10 Days is a Long Time!

Dave finally got back from his 10 day trip yesterday! He went to Boise for a business trip because his company opened up 3 new Gold's Gyms up there. So, I was stuck at home for that whole time by myself. I didn't sleep very well the first couple of nights, but once I adjusted to it, I slept okay. Good thing I have a job that keeps me busy! You never run out of things to do as a teacher. I totally felt like I was single again because I didn't even have my wedding ring, since we were finally getting a wedding band made for it! It looks really nice now. I feel like I am engaged again and just keep looking at it.
For the weekend, I just headed up to Layton. I went to the drill team competition with Jessica and Michelle, and went to the ward party and saw the Lace, Laytones, and Lyrics perform. I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore! It's always fun seeing Bronco. He came and woke me up early in the morning and jumped up in the bed with me. I think he just knew I needed someone to cuddle with!
Since Dave has been gone, we just got our Christmas tree last night. The past 2 years, we have gone to tree lots in parking lots. Both years, we have looked at the price of the trees and snuck out. They are so expensive, so we always end up at the Home Depot. Can't beat a price of $25 for a 5 1/2 foot tree! We had fun decorating it, and we feel a little more into the spirit, especially since we are getting a pile of presents underneath!
One really funny thing about Dave's trip--The gym he was at told him that he could have a free tan. So of course, knowing Dave, he had to get it. He and the guy he was with got spray on tans! I got a text message from him the next day that said he looked ridiculous and he looked like a leper! I was totally scared to see him! By the time I saw it, it actually wasn't that bad, except for his leg, where it dripped down! You can sure smell it though when his skin gets wet! Good thing it only lasts 10 days!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

About 2 Saturdays ago, Dave was asking me what we were going to do that day. I said the words that he has been wanting me to say for a year, "Let's go buy new couches!" So, off we went to look at some. We first went to RC Willey and looked there. It was super busy, so we went to Granite Furniture and tested them out before deciding on some. We found a set that we liked. Since we got both a new couch and a love seat, we had to rearrange our apartment. Since we had to do that, we decided we needed a new entertainment center, since ours was bought at a yard sell before we got married. (Our old couch wasn't any better-it came from his grandma's).

Old entertainment center and couch.

We drove to IKEA and wandered around the maze there. We found an entertainment center we liked, and had to get a matching bookcase, rug, and coffee table. We ended up spending more money than we were planning on!
We also had fun painting our wall sage green, and I finally found some inexpensive pillows that matched (pillows can be really expensive if you are buying 4 of them!) We have been happy with our changes and don't think our apartment looks like a missionary one anymore.(as one of Dave's friends described it!)
Not everything is finished yet. We still need a few things on the wall. What do you think so far? It's very much of an improvement!

Live in Las Vegas!

One of the best things about being a teacher is UEA! Last year, we went to Chicago and visited the Mitchells, and this year we drove down to St. George and Las Vegas. It was really nice to get away for a few days. We left Wednesday evening for St. George and went to Vegas the next day, after a trip to the temple and to the driving range. We stayed at a hole called the Excalibur. We walked the strip and ate dinner at ESPN Zone, where we witnessed the first quarter of the devastating BYU game. We went to the Cirque de Soleil, KA that night. Some of the things they did were pretty amazing. The stage would fully rotate and go to a straight vertical. The people would just free fall from the top of it to below the stage. We enjoyed the show, but decided that we kind of hate Las Vegas. It's just a dirty city that you can't get away from the smoke or pornography.
We drove back to St. George for the next few days. We had to make a stop at our favorite place there, Fiesta Fun. (We went there TWICE on our honeymoon!) We played mini-golf, did some arcades, and the batting cages. We also went up to the Red Cliffs and walked around a little bit there. We were pretty bummed the pool was closed, and it was still almost 90 degrees! Oh well, we had fun anyway!

Laura's Birthday and Marathon

(Sorry we don't have any pictures, we were using up a disposable camera, that we discovered a few weeks ago. No clue what the other pictures on the camera are from!)

My 24th birthday was on Friday. We headed up to Layton and carbo-loaded for dinner. Dave made a double-decker funfetti cake. He gave me a few things for the kitchen, a children's book, and a Nike plus Ipod, that measures how far you run. The only problem with it is Dave thought it would work with his Ipod classic, but it only works with a Nano. So, we haven't quite decided what to do yet. Any ideas on where we can win a free Ipod nano? It seems like noone ever has to buy them, they're always giving them away!
We went to bed, and got up at what felt like 10 minutes later! We had to get up at 3:30 so we could drive up to Logan for the race. We saw Megan and Jordan Jones before we got on the busses, so we rode the busses up with them. Dave walked over to the busses with me and Popcan, then took the car and tried to sleep for about 2 hours before going golfing. The race started at 7:00 up the canyon. The first half was down the canyon. It was pretty because the leaves were changing colors. The first half wasn't too bad, but we had to stop twice at the port-a-potty. After we got out of the canyon, it was really hard! It just seemed to wind in and out of neighborhoods. Popcan pretty much dragged me along the whole way. Miles 15-19 were the hardest. I had no idea how I was going to run for 10 more miles! I just kept thinking, "It would kind of be nice if Popcan would just go ahead, then I could walk and go at my own pace." But, he stuck with me the whole time, always just a little bit ahead. It was good to run with him, even though I didn't think so at the time! The hardest part was stopping at the drink stations, then start running again! I just had to talk myself through the last half, saying "only a 10K left, now only a 5K." It was totally a mental game.
We saw Dave at about 25 miles, and he took a picture of us, then Sharla a little bit later. She ran about a mile with us, and it was energizing to see her. Despite my legs that felt like they were going to fall off, I was able to sprint at the end and beat Popcan by about a half a second. I was so glad to be done. I was so disappointed though because they were out of chocolate milk! I think it was the hardest marathon I had ever done! (that or I just can't remember how hard they actually are!)

