GO GOUGARS!!!

I thought I would get everyone excited for the game tomorrow with the "answered prayer" from last year. Being amongst Utah fans as was watched last years game was priceless. Lets hope for another great game! GO COUGARS

Thankful

With thanksgiving in the air I thought I would take a moment to express my gratitude for all the many blessings we enjoy. What a wonderful time of year. I am so thankful for my honey who is so good to me. I can't imagine not having my best friend there to talk to, laugh with, cry with, and just be with. He is so good to me, even though I don't always seem to appreciate all that he does I truly am thankful for him. What a blessing family is! I am so thankful for family. I am so glad I have the knowledge that families are forever because I love my family too much! I am thankful for all of the different personalities and strengths different family members have. It makes life so exciting and enjoyable. I am thankful for Mikes family and how loving they have been to welcome me into their lives. I am thankful that we were able to spend thanksgiving with Mike's family down in Virgin. I am thankful for grandparents! I haven't had both a grandma and grandpa for a few years and am so grateful for Mike's grandparents who are so loving and kind to me. I am thankful to feel apart of this family. I am thankful for all the hard work they put into a wonderful thanksgiving meal. I am thankful for good health. We sometimes get stuck in the hustle and bustle of life and forget how precious and wonderful it is to have good health. I am grateful for the good health of those I love and care about. I am thankful for all the many service men and women and the sacrifices they make so that I can enjoy the freedoms that I have. I am especially grateful for my two brothers who willingly serve this country. I am grateful that they are both safe. I am thankful for the gospel in my life. I love being a member of this church and am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of what the plan for me is. I am thankful for my Savior, for the wonderful example he is and for the great sacrifice he made for me. I am thankful for prayer. For a means to talk with our Father in Heaven. I am thankful for the holiday season and for the focus on family and being together. I could continue to go on. I am thankful for the time I have to reflect on what I am thankful for and for all the blessing I have! HAPPY THANKSGIVNG!

Crayon Box

Halloween this year wasn't quite the same as usual. First of all I had to work that night...which meant I slept all day. Then I didn't get my moms famous cinnamon rolls or any chili, since she is in Arkansas. Lastly I couldn't talk Mike into dressing up if I wasn't going to be here with him.

The day turned out to be better than I thought.

I was really wanting some cinnamon rolls so when I woke up I put in some of the Rhodes rolls ones in the oven. To my surprise when Mike got off work he brought home two packages from the store. Needless to say we ended up with PLENTY of cinnamon rolls for the two of us.

I had been trying to put my costume together for work for the last couple of days. We had to wear scrubs and figure something out with that in mind. Since we work in a nursery we thought about doing nursery rhymes but that seemed too difficult to work out...so we ended up all being crayola crayons! This is our attempt to look like a crayon box.

We had a great time that night. I do have to say that I missed seeing all the cute costumes but I did get to see one cute pebbles! One of our NICU baby's mom had made her the tiniest pebbles costume and she was SO dang cute!

I hope everyone Had a Great Halloween

Cruise Vacation Part 1

Mike and I have been back from our cruise for almost a week now so I guess it is time to write an update. We had a wonderful time on our cruise. It was so much fun. Mike is not the type to sit around and relax so we were going, going, going constantly (well almost constantly.) We had a blast and I am pretty sure we didn’t really miss anything! We did the Mexican Riviera cruise, visiting Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Peurto Vallarta. I don’t have a ton of time right now to update on all the happenings, I have to go to work in a few minutes, however Mike really wanted me to post a picture.

When we were in Peurto Vallarta we decided to do the outdoor canopy adventure. We got on a small little speed boat and rode for about 10 minutes to a very small little beach Mexican village that sat in the mist of lush mountains. So beautiful! Then we road in an open air army vehicle up the mountain. They told us that we would get a massage on the way, needless to say it was a bit of a bumpy ride! We got all our gear on for the adventure and then rode mules 20 minutes up the mountain. It was absolutely beautiful. The trees were so green. Once to the top of the mountain we started doing zip lines through the trees. WOW, what a view. It was absolutely breathtaking and so much fun! We zipped from mountain top to mountain top. I have been wanting to do this adventure for months, Mike being afraid of heights was not to sure it sounded like fun. He thought the zip lines would be fine but we also had a 90 foot rappel down a waterfall that completely scared him. Needless to say, Mike conquered his fear, and we rappelled side by side down the waterfall. It was such a wonderful experience. We both enjoyed it so much and came back with no regrets. It is so amazing how beautiful and diverse this earth is. The mountain side honestly was so beautiful and breathtaking. All I can say is if you ever get to Peurto Vallarta it was well worth the money.

