One year down, the rest of eternity to go!

A few weeks ago Rich and I celebrated our very first anniversary!  Leading up to our anniversary on Saturday, we were in Bear Lake with Rich's ENTIRE family.  I've been married to the guy for a year and just BARELY met the rest of the fam.  It was an eventful weekend and we all ended up having a lot of fun!  On Saturday afternoon, we took off to Salt Lake to celebrate our anniversary.  For those of you who know me at all, you know I like to be in control and always know exactly what's going on.. well we decided Rich gets to plan our first anniversary since I planned the honeymoon.  I had no idea what we were doing and I left it all in Rich's hands (it was a big step for me, alright?) ;) We decided to go check in to our hotel so we could get dressed and ready for dinner.  We were trying to find the place (he wouldn't tell me what it was called) and he "accidently made a wrong turn" so he pulled into a parking lot to flip around and I saw I sign that read,

Wohoo!  I've always wanted to stay a night there but it's a little on the expensive side for newly-weds (thank goodness for AWESOME military discounts).  We checked in and when we got to our room, this is what it looked like:

Pretty fun stuff!  He didn't tell me where we were going for dinner either till we got to the hotel.  We ended up going to the Roof (is that what it's called?) above the Joseph Smith memorial building:

In the morning we got breakfast at our door made right to order!  

This last year has been a lot of work, but it has been the best year of my life.  I couldn't have asked for a better husband.  Rich is so perfect for me.  I can't wait to spend the rest of eternity with him!  We had a great opportunity around our anniversary to live it up together knowing that Rich was leaving for a year.  He left just over a week ago and we got to do a lot, thanks to two amazing families, before he left.  Here are some pictures of the last family events we did before he took off:

Boating with some of my family (the ones who could make it that is)

Race and Bekah

Puttin' our feet in the water

Rich on the tube

Rich and Ashley

These next pictures have a short little story to go with them:  After blowing up the tube, it got tossed in the water in preparation to pull someone.  Bekah, being the fearless little girl she is just hopped off the edge of the boat onto the tube!  None of us were watching her like we should have been... it's a good thing she had a life jacket on :) I don't think she understood that it wasn't like a pool and the water was deeper than 6"

Rich being the good uncle he is hopped on with her so we could give her a short ride, they were sitting a little too far toward the front so when we started going...

They both got dumped.  Rich was fine, but as you can see, Bekah wasn't too happy.  My mom obviously thought it was pretty funny though (as did the rest of us, ha ha).

Once Race got used to the life jacket, he was in heaven on the boat.  He almost fell asleep a few times in Heidi's lap.

Eliza and Heather came a little later in the day and Eliza LOVED everything about boating.  When we went fast, Heather would try to block her face from the wind and Eliza would move her hand out of the way cause she wanted to see everything!  

Heather and I tried to take Bekah on another ride later in the day, but she was still traumatized from her experience earlier that day.. she was obviously not having as much fun as we were.

These last few pictures are from the Brandt family get together at Bear Lake.  During the short weekend we were there we played (a lot of) games, watched movies, rode 4-wheelers, went to a cave, rode "Big papa's" Harley, got famous raspberry shakes and went swimming with all of the kids.  We didn't get our camera out till the last day, so here are just a few pictures of us hanging out around the cabin we stayed at.

Chuck and Lauren.  It was either this picture with Chuck giving the stare-down, or the one with Lauren showing her chewed up food... figured this one was a little better, ha ha ;)

Jake and Rob. 

Joe and Lindsay making lunch for everyone with assistance from Jen and Ren

Rich showing off his new haircut.  I was so depressed..

Ashlee and Kez sharing lunch

Before Rich took off for the year we also went on a trip together to Kauai, spent a day at 7 peaks, attended my brother's wedding, and took family pictures with both of our entire families (I'll post them when I get them).  We had a lot of fun, and we're both hoping this year flies by as fast as the first year did!  

