Utah from Top to Bottom

We just go back a couple weeks ago from a trip to Utah. My parents, Russ and I have gone out to Utah for General Conference for the last few years and it has become a fun tradition. It's great getting to see Conference and so much fun to see family who live there and visit with great friends. It was a big added bonus that I got to spend so much time with Russ. He hasn't gotten much time off since he started his new job so it was nice to get to be together for a whole week!

We flew in early and spent a couple days in Moab, Utah to see the arches and windows in the canyons there. It was beautiful and fun because neither of us had been there before. In Moab we got to see beautiful sights like...

...this... 

and this. 

Us in front of one of the "windows." So cool huh?

Random adorable, and might I add adventurous, couple in front of us on the trail. Not only were they precious and holding hands while they slowly walked down the path, but he was carrying an old-fashioned video camera that only added to their cuteness. 

I spent a lot of my time in the canyons trying to make sure Russ didn't fall off the side of a huge cliff. But I guess he's always been one to "live on the edge." (get it?)  Can you spot the Russ in this picture?

I knew we were high but it didn't really hit me until I saw a bird fly right by and perch itself on the edge of the cliff. Realized we were as high as birds fly! (Which to me sounds like as high as you can go.)

It was pretty crazy cause we went from 80 degrees in Moab to about 30 degrees in Park City! (world's fakest smiles?)

We spent a day in Park City and we got some snow! It was kind of a nice change of pace.

We spent a lot of time in the car on our mini Utah tour driving from place to place. One day at the tail end of a rain storm we saw this beautiful rainbow. 

After some time in Provo and SLC, before we knew it our trip had come to an end and we were heading back home. It was such a nice get away and we had such a wonderful time. 

T.G.I.S.

Pretty much every Saturday Russ and I will do the same thing, go to dinner and then watch a movie at home. The last couple of Saturdays we decided to break from tradition and do some things we don't normally do or get to do.

We have talked for months about going to Inner Space Caverns (a cave in Texas) but since it was so far North in Austin we just never got around to it. A couple weeks ago we happened to be in that part of town running errands and so we decided to go for it. No this was not the exciting spelunking excursion you may be thinking. In fact, it was the same cave tour I went on with my 1st grade class on a field trip. Even though we didn't get wedged in between crevaces and need to use a pocket knife to cut off an arm, we did see some bats...so equally as adventurous.

Inner Space Caverns

Here is us in the cave and part of the cave that looks like a sumo wrestler eating an ice cream cone.

Last week Russ and I decided to go roller skating! It had been years since either of us had been roller skating and unfortunately it showed. We realized when we hit the rink that we were the only ones skating who were old enough to have a driver's license. These kids were also freakishly good skaters. Like so good that they actually know how to use the brake stopper on the front of the roller skate instead of just going full speed into the wall to stop. Regardless it was so much fun! If you haven't gone roller skating for a while you totally should.

Jack-o-Lanterns & Jobs

Russ and I had a pretty quiet Halloween. We didn't dress up (sad huh?) and aside from our church trunk-or-treat and passing out Halloween candy the highlight was..............(I'm building the suspense)..........pumpkin carving! So we worked diligently digging, scraping, poking and carving. Below is the proof!

We had a few ideas of what to carve but all ideas came back to one thing...Mitt Romney of course! And to let the trick-or-treaters know they are "Welcome" we thought what better way then by telling them in a pumpkin.

Here are the final products. And yes, yes that is Mitt on the left. So it's not exactly a spitting image but for a pumpkin president we thought it wasn't too bad. And there is our "Welcome" pumpkin. In spite of gooeyness and hand cramping it was a lot fun! 

In other news we are so excited because yesterday Russ found out he got a new job! He's been working the past year as an auditor here in town but has always wanted to do something related to Investment Management. He found a great job and applied, and after months of different rounds of interviews he got it! We still get to stick around Austin and it is a great company and it's affiliated with UT so I guess it's appropriate to throw in a "Hook 'em Horns." I'm so proud of him and can't wait for him to start!

Home Sweet Home

Russ and I moved into our humble abode the first part of December and although it has nearly been a year that we've lived here, we have yet to share some pictures of our place. And I know there are literally only a couple people (you know who you are) who have a desire to see this, I still say to grab a bag of chips, a drink, get comfortable and enjoy this mini episode of MTV Cribs (minus the fancy reverse and fast forward camera tricks they do.)

The front of our house. Try not to be too distracted by our sweet car and amazing landscaping.

This is the entry hall that leads to our living room/kitchen area. To the right are two little bedrooms (one is being used as our office) and a bathroom.

Our living room.

More living room.

Our kitchen.

Our dining area in the kitchen.

