Rappelling

On Wednesday I went rappelling with my friends Kyle, McKenzie, and McKenzie's friend from her mission Ixel. (Brandon wasn't able to come because he was working a double that day.) This was my first time rappelling because I don't count the time at Girl's Camp when I rappelled off of a board. Our friend Kyle is an Outdoor Recreation major and has a lot of experience with rappelling and other outdoor activities. He actually used to be in charge of the ropes course at a Boy Scout camp in Beaver. 

Getting ready:

Me!

It was so pretty up there!

Some pictures of us waiting to start:

This was the cliff we went down it was about 30 feet:

Kyle and McKenzie going down:

This is me before I went down. I was the last one to go so I was the only one at the top:

I hated it the first time. I got down to the bottom and I felt like I was going to throw-up. I am pretty sure that had to do with the fact that I hadn't been drinking as much as I should've that day. It is actually kind of ironic because it seems like whenever I do an active activity with Kenzie usually that day I don't eat as well or drink as much, any other day I usually do a lot better. I really didn't want to go down again but then Kyle showed Kenzie a couple more techniques to make it a lot easier so I decided I would try again and do these new things. It was A LOT better after that. 

Here are some pictures of me rappelling (this was my second time):

Camping!

Last night Brandon and I went camping at Cedar Canyon with our friend Christian. Even though I don't go very often I really do like camping. I love being outdoors, the smell of nature, seeing wildflowers, campfires, the food, and sleeping on the ground inside a tent. Even though this site was a pretty one of the things I didn't like is it was kind of close to a switchback on the road. It wasn't too bad but next time I want to go somewhere that is a lot further away from the main road.

Here is a picture of our campsite and a very attractive picture of me:

Brandon and Christian decided to get the fire going. So here are some pictures that go along with that:

 They were entranced by the flames:

We don't have a lot of our camping supplies so we rented some at the Outdoor Center on campus. For the most part they have good quality products. This "circus tent," however,  is not one of them:

(note all the openings along the bottom of the tent.)

Now, here comes the part where everyone has permission to hang and shake their head and think, "Oh Dana and Brandon what were you thinking?" The reason why you can do this is because as the night went on it started to have some scattered showers. We realized our tent was most likely going to leak and we knew it would be uncomfortable. We started talking about what to do and then Brandon and I decided we might as well go buy a tent. Brandon had gotten a nice bonus check that day and we really do want to go camping more so we figured might as well. So Christian and Brandon went back to town to get a tent. (Random side-story after they left within five minutes the fire went out. I then spent the next hour trying to get it going again. I never could and I realized my days at girls' camp had failed me.) 

Here is our new tent though where we stayed nice and dry all night:

These couple of pictures are kind of random but during the night I noticed a tiny green light on the ground:

It was on a stick and so Brandon picked it up and we realized it was a glow worm! I have never seen one before and I thought it was so cool. Here is a very blurry picture of it:

(after taking a picture we set the stick gently on the ground out of harms way. Some bird probably ate it this morning though.)

Another thing I LOVE about camping is I love making smores! There are a few people I want to meet and thank when I get to heaven and one of those people is the man/woman who invented smores (I also want to thank the man/woman who invented maple donuts.)

We found these freakishly large marshmallow at the store and so we got them:

In the morning we decided to drive up to the overlook and that shows quite a few features of Zion National Park:

Here is Brandon and me at the overlook:

(I wanted to do a group shot but Christian refused to be in it.)

To wrap it all up, here is Brandon at our apartment this morning trying to fit one of those marshmallows in his mouth:

We are planning on going camping again in September and go to Bryce Canyon and stay there Friday and Saturday night. We just need to pick a weekend that isn't Labor Day weekend because I rather not deal with those huge crowds! 

