Talk about Culture Shock

My blog is named Elements of Surprise because I have always loved a good surprise & life is typically full of them. Moving to Wyoming was definitely a surprise since I never imagined myself as a country girl. Don't get me wrong I love an occasional rodeo, wearing cowboy boots & country music. As for Brandon he has always seemed to me like a "wanna-be" cowboy. I say "wanna-be" because his allergies are so bad, one ride on a horse will shut his eyes for the rest of the day! Since we don't own any horses the wide open spaces and seriously not a single stop light for over 30 miles living here is his dream come true.

We just moved into a beautiful SMALL town named SMOOT. Population under 200!

The surrounding towns nicknamed us SMOOTIANS. (Which I actually like, its kind of like BYU students referred to as Zoobees, it just fits). The directions to our house are amazing. Turn at the small, lean to post office probably built in the early 1900's. Drive down the road and make your first left. When the road splits and make another left onto the GRAVEL ROAD! It may be a little different from places I have lived in the past but it is peaceful here and the people are very friendly and talkative. (Unless they see Brandon's California license plate, which we need to get changed before we get a ticket for going 1 mile over the speed limit).

Home sweet home

The home we are staying at has so many large window with unobstructed views of the countryside.

Although we live in a very rural area we have still had some visitors.

G-Baby!

Ann Macdonald

Bryce & Brooke was here too.
Brooke was spending some time as Bear Lake and decided to come with her Mother-in-law & the boys to check out my new spot. We had lunch and I enjoyed hanging out for a couple hours before they headed back.

Friday afternoon we met up with my dad who was in ID for a Rough Rider vacation and rafted down the Snake River! It was so much fun. I didn't get any pictures of us rafting since I didn't bring my camera on the raft.
This is us eating dinner after rafting at a little Mexican hole in the wall restaurant in Jackson Hole.

On Sunday after our first week at our new ward we took a drive up one of the many canyons really close by. It is amazing what you can see if you turn off the main road and up a canyon for a few minutes.

Doesn't look like the hard country life you image when you think rural WY, because its NOT. I have it way too easy and am so thankful for my new adventure here.

P.S. VISITORS WELCOME!

Lake Powell

Lake Powell Eleven from Adam DeVincent on Vimeo.

I look forward to our annual LAKE POWELL family trip all year long! It is always such a fun, relaxing vacation. We always get in late on Saturday night & sleep the first night at the

Marina Doc.

Bryce & Lincoln were on dish duty the first night we were there. Lincoln grabbed the last dish soaking in the water and said, "Oh good the last plate!" Then Bryce pointed out the large stack of dishes waiting to be washed on the counter and Lincoln said, "Ahhh.... NUTS"!

Sy, Gwen, Bain, Alisa, Brianne, LeGrand. Squished on the couch but still having a great time.

Sunday morning it was my BIRTHDAY! I turned 25 at Lake Powell this year. One of the BEST places I can think of to spend my big day. Pancakes for breakfast with whipped cream!

Although we are on a houseboat camping with 23 adults and 4 children for the week, does not mean we have anything less than AMAZING GOURMET FOOD. For birthday lunch we have ALOHA CHICKEN SALAD! It was delicious and beautiful.

Gavin decided to play in the foot cleaning buckets instead of the lake 3 feet away! I guess whatever kept him busy and out of trouble.

Brooke gave me a darling anchor necklace and some goats milk chap stick for my birthday. Love it, Thanks!

Since it was Sunday we had a little Sacrament service in the evening. You can't beat church in your bathing suit!

Then my dad HOMEMADE BLACKBERRY ICE CREAM AFTERWARDS!

Lincoln & Bryce had so much fun together. Here they are having a healthy snack. Don't let this fool you we had TONS of junk food but that's what vacations are all about!

Midnight "Margarita's" (virgin of COURSE) are always a must at Lake Powell. Anything cold to try to cool us off before we sleep helps. This year we had Strawberry & Pina Colada's.

First SKI run of the year for both Becky & I. For some reason it is so much fun to get up and go for a ride together.

Taking turns in the water and cheering each other on.

Here we are eating our dinner outside on the rock.

Sy, Alisa, Heather, Jared, Carol-lyn, Becky, John & I.

Can you believe we had a fire when it was still 100 degree's outside. I know we are crazy. But you can't go camping and not make SMORES.

Thanks Mom & Dad for taking us on another WONDERFUL Lake Powell trip. We all had such a great time and it always goes by way too fast.

4th of July

My Mom, Becky, John, Brenna and & went to the Stadium of Fire to see David Archuletta & Brad Paisley. I hadn't been to the Stadium on Fire for about 7 years so I was long over due. I always forget what an amazing production they put on. We had a GREAT time!

This picture was taken on the Sunday the 3rd. My parents always have a yummy BBQ & Swimming party on the 4th with lots of family and friends.

Mom, Becky, John, Brenna, Brianne

Before the Stadium of Fire us 3 "little girls" and our husbands went out to dinner together. (Growing up we were always referred to as the "3 little girls" because there was a gap between our 2 older sisters and us 3 were each just a year & a half apart.)

