Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my very favorite Holidays. Getting together with family, eating food, and getting ready for the craziness that was soon to follow that evening. My family moved to Utah shortly after I graduated, and after one semester at ISU I transfered to Weber State to be with them. My first Halloween here was spent in North Salt Lake at my aunt and uncles house. They had just adopted Olivia, and she was just perfect. The cousins dressed up and the older boys took the younger ones out in the neighborhoods.
It was this Halloween that was so special to me and one that I will remember forever. Earlier that month my Grandpa had found out that he was going to need another operation on his heart, or else he would die within a few months. So, he was torn. He had already had two or three major operations on his heart and didn't know if he would have the strength to do it again. This day, spent with his newest grandbaby, I think he decided he would go through with it.
Once the older boys had scarfed their food and ran outside with the little ones, the house was quiet. My grandpa held Olivia and very quietly, while smiling at the baby, said, "It's good to be alive."
We knew that he didn't have much time, and I couldn't hold back the tears as the man that had taught me so much in my life said those words. He had so much pain, yet he was so happy. I was overcome with gratitude for being able to have this man as not just my Grandpa, but truly my dad.
He had the operation in February and it went smoothly. He recovered slowly, as heart surgeries require, and by June was ready to go out and Golf again. He laughed, and went to his grandkids events, basketball, baseball, choir, dance, you name it, he was there. He loved to live.
In August he had a stroke. It was very scary, but four days later he was out of the hospital and at church. He recovered so well from everything. Grandpa is invincible!
It wasn't until mid-September that we heard the news. He went into the hospital after ignoring the pain in his side for months, thinking it was just from the heart surgery. The doctors found pancreatic cancer that was at stage four. The doctors said there was nothing they could do, except to hurry up and wait. They said he had 6 months. He left the hospital a little over three weeks later, not coherent, in so much pain. Our hearts ached for our grandpa. He died a little over three weeks after he went into the hospital.
My grandpa was the strongest man I've ever known and also the happiest man I've ever known. I will never forget when he turned to me that Halloween and said those simple words, "It's good to be alive."
It is good to be alive. My life is beautiful, my family is wonderful, and there are so many adventures left in store. We'll sure miss him, but he taught us everything we needed to know.
Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving Date Night :)

Our first Halloween together. We wanted to have a date and carve pumpkins together. The problem was, I had already promised my sisters that we would have a pumpkin carving competition on Saturday, this was Wednesday, so we had our trial run on the mini pumpkin pie pumpkins.
We went all out. We bought the DELUXE pumpkin carving set which included like four carvers, little detailers and big detailers. It included a goop scoop and patterns.





Caleb didn't like the dirty pumpkins. He promptly took them to the kitchen to wash before any carving could commence.












Our camera is huge. The battery in the little camera died, unfortunately, so for these purposes we had to use the big one. It's hard to take a self portrait with a large camera.










hahahahaha. Uhmm... Weird!














My little baby pumpkin! It was so dang cute.














These were hard little boogers to cut and to clean out. They aren't the kind you are supposed to carve, so it made it that much trickier. Plus, we both didn't want it to get on our hands. So that made it a little more difficult.





































Anyway, this is the final product. We are going to be working on big ones tonight! Hopefully those are a little easier and a little more fun! Although we did have a blast. :)

Feeding the Ducks at Beus Pond

Fall is my very favorite time of year.. Besides Winter. :) I love seeing the leaves changing and get rid of the blasted heat. I don't love being hot. Anyway, over Conference Weekend, Caleb and I decided to go out after the last session of Sunday's conference and go feed the ducks at Beus Pond here in Ogden so we could see the leaves and mostly get our of our dungeon basement apartment.
I've fed the ducks in Idaho Falls at the Snake River, and they were never very aggressive.. just walked semi-near you, without getting too close. Well Beus pond is incredibly different.
We took pictures.. so the only way to describe these beasts is with a photo.

It started out relatively calm, with just a few ducks coming our way. You can see the few in the back just chilling..











The real reason for our generosity towards the ducks was us being unsure what to do with our leftover bread.. Hate to waste. (Side note: this was done the 4th of October. The bread we were using was from August 9-16.. we bought the bread on our honeymoon, and it hadn't gotten moldy.. What do you suppose they put in that bread? YUCK) So. Caleb was doing the tossing and I was taking pictures. Slowly a few more ducks got word that there was bread being shared and so lots more ducks started coming.


