My Business Man

Brad started working full time at Fidelity a few weeks ago.

He loves his new job and wardrobe.

Looking sharp every day!

FISHING....FINALLY.

I have wanted to fishing for about 2 1/2 years now. It was on my "List of Things to do When I Get Home from London" list.  AND I finally got to go on Labor day with some of our great friends JD and Summer. 

Brad had other plans for the day...like watching college football games. (After we got back I think he regretted not joining us). Anyways, JD is practically a pro fisherman and Summer is a pro supporter of her fisherman (she reads magazines and enjoys being outdoors right Summer?) JD took us up to Tibble Fork which is way up Alpine canyon. It was beautiful! Clear water, tall trees, and nicely tucked between the mountains. 

Anyways long story short...I caught a fish! (Well kinda. You see JD and I were fishing next to each other and he felt a tug on his line and quickly switched poles with me! So I reeled up a huge brown trout. Basically like catching a fish right? Probably doesn't count but I was stoked so that's all that matters.)

After reeling in my big boy and fishing for a few more hours, Summer and I trolled our way across the lake while JD paddled. : ) 

I think Brad thought I would just go and get it out of my system but he was wrong. Now my goal is to get my Utah drivers license and the get a fishing license. (It's much cheeper if your a resident.) Until then I just dream about doing some more of this...

These are a few of my favorite things

              Yogurtland

(I prefer plain tart with strawberries, coconut, crushed up graham cracker, topped with sweet and condensed milk! So delish)

Pho

(Pronounced "fa")

Delicious Vietnamese soup. I like chicken and steak with a touch of sriracha sause. I love this soup because it's very filling yet "fresh!" I could eat the whole bowl and feel full but not the gross full feeling.

S'mores

Nuff said.

Zoi Greek Yogurt

Rich, creamy, and oh so good! I prefer eating it out of a tea cup with a small spoon.

Chinese Chicken Salad 

(Costco kit)

This salad is so good! I think it's the dressing that's got me hooked. Tasty and healthy.

California Pizza Kitchen

My favorite is the 5 cheese and fresh tomato. It has just the right amount of crust and great stringy cheese!

Chubbs

My nephew is the cutest.

I bet you're currently smiling because he's so stinkin adorable and squishy.  

1 Year Anniversary!

          On June 4th, Brad and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. WOW does time fly by. It seems like we have been married forever but at the same time it feels like we were just at the temple yesterday. This past year has been amazing. We traveled to/through Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, California and Mexico. We have both been plugging away at school and working and still have time to have fun with each other, friends, and family. To celebrate we planned a fun filled day. It all started with a tandem bike ride and picnic! We had pretty prestigious expectations as to where we were going to bike to but once we road around for a while we realized it was harder than we thought and we were out of shape! ha ha We had a lot of fun though and even got a little work out. 

         After our bike ride we went for massages. (Why have I never had a massage before?!?) It was so relaxing and rejuvenating! I had a little asian girl who did such a great job. Close to the end she said, "I all done. Anything you need?" I said "Yes, I need you to massage my calfs and arms again." Ha ha Looking back I should have probably let her just be done but I was loving it! After massages, we freshened up and went to dinner at our favorite restaurant and had Pho (I'm addicted to Pho).  Then we topped it off with Yogurtland and a red box. 

        I love Brad and grateful for such an amazing first year of our eternity together!

 

Schools out for Summer *title must be sung

My summer break started last week but Brad just finished finals yesterday. Around noon I started receiving phone calls/texts (while I was at the hospital with my grandparents) from Brad saying,

"When are you coming home?" & "I'm bored"

When I finally got home later that evening I found Brad sitting in his car listening to his Series 7 study cd's. (he must have REALLY been bored!) Since the weather was nice we decided to play a little Bocce Ball. We got a set as a wedding present but hadn't played it yet. Brad taught me the rules and then proceeded to beat me 4/4 games haha. I really enjoyed it though and look forward to a rematch in the near future.

                        

     Maybe next time I'll try the under hand throw.

Happy Easter!

      Brad and I are starting the tradition early of giving each other an Easter basket! This year I am pleased to announce that I received (and am a very proud owner of) sperry's but not just any sperry's. They are gold and I'm in love.

Perfect shoes to welcome in spring time!

Brad got 3 t-shirts, a nice button up shirt, and a pair of shorts. The "Easter Bunny" was good to us this year!

Brad's Photo Shoot

About a month ago Brad had a photo shoot down in Cedar City and the photographer just sent some of his favorite to Brad today. Just had to brag a bit about how handsome my husband is. These are two are my favorites. 

I'm one lucky girl! 

