Color me Rad and other Shenanigans

So it appears as though I dislike posting blog updates on a regular basis. For that, I apologize. I always tell myself that I'll do a weekly blog update but the truth of the matter is that my life is not that interesting. A weekly blog post would go something like "I went to school, and work, did homework, and then we slept". Real riveting stuff. But, fortunately, I do have something exciting to share from our life as of late. 

On the 22nd of June I ran in the Color Me Rad 5k with my sister-in-law! It was a blast and pretty dang easy for the both of us. Our game plan going in was just to take it easy and have fun. Mission accomplished. I highly suggest it to anyone who's thinking about doing it; they have a lot of fun activities for the pre-run- there were beach balls being thrown around as if it were a Nickelback concert. 

All squeaky clean before the run. 

And then we looked like this. Awesome right? I'll tell you what though, I was cleaning pink and purple out of my ears for at least 3 days. 

Then, on the 24th, I started school... yeah. So it's actually going ok, I really love my Strengthening Marriage and Family 100 class. It's a major based course, not the religion one. But it's still centered around our basic beliefs about what the family is and it's sacredness. Mostly, the class is centered around "The Family: A Proclamation to the World". For those who haven't read it, here's a link to it http://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation. Good stuff. My Writing and Rhetoric 150 class is alright, just lots of papers. My current assignment is an opinion editorial, which I have chosen to write about BYU's Honor Code and how I believe they should omit the ban on beards. 

I had a day off of work this last week and Ky and I decided to go thrift shopping! It was way cool, despite Ky's insistence to sing "I'm gonna pop some tags, I only got $20 in my pocket..." over, and over, and over again while we shopped. Yup. I married this kid. Anyway, we walked in and I lost Ky in the entryway because sitting there was a good-as-new sectional couch. Ky's dream couch, the one that usually runs over $800 new. They were selling it for $400. Some what steep for us poor newlyweds, so we walked away and continued with our quest for knick-knacks and picture frames. But no matter where we were in the store, I'd be saying something like "hey, what do you think about..." and as I turned to consult with him, he'd be back at the sectional. This happened about 12 times before I walked up to the lady and said "we'll take the couch please". So we did. And it's an absolute dream to sit on. Also, dormingos are sooooo much more fantastic now. 

Here's some pictures of our new couch, and new additions that made our house feel like a home. 

Isn't she a beaut? 

You see what we did here? Yeah, we thought it was cool too.  

I thought both of these were super cute as decoration...

... turns out they serve a useful purpose too. Coasters. Who'd a thunk it. 

These are over our sink, there was just a blank space that we wanted to fill.  

Our kind of humor. 

Last but not least, this was actually given to us by our super artsy friend. She was redecorating and didn't have a need for this anymore. Lucky us. 

Then of course there was America's birthday. Happy birthday U.S.A. I just want to take a moment and share how blessed I feel to live in this great country. I was reading The Book of Mormon and came across this nugget of truth: 

"Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. 

Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever." (2 Nephi 6-7)

The Spirit confirmed to me that my family and I were brought here "by the hand of the Lord", whether my parents recognized His hand in the decision or not. I have been blessed immensely in these 17 years we've been here. Most recently, with being sealed to my husband for time and all eternity in the House of the Lord. I thank God for him everyday of my life. 

It was well celebrated by cleaning our apartment, doing the laundry, a BBQ followed by swimming, and then the fireworks show. Here are some pictures from our night. We had the wonderful Dan and Yvette George over for dinner and fireworks viewing. It was super fun, I always appreciate hanging out with Yvette while Ky and Dan do whatever boys like to do while they're together. 

Yvette made a delicious tart cake. Pinterest success. 

Fireworks over the Stadium of Fire. 

And Dan trying to eat his sparkler. Fun fact: we're not allowed to do fireworks at Wymount, but we thought "what the heck!" and did them anyway. They're just harmless sparklers right? Well the next day when I was driving home, I saw a sign on the entrance that I hadn't noticed before. "NO FIREWORKS. $500 FINE". Thank goodness we didn't get caught. Fool's luck on that one. 

And that is life as of late. I'll try to update it periodically, but most likely I'll see you back here next month. Farewell. 

The Best 6 Months

Do you know what today is? Of course you do! But I'll tell you anyway. It's mine and Ky's 6 MONTH ANNIVERSARY!!! Yes, I too am flabbergasted that he has put up with me for so long. Nevertheless, we celebrated this most momentous occasion. I will now proceed to tell you how. 

