Has it been over a year?

Well obviously I am not good at this blog thing, but I need to get better! I thought I would catch you up, if there is anyone that even follows my blog any more : )
Brett got into dental school at Midwestern in Glendale, AZ!!! We are super excited and happy that he was able to get in! I had no question that he would, but he was nervous. We spent a lot of time with our great realtor (Angie Sant : )) down here looking for houses last spring. We were able to find one that was close to the school so that Brett does not have to commute anymore! He was super excited about that. He graduated with his bachelors in May, and to celebrate we went on a cruise with my parents, his parents, and his little brother Lance. It was so much fun!!! I will have to be ambitious and post some pics of that!
We moved down here the beginning of August so we could do some work on the house and get settled in before he started school. We are truly blessed with great families! His parents and my mom were able to help us move down, and stayed for a week to help us paint and get unpacked! They are the best ever! It is truly an amazing blessing to have both our families be so wonderful!! Who knew a house was so much work? Just kidding. I don't think it will ever end though. But we are happy that we own a house and aren't wasting our money on rent. I have come to love our little house, and I am sure I won't want to leave it in four years. We have really nice neighbors, and we have a great ward as well. They are so friendly and welcoming. I look forward to many memories with our ward members! : )
Brett started school this week, and I also started my job. Brett is already studying his little heart out. He is excited, but knows it is a lot of work! He said they went over a semesters worth of information in one day! I can't imagine. I'm glad it's him and not me! He will do great, I am sure! I was really happy to start the same time as him, I don't know what I would do all day by myself! I got a job at an Endoscopy center, for those of you who don't know what that is, it is where people go for colonoscopys and EGDs. I will work in preop, assist during the procedure, and work in recovery so it should be fun. I have enjoyed my first week : ) It is also different being out of Utah and being one of the only LDS people there. The doctors don't remember my name yet, but they do remember I am LDS. I thought it was interesting. However, everyone I work with is nice. The only bummer is that it is in Scottsdale, so it is a commute. But I only hit the evening traffic so that is a plus! I am definitely not used to big city traffic.
I will have to post some pictures later of all we have been up to. Thank you for all the love and support from everyone! We are truly blessed with great family and friends!

Catch up.....

I am terrible at blogging lately....sorry! We keep ourselves busy and it's hard to find time to get on the computer. My job is going well. Still getting the hang of it, but it is good. Brett started back to school this week so that will keep him busy. We are so EXCITED because he has got some interviews at some of the schools he has applied to so that is awesome! I am so proud of him and all he does! He is amazing! We still have a lot more schools to hear back from, so we are hoping for more interviews. Between school, volunteering, studying, and going to interviews he will have a crazy semester. He is ready to take it all on though. It is weird for me to not be going back to school, but it is nice! : ) Now I have to work every day instead. Ugh....but that's life!
I don't have any pictures because I am on Brett's computer so sorry. We have been busy playing at the local lake, hiking, fishing, and all the fun summer activities. I got certifiied to scuba dive so we look forward to doing that someday since he is already certified. We were also able to go to Chris and Kylee's wedding a couple weeks ago which was amazing! They look so happy and we are so excited for them! They got sealed in the same room as us, so I thought that was neat! They had a great reception and it was great to get together with everyone. It was lots of fun!
That is a mini update of what has been going on. We hope everyone else is doing great! Have a fabulous day! : )

Update!!!

