Meadow Lake

After coming highly recommended by one of my bosses, Tom and I decided to check out Meadow Lake and take a little camping trip there over the weekend. We had such a good time! The lake was beautiful, as was the weather. I dutifully packed my camera prepared to take lots of pictures, but when we pulled it out - much to our dismay - we realized that the camera battery was dead. Great. I should have listened to that little voice inside my head telling me to check the camera battery as we were packing. I guess you will all have to use your imaginations and picture a gorgeous little lake surrounded by lots of rocks and trees, nestled against a mountain side in the middle-of-nowhere Idaho. Are you all imagining? Good.

Now imagine Tom and I rowing out on the lake in little pontoons which our camping neighbors were kind enough to let us borrow. That was by far the best thing ever! So fun. It definitely made our weekend. We took some snacks, drinks, and our fishing gear out on the pontoons. On my first cast, my very first cast of the day, I caught a pretty nice fish. Being the compassionate person that I am, I like to let the fish go after I catch them, unless of course they are super big and I have to keep them to show off later. This one I was prepared to set free, but when they go and swallow the hook what can you do? Picture me holding up my fish with pride. (Ok, not really. I usually let Tom do all the fish/worm handling.) I must say though that my little fishy made quite a nice meal for us that night.

Moral of the story?? Charge your camera batteries before you go on a camping trip.
Oh, and go to Meadow Lake. You'll love it.

Love you out loud

I've always been one of those people who rolls their eyes when reading mushy gushy blogs about how amazing women's husbands are. But I fear that I might become one of them . . . Ok, probably not. But now that I am married, I can actually relate to these women and why they write these posts, where before marriage I just didn't understand. So, out of appreciation and maybe a little pride, allow me to indulge and tell you what a wonderful husband I have without all the mushy gushy stuff. (And I honestly won't blame you if you stop reading at this point. I might too.)

After a long month of searching, we finally found an apartment to rent and moved in last week! It has been a lot of hard work, but also tons of fun to put together a little home of our own. We are quite proud of it if I do say so myself. (Pictures of our new place soon to come!) The greatest thing is that I haven't had to put the place together and decorate it all by myself. Tom has enjoyed it just as much as I have. We make a great team.

Here are a few other little reasons why I love and appreciate my husband:

He thinks all my ideas are good ideas.

He makes me laugh every.day.

He packs my lunch almost every day. (and it usually includes trail mix!!! the other love of my life)

Since we have been married, he has done most of the laundry and grocery shopping. No joke.

When I asked him this morning what he was going to do since he didn't have to be to work until later he said, "I was thinking I could do some cleaning, vacuum and sweep the floors." What a guy!

I love you Tom Muench!! The End.

Not-too-extreme makeovers

Last Thursday Tom and I decided to go in and get hair makovers! I made him bring the camera so we could get before and after pictures just for fun. . . I know that at least around here it's totally common and cliche for girls to get married with long hair and then chop it all off after the wedding. The hairdresser even kind of laughed at me because it's what everyone does. But I couldn't help myself. I had wanted a change for some time now, but knew that I wanted long hair for the wedding, so I just decided to wait a little while longer 'til I did anything to it.
I was a little nervous about it (and so was Tom), but I think it turned out great! I love my new look and couldn't be happier. Tom tells me at least once a day how much he loves my haircut. I must say that we're pretty pleased with Tom's darker hair as well. It even has a little bit of a reddish tint to it which we also like. :) Enjoy the pics!

Honeymooning

Ok, we didn't take a ton of pictures on our honeymoon but I thought I would share what we have. Tom and I spent the majority of our honeymoon in Island Park at Tom's uncle's cabin (not to be confused with Uncle Tom's Cabin) ha ha. It was so nice to get away and not have to worry about work or school, or most of all . . . . wedding plans. We took day trips into both West Yellowstone and Yellowstone National Park where the pictures below were taken.

We also went fishing in Island Park where I almost caught a fish this big. Seriously. I would have proof, but he broke my line. Just ask Tom though, he'll attest to my story.

While in West Yellowstone we also went to the Playmill and saw a hilarious performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I love that place so much we are going back again on August 10th to celebrate my birthday. This time we are going to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. I expect to laugh that night. A lot. Can't wait!

Mammoth Hot Springs

Castle Geyser

the Upper Falls

The falls (both Upper and Lower) were by far our favorite part of the park. These are a must-see if you ever go to the park. You get to hike down right to the heads of the falls. The amount of water, its speed, and its force is astounding.

They are absolutely amazing!

the wildlife

Unfortunately, we didn't see any bears or moose from the car, but I was glad not to run into any while we hiked down to the falls.

petrified redwood tree

Old Faithful by sunset

Engagements

Slowly but surely I am determined to catch up on blogging after my LONG hiatus. Let me just say that planning a wedding totally consumes your life. . . . and I am still waiting for things to get back to "normal" after the wedding. I am hoping that will happen shortly, after we move into a place of our own and get totally settled in. Poor Tom is still living out of boxes. Since I currently don't have the means to post engagement photos myself, I am taking a shortcut and sending you to this link. This will send you to our photographer's blog with engagement photos of me + Tom. We absolutely love them and hope that you do too! Stephanie did such an amazing job and we can't wait to get our wedding photos back (1 1/2 weeks and counting)!