Keepin' It Real

husband.

2012-03-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

my ultimate favorite thing about our big move has been all the time i get with this guy...

isn't he just the handsomest?! and i get him all to myself... lucky me!

i only have to share him a couple days a week.

moving far away from everything we know has been incredible for our relationship. i feel like we are more crazy about each other and more in love than we were in our "honeymoon stage". i love it. we have been through SO much together in our short time together and it has given us great appreciation for each other.

i still thank the Lord every day that my husband has been especially watched over. i still have nightmares about his accidents and when i wake up to a healthy husband... i couldn't be a more grateful girl. cam is such a strong man. he is surely my better half. i could not love him more...

Christmas in March!

2012-03-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

ITS JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS!!!

Cam and I had a fabulous package waiting for us when we got home from Espana.

Tod and Lis sent us all of the goodies that we missed so much! Like cocoa powder, sport legs, mexican spices, gu and a LOT of treats! It was so awesome to get a little gift from home, we seriously have the best parents!

We immediately took these and mad TACOS (oh i miss mexican food so much!)

I can't believe how much of a difference some caffeine does with a run...

It felt so good to get a little piece of home

Mallorca

2012-03-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

Where the fetch is Mallorca? Its one of the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain!

Yeah we didn't know that until about two weeks before we headed off. Much to our surprise, it was one of the most exciting places we had ever been.

We took an overnight ferry from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca and slept in a terminal until the sun finally came up. We started looking for a bus to take us to the other side of the island but INSTEAD we rented A CAR!!!! I don't know why I am so excited about this aspect of the trip but I was floipin out.

We drove mountain passes steeper than the road up to Powder Mountain and they where crazy twisty too. To top off the crazy roads there were hundreds of bikers. It. Was. So. Cool. We drove from huge mountains to beautiful beaches and hung out at the hotel all weekend. It was so nice to chill and feel some warm sun in paradise!

Little baby island...

bikers EVERYWHERE... Mad props to all of them...

Crazy mountain monastery...

We got passed by bikers down this road...

Mallorca was such a treasure! We definitely want to go there again WITH bikes :)

Barthelona Barthelona Barthelona Bartha... UH!

2012-03-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, Barcelona fell into the same category as bread pudding... it deserved a cheer!

We. Are. In. LOVE!

Shortly after we arrived in the NL, a "cold snap" came through and kept us indoors for a couple weeks. So when it was time to plan our first trip, we decided it would be best to go somewhere slightly warmer. I was definitely not thrilled on Spain at first. Thankfully, Tod and Lis went last fall and completely loved it, so that stoked me up just a bit. It wasn't until we were on a bus from Girona to Barcelona and saw the Sagrada Familia in the distance, that I got the butterflies.

The first day Cam and I locked our packs up at the bus station and walked to the Sagrada Familia (Gaudi's Cathedral). Now if you haven't seen this in person, you cannot fathom the magnitude of its genius. No picture could ever give this gigantic piece of art justice. Cameron and I spent about an hour and a half just soaking in the details of the cathedral. As we walked the streets to our next destination, I was completely blown away by the incredible architecture and details. I became obsessed with their doorways! We ate some tapas that day and wondered around la garcia until we realized we should probably figure the rail system out before it got dark. Apparently there were some huge events happening over the weekend so we booked a hotel an hour outside the city. After arriving at the adorable little hotel we went to go find some food but after sitting at a pizzeria we were told "all kitchens in the town close at 4." Yes ladies and gentleman... FOUR! I complain about restaurants in Bountiful closing at 9! Hahha. So we found a little grocery store that was smaller than my apartment and found a couple things to munch on. We took our groceries down and had a fab little picnic on the beach while watching the fisherman catch their dinners.

And we're off...

The next day, we expected the city to be pretty low-key because it was Sunday. And as we walked out of the train station we realized how wrong we were. We wanted to go see the Arc de Triomphe up close but we were pleasantly surprised with thousands upon thousands of RUNNERS! It was the Barcelona Half Marathon and the finish line was near the arc. There were live musicians, a drum line and a lot of spirit waiting for the finishing runners. We were so happy we got to see all of this but way bummed that we missed out on an opportunity to run such a cool race. We then wandered around the park and found some gems around the city then sauntered around the city until we ran into the Picasso Museum. Here is the thing about us and museums, we could stay in them all day. The Picasso Museum was no exception. I love his early work and Cameron loves All of his work. After, we found our way to a darling Catalonian pizzeria and indulged in slices of all different kinds of pizza. We seriously needed those carbs because, my goodness, we walked 10 miles that day. We walked along the beach, along the docks, over to Christopher's statue and up Las Ramblas right back to the Arc. Oh yes, it was a big day.

The view out of our tiny little room, where we enjoyed the most delicious breakfasts...

Just hours of wandering beautiful streets...

Listening to a band on the street...

Oh don't you worry, it was another fabulous day on our feet. Cam and I passed the daily train rides by listening to The Hunger Games. So naturally, every site we saw looked like "the Seam" or "The Capital" or "District 8." You get the picture. Anyway, we spent about two hours just wandering and shopping until we found ourselves in the Barri Gotic? I don't remember what it is called. We just called it "Old Town". The cathedral was just beautiful and it was awesome to see my first Roman ruins! Walking around inspired us to find a museum to learn more about the history of Catalonia. We ran into a couple problems with siestas and the fact that everything was closed on Monday so after walking around Las Ramblas we decided to head in early. A new tradition when we got back was laying on the bed from the time we got in until we fell asleep and watching soccer aka futbol. Needless to say, we are now huge fans. FC Barcelona baby!!!

It was so much fun listening to people speak espanol then switch to catalonian mid sentence. It was also fun to use my Spain-Spanish that I was taught in junior high instead of using my Mexico-Spanish that I picked up working at the bank...

Oh doorways..

You may not be able to tell, but we were about to kill each other due to our b*tchy attitudes when we get hungry...

There was a HUGE event going on introducing a bunch of new products...

So I always get to a point when I'm blogging or journaling when I get overwhelmed with all the amazing memories I am cutting out and I just want to stop. So things start getting sloppy and short. Anyway, once again we used our able bodies to hike ourselves from the Arc to Gruell Park! Yes, that is quite a fun trek. To pass the time, Cam and I talked about a lot of things like what we adore about our families, where our life is heading and how great our friends are back home. Ending the long walk in the park was great because it gave us a lot of time to look over the gigantic city and reflect. One of my favorite things about Barcelona is all of the hidden treasures. We walked back and ran into the most wonderful cream and red-brick cathedral. It wasn't even on the map but it was a treasure! The day was finished up with a visit to the Catalonya History Museum. We spent two and a half hours learning all about the extremely tough people and we could have definitely spent more time but it was time to go listen to "Katniss" and wait for our ferry to take us away to the beautiful island of Mallorca!

Adios Barcelona! WE LOVE YOU!

A Beautiful Bike Ride...

2012-02-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

just two miles out of town is miles of fields, fields that will be tulips in a few short months.

cam and i rode 5 and a half miles out of down on a bike path today. winding through canals and trees, we ended up at a beautiful windmill. we pedaled past houses covered in moss, churches barely standing, sheep wading in canals, men riding home from work, boats coming in from the sea and rows of trees that broke the wind. there is always a head wind here... always. i guess you could say it was a perfect two hours.

Safest Place on Earth...

2012-02-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

Okay so we've been here three weeks and today was the first time we saw a police car!

Shouldn't that sketch me out just a little?

Well it doesn't because I have never felt so safe in my life.

Three weeks..

2012-02-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we have been here for three weeks!

We keep falling in love with this place over and over. I still laugh every time I jump in the shower and realize its in the closet, when I walk down the street in the rain I still put my umbrella down to feel the raindrops, Cam still steals my covers at night in our double bed then laughs about it, we still stop mid sentence just to stare at the amazing architecture around us and Cam still comes home from every run saying, "I love this place."

This week was great! We started off the week with our first Valentimes celebrations which was wildly romantic and a blast! Then we went and found my dad's old place and did a lot of sight seeing/picture taking around the town!

My dad lived on this street...

I LOVE living somewhere that the main transportation is biking!

We took a whack at some street food including friets, sharmas and street stroops!

we approve.

This square gets completely filled with food stands and a maarkt every other day! This is where we get our veggies and fruits

The Martinitoren

This is a university! Sweet huh

Another view of the beautiful Martinitoren...

We DO have hearts!!!

2012-02-16T00:39:00.000-08:00

Hey guess what! WE DID IT! We celebrated V-day!

