Candace's Wedding

This weekend we journeyed to Grand Junction , CO for my cousin Candace's wedding. The last of the Gallegos women to marry but at 18 its not like she was an old maid or anything. The wedding was held at her grandma's farm where her parent's got married and all her siblings as well. It was pretty simple and stress free, a nice relaxing day in the sun with good food, family and too many brownies. With characteristic playfulness, the new bride throws off her veil and dances down the aisle. I couldn't get over how beautiful my cousin is and so grown up too. Its always good to be around family and if anything that was one of the best parts of the weekend.
It was fun for Steve to get better acquainted with my family and vice versa. Plus its always better to go to these functions with a date :)
And Happy Father's Day DWF!

Yeah Stephanie

You know, I really thought it was going to be Lisa but I am happy it is Stephanie.
On another note, we're heading off to Colorado for the weekend for my cousin's wedding. See you next week. Enjoy your first supposedly warm weekend of the summer.

Bravo, Top Chef: etc

I'm not even embarrassed to admit that I simply love reality cooking shows. It doesn't help that Bravo is showing a Top Chef mega marathon and I am eating it up-literally.

I mean how crazy was it that Antonia went home?

And how awesome are the possibilities in the Next Food Network Star? I am totally cheering on Kelsey, fellow BYU alum. And of course Hell's Kitchen, but honestly I am not really loving anyone there.

Thank you direct tv! (recent acquisition)

Memorial Day Camping and Logan

So for Memorial Day weekend Steve and I planned on camping at Bear Lake. I made reservations far in advance, we watched the weather report all week, took half days on friday and set off for a relaxing weekend in nature.

After driving for 3 1/2 hours we got to Bear Lake, found our campsite, got out of the car, looked around and got back in the car. Bear Lake is hideous. I should have taken a picture, this is the best one I could find to show the ridiculousness of the situation. The pictures on the website were a complete scam. So we went back into the Cache National Forest and lucked out with a great spot on the Logan River. We had a really great time. The weather was great, chill but not cold and we only got one 15 minute midnight rain shower.
We relaxed, built fires, played chess and speed for hours, sat by the river, hiked, admired the scenery, saw Rick's Spring, took naps, ate good camping food plus lots of beef jerky and dried mangos, went into Logan to see the sights, sat outside the temple, drove through USU, saw a deer skull, read, used a lot of hand sanitizer, and came back smelling of smoke and a little sad to be inside with the tv but happy with the prospect of a lot more camping this summer.
P.S. This is a house Steve fell in love with so I took a discreet picture. It really was lovely.

Bikes!

Steve and I got bikes. Good ones, I mean not cheap heavy walmart ones. Since I haven't ridden a bike in about 17 years, I had quite the learning curve. Poor Steve still puts up with my slow down hiill fear. Everything is pretty good now and I feel like I've come a long way since the peach and green huffy. Oh and we wear helmets even to go to coney's because its just plain smart, even if it doesn't look cool. I can't believe it is not a law here. Steve's is the brown and mine is seafoam.

We originally got the bikes for a couple of reasons: gas prices are ridiculous, Steve will be starting BYU in the fall and thought having a bike would come in handy for the commute and as devoted americans we thought we'd help stimulate the economy with part of our return.

Since we ride around the neighborhood a lot more now, its been fun seeing the neighborhood in a new light. Its nice having a new appreciation for the small ghetto we are happily situated in. And of course there is the provo river trail to be discovered. This last saturday we went out for two hours and it was so beautiful and fun to be outside in a little more nature than usual. Its totally an easy ride and we hope it will stay cool enough during the summer since its by the river. I'm trying to work up the courage to ride to work, well to ride home from work up this big hill.

P.S. I totally love the mountains here and am so used to them, is it weird they make me more comfortable. Maybe they just make me feel grounded.

Black Walls? I think so.

If you know me you know that I love decorating and interior design. If you know me even better you know that I love being creative and mixing things up often in my personal space. Mom, remember how many times I would rearrange my bedroom growing up.

So, being bored and with the promise of two more years in our apartment (Steve got accepted to BYU and he took it, yeah OREM! and cheap rent) I finally saw the opportunity to mix it up a bit in the living room and I am loving it.

Remember these cute stripes? Well they are gone in favor of a light blueish grey-sensual silver, and one striking black wall! I love love love the black and kind of wished we had done another one too.
With the grey that reflects light so well, the black is not oppressive or overwhelming at all in fact its beautiful. Plus its Steve's favorite color and he was very easy to convince. (Sometimes I think he must think I am a total freak when I bring home "interesting" items from DI and try to fit them into the house, thanks for trusting me!)
Note: I made that screen because I couldn't stand those short boxy curtains. I think it turned out pretty well and lets so much more light in. Plus it adds a lot of fun pattern. I got the wood at Lowe's, the black paint is the same from the wall and the fabric is a curtain set from IKEA I repurposed into the fabric panels.

Sorry for being so absent from the personal blog scene for so long. Life has been busy. Work is picking up to non-stop, our home now has one black wall and we have a clearplay dvd player that edits movies from R to PG-13.

Since we got the new player we have been watching a storm of movies, once forbidden, in a rush to catch up on years of missing out.

Here is what we have seen in the last week with my ratings (based on 5 stars)
Office Space: 3 stars, too much hype ruined it
Bridget Jones Diary: 4 stars
Bridget Jones , The Edge of Reason: 3 stars
Pretty Woman: 4 stars
Animal House: 4 stars, so funny
300: 2 starsMichael Clayton: 4 stars
Pan's Labryinth: 4 stars
No Country for Old Men: 5 stars
Love Actually: 4 stars
Children of Men: 3 stars

We would love some recommendations!