North Carolina livin'

In July we boxed up our Arizona life.

I left the best job I've ever had. 

We loaded up the pooch.

And started our cross country adventure to North Carolina.

My dad and two little sisters were nice enough to join us on the 32 hour drive and help us get settled into our new house.

While my family was in town we explored Duke campus, went to a Durham Bulls baseball game, visited the beach, spent a few days in Virginia and spent a day visiting the historical sites in Washington D.C. So glad they were able to stay with us and help us make the drive. 

Duke held a 90's dance party for the incoming students so Chad and I found a local thrift store and did the best we could to channel Saved by the Bell and Full House fashion. Once we arrived at the party we realized we wouldn't be able to go inside since it was at a club and because spandex doesn't come with pockets, I left my I.D. at home. Oops! We ended up spending time getting to know other students outside and had a really fun time.

One of my favorite things about living in North Carolina is their farmers markets. Fresh food, live music, free samples, and food trucks. How could you go wrong? We ended up going home with a basket of cherry tomatoes, a bag full of fresh peaches and bellies full of ice cream and pizza.

A few weeks ago we were able to escape life for a few hours and go on a date. We went to a tasty restaurant called the Mellow Mushroom and then we headed to Raleigh temple to do a session together.

Chad has been working hard with school work while still working part time, and working on a business idea. He is also a primary teacher for the 10 and 11 year olds in our ward. I start my job at Spoonflower on Monday and I'm excited to have found a company that feeds my love for creativity and design.

More than that, we're excited for this little bean to join our family. After a long wait of dealing with switching insurance companies we were finally able to make it in for our appointment and receive confirmation that there is in fact a reason for my nausea, tiredness, and lack of appetite. Hooray that the reason is this!

Oh me, oh my, how time does fly!

Life has been busy since our last care-free Bahamas post. Here's what we've been up to...
• I was recommended to be a 2nd shooter for a local Photographer back in October. I was excited and terrified all at the same time. When I showed up at the event I ended up knowing the Photographer from past weddings that I had filmed. Jen was so nice and patient with me as she taught me knew photography skills through out the day. She later asked me to help her edit a batch of images from the wedding which was a great learning experience!

• Brinkley has been in training the last few months and is getting some tough love. She is learning how to behave like a lady and is preparing herself for the holiday season with her festive ugly sweater which she despises but it's just too hilarious. 
• A few Sunday's back we were told at the beginning of sacrament meeting that the bishop wanted to meet with us after the block. Chad and I both started guessing what it could be about since we had just met with our bishop a few days before for tithing settlement. Chad started panicking when they released the ward financial clerk and was hoping that the meeting was not for him. Lucky for him it wasn't. However, I am the new young women's president in our ward so bring on all the prayers and mutual ideas.

• Chad unfortunately didn't get accepted to any of his top schools which is a HUGE disappointment since he worked so dang hard! Now we begin preparing for the second round. He flew out to visit  New Hampshire and interview with Tuck before he sends in his application to their business school. It's no Stanford and if we got accepted we'd freeze our buns off but I think we could handle it for two years...maybe.
• I've been able to practice my photography a lot lately and had the opportunity to shoot a couple families with children which was a new challenge. My nanny baby just turned one and I got to have a fun birthday photo shoot with her as well! Happy Birthday Brookie bean!
• My mom and I were able to fly out to LA and have such a fun adventure and dance in the Ellen audience for her 12 days of giveaways. It was so exciting to just be in the audience, the prizes were a bonus. Here is the link to see the episode we were on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDKS-h00t40

We had so much fun at the wax museum and also took a tour to see some of the homes of Hollywood stars before the Ellen taping. Most of the homes were hidden with lots of , trees and greenery but their fences were lovely. We froze our tails off but had so much fun doing it!

 
 

Bahamas!

Chad and I planned on a cruise to the Bahamas early in the summer and loved researching all the fun things to do there before we left. On August 11th we flew to Miami Florida and stayed in a hotel right next to the ocean. Florida is probably our least favorite place that we've traveled to thus far. Despite the fact that you're a sweaty mess from the humidity there, the night life was a little sketchy and we were glad we didn't arrive any earlier.

