Yellowstone

While my grandparents were in town, my dad and I took them on a little weekend trip to Yellowstone. I haven’t been there in quite a few years, so it was fun to go again. The drive there and back was even entertaining as your scenery is all pastors or crops – my grandparents loved every second of the view.
As we entered Yellowstone, not even 5 minutes in, we saw this HUGE nest and Bald Eagle! It was beautiful, I gained a love for this animal from my other Grandpa who passed away not too long ago and I couldn’t help of think of how excited he would have been to see it. He would have been so proud that I spotted it and hurried out to get a picture (don’t you think Carrie?).
We drove the lower loop of Yellowstone so they could see “Old Faithful” - Papa wasn’t too impressed with Old Faithful, as we were told it should last between 3 and 5 minutes, and it only lasted about 30 seconds…hahaha! Too funny! Grandma however, just absolutely enjoys seeing new things and doesn’t care if it is lame or not, what a good reminder!



The scenery was so beautiful and felt so good to just drive with the windows down and enjoy it! We pulled over in just about every pull-out possible just to “look” and we were always grateful for doing it, not once were we disappointed!


My favorite scenic stop was this…

It made me homesick for Casey, but this lake was stunning and I all I wanted to do was JUMP IN!
When I was doing some research on Yellowstone, trying to find some fun and different things to do, I found that right outside the entrance to Yellowstone and just 2 blocks from our hotel was The Grizzly and Wolf Discover Center – sweet buddy! This place was awesome! And if you have older kids, I highly recommend it! The switch the bears out twice a day and every evening before they switch in the new ones, the get a group of about 20 kids and let them go into the bears ‘cage’ and hide their food. Then they let the bears out and we all get to watch them try to find their food. I seriously sat there and watched for about a hour and could have stayed longer. Then they have an exhibit inside with stuffed bears and it tells you the story of each one. It is kind of sad but so interesting! You need to go!

"I think I could be a Mormon"

I remember the day I entered the MTC (just over 5 years ago, sheesh, that is crazy) and being so excited to go and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who may or may have not ever heard of it before. I cried saying goodbye to my sweet family as I walked through the "Missionarie Here" door, and the departed through the "Families Exit Here" door - I didnt have a doubt in my mind that I was doing the right thing, but boy was I going to miss them! 2 minutes later, I walked out the doors to go find my room and guess who I saw? My Casey! My fears quickly faded and he had to quickly remind me that I couldnt hug him! BUMMER! Anyway, its nice to see a familiar face at a moment like that. I walked in and met my "companion" where I quickly learned that I was got to have 2 while in the MTC - I loved these girls, and learned so much from them - Later we met our District whom would all be leaving to Texas with us and that same day, ond Elder shared with us that he was the only 'member' in his family...another missionary said "How did that happen? How come you haven't converted them yet?" I chimed in and said "It's not as easy as you think, sharing your beliefs with your family." The dear Elder who was the only member, quickly agreed with me while the questioning Elder gave me a huge look of dissatisfaction and disgust.
I will never forget that conversation. And for those of you who were born into the convenant, that may be hard for you to believe. But each of us are put here under different circumstances and I truly beileve that one of my tests was to 'teach' what I can by example and faith to my non-member family and pray that one day, they too will see the "light".
Now, my mom was baptized when she was 16 with her mom and dad who asked a missionary (Govenor Levitt) to come to their Bible Study group to help them with some questions about the Bible. He and his companion came, and soon enough - a deep admiration came for this missionary. Soon enough, the entire bible study group was converted along with my mom.
My dad never did get baptized, he doesnt really believe in organized religion, and I respect that. His parents, Papa and Grandma Shirley have gone between the Baptist congregation and Luthern congregation, stayed put for the duration of the preachers stay and then found a new one. The only time they had been in a LDS church, was when I was baptized.
They came to visit last month!

