preparing for half dome

Wes and I are so excited (scared) to be tackling THIS... in August!














I give you Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.


















Tough hike. We watched the little video the National Park puts out for interested hikers, and a think we peed our pants a little bit. Shot after shot of people getting carried out on stretchers got us thinking. Clearly, there is work to be done. Wes and I have been making major efforts to get ready. An attempt at tennis last night failed, but tomorrow we tackle Timp starting at 6am.

This isn't the only thing we're looking forward to. Courtesy of Kirk and Jennie, we'll be spending a week here!

let's give it another month

One month. Woot!

Its been good so far, I told Wes I'd give it another month.

We are pretty well settled in here in good ol' Wymount. Just keep living the BYU dream. Wes continues to humor me with reorganizing the kitchen and hanging items from our cinder block walls. We love our place. Well. I especially do.

Spring semester is slowing winding down. I'm pretty sure I'm passing all my classes, and when you are on the home stretch, that's all that matters. Wes starts up in Summer with Music 101, Bowling (with me, aka Marriage Therapy) and a CS (computer science) class. I'll be taking Beginning Golf (that's RIGHT Weiler girls) and Chronic Disease and Prevention. We just love writing those tuition checks. Had a sort of negative experience up to this point with FASFA (mostly my fault, I will admit) so we'll wait to see what happens there.

Wes got a calling as the "Ward Janitor" aka "Temporal and Spiritual Needs Welfare Chair something er other..." Basically he locks up the building every night and flushes toilets. It seems we have been officially accepted into the ward. We are speaking next week.

We're looking forward to vacations with family, wedding pictures and being poor. Psh, who wants to deal with all those decisions about where money should go? When you have no money, its super easy!

I kind of hate these vague "update" posts. I'll try and pick something a little more specific for next time.

But I am a Burningham!

let it be written

Wes and I have a lot of family and friends who are pregnant, trying to get pregnant or will be pregnant before us.

Since Wes and I are nowhere close to crossing that bridge, let it be written that these are our potential names for children.

Yes, we are "calling" them.

Johnny
Jacob
Jane
Julia

Let it be written on this official blog.

Yes, we know they are all "J" names. And no, you can't have them.

my hippie moment

97.5% of water on the Earth is salt water, with only 2.5% as fresh water, of which over two-thirds is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining freshwater is mainly focused as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground.

Point? The global supply of clean water is decreasing.

Turn off your faucets when you brush your teeth.
Take a quicker shower.
Don't run the water while you pee thinking it will mask the sound.

Water. Save some for the whales.

the mr. and mrs.

The wedding was a blast.

As far as the actual ceremony, it is pretty insane that one minute you are single and then the next sealed. It was great to have all our family there to watch and cry. Me too. Wes too.

I feel like I have been involved in quite a few weddings for other people, but to have it be my own was pretty surreal. The day was too quick.

My fam really stepped it up to make the reception amazing. The place was DECKED out in orange tulips, gerbers, roses... From the lights to the Italian sodas, I think it is safe to say the Kirk and Jennie Weilers know how to throw a party. My dear friends were there from start to the bitter end. You guys are the best. Loyalty proven. I drove away feeling a little guilty. I told Wes we needed to go back and help clean up. He said no way.

Wes and I stayed one night at the fancy Marriott in downtown SLC. One of my favorite things about Wes is he doesn't skimp when it counts. For the whole honeymoon he pretty much went all out. We were in a super nice suite, huge bed, valet service, chocolate covered strawberries, the whole shebang. We even got a free breakfast Sunday morning in the hotel restaurant, which had we paid would have put us out 34 dollars! No omelet is worth that.

We drove to Zion Mountain Resort, just 10 minutes out of the East entrance to the park. We pulled up to the Buffalo Vista Honeymoon Suite. Again, no skimping here. Jetted bathtub in the middle of the living room!

We got up early and spent way too much on groceries at the closest gas station. Then headed into the park. One benefit to hitting up the national parks in the early season is parking availability. All the times I have gone to Zions, we circle the parking lot for like 20 minutes before squashing into a spot next to a tree that probably isn't really a spot. Not this time. We pulled right in and hopped on a not very crowded shuttle.

Wes came around and we hiked Angels Landing first. This hike is one of my favorites, a little thrill and priceless view. Wes, being a little conservative and not-so-hot with heights was hesitant at first. He didn't want to die after only being married 2 days. I told him it was ok, because we were sealed. But he decided to do it after I told him it was THE hike of the park.

Then we went to Weeping Rock, which in my opinion should be named Woosey Rock. We walked up the 0.5 trail just to turn around and come back. We didn't even crack out the camera. Then we took the free shuttle with grumpy driver into Springdale and bought some, once again, overpriced groceries (especially difficult when looking for gluten free lunch items). Wes was quite concerned that our food be safe, so he buckled everything in. What a great dad he'll be.

This morning we woke up to find SNOW. No one could believe it. We asked the front desk guy how often then get snow. He said, oh, never. So, we packed up early and headed back to Provo with a quick pit stop for some Arbys's curly fries.

Here are a few pics. Enjoy enjoy.

brevity

The good news is I found some time and motivation to update the blog.

The bad news I don't even know where to begin.

Our friends and family have shown us the love with showers. We have been literally showered with quilts, kitchen utensils, baking pans, bowls, table and chairs, grapefruit spoons... you name it. Shout out to Wendy "the gift giver," for giving a gift even when she lives across the country. Dedication. I explained to the other cousins not to be jealous, but Wendy and I, we do have a special bond.

Wes and I finished up finals. It was... better than expected. Wes and I will be working AMAS (as much as possible) this spring summer. Did you know we work in the same building? Convenient. I'm taking a few athletic training classes to finish up my minor and we'll let you know how Wes fairs with his first experience doing a 40 hour week.

Everyone is asking me if I am nervous about getting married. Am I supposed to be?! Well, yes. All this asking is making me nervous something is wrong with me, because I am totally at peace with the events of the next 2 weeks. Although, I'm not sure my mom will refer to the next 2 weeks as "peace."

Random wonder: What did you do in the last weeks/days before you got married? Any highlights I'm missing out on?

time to get excited

Things are finally starting to come together.

30 days to go.

Its time to get excited.



Wonderful photos courtesy of Michelle Kemp @ Rusty Bucket Photography

Fearless Dragon Trainer

After a lot of begging and whining, Rebecca finally let me take her to the new movie

How to Train Your Dragon.

Rebecca expected the movie to be a total waste of time and she only came because she loves me. In my opinion (which not everyone cares about) it was one of the best movies ever. I see so much junk and trashy productions right now in media that I welcome any good wholesome family-oriented movie. Plus the trailers before the movie are all about similar wholesome movies, so you get to see what else is worth seeing. The premise of the movie deals with a young viking who lives on an island terrorized by dragons. He is not built like other vikings and seems weak in his attempts to defend the village like the others. His life is changed when he meets on of the most dangerous dragons of all time.... a NIGHTFURRY!

I loved the movie so much that I had to go and get my own...

BEWARE: It looks great in 3D, but its not worth paying the extra $2.50 a ticket.