Hiking/We're Five/Random Pictures

Today Brandon had the day off and so we decided to go on a hike. We went to a place in Kannarrville and did a hike we did a couple of years ago. For some of the hike you hike through a slot canyon and then you get to some waterfalls. This is the main reason why people do this hike but when we were approaching the slot canyon it looked like it was going to rain so we turned around. Even though we didn't get to the destination it was still really pretty:

The last time we hiked this together Brandon fell down this mini-waterfall as he was trying to climb it because we didn't see a marked trail (some of the hike you are in water). This is him reliving the horror:

As we were driving home we started discussing what we wanted to do tonight. For some reason for the past while I have been wanting to play Monopoly, we have started playing games more and I kept getting sad that we didn't own it. Because of this desire I said I wanted to get Monopoly, play it, eat junk food, and watch "Psych." So that is what we decided to do but while we were at Wal-Mart we also ended up getting a cheap set of Nerf guns and I also got this puzzle set that has 10 different puzzles and it was actually really cheap (I also like puzzles). So here is our picture of us once again being giant kids and what we will be doing tonight:

(Also I am going to beat all my "hilarious" sisters to the punch and say if I lose the game I am sure I will throw the board. There, none of you can make a comment about that.)

Here is us with our guns:

These last couple of pictures are random ones that I had left on my camera after Stephanie's wedding. The day after the wedding we hung out with my sister Shannon and her kids. Usually when we are over there Brandon and our nephew Andrew will play a lot. Andrew has told me that Brandon is his favorite uncle but I am sure he just says "yes" whenever someone might ask "Is so-and-so your favorite?" Anyways, one thing Andrew likes to do is play with Brandon's "Giant Phone" (iPad) and at one point during the day I went downstairs and they were intently watching a Spider-Man cartoon, which Brandon loves just as much as Bubba. I thought it was so cute so I took a couple of pictures. Even though we aren't planning on having kids for a few years I know when we do Brandon is going to be a great Dad:

One Step Closer to Teaching...

About a month ago I had to take an exam called the Praxis. There are several different Praxises, but this one was a content test of literature and composition. So basically I took it to prove I know enough to be a qualified English teacher.

I hate taking tests, especially ones with a duration of two hours. I was very nervous for it, which Steph and Steve were witnesses of since they were at our apartment the night before and I was freaking out that I could only find four mechanical pencils (when it actually turned out that I learned later that night that the test doesn't allow mechanical pencils so Brandon picked up some regular pencils for me.)

ANYWAYS....

When I finished the test I felt content. I didn't feel like I failed it but I also didn't feel like I aced it.

Well I got the results today and I passed! I got a 170 out of 200, which isn't really that great since the passing score for Utah is 168. At the same time though it is a high enough score that I can teach in pretty much every state except Vermont, Virginia, and Connecticut (You need to score at least a 172) and some other states that don't use the Praxis system.

The part that killed me was the literature part. The majority of that section is here is a passage now tell me who wrote it and what the book is. I mean I read a lot, but not that much. In the other two sections I did really well on. I was only one or two points off from getting them all right.

I only have to take one more Praxis exam which is basically a test on classroom management, which I am not too worried about.

I really am excited to start teaching next year and even though I only get pretty average grades I am confident I am going to be a good teacher.

My Sister Got Married!

Steph and Steve got married yesterday. It was such a beautiful day and they looked so happy! Brandon and I are going to miss them in Cedar City, but I am excited for them. This is the only picture I am posting on here, but I posted A LOT more on Facebook so go look there. If you aren't my friend on Facebook (and you have an account) you are creepy and stop following my blog! 

Zion National Park

Yesterday I went to Zion with Steph, Steve, Lindsay, Caleb, and John (also this guy named Jeff who was riding with John and Lindsay). It took us a while to get there because we had some car troubles in St. George.

I was kind of glad we were delayed though because by the time we got there the hike we did, Angel's Landing, the trail was shaded a good majority of the time.

Here are some pictures Steph took, but they were uploaded on my computer so I am going to use them:

And here is the best picture taken of two people after hiking almost five miles:

The Story of Us

Author's Note: I really don't expect anyone to read this. The reason why I am writing this is because Brandon and I have decided to start publishing our blog into books every year. I started thinking about it and because my old blog no longer exists and I am terrible at writing in my journal I don't have any records of Brandon's and my story. So I decided I am going to write a HUGE blog post about how we met, dating, how he proposed, the wedding etc. I'm also going to include some pictures too. Like I said, I don't expect anyone to read this, but you're more than welcomed to. I just don't want to be 70 years-old and regret that I never wrote it down.

How We Met: 

Back in 2008 I was coming back to Cedar City to start my third year at SUU and that year I had decided to live with one of my best friends McKenzie who I met while working at the school newspaper. She came up with an idea to have a Rock Band party before school started and I was all for it. She invited a lot of people including people who didn't live in Cedar City and this included Brandon.