Monday morning we took a taxi to the cruise ship, filled out all the paperwork, took all the silly pictures in front of the backdrops and then hiked it on up to deck 12 so we could check out the buffet while our room was being prepared.

On Tuesday we arrived in Nassau. We wanted to do a couple of excursions while on our trip and asked around to see which ones were worth the money. We heard lots of people say that swimming with the dolphins was a must, so even though it was a little bit more money than most, we decided to try it out.

I was a little nervous about the whole experience but it turned out to be the biggest highlight of the trip. We were able to spend time with the dolphins one on one where we got to pet, hug, kiss, feed, and dance with them. They loved to do tricks and entertain us any way they could. At one point they told us that they were going to call us up one by one and have us float in the water on our stomachs and then two dolphins were going to swim up behind us and with their noses push our feet so we flew across the water. Being chosen to go first did not settle my nerves in any way, but once I got the hang of it, it was really fun!

We even splurged and bought one of the pictures they took of us, it was that much fun!

The rest of the day we walked around the island, went swimming, and did a little sun bathing.

We partied hard until we passed out.

This picture is entitled "Payback." Thanks babe!

The next day we were on the private island that Royal Caribbean owns called Coco Cay. The island was beautiful and we did absolutely nothing, it was awesome! We found a couple of lounge chairs and rotated between napping and reading all day.

We also got to enjoy the wildlife...

We were pretty excited when we got back on the ship and saw that they had made us a towel animal. Our last cruise was apparently to fancy for towel animals so it was pretty fun. We never quite figured out what it was though....bulldog?

That night we got dressed up in our fancies and unfortunately forgot to bring our camera. The night before we left on our trip we looked up the dress code for formal night and I realized that I didn't have anything fancy enough to wear since Chad was planning on wearing a tux. I have never loved wearing dresses so when Chad suggested a last minute shopping spree I wasn't necessarily thrilled. We headed over to Tempe Market Place and checked out JC Penny's. Lucky for me the second dress I tried on was a winner and two sizes smaller than I was expecting, you can't beat that! Chad picked out a pretty necklace to complete the ensemble and we were outta there! What a delicious husband I have!

The last day we were in the Florida Keys which reminded us a lot of Catalina Island. We woke up early and headed out to our next excursion which was parasailing. It was fun, but less adventurous than we thought it was going to be. We were nervous to bring our camera up with us and we're glad we didn't because the driver dunked us in the water a few times, so no pictures of that either but it was fun. 

We spent the rest of the day walking around the island and we found a delicious pretzel stand with fresh lemonade. So yummy! They had all different kinds of mustards that you could try to go with your pretzel. Without even looking at the labels I started trying. Chad asked me which was my favorite and I pointed to the bottle I liked. He started laughing and said, "Your favorite flavor is beer huh?" I read the labels for the first time and started cracking up, oops! Chad reassured me that it wasn't real beer just the flavor but he's checked me into an AA program just to be on the safe side. 

The rest of the day we took goober pictures and walked the shops.

We love crusin' and hope to still be traveling the world together when we're old and crusty. Here's to checking off the Bahamas and swimming with the dolphins off of our bucket list! 

**Thank you Garrison's for watching our nasty pooch while we were gone and for killing two scorpions for us! 

28 years.

This cute boy turned 28 on August 9th! 

It was a busy week with him taking the GMAT test and us preparing for our trip that it wasn't a very eventful day. We both got off work around the same time but unfortunately for us the water heater in the rental property broke and we had been working on getting it fixed for over two weeks. Chad spent the afternoon there while the parts were being replaced. When we finally met up he said that he had a big lunch and wasn't all that hungry but wanted to see a movie. We ended up at a movie called Pacific Rim and after it was over we both agreed that Smurfs 2 would have been better than Pacific Rim. If you grew up watching the Power Rangers you've pretty much seen the movie.

