Cody.

 

This past weekend Cody and I went rock climbing with a few of his friends. It was such a blast. I was so super sore afterwards. It is amazing how sore you get from pulling yourself up a side of the mountain. I want to go again one day. It was so much fun.



 

 

So that has been my life basically. I went wedding dress shopping today. It was the most fun I have had for a long while. The ladies were just playing dress up. I was their barbie doll. It was fun. I can't believe how much a dress can make you feel so good. I found the dress but  I can't put the pictures I have of it on here or Cody will see it and that is bad luck. :)

 

Well, that is pretty much it. My favorite musician this month is Kari Jobe. I love her!

 

Another Month

 This month has gone by so so so fast. I thought that August had just started. I am a little weirded out about that fact but it is okay. I know why it has gone so fast. It is all because of friends and family and Cody. Yes I am dating Cody. You know that guy I went out with and we went to the demolition derby. Well, he is very very much a part of my life. It has been a whirlwind of different things with him. I have pretty much seen him everyday this month. When we miss days of seeing each other I call it the "miss you days." A lot can happen when you miss someone. I understood that I love him and that I want to continue to date him. Although I don't only want to continue to date him I want to marry him. We have talked a lot about it together and we can see each other together forever and it is just exciting to be with him. He is a completely different person than I thought I would be dating but everything about him is just great. He is on the quieter side like me but we can talk and talk and talk to eachother about anything. He loves me and I love him and it is just a great feeling. We went ring shopping last night. It was very super fun to do. I found this ring online at Zales and I pretty much fell in love with it.

Isn't it pretty? We went to Zales to try it on but they didn't have the exact same ring but one close to it. Then we went to Jared and I found the prettiest ring ever. It has the same concept as the one above but it was a little different. I fell in love with that ring. I don't know what is going to happen quite yet with everything but I am excited to be engaged to Cody. Life is just wonderful.

Cody and I have gone mini golfing, went to a movie called the Lorax, went to a skating rink (so interesting to see all the kids there), going to dinner, picnic, him teaching me how to long board, many many walks, putting a jigsaw puzzle together...lots of stuff. It is fun.

When I am not with Cody I am doing things with school and work and friends. At the beginning of the month there was a family reunion for the Ralphs. I was grateful to have my mom, dad, brother, and sisters there. It was a fun day and I was glad to spend time with everyone. The best part was the face painting. My cousins got a little carried away with the face painting at times hence my arm and Tori's face. It was super fun though.

 

 

Another time this month I was able to go see my Aunt Norma and go hiking with her. It was so much fun to go hiking even though it was not quite like the normal hikes I usually go on. We went up a canyon and instead of doing one hike all the way we went on several hikes for twenty min. So going up ten min and back ten min. It was not as bad as I thought  it would be. I got some cool pictures by doing that. I loved this flower that I saw so I took a picture of it (the purple one).

I was very interested in this log. I don't know what made these patterns on the wood but I thought it was neat.



 

 I took this picture of this butterfly. I was surprised it turned out so well.

 

 I thought this sign was super funny. 'Dogs must be leashed on all trails on even numbered days.' Why not on odd number days? What is happening on even numbered days that is not happening on odd number days? It does not make much sense.

We had a little picnic while there. It was a good picnic. It hit the spot. I was super hungry which is probably why. 

 

Pretty much the prettiest temple I have ever been in is the Oquirrh mountain. We went to that temple right before we went to the reunion. It so pretty inside.

 

So that has been my life a little bit anyway. Oh, I also went out with a friend and we did pedicures. It was so nice to do that. I love pedicures. We are also going to  be going to the Jon Schmidt concert at Thanksgiving Point and I cannot wait to go. I am very excited for that. Life is just wonderful. :)

Rodeo

I had such a blast this week. It has been full of cool events and one of those events happened on Monday. I was able to have that day off and go to the Rodeo with Toby and Emily and Tysen and Audrey and some of Emily's friends. It was such a blast. It was just the right amount of time and I had fun being able to scream and yell for the cowboys. It reminded me of Jon (my brother in law) in his cowboy gettup.