Though the main party was on Sunday some of us still played on Saturday after the editor's retreat. Brandon came down that night after he worked his shift and when he came in I thought (and I still think this) that he was the most attractive guy I have ever met.

You know how while growing up you kind of form in your head the perfect guy? Well Brandon met all of the physical qualities I wanted in a guy. I thought he was so cute, but I was shy and I was convinced I would never have a chance with him.

On Sunday I spent a lot of the morning/early afternoon trying to figure out how Kenzie and him knew each other because they seemed really close. There was actually a time that I was thinking they were brother and sister but McKenzie had told me about her family before and I did not remember a Brandon being in it.

Once the party began I started to care less about how they knew each other and soon I realized Brandon was flirting with me. I was elated but I kind of figured since he lived in Ogden nothing would happen. We kept flirting during the night and I started to think he liked me. Later on I learned that the reason why he was close with Kenzie is because they dated all through out high school and she was going to wait for him. I remember hearing about this guy but I never knew his name. At this point I was starting to regret how much we were flirting because I thought this was unfair to Kenzie.

Here are some of the pictures from that night. Keep in mind we decided to dress like "rockers" and my ensemble were clothes that Kenzie's friend had given her:

(I love this picture! Keep in mind the bottles are IBC Rootbeer)

The next day Brandon came over to say goodbye, but he didn't ask for my number. I felt like an idiot because I thought he might have been interested.  

I had to go to work and I was scared of telling Kenzie about how I felt about Brandon, but I felt like I needed to. She was actually happy to know that I liked him because she thought we would be cute together. She then called up Brandon to see what he thought of me and he said he was interested, but was too shy to ask for my number. He actually was planning on finding me on Facebook and was going to try to form a relationship from there. Kenzie sped up the process though by giving him my number and told him to call me later that night.

The next few days we would talk on the phone and we decided to start a relationship. For the first few months it was long distance and then he decided to come to SUU. We knew early on we wanted to get married, but we didn't feel like it was the right time. We ended up dating for a little over a year before he proposed. 

The Proposal: 

At SUU there is a place called the Centrum. It is basically a circular hallway that has some classrooms and is outside the basketball court. Brandon and I would walk around the Centrum almost everyday when we had some free time. It just gave us some time to catch-up.

On the day he proposed he asked me if I wanted to go there for a walk. As we were walking we came to a display case that had a vase of daisies on it. I knew they were for me and while I was looking at them Brandon got on one knee. He then told me that he loves me and wants to spend forever with me. He then asked me to marry him.

Our friend Janet helped Brandon with this and actually was hiding during this taking some pictures:

A little while later I went home to find more flowers there :) 

Engagement Life:

Brandon and I were engaged for about six months. It was a really long engagement but I am glad it was that long. It made it a lot less stressful. The only reason why I am including this part is so I can post some engagements and bridals. I do want to take this moment to once again thank my sister Shannon for finding my wedding dress. It was perfect. She also found the bridesmaid dresses, which I also loved. 

Also here is our invitation. My sister-in-law Tara designed them and we both loved the design! I really think it is one the prettiest designs I have ever seen. Of course, I might be being biased since it was our invitation :)

Wedding Day:

The only thing I would change about our wedding day was where we got our flowers, I really was disappointed in how they looked. Besides that I thought our wedding day was perfect. We had a later sealing so I didn't have to wake up super early to get ready. That morning was really relaxed I even went to the mall with my sister Stephanie to get some hairspray. Brandon also had a good morning except for the fact he threw-up his breakfast because he was so excited. He at least was smarter than me and ate. In all my excitement all I had eaten that day was a small slice of zucchini bread. I actually almost passed out in the temple before the sealing because I was so hungry. A temple worker got me some crackers and water though who also informed me that I was not the first bride this has happened to. 

We didn't have a reception. Neither of us really wanted anything big so we just had a dinner with family and some close friends. It was great! The whole evening was so relaxed and the food was delicious. One of the funniest moments was when I was going to throw the bouquet my niece Isabelle ran up and grabbed it before I threw it. 

I'm not going to post a lot of pictures of the wedding just because we already have a wedding album. Here are some of my favorites though:

So there you go! That is the long story of how Brandon and I met and then became husband and wife. I couldn't ask for a better husband. I've never been one to believe in soul mates, but I do believe I would've never found anyone better for me. We work well together and we love being with each other.