I'm just glad that I didn't look like this at the end of the race:)

Subject: Sometimes it is worth sacrificing getting your best time to stop for a minute

Bear Lake Trip

We were invited by our friends Cameo and Jeremy to go up to Bear Lake last weekend to go boating. Neither of us had been boating for a couple of years, so we were excited to go. We headed up Friday night and spent the night at a campground. This picture is Dave setting up the tent. It was totally rocky! Neither of us slept well at all that night, so we decided we were going to get an air mattress. We had s'mores and played some games before heading to our uncomfortable sleeping bags.
This is us in the car on the way up. Dave will never smile while taking pictures. I hope he realizes what a dork he looks like and will start smiling!
This is me before getting up on the wakeboard. I had tried wakeboarding before, but had never been able to get up. There was a guy on the boat who was a really good teacher, so after a few attempts, I was able to get up and stay up for a little bit. Dave had no confidence in me and said that he didn't think that I would be able to get up. I proved him wrong!
Here's Dave wakesurfing. We had heard of it, but had never done it before. The surf board was super easy to get up on and you are right off of the back of the boat when you do it. It was pretty fun.
Here's me and Cameo on our way back to the Marina. The water was pretty cold, but it was really pretty! Thanks for taking us Ho!

Congratulations Dave!

Up at Utah State

Dave with his parents

Yeah! Dave is officially a college graduate! He's worked really hard the past 4 years, working full time to put himself through school. His degree is in Business from USU. I'm really proud of him and glad to have him be finished! He walked in May, since USU doesn't do a summer walk. These are some pictures from then. He'll just now actually get a diploma and make it official! For a gift, I gave him a driver that matched his golf clubs, and I made him a Mud Pie. Way to go Dave!

Farewell to the Black Pearl!

Since Dave can walk to work now, his truck was just sitting there all day with no one driving it. We decided that it was dumb to be making payments on it if we're not even using it. We put a sign up in the window, and it sold in a few weeks. We'll be able to put more money in to savings now. We'll just have one car for a little while, but we are going to buy the old Melville college car (the Red Prince) from Laura's parents, since no one is driving that now.
So long Black Pearl!

Our Rockin' Fourth of July

We had a good time on the fourth up in Layton with Laura's family. We spent the night on Thursday, so we could wake up early and run the Layton 5K, which has become a tradition for us! Laura has done it since 8th grade, and Dave has done it every year since we met. It was fun to see Megan, Sharla, and Rebe at the race. I'm glad all my friends have gotten home from their missions! Afterwards we went to the neighborhood breakfast for some pancakes and eggs.
We were able to hang out with Rebe and Tyler most of the day. We'll miss them when they move to Rochester in 3 weeks! We went shopping and saw Get Smart. We had a BBQ for dinner, then went to Layton fireworks. (and sat on the football field of course!)

What we have been up to

Some might have asked, what have Dave and Laura been up to? Well, here is a quick run down. On May 11 we celebrated our one year anniversary. We spent the weekend up in Midway at the Homestead. It was Romantic! (Laura is grinning with that comment).

Over Memorial Day weekend, the two of us traveled to Schofield Reservoir. We knew it was going to rain, but we had no idea that it would be snowing when we arrived! After almost an hour of waiting in the truck, we attempted to put up the tent while there was a break in the snow. That was a bad idea. The snow started to come down harder. The weather finally stopped and we were able to have an enjoyable evening.

The night was the coldest night that Dave has ever been in. Both of us woke up at 4am freezing cold. There was no chance getting warm. Both of us finally got up and went to the bathroom that was heated and spent the morning in Dave's truck with the heater on. Later around 6am, Dave discovered that fishing is not for him. He spent the entire morning trying to catch just one fish with no success.

Last week Laura was able to finish her first year of teaching. Though she was happy to be over with, Laura was sad to see many of her students go. A few of the girls in her class shed a tear their favorite teacher, Mrs. Cates. Know Laura is spending her mornings teaching summer school working 9-12. It is a perfect opportunity for her so she keeps herself busy during the summer.