Standby for new pictures..

Not too long ago we had some new pictures taken by Maren's awesome friend Kenna. Here's a
Little preview of what is headed this way..

Darwin

Can't post about Einstein without posting about Darwin!

Darwin barely tolerates his picture being taken so it's a rare treat when he allows it and doesn't turn the other way. One of our favorite pictures of him is from the day we had our home study.




He was extra handsome and ready to meet Stef.





This is the view we get when he's ready to be taken out each morning for a walk. Haha.

Einstein

While going through some stuff we found Einstein's first little shirt that came with him when Tyson first got him. We thought it was hilarious and had to have him try it on..





He could barely get his head through it! Quite the change from this lil fella...

More Man vs Mud

Man vs Mud finally posted pictures so here's a few more from Sept 1st.

This was at the end of the 5k obstacle course. You started and ended with a big slip n slide. The end one dumped you into a giant mud pool though!






Crawling through the mud






Our awesome group at the end. For some strange reason Maren is totally behind Tyson haha.

Man vs Mud

Today we went up to Wellsville, UT for the Man vs Mud 5k.
Our friends from our neighborhood were on our team (they're wearing the pink socks) and Maren's brother was also on our team. (He's wearing the black shirt). We're wearing yellow and teal. Our shirts are Adventure Time shirts. :)
Tyson and Maren's brother both had on sweet headbands that gave them mullets. :)

Here's a picture of us before the mud run..



There wasn't a ton of running. It seemed like every time we got going there was another group in front of us that slowed us down. Plus there were over 30 obstacles! And boy were they fun!
We had such a blast.

Here's a picture of us all at the very end.



Maren all muddy.



Tyson all muddy.



The next picture is the end of the mud run. Tyson is in the mud crawling and Maren is the one making the splash. At the beginning they had you go down a slip and slide on a tube where you just got a little wet and at the end the slip and slide puts you in the huge mud pool.



Next year we're going to try to get more of our family to do it. We can't wait!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Our Jump

On August 18th 2012 we went SKY DIVING! Tyson's dad had recently turned 50 and it was at the top of his 'bucket list'. So the whole family went. Behind Maren is Tyson's younger sister and behind Tyson is his younger brother.

We got to Ogden about 4:00PM and signed forms and filled out paperwork and got ready to jump! It was about a 20 min plane ride up to 12,000 feet where we jumped. It was such an amazing experience. There was about 30-45 seconds of 'free falling' then around 5-7 minutes of time just floating. All of us want to do it again ASAP. The view was wonderful! Both of us highly recommend going whenever the opportunity presents itself. :)

Tyson's Jump!

Here are some photos from Tyson's sky dive for his dad's 50th birthday. The first one is at the beginning of his freefall. All smiles. As usual. :) The second photo is actually before they got on the plane. The guy next to him is his 'instructor'. The last is proof of a safe but dirty landing! Sadly they missed landing on the grass but at least they were safe! Tyson can't wait to go again and now wants to get certified as an instructor!

Maren's Jump

OH MY!

These are a few pics from Maren's jump when we went sky diving for Tyson's dad's 50th birthday. It was SO MUCH FUN! 

The first picture is right after we jumped. Second picture is a little ways into the freefall and the last picture is proof of a safe landing. We can't wait to go again!

Catching up

It feels like we have a ton to catch up on... hopefully we won't disappoint with this post. :)

Looks like we need to back track to May. Eeeek! Well, the end of May anyway. :)

Over Memorial weekend we were in Las Vegas, NV. Maren had some classes to attend for work and since she had her own room Tyson was able to go with and have fun while Maren listened to lectures. We stayed at the Aria and got a room on the 12th floor... not very high considering those hotels are insanely tall but it still gave us a pretty nice view.
We walked around a lot there. It was perfect. One thing that's become pretty apparent over time is we enjoy active vacations and getaways. Biking, hiking, walking, etc. Never a dull moment. :)

The first weekend in June was drill weekend (boo) which meant going out of town wasn't going to happen. The past 3 years we've managed to get away around the 4th of June because it's our anniversary but this year with Tyson having his military duties it just wasn't in the cards. One the 4th we both took the day off from work and hung out and shopped and went out to lunch and dinner together. It's really important to us to spend time with each other on special days like our anniversary and each others birthdays. Plus, any chance to hang out together all day and be goofy is perfect for us!

On the 11th of June Tyson started a new position at his work since he found out his department would be shut down in August. We feel really grateful that he was able to find something so quick and that his work was actively helping those employees find new positions.  The downside to this new position is it meant no time off during training and we had planned on going to Lake Powell with Tyson's family from the 13th of June to the 17th. That didn't stop us from at least making it there for about 36ish hours! It was a whirlwind trip but it was well worth it.

We came home on the 17th (Fathers Day) and after scrubbing off the red sand from Lake Powell we headed over to Maren's family dinner. Her oldest brother and his wife and their 3 kids were in town from Alaska! We don't get to see them near as much as we'd like to so this was a wonderful treat. Their kids are so much fun and so well behaved. While they were in town Maren's dad got tickets to the Real Salt Lake soccer game so a bunch of the family went to watch the Real play (and sadly lose to) the Galaxy. We also took a trip to Blickenstaffs in Orem. Such an awesome little candy/toy store. Everyone was in HEAVEN.

