Alicia & Shaun

The Third Annual Pumpkin Carvnival

2011-11-13T23:21:00.000-07:00

We once again had our annual Halloween party and it was pretty fun. We didn't have a huge turn out again this year, but that is okay because we still were able to enjoy the yummy food and have a great time with our friends. The three of us even dressed up this year! I was a good witch, Shaun was a scientist and Zoey was a postal worker.

Here are some pics:

Me carving my pumpkin

Christie, Evan (left) Stephanie and I (right) working on our pumpkins

Matt working on his pumpkin

Stephanie and Evan's pumpkins

Matt and Christie's finished products

The back of Christie's pumpkin

My finished product!

Group shoot!

Shaun, Zoey & I in our Halloween costumes

Matt & Christie in their Halloween costumes

Seattle

2011-11-13T23:18:00.000-07:00

Shaun and I were able to take a quick trip up to Seattle to visit Tom, Chelsea and Jake. It was a lot of fun. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Seattle (to visit that is :) ) and so anytime we get to go is awesome. We flew up on Friday the 14th of October (the day after I ended my second term of school.. Another 4.0!!) and spent sometime exploring Downtown Seattle and then took the ferry over to Bremerton where we met up with Tom, Chelsea, Kim and Michelle (they were up in Seattle because Michelle had a class she was taking) and had a yummy dinner at Anthony's. We spent the rest of the evening hanging watching Big Bang Theory (we LOVE this show now! Thanks Tom and Chelsea!)

The next day we headed to Point No Point to check out the lighthouse there and then we headed to do some shopping. We hit up Central Market (it is a pretty cool supermarket with tons of different ethic foods and an awesome bulk section) and a few other store to get things for a BBQ we had that night.

Sunday we went to church and then Tom, Jake, Kim, Shaun and I went exploring at on of the local parks in Port Orchard. It was TONS of fun. It felt like there we had left the city and had headed to the mountains. It was AWESOME! I would love to have parks like that around here.

Then Monday we headed home so I could start my third term of school! It really was a fun trip. I can't wait until we go again!

Picture time:

Shaun and Jake cuddling

Jake was excited to be in the car going somewhere

The Point No Point Lighthouse

Us At Point No Point

Us in front of the lighthouse

Group Shoot in Front of the Point No Point Lighthouse

Shaun, Tom, Kim and Jake at the park

Tom & Jake in front of a giant tree that had fallen over

Us in front of the same fallen tree

Rachel & Tod's Wedding

2011-11-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

Back on September 24th Shaun and I were able to go to the wedding and reception of a family friend, Rachel. She got married to her long time boyfriend, Tod. It was a fun event for the most part. The funnest part for us was getting to see other family friends we don't often see because they live clear across the country. We were able to spend time with Big Sarah (brides mom), little Sarah (the brides sister) and Little Sarah's husband Seth during the reception and then Little Sarah and Seth ended up coming and spending the night at our house. It was a lot of fun getting to stay up talking and playing Uno with them. It was also a lot of fun all the other times we got to spend time with the Sarah's throughout the remainder of their stay here is SLC.

Here are some pictures from the wedding:

The I Do's

Officially Mr. & Mrs. W

The wedding cake

Shaun and I at the wedding


Cutting the cake

Having fun in the photo booth

Seth, Sarah, Shaun and I having some fun

Greek Festival & Utah State Fair

2011-09-19T13:16:00.000-06:00

Okay! I am almost up-to-date here! YAY!! I just have to blog about things that we have done thus far this month!

It started out with a trip to the 36th Annual Greek Festival! It is one of my favorite things to go to each year. I always look forward to the yummy food and this year it was no different. The food was so tasty. We tried something new this year and it was AMAZING!! It is called a Spanakopita. It is a spinach and feta cheese wrapped in phyllo dough! My mouth is watering just talking about it! SO GOOD!!! I love trying new things and this is definitely something I don't regret trying! I can't wait until next year!

Now on to the Utah State Fair! It was a lot of fun this year. I ended up winning ticket to see Big and Rich in concert (Gretchen Wilson was supposed to be there too, but she had a death in the family so was unable to be there) on KBULL 93. We went early enough in the day that we could check things out at the fair and then go to the concert. We ended up spending seven and a half hours at the fair, but it was a weekday (definitely the time to go to the fair) so it wasn't very crowded. We check out the butter cow, all the different animals, all the art exhibits, all the different vendor and the Utah's Own booth. The Utah's Own booth was a lot of fun because there samples from tons of different companies from Utah. We got introduced to some fun products.

The concert was fun. Big and Rich definitely know how to put on a show. We had seventh row seats, but ended up moving closer to the back (luckily it wasn't completely full), because it was so loud up the close! We enjoyed the show much more from the back.

After the concert was over we head back out to the fair to try some deep fried Oreos and a deep fried twinkie. They were both definitely different. I am not sure if I would try them again, but I might try one of the other fun things they had.

Here are some pictures from our fun day at the fair

Giant talking robot

The Royal Wedding party

Baby pig! SO CUTE!!

a geese herder...

It's not everyday you see a kangaroo in Utah

My creation

Shaun creation

Waiting for the concert to start

During the concert

Big and Rich

Cowboy Troy (sorry not a very good picture)

Deep Fried Oreo and Twinkies

Shaun checking out the Twinkies

Me checking out the Oreo

August

2011-09-19T12:37:00.000-06:00

August began with us celebrating our third anniversary! Time has flown by so quickly, but I have enjoyed every moment of it. Shaun is that most amazing husband. He is so supportive of me and for the I am truly blessed. I am so glad that I was lead to him and that I get to spend the rest of my life with him. I love you babe!

Another big thing that happened that same week is I finished my first term of school!! I had four classes (Swedish Massage, Anatomy and Physiology, Therapeutic Principles and Tai Chi) and I ended up with A's in all of them!!! I got my first college 4.0!! I was super stocked about it (and still am!). It just feel SO good to finally be doing something that I love! I always look forward to going to school, because I know it is going to be so much fun! This term I am taking five classes (Cranial, Swedish Lab I, Practice Building I/Ethic, Pathology I and Shiatsu/OM) and am really enjoying them! Hopefully I do as well this term as I did last semester.