Rich is still in the states, so he still has his phone on him if anyone feels like sending him a text or giving him a call, chances are he can't answer, but I know he'd love to come back from his day to a voicemail from a family member or friend!  Also if anyone wants his address to send out letters let me know, and if you're feeling super patriotic/supportive you can even send a package :D Happy Independence day!

-Ashley

Army Wife

Why is it that I only want to blog when I am bugged about something? Seriously... you all (if anyone actually reads this... ha ha) would think I'm the biggest complainer if I actually followed through on all of the blogs I've wanted to write (or written and deleted) on things I've been bothered about.

This time I'm going to follow through.

So now that my blog is private and the whole world can't read what's going on in our life, for those of you who don't already know, Rich is getting deployed to Iraq. He leaves in June for a year.

Now, here's the part that bothers me.

Most of you when first hearing this feel inclined to say something to the effect of, "A whole year!? That is soooo long!" "Oh my gosh, that's so scary! I'm so sorry for you!" or "That sucks! What are you going to do while he's gone!?"

Trust me, that's not what I need to hear.

I know that a year without a spouse is a long time (for both him and I), and I don't need you to remind me how bad it's going to suck. I don't need pitty, I need support. The reason I didn't want to tell people right away is entirely due to the fact that I didn't want to hear all of that. I mean, it's great to know that people care and are concerned, but put yourself in our shoes now for a second. You get married and your spouse is in the military. You know that means that eventually they're going to be deployed. You just hope that that part comes later rather than sooner. Then comes the time you find out they're going to be leaving sooner than you thought. Right after your first anniversary in fact. You're sad and don't really know how to prepare for it because you've never done anything like this before. You and your spouse discuss what's going to happen while they're away, but seriously, no one really knows how a whole year is going to pan-out, do they? It's all kind of up in the air. Now, whenever you tell someone that they're leaving, would it be of help to you to know that they think it sucks too? How about if they emphasize how long a year is or tell you how sorry they are for you and how glad they are that their spouse isn't in the military? Yeah. Not helpful.

Granted, I would probably say something similar had I not been put in this situation myself, so I try to be patient and understand that not everyone has been in this position and they don't all understand.

So, in an effort to help myself and every other Army wife out there, PLEASE, when you hear that their spouse is getting deployed, offer words of encouragement. If you really are concerned and want to help them out, let them know that you'll be there if they ever need someone to talk to, to go to the grocery store with cause they're sick of going alone, and probably the best thing you could do is be there to distract them. I know from experience that time goes by VERY slowly when Rich is gone and I don't have anything but school to keep my busy. I sit and think WAY too much. On top of that, let them know that a year isn't really THAT long... (a mission is TWICE as long!) Try to keep the conversation positive. Not focused on the bad things. If you haven't done it, don't act like you know what they need to do. If you have done it, give advise freely ;)

Let's be honest, I've never been through this. These are just things that I've heard from others who have, or at least been through something similar. This sounds like what I'll need. Who knows, maybe I'm just going off for no reason and other people who are in my situation might think I'm crazy... I guess everyone is different.

Here's the part where I usually talk myself out of publishing these posts. Right now I'm thinking, "Geez, I just scripted out every conversation I'll ever have with anyone who's read this. I don't want people to be fake or not want to talk to me because they're afraid of hurting my feelings..." but I still kind of want to post it... So don't judge me, ha ha. I'll post something happier later.

Christmas

It's been nice to have a break from school! It was much needed and like always, I don't feel like it was long enough. Back to school for me and Rich on Monday. Here are a few things we did over the break:

We started off visiting Rich's parents and going back to the Manti temple for the first time since our wedding six months ago! It was good to be back in Rich's home town for a few days and of course we visited the neighbors who let us borrow their horse when Rich proposed..

After a few days in Manti, we continued up to Lindon with my family. We spent a lot of time with the nieces and nephews :) Rich's idea of baby sitting: reading the DVD case. Looks like it was working though!

