15 minutes South of St. George, Exit 22

Welcome to Siver Reef.... the closest ghost town. Let me rephrase that, ghost town in which there are people building new houses, therefore not being a ghost town anymore.
Dylan and I are trying to make the most of St. George while we are here, so on the weekends we like to do fun things such as explore. We found this cute little ghost town online, filled with pictures of old mine shafts, houses, a cute little church, and a creepy cemetary. We were so excited to explore, and when we got there what did we find?
That's right, a new housing development. What a load of crap. The museum was abandoned, but don't worry we got it unlocked and looked around inside anyways.




Falling down a mine shaft. Don't worry, we made it out alive.
Dylan is so brave. He went down before me to make sure there were no bandits or cowboys to harass me. What a great husband.

Baby Steps

Not to justify myself, but tonight I made a BIG improvement. Usually, Tuesday is Biggest Loser Night. Translation= I sit on the couch in my scrubs, eat dinner and dessert while in the same position, and do not work out...that's right ironic since I am watching people work their little butts off. I am obsessed with this show, and I can't miss a minute of it, so somehow working out and taking care of myself don't seem to fit in between the time I get home from work and the time this epic show starts. But tonight, I worked out BEFORE the show, and I even ate a sugar free healthy choice bar for desert:)

Marth Stewart would not be proud.

Since starting college, I have looked at myself as being very independent in the kitchen. I was the go-to girl for domestic things. I guided my BFF neighbors on nutrition and calorie counting, made Rachel Rays 30 minute meals look inconvenient with my 20 minute masterpieces made for one, and even taught a dear sweet roomate how to boil water (love ya Katie). I have not lost my touch since being married, I am more domestic than ever before. The meals I have created have quite suprised myself even. There are still no excuses for last week. My kitchen was a war zone for me. The first disaster was over a dish full of MINT BROWNIES. For any one who has made these delectable delights you will know the time it takes to make them. First you bake the brownies, then cool in the fridge. Then you make the icing, then cool in the fridge again. Then you make the chocolate icing, then cool AGAIN in the fridge. It is quite the process, and I was on the second again in the fridge when I opened the door to this:

Yes, brownies on my floor, brow brownies on the floor.
I was devastated, Dylan was devastated. We were going to dinner at a friends house, and all we had left to take was chips and dip, pathetic.

My next mishap was only a few days later. It was Wednesday, my early day from work, my happy day. I was opening a harmless can of chicken, a food most "fake vegetarians I don't eat red meat" will even eat, when I saw red blood which I knew was not from the can o' bird. I sliced my knuckle on a can of chicken, and had to return back to work to get stitches.




My life is falling apart, well atleast my casserole dishes and flesh are.

Marriage is about.....

Compromise. Like when I agree to write Dylan's Communications Essay so we can go to Cafe Rio this weekend. Sounds like a good deal to me :)

7 hours of Provo...actually Draper.

Last weekend, Dylan and I drove to Draper for Camille and Russ's wedding. We were there for exactly 7 hours max. The trip consisted of driving, going to the temple, going to eat lunch, catching up with a mission buddy (not mine, Dylan's), going to the reception, and driving some more. We left at 9 am and got home a little after midnight. It was a LOOOONG day, so worth it though. Now is the time we can do things like this while we don't have kids (I hope I didn't just jinx us), so we do whatever we want most weekends. Here is a summary of our quick trip:

Rollers in the hair on the way up... I got ready in the car. Seriously, with a curling iron too. I am good, no burns.

Dylan the whole ride, reading his fave books on sorcery and wizardyry.

Typical Natty and I.

Cheesy prom type pics with my BFFs. We think we are way funnier than we actually are, we know this, but that is why we are BFFs.

The beautiful bride and me. She looked gorgeous and so happy. I didn't even realize I got NO pictures of the husband and I. He was there, and he is the best for driving with me. I love my husband, he is the sweetest.

I love Wednesdays!

Wednesday is the best day of the week. I currently don't work on Wednesdays for the rest of the summer (don't worry I am still getting my 40 hours a week), and Dylan doesn't work until the afternoon. So...Tuesday is like a mini Friday for us in the middle of the week. This Tuesday we went to a dollar movie, and when we came out there was the most amazing lightning storm. We got some cones from McD's and went to the top of Skyline drive and sat and looked at the cool storm (how romantic are we?). BUT, our night was rudely interupted by the cops coming and telling us we could not park there. Welcome to St. George, where cops apparently have nothing better to do.

An Extra Holiday in Utah?

Welcome to Pioneer Day my friends... and excuse to get a paid holiday at work, sleep in, and eat lots of ice cream. It is pure wonderful I tell you, just wonderful. Poor Dylan had to work, but I on the other hand had the day off. We spent the night eating dinner at our friends' house, the Seegmillers, and then went to the ROADRUNNERS baseball game.


Meet Lewis. (Trying to be discreet I took a picture of the mascot, but the real focus of the picture is in the righthand corner)He was the voice of the game, yelling crazy comments at everything.... and I mean literally everything. He basically commentated the game from the stands, though we aren't sure if he was drunk or crazy. Favorite Lewis quotes of the night:

"Stroke his ball, batter"
"Who do you think you are, Willy Mays?"
TOP FAVE " Nice cupcakes!" yelled during the cupcake eating contest in between innings.
Still don't know how to turn the pictures to right side up.