My comfy table

Shaun and I went to Lagoon twice during August due to their bounce back program. The first time we went we spend all day ride all the fun rides. We did decide that we can't handle the spinny rides as well as we used to handle them. The second time we went we spent most of our time at Lagoon-A-Beach, which was actually a lot of fun! I haven't been to Lagoon-A-Beach is a long time, so it was fun.

On the train

We were able to go river rafting down the Provo River again this year. This time we went with our friends Christie and Matt. It was a lot of fun and a lot less eventful, which was nice! We also went later in the day so it was a lot cooler, this was also really nice! I definitely think river rafting is fun. It is makes we want to go to a bigger river sometime!

July

2011-09-19T12:29:00.000-06:00

For the 4th of July this year we decided to go to Sugar House Park to watch one of my instructors play in a band and then to see Ryan Shupe and The Rubberband. It was lots of fun. We decided to leave before the fireworks, just because we didn't want to have to deal with all the people at the park! It was a fun evening!

Shaun turned 29 on the 7th of July. We went out for sushi and then I had to go to school, but it was still fun to get to spend sometime with him!

Our ward did there annual campout the 24th of July weekend. Due to work we weren't able to spend the night, but we did go up for the dinner on friday evening. It was fun to get to spend time with members of our ward. We are in a pretty awesome ward!

July ended with an trip to Park City for our anniversary! We had a lot of fun. We drove up Friday night after I got off of work. We got check in to our hotel and then head to Molly Blooms to watch Shaun's friends Freg band, Scramjet, play their first show. It was a pretty good show, especially for their first one. We also got intro Drop Dead Julio. They have a couple pretty good song.

Saturday morning we went to breakfast at Squatters (their bread pudding french toast is AMAZING!!) and then we headed to the Park City Mountain Resort, where we rode on the Alpine Slide and the Alpine Coaster. There were both so fun! I think I liked the coaster the most, because you get going pretty fast! It was A LOT of fun! I can't wait to go again.

Waiting in line for the Alpine Slide

HUGE badger (or some other creature) checking out the slide

On Our way to the top

Shaun waiting for his turn to head down the mountain

A view from the Alpine Coaster line

After we were done there we headed to the Factory Outlets to do a little shopping. It was fun and amazingly enough we only bought things we needed or had talked about buying! Go us :)

The End of May and June

2011-09-19T12:27:00.001-06:00

I have been really bad and this whole blogging thing again, but I do a have reason! I started school and LOVE it! (More about that later) Anyhow.. I will hopefully get caught up here soon. I will start with the rest of May and the month of June.

The End of May

The week following coming back from our fun trip to California was a fun week. We were able to work out all the finances for school (school we be paid for by the time I am done is May 2012) and I had orientation for school and was able to meet all the newbies just like me!

School started on May 31st, but I miss that first day because it was finally time to use the awesome birthday present Shaun gave me. Before we went to see Les Miserable we went to dinner at Olive Garden and had yummy food. Then it was showtime! I have seen Les Miserable a couple of time before, but since the last time I have seen in done professionally they have completely redone the staging of the production and they have also sped it up a lot (I am pretty sure the article I read stated that they cut 30 minutes off of show time). Regardless of what they did to the production I still enjoyed it a lot.

June
We also went to the Chalk Arts Festival at the Gateway again this year! It amazes me that people are so talented (and patient). I can't wait to go again next year! Here are just a few we saw:

I was able to go to Color Me Mine and had a lot of fun each time! I love being creative! The first time I made a food dish for Zoey and the second time and make a pitcher. It was also fun getting to spend time with friends!

I am not sure if I have posted pictures of the finished project on anything I have done at Color Me Mine, so here you go:

First project

Second project

Project three

Project four

Back in April I won 4 day passes to go to Country Jam in Grand Junction, CO. I was really excited because I had never been before so I thought it would be really fun to check it out. We ended up driving down Saturday morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at Country Jam. The music was awesome. We saw Sawyer Brown, Rodney Aitken and Alan Jackson. They are put on great shows. The thing I didn't like was the atmosphere. There was TONS of drinking going on and lots people running around half naked. Not my type of place. Oh well! It was still a nice little get away.

At Country Jam

At a rest stop on the way home

Another awesome thing that happen during June is we started temple prep classes! It a definitely a step in the right direction.

Our Trip to California!

2011-06-25T00:31:00.001-06:00

Last month Shaun and I were able to go with my parents to California for 8 days. It was a lot of fun! I am so glad we went! We spent the first night in Las Vegas. While there we were able to have dinner with Shaun's aunt Janet and his cousin Abby and then we head to the strip. We went to the Bellagio (a casino I had never been in before) and checked out the awesome gardens they have inside! They were awesome! Here is a few pictures:


Awesome Tree!


Ferris Wheel

Butterfly House

Us in front of the carousel

The next day we headed the rest of the way to Anaheim. We did make a stop in Primm at Buffalo Bills so I could try going on the roller coaster they have there, but it was too windy so I didn't get to go on it. (We did get to go on it on our way home though... Once was definitely enough..) We instead went shopping at the outlet stores.

The next day we started our four days at Disneyland and California Adventure! It was tons of fun! Shaun and I were able to go on every ride that was open, some of them several times, while there! We also were able to see Alladin (live performance), World of Color, Downtown Disney and we checked out the Animation Studio (SO COOL!! I wish I would have know about it sooner in our trip!), where I drew Grumpy and Donald Duck. Our favorite ride was the Toy Story ride in California Adventure. It was a lot of fun! Definitely worth waiting in line for.

We did split of our four days at Disneyland up with a trip to Hollywood. We spent most of the day checking out Hollywood Blvd., Grauman's Chinese Theatre and couple of the museums there. We did drive up some crazy streets to get a picture of the Hollywood sign. We ended up really close to it! It was fun! After we were done there we checked out the LA Farmers Market.

