August 6th

On August 6th, 2011, Taylor Ray got down on one knee and asked me a question I was so excited to say "yes" to.

The cute boy had me completely fooled.  I thought for sure, I would know when he was going to propose.  But he did such a good job at fooling me the entire day!

I'll have to have a blog post dedicated to that story.

See here for more details on our love story :)

Taylor proposed to me at the beautiful Stewart Falls.  We decided after we got engaged, that we would make it a tradition to hike Stewart Falls every year on August 6th.  No matter where we are in life, no matter what state we may be living in, I plan to take a trip to Utah to hike Stewart Falls on August 6th, until my limbs are too weak to make the memory-filled hike.

Here are pictures of Taylor and I celebrating our one year engagement anniversary at the top of Stewart Falls.  There was no one around to take a picture of us, so we struggled taking a good phone picture of the two of us together. But, here are our best attempts:

You know you spend too much time with someone when you make the exact same face, completely on accident, in a picture!

Hi, pretty ring!

Taylor's showing off his muscles...I'm just pointing to the waterfalls. Haha

Thanks, husband.

Don't really know what's happening here, but this one made me laugh.

Look closely... see that water bottle in the brush? Taylor and I joked that this was the same water bottle that I dropped from excitement after he proposed.  Ha...it very well might be! (see video at the end of this post and watch for the water bottle drop!)

As we were huffing while hiking, Taylor jokingly turned to me and said, "Why didn't I propose to you on a wave-runner?"

I could not stop laughing after that.

He told me that after years and years of hiking this, our future boys would ask him (in their best whining voices), "Dad, why did you have to propose to Mom at the top of a mountain?"

And Dad will reply, "So I could teach you how not to propose. I did it for you, boys."

Haha...even though he joked about it, we both loved every second of reliving such a beautiful memory. :)

Here is the video of that special day one year ago :)

Dear husband, Thank you so much for proposing to me. Thank you for giving me the most beautiful ring. Thank you for being my very best friend and eternal companion through this life. Thank you for making me want to be a better person every day. I love you.
"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." -Emily Bronte

Driving to Powell

Here are the few pictures I was able to take on my phone before it died.

Us driving to Lake Powell!

Husband listens to his audio book, while I work on my lesson plans.

We were so excited the whole drive down.

It felt like Christmas morning.

We miss it already. :(

In love with Lake Powell

Words cannot begin to describe the fun we had at Lake Powell.

A big thank you to the Preston family (who we love dearly) for inviting us.

Taylor and I got some nice sun and had such a relaxing time enjoying the water.

A few things I'll always remember from this trip:

Waverunners, wake-boarding, boating, swimming, bathing in a lake, cliff jumping, playing in the sand, playing board games, sleeping under the stars on the top of the houseboat, beautiful thunder and lightening storms over the lake, and laying in the hot hot sun.

Some memories in more detail:

I'll always remember being so scared to jump off of the cliff into the water.  It looked so scary from up on the top! Sweet Karlee Preston (who had already jumped once) told me she would jump and show me how easy it was.  So...she jumped.  But she came up sobbing.  She had smacked her tailbone right on the water.  That was great motivation for me. Haha  But then little eight-year-old Mark jumped like it was no big deal.  So I knew I had to go.  I took a deep breath, and just jumped.  It was so scary, so exhilarating, and so much FUN all compiled into one!  (minus the fact that my ear smacked the water, and I thought I had blown out my eardrum...ha).

I'll always remember sleeping under the stars and being shocked at how much the Preston littles knew about astronomy...they made fun of me for knowing so little.  ;)

I'll always remember sweet kisses and "I love yous" on the lake from my best friend and wonderful husband.

I'll always remember beating my husband at wake-boarding skills.  There are only two things that I can claim that I'm better at than him: wake-boarding and ultimate frisbee.  Although, he doesn't agree with the second one.  So I guess in his mind, up until this trip, he thought he was better at everything than me. ;)  At least I can claim wake-boarding now. I just wish he wasn't so dang good at everything.

I'll always remember tubing with little Brooke Preston.  We hit a pretty hard wave...and being as light as we were...we went flying.  I did a complete back flip into the water after being thrown into the air.  Poor Brooke had some small injuries, and wasn't so happy about that experience.  But after she got some Mom-loving, we laughed about how funny it really was.

