A New Adventure for The Allred's...

When Reed and I got married I expected us to go to church, get thrown in nursery or something, and just slide under the radar for- like- 5 years. That didn't happen. Reed was instantly made scout master after expressing enthusiasm for scouts, and I was asked to be a girls camp adviser, and recently asked to serve in the Primary presidency. 

Then we got a phone call...

On September 20th we met with a stake presidency over a BYU young single adult ward, and Reed was asked to serve as the second counselor in the bishopric. We have been married 8 months, and we now have a HUGE adventure ahead of us! (for the next year, at least)...

And in case you wondered, that phone call created the worse 30 hours of my life. The anxiety was overwhelming. While Reed was at work I had to call Katelyn just to calm myself down. After originally skipping breakfast, I skipped lunch too. Couldn't eat with that much anxiety.

How do we feel now? I was completely mortified after hearing what the stake presidency asked of Reed and I. This is a little judgmental, but sometimes when people in the ward are on the stand speaking about how humbled they are that they got a calling, I think "You may be humbled, but I can see in your face that you know you're the best person for this job..." Maybe I should be embarrassed that I admitted that I think that. We're all friends, right? Ha! Anyway, I honestly think that this is the most humbled I have ever felt. All week I have thought about every bad thing I've done, and that I do, and how I have so many things to work on before I should be someone that is looked up to. 

Reed loves serving, he loves people, and if I didn't think he was the most amazing man in the world, and wasn't perfect for me, I wouldn't have married him. He is. I truly believe that. But I can think of a hundred couples more qualified than us to fill this calling. All I know is that ward is going to teach us a lot.

Every person I've met has been so amazingly sweet. The girls have all told me not to be afraid, and that they are all excited for us to be here. I have missed BYU wards. The testimonies, the strength of the young adults, the charity... it's all inspiring. Yes, they are already teaching me . 

On a less serious note, we went to interview with Reed having a face full of scruff. Yesterday he walked in with a clean shave, and the stake president mentioned twice how great he looked. Also, during our interview the stake president also asked me to sit by all the women, but please not the men. He then told Reed again yesterday, "Make sure that the elders quorum knows that she is your wife so that they don't ask her out." I'm flattered ;) I guess we are all basically the same age here. That won't happen. I'm taken for good.

Well I'll be sure to update you all on our adventures throughout this next year with this new calling. I'm very excited about all of it! Guess it's time to take Reed to hike the Y now, right?

Am I an Allred Yet?....

Am I an Allred yet?....

Turns out I married into an adventurous family! Which I guess I knew, but didn't see the full extent of until I spent the 4th of July with them, and went dirt biking and shooting with them. I'm not even going to get into the 4th of July right now. Dirt biking and shooting... WOW! Okay, so in the last few years I've discovered I've loved being on the back of a man's motorcycle. Now I only ride on the back of Reed's. But when I found out this guy could ride, he became 10 times hotter to me! Now I'm not saying I wouldn't have married him... but... ha! No, just kidding, I still would have fallen in love with him. He's a charmer. 

Okay so let's start at the beginning... 
We were going to rent a bike from some place in Salt Lake, but then they turned out to be super sketchy-sketch and I literally told the guy "No way, we are not doing this!" in a very firm voice after he asked how much we had in our bank account, while holding our debit card. Anyway, so that just meant that the Allred men had to share bikes a little more so that we could still come. With me marrying in, it kinda messed up the bike situation a bit. 

We had previously decided to spend the night at the senior Allred residence to save us time with the weekend. By "senior Allred" I mean the parents. Not an old folks home... seriously, stop thinking that. Anyway, we spent the night there, mom and dad make us breakfast in the morning and as we were eating, Papa Allred decides to inform me that there are no facilities for bathrooms anywhere near where we are about to go. I stopped dead in my tracks... "excuse me?" Yeah, maybe I was seeming more hard core than I actually am? I don't know, but I DON'T do no bathrooms. Like- at all. So my goal for the day was to just not drink water, even though I know it's completely unrealistic. How can you go without water and without using the bathroom within a 10 hour period? Yeah....

Oh! Oh! Oh! I forgot the best part!  Well when we got to senior Allred residence we tell them our story and they magically whip out this Honda Trail 90, I think? Okay, so it's this tiny adorable little motor bike, and they ask if I want to ride it out at the salt flats. So we took it out to the church parking lot for my very first motorcycle riding lesson. And yes, Reed was overprotective of my sensitive head (5 concussions), and made me wear a massive helmet for a 10 minute riding lesson. Okay, so this is me... AH! so cute! 

and Mom, I know you're reading this, so just know that we were very careful with this.

Okay, so we load this bike up and take it to the salt flats. Fast forward to us going. Whew! So here we are, I'm riding like 15 miles an hour, basically mortified of crashing. Not that this little bike would smash me at all or probably even hurt me. It's a cute little baby! So grandpa lets Reed take his single passenger bike, and poor Reed (grandpa boasts about his excellent riding) is being so patient and dealing with going super slow. We drove out to the salt flats from our parking spot and I felt so bad that he had to deal with me that I was ready to go back and let him party. I'm just a way better passenger than rider. I'm happier that way too, because that means I get to go fast and have fun with Reed. So the family sacrifices a lot, and they switch all their bikes around so we could ride together the rest of the day. 

REED IS FAST!
 Honestly I was a  little bit scared for a while there.

That boy is born to ride. I wish I could give him a motorcycle. He needs one. It's his calling, seriously. 

So the day keeps passing, and we head back to the canopy where other family is chilling, and I've had to go to the bathroom the whole time. I would look at Reed and hope that my puppy eyes would convince him to drive me super far out to use the bathroom, but it totally didn't work. After our aunt and cousin went in the wilderness I decided I needed to suck it up and brave it. So I did. I think walking to a spot was seriously some of the worst anxiety I've had in a long time. Yes, you heard it, I had anxiety about going to the bathroom. Laugh while you can. but I had a successful endeavor... (with the help of the husband man). And I told myself it would not happen again the rest of the day.

There's a trail that the boys go on every year to the power poles at the top of some mountain, and I was being a brave girl and refused to be left behind. So a few of us went up there, it's about a 40 minute drive there... It was pretty! The switch backs and cliff areas were horrifying, but as I gripped Reed's shirt I would remember what grandpa said before we left. Wouldn't let some of them go up because they weren't experienced enough for the trail, but Reed was such a good driver that he knew Reed would be fine with a passenger. So I faced a fear there as well... BOO YEAH! Reed drove perfectly. I didn't get a scratch on me with those tight, steep switchbacks. I'm also a talented passenger though ;). That could be thanks to my friends with motorcycles in the last few years. 

Here we are at the top of this fun little mountain:

In between it all we played with our cousin's adorable baby, and sat around chatting, and I avoided liquids. 

Finally a million hours later we got to start shooting! I'm all about shooting. Hand guns scare the crap out of me and always have, but I do GREAT with a shotgun! I had a lot of firsts today...

I hated Reed's gun though.... way too strong...

Here I am with a gun that I'm most experienced with. I had talked myself up a bit, so I was nervous to put one back in my hands after it has been about 6 years since I shot one, but...

I hit 12/14 of what I shot at. That's right! I'm bomb with a shot gun! Here is where all you men get upset that you don't have a wife that can naturally shoot that well. Reed was impressed with my shooting skills. He had no idea! 

All in all this was an extremely successful day. I had an enormous amount of fun!! I only wish we had our own bike. 

So I ask you... am I an Allred yet?