All in all our trip was A LOT of fun! I can't wait to go back to Disneyland/California Adventure. They are adding a lot to California Adventure (Cars Land, which should be completed in Fall 2012)

Here are pictures from Disneyland, California Adventure and Downtown Disney

It's Tough to be a Bug

And some from Hollywood:

At the Guinness Book of World Records Museum

"Life is like a box of chocolates..."

From Hollywood Blvd

From where we drove to... :)

Sean Connery

A Fun Project

2011-05-10T22:50:00.000-06:00


Step 1: Work on puzzle (Zoey decided to help us)

Step 2: Finish Puzzle

Step 3: Cover Table


Step 4: Apply Puzzle Saver


Step 5: Let dry


Step 6: Select Frame

Step 7: Frame (we bought our frame at Hobby Lobby & when you do that they will place it in the frame for you and finish it off nicely. It was definitely worth the cost. They have pre-made frames on sale often)

Step 8: Hang it on the wall

Millcreek Canyon

2011-05-10T18:39:00.000-06:00

Shaun and I went up Millcreek Canyon with another couple in our ward, Carli and Cimaron. We had a lot of fun! After finding a spot that wasn't too covered in snow still and building a fire, we roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. It ended up a little cold so we didn't spend much more time up there then what it took to eat. Shaun and I did buy a year pass for Millcreek Canyon so this was just the first of many trips we will be taking up there in the next year :)


Not completely covered in snow


The boys building a fire

Cimaron

Yummy!

Reese's S'mores


My toes were cold...


Carli, Shaun and Cimaron playing in the fire

The Great Food Truck Race

2011-05-10T18:23:00.001-06:00

I don't know how many of you watch Food Network, but here we LOVE it! They have a lot of fun shows. One of the show we started watching last year was The Great Food Truck Race. The premise of the show is that food trucks from all around the country compete for $50,000. Each week they are in a different city where they are given a small amount of money to buy food to get them started. They are trying to be the truck to earn the most money each week. The team that earns the least amount goes home. I guess the show was popular enough that they are doing a second season!

So you are probably wondering why I would make a post about this and here is why. Salt Lake was a stop in this year competition. My cousin Jen found out that they were going to be in town and so the three of us went and hit up some of the trucks, with the help of Twitter. We visited 5 out of the 7 trucks and ate at four of them. Our first stop downtown was supposed to be for the Korilla BBQ truck (from NY), but they had already left the spot we had been told they would be, So we headed to the Cafe con Leche truck (from LA), which was parked in front of Rico's. They had some good Cuban food. My only problem with them is they were WAY over priced and they took FOREVER to get food out. While we were waiting for our food we saw they Roxy's Gourmet Grilled Cheese (from Boston) truck drive by. They were heading to Liberty Park so we had Jen go find where they were at and get in line and then Shaun and I headed over there after we finally got our food.

Shaun and Jen waiting for our food

Cafe con Leche Truck

Once we found Jen and the Roxy's truck, Jen and I waited in line while Shaun went to the Hodge Podge truck (from Ohio) to get some of their food. Hodge Podge had paid to be in the "hippie circle" at Liberty Park so it was just a little walk for him. From there we had some really good tater tots covered in truffle oil, a rib sandwich and a really good fruit salad. From Roxy's (which was by far my favorite) We had an amazing grilled cheese with muenster cheese, bacon and avocado (SO tasty!), one with sausage and pepperjack cheese and some lemonade (the only think from their truck that disappointed me).

Roxy's Truck


Yummy!


Hodge Podge's Truck

After we were done at Liberty Park we headed to the 9th and 9th area, where the Seabirds truck (from San Diego) was at. We didn't end up eating anything there, because nothing they had left sounded at all good. So we head up to the Dan's on Foothill to find the Korilla BBQ truck. There we had some tacos that were pretty good and awesome t-shirts (the same ones the guys from the truck are wearing in the picture below). We also had to sign waivers while we were there because they had recorded us and needed to get our permission to use the footage.

Shaun, Jen and I with the guys from the Korilla BBQ Truck

It was an AWESOME way to spend an evening! I am SO glad we went. I can't wait until August when this season comes out! From the trucks that we went to if I had to guess who went home this week of the show it would be Korilla's or Cafe con Leche, but I guess we shall see :)

(The trucks we didn't go to, at least Shaun and I, where Devilicious (from San Diego) and The Lime Truck (from Orange County) )

Zoey's First Haircut

2011-05-10T17:03:00.000-06:00

Zoey's hair was starting to really long, at least longer than I thought it should be. Plus she had this little, as Shaun and I liked to call it, "bum curtain" going on.. It definitly needed to go! She looks much better now. I was told that she did a good job too!

The official "bum curtain"


Zoey and Shaun after her haircut

She's cute!


Zoey and I

My 26th Birthday!

2011-05-10T16:52:00.000-06:00

I had a great birthday this year! It all started the Thursday before my birthday. Shaun and I went with his parents down to the BYU art museum to see the Carl Bloch exhibit. It was an AMAZING exhibit! I am so glad we went. It amazed me at how many of his paints I was familiar with (the church uses a lot of his paintings). After we were done with the exhibit we headed to Carrabba's Italian Grill for dinner. It was REALLY tasty. None of us had ever been, seeing as there is only one in Utah, but we are glad we went. It is definitely worth the drove to Provo to go.

The Sunday before my birthday I had an appointment with our awesome bishop to talk about what I needed to do in order to go to the temple to receive my endowment. I was really nervous about this appointment for some reason, but I am glad I made it. He wants me to take the temple prep class and then I will be able to meet with him again to get in recommend to go!! This should happen in the next couple months!! I am so excited!

Now we are to the big day! My 26th birthday!! I had a great day! It started by going and getting my drivers license renewed. I made an appointment (definitely the way to go) and I was in and out in 20 minutes. Next stop was lunch and Target to pick up my contact. I was surprised to find out the my new glasses were in too! I love them! After I made my stop at Target I went and pampered myself with a mani/pedi! It was a nice birthday treat.