As for pictures?  Well, I decided just to bring my phone for pictures.  But I didn't really think that through....because it died on the first night. Ha.

But I know there were lots of pictures taken from other people, so once those are up, I can steal some and post more about the trip :)

Here's the first stolen picture (taken by Kristen Preston):

Taylor and I made two decisions while we were in Lake Powell:

1. We will have a house-boat (our goal is in the next five years).

2. Our kids will learn to fall in love with Lake Powell just like we have.

A trip together :)

There is a houseboat in Lake Powell that is calling mine and Taylor's names.

So, off we go to answer that call!

We leave at 2pm today, and we could not be more excited!

Boating, jet-skis, water fun galore.

I am so ready to wake up to this for the next few days:

Taylor and I haven't had a vacation together this summer since our short one to Vegas/Arizona at the beginning of the summer.

Our other two "vacations" consisted of scouts camp/girls camp, in which we had to leave each other.

That being said, we are so excited to take this little adventure together. :)

Look forward to some awesome posts about our trip when we return on Saturday!

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!

Back!

Ha, my husband is so sweet to blog while I was gone!

I'm back from my week at girls camp!

I had a blast with all of the girls.

It was a little weird being there as a leader and not as a participant.

Being there reminded me of all of my wonderful memories at girls camp growing up.

I love girls camp!

But I'm also so happy to be home to a shower, bed, and a cute husband. :)

Little bit of reminiscing here:

This is a picture from four years ago of the last time I was at girls camp.

So many good times!
Now moving on to a relaxing rest of the weekend with the very much missed hubby.

Tomorrow is the day :)

Tomorrow is the day my sweet husband finally comes home!
I have officially started to count down the hours.
I simply cannot wait to see him, jump in his arms, and give him one giant kiss!

I've been treating myself to lots of different things this week to keep my mind occupied.
Lots of ice cream (as seen here and here)
and a wonderful pedicure yesterday:

Loving this fun summer color!

Hey, take a look at this cute Gilbert family picture! Mama Gilbert just got the pictures back, and this one is easily the favorite.

Love me some of that Gilb fam. :)

Tomorrow!!

2.5 days to go!

I am sooo ready for Taylor to come home.

I have been keeping myself busy, but I sure do miss that handsome boy.

Yesterday, Regs and I went to Yogurtland (our very favorite).

(She always gets something fruity...but I can never tear myself away from the chocolatey goodness)

And we took our cute little neighbor friend, Brooke.

That little girl has one sense of humor.  She kept us laughing the whole time.

I am going to miss the day when I don't live across the street from:

Ma and Pa Gilb

my best friend and sister, Regan

and all of the cute little neighbor kids.

When Taylor and I were doing our wedding registry at Target, I registered for a two-step stool.

Taylor looked at me and said, "Seriously?  Why are you registering for a stool?"

Me: "Well, you haven't lived the life of a 5'1" person. This is something I need on a daily basis!"

Since we've been married, I've rarely used it.  And not because everything is low...we sure have some high cabinets.  But because, when I can't reach something, I just ask Taylor, "Hey, can I use your height real quick?"  And he'll get whatever I need down from the unreachable high places (and he never even has to use tippy-toes! I'm always amazed!).

Taylor took this picture awhile ago to document the one time he's actually seen me use the stool, that I "supposedly needed on a daily basis." ;)  

Don't tell Taylor this, but when he's not looking, sometimes I climb up on the counter and purposefully put things on the very top shelf in the very back of everything else (it's usually always the chocolate chips).  Then I'll say, "Hey Taylor? Can I use your height real quick? I need those chocolate chips way back there." Why do I do this?  I'm determined to see him use his tippy-toes one day to reach something!  Hasn't happened yet...

Still trying.

Anyways, the point of this little saga: in the last three days, I've used that stool more than I've used it in the last nine months! Why?  Taylor left and took his height with him.

Dear Taylor: I'm ready for you to come home so I can put this stool away.  I like using your height better :)

Summer nights.

Gotta love those summer nights that consist of America's pastime with the fam. 

Look at those mountains! Why is Utah so beautiful?

My toes and Regan's legs.  So wonderfully relaxing.