Hello everyone! You probably thought we dropped off the face of the earth, but don't worry.....we have just been busy! Here are a few things we have been up to....(that I can remember!)
1. Danae and Jake got married! It was a great day. Everything went well. They are happy as can be. Jake is working and Danae just started the nursing program. They also bought a house. it is cute. They have been working hard on updating it!
2. We finished the spring semester of 2009! Brett was so happy to have a break! I was happy to be finished!
3. I graduated with my RN
4. We got to spend some time with Natalie and Trent when they came down in May. We went to Zion with them, went golfing, went to dinner, and enjoyed their company! It was great to see them!
5. We celebrated our first anniversary on May 8th! Time goes by so fast! It has been a wonderful year and we look forward to many many more to come!
6. I got a promotion at work. I am now the staff development coordinator, and a member of the management team. I would explain what I do but I have lots of different responsibilities. I work Monday through Friday and am on call one weekend a month. It is nice, but it is different to get used to but I am enjoying it! It is a lot more work then I anticipated but the raise is always a plus!!! We were planning on moving out of town, but there were no jobs where we were going to go so Brett is going to have to commute again this year to school. He is great to do that so that I can have a job! He is the best!
7. We moved across town into a nice town home. We liked our old apartment, but with the way rent is we could get a 3 bedroom town home with a garage and yard for the same price to stay where we were. It is also closer to the freeway and farther north so it will cut some time off of Brett's commute. Brett's family was able to come down and help us which was a huge blessing! They ended up moving all the stuff while I was at work on Friday, so then they helped us unpack and clean the rest of the weekend. It was a blessing to have their help!
8. We went to Mesquite a few times. My family was down there at a condo in April so we were able to spend time with them down there. We have also made a few other trips down there to play Bingo and get away. The last time we went down Brett won Bingo twice and won some money on the slots! It was lots of fun. We are planning another trip soon : )
9. With Brett's winnings we bought a used washer and dryer! It is sooo nice to have a washer and dryer! I love it!
10. I passed the NCLEX and am now an official RN. Wahoo! It is such a relief!
11. Brett has been studying his heart away studying for the DAT. He will do great! He is very smart!
12. Brett filled out the application for dental school, which took him tons of time! We applied to 15 schools throughout the country, so who knows where life will take us! We are excited for the adventure!
13. My mom came down and helped me decorate our new place. It was fun to have her come and great to have her help! Brett hates helping me with that stuff!
14. Justin is getting married to Erin! He just proposed last Sunday. We are so happy and excited for them!

It seems like I am forgetting stuff, but I can't find my camera at the moment to remind me what we have been doing. I will update again with pictures sometime soon. We hope everyone is having a great summer and enjoying the sunny weather! Have a happy fourth of July! We are so blessed to live in this free country! We are grateful for all the men and women who protect our country and those who have in the past! Have a happy day!

February

Life is crazy! I am still trying to figure out where time goes! So I figured I should update our blog about what we have been up to. We were able to go home for Brett's birthday and I got to go to Danae's bridal showers. Brett didn't have a very exciting birthday, but we celebrated it in Vegas the month before. I did get him a few things (this was a joke gift, he is always teasing me that my temperature is messed up and wants to take my temp, but we didn't have a thermometer. So I got him one.) We had a yummy steak dinner with his family when we got into town on his birthday.

Valentines day was spent at Danae's bridal showers and then we went to dinner and played games with my parents and then went swimming. It was a very nice day! Her showers turned out really nice and they got lots of food and other things. I was glad I was able to be there! We had a very nice trip seeing our families. We always love going to visit! We both have AWESOME families that we love so much!

That next week was the parade of homes, so we got tickets to go see those. It was fun and something different to do. The homes were incredible! I have no idea how people can live in some of those millions of dollar homes, but they are fun to see anyways. We enjoyed doing that.

This is a house that was off one of the golf courses. The water from the pool went off the edge into a smaller pool. The picture doesn't do it justice! Both these pictures are that pool.

Brett loved all the huge bbq grills outside, with granite countertops around them. How would that be?

This pool was amazing! It had two water slides. Behind the waterfall is where the jacuzzi is, and in the cave part there is a sitting area and a flat screen tv in there. You can watch a movie and swim at the same time! Wow.... This whole house was amazing though. It had a climbing wall, putting green, full court raquet ball, half court basketball area, and a two story gym all in the basement! It was incredible! And of course it has a theater room, which all of them had.

I loved all the HUGE walk in closets! They were as big as a bed room. It doens't look big in the picture, but it was super big. Big enough I would be willing to share it with Brett. Ha ha....

There are lots more pictures to show, but I don't want to bore you. We really enjoyed seeing there unbelievalble homes. I recommend going sometime if you have never been!

The weather has also been beautiful down here so we have been doing as much as we can outside. I love it down here! We took Joseph on a hike, and went on other hikes as well.

Schoool has been crazy for both of us. He is always studying between his classes and getting ready to take the DAT. (That is the test you take to get into dental school.) I finished my nursing classes and took all my finals, except one that I take in April. I started my preceptorship on the Labor and Delivery floor. I love it!