That evening we went to dinner with my parents, grandpa and aunt to the Macaroni Grill. It was yummy! I got spoiled this year! My parents bought me a beautiful earring and necklace set while they were on their cruise, my aunt and grandpa and Shaun's parents gave me some money, which I have since used to buy a Nook, and Shaun gave me Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert DVD and LES MISERABLE TICKETS!!!!!!! I can't wait to go! I was so surprised when I opened my present and found tickets inside, because I didn't think Shaun wanted to go. He was just fooling me though! I am SO SO SO SO excited!!!

So needless to say I had a GREAT birthday! Thanks to all those who made it that way!


Our Little Family on my birthday!

March

2011-04-06T23:59:00.000-06:00

Back in January I started a program with one of my co-workers (and 43 other people) called Feel Great in Eight. The basis of the program is to create better habits in your life. You get points for eating fruits, veggies and other good items that were on the list. You received negative points for items that were on the bad list and for eating after 8 PM. You also received points for reading your scriptures, praying, exercising, and doing a daily calendar item. It was actually a fun program and I was feeling great by the end of it. At my last weigh in on March 12th I was down eight and a half pounds, which make a grand total of 20 since the end of September when we moved to South Salt Lake.

One of the calendar items we had to do is try a new "healthy" recipe. We tried the following recipe. They are REALLY yummy! I think we have made them three time already. I would definitely suggest trying them.

Banana Nut Muffin

Preheat oven to 350

Begin with:

5 smashed bananas (I sometimes add one extra. I use a mixer.)

1/4 cup canola oil

2/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

Mix all together then add:

2 1/3 cups wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

3/4 tsp nutmeg

mix all together again

Stir in 2/3 cups chopped walnuts. (We have been chopping extra nuts and put them on top)

Makes 12 big muffins. Spray muffin pans and fill to the rim. Bake for 20-25 minutes.


Ready for the oven

They look yummy!

March for us means Pi Day and this year we had a HUGE turn out. We had around 30 people show up, which was crazy, but it was a lot a lot of fun. Zoey wasn't sure what to do with all the people in our house, especially the kids. We have pizza and pie like we have had the last several years (well at least since we have been married) and then just sat around a talked. We have a bunch of ward members show up which was fun.

Pi Day also mean that Shaun and I have know each other another year! I am so glad that I went for left over pie that very first time! I love Shaun so much!


The spread (minus the pizza)

Lots of people!

More people!

I have so good news to share! I get to start school at the end of May!! I am so excited. I was able to arrange my schedule at my current job so that it will work for me to go to classes (no more 10L shifts!!). I am so excited to finally be able to start. It is amazing how everything has worked out so that is even possible for me to think about starting. I just need to continue to have faith that everything else will fall into place!

Well I think that guess us caught up!

February

2011-04-06T23:40:00.001-06:00

February was a fun month. I was able to go to a chocolate making demonstration with my friend Christie. It was fun, but it made me miss my Grandma! She has been gone 5 months now.. Crazy! I do need to pull out my Grandma's recipe sometime and make chocolate, especially the peanut butter ones!

On Valentines I had to work during the day and when I got home I can home to nice surprise. Shaun had got me beautiful roses and chocolate covered strawberries! It was such a nice surprise! The night we went out and had yummy sushi and some frozen custard! It was a fun evening out!

So pretty!

We were able to go on our first bike ride of the year! It was nice to get out.. It was windy though so the ride home wasn't very funny because of the strong head wind. Good work out though:

On the 18th, Shaun and I went and spent the evening with a bunch of Girl Scouts. One of our ward members is over Girls Scouts in our area and they were having a big get together and we were asked to help out with the live action Clue game they were playing. It was a lot of fun. I played the role of Miss Smooch and Shaun was Hermie "The Worm". It was fun being able to interact with the girls.

That same weekend Shaun and I got to babysit my parents dogs, Huge and Peanut. All the dogs did pretty well together. The boys normally sleep in my parents bed and so we decide to let Zoey sleep in our bed to so we wouldn't have any problems. Our bed definitely isn't big enough for 3 dogs... especially since they all cuddled up to me both nights. We also decided that Zoey sleeps much better in her crate. Peanut has become protective of Zoey. It is pretty cute.

On the 27th Shaun and I, along with our friends Christie and Matt, headed up to Hardware Ranch. We left later than we should have and by the time we got there we were like 6 minutes after the deadline to get tickets for the sleigh ride. It ended up being okay though, because it was REALLY cold up there! After we were done checking out the elk we headed into Logan and went to the Gossner Cheese Factory for some yummy cheese curds. Our next stop was the temple. We were there for all of like 5 minutes before we decided it was too cold to spend much time outside. When then headed to Maddox in Brigham City for a yummy dinner.

At Hardware Ranch

Christie and Matt

At the Logan Temple

January

2011-04-06T23:34:00.000-06:00

The beginning of January nothing really big happened.. Until the 17th. That is when Zoey had her Puppy Class graduation. She did a good job for the most part during the class. She is really good at sitting and we are still working on everything else. I think Shaun and I were better trained than Zoey. Anyhow... There were 6 dogs in the class (Eva, Samison, Darwin, Lucy, Ray Ray and Zoey) Zoey didn't like the big dogs. They scared her, until graduation. The night of graduation she became adventurous and decided to go check out the big dogs (there were 3; Lucy, Darwin and Ray Ray) and try to steal treats from the instructors treat bag. It was pretty funny. For graduation we played a game and the puppies all got to eat some puppy friendly ice cream. I am not sure what Zoey thought about it. I think it was a little too cold for her. It was fun watching her eat it though. It was a fun class and I am glad that we took it.

The Graduate!

Ice cream!

Rae Rae

Samson

Lucy and Darwin

Later in month Shaun and I rode the Fun Bus to Wendover with my parents. It was a fun evening. I would definitely take the fun bus out there again. On the way out we played bingo and Shaun actually won! He only got a dollar, but it was still fun. Once we got out there we eat dinner and just wondered around. It was fun being able to spend the night with my parents. Zoey even got to have a sleepover with the family we got her from. I think she had fun, but she was excited to see us when we went to pick her up.

