The Fam. Reunion

In July my husbands family had a family reunion. I was a little hesitant when I heard the location, Hurricane Utah, but it honestly turned out to be so much fun. I can't wait to do it all over again.

The only bad part about the trip was that I couldn't take this sweet girl with us. When I was packing up the car I went in the house to get another load and came back out to this. She had jumped in the trunk of the car and she WAS NOT getting out. She wanted to come! She went and played at her BFF's house Zoe, so she had her own fun, but I can't wait until we go on a trip when we can take Scout with us.

We stayed at this great house on the Sand Hallow golf course (that didn't allow dogs). The place was miraculously large enough to hold all 30 some odd of us . . .

. . . and our shoes. This pile grew at least 3x this size by the end of the trip.

One of the main reasons we headed up to southern Utah was for the Shakespearean Festival up at Southern Utah University. Some people saw a number of shows but Jeff and I just saw Le Miserables. They put on an awesome show with a lot of talented actors and singers. Very glad we saw it.

The house was near Sand Hallow Reservoir (no one was unlucky enough to get Swimmers Itch, even though there was a high risk at the time). Most the "kids" headed to the Sand Hallow every day to play, and play we DID!



Here is my sis-in-law Amanda with the wake board. (I wont embarrass anyone by posting pictures of them while they were wake boarding. Don't get me wrong, we have some pretty talented wake boarders in the family, but there is always that look of concentration or fear of falling on wake boarders faces that isn't the most flattering.)

We also did our fair share of para-sailing. Yep, Uncle Kim also has a para-sailing kite in his bag of tricks. I've done this several times on vacations elsewhere so I didn't go up this trip, but lots of family enjoyed the ride.



I think this is my sis-in law Natalie going in for a dip, whether she wanted to or not- haha.

This was more my speed this vacation, I stole some time away from the "kids" and went tubing. I hadn't done this for ages and it was pretty awesome. I snuck a ride in right before the boat ran out of gas. We had to get towed in, which was kind of fun in its own right. Pictured are two of Jeff's cousins. Spending time with family like them is what really made the whole week great!

Sorry for the Instagram Pic



Besides my quick tubing trip this is what I spent most of my time doing at Sand Hallow, cliff jumping! Honestly, it wasn't as fun as I remember, I think I am getting old or something. But it was still a bunch of fun. Some of the cousins got to show off their swimming and diving skills making up all kinds of dives off the rocks.

We even snuck in some hiking. Here the family is up at one of my favorite places, Zion National Park, earlier in the week before I drove up.



This is our cousin Nathan jumping into a small pool up at the Red Cliffs hike I took them on later on in the week. Nathan just got back from his LDS mission. It was so great to see him again. He is pretty much awesome sauce, as you can clearly see from this picture.



Jeff, of course, took his normal role in the family and was a bit of a dork. Seriously, why did he put mud on his face? Not really sure, but he is super cute anyway. Spending time with him and his family this week was so relaxing and joyous. It made me think about what the next life must be like, where we get to spend more time with our family, then say, with strangers at work that we've never met before we got the job. We were both just in the best mood the whole time because we were having fun and surrounded by people that we love and who love us. I don't know if there can be a better feeling then that.

This is a pretty good picture of the whole crew. Not sure if we ever got more people then this all together for one event. This is at the Red Cliffs hike trail head.

On our last full day of the reunion we went to the St. George temple. I did a session with some of the other adults, while Jeff went and did baptisms for the dead with the younger cousins. There were a number of family names that we did the work for in the temple that day, so I'm sure we had even more family in attendance at the reunion that are not pictured ;)

Lastly, we took over a local burger joint for lunch. After that different families started to head out at different times. Jeff and I left the next day, did some killer shopping in St. George and visited with my grandparents (who took us out for an awesome lunch and we had a great visit).

 It was an awesome family get together. I loved getting to spend time with all of them. I hope that my family can get it together and have a reunion sometime soon too. It makes me just want to go hang out with our family all the time. Jeff and I are so blessed to have amazing family so close on all sides!

The 36 Hour Vacation

This past Memorial Day weekend Jeff and I took a quick trip out to Cali. Seriously, the whole trip took place in just about 36 hours. We just needed a break and to get out of this HEAT. (I have a feeling this is going to be a long summer with these temperatures.)

We drove straight to Balboa Island Friday morning for a little sight seeing and shopping. We chowed down on their famous chocolate covered bananas for lunch! YUM!