This is our third Valentimes together and we have yet to celebrate. When we were dating we talked about our lack of classic romantic motivation and decided we weren't going to be celebrating any sort of holiday like Valentimes. In fact, neither of us had ever even celebrated with anyone but our family. You see, we tend to show our love in other ways, like... giving each other wet willies, getting in poking fights, sharing our dreams, playing outside, adventuring and making the everyday moments count. So I guess you could say we show our love with a mix between kindergardeners and 80 year olds. Anyway, after Cam's last concussion I decided I was never going to let any holiday go by without celebrating again.... So we did it!
It was awesome! Valentimes day RULES! My husband spoiled me and I got to decorate the house and surprise him! I didn't feel cheesy like I thought I would, I just felt like I was taking an entire day out to appreciate my wonderful husband and vice versa!

Goedenavond!

2012-02-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Het was a mooie dag in Nederland!

It was a beautiful day in the Netherlands!

Week two... I have mixed feelings about week two. It was absolutely incredible some days and some mornings I didn't even want to get out of bed. I guess that is the culture shock or whatever. I don't feel really culture shocked but I sure miss my family. I think I only would feel homesick in the morning because everysinglefreakingnight I have dreams about missing out on things at home or bad things happening to my fam... boo. Okay enough with the doom and gloom because I really do love it here. Anytime I'm getting homesick I just go for a run around the town and I instantly feel better.

We went on one especially amazing run where we went to a park and when we got out of all the trees there were hundreds of little kids ice skating on a pond! It was absolutely adorable. Its also way cool to run around and see everyone ice skating the canals to get to their destinations!

Some other fun things:

Stroopwaffel Mcflurries at Mcdonalds!

Shopping beneath the Martini Tower...

Cam was so sweet and took me on a date to the "mexican" restaurant in town...

We walked around the town at night for the first time...

Trots down the street...

Sight-seeing at night.... (ps canons make the BEST low-light cameras)

At the mexican restaurant where they put raisins in their burritos..

Watching people ice skate...

Can you believe this place?! I really can't believe how beautiful it is!

Yep I live in Freisland...

Just a runnin'...

We got to go to church this week and it was nuts! One of the missionaries was sweet enough to translate everything for us, which was great! It made me miss our own little missionaries and made me sooo glad that they are out helping other people!

Hey guess what I found at the grocery store dad!

Cam has been the best husband in the world. Every time we watch Cake Boss, I tell him how much I crave cupcakes and how much I miss having an oven. I guess I complained a lot because when I got home from walking the rainy streets today Cam had half a dozen cupcakes and a tulip plant waiting for me! Yeah... he is the best.

We'll just keep living the life here and hope you are all doing the same where you are!

Oh and guess what... there is a street here called tacostraat... a total joke because their tacos suck and have raisins in them.

One Hundred Posts

2012-02-13T11:11:00.001-08:00

I did it. I can actually blog.

The beginning...

2012-02-10T04:23:00.000-08:00

Just a view of our first week here in Holland...

Lets just say... We are in heaven!

2012-02-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

So this is my first time ever posting on a blog! I feel like writing here is the best way to keep track of the awesome and crazy things that are going on here in The Netherlands.

The last two weeks have been quite the ride! Going from the cozy homey atmosphere of my parent's house to a completely new country and way of life has definitely been great for me. I love the feeling of being in a unfamiliar environment and having to adapt to new surroundings. Its my opinion that everyone needs to "uncozy" themselves to a certain degree and get out and do something unfamiliar. The Dutch for sure do things a different way and it has been challenging to try and adapt to it. My education at USU has been totally structured, every class has its own scheduling and for the most part it is difficult to run into conflicts between classes. Today looking at my schedule several of my classes overlap, and upon asking what the big deal was my coordinator simply said, you will just have to go to every other class, it happens all the time. I was pretty floored by that response! If it works for them I will just have to uncozy myself from my American mindset and adapt to it! I don't think there are many things more healthy than dealing with uncertainty and unfamiliarity. The next 5 months will be full of it and I am really excited!

Stupid...

2012-02-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

When you're abroad... Its good to feel stupid.

This took me all of 5 days to learn.

I wish I learned it earlier because I was sooo embarrassed at first. I was embarrassed to say I didn't know Dutch, I was embarrassed to mess up at the crosswalks because I couldn't read the street signs, I felt dumb being honked at, I felt like an idiot asking what certain words meant... then I realized that I was actually learning every single time I felt STUPID! So now instead of feeling stupid and shy away from the situation I am feeling stupid and owning the feeling stupid feeling. I ask the cashiers to repeat dutch phrases for me, practice my horrible dutch at the market, almost get hit by cars then look around to understand the signs and guess what... people like it and I'm growing a lot from it.

So I guess you can say when you move abroad, stupid is good.

Tot Ziens!

We Made IT!!!!

2012-02-06T01:35:00.000-08:00

Cute... That is the only way to describe my near-perfect surroundings.

It would be perfect if it was just a few degrees warmer and if we had internet, but it sure is hard to complain when you live here...

CUTE... right?!

I have a cute apartment, in a cute building, on a cute street, that I ride on my cute bike, to the cute bakery in the most perfectly cute town I have EVER seen! Another major plus, the cute people who are super nice and let me practice my un-cute Dutch on them.

Tot Ziens America!!!

2012-01-28T01:06:00.000-08:00

in a short 30 hours my darling and I will be on a plane leaving the US!!!!

It is finally happening!

We (YES! Cam will be joining me on here) will be writing as much as possible about our journeys, perceptions, adventures, struggles and findings in hopes that we can capture every second of this grand move. We've dotted all of our i's and crossed all of our t's. We've google earthed the entire town four times over. We've made contact with people over there. BUT I know it is going to be NOTHING like we imagined... how exciting!

ADVENTURE IS DISCOMFORT IN RETROSPECT.

Tod's Big FIFTY!!!!

2012-01-28T00:57:00.000-08:00

Yep! Mr. Moss turned the big 5-0!

It was a three day affair as deserved. We started out the first day by staying up late and waking up early to decorate the entire house and the entire yard! It was a blast! Tod is horrified of apes so we decorated the entire office "Planet of the Apes" style. Then we decorated the rest of the house with MASH decorations and signs telling him how old he was! The most fun we had decorating was making signs for the front yard saying all of the things that happened in 1962....

Lisa scared the crap outta Tod in the morning by jumping out of bed with a monkey mask on...

The next day we went to the Salomon center and did all the activities there. DUDES! iFly is SO fun! If I wasn't moving out of the country I'd take their advanced classes because that thing is sooo dope. Anyway...

Yep... they let me wear my boots baby!

Sof was looking forward to this all day... can't you tell?

K seriously... how adorable is she.

He is sexy.

Sunday night we all worked together to make Tod the best traditional Italian feast with bruschetta, salad, Pelligrino, pasta estante, pasta alfredo, herb chicken and a delicious cake. The Miller girls graced us with their presence and it was the most wonderful dinner!

Yes... we wear onion goggles in our family

Tod is one of my heroes in life.

Tod has worked for the same company since after he got home from his mission and has worked his way up through incredible amounts of genius and hard work...

He has raised 4 children in the church and has done an outstanding job...

He is so giving and humble about it...

Tod is an opposite of my personality, which I love. It has taken me years to get to know him and it makes it so much more special when he opens up...

He has the funniest sense of humor...

and

He has taken me in as one of his kids and is a fabulous parent!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tod! I love ya!

The Packing is Neverending...

2012-01-18T23:07:00.000-08:00

I keep telling people we're going to Neverland.

Too bad we really aren't going there because I doubt I'd have to worry about all of this packing.

I spend hours trying to decide what goes together and what I can't live without. I have even developed a close relationship with my giant red suitcase. Close enough that she has been named "Patsy."

Oh and packing makes me cry? Why in the world? When Cam told me I couldn't bring my watercolors I cried... But Cam on the other hand is already packed and probably under his allotted 100 pounds (yay more weight for me). He has zero tears. Ugh so jealous of men right now.

Curse you packing.

Anyways, for any of you packing in the near future I would suggest a couple things:

Make like Santa Claus- make a list, check it twice.

When in doubt, leave it out- You really DON'T need your watercolors.

Blazers and flats are your best friends- they instantly add style to your jeans-tee-shirt-and-tennies-tourist look.

Look back at pictures on your FB and Blog- Get an idea of what clothes you wear the most subconsciously. The last thing you want to do is pack a bunch of outfits that you aren't comfortable in.

PIECES!!!!-Don't bring "outfits" bring pieces. Pack a top that goes with almost every bottom you bring. The most annoying thing is arriving somewhere and hating that you have no choice in your clothing for the evening.

Lastly...

Shoes-I am a woman. I'll pack a whole bag for shoes whether I'll wear them or not, I am willing to sacrifice $70 for an extra bag for shoes. If you love your shoes... You should feel the same.

tot ziens!

People Change... Like me...

2012-01-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

The other day I absolutely mortified my little sister. How you ask? By simply saying, "Is this outfit cute?"

yep. shocker?

My sister turned to me and said (nice and sassy), "WHO CARES?! You're going to Walmart?"

bahhahhahaha.

