Blowin' Off the Dust... October 2016

Blogging; who still does it, right? Actually, really smart people do. I've been meaning to start documenting our life for a while now. So here I am blowing off the dust after finding this old family blog, and starting anew. 

No, this is not a New years resolution. I wish I was that cool. haha

Also, I am not a photographer, graphic designer, writer, or anything else. So don't expect this to look top notch! I think that's what held me back from doing this for so long and I've finally decided that it doesn't matter. It's more important to write this stuff down than to make sure it looks amazing.

Family update:

 How do I sum up the past few years to catch us up from the last post? No way to do that in one "easy-to-read" segment. So, I'll just highlight the past few months and we'll start from there. 

October 2016: 

I got really into hiking and working out. I went on at least 8-10 different hikes and loved it! Milly was great at riding along in her pack, and I made some new friends to hike with. Not to mention the BEAUTIFUL views and weather. 

 

(Like I said, I don't know how to format things well.. haha!)

We also had fun celebrating Halloween with family and friends. Easy costume this year: Daniel Tiger's family. And Milly discovered that asking for candy from people is as easy as eating it. :)

So that's where we'll end tonight. Don't want to overwhelm on the first post back! But stay tuned because we have some more exciting posts coming your way..!

Fun in the Sun

Summertime!!!

This summer we have really enjoyed living here in Sacramento . Though Adam has been working quite a bit, we have had a chance to do some fun, summer activities. One of Adam's favorite things to do in the heat is swim! He has been practicing his flips into the pool every time we swim and is getting pretty good! (I knew he'd appreciate me posting this picture..) 

Here are some more fun things we've done:

(from top left and across)

1. We were able to pet sit this adorable Maltese! Mika is Adam's family's dog who stayed with us for several weeks this summer. She kept me company and made me smile constantly.
2. I visited Reno with my sister Andrea and my Mom. We spent some great time together and I was even able to hold a hedgehog!
3. Earlier in the summer, Adam and I were on our way to San Francisco for a lovely day trip when....KAPOOM! Our muffler blew out this cloud of black smoke on the freeway. This resulted in us needing our car fixed and visiting the Jelly Belly factory instead. Isn't he cute?
4. Adam on his first day of work. What a handsome guy!
5. I got to see the Sacramento zoo with some friends. It was really fun!
6. My sister Elise and friend KyLee came to visit and we all took a day trip to Six Flags. This picture was taken on our trolley in, before we knew what headaches and nausea were coming our way. :)
7. We have seen so many beautiful California sunsets out here, which we have grown to love. The hot weather doesn't seem so bad when the evenings cool down and look like this.

Overall, we have had a very enjoyable time here. We're grateful to family and friends who have made it so amazing. This has been a summer we'll never forget!

A Much Needed Update!

It has been a while, hasn't it! It's about time for an update!

This summer we have been living in Sacramento near family and friends. Adam has been working for a pest control company 60+ hours a week- He sure is a tired guy these days! And a very hard worker.

I have been taking care of our little life, and somehow keeping busy. We recently decided to throw everything up in the air and change our life completely! Adam decided that becoming an Occupational Therapy Assistant would be right for him, and was accepted to Salt Lake Community College. We decided not to return to Rexburg this fall and take our turn living in Salt Lake. 

This past week I spent a crazy week running around the Salt Lake valley trying to find a nice apartment for our new little life. It was hectic, full of running to and fro and comparing rent prices and square footage. At last we picked our "dream" apartment and secured our spot in Daybreak area (above South Jordan.) 

And now we will begin this new stage in our lives when we leave Sacramento in two weeks! 

If any of you live in that area, or are planning to visit this fall, we would LOVE to have you stay with us! You're welcome anytime. :)

Vegas, Baby!

 Before we left, we had to take advantage of the short drive to Vegas! We took a day trip to check out what Vegas had in store for us.

We were able to meet up with Adam's great Uncle and Aunt and had a wonderful visit with them.

We walked down the strip and explored the casinos. We actually ran into quite a few Brazilians and I was able to speak Portuguese with them!

We especially enjoyed sneaking up the elevator in the Luxor (the pyramid casino) and walking down the hallway....NOT!!! We were 10 floors up and the view into the casino lobby made our knees shake. Have you ever felt that wooziness that comes when you see how high up you really are?! We most certainly did. So, we dared each other to walk to the other end of the hallway, but neither made it because we got too swervy and dizzy halfway through. Haha!

At the end of a long, fun, noisy, crowded day, we finally were able to see a Cirque de Soleil show- KA. It was amazing! If you ever have the opportunity to go to one of their shows, do it! They are so neat!
I had to sneak a picture with part of the set behind me because it was so cool looking!
(I thought our phones would take better quality photos... bummer)

And some funny faces from Adam are always included.

Overall, we had a wonderful time! 

Our Latest Adventures! (A quick catch-up!)

We have been so busy lately!

 So, I thought I would quickly write about what we've been up to in the past few weeks.

 Hmm, where do we start?

Well, one morning Adam woke up and wanted to buy a chameleon. According to the petco lady, chameleons are difficult to care for and are high maintenance, so we went with something simpler. Chinese Water Dragons! We eventually got two and they have been keeping us quite entertained.

 Their names are Ruprict (from the movie "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels") and Bucko (because he kept getting into trouble and we called him that anyway!) They've been fun!



We had fun times with Grandma and Grandpa...

And at a cool Vintage Furniture store...

We enjoyed the scenic view from the Riverwalk Grill Restaurant where we worked...

 


And beautiful sunsets while driving.










We made some funny videos...

We had some fun times working...                  And getting our hair done...

Saying goodbye is hard to do, but we appreciate all the friendships we made and the wonderful things we have learned from them.

We finished work, online school and visited with family in town. We went four wheeling and climbed all over St. George's red rocks.

 And then we headed to Reno to watch my cousins for 10 days while their parents travel to Italy! More adventures to come.. stay tuned!

Honeymoon in Paradise...well..a much foggier version.(Part I)

Yes folks- this picture describes the tropical paradise we experienced on our  honeymoon. Wind, rain, fog and a TON of windy roads. 

Don't take us wrong, we LOVED our honeymoon! I mean, c'mon, who hasn't been waiting for that special time to be together, without supervision? And that was wonderful!

But let's just say we owe ourselves a trip to warm, sunny paradise. 
Let me show you all the fun things we were still able to do on our trip up the west coast.

We started our trip in Sacramento where we were married. We were able to stay downtown right next to the Capitol building! Our first day we spent driving up "the coast", or rather, a WINDY back road that we thought would get us there faster! We went up and down, around, in and out and everywhere in between. Fortunately we were able to catch some beautiful shots in the mountains. We passed through at the perfect sunset time and it was one of the most heavenly views we had ever witnessed. Take a look for yourself!

We were also finally able to get rid...mmm I mean "sacrifice" Adam's well loved moccasins at this sweet shoe tree we found. It was a good way for them to go, and a good start to our marriage! (let's say that it was time for some new shoes, haha!)

Hope you enjoyed part one of our honeymoon adventure segment! We invite you to look forward to some more funny stories and pictures soon to come. 

P.S. We love your comments! If you have vine (the app) you can follow us each at Stephanie Hogge and Adam Hogge. I have to admit that we have some pretty cool videos there!

Camping in February

  Here we are, newlyweds and newly excited about using all of our awesome  camping gear during the middle of February.
  "FEBRUARY?? Are you out of your minds?" is what you're probably thinking.. but no! We weren't out of our minds. The weather in St. George was relatively nice and we wanted to be out in the middle of it.
  So we packed up our camping stuff, filled the picnic basket and headed out to a local campground. The day was spent hiking (more like exploring through branches.) We decided to take the unbeaten path around a lake and ended up climbing rocks and hacking down branches. The thought of swimming across even crossed my mind because it would have been easier. And girls, learn this: DO NOT wear your hair in a messy bun when climbing through branches. They will grab and snag in the most inconvenient times and make your hair look crazy, like in this picture.




Come nightfall, our tent was set up, fire going, food cooking and we were relaxing by the fire. We even had some time to make a little video and take some pictures of our new (used) car!

 As the night grew darker, the stars grew brighter.. and it grew much colder. We hurried into the tent hoping that we could be a little warmer in there. Apparently card games and snacking don't heat up a tent so we eventually ended up snuggling up under the covers watching "Runaway Bride" on netflix. (Cool, huh? We still had 3G)
   
 As the movie hit a "buffering" moment, I began to hear the silence....or maybe the not-so-silent silence. Cracking and rustling noises were all around us and of course it freaked me out! A thousand scenarios began wandering through my mind, including the headline "A young couple found in the middle of a campground alone, in February: No one knows who or what happened to them." Naturally I asked Adam if he was worried about anything unsafe, and his response was "No, why?" As I explained my fears it got his mind whirling and we both began to get creeped out. Suddenly we realized that maybe it was not the smart choice to be all alone without anyone knowing where we were, in a thin tent, unaware.
  If anyone would have told me what happened next,  I wouldn't have believed it myself. But I swear to you that from the moment we decided to go home instead of risking our lives (we probably would have been fine..but..maybe not?...?) our whole campsite was packed in a mere 8-11 minutes. Our tires left hearty dust trails in the desert night as we sped out of there.

  We felt like we had been there for hours, but folks, we left that site at 9pm. Ha! Plenty of time to take hot showers, clean up and even do some homework before hitting the hay.

Moral of the Story: If you decide to go camping, then maybe wait until the natural time of year to go. OR, if you want a good story then follow our example. But I have to admit that it was nice to get the almost full camping experience AND get to sleep in our warm, comfy bed.

This story was meant to stay in our "Do not tell Ever!" vault, but we couldn't keep some good laughs from you guys. So enjoy the happy remains of our camping experiences, because the real ashes were left high and dry in the cold that night!