I love shaved ice. My fave spot in the whole world is Bahama Bucks in Mesa, AZ. BUT, since I have not been able to return there to eat one in quite some time, the ones at the Roadrunners games will have to do. There was a little surprise of coldstone ice cream in the bottom which I LOVED, but no cream on top :(
I was learning to use the features on my camera, including this one which was the blue hue feature, not so attractive. I am so thankfulfor the pioneers who made it all the way to Utah, not just so we could have a fun filled day off work, but for all the sacrifices they made as well.

Half a year :)

On Friday, Dylan and I celebrated our 6 month Anniversary!!! Ok, well we didn't really celebrate, we both went to work and spent the majority of the night driving to American Fork, Utah to see our new nephew. (Provo peeps, don't hate. I will be back next Friday. This week was a family thing, but don't think I didn't want to be South of Campus going to dance parties).
It is crazy to think it was merely half a year ago that I was married to the love of my life, I know everyone calls their spouse that, but it is a rightful saying because if it isn't the love of your life you probably made a mistake :) But it has been a blissful 6 months. Everyone says marriage is hard, has it's ups and down, yada yada yada. But really, the biggest fight Dylan and I have had is whether or not we should drink bottled water or water from the Brita pitcher we have. ( I personally think the Brita is the choice to go with). Really though, life is wonderful. It's been fun and challenging , but the joys of marriage are the sweetest thing ever. We are just as in love as we were on our wedding day, maybe 10 lbs fatter, but still in love :)I can't wait for the rest of our lives together, and the forever and ever that we get to spend as The Carlisles. Crazy to think it's been 6 months since this:
When we got to do THIS:

The top photo is courtesy of the oh-so-talented Annie Gerber, our amazing photographer. Check her blog out at Anniegergerphotography.blogspot.com

Growing up is Hard to do....

I never thought I would be a grown up, let alone be married to one. It is weird growing up and making decisions that are actually sensible and responsible. BUT, it's been a good change, and fun to have my best friend by my side as we've realized some things that our parents always told us but we never thought was true. The list includes the following:

1. The best time of day is in the morning. I always thought is was crazy that my parents woke up at 5 am, and though I do not wake up that early, I cherish the morning time I have. It's amazing how much I can accomplish by 9 AM. YES, I said 9 AM. I wake up and get stuff done by 9 AM, including all my errands for the day sometimes. I have realized it's OK to go to bed at 10:30, and contrary to previous thoughts of mine, it's not nerdy.

2. The more money you save the Better. As much as I love clothes, and love my money hanging in my closet, it is much better and sensible to have it sit in the bank.... in, eh hem, SAVINGS. I spent every penny I made at the good ol' chocolate factory when I worked in college, it was wonderful. But now, I am sensible, or at least I try to be. Going out to eat is great, but we have realized the more we save, the more BIG things we can buy and the more trips we can go on. It's crazy, but it's worth it.

3. Family is the most important thing in your life. Dylan and I are so lucky to have such great families. They have supported us in everything we have done separately and as a couple. It's so great to go home and be with them, all of them. We keep thinking we want to go on all these fun beach trips, but every time we have saved enough money and gotten work off, we just want to go home and be with our families. It's great.

These are just a few words of wisdom for the day, probably useless to most people, but they are the things in our life that have been our lessons learned over this short time we've been US.

Happt Birthday America

This past weekend, for the Fourth of July, Dylan and I took a little trip to our favorite place... Albuquerque, New Mexico, aka Home. It was so great to be home for the long weekend (Friday was a paid Holiday at my work, holla. It is great having a real job). We had frequent flyer miles from all the many many times my parents flew me home during college, and being poor newlyweds it was the perfect time to cash in on the favor. I flew home on Wednesday afternoon because I was off work the next few days. Dylan couldn't come home until Thursday night, late late Thursday night, because he had to work. (He is currently working at a place called AllConnect in which he sets up cable, internet, gas, and electric for people. It's neat and he is happy. We are so blessed:)
I spent Thursday shopping with my mom, the best thing in the world. She is so nice to me and buys me lots of things that I can't afford. Then on Friday Dylan was there!!! It was the longest time we hav spent apart since being married, and it was very lonely without my best friend. We went to an amazing Mexican restaurant called Los Cuates. Amazing, hot, hit the spot. I miss good Mexican food. If you haven't eaten Mexican food in New Mexico, you just won't get it. It is not the same (or as good) anywhere else in the world. Try it, then talk to me if you don't agree:)
We saw Transformers on Friday night, and played games with Dylan's family. Then on Saturday went to a little Fourth of July breakfast, and then in the afternoon played volleyball at Dylan's house with his family and my family. Fireworks were fun with all the little kiddos. We don't get to see them enough, and we miss our family A LOT! Sunday we went to church, went to lunch with my grandparents ( they don't do the whole keep the sabbath day holy thing, don't judge), and then flew home. It was a perfect trip, too short, but perfect. We love going home, and can't wait to move back to the 505 one day......hopefully one day soon:)
Parker. He isn't looking at the camera, but I promise he is cute.


All the Carlisle Kiddos. The most well-behaved kids ever, and sooo cute too.
We love them!
Happy little Abbers!