Shaun and I in Wendover

The following day I had the opportunity to go to Color Me Mine and have a girls day out! It was TONS of
fun! I love that place and I honestly can't wait to go again. I love getting to be creative and just having fun. Plus getting to hang out with just us girls is fun too!

My Chip and Dip set

Dianna and Christie with their bowls

Lacy's water dispenser

Stephanie's cookie jar


My Mom's spoon rest

My Mom's finished product

My finished product

I think that is pretty much our January :)

December

2011-04-06T00:39:00.001-06:00

Our December started out on a spiritual note. I was able to get tickets to the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional and so we spent the evening with my parents. This was definitely a great way to start the holiday season.

I thought it was pretty that night!

The following Saturday was our ward Christmas party. Much like our old ward this ward did a Breakfast with Santa. It was fun. They has yummy food and a lot fun activities planned... well at least they did for the kids :) It was, however, a lot of fun to visit with our new ward members and getting to know some of them.

We officially started holding cub scouts and having boys actually show up. We had several weeks where no one showed up, but after making some reminder calls, the boys started showing up. We have/had 5 boys (had because 2 of them recently moved away) that show up on a regular basis.

For our Relief Society we had a nice couples dinner and had a performance by Ryan Innes. He was pretty good. We bought an album from him and have enjoyed listening to it. It will be fun to see what future release he has.

Christmas Eve we went to the annual Christmas Eve party at my grandpa's house. Then on Christmas Day we spent the morning with Shaun's parents and then we went to our friends, Aaron and Betsy, house to visit for a little bit. In the afternoon we headed to my parents house and spent the rest of our day there. We celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family the Sunday after Christmas.

Zoey can fit in her stocking

My first pumpkin roll

Our "Christmas Tree"

Our cute little family Christmas Eve

Sporting our Christmas PJ's

In between Christmas and New Years Zoey got to go to the vet to get fixed and to get a microchip placed. She did really well with it. The only big problem we had was that her microchip fell out. Shaun went to pet her after we picked her up and ended up with a white pill looking thing in he had. So we called the vet and they were really surprised that it had come out. We just had to go back in to get it replaced.. Zoey wasn't very happy about it...

New Years Eve we had our annual Fondue Party! It was SO good! I think this is one of my favorite parties that we host. We had cheese, hot oil and chocolate and lots of different dippers. Shaun has issues getting the cheese to melt this year, but once he got it to work we had fun eating it, mostly because it was REALLY stringy :) It was a fun evening filled with great friends and family!

The dippers

Making the good stuff

My Mom (my Dad was also there... I didn't seem to get a picture of him though...)

Brook, Matt and Christie

The first family picture of the New Year

All in all 2010 was a great year! I look forward to seeing what happens during 2011

November

2011-04-06T00:13:00.001-06:00

I have been really bad about keeping the blog up-to-date, but I eventually get around to it :) I figure that the easiest way to update everyone is to do it by month, so here we go.

I already posted about the biggest thing that happened to us during that month of November and that is the addition to our family, Zoey! She is a lot of fun. We enjoy every minute with her.

Also during November I was able to go to Time Out for Women here in Salt Lake with my Mother in law. It was a really enjoyable weekend. The speakers were great and very motivating. I LOVE TOFW! I can't wait to go again.

We had two Thanksgiving this year. The Sunday before Thanksgiving we had dinner with my Mom's side of the family. It was fun being able to spend time with family we don't spend too much time with because everyone seems to stay so busy. The food was delicious as always!

On Thanksgiving Day we went to Shaun's uncle Bruce's house (the same place we had our wedding reception). We were late because I had to work (the joys of working at a hospital) and by the time we got there everyone was pretty much done eating, but we still were able to eat some tasty food and spend time with Shaun's family. We took Zoey with us and it was fun watching her interact with the other dog that was there as well as the cat (way funny!) All in all our Thanksgiving week was fun.

Zoey and I on Thanksgiving

The last big thing we did was start puppy classes with Zoey... There will be more about that in a future post :)


Family Picture... Zoey is so small in this picture!

Zoey and Shaun.. They like each other :)

Hi There!

2011-03-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

We are alive here at the Kruger household I promise. We just seem to stay really busy and I haven't had time to sit down and update our blog. I promise that I will do this soon! I need to write about the holidays, our calling, Zoey, and a lot of other things! So PLEASE stay tuned.

The Newest Member of Our Family!

2010-11-09T15:34:00.001-07:00

Shaun and I recently have added another member to our little family, a Chihuahua/Yorkie (aka Chorkie) puppy. Her name is Zoey and she is SUPER cute! We are already completely in love with her. She has brought a lot of joy to our home and also a lot of learning. She will definitely get us ready for a human baby (because she definitely is still a baby). She will be 4 months old tomorrow (She was born July 10th).

Things we love about Zoey:

She is a awesome cuddlier (she is currently cuddling with me as I type this)
She is good about going into her crate when we are leaving or going to bed
She has the cutest little face. I love that her eyebrows are white on one side and black on the other side of her face
She loves having her belly rubbed
Her ears... They are just SO cute!
She is really cute when she "buries" her treats. She digs at the ground, puts in her treat and then uses her noses to cover it up
Her army crawl
How she walks sideways sometimes

We are excited to be parents to our little Zoey girl.

Checking out the yard

What's over there?

Hi Daddy!

Her new jacket

And her new coat

My Grandma Nina

2010-11-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

My Grandma after during a Chocolate Demo at a Macey's store

Over the last few months we have watched as my Grandma's health declined pretty rapidly. After many test and a few hospital stays they diagnosed her with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. By the time it was found it was already at a stage four. She did one round of chemo, but didn't react very well to it. After her last time at the hospital she was transferred to Aspen Ridge for rehab, but while there her health continued to decline to the point she needed more help then Aspen Ridge could give her. They transfered her to CareSource hospice, where she spent a week before passing away on October 20th.