Our day began at 8am when Ky went off on his morning run. I myself alternated between consciousness and sleeping for about another 45 minutes before awakening. Then I prepared us a most fancy breakfast; Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch. A breakfast fit for kings. 

We were going to celebrate our 6 months of matrimony by attending a temple session at the Provo temple, but I had a really hard time getting to bed and I always feel super guilty when I doze off during a session. So we decided to postpone. What did we do instead you ask? Well, we watched "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" of course. It's so romantic. 

I went off to work as usual and when I came back, a candle lit dinner was waiting for me. I truly am the luckiest girl in the world. 

We popped some bubbly... carbonated apple cider bubbly. 

A very common tradition is to wait until your one year anniversary to eat the top tier of your wedding cake. Since I am an impatient person, and also I didn't think the cake would taste good after a year no matter how you tried to preserve it, we ate our cake! I can honestly say that it tasted as good as the day we got married. 

I am very grateful that I married the man that I did. I love him very much and each day it becomes apparent that I only love him more. Our wedding song was "Then" by Brad Paisley. The lyrics have become more real to me since that day. Look it up, you'll be glad you did. 

Just because I'm an extremely nostalgic person, here are some of my favorite wedding pics! Enjoy. Fun fact: we got married on a Tuesday, celebrated our 6 month anniversary on a Tuesday. Funny how those things happen. 

Home Sweet Oregon

It's funny how one accumulates more than one home as they grow up. Corvallis is, and always will be, home. I still refer to it as home and it's logged on my phone under the contact name "home". Which really made me think long and hard about Provo and what it is to me. I'll be honest and say that it's still growing on me. Sure, my permanent home resides within the city limits of Provo and it will forever hold a special place in my heart as mine and Ky's first place together. Shoot, I'll probably even miss it when we move some day! That being said, let me tell you how it felt to really go home. 

Friday the 31st I hopped on the 6am flight out of SLC airport and arrived at PDX at about 10:45am. It was the best feeling ever to look out the plane window and see GREEN!!! BEAUTIFUL GREEN TREES!!! My eyes hadn't seen something like that in a loooong time. The best part was at baggage claim when I spotted my mom and sister about 40 yards away. I felt like doing the slow-motion movie run towards them, which at that point Alex would sweep me up in her arms and cradle me like a baby. To everyone's relief, I refrained. But my mom was pretty darn excited to see me. She even sped walked toward me. I was honored. 

Now, I have to tell you that there is a little guy that was very excited to see me. I wasn't sure if he'd remember me or not, I mean, he is only 3 1/2 years old. We all expected him to think I was Alex; but the moment I walked into the room he peed out of pure excitement. 

Yup, this guy. Not only did he pee once, but about 7 more times. Also, every day when I woke up he'd come sit on me. That's love people. Pure love. 

That night was great, just hanging out with my family like the good ol' days. My brothers are typically non-emotion showing guys but I could definitely tell they missed me. Just check out Derick's expression when I attacked him after baseball practice. 

Anyway, the real reason I visited had to do entirely with Saturday morning. Alex received her endowments in preparation for serving a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was an amazing day filled with the spirit and lots of pictures. Also, Olive Garden. So lots of pasta. 

That night we watched "Madagascar 3" as a family. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Good, clean, wholesome entertainment for the whole family. 

Sunday was also great. I went to sacrament meeting at my home ward, what a great feeling to be back there again. In the same building in which I had been attending church since age 8. After hitting up the 3rd ward, Alex and I went on over to the College Hill ward (a.k.a. the singles ward); my old stomping grounds. Now THAT was awesome because I went back to the place where I met my husband. Very fond memories. And many close friends too, I felt so unbelievably happy to be there. Here's a picture of me and my good friend Tyler Young. He's one of my best friends and the sweetest kid you'll ever meet. Seriously. 

That night I went over to my in-laws place for dinner. I had just seen the Manns so that was cool. But I do have to say that the highlight was seeing Scott and Sue for the first time in almost 5 months. I missed them a lot. Fun fact: Ky proposed in his living room so I got to be all nostalgic there too. You see why it's hard to leave home? So many important landmarks! I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry when I left their house that night. Correction: I balled my eyes out the entire drive home. Not my finest hour; luckily I know the road back from Ky's house like the back of my hand so I was pretty much in auto-pilot while I let the waterworks flow. 

