We made it!

It's been a crazy 2 weeks but we finally made it to Virginia and WE LOVE IT HERE!!! Needless to say I miss our family and friends like CRAZY but we love our apartment, we love the area, there are 2 billion things around here to do on the weekends, and we've only been here a week but our ward is full of some of the nicest people I have ever met!! They have made us feel so welcome here. All the girls that live by us have already invited me to all their little activities and get-togethers

We left Utah at the end of July, this is a picture of our last supper with my family at Brick Oven, Brandon doesn't drive a car anymore he can now be spotted riding this little red bike with a milk carton on back around Provo, cute huh??

And of course we couldn't leave before playing a big tetris tournament with my dad...big surprise I was the winner as usual haha

Then the big Church family reunion began...it was a full week of non stop fun. Trent and Lindsay drove to Utah with Kai, Delaney, and Josh and we went to the Alpine slide, 7-peaks, the Bean museum, and the park, and stayed up playing games every night.

Then we all headed for Nebraska (us driving the penske towing our car) to meet up with Ashlee and Joel and their kids.

We spent the first night in Nebraska then headed for a cabin in South Dakota the next day, when we got there we all went to a chuck-wagon dinner and watched some fiddlers.

The cabin we stayed in that night was sweet! It was a huge, with 8 bedrooms, a hot-tub, and a theater. And we played some more games (always entertaining with Dane and Trent together) and hung out in the hot-tub.

The next morning we all rode a train into town and hung out with all the bikers that day who were there for Sturgis....it was nuts all the motorcycles everywhere!!

Then we all went to bear country which was awesome!! We all expected to see a couple bears while driving through...no, I think we saw like 60 bears in 5 minutes...it was crazy!!

Then we went on another alpine slide. I took Beck in the baby backpack and we all thought he'd have a funny reaction...but he went down the entire ride stone faced...no reaction whatsoever.

(my pictures down here are totally out of order)after the slide we went back to the cabin and ate and then we all rode bikes and put Beck in the baby-pack again and that time we got a great reaction, he looked like a baby superman riding on Dane's chest, and he giggled the entire time)

The next day we all went to Mount Rushmore, I don't know really what to say about it other than it was awesome!

Can you tell which face is not really part of the mountain??

Then we all went on paddle boats on one of the prettiest little lakes I've ever seen. And of course everything is turned into a competition when Dane and Trent get together, so there was a little racing too. The next day everybody went home except for us and we got to stay in Nebraska and hang out with Ashlee and Joel for an extra day. Ashlee took us to this huge underground cave which was sweet and then we went to a wooly mammoth museum where they are still uncovering wooly mammoth bones!

From Nebraska our homeless little family got in our penske and drove to Missouri to hang out with Trent and Lindsay for one more day. We went swimming at the YMCA and went to Liberty Jail (so cool to see again), and then we went to eat at Bravo which I LOVED not only was the food great but it was the cutest restaurant in the world.

It was so fun to be all together with the Churchs we wish we could do it way more often!!

We got to Virginia last Friday (after our drive here Beck has now been to 15 different states). We're finally all moved in so now we're just trying to explore the area. Yesterday we headed to Williamsburg we weren't exactly sure what to do when we got there, especially since we didn't want to pay for anything so we just walked around, which I actually loved, it was super cute!

On Thursday Dane had the white coat ceremony which was awesome. It made everything feel offical, and doesn't he look smokin hot in that white coat?!? Beck wasn't too bad but I think he was one of 2 babies in the entire room, we are clearly not in Utah anymore, so every time he made even the slightest noise I felt like everybody was staring at us!!

We are pumped cause we get to paint our apartment, we have already painted the same wall twice in our one week of living here because the burt orange color we were going for looked like a big pumpkin on our wall with the first color we chose, so we re-did it and I like it way better.

We miss all you Utahns but I am totally in love with this place!

A perfect weekend

Shelby and Trevor finally came to visit this weekend!! We had a total blast with the whole family this weekend!! They flew in Thursday night so Friday we went to the oquirrh mountain temple open house which was beautiful! Then later that day we all went to Brick Oven and came home and played a long game of phase 10 (Trevor won)

Saturday was Danes 27th birthday!! We got up bright and early and we all got family pictures done by my friend Maryanne (who is an awesome photographer). Then all of the boys went golfing while the girls (and Beck) went shopping. Then we all met Myrna and Doug at Tucanos (surprized it's not chilies?) and Dane impressed us all with how much pinapple he was able to eat in one sitting. But the highlight was when they came to sing happy birthday and Dane stood on his chair and danced with the maracas, he wasn't one bit embarrassed.

That night all the boys got together and watched the UFC fights which Dane was soooo excited for. Trevor, Brandon, and Dane all invited a couple friends so there was a house full! Luckily Jessie and Erica came along with their husbands so all us girls had a great time chatting in the kitchen while the boys watched the fight (no thank you). And mom and Shelby were kind enough to help me attempt to make one of the very few desserts that Dane likes (lemon passion cake from macaroni grill).