It has been really hard one me to watch my Grandma slipping away from us. She has always been such a strong woman, someone I looked up to. I wish I would have spent more time with her, but I will always treasure the memories I was able to make with her. I know that her mission here on Earth was complete and that she has returned to Our Father in Heaven to do more work there. I also know that she is with my Grandpa again, after many many years of being apart. I am sure it was a joyous reunion up in Heaven. My Grandma will be missed by many, especially me.

The funeral for my Grandma was held on Monday October 25th and it was a beautiful service. I had the honor of doing a life sketch on her! What an amazing woman! I have included the life sketch below.

At the graveside services the Coast Guard was there to do their ceremony. It was so touching. I know that my Grandma would be very happy and honored by it. The 21 gun salute was neat!

Grandma, I love you and miss you! I do know that you are where you are needed at this time and that you will be watching over us down here on Earth. I know that I will be able to see you again someday! Thank you for the wonderful legacy you left for us. You trust were, and still are, an amazing woman!

Here is the Life Sketch :

My Grandma Nina was born in West Warren, Utah. She is from good pioneer stock. Her father died when she was 3 days old and her mother later married her uncle, so one of her sisters is also her cousin. She has 3 sisters and 2 brothers. She was raised in West Weber and in Murray. After graduating from Murray High school her first real job was at the Army Supply Depot in Ogden, but after about a year she returned to Murray where she worked at a bank as a bookkeeper on personal checking accounts.

Grandma loved the work that she was doing and the people she was working with, but she felt that she needed to do her part for the country during the war, so as soon as she was 20 she was sworn into the United States Coast Guard as a Spar. Grandma went to boot camp and later Storekeepers school in Palm Beach, Florida. She was stationed in San Francisco, California for the remainder of her service, which ended up being just 1 year and 8 and a half months. She has signed up for overseas duty but, with the end of the war ended her career in the Coast Guard. In the life sketch grandma wrote about herself she says she never regretted her decision to sign up.

In the fall of 1946 my grandma enrolled at BYU. While at BYU she was a member of the Valkeries and they won the bowling tournament that year at the Y. Also while at BYU she met Bob Despain in her English class. Their first date was on Valentine’s Day 1947. They climbed to Squaw Peak. They were married on September 19^th that same year. Instead of continuing her education, she decided to stay home and be a homemaker and mother. By the time Bob graduated in 1950, they had two children, Pam and Robert (He was born the day after Grandpa graduated). Bob had stayed in the Naval Reserves so his unit was one of the first to be called up in the Korean War. He expected to be in the States for awhile, but shipped out within one month after Nina moved to Ventura, California. She was all alone with two children and mice, so she decided to come back to Utah. (Since she is not here to explain, we will assume that it was bad)

Shanna was born just after Grandpa was discharge in May 1952. In the life sketch she wrote about herself she wrote “I wanted a dozen kids, but already I was beginning to change my mind.” Knowing my aunts and uncle I can definitely see why she was feeling this way. However she started feeling baby hungry again in 1955 and by 1960 there were three more girls added to the family, Cindy, Kaylene, and Cory. So in case you lost track that is 1 boy and 5 girls.

The family lived in Murray and Kearns where Grandma served as both a Ward and Stake Relief Society President. Later, the family moved to her home on Gumwood, where she spent the remainder of her life.

Grandma didn’t go back to work until Cory was in school. For a while she worked as a Tupperware dealer and then she started working for C. Kay Cummings Candies. After working there for a few years, she was given the opportunity to be a medical assistant which she did for the next 20 ½ years with the same doctor. In 1987 she retired to be home to take care of her husband who had become seriously ill. He passed away in October 1988.

Grandma’s life has been full of services, dedication and love of the Gospel. She faced many trails in her life, but she always remained true to her testimony. She worked doing Spanish Name extraction for over 30 years. She was also a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, where she volunteered for many years. She loved working in her yard and even when her health wasn’t the best she was be out working in the yard. She would even go over to many of her neighbors’ house to shovel, rake and water their yards. During her life she was also chairman of Girls Scout Cookie Sales, Cancer drives, Heart fund drives and many other things. She was a firm believer that when you tell someone you will do something you follow through. Grandma was also a good cook. She catered dinners and weddings.
Grandma loved to camp and do anything outdoors. She also loved to travel and was able to come all over the country and to other parts of world. She also loved the Alpine slide, river rafting, a good movie, a good book, putting together puzzles, Ferrero Rocher chocolates, the Tabernacle Choir, going to the Temple, water skiing, horse back riding, ice cream (even on top of the mountain when it’s snowing) and a cup of hot chocolate. Grandma had, and I am sure she still has, a good sense of humor and liked a good joke.

I will always remember my grandma for her fabulous carrot cake and her yummy candies she made. Her peanut butter chocolates were my favorite!

Coast Guard doing their part

Being presented the flag

My Cousin Adam playing Taps

My Mom with her remaining sibling (Robert, Cory and Cindy)

October has come... and gone...

2010-11-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

I always say that I am going to stay on top of updating our blog and then a month goes by without an update. I will try working on updating more often, but I make no promise. Anyhow, here is our month of October.

On the 8th, Shaun and I were about to have a little date night. We were invited by our friends, Christie and Matt, to a Strenghtening Relationship Seminar that was put on by the Sandy Institute. It was a really enjoyable evening. John Bytheway was our speaker and he had some great things to say.
The next day we were able to attend the baptism of Maddie, my cousin Aaron's daughter. I am so proud a Maddie and her decision to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She looked so pretty and you could just see how happy her choice made her.

The following weekend we headed out to Tammy and Andy's house for a Halloween party. It was an evening filled with food and fun.

On the 19th I decided that I would go for a bike ride, because it was a nice day and I didn't know how many more nice days we were going to have. I decided that I wanted to ride to Liberty Park. Everything was going great! I wasn't tired and I was looking forward to my return trip until I crash. I was trying to pass a lady and went on to the grass and the return to the sidewalk didn't go well. My bike didn't make it back to the sidewalk, at least not upright... Needless to say I ended up calling Shaun because there was no way I was going to make it home on my bike. He ended up taking me to Instacare, where they took some x-rays and found the I had fractured my pinky. They put me in a splint and send me home with a number to call a hand specialist (more about that appointment to come).