I love you so much Chad! You are always so positive about life, even when the bills come in. You constantly strive to be better and set goals for yourself and for our marriage. I love spending time with you. I love traveling with you and adding new places to our bucket list. I love talking about our future babies with you. I love laughing with you. I love dancing in the living room with you. I love talking about our future. You're the best of the best and I'm so glad we have eternity! Muah!

Ellen DeGENEROUS

Ellen has been having a contest all summer to win amazing prizes. In June it was a trip to Australia, July was a trip to Australia or 12 days of giveaways, August it was a trip to Australia, 12 days of giveaways, or a 10,000 prize package, and in September you can win prizes from her 12 days of giveaways from season 11. Each day she posts a multiple-choice question online about one of her guests. I hardly ever watch her show on t.v. because I'm not home during the day but I thought I would take a look at the question one day and see if I knew the answer. It was surprisingly very easy so I filled out my answer and then the information about myself. At the end it asks you why you are deserving of the tickets and then you post a picture of yourself. I think I only entered 4 or 5 times knowing that my chances of actually winning were slim to none. I told my mom that I had been trying to win and I'm pretty sure she had her fingers and toes crossed every day since.

On Friday I was at work when I got a call from a 818 number. If I don't recognize the number, I never answer the phone so I rejected the call after a few rings. A few minutes later my phone said that I had a voice mail message. I started listening to it, thinking that it was going to be an operator or sales person, but the first thing I heard was "Hey Allison, this is Brian with the Ellen Degeneres show..." I hung up the phone and called the number right back, but it sent me to the Warner Brothers Studio machine and wouldn't allow me to leave a message. I dialed my voice mail again and listened to the complete message where he gave me another number to call. My hands were shaking and the number I wrote down looked like a Kindergartner writing numbers for the first time. When I called the correct number it took my to Brian's voice mail where I left as calm of message as I could. He called me back a few minutes later and told me that I had won tickets to Ellen's 12 days of giveaways! I couldn't believe it! He told me that studio is flying my mom and I out to LA for the taping, paying for our hotel, and a car while we are there. After he confirmed all my information I hung up the phone and called my mom.

I stepped outside and called my mom so the screaming wouldn't wake up my sleeping niece. She was just as surprised and excited as I was and we quickly started looking up previous seasons giveaways. We are so excited to take this trip together and I still have to listen to the voice mail message to remind myself that this is really happening. My dad and Chad are planning on taking the day off work so that they can come with us and have a man date while my mom and I are dancing with Ellen. UNBELIEVABLE! 

Happy Papanwa's Day!

It's no secret that this man and I share a very special bond. I recently watched Anne of Green Gables and my dad and I are definitely kindred spirits. 

Thank you for being my #1 man and graciously yet cautiously stepping down to my #2 man when Chad came along. You are one of my favorite travel companions and Ireland will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you for loving me when it was hard to love myself, for countless father's blessings, heart to heart talks, and lunch dates. Thank you for teaching me that "Cluff's never quit" even when things get really tough.

Several months after I was married the song we danced to at my wedding came on the radio and I started to tear up. Chad started to chuckle and said "boy are you a sucker for your dad!" Thank you for always loving me and for being one of my best friends and biggest fans. I am so thankful to have you as my dad!

Love you!

As of late...

➽Brinkley and I have been waiting for our boyfriend to come home from his long work days.

➽Chad has been studying like a mad man and hopes to take the GMAT at the end of June. (Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed for this guy)

➽My phone officially took in to much baby drool and has finally kicked the bucket. RIP old crusty.

➽I have been loving my new camera lens and took a great photography workshop last month.

➽My sister in law and I have been making delicious baby bows. Good thing my job includes a cute baby model.

➽Brinkley is learning that biting is not nice, and gets a friendly reminder from the squirt bottle each time she forgets. Works like a charm! I'm sad it took me 11 months to figure it out.

➽We have had lots of family time this summer, complete with barbeques and swimming parties.

➽I won a facebook giveaway for a free haircut, color, highlight, and style worth $175! 

➽The summer heat has killed our garden.