Bryan & Brittney Austin

4 years ago today, I remember it well. It was a day that changed my life for the better. I awoke early (3:30 am early) to take a short drive to Magna, a basement of a home where one Hollie Ellis spent close to two hours curling, pinning, and using massive amounts of hairspray on my hair. After finishing with the glamoring of my hair, I headed back home to complete a huge list that I had made the night before. I finished packing, made some necklaces for some special ladies, had breakfast, made sure I had money, passports, tickets, itinerary, spent about 45 minutes having my eyebrows plucked by my loving cousin Laura, got my dress, shoes, jewelry, and so much more together in one spot. Soon my girls having their hair finished and arriving we started to load everyone in the cars. It was already 1:15 pm at this time and the morning went by so quickly. At this point I had one had two basted eggs and a few sips of orange juice. We loaded into Megan's car and made our way towards the capital. We arrived just in time to run around the back of the church and hide while they tried to open the church. That is right. We could not get the church open and we had to wait about 20 minutes before we could get it opened. We then made the frantic dance of chaos to get every girl into her dress, makeup on, and shoes buckled. They then all focused on getting me into my dress which did not take long. Makeup applied, veil in place, and flowers in hand I was ready. We walked around to the front of the church and lined up. The procession started and all the ladies and gentleman started their walk down the aisle. My dad met me at the door of the church, I took his arm and we headed down the aisle, giggling at our terrible rhythm and walking in unison skills. There he stood at the front of the church and he was the only thing I remember seeing. I did not even notice the decorations, or even the other people there (sorry no offense). All I saw was Bryan and he was there. He wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with him. I choked back the tears and took some deep breaths as we took each others hands and said our I dos. It was wonderful. Since then life may not always be perfect but it is so worth living now that Bryan is by my side and always in my heart. I do not remember a whole lot after that I just mainly remember everything leading up to the moment that we both committed to one another and the past four years have seemed a blur. I love Bryan and all that he is. He has his imperfections just as I do but I love him for his personality, smile, and imperfections. He makes me feel that life is complete and my soul is no longer searching for something missing. Nothing is missing.
        The only thing that is missing today, is Bryan. He is in Salt Lake while I am in Logan today. It sucks to be away from him on our anniversary. I miss him like mad while I am here and there is not enough time when we are together. So happy four years to my hubby, snuggle bug, and pumpkin bear. Here is to the next four years and hopefully they are as memorable as the time we have already spent together. I love you so much for everything that you are, what you stand for, and how well you treat me. I know we can weather any storm. If I know what love is, it is because of you.

The day our lives were completed.

Bryan and I had a great weekend. We got to go up to Blackfoot, ID for the Easter Idaho State Fair. It was so much fun. Friday afternoon Bryan drove up and picked me up from school before we headed to Idaho. We went to my grandma's where we had some excellent salmon, potatoes and green peas, Grandma's infamous rolls, and fried okra. It was so yummy! I also got to go for a short horse ride as well down a small lane on old Black Jack with my aunt Pat. It was fun. We called it an early night for the next's days festivities. We got up early and headed to the fair. We watched the barrel racing, the pole racing, and the costume contest for the horses. It was so much fun to see the creativity that each owner put into their horse. There was a horse that was dressed as the big bad wolf and two cute little girls on the horse dressed as little piggies and their mom leading the horse, was dressed as a piggy as well. They all were carrying a different thing such as the bundle of sticks, some hay, and some bricks. One team had a donkey, dressed their kid as puss in boots, and then mom and dad dressed as Princess Fiona and Shrek. It was awesome. The winner of the contest my aunt Pat actually knew and they did a great job. They dressed their little boy in camo and so did the dad. The horse they took camo tent covering and covered the horse and put cat tails and weeds in it to camoflauge the horse. It was so cool.
      After all the events with the horses we went and actually got to see the horse races. I even bet on a few of the ponies. I did not win anything but it was fun and I learned some new things. It was so intense to see the horses racing down the raceway. It was fun and new. We also got to see the indian relay races. It is were they race their horses a full 5 furlongs but they do it bareback. It was insane. The girl that won was full dead running her horse. I could not believe she even stayed on. It was different but very exciting to watch.
      After that we went and took it easy at Grandma's house before going to the demolition derby that night. We ended up meeting up with Rich, my cousin, and watched the derby with him. I have to admit it was not as good as it has been in past years. There was not a lot of hard hits and it was so long inbetween each heat that it kind of got boring. We then went to Grandma's again for some home made oooo so yummy ice cream. It was so good. Some of the best ice cream I have ever had. We then went back to Aunt Pat's house for the night. We got a little late and then talked with Aunt Pat until it was time to head out. We stopped and said goodbye to Grandma and stopped in Pocatello to have lunch with Nick, Andrea, and Rich before Bryan dropped me back off in Logan and heading back home.
        It was a great weekend but really seemed too short. I love spending time with Bryan and there does not seem to be enough hours in the day when we are together but too many when we are apart. I am again counting down the days until I see him again this weekend.