(Balboa Island Chocolate Covered Banana)

 From there we headed to the Dodger Game. The game on Friday night was pretty terrible (Dodgers came back for a win Sat. and Sun. though), but the fireworks they light up at the end of the game were so much fun. We got to go down on the field to watch them being sent off.


(Jeff's first time on the Dodger field)

We headed to our hotel for a nice long night after the game. Because we got to the hotel late, the only non-smoking room left was a suite with a Murphy Bed. Yes, a Murphy Bed. It was so tiny, Jeff's feet were hanging off the edge all night, but we must have been tired because we slept until 10:30. That right, 10:30! This for a girl who considers sleeping until 7:00 as sleeping in.


Beach!

In the morning after we dragged ourselves out of bed, we went to eat brunch at Polly's on the Pier (scrumptious!). Then we headed to a nearby beach for a few hours before hitting the road. We knew we had to get back because Scout was in a new place with new people and we didn't want to freak her out so soon after adopting her. (Jeff and I think with a little more planning we'll take her with us next time. Even with only a 36 hour vacation we still came home to a dog with colitis- spent Tuesday morning at the Vets office.)

So there you have it. A 36 hour vacation. We had such a good time, didn't have one quarrel, and got in lots of fun. Maybe we should take more 36 hour vacations? Wish I could have another go at one this weekend!

Side note, this is also our first vacation where we pretty much exclusively took pictures on our phones. It was kind of liberating not to have to lug my huge camera around.

Recently Jeff went out of town on business (training employees at a new restaurant opening in Idaho). Let me tell you, it bit the big one! Jeff and I have only ever been apart for a few days at a time since we started dating over 5 years ago. And when we are apart, honestly, it’s usually me out vacationing or having some kind of fun. I’ve never been the one stuck at home for more than a day or two.

Jeff didn’t seem to think it was a big deal leaving for so long, but I knew it’d be a bit lonesome, so we rallied the troops and went out to eat with a bunch of family before he left.


We ate at a new spot called Genghis Grill. It was super good; I totally recommend it, especially for a big group like we had. It was so fun to just sit around with parts of both of our families and visit. We are so blessed to live by so much family. (Funny note- we ended up sitting by this couple that use to be Jeff’s parents neighbors, who had moved out of the neighborhood 5 years ago. What are the odds?)

Besides gathering the family up for a visit, I also made my hubby a little traveling survival kit to pack away in his suitcase. It included playing cards, word games, some of his favorite snacks, my trademark “Traveling Action Plan” full of good eats and places to see, and a handwritten letter for each day he was gone (which noted something different I would miss about him each day while he was away).



I’m not sure if he really got much use out of his traveling survival kit, but at least he knows his wife loves him like a nerd loves quantum physics. Some things I noticed while being on my own . . .

1-Making the bed in the morning is much easier without Jeff tossing the bedding to and fro during the night. Honestly, it barely even looked like someone slept in the bed when it’s just my lonesome.

2-Instead of the regular 4-5 loads of laundry during the week I only had one load. IT WAS HEAVEN! (As laundry is my long time hated nemesis.)

3-The garbage never magically emptied itself and moseyed to the curb for pick up. It’s odd because I’ve always just assumed it was magically done before? Along with some other house hold chores.

4-My house is very, very quiet and I may or may not have started talking to myself and our cat Opal to add a bit of noise.

It was a long week. I hope he doesn’t make a habit of leaving on business trips! I made sure he came home to a nice clean house, a miniature Welcome Home banner, and dinner in his own bed with his favorite shows still unwatched on the DVR.
His work has started talking about opening a restaurant in Hawaii, I would totally be down accompanying him on that next trip! So I guess there are exceptions to the no more work trips rule.

Halloween & Thanksgiving

This past year we went to Santa Barbara to Camp for Halloween again. The last couple years we went to San Diego to camp, but I have to say that I just really enjoy the campgrounds near Carpentaria much better.

The trips highlights included: spotting dolphins in the ocean a few times, boogie boarding, A night at the local taco bar watching the BYU game (even though they lost badly), shopping- the candy shops and antique stores are awesome, sleeping on the beach, and yummy dutch oven cooking! I was able to snatch a few neat photos too . . .

For Thanksgiving we went up to St. George to spend the holidays with my grandparents on my father’s side. It was a good trip. Most of my dad’s brothers were able to come too, so we had a pretty good group of people for a trip that was decided pretty last minute.

It was a lovely day filled with lots of good talks, lots of good food, some games and walks- just a wonderful day to spend the holidays. Something I really noticed was that we are all getting so adult, meaning we are all so grown up now. There were no kids running around, which I kind of miss, but Jeff and I are, as always, working on trying to change that.

