Getting into the Groove

Matt and I went hiking up to Desolation Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon over Labor Day weekend. The trail really kicked our butts and it wasn't even that difficult. Marriage really gets you out of shape. The leaves are still nice and green even at the very top, hopefully we can go a few more times when the leaves are turning!

Other than that, lets see...we bought a truck which Matt spends ALL of his free time looking at accessories for. Football season started, so Matt watches every game he can while recording another game simultaneously while looking for accessories for the truck. Hahaha. Matt has also been really busy with work, the company is making a lot of changes and expanding right now which is really exciting! Work has been busy for me too which I am grateful for. I decided to run a half marathon in November in St. George and now have to start training for it, I needed something to motivate me to get back in shape. I am also submitting my application to start my Masters degree, finally! I am really excited to go back to school but missed the spring deadline so I have to wait til next summer to start, hopefully the enthusiasm stays around til then!

And of course we have been having a ton of fun with Nick! He grows and learns so quick. He recently learned how to sing the ABC song, he now LOVES going to nursery and saying his prayers, and as you can see taking bubble baths! My favorite though is he will ask me "Chanci love me?" and then I get to tell him how much I love him and give him big hugs and kisses. I think he is starting to realize I am a part of his family now so that's why he asks me that. It is so darn cute!

Whitewater Kayaking

Yes, Matt and I do actually have fun by ourselves sometimes when Nick isn't with us. Surprise, surprise! A couple of weeks ago we decided to go white water kayaking on the wild Snake River just below Jackson Hole, WY. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the whitewater was great! The water was pretty low so the Big Kahuna was in full force. The first time down the river Matt and I FLIPPED the kayak over! It took us a while to get back in and we lost all of our food as well as some of Matt's clothes. It was pretty hilarious, I can only imagine what we looked like out there. All in all we had a GREAT time!

The Dino Park!

A few weeks ago when the weather wasn't too good I was looking online for fun things to do with Nick. I remembered that several people had told me how much fun the dinosaur park in Ogden was so I looked it up online and was pleasantly surprised to see that admission was FREE that day! Which made the drive up there totally worth it!

The park was really fun! There were tons of HUGE dinosaurs everywhere and in some parts they had dino sounds to accompany them. Nick LOVED the dinosaurs! There is also a big playground, gazebos with grills if you want to have a party, a sand pit to dig up dino bones in, and a little museum with dinosaur skeletons too. Lots of stuff to keep the kiddos entertained.

Nick was so excited to get his picture taken in these things. He is so cute!

Shaking hands with the dino.

The Fam.

As you can see some of the dinos are really BIG!

The reason that admission was FREE the day we went is because of a thing called RAMP that Weber County does each summer. I don't know exactly how it works but every saturday during the summer they open up several pools, museums, parks, and other fun kid activities in Weber County for free. You can get a schedule of what is open when by Googling "RAMP, Weber County". It is over for this summer but I am definitely going to keep it in mind for next summer!

10 Days in Arizona

Matt and I were originally going to get married on July 24th and my parents offered to put on an open house in AZ on the 25th, so even though we eloped earlier on we decided to spend a week in AZ on "vacation". 

We had a great open house on Saturday! Thanks to all of my family and friends and Matt's parents to coming and celebrating our marriage with us. It was so good to see all of my family and introduce them to my wonderful new husband. 

Here are the photos and videos that document the rest of our trip...

Nick and Matt playing in the pool at my parents house, where we spent most of our time on the trip...

I love how cute Nick is in this pic even though he was trying not to let me get a pic of him.

My boys, always goofing off...

Nick and Matt enjoying the lake. Nick was scared of the jet ski at first but once he got used to it there was no getting him off of it. He actually fell asleep on Matt's arm while riding on it.

Very funny videos of Nick with a kitty and a frog. These were all taken at my aunts house in the small town where I grew up, Nick had a blast running around on their little farm, playing with the animals, riding the horse and the tractors, etc. He caught quite a few different frogs and became quite attached to them so we put two in a plastic bottle with some air holes and took them home. The next day we bought a whole tank and were excited to take them back to Utah with us for Nick. We soon discovered that 2 year olds and frogs don't mix really well, Nick constantly wanted to hold the froggies and unfortunately neither of them survived the trip home. Nick was very sad and misses the frogs but we still have the tank so maybe someday we will get him another little animal to keep him busy. 