Check out the big surprise that Trevor and Shelby gave Dane for his b-day. Hahaha this is by far the best present that he has ever got for his B-day (other than the year that he bought me a Chi straightener with his birthday money) Trevor and Shelby always give the best presents for b-days and Christmas (I would recommend them as friends for anyone)

Sunday night we all played a Hawaiian themed murder mystery, it was sooooo dang fun. I have been dying to do a murder mystery forever, but this was the first time we've done one. Everybody was so funny and got really into it. We even got awards at the end of the game, but I can't remember all of them.

Tell me my dad is not the biggest stud! His character was a Hawaiian story teller who always makes up lies, and nobody trusts.

I was a wanna-be actress who was the mistress of a rich old man, and Dane was the rich man's lawyer and one of his goals in the game was to convince me to leave the old man for him.

Brandon was Jack the smuggler who's goal was to just clear his name because he was the most obvious suspect. Shelby was a real estate agent who I personally had the hardest time trusting throughout the whole game...the girl seemed shady.

This was one of me and Dane's secret meetings in the back-room, we couldn't let anybody know we were secretly in love.

Dayne was a secret CIA agent and him and Michelle were newlyweds.

Chad was the wealthy old man that Dane worked for...and oh did I forget to mention....the MURDERER!!

Trevor was the bus driver...we had to ask him if we wanted to do anything because he was the boss of the game.

Mom was Mojo Mo a crazy chef and witch doctor...big surprize, just kidding!

Monday we had a family olympics of games. Trevor and Dad played Stratego, Dayne and Shelby played Life, and me Dane and mom played Racko (mom won...yes you heard me right, shocking I know). And then we all played a big game of nerts....and even though I'd love to me my normal humble self I know that your dying to know who won...ME!!

The for the final event we all went bowling at fat cats...and then I truly was humbled because I took dead last. Dane won the first game, and Trevor won the second...so I guess we still need a tie breaker...I will give an honorable mention to my mom and dad...my dad got like 5 strikes in a row to start out the second game, and mom is one of the few (very few) people that actually looks super cute when she bowls.

I wish that every weekend could be like last weekend. I'm getting really excited for our big move to Virginia (only 2 more weeks!!) but it will never be perfect out there unless I can convince my ENTIRE family to come with us. Somebody please enlighten me on how to cope with moving across the country from my family who I am EXTREMELY attached to. I'm already prepared to cry 24-7 for at least 2 weeks straight after we leave...at LEAST 2 weeks. Anyways, thank you family for the best weekend!

St George

Last weekend we went to St George with my family to see Footloose and Annie and the Tuacahn. We LOVE the Tuacahn their plays are always amazing, my eyes even get a little watery sometimes when the plays begins because I get so excited haha.

We spent a lot of time in the pool, Beck was cuter than crap he just chilled in the floaty for hours in his shades sipping on his bottle

There was a lot of shopping and a lot of eating. We never go to St. George without eating at the Pizza Factory, Iceberg, and we have a new favorite little Hawaiian restaurant.

The last day we drove into beautiful Zions and we saw the little house where they filmed the best scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid (the bike scene)

Summer

Last weekend me and Beck tagged along to Orem summerfest with one my best friends Nicole and her husband Chris. I'm pretty sure I didn't watch 2 seconds of the parade because I was too busy watching how cute her daughter Brynlee was with Beck, she read him stories, held his hand, and hugged him the whole time. Me and Dane have already reserved her as Beck's future wife.

We've been to the pool quite a bit this summer. Beck doesn't react too much yet unless he's splashed and then he's not a happy camper!

This isn't the best picture but Beck can finally sit up on his own AND he got his first tooth! The sitting up happened over night he didn't seem even close to doing it on his own and then all the sudden I get home from work one day and he is just chilling upright on the floor. He didn't seem to be in a bad mood while he was teething...I just looked in his mouth the other day and there was a little tooth.

We had such a fun weekend this last weekend up at Brad and Tahsha's cabin in Fairview with them and Stephanie and TJ and both of their little girls Leah and Toby. We love hanging out with that little group of friends we always have a ton of fun!

It rained all weekend so we only tried 4-wheeling once and got poured on halfway through the ride...lucky little Beck has the best mom in the world who sacrificed herself to keep him completely dry...I LOVE 4-wheeling, but me and Dane are not usually out-doorsy people so I'm afraid that we will never have one. Except maybe when we're are old and retired, I think it would be so fun to get a 4-wheeler and take it on trips with a bunch of friends every weekend. Since it rained we spent a lot of time playing games - Phase 10, nerts, connect four...which for the record I won Dane 10 games to 2...HA!

TJ and Brad are both big hunters but tender-hearted Dane always feels so bad when they shoot the little critters. So while they shot, Dane was just the lookout, and I'm going to bet that he didn't give them any tips of where to shoot even if he did spot something.