When I get a little more time I will post some of our other adventures! For all those who are wondering the food on cruises is divine! All you can eat any time of day. What more can I say!

Vacation Time

We leave on sunday for our 7 day mexican riviera cruise. We are so excited. I promise when we get back I will update with pictures, etc. We will be snorkling and hopefully doing a canopy adventure tour. We will be visiting Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Peurto Vallarta. I am hoping that we will be able to do a little shopping in one of the ports and find some fun stuff to bring back. I'm not sure what Mike thinks of that, but hopefully he will be a good sport. Hasta Luego!!!

We are off to the Mexican Riviera!

Mike and I have been trying to decide if we should go somewhere exciting this year before we start the family thing. It has been decided that we are going on a cruise to the mexican rivierra. We are so excited! We are going in October and would love any suggestions on what to do for our excursions.

Good Times

Last week one of my Dixie "roommates" (we technically never lived together) Lexi came in town. She and her mom were going to St. George for the weekend. We went to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants Los Hermanos. Yes Mike and I have the shirts so we get a free






specialty drink every time we go. Definitely worth the money!!! It was so much fun to get together and reminisce over the good ol' days. I haven't seen her in forever since she got married and decided to move to New Mexico. I hope you had a great time in St. George Lexi!

Here is the whole lunch gang Kari, Lexi, Cheyanne, Me.

Other than that our life has been pretty uneventful. We did watch Shrek last weekend. It was cute. We have both been busy with work and trying to get sleep. Working nights has gotten me all confused of when to sleep.

Hope all the Dad's had a wonderful fathers day!

Hiking

Mike and I decided that we wanted to go on a nice hike last weekend. I had just received a hydration pack at work and we thought we should test it out. We looked around for a hike that we had never been on before but wasn't too challenging. We found that there is a beautiful hike up Big Cottonwood canyon that goes by three lakes. We decided to give it a try.

So...last Saturday we went up to the head of the trial by Brighton ski resort. It was a beautiful warm day. Definitely shorts weather. We should have known something was up when we were the only people there (OK we did see one other family who was coming down right after the head of the trail, they told us they had to turn around and come back when the snow got too deep). We continued hiking anyway. It wasn't too long when we ran into this...yes that is right SNOW!!!

The snow covered the trail so we just guessed where we thought the trail should be. We had to be very careful where we stepped because occasionally the snow would fall in. After a while of walking around, and climbing through snow we decided that we would follow the water that was randomly coming out of the mountain. We hoped that it would lead us to the lakes. It was really cool to see these mini waterfalls that sprung right up from the ground.

It didn't ever lead us to the lakes but we did see parts of the trail so I know we were close. After about three hours we decided that we probably weren't going to find any lakes through the snow covered mountain. Since we were not exactly sure how exactly to get back where we started (we were climbing all over the mountain side) we decided that we would walk/ski down one of the ski runs. ( I have never been skiing, but i do think that it would be much faster that trying to ski on our feet. It didn't really work that well, plus we kept falling through the snow.)

I do have to say that although we never did find the lakes we had a great time climbing around in the snow, and the view was beautiful! We will definitely have to go back when there is a trail to follow. Even with snow on the ground it was the perfect weather for shorts!

Remembering

I have to say that living by a cemetery my whole life made me really like memorial weekend. At no other time could you look outside and see the cemetery filled with flowers. It really is beautiful. We continued in the tradition this weekend of visiting those who we have loved and lost. We have gone to Mike's moms grave site sometime in May since we have been married with his Dad and siblings. Not everyone could make it this year but those who did continued in the tradition.

So far Mike is the only sibling married, and I will be the only in-law who met his Mom. I have been thinking for over a year now that I need to do something so my kids will know who she was. I only knew her a short time and she definitely made an impact on me. What a wonderful woman she was. She definitely lived for her kids!
As we drove into the cemetery I loved seeing all the flags they had up. I am so glad that we pay tribute to the many men and women who have fought for our freedom. What a sacrifice they payed for us. I think that it is a great tradition to honor and remember.

We are officially Bloggers!

Well, we have taken the plunge into the blog world (I should say I have taken the plunge because Mike didn't help me much). I have been having a blast putting it together, especially looking for background images. I think that my next venture may be digital scrapbooking. There is so much fun stuff out there, I had no idea. We do not have a child or a pet to pay tribute to so you just get the two of us.




I know it's not football season, nor does Mike currently have a goatee (although it doesn't look to bad :) ), this is us. Go Cougars!
My plan is to update this blog once a week with all the happenings of our lives/thoughts/etc. Hopefully we won't be too boring for you all. Feel free to leave comments. We would love to hear from ya' all.