ZOLA

We'd like you to meet the newest addition to the Raymond family....

ZOLA

Yesterday, on our way to the grocery store we ended up taking a different route than we normally do. No specific reason ... its just the way we ended up going. Strangely enough our topic of conversation was about when we first got Togo, something that we don't talk about too often. Then on the corner was a sign that said "puppies for sale". I told Codee to stop so we could look, we didn't have to get one I just wanted to look. Sure enough they were Brussels Griffon puppies, the same breed as Togo... and one that is very uncommon and hard to find.
While on the corner playing with the puppies Codee looks at me and says, "I think we should get one, pick one." We have always said we wanted another dog that was the same breed but were planning on waiting until next spring/summer to start looking.
We debated on whether to get the shy, timid girl or the rambunctious, playful boy. We left and told the people that we would call them shortly with a decision. We figured it'd be good to have a dog that balanced Togo out. He's wild and crazy and she's shy and calm.
And so... she was ours. We went back and picked her up. It just felt so right to get her. The fact that we had taken a different route to the store than we normally do. The fact that we were talking about Togo when he was a puppy and when we first picked him up. And then, there she was. She fits in perfect with our little family.

WELCOME ZOLA!

HONEYMOON IN THE ROCKIES

We really wanted to go to the Caribbean for our honeymoon... but who wants to go to the Caribbean in the middle of June? So maybe we'll save it for this fall/winter.

We didn't book our honeymoon until 2 weeks before the wedding... the wedding financial situation got a little complicated at the end. But I really think we went to one of the most beautiful places in the world.... "Little Switzerland" or Ouray Colorado.

The first day of our honeymoon got off to a bad start...
2 hours before the wedding, I was just finishing my hair and makeup when I stood out of the makeup chair and my fake nail ripped off... taking my real fingernail with it. Uh... ouch! I didn't have time to worry about it so we stopped the bleeding, glued it back on and went and got hitched. So the next day I knew I had to go to the doctor. After 3 shots that wiggled into my joints, the doctor detached the rest of my fingernail. We'll just say it hurt really bad. And in 6-8 months I'll have a new jacked up fingernail. So after the doctor we drove 6 hours to the beautiful Ouray Colorado. Our room was so sweet! It was a lodge/western theme. By the time we got there all that was open was an Irish pub with some yummy chicken strips.
Beautiful Ouray!

Our SWEET Honeymoon Suite!





Day 2 was a better day... we woke up and ate breakfast at a place called Bulow's Bistro... ammmmmaazzing! I had cinnamon roll french toast and Codee had a ranchero breakfast burrito. Then we walked all the shops in Ouray... which didn't take us very long. Ouray has a population of only 800. So we drove to another town near by called Telluride. (Tim McGraw has a song about Telluride) Well in Telluride they were holding a HUGE bluegrass festival. The had miles of tent cities before the town and they had sheriffs closing the town off. We told them it was our honeymoon and they let us in. Which by the way... the sheriff smelled like weed and when we got into the town we realized everyone smelled like weed. And I was the only girl in the entire town that was wearing a bra! So the place was basically a hippie fest. After grabbing some ice cream we left and headed back to Ouray.

The Hippies in Telluride

"Sweet Life" sweets in Telluride


Day 3 we went to a gold and silver mine for breakfast and after eating we took a tour into the mine. They took us 1800 feet into the mine and showed us the tools they used and exactly how they used mine out the metals. Sounds kinda boring but it was really fascinating. After the mine we drove 45 minutes to another time called Silverton. Silverton was a popular town for old time cowboys like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. It is 9300 feet in elevation... so it gets very cold in the winter and only about 100 people live in the town during winter. It is so high in the Rockies that the town is basically snowed in all winter. Several people had told us to eat dinner at a place called "Handlebars", a funky biker bar that was by far the best food we ate on the whole trip. Definitely worthy of a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode on Food Network. Silverton is also one of the main stops for the "Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad". It was a train used to get mining metals out of the mining towns between Ouray and Silverton. Well we heard this train ride was pretty sweet so we booked our tickets for the next day...
Getting ready for the mine







Day 4
We woke up and headed back to Silverton to get ready for our train ride. We stopped in town to do some shopping have a funnel cake before our long ride. $200 bucks for two coach class tickets... and that took us on a 4 hour hour train ride through rocky mountain cliffs to the town of Durango (and a bus ride back to Silverton). The train was a coal running train so we were covered in soot by the time it was time. I can't even tell how GORGEOUS the ride was! I'll let the pictures do the talking.... And we had dinner in Durango at an fabulous little restaurant next to the tracks. Best burger we've had in a while...








