It's 2 in the morning and I am an emotional wreck!

I've been laying in bed for a while and my brain won't shut off! I went from thinking about a billion crafts that I want to do, to thinking about what I need to do to lose weight, and then on to thinking about friends and family that are struggling which led me to thinking about the gospel and the knowledge and blessings it brings to my life. Don't ask me how those all go together but in my mind they do!

Summer has created lots and lots of free time in my schedule which means I am back to browsing craft blogs like crazy. I CAN'T stop...

I need to lose weight! Ask me in a month how I'm doing. 3 goals: 1. Eat more fruits and vegetables during the day 2. Get out and at least go for a walk during the day 3. No Pepsi for a month (not sure if I can do it)

I live a blessed life. People around me are hurting. Some of them can't help the things going on and others can. Either way I am glad I have the gospel to give me a brighter perspective on things. I am grateful for the blessings I have received. Lately, I am realizing one of the biggest blessings I have been given is an amazing husband who I get to spend eternity with.

Happy 4th of July!

We didn't do much for the 4th of July but we enjoyed what we did (minus the 100 degree weather). Monday afternoon we went to Meadow Farm Museum which has a lot of open land. There was a big 4th of July celebration. IT WAS HOT is probably an understatement. I'm the only crazy person who wore pants. We watched pig races, the kids went for a train ride, we watched sky divers, and had some ice cream. After that, we went to a BBQ with some people in our ward. Then, Ben and I had some friends over to play games. We didn't watch any fireworks but we were both okay with that. It had been storming big time so we didn't feel the need to go out.

Ben said he was wearing 4th of July colors because his shirt
was blue, his socks were white, and his lips are red.

Cara and Aryana :)

The advantages of being small and having a big guy around.

Aryana got to see the pig races from Ben's shoulders.

Ben and I started reading Ranger's Apprentice around Christmas time. We were waiting for the 10th book to come to the U.S. and it did. Ben finished the book way before me but I finally finished it tonight! I loved it and would recommend it to anyone looking for something fun to read.

Utah/Vegas Trip...all because 2 people fell in love!

After almost 10 full days of a fun vacation I am back in Virginia to blog about it. We had a blast but it sure does feel good to be home. It is amazing how a year ago Virginia wasn't home and now we are both happy to be back and are able to call it home. Ben's little brother, Bry, was getting married so his parents bought us plane tickets to Utah! Here are the bullets of the main things we did...

• I visited with some awesome friends while Ben visited with some of his and sadly only got a picture of these amazing ladies! I missed my 2nd grade team from Riverview so it was AMAZING to be able to catch up. Love you guys!! (Special shoutout to Jess and Dave, Emily, Dre, Melissa and Katelyn, and Savannah! I had my camera and fully intended to take a picture with you all! Jess and Dave...thanks for driving all the way to see me, Emily-thank you for staying up way to late to visit with me, Dre: thank you for taking a break from work to walk around the mall with me, Melissa and Katelyn-Thank you for spending an entire evening with me! and Savannah...thanks for running my errands with me!) I've decided being a girl is tough because you have way tooo many friends to fit into a visit and you feel awful if you didn't get to see everyone you wanted to see.
  

• Majority of the trip revolved around these two!Bryan and Sarah were married for all time and eternity in the Vegas temple! We had many get togethers, 2 receptions, and a temple ceremony to go to for them. All of it was FUN!
  

• We went to the strip to gamble!!! SHHH...don't tell. I won a little. Ben lost a little but in the end since I married the guy we lost together so I guess we don't need to worry cause we don't pay tithing on zero dollars gained...

• We went to a baseball game to watch the Salt Lake Bees play which just so happened to be our first date 2 summers ago! The difference between this game and the previous game is we both watched this one a little more. We talked and flirted so much at the 1st one that neither of us knew what was going on in the game!