Back To School

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy first day of school!

Kindergarten First Day of School First of of School 2009

Laughing All Day Long

Yesterday we had quite the adventure in Bear Lake. We had planned a trip to go to a play at the Pickleville Playhouse, The Hanging of El Bandito, with the Hales, and decided to make a day of it. We started out with high hopes of venturing into Minnetonka Cave, but after following the directions of mapquest, we ended up in the middle of nowhere on some dirt road. Thanks to Steve's GPS, we ended up back on the right road, but an hour behind schedule. By the time we made it up to Minnetonka Cave, the tours had been all booked up until 4 o'clock. We were forced to abandon our plans, but still had 5 hours before the play, and needed something to fill the time. Lacey remembered hearing that the Bear Lake county fair was going on in Montpelier, ID, and we were once again on our way for another adventure. Before we made it to the fair we stopped at a park and ate our lunches. Steve had this great idea to put only the peanut butter on the bread, so the jam wouldn't make the break soggy. It is a great idea, but the bread stuck together really bad. This is Steve working his magic at getting the bread apart!The park we were at was pretty cool it had great swings. There weren't enough swings for all of us to ride forward. Patrick's face is perfect for riding the backwards horse! The fair was great. We walked around the shops, watched a hypnotist for a while, and then as we started to watch a band, Steve realized it was his cousins who he hadn't seen for quite a while. Fair food is always the best. These are mozzarella sticks(mozzarella in corn dog batter) Yummy! Patrick is so animated with picture taking. I love all the faces he makes:)Next to the band, there was a mechanical bull that we kept watching people ride. I have always wanted to ride one, but never had the guts. Patrick and Steve talked Lacey and I into riding the mechanical bull. It was a lot of fun!Here is a video of me ridin' the bull. The camera battery ran out just before I fell off. I can't seem to make it go the right way, if anyone knows how, I would love to learn.

Patrick and I had never been to a play at the Pickleville Playhouse before and didn't really know what to expect for the play. The Hanging of El Bandito was a melodrama which meant that the audience would boo when the bad guy (El Bandito) would come on stage and cheer for the good guy. It was so much fun! We hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. The guy who played El Bandito was so funny and did a great job of throwing in a ton of Nacho Libre quotes which is a favorite movie of ours. Everyone knows that when you go the Bear Lake it is a necessity to stop and get a burger and raspberry shake. So Good!We had a really great day, I haven't laughed so much in one day for a long time. Thanks so much for the invite Steve and Lacey, we had a great time!

Random Picture

Right after Patrick and I got married, we lived in an apartment where we had lots of bugs, especially spiders. I HATE spiders! I would always call for Patrick if there was ever a bug/spider, so he could kill it(I still do this and probably always will.) We had a few months were we were going to school and working at opposite times. I came home one day and saw this huge black thing under the table-kind of in a corner. I wasn't going to get close to it, and Patrick wasn't home, so I sent him a text on my way out telling him the exact location so he could kill it when he got home. He usually came home about 20 minutes after I left, then he would leave before I got home to go to work. When I got home from work this is what I found...In case you can't read it, it says, "I caught the bug for you! I love you!" It wasn't even a bug, but a marble from a game we have:) It still makes me laugh whenever I think about it or see this picture. So funny.

Girls Night

I have been wanting to get a pedicure for a long time, but just never get around to it. Erin got a pedicure(gift card) for Mother's day, so we decided it would be a fun night out. We went to Leilani Salon & Spa. It is a new spa that just opened in May or June. It was a lot of fun and felt great. We decided to get the pedicure of the month...a Margarita Pedicure! They said they are going to be doing a different kind of pedicure each month. They weren't sure which one is next month, but some ideas are cinnamon apple, or chocolate rum. Sounds good to me! With the Margarita Pedicure, they actually put a shot of Tequila in the water. Evidently alcohol is a great exfoliant for your skin-who new.They put lime juice on your toenails-I learned this actually takes out the yellow color from nail polish, that was cool. Hot coconut oil was brushed on our feet and legs and steamed towels wrapped around. I thought this looked funny, so had to get a picture.Here is the finished product, you can't tell, but there are cute flowers painted on our big toes. I thought it was so cute when we got back to Erin's, Johnny looked at Erin's toes and said, "So pretty mommy" while pointing at the flowers. So cute!If anybody wants to go, I would recommend it. Shauna Reeder is who did my pedicure, I would definitely recommend her and if you mention my name, I get $5 towards my next one:)

My Husband Cracks Me Up!

I know I haven't posted anything recently, but here is a quick funny picture I just had to post. There will probably be many more of these, I have so many random, but really fun pictures:) The other day I came in from the kitchen to find this.

Shortly after, I found this!I love being married, my husband can always make me laugh and I love that!

Harry Potter Comes Wednesday!!!

According to almost every review on rotten tomatoes this is the best film in the series so far and the funniest. This just adds to the excitement!

Happy 3rd and 4th of July!