Riding bare back!

Boys and their toys...

The Grand Canyon! Matt really wanted to go see it because he never had, I am not sure if it was all he expected it to be (especially with a grumpy two year old), but we had a good time. Nick was being very independent and wanted to sit on his own rock!

He wanted to run on the rocks instead of the trail too.

All in all it was a good week. It was nice to take some time of off work, see my family, and spend time with Matt and Nick. 

Back to reality...

Well the last three weeks have been full of changes! After we eloped we spent the weekend in Park City on our mini-honeymoon. We stayed at Hotel Park City which was really nice. Their rooms are just so comfortable it was like being at home (but way nicer you know). We went mountain biking on Deer Valley's world class trails. I was really excited to go but once I got on the trail I was scared out of my mind! I just didn't see what was so fun about flying down a steep mountain on a skinny dirt trail full of rocks, bouncing so hard on every little bump that your whole body is constantly vibrating (including your eyes so that you could hardly see the skinny dirt trail and your hands so you definitely couldn't stay on the skinny dirt trail), and the whole time your going so fast that you have to grip the brakes so hard that your hands cramp up AND it doesn't even slow you down! I only fell once on these three big rocks that left me three big bruises to brag about my adventure with. Matt on the other hand is a really good mountain biker and had a blast! Other than that we just hung out at the sweet hot tub at the hotel, went to Ruth's Chris Steak House for dinner, and went on a drive up to the Uintahs. After all the wedding, non-wedding stress it was a very relaxing weekend.

When we decided to elope we only really planned as far as the wedding so when we the honeymoon was over it we had A LOT to do and no time to do it in. We both went back to work on monday and had to find a place to live, move, etc. Which everyone has to do but usually not after they are married and I was being VERY picky about where we lived. We looked at a TON of places: apartments, basements, condos, townhomes, etc. and either I didn't like them or they were too expensive or required too long of a lease or were too far away. It was a really stressful three days but finally we found these nice apartments really close to where we both work and signed a lease! That same day all of Matt's family helped us move all of his stuff from Orem and my stuff from my house (which I hadn't even packed yet, I just told them what stuff was mine and they started throwing it into garbage bags) into our apartment. We got it all done in one night! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL THE OYLER FAMILY!

We spent that whole weekend with Matt's family, I was pre-warned that the Fourth of July is the Oyler family holiday. This was the first time that I met Matt's parents too! We had such a fun time boating, spending time with family and watching fireworks. I had such a good time watching them goof off and getting to know them better. At one point we were all sitting around in camp chairs at the park just doing different things and it struck me that Matt has such an amazing family and I am so blessed to be a part of it now. Thanks for making me feel like I fit right in!

One day at the beginning of the next week I came home to find that our apartment full of boxes had been completely unpacked and partially decorated by my lovely husband and mother-in-law. Thank you so much for taking that huge stress off my shoulders, it meant a lot to me! 

Since then it's been more "normal" if you can call it that. We have been camping and watching movies and working and paying bills and just loving our life together! 

Since you read all of my rambling I think you deserve a reward so here are some pictures of Nick! Every tuesday and thursday I come home for lunch so I can spend time with him and Matt. Nick can say my name now and Matt says he even asks for me sometimes when I am not there (which of course is probably the coolest feeling I have ever felt). Well this particular lunchtime Nick was playing hide and seek with us in the box our vacuum came in, it was so much fun! I love getting to see Nick more than every other weekend now, he really makes my day and reminds me what's really important in life.

Here is another pic of him when we went camping a few weekends ago. I think he is getting ready to throw a rock which is funny because earlier that day he threw a rock really hard and it hit Matt right on the eyebrow and left a huge goose egg! 

Nick and Daddy coming to "get" me in the swimming pool!

Well as always, I love all of you and hope you are doing well. Thanks for reading!