It was SO good to see them, I love hugging my PAPA, it is so sincere. I love his eye and hand wrinkles that show years and years of hard work out in the pasture and field - It makes me smile just thinking of him. I suggested that we go down to Temple square as it was my Grandma's first visit to Utah and she said "I would love to see the Temple" - So we went, we walked around the Visitors Center, took a picture in front of the Temple and I answered questions as they asked, (I am not one to give more information than is necessary, nor do I push anything upon anyone) - They asked wonderful questions about what goes on in side of the Temple, why did Joseph Smith and Brigahm Young not like each other at first, ect - I loved answering their questions. It made more sense to them as we had spent the day before touring the Oquirrah Mountain Temple. I cup was filled as they asked and then pondered...I cant wait to send them the beautiful picture I took of them holding hands at the reflecting pool with the Temple in the background and explaining the symbolism to them! What a great evening that was!
I didnt know what they really thought at the end of the day, until we were driving home from Yellowstone and my Grandma started asking me about my mission, I told her wonderful stories, good ones and bad ones...At the end of the conversation, she said she was going to look up at home to see where the closest "Mormon Church" was to her and go check it out - So I had to tell her that our church isnt the same as the ones that she has, and explained the order or events and how we have different speakers each week, she thought that was very neat. I continued to tell her about Relief Society and how much I love it and what goes on in there - She ended the conversation with "I think I would really like Relief Society, I think I could be a Mormon!" My heart was so full, and my eyes filled with tears. I put my hand on her knee and said "So do I." Next year Casey and I are going down to Nacadoches Texas, where we will attend church with them...I cant wait to see what happens!

HELP!!! Be a Sponsor!!!

My darling little sister made the Volleyball team at Hillcrest High School and we need your help! I know things are tight for everyone right now, but if you know ANYONE that would be willing to help, please let them know!
Each player has the task of obtaining at least 2 player/team sponsorships for the 2009-2010 Volleyball team. The sponsorship fee is $300 and includes a banner (ir it is a company sponsorship) of your company that will be on display in the Hillcrest gym during the ENTIRE school year. Please let us know if you are interested or if you know of someone who may; we only have till Sunday! The donation can be paid via check (payable to Hillcrest High School) and Alyssa and I will be happy to stop by and pick it up!
There is also a 5 question form that you need to fill out (one of which asking how you want your business displayed) and other simple questions. Please call me at 801-953-8761 if you are interested!
Thanks!!!

Birthday Fun.

Don’t worry…I am still catching up on our July festivities. We also celebrated my 26th birthday!!! I never have been scared of growing old or getting wrinkles that just add to my life story. But for some reason, “26” just isnt the same as “25” – I feel like I am actually growing up (yes, it did take me this long to figure it out). But I feel like I look in the mirror all too often now and try to see if any new wrinkles have shown up around my eyes…seriously, what is wrong with me? Casey thinks I am crazy, I think I just need to get over it and get back to my “wrinkles add charchter and add to my life story” feelings…hmmm we’ll see. However, besides the fact that I actually notice my ‘smile’ wrinkles now – whats the big deal about getting old? I recently wrote in my jornal about (now this is just how I feel), if I don’t have any regrets about what I do today, another day older shouldn’t have an impact on me. Do you agree? I honestly think that is true…Live today and a new adventure will begin tomorrow. I am so blessed for the many AMAZING things that I have already got to do and experience. The heartbreaks that have happened within my family has only made us closer and more aware of the love we have for each other. I cant wait for Casey and I to start having kids and share our grand adventures with them! I hope they think they are as “Grand” as we do!
Well, like the past 2 years, my work summer party fell on the same night as my birthday…some may get annoyed with this, but I actually enjoy it. I love and respect so many in my company that spending that evening with them made it even better. This year we went to Clarks Planatarium. We ate dinner, mingled and enjoyed one of the shows…cant remember what it was called, but we had tons of fun…especially wearing these:

HAHA -
Anyway, I came home before the party and was welcomed with this beatuiful bouqet of flowers...Casey always gets beautiful ones!

The next morning Casey made me a small breakfast in bed (although he does this every Sunday anyway) and later in the afternoon we headed out to Tucanos - our little family ritual for birthdays! So delicious!

Dauber Larder

So we moved into our home a little over a year ago now, and when we bought it, construction on it wasnt complete. So we got to go "blue tape" anything on the house that we wanted them to fix...I had noticed from day 1 that in our entryway to our front door that there was some stucco that appeared as if it had not been smoothed out - I didnt think much about it, in fact, I forgot to even mention it to get fixed...Well, a year later...(this happened in July) I was out watering my plants and while doing so, I thought about this uneven piece of stucco and how I wished our ladder wasnt being borrowed so I could go up and chip it off or something. Anyway, I went into the entryway and noticed that this 'little piece of uneven stucco' was now about 3 times it was the last time I got a real good look at it...what the???