Since there was a fire extremely close to our place we took our puppies to Tyson's parents house and spent the night at Maren's parent's with the nieces and nephew from Alaska. Sadly we had to say gooodbye the very next morning. Lucky for us that ended up being the day that Maren's brother came home from deployment! We were able to go on base to watch his plane land and greet him. Tyson spotted him first and off Maren went to give him a big hug. Since he's been home we've been ableto hang out quite a bit. We sure did miss him and it's great to have him home.

The first week in July brought the 4th of July celebrations and some super crazy times at Maren's work. Her office moved into a new building and the contractors ran late so there was plenty of juggling for her. Tyson was great in helping out around home and being patient with her wonky schedule. (good news is at least one of those days she was able to wear sweatpants and a t shirt into the office!)

On the 21st of July we went with our friends to Lagoon. OHMY was it fun. It was really great to get time to hang out with them because not only are they awesome people but they understand the infertilty situation and they are also starting the adoption process! It's nice to have people to talk with about some of the hard stuff that 'get it'. We're really excited for them to get their adoption under way. :)

So far the first half of August has been fairly quiet. We attended the Families Supporting Adoption Conference last weekend and it was great! There were some really great sessions. After we got home Saturday Maren's brother came over and we hung out, went to dinner, got frozen yogurt at U-Swirl (YUM!) and watched movies. Such a great weekend. Almost every night we have been able to work out together and do the Skogg kettle bell workouts or run. Getting in shape has been so much fun and doing it together has made it even better!

This weekend will bring some craziness. Tyson's dad turned 50 today and one thing he really wanted to do is go skydiving... with the family. Tyson's dad, mom, brothers, sister, sister-in-law and us are all going! Hopefully we'll have some super fun pictures to post on here. Maren is pretty scared of heights so she's really nervous but Tyson is more excited than anything.

So there is our little update on the happenings in our life lately. :)

Catch Up Via Pictures.

Apparently the blogger app isn't going to allow multiple pics per post. Sorry you will no doubt see too many new post notifications. :)

This pic was while we waited for Maren's brother's plane to land. He was deployed for a year and we are beyond thrilled to have him home!

Pics!

Finally pics from AZ!

It's been a while

It's been a little bit since our last post! So sorry! We'll start with what happened this past weekend...

On Friday we left semi early in the morning and headed for beautiful Arizona! (where the picture above was taken) Sadly, Tyson's great grandfather had passed away. We were fortunate enough to be able to head down for the funeral they had in Arizona and see some of the extended family that we rarely get to see. Tyson was able to be a pall bearer with one of his brothers and his dad. There are some wonderful people in his family and he great grandfather was an amazing man. Although I didn't get to know him very well it is clear by his family that he lived a great life and taught his children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren many important life lessons. He was also a spectacular painter. Tyson and I are very fortunate to have 2 of the paintings he did.

I thought this picture was pretty much priceless. It's Tyson's mother throwing snow with one of the little boys in the family. One thing that is super obvious.. there is never a dull moment when we all get together. Shortly after I took this he took notice that the rest of us were standing by watching and laughing and little by little we all got a slushy snow ball tossed our way. SOMEONE may or may not have directed him to where the snow had slid off the metal roof of the church. (hehe)

After the funeral in Arizona my mother in law, sister in law and I were able to break away and go shopping and looking around the little town. Tyson's dad and younger sister had brought their running shoes and clothes and were out running some forest trails, Tyson (who did all the driving) and his brother (who stayed awake the drive and kept Tyson company) were so tired they took a nap. First stop was a little boutique.. not too much excitement and no purchases were made BUT I did get some ideas for things I'd like to make and I've recently discovered I really love the look of antique doorknobs. On one of the next few stops I found something I thought would be cute that surprised my mother in law. I found a SUPER SUPER cute old teacup and saucer.

Isn't that ADORABLE? :) I didn't realize that I hadn't told Tyson's mom that I love tea sets. I have a box of them in our office that I am waiting to put out. I'd like to have them out at some point but I have yet to find the perfect thing to put them in. Also, it only seems fair to make sure Tyson has more of his stuff out on display and that will include stuff from hunting. *sigh* haha. It's great that we have some very different interests. I learn a lot from Tyson.

The drive home on Sunday was rough. I think it took about 10 hours. We came home to some very happy dogs. My sister, her husband and our nephew were kind enough to stay at our place with Darwin and Einstein so they wouldn't be lonely. From the sounds of it the dogs were great hosts and they all had a blast. :) One thing we both agreed on when we got home... we missed our dogs and our bed! Hotel beds just aren't the same and for Christmas we had bought a memory foam mattress that we found for a great deal at a place that was going out of business. It felt downright magical and we slept so very well.