If you knew me growing up you would get how funny this was to me. I used to wear sweats and baseball hats EVERYWHERE. I showered twice a week and I wore makeup on occasion. One time in 8th grade I sang a song for an audition called, "I Enjoy Being a Girl." The lyrics went a little like this... (yes i am singing.) "I flip when a fellow sends me flowers, I drool over dresses made of lace, I talk on the telephone for hours... With a pound and a half of cream upon my face." I HATED that song... LOATHED it! I even said at the audition that I must be one damn good actress because I acted like I enjoyed the song.

well shoot. I've changed.

I do flip when Cam sends me flowers...

I CONSTANTLY drool over dresses made of lace...

And

One of my favorite thing to do is talk on the telephone for hours with my dear sister while giving myself a facial.

I DO enjoy being a girl.

... And thank goodness for that because that girl above REALLY needed some help!

New CHEERS Eve!!!

2012-01-11T00:30:00.000-08:00

HAPPY 2012!!!!

We had a spectacular New Years full of caffeine, amazing food, a glowing-balloon dance party and blowing things up. It was tops. We were watching the house for my parents so we partied there with my sisters and their friends. I can't think of a more perfect way to celebrate the upcoming year.

As always, resolutions are in order...

J's: Learn a new language, Run a marathon, Learn to sew, Read a book a month and Start my masters program

Cam's: Get an international job, Learn Dutch, Finish the BoM and Do a few races in Europe

I wish you all the best of 2012! May your days be filled with laughter, love and happiness!

.GT.

2012-01-11T00:09:00.000-08:00

Bless you Millers for going to Targhee before we leave...

Sadly the snow wasn't as good as we hoped for but... there was at least SNOW!

Highlights of my shreddy day: 1 The first sunny day I've ridden at Targhee for 3 years. 2 Jammin with little sister down the slopes. 3 Laughing until my cheeks hurt at the "skier chain". 4 Getting to eat lunch with my hubs even though he didn't get to ride.

I LOVE riding with the Tetons in view.

Oh this girl... Skiing like a gomer is the new cool thing.

How cute are my parents? This is a total model shot.

The whole group! Yes I was the ONLY boarder and pretty much felt like the only one on the mountain. I sure missed Cam!

Since Cam had to spend the whole day in the cabin we hung out the rest of the night hot tubbing and finding apartments in Europe. We decided the next day we'd go to one of our favorite places ever... Jackson.
Highlights of Jackson: 1Eating at Merry Piglets... Last time was 6 years ago! 2 Passing by Ripley's Believe it or Not and confessing our lifelong dreams of going inside... then actually GOING inside!... Seriously that place is dope! 3 Visiting Yippy I O Candy Co., our most favorite candy shop! 4 Driving through Wilson Pass and soaking up the view. 5 Driving through looking at cabins and dreaming of owning one someday...

It was the PERFECT day with my perfect husband.

Wrap of of 2011...

2012-01-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

2011 was our biggest year yet... it was NUTS

On New Years Eve as I reflected on the year I couldn't believe how incredible blessed Cam and I are. My testimony is continually increasing and I know that we can do some really great things in the future with the Lord staying on our side.

January-My frist last day of school lead to hours in the library with Cam

February- We spent hours on the mountain riding the perfect powder and met an amazing couple Kelli and Alex

March- Cam and I got lost on Gooseberry and had to have Search and Rescue come get us

April- We decided to spend Cam's last semester studying abroad and we narrowed it down to... Holland!

May-I graduated, Cam and I had our first Anniversary and I finally got to go to New York

June-I got to show Cam where I lived in HAWAII and my fam had the best vacation!Cam and I moved in with his parents and Cam had a biking accident, leaving him a little more fragile.

July- We celebrated Cam's 23rd birthday, went to Havasupi and spent a lot of time boating. Cam did his first summer semester and had his best grades yet!

August- I turned 22, I swtiched jobs, I ran my first race R-Scape, Cam did his first triathlon and Cam and I did the TOU half marathon

September- Cam finally got to do the Xterra, we watched the fam do Lotoja.

October- We sent off my best friend and best brother on a mission, and reunited with some amazing friends.

November- My tough guy got in yet another accident and we met some of the best people of this planet... Brady and Mikey

December- We prepped all month for our huge move and spent plenty of time with our families.

2012... BRING IT ON!!! As long as no head injuries are in your plan... I can handle anything!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

2012-01-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

... Let your heart be light...

We started off the holiday with our Christmas Eve-Eve dinner at The Roof.

This is one of my favorite traditions from the Moss fam. It has a lot of meaning because Tod proposed to Lisa at Temple Square after a dinner at The Roof. The tradition has pretty much stuck. I love this tradition because it really puts us all in the holiday spirit.

Cam and Tag decided being twins was the cool thing to do...

Linds and I jumped on the twin train with our striped shirts, blazers and freshly cut bangs. I always knew we were meant to be sisters!

Because Cam and I were spending Christmas Eve with the Millers we decided to do our jammies and name drawing presents the 23rd. Great idea! Can you say 3 days of Christmas?! Saweet!

We all opened our jammies and we got THESE BABIES!!!!!!!

After dancing around and posing in our sweet onsies we opened our presents to each other! All of the gifts were a hit. Lis loved her olive oil from Florence...

...and Cam and I were thrilled about the adorable frame Linds and Dev made for us (filled with all of the pictures of Cam's "camcussions".)

We finished off the night with a great pool tournament... I freaking love my family.

Christmas Eve was fantastic. We got to spend all day with Haylie and Chris then we went to the Thorpe's for burritos and treats!

Cam received not only 1 but TWO first aide kits from my cousins!

It was fun to catch up with all the girlies while all the dude's played ping-pong.

The highlight of the cousin gifts was my uncle getting a BIKE! He was so surprised.

My fam went back home and tried on our matchy jammies and exchanged sibling gifts.

Hay and Chris got Cam and I a full season of 24 to watch on the plane, a gorgeous journal to write about our trip and the cutest picture of the world saying "go find yourself.." on the bottom. It was such a thoughtful gift from them.

Haylie surprised ALL of us when she gave Lily her "jammies". She knit Lils (she doesn't like dogs) leg warmers and a hat! I still can't believe she spent hours doing that hhahhha

Christmas morning was wonderful! We woke up nice and early at 6am. Santa was extremely thoughtful this year and got Cam and I backpacking stuff and Eurail tickets for backpacking Europe! It was a blast watching everyone open their presents! Mostly my mom and dad opening their Soda Stream from the kids.

After Christmas morning with the Millers we drove quickly down the the Moss' so we could skype with Zachy!!!

After skyping we spent an hours opening gifts and enjoying each other.

Best part of the day-watching Lis open her Christian Louiboutins! She was sooo surprised!

Linds and I made black and white cookies and they tasted ALMOST as good as Junior's!

I got spoiled to death this christmas... Plane tickets, train tickets, things to entertain me on the plane and train, patsy (my gigantic new suitcase), treats for traveling, clothes to stay dry and much more to prep us for our trip!

Our Christmas was one we'll cherish. It was the first time I didn't feel like I took any time with my family for granted. I am going to miss the guts out of these amazing people!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!!! I hope it was wonderful for each and every one of you!

I love this man...

2011-12-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time we went on our first date....

I secretly loved him before and I've loved him ever since!

I AM THANKFUL

2011-12-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

My Super-Cam did it again.

Defiled odds, shocked doctors and almost killed me!!!

BUT this time he got to ride in a helicopter

Yep... that little shit.

It was a gorgeous Thanksgiving morning when we all decided that a nice family bike ride before our Thanksgiving feast would be a blast! We all headed to Bear Claw Poppy and started on with the trail. Ever heard of the three fingers of death? Yeah... they weren't kidding. I went down the easy way (around death fingers), Cam of course had to go down the middle finger and when I got to the bottom I saw my little sisters kneeling in the dirt, crying. Then I saw my mom on the phone and once I rounded the corner I heard my dad shout, "Jocelyn, don't come over here." I yelled back at my mom, "Mom, is it his head?!" she shook her head, yes, then told me she was on the line with 911.

Pause. This is what Hell is like. When we were engaged Cam had his 7th concussion and was told if he got one more in the next 2 years, he would be a vegetable. A year and a few months later... Cam got his 8th concussion and was told it was "a miracle that he was still functioning". He was also warned... NO MORE CONCUSSIONS. And here we were 5 months later. When my dad told me not to come over... It was because Cam wasn't conscious and he was seizing. My dad didn't want me to watch my husband die.

I dropped to my knees and prayed. This is important that I always remember the peace that came over me after I stood. After what seemed like eternity, Cam stopped convulsing and became conscious. My dad called me over and I smiled and talked to Cam until the paramedics got there (30 minutes later). They checked Cam and decided he should be life flighted to the hospital in Las Vegas due to the high risk of brain hemorrhaging. Thankfully by this point, I knew Cam was going to be okay, no matter what the nurses and paramedics said. And of course he was... Yeah, I know he is never going to be perfectly okay because there may be other damages and may have more occur later in life. But I still have Cam.