So, I went and got Casey to get his opinion on this abnormal growth on our home. (Keep in mind that we didnt have our ladder) - he got the garage broom and started poking at the "stucco" to see if it would just fall off - Hmmm...the front of the bottom half chipped right off, and to my dismay, dozens and dozens of these little black things started falling out of "THE GROWTH" - Casey very calmly but frantically began brushing them off of him as he was standing right under it when he busted it open - "What it is it?" I very worriedly asked him. "Umm, nothing dont worry about it - why dont you just go finish packing the car and Ill finish this up" was his reply. (we were on our way to go camping) - "Casey, what is it?!?" I asked him again, obviously knowing that he didnt want to tell me..."They are all dead spiders he said!"
Pardon my language, but WHAT THE HELL???
I was absolutly disgusted. I hate spiders and have to this day, not seen one inside our home (thankfully). So naturally I got all freaked out, wondering what in the crap was collecting dead spiders and putting them in this fake stucco thing above my door. In my mind I was thinking it was going to be some nasty ace BIG spider, but really had no idea. Freaking SICK!!! Anyway, like I mentioned above, we were on our way to go camping with some friends and didnt have time to do much more. So Casey got the bug spray and sprayed the crap out of the entry-way and hosed off all the dozens of mini spiders off the porch before we left.

Anyway...of course I did my home work when we returned and guess what it really was?
A DAUBER LAUDER...do you know what that is, or have you even ever heard of that? Yeah, thats what I thought!
But guess what? It really isnt as nasty as you think it is...I was actually pleasently surprised to find out that I have a dear friend wasp (A known fact, that this type of wasp is a friendly wasp) that I have named "Nectar".
Nectar, you see is a mud dauber lauder. Nectar is a female and she is known to construct a mud nest, then she goes in search of spiders to fill the chambers of her mud nest with. Flower spiders tend to compose the majority of her prey. She stings those disgusting spiders that I hate SO BAD! and paralyze it - she doesnt kill the spider out right BC then it will start to rot right away. Instead, she just paralyzes the spider, which keeps them FRESH. Then, she carries it to the nest where depending on the size of the spider, she will place up to 2 dozen of them in each of chambers (there are about 20 champbers in each nest)and then she'll lay an egg on them, cap the tube off with more mud and start stocking the next tube. The egg hatches and the baby wasp eats the paralyzed spiders as it grows. Then, come around fall, it pupates and waits for spring, at which time in finishes, pops out of the nest and goes and finds its mother. - Kind of interesting huh?
***I have mixed feelings about my new friend Nectar. I still have half of her nest above my door...dont worry, its empty. I was hoping she would come back and lay her next egg there, but it has been a month now, and I havent seen her.
Its gross that I had a collection of paralyzed spiders above my entryway to my house, but at the same time, Nectar killed dozens and dozens and dozens of spiders for me and has kept me happy in my spider free home and quite frankly - I have only maybe seen a couple spiders on the out skirts of my home thanks to her. Oh well...I guess the remains of her hard work where she was hoping to 'birth' her children will have to come down now. (So dont worry)!
Thanks Nectar for your hard work and I am sorry to distroy the home you worked so hard to build to shelter your little ones.

And so it is...

Casey and I stayed up until 2:00 this morning laughing and watching movies...I love just laying in his arms! I couldn't help but think of the 18 years of memories that we have together. How often does someone really marry their best friend? 3 years ago this week, Casey purposed to me here...(just up on those steps!)

I know you have an incredibly long day today honey, but you still look hot with puffy eyes!

**4th of July**

The 4th of July is by far my favorite holiday, it never ceases to diappointment me! This year marked our 1 year anniversary in our new home! I am so glad we moved into this house. We have the best neighbors and have made some of the sweetest friends!
Our community does a huge 4th of July BBQ and Movie and had set up some different activites for the kids to do...Casey and I only hung out for about 45 minutes with Candice and Jeff and my two favorite kiddos in the whole world, Addison and Raegan and then went home to kick off our own BBQ with my family!

Casey and I.
We had a seriously good BBQ! Nothing better than Burgers and too many side dishes!


This picture is more for you to see what our backyard looked like in July(well, you cant really tell - Its pure dirt and a bunch of weeds...Casey is making some serious progress on it, we hope to have the backyard done by the end of the month!...pictures to come!

After we ate, we headed down to Thanksgiving Point and enjoyed qute the impressive firework show! And, it was SOOOO long!

My family!

Our good friends Candice and Jeff with Raegan (Im pretty sure Addison was loving on Casey at this moment)

Bruce, Alyssa and Zea playing the "Belly Laugh" game.