Hope everyone else enjoyed their holidays like we did.

Endless Summer

I forgot to mention that we went on a vacation in September. It was awesome and I even managed to get a few good shots even though my shutter keeps threatening to break in my camera. Looking back at them now reminds me of summer and those warmer days. So lovely.

Me and hubster went with Mat and Lora (our old roomie before she got married). I was excited when they invited us along.

We stayed near Santa Monica. I can't remember the last time I was there, so it was a nice change up to our normal CA trips.

The only issue with Santa Monica is I guess they had a high number of Sting Rays this past summer because when Jeff went out to swim with us (which, he never swims in the ocean), he was stung by a Sting Ray (of course this would happen when he finally come out to play with me in the water.)

It hurt. He was in a bunch of pain (The EMT/ Lifeguard that was called to the scene - and it was a huge scene - said that a ray's sting hurts worse than a bullet wound). But luckily, once we got back to the hotel, put his foot in an icy cold bath and gave him some IBU Profen, he was in much better shape and was able to enjoy the rest of the vacation.

That night we went to the Angels and Yankees game. It was awesome. The highlights for me were the Air Force Jets that flew by in the beginning of the game, my hot dog, the Angels winning over the Yankees, and the fireworks at the end.

The next day we got up and headed back to Randy's Donuts which we found the day before. Let me tell you if you're in the LA area near the airport, you should stop by. Best donut I've ever had!

After gorging ourselves on some baked goodness we went and saw Hollywood.

We saw the Chinese Theater

Saw the stars feet and hand prints, and stars. In true dork form this is Jeff by the Star Wars crew.

This is sadly the closest we got the the Hollywood sign. Jeff's foot injury took precedence over any hiking adventures we planned to see the sign up close.

And just when we thought our vacation bad luck was over, while we were taking funny pictures like this our car rental was being towed. We had to walk several blocks and pay several hundred dollars to get it out. If we had known we would have stopped the photo shoots and headed back to the car. It was around this time that I worried that our trip may be cursed- ha ha.

Lastly, we went to Seal Beach and just vegged, stopped tempting fate. Jeff skipped the beach for some R & R in the hotel and the BYU game, but I enjoyed my R & R on the beach with Mat and Lora. Maybe Jeff was the bad luck charm because nothing horrible happened at Seal Beach.

No worries, Jeff has since returned to the scene of the crime (the beach) with only minor flash backs. He did not get in the water though. I don't think I'll be able to talk him into that one again.

Headed for Colorado and Utah

Back in July I headed to Eastern Utah to see my family and we made a quick trip up to Ouray Colorado. I am just getting to it now, because, well, summer seems to fly by and leave before I know it. I had a lot of things planned this summer that are not getting done. This was suppose to be my summer to become a better photographer, and make tons of home improvement. My goals have pretty much crashed and burned- but I still have a week or two to complete them right? Yeah, I wouldn't double down on that bet.

Anyways, I've gotten distracted. I left my hubby and headed out with my mothers family for a quick get-a-way. It was lovely. Once we made the 7 hour trek up to see the family, we left the next day to go to Ouray Colorado. I had not been here since college and it was good to be back. B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.

Enough said.

If you have not traveled here before, be fore warned. The road to get there is crazy fun, and just a little plain crazy. Not fun at all if you get car sick, as some of my cousins did in our van. But, it is was a good view, even if it was right next to a cliff the whole time without any rails.


Once we got there we went swimming in the hot springs (yea, not going to post a pictures of that).

We Picnicked,

we went walking around town ,

we went shopping,

We hung out at our rented cabin,

We went to visit box falls,

and then our quick little journey to Colorado was over :( But we still had a ton fun back in Utah.

We went swimming again up at dry lake while my cousin played with his new fishing boat,

(I love this picture. not only does it show how pretty it is up by my grandparents cabin, but it also says a little something like " I'm a hick and proud of it." Makes me smile and giggle a little.)

we saw crazy tiny toads,

and even went 4wheeling. Sadly my camera was out of batteries by the time we got to this part of our journey, but I think I took some video. My camera batteries died because somebody decided to have a little photo shoot, but that is okay.

It was such a lovely extended weekend. I love getting out and playing in the muck and mud and just having a great time with my family. I am so glad I went, and I vowed to myself that next time Jeff comes up to visit my family with me, that we will go to Ouray again. Can you believe that boy has never been to Colorado?