        Well the three day weekend went by way too fast for sure. It was so nice to get to go home after the first week at school. Classes are finally starting to get a little more interesting and I really am liking the animal dairy and veterinary science classes the best (abb. ADVS). They are just different from what I am used to and it so much fun to get to actually discuss cattle, horses, swine, sheep and all the different aspects that are involved in them and how it affects the economy and the country as a whole. It is crazy but the United States has the least amount of active members in agriculture in the world. That just seems insane to me. For the weekend I got to go to dinner Friday night with my parents and Bryan's aunts, Roxie and Suzie, and Uncle Lee. My parents are going on an Alaskan cruise and they had to meet with everyone going to get itineraries and information for the big trip. My parents actually leave next week and are gone for two weeks. I think they will enjoy the trip though and it should be fun for them. They do not get to go do things as a couple very often so I am excited for them. Plus they always bring back excellent souvenirs. Then on Saturday we got up and went to the Annual Sheepdog Competition at Soldier Hollow. It was such a good time. We got to see these amazing and well trained dogs run sheep down the mountain side and through gates and back up and back down then seperate the sheep before putting them in a pen. They had to do this without the owners help and the owner could only make calls from a post at the bottom of the hill. We also got to see the jumping/diving dogs and their amazing skills at jumping into the pool. It is crazy how far they could get with each leap. I cannot even come close to jumping that far. We also got to see some demonstrations which were really fun. We saw sled dogs (Alaskan Malamutes) and how they are hooked up to sleds and the commands they get to hear. We also saw a demonstration from the Sandy Police K-9 Unit. It was so cool and it is amazing how great these dogs are and commands they are given. I thought it was so cool how the main purpose and objective of the dog is to protect the officer. They would have the dog pursue a bad guy and then pretend to attack the officer and the dog was twice as fast running back to the officer than pursuing the bad guy. It was a lot of fun. Sunday was the usual, sleep in, go to mom and dad's for dinner and True Blood followed by games. A great Sunday for sure. Then Monday due to the holiday, my mom and I got to go out to Vista Farms again and ride for another hour. We both got to canter this time which was great. We also got to ride on two new horses. I got Scottie and mom got to ride Beau. It was a blast. I miss riding horses so much and I am so glad and priviledged to get to ride again.
         Well the week is already moving at the rate of a snail but at least I am half way to getting to see Bryan again. Bryan is meeting me up here on Friday and we are then driving the rest of the way to Blackfoot, ID for the State Fair and some fun time. Bryan and I enjoyed it so much the last time we went we decided we needed to go again. There will be a demolition derby, fair food, animals and a barn dance to follow. My aunt Pat wants to take me riding as well so that will be interesting. I am excited for the fun filled weekend ahead and hopefully remember to take a camera this time and get some photos of our adventures.