Dad, Mom and Alyssa.

Kicken off the 4th!

We started the needed LOOOONNNGGG 4th of July weekend off by going to Hollie and Russ’ family cabin down south. We had tons of fun…even sleeping in the back of the Xterra! Everyone else either slept in the Cabin or out in their tents, but seeing that we were the only ones without little ones, Casey and I toughed it out with the seats down and changing in the car with the windows down!
Right when we got there, Casey of course wanted to jump right on the 4-wheelers and head out, which is exactly what we did – I love sitting on the back with the wind and dirt in my hair and eyes! – There really is no sarcasm in that comment, I have always been known as the one that enjoys to get dirty while camping! Oh, and Casey always thinks it is hilarious to go off these jumps, where I swear one day I will be thrown off the back…until then, I will let him enjoy doing so!

Casey and I.
That night we had each prepared a tin foil dinner, Casey did ours. We had steak and amazingly flavored potatoes - nice work babe, it was delicious!

Casey's dad Kendall.
But before dinner, Casey and Hollie needed to take some of the kiddos that wanted to on a quick ride before we headed back out!

- I hate to tell ya, but I truely think Casey is one of little Kendall's favorite people! I think this picture is adorable!

Hollie and Britta.
As we were waiting for our tin foil dinners to be cooked, Hollie and Kristen and Casey and I took off for another ride - It was beautiful watching the sunset and exploring tight trails...At one point we saw this sheep dog just starring at us, it was so bizzare...little did we know and soon found out, that he was rounding up the straggeling sheep to get them back with the herd! A little later we ran in to where hundreds of hundreds of sheep were resting and the two other sheep dogs - i was quite impressed with these smart dogs and their ability to take control of ALL those sheep! However, we could tell that those old dogs were quite diappointed in us as we drove through their herd and becuase of the loud noise the 4-wheelers were making, were scattering the sheep in all different directions...I felt bad for those hard working dogs, oh well. At one point we were on this really narrow path and had to stop becuase of all the sheep in front of us, as we sat there dozens of sheep starting jump from the bushes in front and behind us - they were paniced that we were going to hurt them, it was kind of sad. I didnt have a camera with me and I wish I had becuase of how funny the situation really was...but as Casey and I were leaving the next morning, we saw this...

Now, this picture really doesnt do it justice...but imagin like 5 times this many sheep and being on a 4 foot wide dirt path with them EVERYWHERE!!! It was hilarious!
Anyway, Casey had fun with the bow and arrows showing off his mad skills and killing us all at darts - its funny those little things you find out that your spouse is good at the longer you are together - I was impressed! He was like25 yards away from a bush and put a Dr. Pepper can in the bush and would just nail it with his arrow!

It was a nice 2 day camping trip filled with good eats, card games, one too many roasted mallows and lots of 4-wheeling!
Thanks Hollie and Russ for the fun getaway!

Tuachan!

July has gone by WAY to fast! It is by far my favorite month for MANY reasons…There is nothing better that sitting on a hand made fourth of July quilt watching fireworks, for not just 1 night, but 3. The barbeques with family and friends, my birthday, laying out by the pool and the unexpected “trip” that gets thought out a couple of months a head of time, but always falls in July!
With that said, I better start updating as I feel as if I will never get caught up!
So, I will start with Tuachan...
I was finally able to experience the annual “Edwards” Tuachan trip down in St. George. This is something that Caseys mom Pam, her sister Peggy and Grandma Zenda started 10 years ago. From those 3 families all the girls get together and leave on Wednesday night and come home on Sunday. I did however, get to bring my little sister Alyssa with me and I was glad she got to come! We spent the weekend shopping, seeing “My Sister’s Keeper” (not a good show to see when you just watched someone go through that by the way!), laying out by the pool and eating!
Grandma has a house down in St. George that we all stay in and then she buys each of a ticket to see both of the Tuachan plays that are showing. The two shows this year were Footloose and Annie! They were so good and totally entertaining! I must admit, I liked Annie better. I was totally impressed with the little girls and their acting! Plus, Annie was one of my favorite shows growing up! Thanks Grandma for the fun weekend!



Hmmm...how is it, that I didnt get any pictures of the WHOLE gang when that was going down? Member when Aunt Peg very casually asked me "is that how you are going?" cause i didnt get all dolled up for the annual Tuachan picture? That was hilarious! Maybe that is why I didnt get one! HAHAHA!

One of my summer favs!

