Some Forgotten Summer Days

It sadly has been a while since we have documented the happenings of our lives - and many great big exciting things have been happening. However, before we blog about some of the more recent events, we find it necessary to record a few of the moments we managed to overlook this past summer. So, in brief -

Ammon's brother Shafer was the LEAD in Les Miserables! He did wonderfully and we were (ARE) very proud of him.


Furthermore, we finally got to make good on Ammon's birthday present from back in April. It was a fun night at a the Diamondbacks/Rockies game.

Our oldest niece turned FOUR years old - of course, we were there to not only witness but experience the fun. Let's admit - no one has more fun than four year olds (or adults playing like they're four year olds).

Also, we had a stroke of brilliance and invented a new family favorite. We call it the Panda Pizza. Little Caesar's pepperoni pizza topped with Panda Express's orange chicken. DELICIOUS.
And in one of Ammon's many romantic and thoughtful moments we went out for a SWEET date - the Melting Pot. Oh my heavenly. Definitely a splurge. Definitely worth it.

Summer Fun = Water Fun

With the arrival of endless sunshine and nearly intolerable heat is also the arrival of water fun.

For the adults this means we can do things like wash the vehicles....

...drink out of the hose as if we were kids again...

and otherwise pretend that there is natural relief from the beating sun.

For the kiddos, this means water parks. Oh yes.

Alright, who are we kidding? The water parks are for the adults too!

And while we're out, we might as well enjoy some park of the non-water variety too, right? Right.It's just so fascinating when the playground never ends...

And would it be summer for a child if we didn't make believe about a couple of hamburgers? I say no!

Gotta love summer time!

Number One

Can you believe it's been a year already? Guess time flies when you're having fun! It was over a year ago that we were getting hitched...

And it was a GREAT year. Most people talk about how the first year is the hardest and we say that if that is the case, bring it on! And in order to celebrate this blissful year together, we kept the theme going.

We went to paradise...

We went to the happiest place on earth (or at least as close as we could get in Arizona)...

We went back to the place where it all started and tried to feel a little bit of heaven...

And then we spent the rest of the weekend in our own version of paradise. In Scottsdale. Again, back where it all started (same place as the honeymoon).

Doesn't this look like wonderful? It is wonderful.

We spent a lot of time with the water. This pool was just so much fun.

How could it not be fun, when WE'RE so much fun?? (and miracle of miracles, neither of us came away from the weekend sunburned - WOW)

We created our own homemade fondue. Yummmmm......

We decided that for our anniversaries we want to try to always do something that we've never done together before. This year, we went ice skating! So much fun. ESPECIALLY since we have a June anniversary in Arizona - it feels soooo good to be cold in this summer heat.

So we've got one down and an eternity to go. We're looking forward to it.

Full of Life

It has definitely been a while since we've had a chance to update this blog of ours. In our defense, we shall make a pathetic excuse, like, ummm...uh, it was a busy month...

Anyhow, where did we leave off? Ah, yes! End of April. Ammon had a birthday. The head of this household is now 23 years old - yes, plenty of good years left. Still, it was necessary to celebrate. Especially since his birthday was on a Thursday - his day off of work and a day when I just happened to have only ONE early class.

So he started the day off with presents. All on paper too.
He got his card in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Hatch. No better way to start off a birthday than with the love of some stupendous grandparents! (The number says 23, in case you were wondering) His wife got him a couple of tickets to a baseball game later this summer.
His in-laws got him a gift certificate to an awesome Laramie restaurant called "Altitude Chophouse & Brewery." They make their own root beer and cream soda - oh yes, that is good stuff. And their food is DELICIOUS also.
Thank you Mom and Dad for that wonderful meal. Mmmm. Still tastes good.

The rest of the day involved a job interview (successful, even though we ended up going with a different job), movies Redbox style, and breaking into our own linen closet - because the Easter Bunny locked us out of it.

What did Ammon's family do for his birthday you ask? Well, that's what Ammon asked too. And we all made him wait. And we shall make you wait as well. Hahaha.

A few days later I presented my Senior Honor's Project. Finally. SOOOOO glad that is over and complete.
Over the course of the next week I took finals. Worked on final projects. Picked up the cap and gown...

...finished my projects as the family rolled into town. And then ladies and gentlemen -

I graduated.

B.A. in communication. Minor in marketing. Emphasis in public relations. All done in conjunction with the honors program.

Boy oh boy THAT was an exciting thing for me. I LOVED college. And I was very lucky to have several of my favorite people at my graduation - husband, parents, Grandma and Grandpa Lords, and Aunt Tammy and Uncle Patrick. They were kind enough to sit through THREE hours of commencement. Ick. So thankful they were all there though.

And now I'm entering the scary grown-up world. Yikes.

And I'm answering the big question - What are you going to do next?

--Hopefully I can land a job doing PR and marketing for some great organization. However, as soon as I figure out officially what I'm doing next in life, I'll let you all know. :)

Next up -we moved. Officially. And likely forever. Bye-bye Wyoming and Colorado, Hello Arizona. I think we would have been a lot more sentimental and sad about the whole moving thing if Wyoming hadn't SNOWED on us as we were packing and leaving. So we left without looking back. Or taking pictures.

Needless to say, Ammon was more than a little excited to return to his native desert land.

There are many reasons for his enthusiasm. One might be that this piano was waiting for him...

This was yet another generous gift from some wonderful people in the ward.

Still another reason for his enthusiasm was probably the anticipation over his mystery birthday present.

After almost a month of waiting to see what we all had up our sleeves, Ammon was thrilled to open up a....dust buster. MWAHAHAHAHA. Good one Belle. That'll teach him to snoop around and pry information out of others.

Fortunately, the dust buster could be exchanged for nothing less than a Wii! Belle and Kent found an awesome deal on a great Wii - and with the contribution and love of several family members, yet another one of Ammon's big-ticket items is his to keep. Thank you to EVERYONE who made that moment possible. Spoiled boy this year (mind you he got the guitar and the piano too). "Wii" are very happy now. We're having adventures all over the place - spending time with family and friends, dreaming about our future, plotting out our place in this world.