Adventures with my handsome, exploring different parts of our city that neither of us have been to.
I like to call them the "Adventures of Bryali."
This past weekend we were finally able to check out this beautiful park in North Las Vegas that we have heard about and have wanted to go to for a while now...and let me tell you it was an adventure.
You can't tell in the photos but it was crazy windy and stormy, but even with mother nature acting cray cray it was simply stunning.
We got to witness a signature Las Vegas sunset that was absolutely breathe taking and we walked around the park a bit saying hello to some of the geese and admiring the fun little attributes of this cute park.
Earlier this month we took a tour of the Neon Museum and actually learned that this park use to be a 'Divorce Ranch.'
Here's the low down...3..2..1...go:
So back in the day in order to get a divorce you had to be a resident of the state you were in, most states you had to live there for a year to be considered a resident...but good ol' Nevada only required you to live here 6 to 7 days before you were considered a resident, so people would come to Nevada and stay at this ranch for 6 to 7 days so they could become a resident, and then bada-bing-bada-boom they could get their divorce.
Only in Vegas, right?
So it was interesting to walk around and look at the beauty of this park knowing that little fact.
Especially because a lot of people now have their weddings here.
Which I don't blame them, it's a perfect location for an outside wedding, especially because it doesn't feel like you're in Vegas, and it's simply gorgeous.
It's little adventures like these that I treasure the most.
I've decided that vlogs have become my new form of blogging.
I think sometimes it's easier for me to verbally dump out my thoughts than to write them out at times.
I am known to be looooong winded and hold a conversation...even if it's over nothing.
(My interview with my friend Shelly for me to become a Fuse leader was 4 hours long...)
Where there's a person, there is a conversation to be had...even if that person is a computer screen. :)
Any who, I figured since I haven't blogged/vlogged for a while and since SO much has been happening in this little life of mine, that I would update y'all (any one who can handle my long winded-ness) on what has happened, is happening, and is coming in the future.
Day trip adventures, new friendships being built, fun date nights that include photo booths (one of my favorite things to do), nights with friends laughing and goofing off, and special moments with my handsome (like the one captured above).
::insert loud party favor noise makers and confetti::
Oh me oh my! 2012 is over and 2013 is just beginning.
This new year has already been off to a wonderful start.
The first week of the New Year consisted of Bryce and I enjoying our last few days off before we got back to our normal routine of working/ministry/small group/fuse group/events/etc.
I wanted to recap our last couple of days off and they go a little something like this:
- We rang in the New Year down on the Strip. There were SO many people, and we walked around people watching, wishing people a Happy New Year, and of course watching the beautiful firework show that popped off at midnight. We screamed and hollered with every one else, and sealed the New Year with a kiss.
::blush::
It was such a fun night and one of the best New Years I have experienced in my adult life, mainly because I got to spend it with him and it was just very chill and free spirited in a way because we just walked around and didn't have dead set plans that we had to stick by.
- Another adventure we went on to start the New Year off right was we finally went tothe Hoover Dam.
Now I have lived in Las Vegas ALL my life, all 24 years...and I have never seen the Hoover Dam before...ever!
So Bryce and I took our last day off and went and played tourists for the afternoon.
It was quite fun. I brought my camera and Bryce was the photographer for the day. He has such a good eye for landscape photography and structural things that I don't feel like I really have the passion for, or the eye for. So it was really fun to sit back as we walked around and watch him photograph everything. We would be walking and he would stop and go to take a picture and while he was doing that I would try and figure out what exactly he was seeing and how he was lining up his shot. Some times I would see the angle he was going from and the image would click and make sense to me before he would show me what he captured, and other times I wouldn't be able to see what he was seeing until he showed me the image.
It was just a very fun experience to be able to teach him about lighting and how to know when he needs to change different settings on the camera. He is definitely a natural.
After we ventured around the Hoover Dam for 3 hours we drove back to town, had a dinner date at Cafe Rio and then headed back to my house to go through his photographs that he took earlier and then we watched FernGully and Rock-A-Doodle.
(We are little kids at heart.)
It was the perfect ending to a wonderful, much needed few weeks off.
Now we are back at it, and oh is it going to be busy.
Thankfully I am refreshed and excited for all that we have coming up these next few months.
I'm excited to see what God has in store for each of us, our team, and for myself.
I couldn't be more blessed with a better team to be a part of, and I am thankful to be a part of such an awesome church that is doing BIG things by changing people's lives with the word of God and His radical grace.
I am looking forward to seeing how God moves in my Fuse Group girls lives and our relationships. I'm excited to continue to see them grow with their relationship with God,their families, and their friends. I am thrilled to be able to pour into them and connect with them.