This last weekend Danae received her endowments, so we were able to go to Manti to support her and go to a session. It was wonderful! It made me think back to when I received mine, and also about our wedding day. We had not been through a session in Manti since we were married, so it was neat to go. Danae and Jake looked so happy! They are getting married this Saturday in the Salt Lake Temple, so that will be wonderful as well. We are so happy for them!

That's about all we have been up to. We are both excited for spring break next week, and for the end of the semester! Hope eveyone is doing well!

All about my man....

This is for Jenny! She tagged me a while ago to do it, but I have been busy....so here it is.

1. What is he doing? Brett is studying for a physiology test he has tomorrow. He will do great on it!
2. What dressing does he get on his salad? He doesn't like salad, but when he does he puts tons of ranch on it.
3. What's one food he doesn't like? He is not a big fan of chocolate....crazy guy! He doesn't like bland things either...
4. What does he say his first impression of you was? He says he thought I was cute, but I was on a date with one of his friends. However, this didn't stop him from flirting with me.....
5. Drink he orders every time you are out? Mountain Dew of course
6. Where did he go to high school? Carbon High in Price
7. What size shoe does he wear? 10 1/2
8. If he was to collect anything what would it be? He collects knives and guns, but they are not with us since we don't want to haul them around.
9. What is his favorite type of sandwich? one with lots and lots of meat and cheese
10. What would he eat every day if he could? String cheese and Mountain Dew. He would love it if I made chocolate chip cookies for him everyday....
11. What is his favorite cereal? He hates cereal.
12. What would he never wear? He will never wear tight pants.
13. What is his favorite sports team? We don't have tv so he will watch anything when he gets a chance. He loves football.
14. Who did he vote for? McCain.
15. Who is his best friend? Me.....and DP, Russell, Chris, Trent, Jordan, oh he has so many boys he is close to. But I think those are the main ones. Sorry if I didn't name someone!
16. How did he meet you? At his friend's birthday party. I was there on a date with one of his friends.
17. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Eat junk food....
18. How many states has he lived in? Just Utah. But he served his mission in Guatemala!
19. What is his heritage? Italian
20. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what would it be? He doesn't really like sweets, we got him a cheesecake for his birthday this year.
21. Did he play sports in high school? wrestling, football, and soccer
22. What could he spend hours doing? anything outside.
23 . What's something cool about him? He is very sweet and thoughtful. He also knows how to fix anything and is always willing to fix it (He hates when things are broken). He also has a strong testimony of the gospel. He is amazing! I think I am the luckiest girl to have him!

Happy Birthday Brett!

I just wanted to let everyone know today is my hubby's birthday! He is the big 23! He had to go to Cedar today for class then when I get done with my class we are headed up to Price for the weekend! It should be a great trip. We are excited to see our families and celebrate his birthday. I am so grateful for Brett and all he does. I love him so much! Hope everyone has a great day as well.

Vegas trip!

A couple weekends ago we decided to go to Las Vegas for a couple days to celebrate our birthdays. We have been wanting to go down there for a while, and it finally worked out. Natalie and Trent are amazing and decided at the spur of the moment to come and go with us. We are SO SO happy they came! We don't get to see them much, so it was great to spend time with them. We saw all the sights and went to the jousting show at the Excalibur, which is always a blast! Brett and I had both seen it when we were younger and enjoyed seeing it again. We didn't come back with any money, we came back negative. I guess we all learn! We loved the fountains at the Bellagio! They are so amazing! It was fun to get away and have a break from our busy lives and spend time with Natalie and Trent! We miss them lots!

The Excalibur

All of us at the show

The world's largest running chocolate fountain! I had to put this on because you all know I LOVE chocolate! Yum!

Trent and Natalie with their "virgin" drink on the ride back to St. George.

Thanks for coming you guys! We had a blast!

It was a great trip to celebrate our birthdays! Brett got me flowers and took me out to eat on my actual birthday. Thanks for all the birthday wishes! We love and appreciate all of you! Now we are just back to our usual routine! Nothing too exciting. We can't wait for another get-away. That one will be to Price for his birthday and Danae's bridal shower!