So... I guess you could say I was the most thankful I may have ever been.
I'm thankful for: People that will work on holidays, real Thanksgiving dinners, my dad's clear mind, my entire amazing family, my entire amazing in-law family, having such a great boss, having work, finding the man of my dreams while I was so young, being healthy enough to go on adventures with my soulmate, having an education, being raised in the church, the power of the priesthood and many many many more!!! Lets just say I am one thankful and lovey girl lately!

Our Thanksgiving BREAK (not day)

2011-11-30T18:42:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving break was fantastic... until the actual day!

Because of Cam's accident, my incredible boss let me have the rest of the weekend off so we could rest and get over the trauma so I had 8 full days off!

We started out going to Kar's volleyball game at Rocky... which I realized I probably shouldn't put my kids in sports because I would be, "that mom." Yep, I screamed at a ref. Embarrassing. But gosh, that volleyball stuff is STRESSFUL!

We then drove down to the lovely St. George where we had a fantastic time with the family listening to Mim play the didge, giving each other henna tattoos and staying up late teaching the girls how to be "fishers of boys". Cam and I got to go climb with Alexa, Carver, Eric and their family. I got to witness what an insane climber my husband is.... totally hot!

Since I didn't work on Black Friday, we put up decorations for a couple of hours and enjoyed the merriment of Christmas! We are DEFINITELY hearing the bell early this year!

On Sunday, the kid's from Ukraine that Cam tutors, came to visit him and make sure he was okay! Hyrum ran around with Jack for about an hour and we got to catch up with Ryan, who served with Cam.

Sunday night, my dear Alexa had a going away dinner for Kailee and Dan. They just left to Hawaii to go to school/work for the next few years!

This woman is a CHEF

We are going to miss these two terribly :(

Even though Thanksgiving was a rough day, our family and friends really pulled us together and helped us celebrate the holiday!

Remember Remember....

2011-11-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

THE 5th OF NOVEMBER!

Yep... we will certainly always remember it.

We'll remember being so hyper from Alexa's energy drinks

Screaming "ANARCHY" as we ran around a fire in the middle of a brush field

Blowing up hairspray cans

Having the neighbors call the cops on us and say we were shooting "cannons"

Watching an ambulance, firetruck and several police cars surround us

Laughing hysterically until 3 am

Halloweenie

2011-11-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

Sometimes... friends get together and dress up, just for fun.

Cam and I were Bellatrix and Dobby

Kay and Dan were... uhhh creepy?

Lex and Car-V were Sailor moon and he penguin sidekick

and Matix was... a sloth.

Not pictured due to lack of camera- Shayln as a spider and Tyson as a Mexican (who spoke espanol the entire night!)

We all decided since we didn't have any Halloween plans we should all just dress up and get together! The girls pretty much just sat and talked for hours while the boys (no not men) played zombies and halo.... Who said getting old wasn't any fun? hahha

Welcome Home Sister Scott!

2011-11-30T18:16:00.000-08:00

So apparently when you give up a missionary you get one back!

My best friend, Shayln has been on the longest mission known to mankind (it was really only 18 months but it felt like an eternity). The day after I sent off brother to the MTC I got my best friend back form North Carolina! WHAT A BLESSING!

Watch out! These four girls are back together again...

Elder B$ Takes "Almost Mexico"

2011-11-30T18:12:00.000-08:00

Brooksy Milla is now Elder Miller... Yep, the kid is all growed up and now sitting pretty on his 5th week in the MTC. Saying bye to my only brother was rough... way harder than anyone tells you it is going to be. It was awesome to have so much family around and enjoy everyones company but man it was hard to share him the couple days before he left! I had dreaded/looked-forward to this time in his life since I found out what a missionary was. I am so stinkin proud of his choice to serve a mission and way proud of how amazing he is doing!

I made a blog for him its

elderbrooksmiller.blogspot.com

Every Wednesday I post his emails and any pictures he sends!

If it would only snow...

2011-11-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

Planning a move to the other side of the world is difficult and expensive, which causes me MOUNDS of stress. You know what would fix that? Snowboarding. So please, everyone pray for snow... FOR MY SANITY!

Daddy

2011-11-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

Most people know how fond I am of my dad.

I share his college stories to my friends, call him when I'm being mischievous with my little sisters, show my co-workers awesome pictures and brag about him to all the customers I help.

I guess you could say I'm a daddy's girl.

So naturally, when I needed to morn my brother's departure, I called on my dad.

Dad and I biked up to Elephant Rock to cope with the rough day of sending Brooks to the MTC. It was by far the best bike ride I've ever had and the best therapy session of my life. He stayed behind with me and taught me a ton about getting through the technical stuff.

I am the luckiest girl to have such a sweet dad.

Last week...

2011-10-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

I could never get sick of life.

Whoever says their life is boring needs some serious mental reconstruction.

Yeah life is hard, life is sad, life is short, life is scary and most of all life is unpredictable

but it will only be that if you dwell on it.

Wow, I am ranting like crazy lately. no apologies, this is my blog, not yours.

Lately our life has been STRESSFUL... but wow it is fun.

We started off the week with my one and only brother's farewell... I don't wanna talk about it.

He played hours of guitar and we all cried... once again, I don't wanna talk about it.

On Tuesday Brooks went to his final concert for two years! It was THE SOUNDS! I'm sooo glad we got to go with him! It was also Min's first concert that wasn't super chill and she was a trooper!

There will be plenty more of this is 2 years...

Grocery shopping with this woman is a blast

Autumn is biking season!!! This trail is like a rollercoaster.. WAY better than lagoon.

We finished off the week celebrating our only niece's 3rd birthday! We went to Color Me Mine with the fam... What a blast.

Apparently her dollhouse was for her to sleep in

Yep, there has been a lot of changes and I used to dwell on it but guess what...

LIFE GOES ON and the moral of the story is... LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT.

Families Can be TOGETHER FOREVER

2011-10-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

One of the best days of my life

More to come on the farewell, temple and saying goodbye... I'm just too much of a baby to look at photos right now.

Punkins EVERYWHERE

2011-10-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

October RULES

Cam and I had a Falliday and visited the pumpkin patch that he has been going to since he was a little lad. It was my first time to a pumpkin patch and I was THRILLED!

We spent about an hour combing through the vines to find the perfect pumpkins

After that, we went to our dear friend's house and a bunch of us carved pumpkins!

I love me some Alexa, the girl's pumpkin kept falling apart but we finally got it to stay!

Dan's creepy alien, Kailee's witch, Cam's Dr. Oz, J's creepy skull, Carver's fro-frankenstein and Alexa's jailbird!

Good snippets of the night- cuddling with my old roommate like we used to every night, watching Art of Flight, finally getting to see Alexa after a year and staying up waaay past my bedtime laughing with old friends!

Have You Heard?

2011-10-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Pinterest. My new favorite hobby.

Cool things I've discovered- Vegan desserts, amazing recipes, organization of all my travel plans and a look book to die for.

He is Perfect...

2011-10-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I whine to Cam that we're getting old and do nothing spontaneous.

I don't know where the hell I get this idea.

Sunday was a perfect day.

Driving up high in the mountains while listening Harry Potter

Reminiscing about our dating days

Staring at all the colors of the leaves

Bundling up

and

Painting the beautiful fall sunset

And it was all his idea... yep, i'm the luckiest girl in the world

Fall is FALLING!!!

2011-09-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

The leaves are changing!!! Fall is coming and we are loving it. We love the crisp Autumn air, the early sunsets, fall clothes starting to come out of storage and the excitement of upcoming holidays! Here is a little update of our September!

Cam started his SENIOR year of school! He drives up every Tuesday and Thursday to go to school at USU. Most people think this sounds terrible but he loves it. This is the cutie on his first day of school.

We got to see our best friends and they came to visit us! This is a candid photo of those three playing Halo... HILARIOUS!

Extreme pogo-sticking got preeeeetty serious on a Sunday night!

I babysat this munchkin for 36 hours and decided I can't handle children. But gosh, she is hilarious!

We drove up to Jackson to watch the Lotojarians finish!

Lotoja was insane. I've never been up to the J-Hole to watch but I was completely blown away at what an awesome race it was. Linds and Tod did the entire course while Lisa was on a relay team. I was so stinking proud of all three of them. It was wild watching them come into the finish line.

Lis and her relay team

After Tod crossed the finish line! He acted like he had just woken up... full of energy and feeling great!

Not far after came Linds! I look up to her so much for being a full time student and a mom and still training for this thing! WHAT A WOMAN!

Homecoming happened and I got to dress up my cute sister for the dance! We spent a couple hours perfecting her hair and makeup. She topped off her look with a pair of her sick high-tops. What a tight girl.