Hiking & Swimming

This July in Provo consisted of lots of my favorite things! Fireworks, family parties, yummy food, Lake Powell, my birthday, swimming, hiking, shopping, staying up late and sewing. Brandon and I packed up all of our stuff in a trailer and drove to my parents house in Provo where we stayed the ENTIRE month. We were able to spend so much time with our family and friends during one of the best months of the year!

Brittany, her family, Becky, Brooke's kids & I went to 7 peaks one Saturday. They have added some additional rides since I had been there last, but my favorite ride is still the dark one called Cave In. When I was young it was called Lazer's Edge and it use to be a little better!

I went on a new hike in Alpine with Brandon & my cousin Carol-Lyn but we didn't make it all the way to the waterfall because the rushing water was a little to fast for us to cross.

I went with Brittany and some of the young girls in her church group went on a hike up American Fork Canyon and actually made it to the waterfall.

I really took advantage of Utah Valley's beautiful canyons and went on some hikes I have never done before. I went my sister Brittany, her family & my cousin Danielle around Sundance. It was great because instead of having to walk up the mountain we rode the chair lift. At the top we hiked along some of the trails until we could see the waterfalls.

Brandon & I hiked the Y one evening to watch the Pioneer Day celebration fireworks. Believe it or not that was the 1st time I have ever hiked the Y and I was born and raised in Provo!

June has flown by

Here is a recap of what has been keepin' me so busy that I haven't had anytime to update my blog.

On May 21st one of my dearest friends KATE got married in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple. My parents flew me up to Utah for my graduation gift so I wouldn't miss her special day. Unfortunately I had camera difficulty so I didn't get 1 picture of her wedding day. My dad snapped a photo of us at her wedding dinner the night before she got married on his cell phone.

June 10th:

Brooke and Jimmy came to Huntington Beach to stay for the weekend so we thought we should too. They stayed with some of Jimmy's family in a hotel and Brandon and I stayed at his Dad's house in Costa Mesa. We spent most of the day hanging out at the beach.

Jimmy, Brandon, Geoff & Scott

Brandon pulling Bryce and Jimmy pulling Gavin

Garet (Brandon's youngest brother-15) Geoff, Brody (Brandon's other brother -17), Brandon

Friday, June 17: HAPPY 6th YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO US!!!! It also happened to be my last day working at Dr. Walker's Dental Office. It was hard for me to walk out without tears. I really loved that job especially the people I worked for and with. I can't say how blessed I was to get to work for Doc and Vicki Walker. They treated me like one of their own children and I learned so many skills that I will use for the rest of my life. It is going to be extremely hard trying to find a job I liked as much as that one. I don't even know if it will be possible.

This is a picture of Dana and I. We had a lot of great times working and laughing together. I wish her the very best in life!

Now that I was off work it was time to celebrate our anniversary. We were lucky because Becky and John were staying with us too!
First we went to see the new movie SUPER 8. I loved it, really funny, a lot of action and a cute little love story. Afterwards we went to Lucielle's BBQ for dinner. YUMMY!

Saturday we went and walked around Victoria Gardens because it was such a nice day. That night to celebrate John's 30th birthday we went to one of his favorite places BJ's for dinner.

Delicious Pizza and a Pizookie...I could die and go to heaven!

Monday June 20th: GIRLS CAMP-LAZY W. RANCH
24 young women, 4 women leaders, 2 priesthood holders, 2 camp cooks spent the week down in Orange County. It was the BEST way to end my 2 1/2 half years serving in the young women's. I love all these girls and leaders so much. We had a lot of fun working together and drawing closer to our heavenly father. I will miss all of them SO MUCH! It was hard to leave without tears!

It was so hot when we got up to camp we decided to go for a swim!

Sidney, Aubrey, Natalie, Jenny, Brooke, Alisa, Brianne, Tianna

My darling Beehive girls. I loved sharing a cabin with all of them because they are excited about everything. Since they were too excited to sleep they woke up at 5:30 AM! To kill time until everyone else woke up we braided each other's hair so we matched! Aren't these girls darling?

As you can see I got BRANDON to come to girls camp too! I loved having him around it made the week that much more fun. Brandon and Steve came as our priesthood holders and the 2 men in the middle were our camp chef's!

We spent all day on Tuesday at the beach. It was a really rocky beach but it didn't stop Brandon from catching some waves. Since it was such a hot day, I actually got in the water too!

The girls being silly. We are wearing our camp shirts can you guess what our color was?
Ocean Blue!

I am really going to miss these young women and leaders. I grew to love and care for each of them so much! I might just have to invite myself to camp next summer too!

SATURDAY JUNE 26th: MOVING DAY!
It seems really weird to think that my time in California is up. Brandon and I moved here knowing we had many goals to accomplish in just a few years time. Living in California was such a great experience for me, I learned so much about myself and matured in many different ways. I am getting choked up as I look back on the past three years of my life. They were extremely Busy, Difficult and many times Overwhelming. They were also rewarding, fun and a great learning opportunity.

Well... Now I only have 2 days to pack up everything in my apartment and move to WY. I guess whatever I don't have time to box up will just get left behind. As I look around it is a daunting task to say the least.