There was one other thing I did this weekend. I went on a date. It has been a while since I have done that. It was such a fun time though. I woke up at 4:40 that morning to get ready for work and then worked from 6am to 2pm. I really wanted to take a nap before my date but that didn't happen because I got home later than I thought I would. I went with a guy named Cody Crittenden. He was such a good, nice, sweet guy. We ended up going to his parents house to eat with his family. I thought it may be awkward but it was really nice to be around his family. He has five brothers and one sister and they all start with a C. The one that I don't understand why parents would do this to themselves are the names Cody and Cory. I would so mess up everytime I went to say their names.

We went to the Demolition Derby. It was such a blast. The only complaint I have about it was that is was super long. We got there at 6pm and we didn't leave until 11pm. It was super fun though. Near the end everyone was getting hurt. Afterwards we went back to his parents house and had root beer floats and then Cody's brother and I played a duet together on the piano. I also played my praise to the man song for his parents. They absolutely loved it and were amazed at my talents. :) The last picture is of Cody and I.

San Diego Times

I thouroughly enjoyed this past weekend. I was able to have the time of my life with my family. It had been a while since I have seen them. I was able to get work off that week so I drove home with my brother from Utah and then the next day we went to San Diego. Just so you know, that is a ton of driving in two day period of time. When we first got there we suited up in our swim suites and ran into the ocean. Tessa and I literally ran into the ocean. We knew it was going to be very cold so we just did it fast. When you are in for five min. your body gets numb so you don't feel the cold. We did a lot of boogy boarding which is so fun when you catch a good wave. Next step is actually surfing. One day the waves were so enormous it was very difficult to catch the waves. My poor brother in law got stung by a jelly fish. It was his first time ever stepping into the ocean and he got stung.

The first full day that we were there we went to Sea World. It was a blast. I have wanted to go all of my life and we were actually able to go. There was so much to do there. My favorite parts were the Orka and the Seals and a roller coaster called the Manta. So much fun.

We first went to the Ship Wreck Reef and did the water rapids. The second ride we went on and we got soaked. Some more than others. Start the day off wet was interesting.

Tori and Emily got the wettest on the rapids.  

There were some HUGE HUGE fish in the aquarium. I have never seen a fish this big before.

We are waiting for the Okra show to start.

The Orka's are so neat to see in person. Hearing them is awesome. Seeing them jump out of the water is neat because they are so huge. The best part was the spraying.those whales can sure spray really well. I felt bad for a group of people because the whale kept flipping water at them five times in a row. I think I only got sprayed twice in a row. It is so funny.

Next is the Seals. Holy Smokes they are awesome. They are so smart and talented. They did olympics and one part was to sit on a ledge and the end of the pool, catch the ball on their nose, jump into the pool with the ball still on the nose, swim to the net, jump over the net with the ball still on the nose, then jump onto the other ledge. I thought that there was no way that would happen but it did! It was amazing to see that happen.  

Tessa and I could not stay away from our childhood ambitions any longer. We just had to build a sand castle. It turned out pretty awesome.

We went on this really long bike ride around some of San Diego. There are four more people that joined us on the bike ride so we had 12 people riding bikes down a street. If we got lost some people would point and say that the other bikes went the direction they were pointing. It was awesome. I am glad that we didn't get killed on the streets. So much traffic. We are waiting to get on the boat to get to the heart of San Diego.

Some picture of Tessa, Emily, Tori and I on the boat.

We stopped by some rose gardens. The roses smelt so so so very good. I couldn't smell long enough.

This is a favorite rose picture of mine that I took. I was looking all over the garden looking for a just barely coming out rose, a half way bloomed rose, and a fully bloomed rose. I thought it neat to relate it to life. New life is the barely coming out rose, maturing life is the half way bloomed rose, and you prime life is the fully bloomed rose.

After the long bike rid we had so quite delicious ice cream from ben and jerry's.

My butt was so sore from bike riding. I didn't know I had the bones in my body that were already sore. the morning was brutal. I will probably not get on my bike for a little while now. The next day after we rode our bikes, we decided that we were done with san diego and wanted to go home. I think the bike ride took a lot out of us. But I was greatful to be able to go on that lovely trip to San Diego.