We just painted our bedroom and so once we get it all set up I'll post some pictures of that and our other two rooms. We've had so much fun decorating and painting. And we have even had fun doing little home "repairs." (and by "we" I mean "Russ" of course.) We love it...and if you're ever in Texas you can now stay at "Casa de Brown."

In other news. Russ and I just celebrated our 3rd anniversary! Can't believe it has already been three years. We didn't do anything too big, just went out to dinner at a super good seafood restaurant we had never been to in downtown Austin. We usually don't explore any of the trendy downtown Austin eateries, we feel like we aren't cool enough, or I guess in Austin's case, aren't weird enough to go to them but our anniversary was a good excuse to try out a new one.

1.  Where Russ and I ate way too much seafood...and realized how little we know about proper dinner etiquette...and how to act like we totally knew we were ordering something with raw quail egg. 

2. And the night wasn't complete without some Mexican Vanilla ice cream with strawberries from Amy's Ice Cream. One of Russ' favorites.

3. The flowers sweet Russ got me. 

4. I feel like we rarely take pictures of us together so here is our attempt of a self-timer picture. 

We're holding up 3 fingers because we've been married 3 years. Brilliant idea huh? 

Anyways I love that guy and am excited for a lifetime of anniversaries together...with the only guy I know who would eat my raw quail eggs...now that's true love.

From Ordinary to Egg-traordinary

Happy belated Easter to everyone! In honor of this great holiday, on Saturday Russ and I decided to dye some Easter Eggs. I don't know how we've known each other for 5 years and this is the first time we've done it. It was a lot of fun! I think having your fingers turn blue and orange from craft projects is something you never outgrow. Although I hope when we shook people's hands at church and they were fluorescent colored, they felt the same way.

Our top of the line egg dying kits and carton of eggs. 

The master at work. 

Us dying both our eggs and fingers. 

Here they are. Since we both had incredible vision that was somehow difficult to translate with a wax crayon and tiny, wire egg holder I'll tell you what they each are.  For the one person who has any interest in knowing. 

Back Left: Polka Dot, Back Middle: Two-toned (I think it looks like a Nerf football though.), Back Right: Bowling Ball

Front Left: Grassy Field with Sky, Front Middle: Sparkly Sun,  Front Right: Tiger Stripes

The final product. 

Us and our masterpieces. (You like how I somehow looked surprised I'm getting my picture taken?) 

Happy Easter everyone!

This Ain't My First Rodeo

Well the Rodeo came to Austin once again this year. When I heard Gavin DeGraw was going to be one of the performers I told Russ, not thinking anything of it. Well Russ, being the sweetheart he is, surprised me with tickets for my birthday! So last night we got to go to Rodeo Austin for the second year in a row!  Which allowed me the opportunity to use the expression "This ain't my first rodeo" literally, for the first time in my life...and probably more times than Russ enjoyed. 

 There's a small fair surrounding the rodeo. And even though both of us are pretty incredibly leery of rides at traveling fairs, it was still fun to walk around, and see all the bright lights. 

Russ has fond memories of eating turkey legs at Disney World when he was a kid, and all that walking got us hungry, so naturally that's just what he got. And what would you wash down a turkey leg with? An over sized, ridiculous, souvenir cup full of lemonade, that's what. It was very tasty.

Russ doing his best Henry VIII impression. 

After dinner we decided to play some games before the show. If you ever want to throw money straight down the drain. I recommend Midway Games at fairs, or carnivals. Because they make it so much fun! This is Russ trying his hand at a basketball game. 

 There was a ring toss game, where you could get a bowl of 50 rings. And if you made one ring on to one of the bottles you won. We thought surely we could do that. Well 50 rings later, we found out our hunch was wrong. But it was fun!

Then we headed into the expo center. We got to see some genuine cowboys do bull riding, barrel racing and some adorable kids do some "Mutton Bustin'." Then it was time for the concert! We got incredible seats since it was such a small venue and Gavin was so close! This picture doesn't do it justice. And we were so close that I'm pretty sure he was pointing right at Russ when he sung the line, "...not over you." He was great in concert and we had such a fun time! We've been listening to his songs ever since. Thanks again Russ! P.S. That is Gavin in the spotlight, in case you couldn't tell in this horrible picture.

The "Light" in the "City of Light"

I'll be honest, I have no idea why they call Paris the City of Light. I'm guessing it probably has nothing to do with the Eiffel Tower...but it should. Although they're a little overdue here are some pictures we took of the Eiffel Tower. It was crazy because just about every time we passed by the tower it looked completely different, whether it was the time of day, or the weather. We also have a litte video of the light show they do each evening. It was so cool! Enjoy!