One of my most all time favorite things about summer are SNOW CONES!!! When you see those little "Snow Shacks" start poping up, you know its time for summer to begin!
Casey and I had our first Snow Cone of the summer last night - it was just as delicious as ever! We took a little walk behind our closest snow shack and found the city pool - I didnt even know we had a city pool! It has a slide and all! I know where I will be on my days off. Summer may have offically started weeks ago for most of you...but mine offically started last night!

Oh yeah…Cancun

(Don't mind my choice of pictures, I emailed them to myself at work to post them and didnt get the ones I wanted...but if I dont just post it, Ill probably never do it! And they are super small, so you can click to enlarge them.)
Almost 2 months later – but, we did go to Cancun…
It was absolutely perfect, our week long last minute vacation to Cancun! We found tickets for SUPER cheap and invited Casey’s parents to come along, and we hopped flight 2 ½ weeks later.
The weather was PERFECT, it was in the high 80’s the whole week.
The first thing we did when we got there was go eat. We ate at El Shrimp Bucket – and I was heaven! We ate about 7 different ‘flavors’ of shrimp between the 4 of us, the coconut shrimp was seriously like candy, just melted in your mouth…We ate good!
As this was mine and Casey’s third time to Cancun, we wanted to do some things that we hadn’t done in the past, one of them was to just hang out at the pool and the beach and enjoy these…

Mango smoothies! They just dont taste them same in the states! This is at the little cafe that sits under the pool to our hotel overlooking the ocean. It was so beautiful!
We did a couple of excursions…We did the “Jungle Tour” – that was NOT in a jungle AT ALL! We got on Wave Runners and took about a 30 minute ride on the ocean through some trees to the other side of the island and went snorkeling. I thought it was really fun! The first time we went to Cancun we had done a snorkeling adventure and one of the guys that was with us seriously cut up his feet on the coral, so I was kind of nervous swimming over it, but it was really pretty. Casey and Kendall almost lost Pam and I on the back of the Wave Runners though – The ocean was pretty choppy (obviously) and we hit some deep waves, we survived and made sure to give the boys a hard time about it!
That night we went on the “Cancun Queen”! The Cancun Queen is a dinner cruise that is about 4 hours long. You start out with a dance party on top to the old time style ferry and then have dinner underneath and watch the sunset.

We seiously were the only "white folk" on the boat - let me just tell...Those black girls new had to dance! We really had a blast, and enjoyed playing the limbo and learning new dances, they for sure out did us though! They loved my mother-n-law though...Nice work keeping up with them Pam, you totally impressed me!
Easter was a little different, Pam and Kendall went to Chitzenitza and Casey and I stayed at the beach all day. They had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids, but other than it was pretty low key.
Monday we went to the Isla of Mujeras - translated into "The Island of the Women". Because when the discovered the island there were status of women all over the island. The island itself is only about 8 miles long and a mile wide, completley surrounded by the ocean! I think this was one of my favorite spots for sure! It was beautiful! However, I feared for my life the way over there - it is only like 10 miles out from Cancun, but you have to take a boat there and ours only held about 30 people, so it was pretty small to stand up against those HUGE ocean waves! I seriously thought I was going to die watching the waves come up around the boat and looking behind us not even being able to see past 10 yards becuase of those huge waves. I had to close my eyes - There is something about the dark ocean that frightens me! But, once we made it to the island, it was all worth the treacherous trip.
The Isla of Mujeres is a fishing village and though it is now discovered by tourists it still retains it's charm and tranquil atmosphere. As you stroll the streets in the evening you will see families gathered together in Caribbean styled homes, tucked between stores and restaurants, mending their fishing nets and relaxing.
They told us that they had an Angel Shark at the island that we could swim with - supposedly, if you turn an Angel Shark up side down, there brain hits there skull and they fall asleep, so, if the attack thats all they have to do, and nothing would happen - that was all I needed to hear to do it! I begged and begged Casey to do it with me, and he totally wasnt going to have any of it! All I wanted was a picture of the 2 of us with the shark. He gave in after about a half an hour and we started walking into the water - and something hit me - (this really is disgusting - just in case you choose to read on) I had just started my "girl problems" and thought to myslef "What if he 'smells' me and attacks" - (sick right? Yeah I know...but I had to tell you why I was so deathly scared and hiding behind Casey in this picture...)