Christmas and more!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season! We sure did! Brett went on his trip to Mexico and had a great time. He went with his group of pre-med and pre-dental students to volunteer down there. He had a wonderful time volunteering with DP, James, and everyone else!








I was stuck here in St. George for that week because of the snow storms I was not able to make it home. It was weird having nothing to do!
When he got back from Mexico we were able to make it up to Price to stay for a couple weeks with our families. We really enjoyed seeing family and friends! We had a wonderful holiday! We were able to spend time with family playing games, watching movies, and eating delicious food! Thanks for making our first Christmas GREAT!

Above is Grandma Riche when we were at her house on Christmas for Christmas eve dinner and presents. She is an amazing lady who is a great blessing in our lives! We missed all of Brett's cousins that weren't able to make it! Hopefully we will see them soon!

This is Jason, Heidi, the girls, and their new puppy Boo that Santa brought them. Nicole (the one in the red shirt) was really excited about the puppy, but the other two girls weren't as excited. It was fun to see them unwrap the puppy at Nana's and Grand-dad's house where Santa left the puppy. He is a really cute puppy!



Here is baby Joshua. He is getting big! He is a happy little boy!
















Along with those things we were able to go snowboarding with friends and out to dinner with them. We had a blast! My Uncle Gary also took the two of us flying in his airplane! That was fun too! I had not ever been in a small plane, we flew around Price and got to see things up close that I never thought I would see like that! It was way fun! Thanks Uncle Gary! We missed seeing my cousins this year since Salinda is in Japan and Gabe was working. We also didn't get to have the Needles Christmas party, but next year! We look forward to seeing everyone!


For New Years Eve we spent the night with the Riches playing games. We had lots of fun! Here is a picture of everyone just after the new year.










Of course on New Years day was Mom N. birthday! We had a fun day with her playing games and being together.

Now we are back to work and school. Brett has a hard semester with lots of classes, but I know he will do great like he always does! It is my last semester! I will graduate with my RN in May. I can't wait! We hope everyone enjoys this new year and the journeys that await all of us!

Our first Christmas tree...

Even though we are going to be up in Price for a couple weeks, we still got a real Christmas tree. Brett didn't want one, but I don't think Christmas feels like Christmas til you have a Christmas tree. However, it isn't decorated very well since we don't have a lot of money. But it's still our first tree. We went with Jeremy and Heidi to get it. Heidi and I kept picking out smaller trees, but the boys wanted big ones. Silly boys.... I think my favorite part is our nativity scene and stockings. It's always fun to get in the Christmas spirit and remember the birth of our Savior.

We are so happy to be done with school for the semester! I am looking forward to my last semester of school for a long time and being a RN. Brett is just happy to get another semester done, he still has a long road ahead but he is looking forward to being a dentist.

Guess what happened in St. George today? It snowed! It snowed most of the day, but not much stuck, thank goodness! Can you believe snow in St. George? That is just nuts! The snow makes the D blend in....

By the way Danae is getting married on March 14th for those of you who were wondering.

We hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday season and remembering the true meaning of Christmas. We are so grateful for the birth of Jesus Christ and the life that he lived for all of us. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving weekend...

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying this holiday season! We had a fun weekend. I had to work from 6 to 6:30 on Thanksgiving day, so poor Brett stayed home and loaded the car and studied. I am grateful I have a husband who is willing to sacrifice his Thanksgiving dinner, since I had to work. When I got off we headed out for Price. It had been storming all day in St. George, so I was super stressed about the roads but they ended up being fine. Thank goodness! On Friday we got to spend the day with the Riches and go to Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma Riche's. It was fun to see Tim, Terri, Justin, Michelle, and the rest of the gang up there. It was sure yummy!

Here is Brett wrestling with Caleb. Sorry its the only pic I got up there....

Denna and Happy

On Saturday we spent the day with the my family. We had fun. The boys went rabbit hunting while the girls ran some errands and talked. Then Brett put on the body suit to get chased by the police dog.
The dog is in "Attack School" so he needs all the practice he can get.

Getting ready....

After with slobber and blood on the suit...