Monday brought fun activities too; like helping my mom take care of Anita. Pretty much one of the cutest babies in the universe. Also, a great dancer. But she's half Colombian so it's in her blood. Here are a few gems from our time with Anita. 

We took a walk along our neighborhood. Troy probably saw a squirrel. 

You just don't see anything like this around here. 

See what I mean? She's so photogenic. 

Then we visited the institute again and I saw 2 of my favorite people. The one and only Sis. Nelson... 

... and the best institute director EVER, Brother Richardson. 

Then Alex and I walked around campus. I got to be the tourist and took pictures of everything. I didn't quite appreciate OSU's beauty until after I wasn't a student there. Funny how those things work out like that. 

That night I went out to dinner with 4 of my best friends in the entire world. Unfortunately we were missing 1 member of our wolf pack; regrettably she was home sick. But, we had a blast and it was awesome catching up with them and going back to normal as if no time had passed at all. My only regret is that I didn't take a group picture! I even took my camera, just forgot. Barnacles. 

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. The dreadful day came when I had to leave home. Known to the rest of the world as Tuesday, known to the Porter family as a sad day. The only upside to leaving home is that your brothers give you hugs! It's fantastic. Although David is still very resistant, Alex and I must continue to break his spirit. 

Fortunately I got to see Shann and Teagan one more time before leaving. Teagan does this super cute thing where she jumps from lap to lap and giggles non-stop. A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E. 

My mom and Alex drove me to the airport and we said our goodbyes there. They held it together pretty well, which honestly made it worse for me and I cried my way to security. How embarrassing. Funny story: my mom told me "tell Ky we love him, and tell him we'd love him more if you moved back to Oregon." True story. 

That was a lonely trip home, but I will admit that I was dying to see Ky again. When you spend nearly all day with a person, it becomes pretty hard to leave them for 5 days. So that was the silver lining around my cloud. 

Home is where the heart is. My heart will forever be divided between where I am, and where my family is. Home sweet Oregon. 

Captiol Reef: The Epic Conclusion

Sunday morning we woke up and tried to clean ourselves up as much as possible. Very difficult to do when camping in desert land, sand and dirt everywhere one shouldn't have any. Anyways, we somewhat succeeded at looking clean at headed off to church. It was a very patriotic sacrament meeting since the next day was Memorial day; there is something very powerful about 150+ people fervently singing the national anthem. 

After church we drove an hour east to hike the Lower Calf Creek Trail. To clarify, I did bring the camera but neglected to take it out of the trunk so... no pictures sorry. But as you can imagine, it was extremely similar to the other landscapes we previously hiked. Lots of sand, minimal amounts of shrubbery. It was blazing hot but luckily at the trail head the river over runs the road a little bit. Just enough for one to take off their shoes and dip their feet in. It felt amazing after having hiked about 2 hours or so in the noon day sun. The only thing I really wish I could've recorded was Teagan in the water. So adorable. Something I'm super glad I didn't record was the snake that Devin caught in the bushes and brought out for us to see. Never in my life have I moved so quickly across a moss covered road to escape the horror. Teagan was forced to pet the snake, I'm pretty sure therapy will be required in the future. 

Upon returning to the camp site, Ky, Devin and I were on dinner duty and we chose my one-pot chili recipe. Devin made the chili powder himself and I think it turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. So good in fact that most everyone had seconds and there were no leftovers. Success. 

That night a small group of us went on one more hike. I don't really know if it constitutes as a hike, it was a little more than 1/3 of a mile all in all but definitely worth it. We hiked Panorama Point and caught the sun just as it had set.  

We ran over to the adjacent hike called Goosenecks; as you can sort of see, it's called that because of the way the river curves into a goose neck. 

Sunday night we had s'mores. Not just any s'mores; Anjai bought square shaped marshmallows specifically designed for s'mores and they were enormous once you roasted them. I had a full graham cracker s'more. BEST. NIGHT. EVER. 

Monday morning we lazily awoke and got the camp site all packed up. I can't say that I contributed very much; Teagan wanted to walk around and say hi to all of the dogs in the camp and I had the privilege of having Teagan duty. It was cute to watch her wave and say hi to everyone in the camp. 

We were out of there by 11:00am and headed out on the scenic route. 

On our way out of Capitol Reef we stopped by and saw the petroglyphs and pictograms. 

Chimney Rock. 

Twin Rocks. 

Last but not least, on our way out we hit the Capitol Reef national park sign. 

All in all; a trip worth taking. If you're ever in Southern Utah, make sure to stop by Capitol Reef.