I'm so thankful and blessed for the man that God has blessed me with in my life.
I couldn't be more lucky than I am right now with the man that Bryce is and for the way he treats me and cares for me. I'm excited to see what challenging and fun adventures this year has for us and our relationship.
I am so glad that we both know to keep God first and to honor Him with our relationship.
It's a blessing to have a man that is on the same page with me, and that wants to honor God with everything that he does as well as what we do as a couple.
Oh I am beyond lucky and thankful for him.
<3
2013 is going to be a crazybusyfunfilledchallengingfullofgrowthadventurefilledhappyfantasticstretchingimsurefrustratingattimesgreat year!
My day today has consisted of crumb. I feel super duper crumby.
Crumby weather.
Crumby sleep.
Crumby attitude.
Crumby patience.
Crumby meeting.
Crumby lunch.
Crumby hair.
Crumby makeup.
Simply a crumby day.
I dislike being in such a crumby negative mood. It isn't enjoyable and I feel bad for the people around me.
I feel like a ball of stress/anxious/frustrated crumb.
One of the very few women I've looked up to my entire life.
She has always been there for me through the ups and downs through out my life, and I can not begin to thank her enough for all she has brought into my life.
She was there for me more than ever in the lowest part of my life last year.
She held me when I cried, she reassured me that God had a plan for my life even though I couldn't see it at the time.
She promised that there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
She has helped me grow so much through out the years and I am so thankful for that.
I am thankful for the unique bond that we have as sisters.
I will never forget our apartment days and the interesting neighbors we had.
Freestyle Fridays
Karaoke nights
Watching the strangest infomercials on Saturday mornings while listening to our neighbors scream at one another.
Thinking our apartment was on fire, so we grabbed our laptops and ran outside to the parking lot...only to realize we were the only ones outside and the smoke was coming from the neighbor below who was barbecuing illegally.
Our many trips to Niketown and Fat Tuesdays.
Mama and Papa cooking nights.
Our first couple of nights in the apartment cooking and being resourceful with the only cooking utensils we had...which were scissors and a fork.
So many good, fun memories with her.
I am so thankful God blessed me with her.
Day 6:
I am thankful for my oldest sister Gabby.
My Gabrielle.
My Big Sis.
My personal GPS.
My "I did dad, I did" sister
She is one of the most compassionate and selfless people I have ever known.
She loves fully and gives fully.
I have never met some one who is so giving to others and so thoughtful like her.
(Other than my Gram Cracker)
She has taught me how to have a child like spirit.
I look up to her in so many ways.
I try and be as thoughtful as she is towards people.
I am so thankful for all the times she has listened to me vent and been there to help guide me and pick me up when I tend to doubt myself.
I am thankful for her words of encouragement.
She has such a sweet spirit and she truly deserves to be blessed with the best.
I treasure the times I have with her.
She is one of my absolute favorite road-trip partners.
I can not express enough how thankful I am that God has placed her in my life as my older sister. She has bestowed so much wisdom and love upon me, and she is always there for me.
With all of that being said, it is her birthday today!
She is the big 2-9!!
Happy 29th Birthday to my Gabrielle.
I love you so incredibly much and I am so excited for you to move back to Vegas.
I am looking forward to our morning coffee dates and breakfast days again.
I have missed you so much.
I love you sissy!
Happy Birthday <3
I am incredibly blessed with the two sisters God has placed me with.
I couldn't have asked for better family than what God has blessed me with.
I am thankful for STRIVE and our FUSE students and leaders.
STRIVE was such a success, and we were able to give so much back to the Las Vegas community. 339junior high students and leaders served all across the Las Vegas Valley. From painting curbs sorting books pulling weeds/picking up garbage to cleaning entire class rooms from head to toe helping out at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission and the Ronald McDonald house and so much more. There wasn't anything we didn't do. How cool is that?!
I'm also super thankful for the wonderful team and staff I am blessed to be a part of at Central Christian Church.
All of the long, long hours that our team put in with:
phone calls
e-mails
texts
flyers
excel sheets
meetings
late nights
site visits
bumps in the road
and
more meetings it ALL paid off.
I can not begin to describe the joy that it brings me to see the images pouring in from our STRIVE work day and seeing all the students and leaders working so hard, and doing it with such a HUGE smile across their face.
It is truly inspiring to see such selfless acts of service.
I am so so so proud to be a part of such a wonderful team and ministry.
<3
Day 4:
I am thankful for maple bars and red bull editions the day after STRIVE.
