Life at a Glance (pictures to follow)

Why hello again!

August 14th really wasn't all that long ago, but so many things have happened that it feels much longer than two weeks.

The last little bit of life, calendar-style.

August 11th - 1 year anniversary. Dinner at a restaurant we never go to. A great night at home.

August 15th - Our "celebrated" anniversary. Going back to Alaskan Inn and Rainbow Gardens for dinner. Wonderful night and I love how much we've become better friends in one year.

August 18th - Beth got home. FINALLY! I feel like my life is back in order with her nearby.

August 19th - Morning flight out of Utah to Vancouver, where we boarded a cruise ship headed up the Alaskan Coast. First Briggs Family Vacation since before Dan's mission! Meaning I was seven years old. 2/3 of my life ago--I'd say we were overdue.

August 19th-26th - One of the greatest weeks with the family ever. Floatplane adventure over the Misty Fjords. Hiking to Mendenhall Glacier after having the pleasure of riding Mr. Jantzen Deppe's tour bus. Touring Skagway and getting ripped off at a Subway in Canada. Playing games nonstop with all the kids, including Sardines on decks of the ship. Endless buffets and room service. Blake and I being the winning contestants in a marriage game show and winning a bottle of champagne. Riding a tour bus from Seward to Anchorage for ten hours. Waiting in the airport for another 5 hours. And finally a red-eye flight from Anchorage to Denver to Salt Lake where we jumped off the plane, into the car, and raced back to campus so I could make my classes on my last first day of school!

August 27th-28th - Trying to get a handle on school without getting too overwhelmed. With Blake's support and perspective, even the scariest mountains become climbable. Awesome hubster for the win.

August 29th - Another trip to the airport and red-eye flight. This time, it was Blake's brother Quinton who just returned from his mission in Bolivia. Meeting new brother for the first time. Loving the family I married into all over again. Loving life.

August 30th - Great day of school. First Zumba experience. Family barbeque tonight. First BYU football game. And who knows what other adventures the rest of the afternoon has in store... I'll keep you posted. :)

Dang, life's good.

What a Great Life

My life is awesome. 

Period.

Friends

(There are so many more people and pictures where these came from!)

Terrorizing FrontRunner Riders the day after Christmas - Kate, Franny, Me, Chels

Full Orch. Trip: "Where I found myself" :) - Kim, Sarah, Me, Chels

Kate and Chels. There for every important big day. :)

Roommates:

Fact: I had the privilege of living with 10 of the best girls in creation.

Here's a shout out to Sam, Jillian, Amy, Anna, and Becca

Melissa, Suzy, Natalie, Katie, and Madeleine

MLKJ Day - Spontaneous trip to the Fieldhouse and Rock Canyon

Roommate night at Brick Oven. (Ironically, Anna Dearest was on a date making pizza.)

Mliss, Nat, Suz, Mad, (KT), and Justin - There are debts to these girls that I can never repay. I love them dearly. I learned so much from them and grew in ways that were only possible under such a unique climate of amazing ladies.

Family:

Where would I be without them?

Who better to teach you to bowl than your Daddy?

Popcorn buddies. (Yes our popcorn bowl was a bedpan. Yes that's a super-long beard. Yes I love my Dad.)

Our favorite home-made Christmas stockings. Made and filled with love by Mom.

First school dance. Not sure how the girls without older sisters get through life.

The little moments.

You can only get away with stuff like this with a sister.

New sisters!

I'm getting to be a big sister for the first time in my life. And I love it.

Our family setup is perfect. Four boys then the two girls at the end to be best friends.

"Chums in joy..." -- Chums ALWAYS.

I look up to all of them (yes, all, Aaron) and feel lucky I came last.

These kids are my first real experience prepping me for my own family. Dan and Karen, thank you for sharing the love. :)

And last but not least...

My Right-Hand Man

First picture together when he'd taken me home for General Conference to meet the family.

Summer Date to hike Timp Caves

Right after we both said "Yes"

Laughing at the position the photographer was making us be in. A total ab-workout.

On our Honeymoon in San Diego - The USS Midway

Top of the Conference Center

Beach + Blake = Happy Annie

One of our very favorite temples!

I love firsts. First winter, first time playing in the snow, first snow man (and the tallest one I've ever made).

Sending Grandma her "flowers" for Mother's Day. We're so grateful to be here in their home.

Yep. Awesome life.

More of life to come!

The Getaway

Remember how I said I was kind of stressed this semester? Well I figured out why.  I did the math and realized that I wrote 118 double-spaced pages and 30 single-spaced pages this semester.  That averages out to roughly 36 pages per class. ... Ohhh, no WONDER I was periodically exhibiting mild signs of basketcaseitis. (You know, randomly bursting into tears when seeing old roommates on campus, consigning myself to a D in a class just so I wouldn't have to write a particularly beasty paper (Blake convinced me out of that plan, in case you were wondering), nightmares about certain classes, etc.)  The strangest thing, though, is that once it's over, you look back and the whole experience was like getting a flu shot or something--unpleasant and painful, but over fairly quickly.  Okay, so maybe that comparison is a bit of an underestimate, but you get the idea... I'm grateful to have the most challenging semester of my educational experience behind me. I'm taking two classes in the Salt Lake Center this spring:  my last humanities general and an elective for my major.  Then another batch of mild classes this fall and I'm a graduated woman!  It really is all downhill from here!

Anyway, Blake's semester was tough as well, and we decided that once finals were over, it was time for a very serious getaway. So we planned a last-minute trip to Arches National Park!

~Delicate Arch~

It was fun to get to see in real life what we've seen on the license plate for years.

It took us a while to find a campsite, but we actually got one with some trees. It was perfect!

 

 ~Landscape Arch~

By this point in the day I was becoming quite the crispy french fry--I set a pretty fast pace these last few hikes just so we could get out of the sun! I'm glad we didn't skip these arches, though.

~Trail to Double O Arch~

Not our favorite arch, but definitely our favorite hike! Lots of fun terrain.

 

Before coming home, we drove up to Dead Horse Point and saw some of the major sights in Canyonlands. It's amazing how differently the scenery can look just a few miles apart!

 

All in all, we had an absolute blast. We both did get a little sunburned, but it was very worth it! Such a great trip! When we got home, we showered, unpacked the cooler, and headed right back out again to commence the "cushy" part of our getaway. We have access to a cabin up at Sundance and we went up for a few days to do nothing but sleep in, relax, watch movies, play Yahtzee, and I introduced Blake to a long-lost love from my past:

Don't worry... We're not turning into gamers.

Thank goodness for the end of the semester and a most lovely break from school!