My sister and her family have been in town staying at my parents house this week. I got off of work a day early and decided to come down for the 4th of July! My family is kind of spur of the moment, we must get it from my dad:) We woke up and decided to go on a hike up to Squaw Peak. It was so much fun to be able to go up with family. Starting at the top, my brother Gary, my nephew Spencer(standing up), Patrick, my nephew Jordan, me, my niece Kelsey, and my nephew Cody. When we got back we went sat out on the deck, playing with Gary's dog, and we only had so many chairs. I, of course, got to sit on the little kid chair. I have to blame the heat, it definately wasn't me being to big for the chair, but the legs decided to slowly give out. You can't tell very well in this picture, but the legs are all flat going in opposite ways. Pretty funny! While sitting on the deck, we thought it would be great to go swimming. Gary mentioned that we could go rafting down the Provo river. Denise, called and found out that it is only 15 dollars a person. Patrick, me and Katie(Gary's wife) didn't have swimming stuff, so we ran to Savers and bought 2 dollar pair of shorts. This was so much fun. The Provo river is not really strong or scary, so it was perfect for the little kids and just relaxing. It is about an hour and half long. Starting from the left, top row: my sister Denise, me, Patrick, Gary, Katie, and Jordan. Bottom row: Cody, Kelsey and Spencer.So far we have had a great weekend. Tonight we are planning to stake out a spot and watch the Stadium of fire. Happy 4th of July!

The Future Is Here!!!

A friend showed this to me the other night and I have to say that this looks amazing. Microsoft has released a video of their next generation console and video games. There is no controller to play the games. The videos explain. The first one is cool but the second one is cooler. At YouTube it is under "Project Natal".

Cool Beans!!!

Happy Birthday!

DC Trip Day 6

Day 6 was both Nicky and I's favorite day. We started out by picking up our rental car. We went cheap and got the most gutless and gas efficient car we could get. We ended up with the truly gutless wonder which we quickly named "The Tiny Turd" because it had no automatic locks, windows, and an engine that made us feel like the car had a lawn mower engine. The rest of the morning we spent with Hillary and JJ at Lexington market in Baltimore. Baltimore hosts the Preakness Stakes and it happened to be the week that we were there (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preakness_Stakes). So in honor of this great horse race the city host blue crab races to get the town excited acout the race since Baltimore is known for their crabs. Competitors spray crabs with water and bounce a ball around the crabs to scare them backwards until they crossed a line. Afterward, we went and tried the world famous crabs cakes at Lexington Market. After the crab races we took off for Gettysburg. I have to mention here briefly that we took and audio tour which was a CD that plays in the car and it tells you stories and takes you to different spots. Being there on that battlefield was one of the most moving activites ever. To hear the stories of the sacrifices of so many men and the tales of valor and honor sent chills up our spine a few times and one story almost brought us to tears. If you ever have the chance, go to Gettysburg.

The Tiny Turd The Blue Racing Crab The Crazy Woman Who Dressed Like a Crab Crab Cakes Gettysburg Slush Puppy Tongues The view from Little Round Top facing towards the Confederate Lines Penslyvania Monument (Each state has their own monument)

D.C. Trip Day 5...10 Days Later

We've been home from our trip to D.C. and the surrounding area for over a week now and we never finished the postings of what we did. I blame Nicky! She took the camera with her to Branson, MO while she hung out with her mom and sisters for a few days and getting her to post anything has been like trying to get a monkey to stop throwing poo! (I've actually never seen a monkey throw poo but I want to see it before I die cause there can be no greater comedy than a happy primate insulting their more intelligent cousins with their own feces.)

The Metro

The Museum of Natural History (Nicky LOVES her Dinosaurs)

The White House

D.C. Trip Day 4

Day 4 has brought us back to D.C. to experience tours of some of the two most recognizable buildings in our nation. We started out day with a tour of the White House.  It wasn't as cool as we had hoped but it was nice to be able to say that we had been there. We also had a tour of the capital building which was way awesome. There is one room where President Lincoln and another man had their desks.  They were on opposite sides of the room, but there is a rumor that they could hear each other and would listen in on conversations.  Our guide stood on one side and whispered into the floor, we could hear him very clearly on the other side.  It was really cool. It was a great tour with a lot of cool information.The afternoon was filled with going to the Natural History Museum and eating at the Hard Rock Cafe. The Natural History Museum was way cool, we even planned on going back he next day.  We watched a 3D movie on the ocean, it is crazy what they can do in 3D and make it look so life like.

The one funny event of the day happened right when we got off the metro to start the day. We were greeted by a local hobo who offered free flowers to Nicky.  He then kindly asked if I could give him money for the flowers. I ended up giving him a dollar because I feel so bad for people like that. It was sad because he is a homeless man, but we had to laugh because of the flowers. They were very pretty, but he had to of just picked them from somewhere.  We weren't sure what to do with them, or him.

D.C. Trip Day 3

After a relaxing weekend with the Campos Family we set off very early on our journey to the nation's capital. We took the train from Baltimore to Union Station in downtown D.C. and from there, the blisters began.

Being so young and naive in the ways of the Washington area we decided to walk to the monuments first. There is so much now that I wish that I could tell that younger me to not do but it's too late and I'm reaping my rewards. From Union Station to the monuments we experienced the full 4 mile walk. By the time we reached Mr. Lincoln's residence we were more concerned with trying to decide if our feet were still attached. 

In all honesty, we actually got to see some great creations that give tribute to some of the greatest people and sacrifices in the history of our young country. It was moving to see the names of the thousands of soldiers who gave their names in Vietnam at the Vietnam Memorial and to see the message at the Korean Memorial that reads, "Freedom is not Free!" 

(I have to add here that my Grandpa fought in the Korean War and it brought back memories of his funeral 15 years ago with the 21 gun solute so this one meant a lot to me). I have to add that the Lincoln Memorial was intimidating in size and in the tribute to the former President. All this made the long walk worth it. 

(This is at the Korean Memorial)

We ended the day by visiting the American History Museum (where we saw some amazing things that included the uniform of George Washington, the original Star Spangled Banner, and Oscar the Grouch) and visiting the National Archives (the setup is nothing like National Treasure when viewing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution).