Just a few months worth of blogging all in one...

I am not the greatest at blogging, obviously. I have only posted one, and it was in July! How sad. Regardless, Ashton and I are still doing great. Marriage is awesome, especially when you get to be married to your best friend. Everyone says that, but if you could see how much fun we have, how silly we are together, and how we honest to goodness don't fight, you would not waste time on people who don't make you completely happy every single day. (cough cough my siblings....) We started yet another semester in August, which I am happy to say is almost over. Next month, actually almost exactly a month from today, I graduate from NMSU with a Bachelors in Business Management... Wooooo! I am not sure what the future holds for us after that. I have been applying for jobs, looked into grad school, and even got a more permanent position here in Pomerene, but nothing feels quite right. Who knows, maybe it's time to stop being selfish with my husband and share him with someone else. ;) Ashton's school is going well; in fact, he got a 101% on his last Chemistry exam. I like to brag on that. :) Anyhow, we are super busy, but nothing to really talk about on here. In the last few months, we have went deer hunting, took a trip to California, built bumpers, enjoyed friends' weddings, went camping, and hung out in Duncan a bit. The thing I really wanted to blog about, though, was our garden from this summer! When we moved into this house, it had been empty for some while. It was winter, the dried up weeds were a little crazy, and there was nothing growing outside except for trees. I have some before (which is technically right after we planted everything) and after pictures, so take a look at all of our hard work... :)

Before:

Our Watermelon/Grape spot:

 Our Garden Rows-

 My flowers :) They were already up here but they bloomed later

 Our grass... it took us many weeks, several plantings, and the whole thing rototilled before we could even get this much.

 Watermelons/cantalopes/grapes again

 Garden rows again (Sorry they are out of order!)

 And our grass from a different angle

After:

These were taken at the end of summer so the weeds were a little out of hand at this point and most of the vegies were picked, but still...

The watermelon/cantaloupe area was the most overgrown at this point, but there is definitely fruit there :)

 Our garden. You can see the corn, okra, and more watermelons from this angle.

 ...and then squash, zucchini, and the rest from this view.

 This is my favorite, our grass:

 ...and again.

 And my flowers that bloomed :)

The fruits of our labor :) We had tons of veggies and fruits coming off every week. Awesome, right??

Just some Summer fun :)

We had a busy month in June. Ashton started his new job at SSVEC as a student intern, then he started a new job with SSVEC as a mechanic intern (which is right up his alley :)) I have been teaching summer classes at the primary school while also taking classes online so that I can finish my degree in December. We had Ethan come stay with us at the end of May, Sheridan come stay with us in the first of the month, and Jared and Rylee come visit at the end of June. My birthday was this month, and so was our one year anniversary. Overall, June was a little hectic, but what a blessing it is to have jobs and stay busy rather than be bored or stressed about work! There are a lot of pictures to follow, so props to whoever takes the time to look at all of them. Enjoy :)
 
At the end of my summer sports class, I decided to do water sports for the last week (I mean, it was only 102 degrees outside). I bought a huge painters tarp and we did relay races on the "slip and slide". Highly recommended for anyone who has a lot of kids during the summer! 

 Then after a long week in the sun we took Jared and Rylee roller skating and to the Cove (apparently I lost the pictures from the Cove :( ). They had a lot of fun doing things they normally don't do with Mom though.

We met my family in Eagar for the Fourth of July. Its a family tradition to go up there every year and see all the relatives and enjoy some cool weather. After a week of super hot weather here, it was nice to go enjoy some clouds, low temps, and even rain.

This is Papa Gibbons waiting for the parade...

And Grandma Gibbons:

My step sister-in-law Lilly and my niece Aleena

Jared and Rylee

Uncle Ronnie carrying the flag

And this one made me laugh just because as soon as we got up to Eagar, Papa Gibbons tells us to check out his paper they had sent to him. I guess for Arizona's Centennial they were remembering all the Grand Marshall's. He was pretty proud of that. Notice Son Gibbons on the list of previous Grand Marshals :)

And some cool floats such as legit Indian dancers, a huge mechanical horse and rider that moved up and down, and statues that must have been hard to lift!

After that, we went out to eat..

And Ashton and I went and danced our little hearts out that night. I didn't get a picture of that, but when the dance was over we took a drive up the mountain to see the city lights and finish off our wonderful Fourth of July together in the woods. (The fireworks were postponed until Saturday because of the rain, and it was a super good show that lasted over 30 minutes but I didn't get pictures of that night. Dangit!)

On Saturday we took the kids swimming and crawdad catching at the river. We were just sitting there when we saw this huge whole in the mountain. Ashton, Mom, and I went to investigate, and my mom determined it must be from ancient Indians (it wasn't haha).

And finally we went to my Grandma Pat's cabin in Pinetop to visit her and Smitty. Again, I failed to get pictures with her, but Ashton and I spent a long time just enjoying the weather in the hammock. :)

Just because this was so dang adorable, I wanted to throw this in here too. We went to try out the new Mexican place in town and while we were waiting for our food there was this little boy that kept waving at Ashton. Finally his mom comes over and apologizes, but her son sincerely thinks that Ashton is Justin Bieber. The owner sees and hears what is going on, so after the mom leaves he comes over and says that if we want he’ll send people outside with cameras to start taking pictures with flashes and then he’ll rush over in a suit, headset, and black sunglasses and say “Hurry Justin it’s time to go” and rush him out of the restaurant. By this point the other couple of tables in this little restaurant are laughing and joking about the pranks we could pull on these kids. By the end of dinner, the mom comes over saying “I am so sorry to bother you, but they honestly believe that you are Justin Beiber. Would you mind it too much if they got a picture with you? They really want one.” So Ashton plays along and goes over to the kids to take a picture with them and talks to them a bit. They say that they will be watching ‘his’ concert tonight on TV and ask if he can dedicate a song to them. It was definitely not a quiet dinner by any means, but it sure was funny to laugh at my dirty husband who just got off work being called Justin Bieber. So it is my pleasure to present "That one time that Justin Beiber came to Benson":