The Redwoods and Yosemite

Jon and I have been going on road trips every weekend. We spend Sundays (after church of course) going to places we've never been. Last weekend we went to see the Redwoods and this weekend we went Yosemite.

Both places were amazing!! We love driving, so we don't mind the many hours we have to spend in the car. It gives us time to talk and just enjoy each other. We've also been listening to books on CD. We take a picnic, bring the cats with us, and enjoy being together at some amazing places! The redwoods were awesome! The trees were so pretty and BIG! We didn't get to see some of the biggest and most popular areas because they were too far away, but we still got to see some amazing things! It was so beautiful, calming, relaxing, and it smelled amazing! It really made me want to go camping!!

Yosemite was a ton better than I originally expected. I really didn't know much about Yosemite, so I didn't really know what to expect, but it was so fun!! The fall colors were stunning, which we didn't get to see much of in the redwoods since it's mostly pine trees there, and I'm so glad we got to see the colors, I've been missing that a lot this fall!! The waterfalls were so pretty and the cliffs were stunning!! We had tons of fun and took lots of pictures!! AWESOME!

It's been so nice to be able to go out and do things!! I'm so glad that we don't just sit at home all the time, that we get to see the world! I know that we are really lucky, I'm so blessed. My emotions were high today as I realized just how lucky we are. I LOVE OUR LIFE!! I wouldn't trade it for anything! It's perfect just the way it is!!

Next week: Monterey Bay!!

Time for Working Out

I'm started a workout program, again, and I am really excited for it! I want to look amazing for our upcoming cruise in about a month!! Jon bought me a program called 'Slim in 6'. 6 meaning 6 weeks. It works around slimming your body rather than just building muscle, I really like that! So far so good, I got it about 2 weeks ago and we have 4 weeks til the cruise. I've been working hard but, so far, I'm struggling to see results. The hardest part about working out is waiting for the results. Yuck. But I am trying as hard as I can! I decided to blog about it to try to motivate me. If I tell people that I'm doing it then I have people to answer to when I quit, if I don't tell anyone then no one knows that I'm a loser and a quitter. So, hopefully, I'll be encouraged to see it through to the end!! I currently weigh 129.2 pounds. My ultimate goal is to weigh 119 pounds, but my immediate goal is to weigh 127. I've been weighing myself every morning and for pretty much the whole summer my weight has varied between 131 and 128. I really want to just get down to 127, it'll be a start at least. I'm working super hard to get awesome abs for the cruise. My waist line, which I measured today, is 35 inches. I don't know what the average is... but I definitely want it to go down. Now, I'm not trying to say that I'm overweight or fat. The last thing I want is for people to roll their eyes at me. "Shalay, you're so skinny, what are you whining about?" Jon and I swore that when we got married that we wouldn't gain weight, why is that so hard? I don't get it, but sure enough, we have, and I just want to stop it before it gets out of hand and ends up being harder to lose. Also, I'll be posting my daily weight on the side of my blog for the world to see!! I really need the encouragement! Thanks for listening!! Wish me luck!

Looking Back

I was looking through some of our pictures from last year the other day which I had not done in a while. It was a lot of fun to go back and remember some of things that I had forgotten.

BEFORE WE WERE MARRIED

Jon's first summer. I surprised him by coming down to visit him without him knowing. He took me to San Francisco. This is my first time at the Italian restaurant Pante Rei.

This is at Erick and Kira's wedding! I love them!! And yes, that is me in the front jumping as high as I can to get the bouquet, I really wanted it, and yes, I missed.

Jon left my house around midnight or so and quite a while after he got home he called me. His car, which he was not in at the time, had been hit by a drunk Mexican driver. It really sucked!!

Just after Jon proposed. We were kitty corner at city creek park so we walked over to temple square to take pictures! So happy!!





Every fall my family goes up to this same spot in the mountains. We eat chili and enjoy the fall colors. It was a lot of fun!! We loved just being silly.

Okay, you might have to click on this picture to see it, but, OH MY GOSH! Look at my shoes, white socks with my black flats and my hair pulled back tight!! What was I thinking!! And I did it ALL the time!! *rolls eyes are herself*

NEWLYWEDS

Our first Christmas together!!

Our first New Years kiss!!

Just after we got Zephyr, when we thought he was a girl and had named him Zephora, he loved sitting on the laptop because it was warm. Isn't he just adorable?

JON'S SECOND SUMMER WITH PINNACLE

Jon with a few of the guys at the beach. All of them are amazing pasty white!! Haha!!

Shortly after we got Asrielle. She did this to herself, we didn't put her there. LOL!

END OF 2008

We were secret agents for Halloween!!

Jon attempting to chop wood at the Kranenburg's! Haha!

Our snacks for the U of U vs. BYU game that we watched on our anniversary trip!

Fishing on our anniversary! Way fun!!

And we still like each other and go on dates! ;)

It's a lot of fun to look back sometimes and remember what you used to be like. We are still so in love!!