Birthday Adventures

Sometimes I’m a little reluctant to join Trent on his adventures. I worry about all the things I probably should be doing or I get a little nervous because I’m just not as brave as he is. Trent sometimes has to really talk me into these things. However, I am always so grateful that I went once we’ve gone. I love the car rides traveling to and from our destination, I love the wonderful conversations Trent and I have, I love the gorgeous views we stumble across and I simply love being with Trent. Every adventure we go on brings us closer and closer together and I couldn’t be more grateful.

This Saturday we went and explored Guardsman Pass up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The snow really hasn’t been great this year but we’re trying to make the most of it. We explored the trails, found big clearings to play in and had so much fun! There are so many gorgeous cabins up there and the scenery was spectacular.

I’m not very good on a snowmobile but I’ve loved learning more and more with Trent as we go more often. He is incredible on those things and they mostly scare me to death. It’s fun to have a way to travel to unknown spots in the mountains and explore places no one else has been. I’m hoping for one more big snow storm this year so that we can go at least a couple more times before the season is over.

It was Trent’s birthday on Friday and this adventure was part of the celebratory weekend. I’m so grateful to have such a wonderful husband who is always finding the fun and the good in life!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

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Its been a minute…

Hello there!

Like I said, it’s been a tad busy around here but I’m so glad to be able to find some time to jump on this space. It’s so much fun to interact with everyone and share a little bit about what’s going on in our little life.

This past summer was amazing and like summers usually do, it went by much too fast. We ended our summer with a trip to California with Trent’s family. This is the third year we’ve been back there with his family and it is such a wonderful trip. We rented a cute house on the beach and spent our days playing in the sun, swimming, exploring New Port Beach and spending time with Trent’s darling family. Trent was especially fond of this trip because he was able to go spear fishing. He already told me that our next big trip has to include a spear fishing adventure, he loves it.

This Albion Fit suit was definitely a favorite from this summer

After we got back from California, I jumped right into school. I am officially a 5th grade teacher, can you believe it!? My days are full of 29 kiddos that I absolutely adore and endless learning experiences. I am exhausted all the time but loving my job. Trent is going to school full time up at the University of Utah studying pre-med which also makes hime quite busy. He is taking Anatomy right now which is hard but he loves it! I’m so proud of all he’s doing and for the record he got an A on his last test 😉 It’s my job to brag. It’s been hard adjusting to me working full time and Trent taking some harder classes. I’ve had my fair share of meltdowns and Trent’s been amazing during everything. Changes in the rhythm of life are sometimes tricky but I’ve also noticed that they are here to remind us of the things that matter most.

We try to fill up any spare moments we have with each other and luckily we’ve still been able to go on our fair share of adventures since school began. We got to go to the Lady Antebellum concert with a co-worker of mine and it was the best concert I’ve ever been to. Nothing beats warm summer nights and dancing to country music. We were also able to spend a weekend up in Midway, go boating with my family and adventure out on a fun backpacking trip with my sisters and some friends. Trent and I pretty much froze to death in our hammocks but it was totally worth it…

 

Photo by Sam Featherstone Film and Photo

Photo by Sam Featherstone Film and Photo

All in all, things are going great around here. Life is a complete adventure with its ups and downs and everything in between. We love each and every one of you and are so grateful for all of your support.

Love,

The Wards

Tradition

Goodness, it’s been a little over a month since I’ve posted. Life’s been crazy but I’m glad to be back here. I’ll post a little catch-up post soon but this is a summer adventure that deserved it’s own little post.

My mom’s dad, Grandpa Frank as his grandkids call him, is amazing. Growing up he could always be found gardening, hiking, supporting, and loving. He’s in better shape than most of his grandchildren…one year he beat us all in the plank challenge. Impressive, I know. Not only is he active physically but his endless wisdom ceases to amaze us as we ask him for advice, help on papers, answers to tough questions and any other thing we need help with. His example of love for his wife, Grandma Kate, is nothing short of beautiful and we all look up to him in every way. His life hasn’t been perfect, you should hear some of his stories 😉 but he is a spectacular example of enjoying the journey and living life to the fullest.

As long as I can remember, every 24th of July he leads us on the Alta to Brighton hike. Supposedly this tradition has existed longer than I’ve been alive and every year we look forward to this summer adventure. Our numbers are growing rapidly, but every year this hike happens and it’s one of our favorite traditions.

We start early in the morning with Grandpa at the lead and we hike from Alta to Lake Mary near Brighton. At Lake Mary, we pull out the snacks. Pepper jack cheese, salami, crackers and grapes are all staples with some trail mix thrown in there as well. We talk, laugh and simply enjoy one each others company in the beautiful mountains.

After our lunch at Lake Mary we finished the hike down to Brighton Ski Resort.

Siblings who we couldn’t live without, cousins who are more like best friends, aunts and uncles who have raised us right alongside our parents. Family is truly what makes life so meaningful. How grateful I am for the traditions of life and for wonderful Grandpa’s, Grandma’s, parents, leaders and teachers who lead the way in this crazy journey we call life.

Arvo Adventure

Kelsie is one of my favorite photographers here in Utah. She took the engagements and bridals for one of my friends and I’ve been following her work for a couple months now. She is absolutely amazing! I love everything she does so when she asked Trent and I to come shoot with her I freaked out. I was so excited!! (Trent thought I was nutso). Kelsie and I were texting back and forth all day figuring out logistics and around 2:30 I headed up to Ogden for hair and makeup. The darling hair and makeup artist, Bailey, was a dream to work with and I was so impressed by everything she did. Go check her out on Instagram (@schiessstyles) She is phenomenal. After we finished that, we went up to Snowbasin for the shoot. The shoot was a product shoot for a company called Corda. They are a business that make these incredible rope sandals while providing sustainable jobs to underprivileged people in Ethiopia. It was incredible to listen to their story and  hear about all of the good they are doing. I was so impressed. Not only do the sandals support a great cause but they are insanely comfy! I didn’t want to take them off! On top of the sandals we got to shoot with a rad van, the arvo van. It was sweet. Trent and I totally wished it was ours. This shoot really was such a blast and I can’t wait to work with Keslie again. Here are some images for your viewing pleasure. 🙂

I can’t be done without saying how ridiculously grateful I am for Trent. He is the greatest adventure buddy anyone could every ask for, he does crazy things simply because I asked and he loves me so so so incredibly well. I love you T.

Photography: @kelsieemmphoto

Sandals: cordalife.com

Presidents’ Day Adventure

Thank goodness for Monday Holidays! It makes the weekend one day longer and the week one day shorter. Trent and I slept in, big time, went to a small pottery studio with some friends and then as we were driving home, Trent suggested that we take my little sisters rock climbing. For Christmas I had given Trent a rock climbing harness and although we are no professionals, it is fun for us! We called up the girls and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The day was gorgeous! It was a little windy down in the valley but as soon as we made it into the canyon the wind stopped. We hiked back to the wall, where Trent and I had been before, and it ended up being a perfect adventure. My little sisters were braver than I was and it was fun to spend time with them. Trent belayed all of us and I think we wore him out but he got to climb too! The day was beautiful and we all got so excited for springtime and now it’s snowing…gotta love Utah weather.

I think I will deem this sweatshirt my adventure sweatshirt because I wear it pretty much every time we do anything…

Trent literally pulled me off my feet.