It's not food, it's marker. She bit off the whole tip of the marker! This girl will eat anything from crayons to flour without a second thought.. leave her alone for two minutes and this is what happens, good luck mom!

We had my whole family at my parent's house for Christmas. The little kids were the greatest to watch. Grandma and Grandpa really pushed their patience when they "made" us do a little Christmas program with singing and all before we started opening any presents. Kaleb and Bekah were DYING to start!

My favorite. Christmas pictures courtesy of Nate's facebook page, ha ha. Starting on the left, Race (Heidi's first), Kaleb, Bekah and Eliza (Heather's three).

And the best part of the whole break, my brother got engaged! Unfortunately, she runs for the U and Nate runs for SUU, so they aren't going to see each other much till the summer... what an engagement.

For New Years, we went with some of our friends to Parawan and all hung out as couples. It was really fun playing games, eating food all night and of course, getting a New Years kiss at midnight for the first time! No pictures though, we were having too much fun to take time to get out the camera ;)

Our friends told us about a new pet store that opened in Cedar City just this week, so for our first official day of no school, we decided to go check it out. The had some interesting things there! Tons of snakes, a few different kinds of turtles, weird looking rabbits, hamsters, lizards, ferrets, a GIANT centipede, a huge scorpion, lots of birds and fish and a few cats and dogs. Check out the size of this guy! Nate, I'm pretty sure in a battle, this guy would beat a black widow. D.A.N. was weak.Anyone who knows the name of this animal is amazing... hint: it's got SUPER soft fur and "they" used to make coats out of them
Tiny little puppy. I think it was only six weeks old.
Also this weekend, we went to the "Electric Parade" on main street in Cedar. I love all of the cute little things small towns do. I wish there was more of that in Utah county. It wasn't that great of a parade, but I think the little kids everywhere enjoyed it despite the cold, ha ha. Here's santa on the fire truck:
Rich having SO much fun
The Grinch
Last weekend, my whole family came down to southern Utah for a Sam Payne concert at the Tuacahn theater. Sam is in my home ward and is in my parent's bishopric and everything.. I didn't even know he was a musician, but now I hear him on the radio all of the time here! We all stayed at a house in St. George (except Rich, :( he had drill that weekend) but it was fun to hang out with everyone! I was watching Race and Kaleb came over to see what was going on. They're both so darn cute :)
Alright, so one of our clinicals this semester was at the Surgical Center in Cedar. I've watched amputations, and other intense operations before, but for some reason, that week didn't go so good. I was just sitting there talking to the surgeon (found out we went to the same high school) and then I started getting light headed (all they were doing was teeth stuff, so I have no idea why) so I looked around, found the closest wall to sit down at, but I only got to the part where I turned to walk before I passed out! Sat down, and fell straight back. I guess I smacked my head pretty hard on the solid floor. Anyway, a nurse came and woke me up... but when she went to get a chair to roll me out in, I passed out again! I don't know what was wrong with me that day! It's pretty funny now, but I was pretty scared when it happened. After Rich came and took me home for the day, I guess he went out and got me this:
He's so darn cute. Not bad for growing up with all brothers ;)

School is over for the semester! I'm so excited.. Everyone in the SUU nursing program says that the second semester is the hardest, and that's the one I just finished. So hopefully it won't get any harder than this! Rich just finished as well and even after missing three weeks at the beginning of the semester he got all A's and B's! I'm so proud of him :) This weekend we're going to be going back to Manti for the first time since we got married. I'm really excited! Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post from it after the break!

Our Story

Ok, I'm sorta copying my sister here, but I don't care cause it's cute... This is the story of Ashley and Rich Brandt (from Ashley's view):

After I graduated from high school, I went down to Southern Utah University. While I was there, I met a bunch of people including Rich. We weren't really friends or anything, but we knew of each other from common friends. As the years went by, nothing happened, and after my sophomore year, I went with three of my friends to Hawaii for the summer.