YAY!!!! We celebrated Brooks' 19th birthday and what a wonderful day it was. Brooks wasn't feeling well so we ran down to the store to grab us both some Red Bull.... apparently they make 20oz?! Holy shizaroni that is a LOT of BULL!!! Brooks thought my pathetic 8oz was wussy.

The kid and I went to jam at Guitar Center for a bit then enjoyed a meal and bowling with the fam.

Needless to say... we were the most exciting people there. I don't think anyone sat down until the 8th frame! We were dancing/shufflin' and screaming all kinds of stuff at each other. Birthday WOOO Brooks! Man... I'm going to miss this kid like crazy.

AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST.....

My MOM bought a puppy!

YEAH!!! Serious... my MOTHER! KAREN!!! The animal hating woman of the house bought a dog without any convincing! If you know my mom you're probably thinking that I'm lying but I'm not. OH and its an INSIDE dog!!! Want to know what is even crazier... She loves it! And she talks to it in a baby voice! It is completely adorable!

Anyway, her name is Lily and we all are crazy about her. She barely walks because we love to hold her and she is taken pretty much everywhere our family goes. HURRAY!

We loved September and still can't believe it is almost over. Bring on the fall baby!

Top of Utah Half Marathon

2011-09-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

I'm just as bad at blogging as writing in a journal.

So... at the end of August I ran my first half marathon along with my mom, Cam, Lis, Tod and my aunt Coleen! So I guess you could say it was a family affair.

Can I just say I completely LOVED the run! I started out at a great pace and continued until mile 10 (I'd never even ran ten miles before). When I hit the ten with my foot I thought I was going to cry of happiness. Mostly because the entire run I listened to amazing music and Dane Cook but also because I had a lot of time to think about how blessed I am. Wow... I am blessed. After mile 10 I slooooowed down then after 11 I started walking. I wasn't bummed at all and I am way proud of my 2 hour and 43 minute time mostly because I didn't push myself too hard and I really enjoyed myself.

The gang plenty early in the morning!

This is a highly unflattering photo but when I came out of the mouth of the canyon my dad was chillin there with my uncle Bruce who took these sweet photos! I got soo excited, I sprinted to my dad, jumped and twirled in the air when I gave him a big 5!

My mom kicks ass. Yep. The woman tore the race apart and finished 6th!

STOKED at the finish line! Cam ran the last half mile with me and it was INCREDIBLE to see my grandparents and aunt at the finish line along with everyone else cheering!

I didn't see Camber the entire time... come to find out, he finished an hour and 5 minutes before me! We were all blown away at how fast Cam finished... mostly because his foot was swollen about quadruple its normal size. I was so crazy proud of him.

Tod, Lis and Coleen did awesome too!

My old roommate Des also ran and wow she was just an inspiration!

I am so happy I was blessed with an able body!

And so it ends... and continues...

2011-08-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ever seen the end of that awesome cartoon on Homestarrunn.com? Its called Teen Girl Squad. Well its amazing and at the end of every episode this awesome deep voice says "Its OVER." Well.... That is the voice in my head when I think about summer because this summer IS OVER!

Does this make me sad? Terribly. Mostly because life is just going by too fast.

This summer...

I graduated from USU

Cam went to his first summer semester

I went to NYC for the first time

I fell in love with Family Guy and Cam started to like watching Bachelorette

Cam and I moved to Bountiful

The family went to Oahu

I spent many nights at the sweet yoga studio

Cam and I had birthdays

I changed banks then changed jobs

We went to Havasupai

Cam did his first triathlon

I ran my first race and first half marathon

I fell in love with Cameron more and more every day

Pretty much life is good. Life is amazing. I can't believe I used to be such an unhappy emo kid! Anyway... I hope I never forget these days. Cam is now back to school and the air is getting cold... NOW I'M EXCITED FOR THE FALL!!!! Let life continue!

My Parents are SO COOL

2011-08-27T21:22:00.001-07:00

Okay seriously.... My parents are ridiculous and I couldn't love it more.

If you asked me a couple years ago if my dad would be racing mountain bikes and doing triathlons I wouldn't believe you. I would actually call you an idiot. And my MOM! Oh my goodness!!! Preface... my mother is not the most athletic thing but despite that she runs marathons, road bikes and is now going to start doing tri's! She is fantastic.

ANYWAY

Cam and I went down to Hurt-in-the-Dirt to watch my parents kick trash. My mom did the running and my dad did the biking! They were making amazing time until my dad's chain broke! Those two are my heros!

Look how cute my mom is!

Note to self: never wear high heels to an outdoor event again.

AWWWW

Hey guess what... I'm twenty TWO

2011-08-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 19th is always an awesome day.

Usually I jam-pack my day with playing, friends, planning a party and celebrating for a week! This year, I just did not have the energy. I had a race the weekend before my birthday and another the weekend after so I had to work allllll weekend. I was bummed at first but Cam made my week AWESOME!

When I woke up on the big day, I walked out of our room and Cam had decorated the entire basement and wrote me an adorable note. Then from work, I went straight to a massage that Cam had scheduled then home for an awesome BBQ and some FANTASTIC cold stone birthday cake!

I got all sorts of spoiled!

The next day, after Cam's tri and my work, we went and watched my parents rock Hurt-in-the-Dirt! After we went to my favorite restaurant Tona and stuffed ourselves with amazing sushi.

Oh we're so sexy now that I'm 22!

And of course the annual chopsticks picture 2-2

What a WONDERFUL birthday!

Cam's First Triathlon

2011-08-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

As you may already know, I think my husband has super-powers. This past week he proved he really did! On the 14th he decided he wanted to do the Jordanelle Triathlon (the olympic distances) then on the 20th he did just that! Oh and guess what! HE DID AWESOME!!! No matter what this kid sets his mind to, he does it.

Poor Cam felt awesome about his swimming skills but sadly he rented a wetsuit that was too small! The kid almost drowned. Thank goodness he is a strong swimmer.

He had to google transitioning the night before but he had it dialed in.

Lisa came to watch the big finish and be a proud mama! Also, my dad was just the cutest thing in the entire world, despite having a race later that day, my dad drove down to help Cam out with EVERYTHING! Yes... We have the best family ever. I love that my husband and my dad are such buds.

Overall, Cam did awesome and kicked some major trash. I couldn't be more proud as a wife.

R-Scapin'

2011-08-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

This August, as a birthday gift to by aging body, I gave myself my very first race ever!

I had been dreading this race from the second I signed up, why? Because I am NOT an runner, or an athlete or coordinated in any way. My talents lie in very few things like cooking and working.

R-scape is a 6.2 mile loop in the mountains and a team of 6 tries to get in as many loops as possible in 18 hours. It was a great event and the trail running was fantastic!

I have the coolest family EVER!!! My sisters and Mom came to watch my first leg at 7pm and stayed until I finished at 8! It was the most amazing feeling to cross the finish (while feeling like I was going to pass out) and see them just cheering me on!

My next leg was at 3am and once again I had amazing support! Cam came and paced me! Cam had been in Logan all day and had already been biking and swimming but he still came and ran with me even though he only had his tri suit! It was by far the most fun lap I did. Cam and I laughed as much as we ran. He was the perfect pacer! Man, I just have the best husband in the world.

The other awesome part of this race was these awesome girls! I can't believe how tough these Maneaters are! Also, Lyns and Jordan did a GREAT job decorating our campsite and making sweet shirts. Such a great job that we won a prize for it!

R-Scape 18 Hours of Ogden=SUCESS

Why?

2011-08-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

... Does blogging take so much freaking time. I swear the upload of picture process is like a 3 hour ordeal. More coming soon... promise.

Havasupai--Cam's 23rd Birthday!

2011-08-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

For Cam's birthday we decided it was time to go on another adventure.

Our friends Matt and Sydney invited us to go to Havasupai and it fit perfectly with Cam's birthday! Dawson and his friend Mckenzie joined us also!

The day we left Cam's parents had a nice BBQ and made him a cute cake!

Cam got his presents from his parents, an awesome trisuit and a sweet Russian biking jersey.

Then we were off to adventure!

Brooks was the cutest thing ever!!! We got to St. George around midnight and Brooks had completely decked-out the house with balloons, streamers and a birthday sign. The best part was the blasting music and dancing around.

The next morning we drove to Las Vegas and indulged in a large buffet. I figured why not? Backpacking would burn plenty of the fatty foods off. Oh and gosh it was glorious to eat that much. We then drove to the trailhead with some gloomy weather following us.

We slept at the trailhead, then at 4am we headed out on the 10 mile trek to Havasupai. I would write about this more because it was my first time with a backpack but... I don't remember it at all! I was in complete zombie status until we got to the village!

After a well-deserved nap we headed off to play in some falls! Gosh this place is AMAZING! The color of the water is completely breathtaking.

The next day we walked for miles down the river and enjoyed all the amazing waterfalls.