On the 20th My sweet Grandma Nina passed away. I will do another blog entry about that.

That Friday I headed to Time Out for Women in Las Vegas with my friends Christie and Brook. On the way down we stopped at Cove Fort and the cheese factory in Beaver. Once we got to Vegas we meet up with five of Christie's aunts, her mom and her Grandma. That night we went to the opening portion of TOFW and then spent sometime talking. Saturday we headed back to the next session and then spent the evening with Christie's brother and then went back to the hotel played games and talked. The whole weekend was a lot of fun and way very spiritually uplifting. It was a lot of fun getting to know Christie's family.

The 25th was my Grandma's funeral.

I had an appointment with the Hand surgeon on the 26th. After over an hour of waiting we were taken back to the room. I was taken to get some more x-ray's. This time it was of my elbow, because it had been bothering me. The PA come in and starting pocking and prodding my arm and hand. After causing me some pain and discomfort they looked at my x-ray's. They easily identified my fractured pinky and decided that they are pretty sure I also fracture my scaphoid and my radial head. I now have a removable brace that I get to to wear for 3 weeks, when I go back for a follow up and more x-ray's.

Also that night the counselors from our new bishopric came to pay us a visit. While here they extended a calling to us (we had officially been in the ward 10 days!). Shaun and I will be serving as Cub Scout leaders. We are excited. It is definitely something new for both of us.

The 29th we had our second annual Pumpkin Carvenival. We didn't have a huge turn out, but it was still fun. We ate yummy food and carved pumpkins. It is always nice getting to spend time with friends!

Well I think that about covers October :)

Picture time!

Brook, Christie and I on our way to Vegas

Brook, Our tour guide and I in front of Cove Fort

Helen (Christie's Mom), Christie, Me and Brook at Time Out for Women

Brook's pumpkin wasn't feeling well

Courtney, Shaun, Brook, Matt and Christie's Pumpkins

I LOVE Christie's Pumpkin! So cute!

The Rest of August and The Month of September

2010-10-15T17:43:00.000-06:00

Wow! This past month and a half has been CRAZY (as you will see!) and blogging just didn't happen! So this will be one big post to help me get caught up in my blogging efforts. I hope you enjoy.

August 23rd- This was a very special day for our friends Aaron and Betsy (and Lydia too!). This is the day that they finalized the adoption for their precious little Lydia! I am so very happy for all of them! Lydia is so very lucky to have Aaron and Betsy for parents! To help them celebrate this special day, we were all invited to a Gotcha Day party! Congrats Aaron and Betsy!

August 27th- Our Ward camp-out was held up American Fork canyon! It was raining that day and so Shaun and I just opted to go up for dinner. It was a lot of fun getting to spend time with our ward members! We really did belong to an awesome ward!

August 28th- Every year my Aunt Brenda does a Niece's Night out and they are always a lot of fun! This year went to my Cousin Angie's house and scrapbooked. It was a lot of fun!

September 1st- I started a new blog, which has also suffered from my lack of blogging... Anyhow.. The name of my new blog is Daily Dose of Gratitude. My hope for this blog is to write about one thing that I am grateful for everyday. I did pretty good for the first half of the month and then moving happened and I didn't take the time to write each day. I am going to get back on the bandwagon though and start writing again.

September 2nd- Megan and Jason got married! They had the ceremony at the White Chapel, which is located across from the Capitol Building. It was a beautiful ceremony. For the reception we headed over to the Joseph Smith Memorial building, where we had dinner and were entertained by a Barbershop quartet and a comedian. It was a very enjoyable evening! Congrats Megan and Jason! May you share a lifetime of happiness together!

September 3rd- Shaun and I went to Swiss Days up in Midway! It has been a family tradition for a long time to go and I am glad that Shaun is willing to helping with this tradition. It is always fun to go up and look at all the booths and eat some yummy food! After we were done up at Swiss Days, we went and spent the evening with Christie and Matt. We went swimming and then played games! It was a GREAT day!

September 4th- We celebrated Shaun's Grandpa's 90th birthday! It was fun getting to spend time with family and to meet a few more people that I haven't met yet.

September 5th- We were able to spend the evening with Tammy and Andy and their new foreign exchange student Ricki. We had a delicious dinner and played games. We played the LONGEST game of Uno ever! It took use over an hour to play one round... It was crazy! We don't get to spend much time with Tammy and Andy, so it was great to be able to see them!

September 6th- We had breakfast with Shaun's parents. This is the third year in a row that we have done breakfast with them. It is pretty good food and always enjoyable to spend time with them.

September 10th-We headed to the Greek Festival with Aaron, Betsy, and Lydia. It was a lot of fun! The food is always SO good! The Greek Festival is another little tradition we have!

September 11th- We went to the State Fair. Never again will I go on a Saturday! There were SO many people! We tried going to the Rodeo, but by the time we got there all the seat were either taken by people or blankets that people had left while they went and explored the fair.

September 16th- I help Jackson (Megan and Jason's son) celebrate his first birthday at Wheeler Farm! I can't believe that he is already one! This past year has gone by so quickly! It was fun being able to spend time with friends!

September 18th- I had a Girls Night out at Color Me Mine! It was TONS of fun! I am so glad we went. In attendance was Betsy, Jen, Christie, Brook and I. We each picked something different to make and it was a lot of fun to just talk and be creative. We will DEFINTELY be doing this again! Thanks girls for coming and helping me have a GREAT night out!

September 25th- This was the biggest thing that happened the last month... WE MOVED!!! We now live in South Salt Lake and we really like it thus far. We had started to bring car loads of stuff over through out the week, but our big move was on the 25th. It was nice having so many people from both our old and new ward as well as friends and family come help us. Thanks again! We REALLY did appreciate the help! I will definitely post more about a new place once we get everything all cleaned up and organized.

WOW! What month! Sorry the post was so long! A lot of stuff did happen this month and you can see!

