It's August and it's freaking hot!!!

Hello friends and family,
 So, it's kind of hot outside. It seems like no matter how long we run the air conditioner it's still not enough to keep the sweat off of us. To beat the heat, Miriam and I took a trip to the Coralville Reservoir to enjoy the sandy beach and nice cool water. It was a while since we were last there, our best estimate was about two years, so quite a long time, but it was nice to get back and enjoy the outdoors.
 Things have really started to pick up with my football officiating. Yesterday I officiated a scrimmage in Anamosa and I realized just how much I had yet to learn. Despite a lot of questions and missteps, the experienced refs were more than willing to give us pointers or tell us some techniques that help them. My first official game is still about three weeks away, but I'm already excited to get working and have fun!
 Miriam's eating leftover Olive Garden, thanks to a special treat from the Garrett parents (thanks mom and dad!) and we're just about to start hanging pictures up and watch football (I agreed to help hang up but we had to watch football while doing it, haha). Hopefully this week goes by fast, the weekend sure does.

It's Gone!

Well, after a long-long time of growing out my hair to donate it...it is officially cut off and on its way to being made into a wig for cancer patients who have lots their hair.  Basically, I have been growing out my hair since Braedan and I started dating.  It was a long couple of years trying to grow it out, but it is definitely worth it in the end.  A woman, somewhere, will benefit from my hair in a wig and then I got a cute haircut out of it as well.  Here are my before and after pictures :)

Please Vote for "June Skies!"

Hi everyone!  We hope this hot and humid weather is not getting the best of you.  I just keep telling myself that somewhere in January, I will be wishing for warmer weather, so we might as well enjoy it while it lasts!
So, on a whim, I entered a photo in a photography contest of Shutterfly.  Now, what would be spectacular is if I could get all of your votes for my picture titled "June Skies."  This is the picture (from our honeymoon) I entered:

So, what I need is:
1)  after 12:00 p.m. tomorrow (Monday), go to shutterfly.com,
2)  scroll down to the bottom right hand side of the page and clicks on the Summer Freedom Photo Contest. Here's a link to the picture! Awesome picture
3)  please click on the box and read the directions on how to vote for my picture.  My picture is titled "June Skies" and the picture with the most votes wins...so please vote!  
 Thank you!!!

One month

 Miriam and I have been married about a month now and the first thing I think of is where has the time gone? It seems like not long ago I was driving down I-380 through one nasty thunderstorm on my way to the rehearsal dinner to kick off the festivities. The past month has been a blur of activity. A day doesn't go by when we don't work on our apartment in some way, putting pictures up, rearranging furniture, taking down my posters :P But it's been so exciting at the same time.
  Thank you to everybody for making our first month of marriage absolutely amazing! We hope every month in the future is just as good, if not better :)

Blackberries in July

What a great couple of days we've had!  We spent the weekend with my family and then celebrated my birthday today with them also.  It was so much fun to see them multiple times in a row!  Braedan and I feel so blessed with our families!
My home church is in the process of calling a new pastor to lead the congregation, so this is an exciting time for the congregation.   On Sunday, we had a special congregational meeting about calling the new pastor and everything is starting to move forward after many months of having an interim pastor.  Braedan and I are also going to start the process of "church shopping" in the area.  Most of the weekends for us are spent out of town, so we haven't started the process yet...but we are anxious to start.  It is important to us find a church together.

Yesterday after church while the rest of the family was having their afternoon siestas, my dad, Taffy and I went to a friend's farm (in fact, we lived at this farm at one time) to pick blackberries.  Well, my dad went to pick blackberries and I went to take pictures and Taffy went, well, to snoop around like a Golden Retriever should :)  Here are some of the pictures I took from our little adventure.  If you didn't know already, I really enjoy photography--especially black and white pictures.  I see so much beauty in the beautiful world God has given us.  These are only a few of the pictures I took.  I took about a gazillion pictures and got about a million mosquito bites in the process...but it was worth it. 

Settling In

Well, it has been a while since we last posted, but we haven't forgotten about you!
In the past week, we've been settling into married life a bit more now that we're back home. For the majority of our relationship, we have been a long distance couple. We would see each other about once a week on the weekends. Now, it is so nice to not to have our nightly phone calls--because instead we have actual face to face conversations! It is so nice to be able to live together and see each other every day! While it is an adjustment for each of us, because this is uncharted territory--we are just so happy to be together!
We are also settling into some roles as husband and wife. I have discovered my love for cooking! My parents are great cooks and love to cook, so I never really cooked much at home. Now, however, I love scouring my cookbooks and trying new recipes out. So, while I am the planner of meals and the chef of the house; Braedan is an excellent "logistics" man. Meaning, he is the one to always get the mail, he will take out the garbage whenever I ask, and is the one to go on errands if they are needed. He is just great!
Recently, one of Braedan's favorite meals was this great recipe. I thought I would post it on here for you all to enjoy. It is a really simple recipe called "Baked Taco Dish."

1 med. bag Doritos, crushed
1(14-16 oz.) can refried beans
2 lbs. ground beef, browned and drained
shredded lettuce, as desired
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
chopped tomatoes
2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

Put half the chips in the bottom of a 9x 13" pan. Add taco seasoning to
browned ground beef. Stir in beans; mix well. Layer on top of chips. Bake at
350* for 20 minutes, until bubbly. Remove from oven; add layer of lettuce,
tomatoes, and cheese. top with remaining chips.

Well, we are hoping to post some pictures soon--however we're still figuring out the ins and outs of our blog.
Ciao!

Mmmm....tacos

Miriam is making some sort of "taco bake" thing and it smells delicious. We're currently waiting for her family to get here so we can eat, but I don't know if I can wait that long!

I don't know if this post served any purpose other than to let you know how hungry I am.