Here's Regs and me at the game.  This summer we may be at baseball games, but next summer we'll be backpacking through Europe! We can't wait!

Last night, this cute girl, stayed the night with me.  

We are showing off our matching earrings in this picture.

We talked for hours and had such a fun time.  And I loved it because I didn't have to sleep in an empty house.  Her name is Ashley, and she is possibly one of my favorite people in the world.

Dear Tay: I really wish you had cell phone service.

Another day down!

A week alone

Yesterday, at 5:30am, Taylor left for scout camp (he's a young men's leader for our church, so he went with the boys).

And he'll be gone for a whole week.

He doesn't come back until Saturday.

This is the longest we have been apart since we have known each other.
The worst part is that he doesn't even have cell phone service. So not only is it the longest we will go without seeing each other, it's definitely going to be the longest without talking to each other!

So I'm already going a little crazy ;)

Luckily, the Gilbs live right across the street. So I'm not totally alone.

I made Taylor pose for me on Sunday night when he put on his scout shirt.

 my little eagle scout :)

I may or may not have shed a few tears over the fact that he was leaving.

Why am I so pathetic?

I guess love will do that to you.

Taylor laughed at me and then just held me, and told me he would miss me a lot too.

Thanks, husband. For not laughing too hard. Because I know it was probably really lame.

After work yesterday, I went and purchased this.

You know, to help me get through the week. ;)

Falling asleep in an empty bed is the worst!

Lately I have been having the worst nightmares. I can't seem to catch a break. 

I wake up really scared (and a little disturbed) and say Taylor's name to wake him up.  He knows just why I'm saying his name (because I seem to have this problem every night lately), and so he scoots closer to me and helps me fall back asleep.  I am so grateful I have him there.  I was a little scared to fall asleep last night, because I knew Taylor wouldn't be there to comfort me.

I prayed over and over again and asked not to have nightmares.

And guess what? I didn't have a single nightmare!

Just dreams about a cute little dog named Bowzie. Weird, right?

But I was very grateful for that dream and for cute little Bowzie.

Dear Tay: miss you lots!

Day one and night one down. 

Let the countdown begin!

one picture.

I feel as if this one picture sums up our weekend perfectly.

This weekend we had a whole lot of

laundry

swimming

and ice cream.

(and hey! all three are featured in this picture)

I took a break from laundry (which I was folding in my swim suit, since we were about to SWIM) to finish my yummy ice cream.
I think this is why it takes me so long to fold laundry.
I tend to take a lot of breaks in between...like going swimming or eating ice cream.

Oh, and you better believe that we are now addicted to Hell's Kitchen (thank you, Hulu Plus!).

Which inspired me to make:

cookie dough

delicious cake balls

and monte cristo sandwiches

We ate good.

Dear Gordon Ramsay: 

you scare me a little. 

and make me laugh a lot.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Giant Jenga + Some

Taylor and I had such an awesome weekend.  

On Friday, we got to tour the Jerusalem set in Utah, where movies like this are being filmed.  It was built just over a year ago, so very few have seen it (plus, you have to know someone involved to get a tour), so we felt very lucky to have the opportunity! Thank goodness that Papa Gilbert seems to have all of the connections.  I took some awesome pictures, but no pictures are allowed to be posted until the filming is complete.  I figured I should obey the rule. ;)

On Saturday, I came home to find this:

When my diploma came in the mail, Taylor hid it until he could buy some frames to surprise me.  Good thing I didn't even think to wonder why my diploma hadn't come yet.  This put a huge smile on my face for three reasons:

1. I have a DIPLOMA from BYU! It feels awesome.

2. My husband was so proud of me (once again) for accomplishing this, and he told me over and over again. That felt great. :)

3. My sweet husband is always thinking of cute ways to make me happy.

SO much good food was had this weekend.  My favorites consisting of Outback and Red Robin.  We're still trying to plow through the massive amounts of giftcards we received from our wedding.  And we're still so grateful...because we had great excuses to eat at yummy places all weekend long (and for the past eight months)!

The Gilbert sibs at Red Robin.  The picture was for Ms. Kelsey Briggs, because we all miss her.  ...She's pretty much a Gilbert in our minds.