Then They started attacking each other when they got some bread. This is a photo of one duck running away with the bread while others were attacking his feet and body.








I started noticing some scary big ducks in the background with large bumps on their faces. They kept getting closer and closer and the numbers starting increasing.



This is a bumpy faced duck. You would not believe the sounds they make. It's incredibly frightening.










Caleb Started out pretty close to the waters edge when it was just the little guys he was feeding.. Then one by one the big guys started showing up and scaring the other ones away with their roars.. Caleb starting getting scared away too.. By the end he was completely on the other side of the path as far as he could get from the ducks, however, they followed him.


















Then they noticed me. Unfortunately, I did not have any bread, so they were just coming toward me for no reason.














I love his face.














This is what they did when they started making their scary noises. Think: car horn mixed with a raptor.







So, eventually we ran away from the sand where we were standing. The honking ducks were too much and too scary. We found a little dock that went out into the pond aways. We stood on there and started feeding the little ones again. This one slowly made it over to where we were standing. His face kills me. He got more and more curious about what we were doing. So we laid some bread on the edge of the dock and waited for him to see..































We got brave. :)













Anyway, We had fun and got some funny pictures. Wanted to share. Caleb has nightmares now about those ducks...

Update

So, life is pretty wonderful. I think that is all that I really need to say to capture how amazing and good life is. I am so happy. I can't think of a time in my life ever that I have been happier. Blogging isn't obviously something that I keep up with, but I do think it is fun, and I have now added Caleb as a blogger, so we'll see if he ever wants to use this.
I know I'm a little late at posting, but we did get Married, almost a whole month ago. Time sure flies. It still is so weird to write my name as Becca Hicks, or to say: "my husband." It almost catches me off guard sometimes and I have to really stop and think. I do like it though, even though sometimes the thought of having children that will be known as "redheaded Hicks" isn't the most comforting thought. Poor little guys. :) (and no, we aren't have kids right away.)
We live in a cute little basement apartment about five blocks from campus. School started two weeks ago for me, and while I had good intentions to walk every day, I love to sleep in, and almost always have to have Caleb drive me to class, or else I am late. I am working on it though. I love Ogden. I think it is starting to grow on Caleb too, a little bit. There are some times where we worry about getting robbed, but we live right near the mountains and it's always a gorgeous view.
We have started to attend our new ward, and I still sometimes forget to respond when someone addresses me as "Sister Hicks." I actually look around for Pam, Caleb's mom. Anyway, I like the ward a lot. There are some quirks, but every good ward has a little bit of oddities. It is what keeps church interesting.
Caleb and I bought a camera, as a wedding present, and we are both getting pretty interested in photography. The camera travels everywhere Caleb goes, and he is fascinated with learning photographic techniques. I'm sure you will be seeing more of his lovely pictures in the future. I do not, however, have any pictures to post for the world to see just yet. You can see some pictures from the wedding on Rachel's blog. :)
That's all I have time for today, but I wanted to update everyone a little and let you know that we haven't died, although we are in Ogden, we are just busy, busy, busy!
Oh and thanks again for all the support with the wedding! We had a truly perfect day. Except, Aaron... You didn't do the dance... SO mad. :)

Bridal Pictures!

Rachel Barth, Caleb's sister took my bridal pictures on Friday evening at Memory Grove in Salt Lake. It was a beautiful evening, not too hot. We pulled up to the park and had to change on the side of the road, while Julia, Rachel, and Brandy held up a sheet while Pam pulled my dress over my head for me. It was quite entertaining, and I imagine that if any of the people who owned the homes we were in front of were in their living room they would have gotten quite a sight.  We walked into the park and there were brides all over the park. Seriously, it looked like a bad romantic comedy. It was really funny watching brides because you could see different types of personalities as you waited in line for a spot. There were the brides that were just so excited and following around their photographer and there was the bride who was very demanding and ordering where to hold the sun reflector. 

Anyway, when we got their, I was a little bit skeptical because I'm not crazy about cheesy poses and things of that nature. The first place we went was to a stair case where I sat down and I was quickly shown how to pose correctly. 

We walked around for awhile longer and took pictures wherever we went. It was kind of a fun experience. We finished right as the sun was setting and headed back to Provo, but not before going to The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was a fun evening. 

Wedding!

