Mini Update

Nursing school is hard. Probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. I study  A LOT and it feels like I'm never quite on top of things. I get mini anxiety attacks daily when I go to class, and I learn new things all the time which is fun. I'm making some friends and "learning how to work" as my dad would put it. I really hope I can stick this out.

Lacey is a fast learner.

 My dog is nuts. She has a new playmate who she loves...or hates...we're not quite sure. His name is Dobby and he is just precious. He prances everywhere he goes and shakes his little booty when he gets excited. I mean really shakes it. It's pretty awesome. When they play together, Lacey makes these high-pitched monkey sounds that get super annoying super fast.

She hates swimming!

My husband is amazing. He does so much for me and is always trying to improve, whether it's helping around the house more or working out more or doing better in school. He keeps me motivated in school too, which I love. I'm so grateful to have him on my side through this whole life thing. Plus, he makes me laugh every day.  

Babe sprained his ankle. Luckily we know a great doctor (my dad...if that needed to be clarified)!

Monopoly and candy! Such a fun date night.

And that's a little chunk of our life lately. Busy but we still make time for fun, as we should.  Tara Rider, over and out.

The Big Move

Well, we made it to Texas! We spent our last night in Utah at Brandon's parent's house. I cannot express enough how much I love that family. They are so fun and the BEST in-laws a girl could ask for. We could not have moved out this smoothly without them. For real. After a tearful goodbye the next morning, we were off. 

It was a long 2-day drive that I have made quite a few times before, but this time it was extra fun. Probably because I got to sit in the front seat the whole time and I got to pick where and when we stopped and what we got to eat. But probably more so because it was our first long road trip together and we really loved talking, laughing and playing with the atlas we almost didn’t bring. It was great to have two whole days where we just got to hang out and be together.  Plus Lacey is a fun little road trip companion.

Hole in the rock—we wanted to go in, but we stopped a little bit early and we would have had to get back on the highway for 15 seconds and zip in real quick. That or hike through this sketchy looking field full of rattlesnakes with our baby to get to the entrance. Still cool though.

The picture does not do this rainbow justice. It looked like it was on fire. So cool.

We hit some bad weather on our first night, so we decided to stop a little sooner than planned in Albuquerque because it was so dark and rainy and unfamiliar. We’re not complainers though.

Olive Garden plus cable TV equals happy Riders. Also my husband is hot.

There’s something great about only hating the last four hours of a 48 hour drive because you just like the people you’re with. And the only reason you hated those last four hours was because it was late and you were tired and the car was dumb and you just wanted to be there already.  

Finally made it!

Enjoying the Moment

I love my little family. I love that my husband likes to hike and that we live so close to these beautiful mountains, and I love that our puppy is such a good little hiker too. Last week we took a spontaneous trip to the Grotto, a cute little hike to a waterfall down in Payson, UT.

Lacey was scared to cross the bridge.

So Pretty!

Our little hiker

Love him!

We all had a great day, and I love that we are able to just pick up and head out wherever and whenever we want to. I have a feeling that life won't be like this forever, so I'm  just glad we're enjoying it now. 

And Then He Proposed And Then We Got Married!

I'm finding it harder and harder to recap our first year on this blog, mostly because every day something new and different is happening but I feel like I can't blog about it until I have covered everything up until this point, so I will attempt to bring us up to speed with one super post. Deep breath, and here we go.

4/30/2011- We were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mount Timpanogos Temple 

Then we went on an awesome honeymoon to San Diego.

Then we went down to Texas for our 2nd reception

Then we moved to Spanish Fork and convinced our landlord to let us have this little angel :)

We named her Lacey

Then Lacey broke her leg :(

But don't worry, she didn't let it stop her from being a puppy!

Then it was Halloween

Then it was Christmas

The last little bit will be added on the next post.

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Go Team Rider! Post #1

Well Brandon and I have been married for almost a year, so I figure it's about time to start a family blog (since technically we area family of 3 counting our puppy Lacey)! One of the reasons (besides procrastination) for me not starting this sooner is the fact that I am not very witty and I can count on one hand the people who think I'm funny. I want this blog to be fun to read and awesome. And then I realized that this blog is about our life together, so how could it not be fun and awesome?! So, on that note, here we go! And by "here we go" I mean I will figure out how to actually start blogging and post the first episode of Go Team Rider...tomorrow :) But in the mean time, here's a picture of our baby.