Obviusly, Casey thought it was pretty cool and I didnt know what to think about it, my face tells it all, I think its cool that my husband is holding a shark, but I am terrified and totally disgusted with the sharks NASTY feeling tail whacking me in the side. I dont know what I was thinking - Why in my right mind did I think swimming and holding a shark would be "so neat"? It was disgusting, I touched the shark once just for Casey's satisfaction, and just thinking of it now - gives me beauterflies - But, I do love Casey's face in that picture!
Anyway, moving on...Here are a couple more pictures of the island, this place seriously was beautiful!

We rented this golf cart and went and explored the 8 mile long island...

There was a turtle farm that had all sorts of different sized turtles on and in it -

Other than that, we took bus rides around the strip and explored and relaxed by the pool! It was such a nice vacation and really needed on my part! Thanks Pam and Kendall for coming along, it was nice to spend some time with you guys...and for the unexpected "spoilage" we received - we love you guys!

Wanna Play?

Our indoor soccer team only has 3 games left and we have to put in our deposit in 2 weeks!!! So, that means – if you want to play with us, let me know! We have 8 players and we are looking for 5 more. The cost is $43 for the season ($35 for player fees and then every game we have to pay $10 for ref fees). We play on Saturdays. The games are as early as 3:55 and as late as 10:40. We play at Timpanogos Indoor in Lindon. So if you, or your hubby, or both of you want to play…let me know before we fill up!!!
As a side note – I know a lot of boys don’t like to play coed, but the rules are different at Timp Indoor. Boys can touch the ball AS MANY TIMES as they want before passing it off (that is not the case at Murry). There has to be 2 girls on the field at a time and when us girls do score…we get two points instead of 1. Those are really the only 2 rules. And…I promise our girls can play! We actually only have 3 girls right now, but we all played High School and 2 of us played in college. So I don’t think you boys would get frustrated. Anyway, call me if you want to play 801-953-8761 – its TONS of FUN!!!

Cafe Rio!

Last night mine and Casey's conversation on our way home from a soccer game went like this:
Casey: What should we have for dinner?
Me: I was thinking chicken enchiladas.
Casey: We only have 1 chicken breast left.
Me: Oh, then we can have burgers.
Casey: We don't have any buns.
Me: There's Cafe Rio...
We looked at each other and both got a guilty pleasure smile! So in we went! We haven't had Cafe Rio in almost 6 months!!! We shared a chicken burrito and some chips and queso - delicious! One should never be deprived of from Cafe Rio!

Free Meal!!!

You all must admit, there is nothing better than finding a "great deal", right? Well, Im not a huge KFC fan, nor do I think Casey will accompany me with our free coupons - but hey, it is for a GRILLED chicken meal. Anyway, if you want a super cheap meal print out a coupon (4 for each household) and take your family!
(I'm at work and our system wont allow me to link the site so...) go to www.unthinkfc.com and print one out. IT HAS TO BE PRINTED TODAY and is good through like the 17th. Enjoy!

The weekend

Casey and I spent Friday night with some of our good friends the Towner’s – they treated us to Tepanyaki. It was delicious! I had never been there before, it was just like Bonsai. Then we went to Maggie Moos, and I made myself sick! Casey and I haven’t had ice cream in 5 months and even though I only got a small, my stomach was seriously upset! Ill stick with fat free frozen yogurt!
Casey and I stayed up ‘just talking’ on Friday night - we didn’t fall asleep until 1:30am.
We woke up Saturday morning at 7:30 for Casey’s outdoor soccer game up at the U.
It was raining – Oh how I love the rain! I grabbed my umbrella and off we went for 90 minutes of soccer! I sat on our lawn chair and was the only brave wife present. I loved watching mistake after mistake because of the slippery ball and field – the best part? When they would get pushed over or slip in a big mud puddle!

Saturday night we opened our bedroom window and listened to the rain! It reminded me of when I was young, my mom and I would cuddle up in her room, open the blinds and window and just listen to the rain pound against unknown objects. Heavenly!

Little life satisfactions!