We had such a fun time with these kiddos! Everyone got along so well and my abs would hurt from laughing every single night.

It was nice to get some time with Cam!

The hike out was a lot nicer than we expected! We then drove back to St. George and soaked in the hot tub and took well-deserved naps.

A Few of My Most Favorite Things...

2011-07-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

.... about Bountiful.

Sunsets. There is nothing like a sunset over the Great Salt Lake. Beautiful.

Infusion Yoga. The best yoga studio I've ever been to. Yin Yoga has officially stolen my heart.

Bountiful Blvd. The most amazing run with fantastic hills in it.

Family. I LOVE living with the Moss' and LOVE seeing my dad a couple times a week (I work a block away from him)

Jack. The best dog in the entire world.

Ukrainian Children. Cam is teaching 3 kids in Russian and I melt when I watch.

Well, thats all that is coming to my mind right now. To tell you the truth, I am crazy about how awesome life is right now. I am super sad about how quickly it is going by. So many people say they feel bad for me because I'm living with my in-laws BUT guess what... IT RULES!

Things I miss about Logan:

Kelli and Alex Mortensen

All the awesome people I worked with in Logan

and

My king sized bed (Cam has pushed me off the queen too many times!)

Elder Zachary Moss

2011-07-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

This week we sent of our dear brother Zach!!!

He gave such a wonderful farewell talk and we are sure he is going to be the best missionary ever!! Good Luck Elder MOSS!

WATCH OUT UKRAINE!!! The Moss brothers are comin at ya!

My very own SUPERHERO!

2011-07-03T18:37:00.001-07:00

This sexy thing is my husband!

Cam is probably the toughest dude I know. During the MS ride in Logan, Cam got hit by the biker behind him and flew over his handlebars while he was going 40mph. I was in Bountiful when I got the call that an ambulence was on its way to pick him up and I was told to prepare for the worst.

When I got to the hospital the first thing Cam said was, "Honey, I gosh darn knocked my teeth out," like a total hick. I was crazy relieved he was okay and I couldn't stop laughing. A few minutes later the doctor came in and said he hadn't broken any bones (which everyone though was a miracle considering how fast he was going). He did however, had to get stitches. Cam was totally pissed because he just wanted to get out of the hospital.

We decided it would be best if he got his stitches done by a plastic surgeon. We made him drive down to Farmington to get his teeth fixed then to Bountiful for the stitches.

Why is he my hero?!

BECAUSE he didn't have a pain killer or eat until 6pm!

HE IS TOUGH!

Other than his face and his teeth, Cam was pretty covered with road rash and had some large hematomas on his knees and his hip. I was so blown away how he handled himself. What else has blown me away is how freaking quick he heals! It has now been one week and the kid looks practically new. His road rash over his body is still healing but his face looks fantastic!

I know heavenly father has some BIG plans for this dude.

I have heard numerous times from several people and doctors that it is a miracle that he walked out of the emergency room... I know.

WE ARE SO BLESSED!

Adrenaline Rush!

2011-07-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Guess what? The Miles family came to the island just to come play with us! Just kidding, but we really did get to wake up on Monday to the Miles family! Missy, Brad, Matt and Kayla came skydiving with Chris, Cam, Brooks and Jocie. After a bunch of the older ones jumped out of a plane, everyone went to the fabulous Kua Aina to eat. The sun was shining and the waves were begging to be surfed so we headed to Waikiki to get wet! The weather decided to change on us after a couple hours of surfing so we went back to the north shore to eat at Cholos. We were wiped by the end of the day and it was time to go to sleep!

Sadly, our last day of the perfect vacation came too soon. When asked what we wanted to for our final day of paradise, everyone answered the same thing... "GO TO THE BEACH!!!" It was also Chris' birthday! The kids went to do baptisms for the dead with the Miles in the morning then everyone met up at Waimea nice and early. Waimea is hands down one of the best beaches in the world. There is so much to do there and you can spend all day there. The Miles came to play with us at the beach and we had a blast snorkeling with them and jumping off the rock. Dad played Frisbee with us and it soon turned into extreme Frisbee. Haylie and Chris went and picked up a paddle board for everyone to try! It was a total blast! We all took turns paddling to "Maui" or "Tahiti" then it was time to get some dinner! Haylie and mom made an amazing dinner for Chris' birthday! Then we went to Sunset beach one last time to watch the sunset. When we got home, we had cake and ice cream and sang to the birthday boy Chris. We all got packed and ready to leave paradise and the perfect family vacation

Leaving was rough.... really ROUGH! It was pretty hard to go back to La'ie and see the place I left when I wasn't quite ready to leave. I'm so glad I got to show Cam around and glad I could change his attitude about Oahu. My favorite part of the trip was just being with the entire family! It will be awhile until we can all be together again so we are lucky we got to spend a whole week together.

Manauwili and Memories

2011-07-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

We were finally starting to get used to Hawaii time so Saturday we woke up slow and decided we should head over to La'ie for the best breakfast around. Hukilau Cafe has the best Hawaiian breakfast in the world. Their pancakes are to die for! After our bellies were all full we made out for the adventure of finding the hidden Manauwili Falls. After driving around for awhile and for walking around for a time, we finally found the trail head. We hiked up to the falls and watched the boys do crazy tricks. Mimi and Kar got to jump of and go wild too! Sadly, Mom couldn't join us because she cut up her toes and could have got leptospirosis from the water. We drove to the Lost Buddhist temple to check it out but then it started raining very hard so we headed back to the north shore for the night.

Happy Father's Day!!! What a better father's day for dad! He got to be in Hawaii! We woke up nice and early to go to church. The ward was so sweet and dad got treats! When we got home from church we gave dad our gifts and cards. We then headed over to La'ie once again to go see some sights. We wandered the beautiful La'ie temple grounds, ventured to BYU-H and took some fantastic pictures at the Banyan trees. It was cool to see that in four years the place hasn't changed much. After hours of talking about old memories we headed back to the house to eat. Once again, we had to go to the beach for the evening. We went over to three tables to snorkel, skim, play in the surf and watch the sunset. There was a large turtle that everyone got to hang out with and Cam finally got to boogie board! We wiped ourselves out again and all collapsed once we got back to the awesome house.

New ADVENTURES

2011-07-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday we decided to try out some new places that we haven't seen yet. First, we headed over to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling. Hanauma bay was beautiful and there were some large fish that we got to see. After Hanauma Bay, we drove to Diamond Head to have a picnic in the crater. We finished up our sandwiches and headed up the mountain. At the top of Diamond Head is a fantastic view of both the city and the windy side of the island. Between the hiking and the swimming, we worked up quite an appetite. So we headed to Hale'iwa Eats for the best Thai food on the island. Of course, we couldn't stay away from the ocean for too long so we hurried down to Sunset Beach to watch the most amazing sunset. The boys got to skim board and eat it a few times. Brooks coached Cam and Chris and taught them how to do spins on the board while the girls did yoga on the beach.

Show me How to HAWAII...

2011-06-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Wow! I cannot believe the amount of activities we fit into our days. This family sure knows how to have fun.

We started the day off at Hanauma Bay. We'd heard so much about this place so we ventured over to another side of the island. I liked the experience but gosh Sharks Cove has far better snorkeling.

Hanauma was beautiful but a little too crowded for our liking so we left and went to climb Diamond Head.

Cam, Kar and I decided to run up to the top

Diamond head has a way cool trail. We loved walking through the tunnels and running up the crazy steep stairs.

After the run back down the mountain, we all chilled out on the grass and Mimi tried to teach my dad how to meditate. Yes... this is how that worked out!

This kid can sleep in any car ride... jealous.

After our adventures, we HAD to hit up the best thai food in the world! When Hay and I lived here, we would save up our money to go eat out here. I have been craving their coconut rice for years! Once we got our food we were in heaven. I got pineapple fried rice then a side of coconut rice. I know that is so not healthy but it was absolutely amazing!

I love this gross picture! Cam and I found our favorite drink that we can usually only find at Tona.

After a fantastic dinner and a full day, we went off to Sunset beach to watch the sunset.

The boys all went skimming and we got some sweet pictures!

"Go gecko go gecko!"

AND of course we have to do some yoga on the beach.

Day three was just as packed as the first days. I love getting in as much as possible in the time we have. Haylie and I got to do so much when we lived here and I am impressed at everything we've got to do in just a few days time.

Ohana Means Family!

2011-06-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

Bom Dia!!!
The above picture is how I got to wake up. Breakfast and journal writing on an amazing North Shore morning. I'm still on Utah time so I am waking up super early and falling to sleep super early. I am not the only one though, Karen was up bright and early ready for a run! Crazay Laday!

Once we got the rest of the crew up (7a) we headed over to Waimea Bay. Yes... We were definitely the first people there. Gosh, my family belongs at the beach and in the ocean. It is so nuts to me that we get more enjoyment from being at the beach than anything we could do.