Day 5 we hung out in Ouray for a few hours and did some window shopping then we took the long drive back to Salt Lake. My parents made dinner for us and Codee's mom and brother came down from Logan to meet us. We ate dinner and opened our wedding gifts. Can I please say that we got soooo much sweet stuff

MR. & MRS.

The wedding is over and life is starting to go back to normal. I guess I can say normal... we've never been married before so we're transitioning into what I'm assuming will be our normal life. But we'll talk about our new life together and transitioning in another post. This post is about the wedding.

Our wedding day was perfect. Absolutely perfect... It was even better than I would've ever imagined. The garden where we had our ceremony was so beautiful, so striking, so absolutely amazing and gorgeous that I can't find a word to describe it (not even the thesauruses had a better word suggestion). The colors from the flowers, the blue sky, the warm sun... and it was all just so bold. Yes... bold.
The music timed perfectly, my dad looked so happy and Codee cried. My handsome husband I saw standing under the arbor was the best thing my eyes has ever seen. I can't describe the feeling I had walking through the windy mossy path. It was just perfect. I don't remember anyone from the ceremony but me, him, Bishop Gray and our vows. I couldn't see anything else but the moment I was in.

Our reception was a blast! It was so good to see so many people. I never got bored with our line. Although I'm sure my bridesmaid and the groomsmen were bored out of their minds. Our cake was delicious and thank heaven he didn't smash it in my face. Our dessert crepes were fabulous. First dance was like no other dance I've danced before.. and the entire night was AMAZING.

...MORE PHOTOS COMING TOMORROW...

The Hoover Dam

Being a student of Engineering, and also working in the field there are a few projects in our country's history that I find very fascinating. One of these projects was the Hoover Dam. On our recent trip to Vegas to visit our friends Seth and Kirie, we had the chance to go to the Dam. Before I start, I probably need to apologize to Seth, Kirie, and Rachel for all my random Dam facts, and proving what kind of nerd I really am. Now, all you blog followers get to put up with a little more nerdery as I once again share random (useless) information about the Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam began being built in 1931, and was completed in 1936. The Dam is built in Black canyon and was originally to be called the Boulder Dam. The name was changed later in construction and surprised many people. 112 people died in the construction of the dam. The first man to die, ended up being the father of the last man to die in construction(Random Fact #1)

The dam itself was poured in sections, like legos. Refrigerated water lines were placed through the concrete helping to cool the dam down. Concrete generates quite a bit of heat, so these lines were necessary with the amount of concrete. If they hadn't ran the water lines, the dam would've taken an estimated 125 years to cure, and probably would have ended up cracking and crumbling(Random Fact #2)

The dam is 660 ft wide at the bottom and narrows as it goes up. The amount of concrete in the dam is astronomical. There is enough concrete in the dam to build a 2 lane highway from San Francisco to New York City.(Random Fact #3)

Because of the terrorist attacks and the potential threats (Thanks alot Bin Laden) a new bridge is in the process of being constructed so that it will not longer be necessary to drive across the dam. This bridge is equally as impressive as you can see from the pictures. Many of you may not know what I do for a living, but I inspect construction projects, and have been able to work on 5 bridges, (None of this magnitude) I cannot wait to one day have my hand in the building or designing of a bridge this impressive. Also, we want to thank Seth and Kirie for letting us stay with them and showing us a great time. We missed them as soon as we left, thanks guys, can't wait to come down again.

Rachel throwing a quarter into Lake Mead off the top of the dam. She wished for a new baby(I'm pretty sure)

This is the new bridge. Look how high it is from the river.

The new bridge from underneath

Looking down the face of the dam

Lake Mead

Water intake towers on the Arizona side

All 4 of us. Thanks again guys, we had a great time