snow.

the hatchs came to visit us for austin's commissioning ceremony, and of course we had to do something super fun while they were here.

aannndd we went snowmobiling! it was some crazy awesome fun, the kind of fun that reminds you why you love the frigid 15 degree weather that brings the soft, fluffy powder that is so fun to ride fast and flip in with no repercussions. 

with austin and i together on a snowmobile, of course we flipped...again, again...and again. only once we narrowly missed a tree...and i won't tell you who was driving that time.

thanks hatchs! we always have such fun adventures with you! 

sir.

2nd Lieutenant Austin Hatch, Armor Officer of the United States Army.

and yes, people now address him as, sir.

so we made it. finally. the commissioning. after years of juggling school, weekend traingings, 5:30 am PT, ranger challenge, the month of LDAC, air assault school, mountain warfare school, 'training' in chile, CTLT in texas, and much much more...we finally made it to commissioning. what a day to celebrate.

the swearing in

so each candidate gets to choose two individuals to put on their gold shoulder pins which i think has something to do with their rank--not really sure what these things represent but that is besides the point. so naturally austin asked his mom and i to do the honors. well those suckers are wayyy harder to attach than you can imagine. and of course austin wanted it to be first time special, so we didn't get any practice runs before the actual event. so there we are, infront of the whole crowd and couldn't get them on. i'm convinced we probably took a good 5 minutes longer than anyone else's appointees did on attaching these suckers. luckily we both had issues, so we struggled in embarrassment together..

and i'm happy to report after much struggle we got them on

austin's first salute to our great friend cameron!

cameron is a wonderful person, has helped us numerous times, and was a groomsman in our wedding.

 we were so excited to have him apart of the ceremony!

 we  felt so blessed to have many friends and family come and support austin 

as we prepare to leave utah we will be sad to miss the wonderful friendships we've made here. 

and i have to give a special mention to the stiles. lifelong friends of both austin and i, they were the ones who originally introduced us. and with pictures like these....

we know we'll never quite find other friends like you.

and for those who need a little update: austin was invited to participate in a pilot language program, learning mandarin chinese. we've decided to accept the offer and will be moving to columbus, georgia to begin classes in january. after a semester of 13 chinese credits, austin will move on and begin his armor office training of A-BOLC. we are excited for the opportunity and look forward to army life! 

sentiments.

before we left utah, we wanted to make sure we paid one last visit to the tree that made it all happen. well here it is people, two years later and the famous tree still stands, where all the magic started with a simple little question.

flashback: 2010

flashnow: 2012

still living happily ever after every day

moab.

camping in the rain. typically a miserable and poor choice. but luckily our water proof equipment held up. plus moab is a one-of-a-kind place, so how could we say no.

our camping spot right on the colorado river. cant. beat. this. beauty.

and then the floods came.

but we still got some awesome hiking in. 

warning: picture overload.

the famous corona arch! this is where people strap in at the top, jump, and swing off. definitely worth checking out the youtube video. no swinging for us though. 

1 mile hike with 1000 feet incline = worlds biggest stair master

note: we pretty much hiked straight up from the river to this point- it doesn't look steep but it was a killer.

we also got to go to the famous arches national park. arches features the famous red rock arch formations that are pictured on utah memorabilia. 

dare-devil aust!

 walking along the top

moab--another check off the utah bucket list!

the mountain.

Timpanogos. its the mordor of the utah valley. second highest mountain in the utah wasatch range. so we decided to conquer. it is most popular to hike the mountain through the night and watch the sunrise from the summit. so here it the 3 am wake up to hike the 16 mile round-trip.

not a morning person

we summitted just after sunrise. and it was beautiful but the bitter wind froze our nay-nays off.

from the summit you can see all of utah valley

hike down was much more pleasant

check that off our utah bucket-list!

red butte.

as part of a class activity, austin and i paid a visit to the red butte gardens in salt lake city. if you have not been to the gardens before, i highly recommend it. not only are the gardens bea-u-ti-ful but there are a ton of fun little nooks

we had a blast exploring. each garden has a different theme: roses, medicinal plants, etc. the highlight for us was definitely the childrens garden (obviously). 

we probably enjoyed the lizards the most...maybe a little too much