Waimea is full of all different sizes of rocks to jump off. Thank goodness for my amazing camera that can go under water!

My OHANA RULES!!!!

Okay! She looks like she is freaking flying through the air! This is the most INSANE "backpack air" I have ever seen!

Did I already tell you that I am so stoked my sis and Chris are here?! Well I am SO STOKED!

We were all wondering where Mimi went then... We saw her just kickin it with some local dude and chattin it up with him! This happened a lot with each one of us. I love that my fam isn't shy and can strike up a convo with anyone.

HEY! We really do LOVE each other! Hahahha this is us laughing during a kissing picture. Having my husband here has made it the best trip. I love showing Cam the places where I had so many adventures. But most of all, I love having adventures together.

Yeeeeeaaaahhhh skimboarding!

... and a little bit of snorkeling.

Of course my incredibly hot husband had to go up high on the rock and show up everyone with his sick tricks! Yeah, I'm totally bragging but it was awesome!

Now... Brooks looks like a freaking stick figure!

After 3 hours at Waimea we decided to get some food at Pizza Bob's! We originally were going to Kua Aina but the danguses ran out of avacados! What the what! You can't have an avo-burger without some avo! We were bummed but then we tasted some decent pizza (which makes me happy because I don't even like pizza).

Luckily, Pizza Bob's was by my most favorite ice cream shop in the entire world! Scoop of Paradise!!! Why do I love it so much? Because of their INCREDIBLE mochi! They're little ice cream balls in a rice gelatin wrap. Those Japanese people think of everysinglething. So pretty much you just hold your ice cream while you eat it. Sick! (Good sick.)

We went back to the house to regroup then back out the the ocean we went! We headed over to Sharks Cove to do some awesome diving!

P.S!!! GUESS WHO WAS ON THE STREET!!! Google freaking STREET VIEW!!! Hahah I know I'm so crazy excited about this. You can find me on Google babies! Cam and I have relied heavily on Google Street View.

Alright... Back to snorkeling at Sharks cove! YAY I get to be with my partner in crime.

Then BAM!!! Sea turtle! The girls got to go over and touch it. Photo credits go to Haylie Weston because she is an amazing photographer underwater!

K so there is this hole in a rock like 15 feet down... at least 15 feet... when I tried to dive through it, the rock felt a lot more like 50 feet deep... anyway my dad goes down and does it like a champ. THEN freaking Mimi goes down and almost gives me an anxiety attack! At the same time, I was so proud of the girl!

After a long day at the beaches and snorkeling... we went back to the house to SWIM! To answer your question... Yes! We were prunes after all of this.

Day dos was incredible.
I am seriously the luckiest woman in the world.

Aloha Aina!

2011-06-16T10:03:00.001-07:00

What a nutso day!

Our flight left at 6a so Cam just pulled an all-nighter doing homework and I stayed up late painting my nails. We had hoped we could sleep on the plane but we're not talented in that area.

We flew to LA were we had a flight delay

Brooks saw a cute girl on the plane so he colored her this picture.

At noon Hawaii time and 4p Utah time... we were in HAWAII!!!

Our first stop was to grab some food at the lovely cheesecake and pick up these two lovely people! I couldn't be more excited that Haylie is here with me... Four years ago her and I moved out here and went to a summer semester at BYU-Hawaii. I am going to LOVE having this wicked wahini back on the island with me.

We drove the Likelike away from the city and to the best part of the island! The NORTH SHORE! My mother is a master traveller and got us this incredible house to stay in.

We walked down Kamehameha highway until we found the perfect beach to play in.

We decided to see if we could build a wall that could stand up to the waves. I couldn't stop laughing because everysingletime a wave would go against our amazing wall Cam would say, "Suck it ocean!" basically he was trying to provoke it to bring on bigger waves. Which is exactly what happened!

Brooks got tooo tired so we decided we'd head home and jump in the pool thats in the backyard. Yes... its about 2am Utah time so technically we all hadn't slept for 24 hours.

Oh I couldn't be more excited about this trip. I usually don't blog about my trips until after I get home, but we'll be here seven days and I am NOT going to miss any detail while we were here. It is so nice to have our complete family on vacation. This is the first time we've all gone somewhere together in a long time. We are all so different but we all have one thing in common... we are GREAT at having fun.

It is now day two and I am sitting on the porch way too early because I am stuck on Utah time. Our second level gives us a beautiful view of the ocean and Mim is just sitting here writing in her journal. I am definitely in paradise. I couldn't be happier.

Two of my MOST Favorite People...

2011-06-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

... Cam and Mimi.

Nothing is boring when they're around!

I was making an "over the hill" cake for my dad and it was going to be SWEET... UNTIL the cake decided it was going to crumple everywhere. So when I was heading out to take the cake to the garbage... these two attacked me.

"My belly is mad at me"-C&M

ITS HERE!!!

2011-06-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Spring.

Couldn't love ya more.

Whats NEXT?

2011-05-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

Cam and I are HUGE planners and GIGANTIC dreamers.

We like things to work out... and when they don't, we make them. Whenever either of us are stressed out about getting something done the other always says, "We'll find a way, there is always a way and we WILL do it." I think we get this get-what-we-want attitude from our parents.

ANYWAY! What is next for Cam and I? A couple of things!

First... We have a summer full of trips. Our next is Hawaii then Washington then Havasupi then an array of backpacking/camping trips. We'll take any adventure if anyone has suggestions.

The first of February we are doing what we always dreamed!

Moving to EUROPE!

Cam will be studying international business at Hanze University in Groningen, NETHERLANDS! Guess what! My dad served there... awesome huh. I am very excited to live in my dad's old stomping grounds or should I say tracting grounds. As for me, I am trying to get a job with an international bank, tourist company or speech pathology group. We'll be in Groningen until mid July (5 months), then doing another dream... backpacking Europe for 21 days. It will be quite the adventure. If any of you would like to visit, buy your tickets now! They're crazy cheap.

After that? Well we don't know. We are dreaming that far but not yet planning that far. Life changes too quick and money only comes with hard work! I would LOVE to go on the amazing race and win a bunch of money but we'll see how our application goes!

Have you read this book? If you haven't you should. Dr. Seuss didn't write children's books, he wrote life lessons books.

"...Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV..."

We are the controllers of our destinies.

Cam the Bicycle Man!

2011-05-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

CONGRATS to my amazing husband for completing his first CENTURY!

And to Tod, Lisa and Lindsay! These Moss' are some serious riders!

Spring in the City...

2011-05-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Time to leave and head back to my little town of logan.

It was nice and rainy on our last day.

Breakfast at the wonderful Juniors

I will miss being able to hang out with these girls every day.

Before we went off to the airport we went to church at the Manhattan temple

Lisa got this picture on her phone and I was suddenly ready to go home. I miss that snoozer in the middle.

Chilis at the airport. This is my face dreading the food in Utah because I simply can't afford to eat as well as I did in New York. Its a darn good thing I love running, biking and yoga as much as I love eating. Okay I only love my family more than eating.... working out comes after.

We arrived in SLC 3 hours later than we were supposed to and I was soooo happy to see my husband! I was also thrilled to breathe fresh Utah air and see the sky and mountains. Utah RULES! I love the constant changing weather, the nature right out my door and the small population. I love the city and I loved Manhattan but I am sure glad to be back! Miss you NY, hope to see you soon!

Three

2011-05-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Day Three:

Linds and Lis were so good about going to see all the touristy things for me. It was so nice to have seasoned New York travelers with me so I would get a full experience in the little time we had.

After we woke up we walked down the the Empire State building. Another thing I love about NY is no matter where you're walking, you get to shop along the way.

Riding the subway was a nice experience. We met some gentleman from South America that told us some short cuts to get to where we were going. There was also a sick band playing. We took the subway to canal street to do some sketchy shopping. I got lucky and got my perfume (Viva La Juicy) for only 15 bucks because I am a fab barterer.

We walked down through city hall and the financial district until we got to Ground Zero. It was nice to see the construction of the freedom tower but it was a very sad, sobering place. It is hard to be at the location where suck horrible things have happened. It makes it a lot more real.

This is a picture of how the Freedom Tower will look once it is done.

We walked out to the water so we could see the statue of liberty, which was far larger than I had imagined. We took a sec to sit down and rest our feet, then we were off again!

Shop, shop and shop some more please! We took a taxi to SoHo where I fell in love. The streets were full of busy people and it was such a lively place. I liked that there were trees around and the building weren't so tall. These streets could be walked for hours.

We stopped to take a look at La Perla's fancy lingerie. Would you like a bra for $400? Then this is the place for you. Maybe one day it will be the place for me but mind you I am still just a recent college grad. Dreams!

A stop at the underwhelming Kardashian store, Dash.

The most expensive Wells Fargo!

This is me! Overeducated, underemployed and wildly optimistic!

