Our First Year!!

Brent and I have officially been married over a year now! What fun! We have LOVED our first year of marriage and are looking forward to an eternity of more time together! Before we were married we received some advice from President Dunn, the Stake President of our student stake. He advised us that many people will say "marriage is hard work". He said that often times "work" is something we dread and isn't always fun. He said instead of MAKING marriage hard work we should make marriage fun by playing hard instead of working hard! He talked about how he and his wife like to find new hobbies and sports and things they can learn together and then play hard together. Brent and I have tried to incorporate this into our marriage and have had fun trying out new hobbies to learn together. For our first anniversary we decided to try CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING! I admit, I have been before and LOVE it! Its one of my favorite winter sports... along with sledding!! This was Brent's very first trip cross-country skiing. We watched a few movies on U-Tube so he could figure out what cross-country skiing was!! Once we were out skiing Brent even made up some new cross-country sports like cross-country skiing HIGH-JUMPING. He kept things very entertaining!!

We couldn't find Brent's snowpants at the last second... so he borrowed these! I thought the red and yellow looked like exciting colors together. Brent had to belt the snowpants on so they would stay up... it was hilarious to watch him try and keep his pants up all day long! He was so worried they would fall off and expose his jeans! (And yes, he's sticking him bum out in this picture.)

One of my favorite things about Brent is the “spice” he brings everywhere we go! We recently went to a sealing in the Salt Lake Temple. While we were waiting out in the hall for a sealing room, the sealer walked up and down the hall to greet people. He was immediately drawn to Brent and noticed his smile. He walked over and told Brent a joke! After the sealing was over, as we were leaving the room, the sealer stopped us again and said to Brent “Aren’t you are just one happy guy?!”. People can’t help but notice Brent’s happiness, his smile, his optimism and his uplifting influence! Brent is TONS of fun! He can make the most bland, boring, dull chore an event to remember and laugh about forever! He loves to have fun! I, on the other hand, get stuck in my rut, my routine. For example... take our yogurt habits. When I buy yogurt I usually by one or two flavors… mixed berry, maybe a peach, maybe a raspberry cheesecake, maybe. I buy those flavors because I already know I like them. They are pretty safe. Lots of time I will buy the yogurt that comes in the big box… ½ the box is mixed berry or peach and the other ½ of the box is usually strawberry. Honestly strawberry is one of the flavors I like least… but buying it in the box is easy so I just do it cause I know I will at least like ½ the box! Last year when I was sick I couldn’t eat much because my throat was so swollen and sore. Brent was way sweet and asked what he could do for me… so I requested yogurt: mixed berry, maybe peach, maybe raspberry cheesecake. Brent came home with a bazillion yogurts… and a bazillion flavors! Since all I could eat was yogurt he decided to buy exotic, FUN, flavors!! Shocking!! Strawberry Kiwi?! Pina Colada?! Passion Fruit?! Yogurt has EXCITING flavors?!! Brent has an eye for FUN!! Even when we go grocery shopping his eye can catch things no ordinary person would see! He finds the unique, strange, funny things in any store! Baconaise, hair nets, angels that grow in water. I’m glad for the extra spice Brent puts in my life! (And all the exciting new yogurt flavors I get to experience now!)

Thanks for making life more fun and exciting and happy Brent! I love being married to you and love that every day is even better than the day before it because of you!