Monday was the funeral in Utah. It was a super super windy day and luckily the rain held off when we were at the cemetery after the service, which was beautiful. Tyson's cousin had a piano solo and oh my goodness it was breathtaking. I knew he played and had heard a little of it but we had no idea just how amazing he was. Lots of talent. There was a nice luncheon after curtesy of grandma's ward (yes, it included 'funeral potates') and we were able to spend a little more time with family. Especially those we don't see very often but have started thinking we need to visit sooner rather than later.

That's what we've been up to recently. I know there are a few pictures Tyson's brother took of us so I'm in the process of having him email them to me and I'll put them up on here asap.

Hope all is well with everyone. Thank you tons to those that have passed along our information or handed out any of our cards. It means so much to us.

Pass Along Cards!

We have our cards! :)

In the past week I think we've sent out over a hundred. Thank you so much to all those that are willing to hand them out! We know it's not easy and all too often it's not comfortable.

Hopefully we'll have the next batch printed soon!

This past week has been pretty uneventful. Both of us got this cold bug that's been going around. Talk about a bummer! Luckily it was short lived as we both stepped us our intake of vitamin C! We're still a little on the tired side.

Yesterday and today Tyson had drill. It's his one weekend a month with the Air National Guard. It's pretty awesome seeing him in his uniforms. Every single time it reminds me of how proud I am of him. He's so hard working.

While he was at drill yesterday I did some hair. It's a nice break from the day to day office stuff I usually do. The more hair I do the more I miss working in a salon! I think it'd be great in a few years if we could arrange to have a salon set up in our home. It'd make doing hair for friends and family a lot easier. :)

Tonight we'll head up to my parents house and have dinner with my family. First Sunday of the month we always have dinner with my family and either the 3rd of 4th Sunday of the month is with Tyson's family. It's perfect for us. We always see our families more than that but it's nice to know that if things get crazy those dinners are already planned and set in stone.

Hopefully I can update this blog more than once a week. If all else fails, Sundays will be blogging day! :)

Thanks again to everyone that's been so supportive of us!

Welcome!

Well hello! Thanks for stopping by our little blog! (Ok ok so it's REALLY little right now) We figured it'd be a good idea to start with a little back story about us as a couple. So here goes...

A BRIEF STORY OF US

In September of 2007 Maren was referred to an endoscopy clinic for the stomach pains she had been having for about 6+ months. She was set to have an upper endoscopy done (where they drop the camera down into your stomach and take pictures trying to find out what is causing the pain). When she arrived at the clinic she was NERVOUS. During the time between arriving and having the procedure the nurse assigned to her would periodically come in and chat and try to calm Maren down. After a few times of her coming in and out of the room she finally asked Maren if she (the nurse) could give her son Maren's phone number and even busted out his senior year picture! It was a little strange but Maren figured it wouldn't hurt and said yes and wrote her phone number down on a little piece of paper and told the nurse to have him text her. The procedure went great and off Maren went.

Fast forward to the very next day. Around 10 or 11AM Tyson texted Maren. 'How are you feeling? I think my mom took care of you yesterday'. That very small and simple text is what sent things into motion. We texted almost non-stop for a few days and agreed to meet up in person the following Wednesday evening at a little coffee shop/cafe called GreenHouse Effect. That night we stayed and talked for HOURS over hot chocolate. We spent a lot of time together talking, watching movies and going to the gym together while dating.

In December we spent our first Christmas together. We decided to go in Tyson's room to exchange gifts after we'd done the Christmas stuff with his family. (Little did we know they were all trying to eavesdrop by listening to the heater vent!! haha) Maren gave Tyson a Wii (which is currently hooked up and we play it as often as possible. We're fans of Mario Kart, Donkey Kong and Rock Band) and Tyson gave Maren a beautiful diamond ring and read her the most wonderful heartfelt poem asking her to marry him. Her answer? 'OF COURSE!'

Both families were thrilled. We'd spent a lot of time with each and we're sure they all saw it coming. Tyson and Maren became inseparable incredibly fast.

Our engagement was pretty short. We were engaged on December 25th 2007 and married on June 4th 2008. It felt like forever.

We were married in the LDS Jordan River Temple in West Jordan, Utah and had our reception at Heritage Gardens in Sandy, Utah. Our colors were hot pink and black. The flowers were Calla Lilies and Star Gazer Lilies. Our sisters and moms wore black dresses (hey, who doesn't have a black dress that they LOVE?) and our brothers and dads wore black pants, black dress shirts and hot pink ties. The favorite outfits were definitely our nieces and nephews. The girls work black and white polka dot dresses and the boys had black pants, white dress shirts and hot pink ties. SO adorable. We were truly blessed to be able to share that day with our families and friends. (Will post pictures later)

The very morning after Tyson whisked Maren away for a week in Hawaii for their honeymoon.

It's been over 3 years (we'll celebrate our 4 year anniversary June 4th 2012) and it still feels like we're honeymooners a lot of the time. We've had our hard times (hello infertility!) but we're still madly in love and enjoy being together and being as goofy as possible.