After hours in Soho we took a taxi back to Times Square and went to Stardust for dinner. By the WAY I'm in love with this store called Dean & Deluca... love at first sight. K back to dinner, people sang to us and we ate wonderful food once again. Classic meatball subs (Why all the red meat Jocelyn? To hell if I know! I'm in NY baby!)

Thus ended our last full day in New York. I laid in bed looking out the window for hours before I started packing. This place really is hard to comprehend. IT IS HUGE! and I love it

Day Two in the City

2011-05-22T11:51:00.001-07:00

Oh Thursday! What a day FULL of fun. Honestly, I am quite sure we walked over 15 miles in one day.

First... here is the view from the elevators... SO COOL!

We woke up bright and early Utah time but not quite New York time. Our first mission: get food from Carnegie Deli. Have you ever heard of this deli? I never had but I soon found out why it is so famous. After delicious french toast and hash browns we were ready for some time to work off the calories. (JK! We're on vacation!!!)

Hurray for biking! On our way to Central Park we stopped to grab some bikes so we could cover some more ground.

These artists were everywhere paining the castle.

The boathouse

Seeing buildings over the trees was such a trip after being in a park for so long. Whoever decided NY needed a park this large was beyond genius.

"This is what I learned in Hawaii, how to take pictures on bikes"

Straight from biking through the park and city for hours, we went shopping! Of course we went straight to 5th ave and walked back and forth for hours. We found a new favorite store Zara.

The beautiful Plaza

I took this picture for Cam, my candy fiend husband.

After hour of shopping and biking we finally got some food at the Rockefeller Center. Once again... the food here is AMAZING! I had a burger (YES! I did! I know I never eat these things but this one was incredible) best burger of my life. Then blah blah blah more shopping because we LOVE it!

THEN CAME WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!

K seriously people of America this is a must! I've seen wicked in San Francisco but seeing it on Broadway was far better. The cast was nothing short of breathtaking and Teal Wicks did such a wonderful job as Elfaba. These people had some serious pipes!

I love this dorky picture!

Now what does one do at 11pm in NY after a show? Oh just eat a corn beef and pastrami, aka a Woody Allen, and cheesecake at Carnegie Deli. Fact: Woody Allen doesn't even order the "Woody Allen" he gets a number 11.

I know I've said this plenty but.... THIS CITY KNOWS HOW TO EAT!!!!

After heavenly cheesecake we walked around for a couple more hours and finally crashed at 2am.

New York Day One!!!

2011-05-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

For my graduation, my in-laws gave me a wonderful girls trip to New York! It was just a girls trip for my graduation and Linds and Lisa's birthdays. This is huge for me because I have wanted to go to New York since 7th grade. Then, once Wicked came out, I wanted to go even more! This trip was a dream come true!

Okay so another RECAP! Here is day UNO (I speak spanish daily, don't judge me)

Here is the view from my plane window, can you tell what it is? The Tetons!

We Landed at JFK around 4 and took a cab to our hotel on times square. As starving Moss woman we immediately found a fantastic pizza place to eat all thanks to the kind police officer who pointed us to John's Pizza. Now at the moment I took my first bite of the amazing pizza below, I was a HUGE fan of NY. New York food rules but gosh it is expensive. As I am writing this I keep coming to the conclusion that I am a terrible writer. Most of my sentences end in exclamation points and I am just apologizing now for this.

After our meal we walked along 5th Ave, Rockefeller Center then back to Times Square. The amount of people that walk around so late at night was unbelievable. And those buildings! Wow! Talk about gigantic. I couldn't help but look up and wonder who worked there and what all of those people did for fun. Alicia Keys was right when she called this place a "concrete jungle". Looking down streets all you can see is canyons of buildings.

This is the view from our hotel window! The elevators that took us to our 40th floor were much like the Rocket at Lagoon except I don't have to pop my ears when I ride the rocket.

After getting 4 hours of sleep, a 4 hour plane ride, 2 hour taxi ride and walking for hours... we were completely pooped.

2011-05-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

12,408 hours of studying

53 classes
3 majors
thousands of $
5 different jobs
ALL IN JUST
4 years

I thought it was never going to happen!

I got lucky enough to spend my first semester of college at BYU-Hawaii with my best friend/amazing sister Haylie! It was a rough start into classes with Stats and Bio. To make it worse, I lived right on the beach and had a hard time not playing instead of going to class. Lets just say, I got my first C and realized how unprepared I was for higher education.

My first year of school at USU I majored in Music Therapy and it was one painful year. I was the only one in my classes that hadn't spent most of my life studying music. So after my first year of school and loosing my scholarship, I came home. I decided school was not my thing. At this time I also was diagnosed with ADD. Hilarious I know!

Eventually, I enrolled at Weber State and tried to figure out what exactly I was going to do in life. My mom came across Speech-Language Pathology. I was pretty much sold. I did all of my pre-req classes at Weber. By this time my Adderol was making me ill so I just learned how to deal with my ADD.

I lived up in Logan the summer before my junior year and the whole time I debated between going to school or going to work and traveling. Until I met Cam, who practically got me stay. I spent the next two years in the library with Cam and hoping I could graduate this time.

So... I guess you can see why it is such a huge deal to me!

We started off the day at Snow Hall to help Zach move. It was so funny to see where we both spent our first year at USU.

I didn't trip! That was my biggest fear!

After the ceremony we decided to take some pictures then went to Old Main to take a few where there weren't sooo many people! I only posted a few because it takes so long to post pictures on this bloggerdoodle!

My number one supporter! I couldn't be more lucky :)

We ran into Kent and Jord!

I LOVE this picture because Mimi and Kar are in the background being "munchkins"! I also love it because my Mom and Dad have dealt with me for 16 years of being a pain and the butt during school! They are some tough people!

BEST PICTURE EVER!!! I just wish Hay and Chris were there!

My dad is quite the photographer!

After all the picture taking we went down to my parents house for an AMAZING feast! My dad got meat shipped from our favorite place in California. We had pollo asada and carne asada. Then one of my dad's employees and him mother made us some authentic beans, rice, guac and salsa! Just the way i love it! REAL Mexican food :)

My sweet mom spent DAYS working on this fried ice cream! It was definitely the cherry on top of a great fiesta. Cam kept talking about how it was the best dessert he has ever had, and he is quite a dessert connoisseur.

Here is our feast! Yummmmm I'm craving some carne now..

It was such a blast to have so many people come celebrate such a big event in my life. I am so lucky to have such a support system! Thank you ALL! Also, thank you Haylie for supporting me from afar! She has been the best to help me out when I am down!

HURRAY!!!!

Spring Semester ReCap!

2011-05-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Since it was my last semester at USU and Cam had a very stressful semester, we did not get out much. Here is a short recap of what we did get to do and what I actually took pictures of. I kinda wish I would actually take pictures again! I missed so much!

Before Hay had to go back home we went as a fam to CPK and go kart racing!

We were so happy our papa came to eat with us! I just love my family!

I love this twerp

Easter was nice! We spent the day with the Moss fam eating candy and relaxing! It was so fun to see Sof look for the easter eggs! She was so excited to see Cam and I because it has been so long! She has been learning about last names so she calls Cam "Cam Moss" and he dad "Devin Beck" it is so cute! And she is learning spanish so good. She says the funniest things like, "Tag, drink of water vamanos!"

Got my first chocolate egg... it was delicioso!

Dying eggs was an adventure!

THEN we went to the Miller's for a great egg hunt and a fabulous family party!

I love rockin out in the car with this little thang!

One of the best weekends we had was when we went to babysit the Miller teens while the parents were in Roatan. The best part was taking Mimi, Nate and Trevor to Nicklecade. Nate was such a blast! We listened to Disney music in the car and he knew every word to every song. We played games for hours and used all our tickets to buy him a lot of toys!

Best kids ever! We love these two a million! Mimi hung out with us every day we were at home with the teens (I keep wanting to call them kids). It was way fun to take her shopping and to sushi.

I LOVE this kid most of all! Its a good thing we don't gamble because it was far too hard for us to stop playing all the chance games at Nicklecade. He is AWESOME at skeeball, crane game and the one game where you slide your coins down an try not to get hit by the cars! :) Getting married young is SO MUCH FUN!!!!

The Moss boys are like ninjas! Jumping on the tramp happens even when it is snowing out.

This gay thing happened and I thought I was going to die. BUT it was funny and the shelter we made was awesome.

We've made some AMAZING friends! Kelli and Alex played Halo online with us for months and now if I don't see them weekly I feel empty! Ha ha jk! Not empty but I sure do love these two! We went to baby animal days despite the snow! We got to see some sweet baby cubs and we both won frogs that we are going to mate!

Cam's dad comes up for rides every once and awhile! It makes Cam so happy to get to ride with someone! What makes it better is it is his dad!

I love making desserts with Kelli!

I threw a bridal shower for my dear friend Kailee! She is getting married on my Anniversary! I am so excited for her!