He's smiling!

Look who FINALLY learned how to smile for the camera!! I got his pictures taken in the studio a couple months ago and in EVERY single picture he looks like a deer in the headlights...I wish I knew how to download them on here because it is so funny.

This picture I just added cause it's super cute of Beck and uncle Brandon...I think that Beck is teaching Brandon how to crawl.

Tessa's mission farewell was on Sunday and I would be sad but I know it won't be long before I see her again because she's not going to last long in Guatamala, just kidding she's going to be an incredible missionary...not to mention she'll be the cutest girl out there!! And just like in my last post I am not going to publicly write a mushy novel on why I'm going to miss Tessa so much...but there's just going to be a little empty spot in my life for a bit.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE twins...in college me and Tessa's bedroom was a shrine to MaryKate and Ashley Olsen...this tiny obsession is no joke. The ONLY thing that could have made Beck any more perfect would be if he had an identical twin brother. So this picture is my dream of what I hope the future holds for the Church family...but Dane already told me that if twins come along I can consider myself a single women cause he's not sticking around for that! just kidding!

4 years!!

Me and Dane had our 4 year anniversary yesterday, and it's been a great 4 years!! I could write a novel on the millions of things that I love about Dane but I'm afraid I'd get too mushy so I'll tell him myself. Instead I'm going to write a novel on how we met:

After highschool me and my best friend Tessa went down to Snow College (one of the best times of my life!!) While most people spend most of their college careers in the library, me and Tessa spent most of ours at the hot tub at our apartment. So one night we suited up for our usual activities and went out to the hot tub and I spotted the most beautiful man I have ever seen!! I didn't think that a person that good looking could exist! (too mushy?) So I tried every trick I knew to get his attention and I feel like a total idiot admitting that that stuck-up little brat didn't give me the time of day...but his roomate did, and I wasn't going to pass up attention from a member of the Snow College football team! (yes, I have always been impressed by titles) plus, I had an in!! So we went on a few dates, and then one night he invited me and Tessa over to watch a movie with some of his roomates so I show up with my fingers crossed, and sure enough there's Dane...so I casually sat down next to Dane on the couch and then his roomate came and sat on the other side of me and brought a blanket along and began to cuddle, somehow by the end of the night the blanket had shifted from me and his roomate to me and Dane...wierd. We talked through the whole movie and finally the roomie left us alone and went to bed and me and Dane talked some more and the rest is history. We had a fun and interesting dating life but that would REALLY be a long story if I started into that. And 8 months later we were married!

As a side note, as far as Dane's memory goes movie night was the first night we met...he doesn't even remember the night that I fell in love at first sight with him!! A couple of times he has tried to lie to me and claim that he remembers but the fact that he can't tell me ANYTHING about that night kind of gives him away.

Washington DC

Beck is becoming a world traveler. He's already been from one side of the country to the other... it only took me till I was 22 to accomplish that. We just got back from Washington DC with Myrna and Doug and had an awesome time!

We went out last September with my parents so we figured we would probably do a lot of the same things but this was a completely different vacation the only thing we did again was Arlington cemetery which is worth going to twice anyway. This time we did Ford's theater, Gettysburg, Museum of American History, and a twilight tour of all the monuments.

The first two days Doug had meetings so me and Dane went and found ourselve an apartment in Virginia for when we move out there this summer. We didn't know if we would be able to find one that quick but we met some super nice people at the airport from Manti who's son-in-law goes the the same school that Dane is going to so they gave us their daugther's number and we called her and she was also really nice and let us come check out her apartment. While we were outside her place we met even more people from Utah that were hanging around outside and even some missionaries and they all lived in this same complex so we were REALLY excited.

They told us one other place to look and we weren't even going to bother because we loved all the people at the first apartments so much, but we decided to check them out anyway and as soon as I saw them from the outside I fell in love!! They are just little townhouse apartments but I love them! And once again we were just riding around the parking lot checking out houses and saw a guy in scrubs so we stopped to ask a few questions about the apartments and he ended up being from Utah too and totally just let us invade his house and look around their place too!! And while we were there we looked out their back yard and there were yet another pair of missionaries walking through the yard. I thought I would be a little out of my element in Virginia...apparently not!! We loved both places and loved the people we met at both places, so we signed up for an apartment at the second place and I can't wait to live there!

So don't know if you know Dane's step-dad Doug but that guy LOVES sheep!! haha So the last day we were trying to decide what we still wanted to see before we left and Doug comes into the Hotel room that morning, in a very good mood because he had very good news....there was a sheep festival only miles away in Maryland! haha So after getting totally lost in Maryland we finally found the sheep festival and I think Doug was in heaven, there was sheep, wool, and cooked lamb everywhere. I love how he loves his sheep haha. My favorite part was actually the getting lost in Maryland part, we drove through some of the cutest towns I have ever seen!