~2014~

Wow! Can it really be 2015? 2014 flew by faster than I could have ever imagined. We had some bad times and A LOT of really good times. It flew by so quickly we hardly had time to relish 2014. Many of my friends are posting pictures of themselves with their new spouses and saying how grateful they are that they get to spend their first New Years as a married couple this year. Others are saying how grateful they are for a new little baby that came into the family this year. Well.... our first New Years being married was last year, and we DEFINITELY didn't have a new baby come into our little family! So needless to say, we are a little boring by social media's views this year. But with family scattered across the country I thought that maybe some of you would like a little re-run of our crazy, hectic, fun year even though there are no baby announcements or new marriages for us!
We started last year off by moving from out little apartment in Provo to my Aunt and Uncles home in Springville. We house sat while they lived in New York for a few months.
Right after moving we started school at UVU. Luke was majoring in Pharmacy and I was majoring in Nursing. It was a really hectic semester and we saw each other for maybe an hour of each day. And can I say we are SO HAPPY that, that stage of our lives is over for now?!
In March we decided to go to MOAB for our spring break and invited Luke's family to come with us. It was a pretty cold year but we had so much fun. Luke had never been to Arches National Park or to Canyonlands National Park so that was a real treat for me to show them all of the places that I had been and loved to see.

  Luke was a real trooper on that trip. He hiked clear to Delicate Arch! If you have ever hiked to Delicate Arch before you know that there is a steep incline for the first third of the trail and its pretty sandy the rest of the way. We had to take a lot of breaks for him to catch his breath and he even broke his brace in half while hiking, but HE DID IT! I was, and am still so proud of him for not giving up. He's a pretty stubborn dude and this time it paid off in a good way.

We spent the first part of 2014 with some really great friends who will always be close to us! The Sanders (Shane and Stephanie), who also happen to be Luke's cousins are some of our greatest friends. Luke and Shane are basically the same person and Steph and I clicked from the moment we met. We absolutely adore these two! We love spending time with them and vacationing and have spent countless hours just visiting or playing games.
Jessalyn and Danny Sorenson (Luke's cousins as well) spent a lot of time with us in Provo. We loved playing with their kids, talking about the latest news, playing games, and going out to eat with them!
We met the Derochies in our married student ward in Provo. We fondly call them "Our Canadians". They are some of the greatest people around! We love spending time with them. We played lots of games, bowled, went to movies, visited the Midway Ice Castles, and visited with them.  We were SO sad to have to move away from them in the spring but we have stayed in touch and plan on visiting them in Canada sometime VERY soon!

In May we finished our last finals at UVU--HALLELUJAH--and we packed our boxes and moved in with my parents while we looked for an apartment around Weber State Universtiy. It was only supposed to be for a month at most and ended up being three. My mom secretly loved having us there and wishes we still lived with her.
At the end of May, for the third year in a row we spent Luke's birthday in Bear Lake with the Tilley's (My Aunt and Uncle and their kids), Grandma Chris and Grandpa Buddy, and my family. We ate shakes from Lebeau's to celebrate and played a lot of games.
At the end of  June and beginning of July we went to California for a week or so for the Heaton family reunion. We got to stay in a beach house right on the ocean and it was a blast!

 We got Luke out boogie boarding for the first time since his accident. Lots of trial and error and he was certainly wiped out after but we got him up and he rode clear to the shore!

 We visited the Mormon Battalion where Luke sifted for gold. We walked through Old Town and bought old fashioned candy and other souvenirs.  We also went to the street market on the pier one night and Luke found himself a gyro which he was more than excited about. We ate at Ruby's diner on the pier and spent long days on the beach. It was fabulous! Thanks Grandma Heaton!
We went to Luke's Jepson family reunion in July at Beaver Mountain. This was my first official Jepson reunion that I attended and Luke's immediate family was also in charge of it. YIKES! It was a lot of fun getting to know all of his MANY cousins and playing big family games and visiting. The highlight of that trip was definitely being zip tied into our tent by Luke's menacing cousins who attack all newly married couples. Thankfully we had a pocket knife in our tent so we were far from worried. Luke's brother Zac on the other hand was not so lucky and had to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I'm still not quite sure how that ended!

The end of July we celebrated my birthday. Luke spoiled me and bought me tickets to the Tim McGraw concert and the USANA Amphitheater, took me shopping, and stayed the night in Salt Lake. It was SO much fun!

August was full of a lot of last minute fun! We went to the Ogden Temple open hosue and to dinner with Shane, Stephanie, and Stephanie's grandparents who we refer to as our Texas Grandma and Grandpa. We sure love them!

We ate at Waffle Love for our first time and that was a treat!

Luke and I borrowed my Dad's ATV and went up to Willard Peak for the day and then I took Luke to his first drive-in movie in Riverdale. I still am in disbelief that there isn't one drive-in movie theater in Hurricane or St. George!

We went camping with Shane, Steph, Mykey and Layne (all Luke's cousins) up at Payson Lakes. Which was way fun! The boys fished and the girls chatted all day.
We went to Bear Lake for the Stromberg (my Grandma Chris' family) reunion. We had a lot of fun on the beach and playing games. My mom's cousin brought wave runners and so kindly let us take a spin on one which Luke hadn't done since his accident. He was more than giddy I think. I don't think he realizes how much he misses all those things until he gets to do them again. It revitalizes him!

 We also went down south to Cedar Mountain for Luke's Hare family reunion. We got to stay in a huge cabin with all of his family and spent the weekend hanging out and playing games.

After that we started school at Weber State with our same degree goals. Fortunately but also a little unfortunately we decided to both switch our majors half way through to degrees that better suited our personalities. Luke changed his focus from Pharmacy to Sales which he'll finish with a bachelors degree in about two years, then go on to get a masters in business. I changed to Pre-Physicians Assistant with a bachelors in Health Promotions. I hope to finish my bachelors degree within the next three semesters and then apply to PA schools after that.
We moved into a new apartment right across the street from Weber State and we absolutely love it! We are still relatively close to my family and get to see them every weekend for Sunday dinner. We got called as Sunday school teachers for the 12, 13, and 14 year old kids and are very excited! We have also met some really good friends in our ward. The Smith's (Jeff and Andrea) live around the corner from our apartment complex in a cute little home and they are some of the sweetest people. The Illum's (Chad, Sadie, and baby Ruby) live right above us and they are also fabulous! We have been so blessed to call them our friends and have spent a lot of time together playing games, visiting the Draper tree of life, going out to dinner and visiting.

 In September Luke's cousins came up North and we spent the day at Lagoon which was purely comical. We love spending time with them and hope they come up to visit again soon! (That's a hint you guys!)

There were definitely a few more things that happened in our lives but this post is becoming very long so i'll paraphrase the most important events. My best friend from high school, Emma, got home from her mission to Guatemala in October and it's been awesome getting to spend so much time with her now that we live near each other again. Halloween was spent with Shane, Stephanie and one of our Canadian's Janeen. Thanksgiving was spent with Luke's family in Hurricane and one day out at my families ranch on the Arizona Strip. Christmas was spent with my family in Ogden. followed by a short three day trip to Hurricane to see Luke's family. We spent New Years Eve with some of our new friends and had a blast!
2014 was definitely a year for the books and I can't complain one bit about anything that happened. We had a lot of fun and spent too much money but we made more memories than money can buy! 2015 won't bring any more marriages, and hopefully no baby announcements, but I sure do hope it brings as much fun and love as 2014 did! Here's to a new year!