Year One

So we made it! Married one year as of last Friday. Looking back I wouldn't change a thing. Quinn and I have had so much fun together! I only wish I would have taken more pictures of all the cool stuff we did :).

Here are some things I have learned from Quinn in our first 365 days of eternity together...

- To always do things right the first time. It looks better, lasts longer, and saves time.

- Not to get offended so easily. Every time I tell Quinn about someone or something that really bugs/offends me, he is pretty good at helping me see the other side of things. Sometimes it gets annoying if I just want to vent, but in the end I'm glad he does it.

- Keep things clean and organized! Quinn keeps everything very neat. I wouldn't call myself a slob, but I've definitely been able to learn that taking extra time to make things neat is worth it!

- Laugh! Quinn can turn anything semi-funny to hilarious just by laughing. If you've heard his laugh you know what I'm talking about!

- To forgive and forget. Everybody has disagreements, but sometimes ya gotta swallow your pride, apologize, and let it go. Quinn is pretty dang good at it! I'm getting better too :)

Hopefully the coming year will be just as great as the last!

New Changes

The past week has involved a couple big changes in our lives! First, we moved out of our apartment and in with my parents. I am going to miss our first home together, but I'm just glad I have a wonderful family that will let us move in with them (and that Quinn and I are both happy to live with!). I took a few pictures of our apartment before we left so I would remember it :).

We also got a new dog! I had been begging and begging Quinn to get a puppy, but he said he wouldn't let me until we were in a house. I found a dog I thought would be perfect for us, and the day we moved in with my parents we went and got her.

Her name is Abby, and she a Queensland Heeler. She's already a year and a half old, but when we got her she was already spayed, up to date on all of her shots, microchipped, and potty trained! Her previous owners had six dogs and couldn't handle all of them, so they gave Abby to us for free.

We are the third owners she's had, and we think her first owners beat her as a puppy, She's pretty skittish when it comes to new people, especially men (although she's already getting better). She warmed up to me really quickly, and is practically my shadow wherever we go. Of course I love it, it's always fun being the favorite! She is extremely obedient, and we've already had a lot of fun jogging together and playing ball.

This morning we went to a mock Race for the Cure run that Mesa High's volleyball coach organizes every year. Quinn and I took Abby and we had a lot of fun.

Here is Abby playing ball before the race

She did great in the race too. I'm so happy we found her!!

Anjulicious

I just wanted to share a song with everyone that was written especially for me a couple years ago by my friend RJ Watson - it is hilarious! I will give a warning though, the song is about my booty! :)

Buster

Two weeks ago I had to put my puppy Buster to sleep. He was ten years old, but he'll always be my puppy! It was a hard decision to put him down, but he had a lot of health issues and was in a lot of pain so it was for the best.

I got Buster on my 11th birthday, and he was the best present of all time! For years I had begged my parents for a puppy, and I even cut out pictures of dogs in magazines and wrote a little story about how much I wanted a dog. Finally I convinced my dad who convinced my mom into letting me have one.

I had a lot of fun with Buster over the years. He knew how to do a few tricks, and he was really smart (and sneaky, which I didn't like too much!). Although it was on accident, Buster became a father! Cute little Queensland Heeler / Beagle mix puppies!

He had his share of challenges too. When he was about two years old he had to have 34 stitches after playing a little too rough with our other dog Cinnamon. About a year later we found out he had epilepsy, and he had seizures pretty regularly the rest of his life. As if he didn't already have it tough, a couple years later he developed really bad allergies and a skin disorder. Poor puppy!

I'm glad that Buster is in a happier place and not suffering like he had to when he was alive. He really was a good dog and I loved him a lot!

Benson Family Reunion

A couple weeks ago we went with my family to

Newport Beach for a reunion. Here are some of the highlights! (There are a lot of pictures)

Hanging out around the beach house

Hanging out at the beach

The guys had a lot of fun burying each other. They got pretty creative!

Kevin...the woman

Richard Stradling...the crab

Quinn got nabbed by the crab!

Tiff kissin' her crab hubby :)

Richard Hale...the beautiful butterfly!

Quinn... the turtle

We hung out at Balboa Park for some rides and arcade games

I took Grant on the Carousel. This is during the first half of the ride...

The second half of the ride. I think he got a little dizzy...

The girls went to "the district" in LA, and Quinn & Richard were nice enough to come along :).

We went to the Newport Beach temple, which was beautiful!

And of course we took family pictures on the beach!

Couldn't leave without a jumping picture :)

My family is the best!!!

GIRL'S CAMP!!

I absolutely love girl's camp! So I was really sad when I realized that, because I was in a new ward, it would probably be the first time I would miss camp in eight years. Then surprisingly in April I was called to be my new ward's camp director! I was really excited!

The theme for camp was Believe In Me, and each day there was a focus on part of the overall theme. The first day focused on believing in yourself, the second day on believing in the Savior, and the third day was about living like you believe.


Throughout the week we went hiking, sang a million camp songs, played games, ate a lot, and also had some really good firesides and devotionals. I decided to tough it out and not use my one shower, but I don't think I smelled too bad! :) Anyway, here are a few of my favorite things about camp.

-Our stake camp song. A sister in our stake wrote a song called "Believe In Me" especially for girl's camp, and it is so cool! She shared her experience with us about how she was inspired while writing it, and it made the song even more special for everyone at camp.

-Being in nature. There is definitely a peace that comes from being in nature. I feel like I am closer to Heavenly Father when I am surrounded by all of His beautiful creations.

-The Young Women. I was extremely impressed with the way the young women treated each other. Our ward is pretty big (we had 40 young women from our ward at camp), and all of them made an effort to talk to and include everyone. It really was like they all saw each other the way Jesus Christ sees them.



Camp was a blast and I hope I have more opportunities to go in the future!