2 Years!

Can you believe it's already been two years!!??

haha. I love how inappropriate this picture is. It's one of my favorites from our wedding (sorry mom!).

Each year, whether it's a birthday, anniversary or Christmas, we always tend to ruin the surprise of the gifts we have planned for each other. How/Why you may ask... it's simple. We can't figure out what to get one another, so we just ask and talk about it during our family budgeting discussion. Once we set the budget for gifts/the holiday, we try to decide what we'd like that is within the budget. Lucky for me, Ben knew exactly what he wanted... and lucky for Ben, so did I. This rarely happens because when we want/need something, we usually just save for it right away and buy it a few paychecks later. It's kinda sad that we don't have many surprises in our gift-giving, but we're both OK with that right now. 

So, to celebrate the completion of two years on the road to eternity, Ben asked for some power tools (to make me awesome stuff, of course) and I asked for some family pictures (to remember how precious we are). Yes, our family is still just the two of us, but I love this time that we get to share with one another. Just the two of us. Everyday I treasure our time together because I know someday it will be hard to come by. When I was home in California for a week (Ben stayed in UT for work) I absolutely loved being around my family and the wonderful chaos that came with it (blog post to follow). However, nothing compared to that moment when I walked into my tiny, clean and quiet apartment where Ben was there waiting for me. (Well, he was doing homework, but I like to think it was a multi-tasking effort.) I hope I can enjoy these quiet moments we have together before the chaos of eternal progression comes along  (aka children).

Well, enough mushy stuff, here's the pictures that my wonderful friend Merrick took for us. Thanks to Ben for a wonderful two years and many more to come. And thanks for the gift, I love my pictures!

p.s. on the actual day of our anniversary we went to Goodwood BBQ for dinner and then saw the movie "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" followed by huckleberry shakes at Arctic Circle. It was a perfect date night and I loved it! Also, that movie was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Everyone should go see it right away! It's truly heartwarming. Be ready to laugh, but bring tissues, too.

OK, OK, now I'm really done, here are the pictures:

(one of my favorites)

(one of Ben's favorites)

(probably going to be used for our Christmas card)

precious, right?

 Well, that's enough for the blog... I love them all and can't wait to get some of them printed and framed. Happy Anniversary, Ben! I love you more than those three little words can express.
Thanks for being the best husband a girl could ask for! 

Camping with the Chamberlains

When Thomas got home from his mission, Ben suggested that we go camping with the WHOLE family. We hadn't gone camping since 2009 when he and I went to Camp Nauvoo with my family, so we were LONG overdue for a trip. In the search for a location, I told the men of the family (planning the trip) that I could survive without a shower for a few days, but I needed a toilet. That was my only request, and they delivered!  Once I was assured I would have a toilet, I got really excited to go.

Since we hadn't ever gone camping as a married couple, we still needed a tent and some sleeping bags. Ben found us some great deals on both! I handled the bug spray and water bottles (tough, I know) and with a little help from grandpa, we were set to go.

Anyway, as the weekend got closer, I looked at the forecast for Tropic Reservoir and RAIN was on the menu. This made me VERY uneasy about going camping. (Whenever it rains and I'm in a tent, I end up being SOAKED and miserable, Halie can vouch for this, but she did have to remind me of these traumatic memories. ha!) So, as we packed up the car and Ben tried to calm my nerves about the rain, we set off for our trip.

We arrived Thursday evening and got everything set up. Ben's parents and siblings were there to greet us. We had dinner together and made sure things weren't going to get rained on too badly, and headed off to sleep. Little did I know the rain that night would wake me up (rain from inside a tent is unusually loud) and make me have to go to the bathroom (the sound of water does nothing good for me in the mornings, hee hee).

Friday morning we woke up and ate a delicious breakfast and prepared for our hike. Here's a pic of us before the hike and in front of our MASSIVE tent (you can't see half of it).

The trail was beautiful and there wasn't that many bugs (a huge plus!) Here's some pics of the hike:

II'm not sure who, but someone found a tiny toad of some sort and McKay ended up with it... It was kinda cool how comfortable it was in the palm of his hand.

About two-thirds of the way through the hike, we got to a great look-out and were able to take a group picture. Not too bad since the camera was hanging from a nub on the side of a tree, huh?

Keyhole Arch (above)

Hiking in Southern Utah is SO gorgeous! I wish these pictures did it justice.

Katie, Ben, Me and Thomas with the sign.

We got back we had walking-tacos (delicious) and played UNO in the tent while it rained some more.

After the rain stopped (for a bit) we went down the the reservoir and skipped rocks and just hung out. Dan and Sharla were brave enough to go swimming and it was hilarious seeing their dog trying to decide whether or not she was going to get in or not. Turns out she hates the cold water, so she chilled with Tom and stole my seat multiple times. :)

Just hanging around the camping stove after we returned from the reservoir. Because of the fire restrictions, we couldn't have a campfire (lame!) but it was still fun to sit around and talk. 

Not pictured: multiple hours worth of horseshoes, more card games and the dog staring down/chasing the chipmunks. All in all, despite the rain, we had a GREAT trip! It was so much fun and so nice to relax away from all the distractions of life. When I was younger, my family would go camping at least once a year (it felt like) and I always remember enjoying it. I can't believe we don't do it more often. Now that we have some of the gear, we will definitely be going more. Most likely not until next summer, but still... if/when we do go, it will be great. 

(Rob and Jami couldn't make it, which was a bummer, but Cal would have been miserable in the rain...Maybe next year.)