Stout Canyon

I LOVE summers! We just spent a great weekend up at a friend's cabin. We went up with Brett & Kate and his brother's family. The owner of the cabin fit the perfect rancher grandpa profile. He was SO kind and very welcoming. It's seriously a patch of paradise with a spring and pond, view of red rock spires, horses, and fresh mountain air! I thought it was neat the the cabin was completely off the grid. There is a paddle wheel that kept batteries charged for electricity and all the water comes from the spring. The weekend was full of good company, perfect weather, walks, swimming, zip-lining, 4-wheeling, dutch oven, fly fishing, and games. I love this time of year, especially in southern Utah!

Stout Canyon

Fly fishing at dusk

Grace & Wes - the cutest fisher-children out there :)

Taylor, Evie, and Kate taking a break on the 4-wheeler

George back-flopping off the zipline, zow!

PB & ♥

George texted me this photo a week ago...I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it, but I thought it was so cute. He is always sending me little reminders like this that make me smile and let me know he loves me. It's hard to be away from each other right now, but it helps us cherish the time we do get to spend together. I'm so blessed to be married to such a great guy. I love you George and can't wait to see you!


P.S. I promise we eat food other than PB&J's!!

A new sister!

Mac and Stephanie got married!  I'm not sure we can say they eloped, because they didn't really 'plan' it, but either way we are SO excited!!  They were rafting the Grand Canyon and found out that a reverend was on the trip with them. So Mac, being the romantic, asked Steph if she thought they should get married. She agreed and so the next day the ceremony was held on the rocky shores of the Colorado River. Dutch oven pumpkin cobbler and strings for rings...sounds like the perfect wedding for Mac & Steph :)  Congratulations you two!! Steph, we're so excited to add another sister to our family...we think you are wonderful!

Mac & Steph

April 21, 2009 

The newly-weds

Make way for the Segway!

George and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary a little early (we were married June 7th) but we won't be together on the actual day so we decided to have a pre-party!

This past year has been quite eventful and has flown by for both of us. We've really enjoyed 'married life' and look forward to the many years to come! Here are 7 highlights from the past year, not in any particular order:

1. Our honeymoon on Kauai...the closest we've come to paradise.
2. Taking George to Colorado for our autumn cider-pressing tradition.
3. Helping out on the Melling farm, George especially enjoyed getting his hands dirty for branding.
   
4. Rafting the Deschutes in Oregon.
   
5. Celebrating our first Christmas together in Crescent City, CA.
6. Helping Jody & Alison (George's bro and sis-in-law) work on their new home in Canada.
7. Getting George into heli pilot school!

To celebrate our first, we drove up to New Smyrna Beach (if you watch Hell's Kitchen, that is where the winner Danny used to live and was head chef there at Flip Flops Grill and Chill). We started the day by taking a nice stroll on the beach.

After that came the segway tour! For those of you who don't know what a segway is...it's basically a self-balancing two-wheeler. It has four gyroscopes inside and you use weight on your toes or heels to propel the segway and there is a 'steering stick' of sorts to go right and left. They are REALLY easy to drive and George only wished that he could have gone faster. It was pretty fun, although I don't think we're ready to spend the $5,000 to buy one!

We then enjoyed burgers on the beach and ended the evening watching Night at the Museum (Smithsonian), there were definitely funny parts, but we liked the first one better.

It's hard to believe that a year ago at this time we were preparing to get married. What a wonderful year it has been! I'm so glad that George is my husband, he brings so much happiness into my life and I love being married to him! We are truly so blessed and feel very grateful for our little family.

$15 Beauty

I got a beach cruiser! Good ol' craigslist lead me to this beauty...she just needed some new tubes and tender lovin' and viola! It's kinda nice to have a 'comfy' bike where I only need one gear because Florida is so flat. Now if we could just get this 'liquid sunshine' to leave us alone... We've had rain every day, all day since Monday, and the weather man won't tell us when it'll leave us alone so I can ride. George has roller blades and can go just as fast as me on a bike, so it works out perfectly. Bring on the sunshine!

My hunny helping me fix 'er up.

Any suggestions on names? I was thinking the 'Black Widow' due to her red 'belly' and the spokes look like spider webs and uhhh I am a killer rider too!