This weekend also consisted of a lot of giant jenga.  How awesome is this?

And, see videos to appreciate the greatness of it all:

hiya=favorite part ;)

And last, but not least...well, actually it probably deserves to be least, here are my faces while waiting for Taylor to finish getting ready for church on Sunday. 

All in all, our weekend was great.

Brothers.

This sight made my heart happy yesterday:

Taylor and his brother, Seth, playing video games at our house.  It makes me so happy to see the two of them finally reunited.  So glad Tay finally has his brother back.  We just love Seth!

It's going to be a hot week (finally!)...I'm ready to sit out by a pool and enjoy summer. :)

Flagstaff, Part TWO

After a splendid night in Vegas, we were off to Flagstaff (the location of the Fun concert)!  On the drive down, Taylor turned to me and said, "I just had a sinking feeling that I scheduled our room in Flagstaff for the wrong night."  Taylor opened up his email...and, sure enough, he had scheduled our hotel room for the night before.  While Taylor sunk in despair, I couldn't help but laugh.  Come what may, and love it, right?

The part that made me laugh the most was that Taylor scheduled our hotel in Vegas and our hotel in Flagstaff in the same sitting!  How did he not notice that he scheduled two rooms for the SAME night!? It was just soooo funny. ;)

Seth and Jordan, were sleeping in the backseat during this discovery.  Taylor turned around and yelled, "Hope you like sleeping in a car...because that's where you'll be sleeping tonight!"  They were startled awake, and then we all had a good laugh about our current debacle.  What to do?  Pay for another night? Buy a tent at Walmart and sleep in the woods? Sleep in the car? Try to convince the hotel to let us stay for "free"?  I mean, we already paid for a room, right?  Then Seth had an idea: "Let's just drive the eight hours home after the concert.  We'll take shifts, and then have all of Wednesday to relax at home!"  We were sold.  Goodbye, $90 that paid for an empty hotel room!

Next up? Concert time.  I think I'll let the pictures tell the story.

First of all, we were shocked when our GPS led us here.  The concert was actually held in a stadium in the middle of the woods!  I felt like I was going to camp or something...haha. 

We were so excited!!

We couldn't believe how close we were!  (little did we know, we would
 be pushed up to the very FRONT row!!) 

Oh, baby! 

Look at how close we were! Amazing!

I love you, Nate! 

Alright, this video has awful sound quality, and all of us in the audience sound awful. BUT it still gets me excited just watching it, and remembering how amazing this concert was! Watch how close Nate gets to us!  We were so dang close!

So, Taylor had a major stomachache all day before the concert.  He was downing Pepto-bismol.  Gross.  But he was such a champ, and survived the concert.  I had to take a picture of him with his Pepto ;)

After the concert, we were all so hyped up, that driving home seemed like a breeze!  Who could be tired after a concert like that?  After a stop for food, gas, and some treats, we were off!

A picture before the all-night drive!

We decided to drive in double shifts.  The passenger (and driver, of course) would stay awake, while the two people in the backseat would sleep.  While Seth and Jordan were driving (which meant Tay and I were sleeping), we were suddenly jolted awake by Seth screaming, "Oh my gosh!" Jordan slammed on the breaks, and then...BAM!

I woke up thinking, "This is it.  This is how I'm going to die." ...dramatic? Yes.  Because, folks, we did not die.
"What just happened!?"  Taylor asked frantically.
"We just hit a gigantic bird!" Jordan answered.  I think we were all a little shaky at this point.
Seth: "What the heck is a dumb bird doing up at four in the morning?  Doesn't he know it's time to be sleeping!? What a stupid bird!"  The funniest part of this statement is that Seth was legitimately upset that the bird was not sleeping at four AM.
Taylor: "Well, maybe it wasn't a bird..."
Seth: "What? Oh no...what if it was our guardian angel!"  He then bowed his head, "Dear God, if we just killed our guardian angel, can you send us another one?  And please send us one that is a little smarter and won't fly in front of the car and get killed.  Thank you for your consideration." I don't know how he does this all with a straight face.
We all couldn't help but laugh.  And we were all now fully awake at four in the morning.  We arrived home safely (but exhausted!).

Even though this trip was short, it was worth every minute (and every lost dollar!).  We had so much fun!