While I was there one night, I got a text at about 11:00pm (3:00am Utah

time) from a friend, and then another one, saying the exact same thing,

from Rich. I responded to Rich first

and later found out that the two were working a night shift together and got bored so they both texted me to see

who I would respond to first. After

that, we would talk occasionally and I found out that Rich was transfering up to UVU that next year. I tried to convince him to stay at SUU, but I guess we weren't good enough friends at that point yet for my opinion to really matter ;)

When I got back from Hawaii, I had to go up to Salt Lake for an exit interview with the company we had been working for. I told Rich about it,

and he said we should do something that weekend while I was up. So after the interview got over, I gave him a call and he said he had military stuff going on that night. I figured that meant he couldn't do anything, but then

he asked if I would to go with him. I was kinda confused, till he explained

that it was the military ball they do once a year and it was "kind of a big

deal so you'll need to wear a dress". Ha ha, so not really knowing what was going on, I called up a friend to ask if I could borrow a dress from her, and luckily, she was going to the same thing that night! So I got a little more information about it from her and ended up having a blast at it! There was a live band, all of the dates were in semi-formal dress and those in the

military were in their class-A's. I felt like I was in the movie Pearl Harbor or something, ha ha... just kidding. But seriously. So, that was our first date... and that's a picture of us. Just kidding, we didn't take a picture that night, but I wish we would have.

After that weekend, I went home to Lindon a lot to see my family since I was gone the whole summer, and most of the time I would end up just hanging out with Rich instead. After a few months of that, we started talking about dating and a little later got into the possibility of marriage etc. etc. Most of my friends didn't even know we were "hanging out" or anything, and my family didn't know how serious we had gotten so when I told my parents we were probably getting married, they were a little shocked. To say the least. When I first mentioned it to my parents, we had already bought a ring and everything. Basically we just did everything by ourselves without the influence or opinions of everyone else. It was kind of nice that way :)

On April 10th 2009, we went down to Manti to visit Rich's mom and

see some of his friends. While we were there, we borrowed a neighbors horse and went up into the hills behind Rich's house and he proposed!

You can't see the ring, but this is right after he proposed. Here are some more pictures:

I'm sick of typing though so I'll post the rest next time. Maybe. We'll see how motivated I get ;)

Yes, I updated

Yeah, that's right. I'm actually updating my blog.. I didn't think I had any pictures to put on here, but after looking through both of our phones and my computer, I found a couple. Not promising they're very interesting though!

Rich and I went down to St. George earlier this year to watch Heather and Austin's kids during a wedding and decided to stay down there afterwards and make a date out of it. We watched a movie (I don't even remember what it was it's been so long) and then went to Outback for dinner. I usually love that place, but it just wasn't that great that time. Such a bummer. At least our waitress was super funny!

This is from my parent's house one weekend. Rich was helping me make cookies and he was a little bit confused. He doesn't cook much, but at least he tries! I'm teaching him slowly, ha ha. (check out that apron!)

In out first "apartment" (my grandparent's basement) I was trying to be healthy and buy fruits and vegetables. As you can see, we didn't eat them quick enough...

After about two weeks of school, Rich had to leave for three weeks with the military to Spain. He went out to learn more spanish there so he's more diverse in it I guess. I'm not exactly sure why he went, but it was the longest three weeks of my life!

This last weekend was Halloween! We thought about dressing up, but ended up being lame and just dropped by a couple of houses to see our friends instead. A little while before Halloween, I found out that Rich had never carved a pumpkin by himself in his life! Needless to say, we carved pumpkins this year. :) He did so good too! Check it out...

His is the pirate skull, and mine is our last name.

This was the extent of our dressing up. I don't wear contacts or anything, but my sister Heather let me have her contacts she was almost done with and I colored them purple with food coloring. It turned out black, but still looked pretty cool I think!