Pennsylvania

The summer we got married Brad was working in Washington DC... well that's what the initial plan was. All of May Brad was in DC working and I was in California  getting ready for the wedding. I so excited to move to DC for the summer and had a job all lined up and a white house tour planned also...BUT a week before we got married Brad switched companies and locations. Instead of living in DC we would live in Pennsylvania! I was a bit bummed because I thought... what does Pennsylvania have to offer besides Amish quilts and hand crafted woodwork? I was ready for the adventure and was mostly just excited to be married!

Two days before we got married Brad flew home with a little bug bite on his leg. We didn't worry about it though it was just a "mosquito bite." By the time we boarded the plane after the wedding it had turned into a little rash that progressively got worse over time.

Just the start

As Brad kept working it kept spreading and oozing. Gross I know. We decided it was time to go see a doctor, BUT Brad doesn't have any health insurance so we had to go to a clinic in Harrisburg, PA. It was THE sketchiest place ever. I thought I had seen the ghetto before but realized I hadn't until then. We were worried our car wouldn't be there when we came back out or at least that the tires would be gone. (ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit) The clinic was really run down and usually in doctors offices there are cupboards and jars full of cotton balls and stuff. Not here, there were cupboards with chains around the handles that were locked and the counters were bare. Then the doc came in who said very little. The appointment basically went like this...

Doc- "So what do you think it is?"

Brad- "A staph infection"

Doc- "Yeah your probably right."

silence....

Doc- "Here is your prescription"

(Hands Brad a little piece of paper then leaves)

It was quite the experience but the whole visit and prescription cost $15 total so no complaining! Plus our car was all intact when we got outside! Below are pictures of the infection at its peak.

Due to the fact that staph can kill you and that Brad had to keep his leg elevated to keep the blood from flowing and spreading the infection anymore, he couldn't work. We got to spend a lot of time together just relaxing. We didn't have internet or TV so we just hung out and occasionally went out to Amish country and to Hershey, PA (the land of chocolate!) It was quite an eventful first month of marriage!

Remodeling Our Little House

Ever since I was little I always picture my husband and I as newlyweds fixing up a shack to be our first home. I was excited about it too. And that's exactly what happened, but not at first....We started out by living in Pennsylvania for the first month of marriage then becoming homeless for a few weeks (driving cross country in 2 1/2 days to Pismo then Cypress) then back to Utah where my grandparents graciously let us stay at their house for the rest of the summer. Then we got to move into a little brick house Clark (my father-in-law) owns. (It's one of his many rentals) It's located in Provo next to a large old pioneer home that Brandon and Trish (Brads brother and his wife), Zoey and Damian (Brads cousins, her husband and son) live in. And below us in the basement of our house is where Leavitt and Amber live (my brother and sister-in-law). It's like a family compound and so fun! 


When we first went in the house I immediately became nauseous from the smell. The previous renters had a dog and I'm pretty sure they never house trained it. It smelled in the family room/dining room and master bedroom. But that didn't hinder my desire to move in as soon as we could. I just saw it as a challenge and was excited to tear it up and see what was below! There were other things that I was excited about too, like being able to paint wall any color I wanted and being able to decorate and get furniture that we picked out! If you know my husband you know he's the greatest handy man around! Not to mention Clark and Brandon are super handy too! So with a little help from the Clark and Julie (my mom), left over decorations from our reception, new furniture, paint, money from the wedding, and the excitement of having our own place we transformed our "shack" (it really wasn't THAT bad) to our cozy perfect little house.


Now for the before and after pictures!

Before

During

After

After

After

Before

After

Before

Before

After

After

After

After

(I just realized we haven't take and "after" picture of our room or the office so those will be posted later!)

We am so proud of the transformation and grateful we have such a beautiful house to live in. We feel so blessed! Our door is always open and we have a spare room/office that is always available for visitors to stay in. My childhood dream came true : )

The beginning of US

Since this blog is about the life of Brad and I, I thought I'd start out at the beginning...

 When we first met.

It was a warm Sunday afternoon when Brad came knocking on the door of my apartment "looking for his family home evening family" (I think he was just going around checking out all the potential girls he could date in the ward but he claims otherwise). After talking with my roommates and on his way out the door he turned to me and said...

"What's your name?"

Me "Abby"

Brad "Abigail?"

Me "You can call me whatever you want."

Brad interpreted my plain statement as "You can call me whatever you waaant" He thought I was being flirty. (Which was not the case considering I had a boyfriend at the time.) A few weeks later Brad ask me on a date and I said "No." Then he asked me again and I made up an excuse to get out of it. He some how had the courage to ask me out again but this time wouldn't accept No or an excuse, so I went. We had an amazing time and the rest is history.

This is the first picture we took together.

(Not the first date)

How could I resist?