After he played with the dog we had our Turkey Bowl. Here is dad stretching for the big game....
Brett, Justin, Ryan Falk, and I were on the winning team against Jason, Dad, Jeremy, Heidi T., and Lance. They tried hard, but we beat them! My mom made a big dinner and Riches (except Danae) came over to eat after the football game. After we were done eating Denna got a call from Danae, she got engaged to Jake Jenson! The cute couple...

Her gorgeous ring!

We are super excited for them. Denna and Happy are happy too. They still haven't picked out a date, but they will be getting married in the Salt Lake Temple. We will keep you informed on all of that.
Sunday we went to church with my family and saw both of our families and headed home. What a long ride! It was a fun weekend! We love both of our families so much! We are truely blessed with great families!

Nicole and Jason

Kyra

Ashland

Six month anniversary, halloween, and more....

Sorry it has been a while. We have been busy with school, work, and homework. On Saturday it was our sixth month anniversary. I had to work, but when I came home for my lunch break Brett had 2 dozen roses for me. What a sweet heart! I think I'm the luckiest girl around! We are happy as ever. He took me out to dinner that night and then we went and bought a new movie to watch since there weren't any good ones in the theaters. We hadn't done anything in a while so it was fun to go out! He is the best husband ever!
Now to catch up, we got to go home a few weekends ago to go hunting, but unfortunately we didn't even see a nice buck. But hopefully next year. It was fun to be with Happy and Lance though. Good times, even though we had to get up early. It was fun to see our families and spend time with them. I went up before Brett did and got to up to Salt Lake and see my brothers and their families. Our nieces and nephews are sure getting big! Its amazing how much they grow and how fast it happens!
The next weekend my parents came down and took us to Thriller which was super fun! I love it! Brett on the other hand, goes because I like it. He is a good sport!
Halloween was fun. We were able to carve pumpkins with our little brother. It was fun. I had to rush off to clinicals though, but I did get to see the finished product before I left.
This is our little brother carving his pumpkin. He is cute!

Brett and Joseph




Then on Halloween night we went to a murder party. I played a club owner from the 40's and he was a golfer from the 40's.















One hot golfer....








We had to take dessert and I made my Aunt Charlene's chocolate pie. It turned out good, but not like hers. It always tastes different when someone else makes it! But everyone at the party loved it! It was gone really fast! We had a really fun time!

Our little brother....

We joined Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and got to meet our little brother this week. He is 6 years old and super cute! He is really fun to be with! We took him miniture golfing on Friday, which he loved, then had dinner and played Uno. It was fun! When we get pictures with him we will have to post them. We did get Brett's car back last week so that was great, even though it was not nice paying to get it back. haha. We are just studying away and waiting for fall break so we can go to Price to see our families! Only a couple more weeks....can you believe it?

Just another crazy week...

It was just another crazy week in St. George for us. Brett's car is still broken down and in the shop but luckily my parents are letting us borrow my dad's car until we get it back. Who knows when that will be! Brett is studying hard and I try. I have senioritis since it is my last year, but I need to pull out of it! We are both happy and busy!

About us...

Brett and I both grew up in Price, Utah. We were best friends through high school but never dated. We hung out every weekend, but I was always dating his friends and he always had a girl friend. We finally started dating in December 2004. I was a senior in high school and he was going to CEU. He went on a mission to the Guatemala City North Mission in May 2005. I dated around while he was gone, but there was no one to compare to him. When he returned I was down in St. George and he was going to stay in Price to go to CEU. It's hard having a long distance relationship, but obviously we made it through it! Now Brett and I have been married for four months tomorrow! How time flies! We live in St. George, Utah. Brett is attending SUU, so he has to commute to Cedar City four times a week for school. I am in Dixie's nursing program and will finish with my RN next May. I also work as an LPN at a local nursing home. I love it down here, Brett likes it but hates the heat! However, it is starting to cool down. We love to play games and do anything out side. We invested in really nice snorkeling equipment so we try to go at least once a week out to Sand Hollow to snorkel. There are lots of bass to see and they also sunk a plane out there that you can see on a clear day from the top of the water. We enjoy going to the park and playing catch with the football. He gets more of a kick out of it then I do, but I'll get better eventually. Haha. We also love spending time with my brother Jeremy and his wife who live down here. Jeremy and Brett usually just make fun of us girls, but what can ya do? We love being able to go home and see the rest of our family too, it's just too far to go very often!