It's been a while...

So I haven't posted for a few reasons. One being that after I read about everyone else's interesting lives I feel like I have nothing to write about! Two, I don't own a camera at the moment so I don't have pictures :(. Hopefully this summer will bring some excitement!

This past weekend was really fun though...the club volleyball team I coach had our last tournament and we WON our FIRST GAME! It sounds really sad I know. It wasn't really our fault that we lost all the other games. All the girls I coached had no club experience, and by some mistake we were put into the championship division, where 98% of the other teams had at least 1-2 years of club experience. Not to mention we were playing some 16's teams when we are a 14 and under team. Anyway, the girls improved so much and we had a lot of fun regardless of losing.

The team we finally beat in the end was kind of our "rival" (we'd played them a few different times at different tournaments). We always came so close to winning but fell short. Our very last game of the season we got to play them again, and won 26-24. You would have thought by watching us that we'd won the state championship. We ran onto the court cheering, and one of the girls said she thought I jumped three feet in the air.

I get a two week break and then it's back to volleyball - open gym and other camps. It's a great sport, I love everything about playing and coaching! And in the fall I am going to be the assistant varsity coach for Mesa High, pretty dang exciting!

After the presidential election in November, I realized I knew almost nothing about current issues or politics. So I started listening to talk radio, and now I'm addicted! I don't listen to anything else in the car :). Anyway, a couple weeks ago I was listening to Glenn Beck, and he introduced something called "We Surround Them." The point of it is basically to show that even though we may not like the direction our government is taking our country, but feel like our voices aren't always heard, there are a lot of people who still believe in America and have good values. Glenn gives the following nine principles:

1. America is good.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

He asks that if you agree with at least 7 of the 9 principles, send pictures of yourself and each family member to wesurroundthem@foxnews.com. There is going to be a special program on Fox News on March 13. I think this is a great thing and encourage anyone who agrees with these principles to participate!

You can go to the website http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/21018/ to read more about it, and also see the other 12 values that he posted along with the nine principles.

A few things I've learned and love

I've learned that Quinn can be quite the romantic! He went quail hunting a couple weeks ago and on the way home stopped to buy me some flowers for no reason. I was so surprised - I loved them!

I don't know if I LOVE this one, but I have learned how to cut Quinn's hair. I cut it in the bathroom in front of the mirror so that he could watch and make sure I was doing everything right.

Before

After

I didn't do a perfect job by any means (luckily in this picture you can't really see around his ears!) but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!

I LOVE coaching these girls! All of them have their own crazy personalities and they make me laugh all the time. Volleyball is one of my loves, and being able to pass that on to these girls and watch them get better every week is so so cool!

Honeymoon in Cancun

For our honeymoon we went to Cancun, Mexico. Thanks to Grandpa Benson for getting the hotel for us! We left on Saturday morning, but we didn't get to Cancun until that night because of time changes and our nice 5 hour layover in Miami. But once we got there it was really fun!


On Sunday we were going to go to church, and so before we left AZ we looked up the address for a ward and thought we were prepared. Sunday morning we took a little too long getting ready and didn't think we would be able to make it to the ward by 10, but we knew there was a different ward meeting at 12. So we got on the bus and tried to find the other building. Unfortunately, no bus driver or taxi driver knew where any Mormon churches were. So after two hours of riding the bus and asking around, we gave up and went back to the hotel. And actually the next day we were in a little shop and the cashier asked if we were lds, and when we told her about not being able to find a church she said there was only one that met in Cancun and it wasn't close to where we were looking. Oh well, maybe next time we can be a little bit better prepared :).

Most of the time we were there we just relaxed, shopped around, and hung out on the beach. But one of the days we decided to go on a tour of some Mayan ruins, Chichen Itza. It was so cool - it was basically a lamanite city, and a lot of the symbols and gods they had we recognized from the Book of Mormon.



Here are some other random pictures from the trip. We had a lot of fun, it was nice to have no responsibilities and nothing to worry about except for each other for a week!

Quinn loves Mexican Coca-Cola!

This was a mural on a wall inside one of the shopping malls. Just in case any of you were wondering about my stylin' outfit, I'm definitely wearing Quinn's clothes! Usually I tend to over-pack, but this time I definitely didn't bring enough!

We did it! Exactly two weeks ago Quinn and I were married in the Mesa, AZ temple. Here's a little run-down of how the day went. The ceremony was at 10:30 am and it was so wonderful - our sealer actually was the same brother who gave Quinn his patriarchal blessing. Walking out the temple doors was so fun too, because all our family and some close friends were there supporting us. We stayed at the temple for a little while to get some family pictures and a few others - I don't have the photographer's pictures from the wedding day yet, but my Dad took a lot too so here are some of the ones he took.

Coming out of the temple

The Norris'

The Hale's

Hale girls

Studly Jackson and Grant

Spinning :)

Ok well it was a pain trying to put all those pictures so I decided to start another post. After the temple there was the luncheon where we ate some delicious taco salad and cheesecake :). A few hours later we went over to Stonebridge for the reception. I was pretty disappointed when I got there to see that on the sign Stonebridge had put out front my name was spelled wrong! We asked them to change it, and first they tried scribbling out the extra E they added with a white permanent marker. That didn't work at all so they printed out a new one. Maybe I was being too picky but I thought my name should be spelled correctly at my own wedding reception! Haha but anyway the reception was so fun, and way better than I even expected it to be. The line was the fastest hour of my life, and I didn't even want to end it. I just loved seeing and being able to talk to, even if it was only for a few seconds, everyone who came to support us. After the line we did all the rest of the traditional stuff.

When it was time to throw the bouquet, I remember thinking about how at every reception I'd been to, I always stood in the back and the bride always threw the bouquet to the girls in the front. So I decided I was going to let the girls in the back catch mine. Needless to say I underestimated my own strength. I launched the bouquet and was able to turn around to see it still flying through the air. It cleared the group of girls, and someone else standing behind them caught and threw it back into the crowd.

The dancing was definitely a highlight of the night for me. I love my Dad so much and the song I picked for us to dance to (You'll Be in My Heart) has always been a song that is special to me because it reminds me of him. It was also sweet to look over and see Quinn dancing with his mom because I know she is so special to him too.

Dancing with Quinn was one of my favorite parts of the whole day too. I don't want to get all cheesy or anything but I know it's something I will always remember - I love him so much!

As we were leaving the reception our car was filled with balloons, chocolate kisses, and a farting machine :). I wish the night could have lasted longer because it was so much fun!

Thanks to everyone who was there in person or just in spirit :). We love you all!

Happy New Year!!

Well I haven't posted anything for a while because I haven't had any pictures and that's what makes blogging more fun! But I just stole this one from Lucia's blog, thanks Lucia :). We spent New Year's Eve at David and Lucia's house, and just hung out with the family, ate and played games - my perfect party. I am very excited for the new year, because it means the start of my new life with Quinn. Only a few more days until the wedding and I can't wait for it to come!!