I get joy out of the littlest things in life. I don’t talk about them nearly as often as I should – but for the mere fact that I cant get these out of my head…

I want to tell you all what some of those little things were, that I enjoyed this week!
(In no particular order)
1. Sour Patch Kids – My sugar free husband has been patiently listening to me complain about my deprivation of no sugar the last 4 months, on Monday when we to Wal-Mart he let me go to the candy aisle to see if they had any of those miniature packages of Sour Patch Kids that I so much LOVE!!! They didn’t and I was super bummed!
2. My most favorite things about going to the store is after we pick a line to check out at, I grab a magazine and catch up on the latest gossip and trends while my honey unloads the cart and pays…On Monday, I was so caught up in the magazine that I didn’t even notice the miniature package of Sour Patch Kids on the bottom rack in the check out line…Casey grabbed one for me. I promptly opened them on our way out of the store and enjoyed every second sucking the sugar off that sour yet sweet treat (my mouth is totally watering right now) – It took me 3 days to eat that TINY bag! That’s pretty impressive. And as for Casey, he didn’t eat one of them! He seriously can not be tempted!
3. As scared as I was at the fact that Casey got laid off a couple of months ago and hasn’t been able to find a decent paying job since – we have been blessed in SO MANY ways! I think the thing I appreciate the most though is the time we have got to spend with each other, between school and work for the both of us the last 2 ½ years, we never really got to just enjoy one another’s company, unless we were at a family function. Now, I come home and Casey has taken care of 90% of the household chores for the day and has dinner cooking – then, we have ALL night to do whatever we please – and I LOVE IT!!!
4. Casey came with me to my hair appointment yesterday just because he “wanted to be with me”! I warned him that I would be there for a couple of hours, but he insisted. 3 hours later, he told me he would never do that again. HAHA
5. I hate how long my hair appointments take when I color my hair! I seriously have SO MUCH HAIR!!! It is so thick and it probably doesn’t help that it hits in the middle of my back, but I love just sitting in the chair relaxing! Trinity (my hair dresser)(oh, and no he isn’t gay) give the BEST head messages! He even got the knots out of my neck last night! DIVINE!!! I’m totally impressed with my new color too! For those of you who haven’t seen me in a couple of months – in October I dyed my hair a couple shades light of black – which shockingly, I LOVED…but for the new season I wanted to lighten things up! Trinity totally (once again) amazed me by turning my black hair about 8 shades lighter and me actually liking it! I was SO scared that it would look horrible with the contrast but you can barely even tell! Thanks Trinity, you are totally worth EVERY dollar!
6. Another joy of mine is spending time with my little sister Alyssa – we’re going shopping together tomorrow! I love hearing about her new adventures at school and he determination to have her associates by the time she graduates high school! (This is totally a past joy, but I am so glad I was taught the importance of school! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!) Anyway, I love hearing about her “boy” stories too! Remember those days? Im glad they are WAY over, but to hear her talk about her butterflies in her tummy, make me giddy!
Last but not least, my most favorite joy of the week was going to my parents sacrament meeting on Sunday. My mom and dad were asked to speak on the trials and tribulations that came last year (which included my moms battle with cancer, the loss of my dads father to a stroke, and the loss of my dads little sister to pancreatic cancer, my dads layoff that happened 2 months after moms diagnosis and anything else the felt necessary.) They seriously had the whole chapel in tears – and not to be bias, but it was BY FAR the two BEST talks I have ever heard. I know it is always different hearing a talk given by a family member, and especially on a topic that is so close to your heart, but is WAS SO POWERFUL. They did share (very briefly) their trials so everyone could understand why they were asked to talk on it – but they focused on the positive and taught by the scriptures why we have trials and why it is important that we have those trials! I left with such a deeper respect and love for my parents – a love I didn’t think could actually get any deeper than it already was. How blessed I am to have such amazing parents! Both of whom are converts and both of whom have had many trials that have taught them to be the amazing people that they are – I love that I have NEVER heard them judge a single person - they don’t care about the mistakes a person has made, they have always welcomed anyone into their home and as far as I know, have never made anyone feel uncomfortable for not believing something different than they do. Mom, I know you’ll read this, and as little as that sounds, it has made such an impact on my life!