Caleb and I are getting married in a little less than four weeks! August 9th to be exact and we couldn't be more excited. Things are coming along very nicely, even though I am currently unemployed, long story. We sent out our announcements yesterday, which is a huge relief to get those out of the way. 

I'm pretty excited to be married to Caleb. He really is everything that I've ever wanted in a best friend, and husband. He understands me and has more patience than I could ever possibly hope for. He's perfect for me. 

It seems that everyone keeps in touch through blogs, and soon we will be moving to Ogden, which is close to my family, but a little further from Caleb's, so even if he refuses to join the blogging circuit, I'll keep it going for us, just so that we can keep everyone up to date. 

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time at Pam and Michael's house, one reason because I am unemployed and the other because I don't really know my roommates very well, and it gets kind of awkward sometimes. It has worked out quite nicely recently because sadly, a beloved cousin, James Bodell, passed away so I have been able to be here to do whatever I can to help. 

Pam and Caleb are going to be flying out to attend the funeral and I am going to stay here and take care of Grandma Bodell for the weekend while everyone is away. I sure enjoy being able to help anywhere I can. I never got to meet James, but my heart aches for my new family. 

I wish I had a funny story or something to leave everyone with, but I do not, I'm kind of a boring person lately. However, I do have to say, since I have been lame I have had a lot of time to read, and I've been reading "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer, the same girl who wrote the Twilight Series. Anyway, for anyone curious, it's weird at first, but I am obsessed. Everyone should read it. :)

Life is pretty amazing.

I decided that I should join the Blog-Fest. It seems like the best way to keep people updated on everything in life. Life has taken some pretty crazy turns in the past little six months that it is worth letting people know about.
In early January I decided to give up for awhile on the whole dating scene. It was just incredibly frustrating, and I called my friend Courtney from the Ponderosa who I had grown quite attached to and vented to her about the stupidity of the male gender. She understood completely. I told her about how I would be swearing off men for awhile. She told me that I couldn't do that completely until I had a chance to see her cousin.
She told me that she had pictures of him on her facebook and that I should check him out and then maybe go on a date. He definitely was cute. I told her that she should tell him to take me out. I sounded a little desperate, but let's face it, it is ridiculously hard to find a good looking boy who has morals and treats people with respect. So.. She set me up.
On Monday evening after a long day of class my phone rang. I usually make it a rule to not answer phone calls from numbers I do not know, this comes from multiple times of answering unknown numbers and then having to speak in church the following Sunday, lesson learned.
For some reason I picked up the phone and there was a deep voice asking if I was Becca. Indeed, I was!
We talked for awhile and joked and got to know each other. It was pretty fantastic, meeting this new friend Caleb and learning about him. He said that he had tickets for a Jazz game on Friday and wanted me to go with him. I had to work, of course, but I instantly rationalized getting fired by calling in sick so that I could go to the game. I love the Jazz!
He joked and said that he was sure that I would have to "Pencil him in" and I said, "No way! I will Permanent Marker You in!" and that is exactly what I did!
We texted that whole week with sporadic phone calls in between and each message that said "Caleb" in the inbox gave me butterflies. When Friday came around I was SO nervous. I kept telling my mom that I was going to freak out. I didn't know what to wear, I was nervous, my hair was ugly, all the standard girl things that can always go wrong.
We met at Barnes and Noble in the Gateway and I paced around while I waited for him to show up. LATE! He was late.. Strike number one. (Although, he wouldn't be making any other strikes, ever) We had some time before the game and we went to temple square. I heard the sister missionaries saying how cute we were together and I wanted to hold his hand and I wanted to date this boy. I grabbed Caleb's hand first. It felt normal.
I don't remember the Jazz game, I vaguely remember even going. I just remember sitting with this amazing blonde boy and knowing that he was stealing my heart.
That was only the first date.
We went our seperate ways, back to Ogden for me, and back to Provo for him and it was hard for us to be apart. I met his whole family on Sunday where I braved the drive and had dinner with his family. It was nice. That night, when he was walking me out he gave me a sweet kiss, and I didn't want to leave. I loved hugging him, and it was just perfect. :)
The rest is history.
May 17, 2008 he took me to Thanksgiving Point and asked me to marry him. (More details to come, or see Courtney's blog! HA) I said yes of course, after freaking out and saying, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! (Out of excitement of course) and now we are getting married August 20,2008 in the Timpanogos Temple.

We couldn't be more excited..
Courtney sure did a fantastic job.