Boo to Red Mango

Casey came and took me to lunch today...They just put a Red Mango in across the street from my office building that I have been DYING to try! (I am a huge fat free frozen yogurt fan!) Anyway, everyday I tell myself I’m going to try it, but I just never have. Today was the perfect day, it finally being sunny and all (:
I loved the layout of the place and my first words when we walked in were “Fancy!” However, I quickly saw the prices to their plan… $3.00 for a small frozen yogurt?!?!?!?
Now, step in my shoes for moment…I hit up the Maverick at least 3 times a week and pay for a LARGE filled as full as I can possibly get it without the top falling over for $1.92. I understood that Red Mango needed to make a profit, therefore we stayed and indulged. They only have 3 flavors: Original, Pomegranate and Green Tea – Odd choice of flavors if you ask me, but I got Original and Pomegranate swirl. She then asked if I wanted a topping, OF COURSE! They had fresh raspberries!!! But don’t worry – we had to pay another $1.00 for a topping.
$4.00 for a small 1 topping yogurt? It’s a business strictly relaying on their profit from the yogurt – so once again, I understand! Until… the sweet lady behind the counter handed me my $4 yogurt that was filled only a third of my small cup up and barely soared over the rim – WHAT??? Seriously???
Needless to say, Casey and I will not make another stop at Red Mango!
I think Frogurt in Draper is a little more reasonably priced, but they too only received business from this yogurt junkie once – my next try will be Frozen Yogurt Junction – I just got a coupon for a “buy 1 get 1 free”! Now that’s what I'm talking about!
Needless to say, my tiny yogurt was delicious Pomegranate and Raspberry mixed is divine!
***Note, the above picture is not of my yogurt, in fact, mine was about half the size of this.

Growth Chart

A friend of mine is such a SUPER crafty woman and seriously has made everything on display in her home. I was over at her home on Sunday and she showed me these cute growth charts she has made for a boutique she is doing in May. They are adorable and she can make them in any color you want. If you are interested, her number is: 801-391-3526 and her name is Janey.

3 games and a Real game.

*** This post is all about soccer, so if you don’t have any interest in this sport, you probably shouldn’t waste your time. Just so ya know.

Saturday was a completely full day of soccer! I am so grateful that Casey and have I both played soccer and enjoy watching it! Anyway, Casey plays on an outdoor team and his games are every Saturday morning at nine. As you can see, my Saturday morning ritual of Casey making me breakfast and the cuddling up to a movie and not getting out of bed till one, has now been sadly taken away…As much as I did enjoy that for the last nine months, I don’t mind supporting and watching him play a game he loves! I wonder if our kids will play soccer so I can enjoy that with them too, Hmmm?!?
Then Casey took me to Texas Roadhouse for lunch! Ymmm…They have a killer deal that if you eat there before 6 you can get your meal with 2 sides for only $7.99 – So if you don’t know where to go for date night this week…you should hit it up!
3:10 – Our first coed indoor soccer game and Casey’s 2nd game of the day. I LOVE playing coed indoor – especially with the little team we have right now! We actually only have 7 players (which allows us one sub), so we are all trying to get in a little better shape so we don’t get outran. Anyway, I understand that being a girl on a “coed” team means that I will more than likely get pushed around by some guys, maybe get taken to school because I am well aware that boys are typically faster than girls and I am TOTALLY okay with that! However, there was a guy on this team who had absolutely NO class whatsoever, after multiple times of getting hacked in the ankles and getting pushed to the ground by him, he decided I needed even more from him and slammed me into the wall and immediately after, elbowed me in the gut! Jerk! Oh well, I told him I could play that game too, and my team thought it was hilarious – 2nd half he was playing keeper and I scored on him. We won 7 to 4. So ,dear “Jerk”, as much of a white trash man I already thought you were, letting your family and buddies see you getting scored on by not 2 but 3 girls and losing the game for your team, was well worth getting slammed into a wall like a hockey player! I cant wait to meet you again!
As if 2 soccer games in a day weren’t enough, our good friends John and Dan gave us their tickets to the Real game that night! This was the first game we had been to this season and I must admit, they have gotten MUCH better since last season! I actually enjoyed myself and didn’t find Casey and I stating high school players who they should recruit!
Oh, and I must mention that our seats were right behind the South goal and if you have ever been to a Real game you will know that this is the section were smoke, confetti and super loud music is blaring from the entire game. What a crack up! I was thoroughly entertained by the clan of over 80 Hispanics screaming vulgarities in Spanish and watching Casey’s eye widen and me wondering what in the world they were screaming – Casey would tell me and then the over-drunken man in his 50’s dancing to the music in the first row mimicking them (not knowing what he was saying) with a huge smile on his face was classic! Poor guy! We left with 10 minutes left in the game because we had another indoor game at 10:40 – yes it was the 3rd game of the day. However, Real killed New England 6-0! Thanks John and Dan for the free date!
10:40pm – Is obviously WAY to late for anyone to playing a game and if 10:40 itself wasn’t bad enough, being your 3rd game of the day, is never a good thing. We started out with only 4 players while the other team had 6. They scored 2 goals on us in the first 7 minutes and then the rest of out team showed up. We lost, but that’s okay! We’ll get them next time!

Will start with this...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.