Here are a few pictures:

Big Fire at the Ward Campout

The Happy Couple: Megan and Jason

The whole gang at Color Me Mine

Jackson eating his birthday cake! So cute!

River Rafting down the Provo River

2010-08-22T23:02:00.001-06:00

Shaun and I, along with four of our friends (Megan, Jason, Stacie, and Andy) went river rafting down the Provo River last weekend. It was a lot of fun. Something I would definitely do again.

We struggled a little bit in the beginning of our trip down the river, but once Shaun took over as captain we did a lot better. I was even able to help row.

We did have one scary moment. We were going to run into an island in the river and so in order to keep us for crashing into the island Andy jumped into the river, but it was a lot deeper than he original thought. We ended up running over Andy with the raft, but luckily he wasn't hurt and he was able to get back on the boat.

Farther down the river Jason starting a water fight with some boy scouts. We has stayed relatively dry up until that point. The boy (both in our raft and the boy scouts) seemed to have a lot of fun with it though, so that is all that matters right?

All in all the day was TONS of fun! I am SO glad we went. It makes me want to go raft something bigger!

Our Group (Andy, Stacie, Shaun, Me, Jason and Megan)

National S'mores Day

2010-08-22T22:51:00.000-06:00

This year we learned that August 10th is National S'mores Day and to celebrate our friends, Stacie and Andy, invitied us over for a S'more party! It was a lot of fun. Stacie had bought a lot of different types of candy and things to make our s'mores with. The win of the best s'more is a Reese Peanut Butter Cup S'more! It is SO tasty! That is definitely how I will be eat s'mores from now on!

The spread of yumminess...

Shaun roasting marshmellows

Me and my SUPER yummy s'more

a close up of the yumminess

Our Second Anniversary!

2010-08-17T14:00:00.001-06:00

I honestly can't believe how quickly time has gone by. The past two years have gone by so quickly, but I have enjoyed every moment. I am so glad that I found Shaun and that everything worked out between us! I love him SO much!! He is the best thing that has happened to me. I look forward to being able to spend the rest of my life with him!

For our anniversary, Shaun and I spent the weekend in Logan. It was a lot of fun. We drove up friday night and went to Maddox in Brigham City for dinner. Once we got to Logan and checked into our hotel, we went and saw Despicable Me. It was a really cute show.

Saturday we woke up and started our journey to Bear Lake. Along the way we stopped at the Gossner's cheese factory to get cheese curds (YUMMY!) and then we also made a stop at the Pepperidge Farms factory, but didn't pick anything up there. Then we drove up through Idaho a little bit.

Our next stop was the Minnetonka Cave. We got really lucky and were able to get into a group that we leaving within 15 minutes of us getting there. (The wait when we got there was almost two hours.) Minnetonka Cave is 444 steps in and the same 44 steps out. The tour take approximately 90 minutes. Shaun and I were able to stay at the front of the group the whole tour, something I am very proud of.

Once we were done at the cave we headed to LeBeau's for a yummy lunch and then back to Logan. On the way to back we stopped at the overlook and took some pictures. Once back at our hotel we took a nap, which ended up being way longer than we had planned, but it felt SO nice!!! We then head to dinner and then to Wal-Mart, where we picked up Uno cards. The rest of our evening was spent playing Uno on our bed. It was TONS of fun!

Sunday, we went and took pictures around the Logan Temple and then started home. As we were going through Brigham City we drove by were the new temple is going to be built. I can't wait to go to the open house (yes I do realize it is going to be a long while before that will happen).

It was a really nice weekend away with just the two of us. I love getting to spend time with Shaun without all the distractions we find at home!

Thanks again babe for a wonderful two years of marriage! I look forward to many many more!

The Seven Dwarfs

"Bacon"

The view outside of the cave

Bear Lake

Family Vacation Day 7 and 8- The House and Drive Home

2010-08-17T12:15:00.000-06:00

Friday morning we packed up the cars and we all headed to our various destinations. Byron, Kari, Tom, Chelsea and the kids all headed to Indiana (Byron and Kari's house) and Kim, Michelle, Shaun and I back to Utah. It was a long drive home, but it was also pretty fun. While on the road we listened to marriage talks and they gave me a lot of thinks to thing about. We spent Friday night is Cheyenne and then traveled the rest of the way home on Saturday.

It was a very enjoyable trip and I am glad we went. I got to get to know Shaun's family better and I got to see my nieces and nephews! I am looking forward to our night family vacation in 2 years.

Here is a little tour of the house we stayed in.

The Daugherty Mansion

Sun Room

The giant staircase I fell down the first night..

Living Room

Formal Dining room aka "The Computer Room"

Library

Kitchen

Staircase #2

Our room

Kim and Michelle's room

Tom and Chelsea's room

Byron and Kari's room

Sun Room #2

This is the only picture on the laundry room I took... We found a frog down there...

Back of the house

Stan

Lilly

James F. Daugherty

Family Vacation Day 5 and 6- Nauvoo, Carthage, Quincy & Keokuk

2010-08-17T10:33:00.000-06:00

Wednesday morning, Shaun and I decided to head into Nauvoo by ourselves so we could do some exploring on our own. Plus I want to see if there was any chance of being able to go on a carriage ride to Inspiration point, which there wasn't... Since we weren't able to do that we spent some time looking around the visitor center. While there we watched the film "Remembering Nauvoo." It was an excellent film. I really enjoyed it.

Our next stop was the Brickyard, where we were told how they made bricks, which is actually a pretty cool process. At the end of the explanation we received our very own Nauvoo brick (exciting huh? :) ). Other building we visited were the Lucy Mack Smith Home and the Heber C. Kimball home. By this time it was getting really hot outside. It was 96 degrees, but with the humidity it was 106+, which made it not so fun outside.

After touring those to homes we headed up towards the temple. There were a bunch of shops up there to look through. We even found a frozen custard shop. YUMMY! Next stop was the Nauvoo Cheese Factory. It was really just a winery where they sold cheese. Not at cool as we were hoping.

Later that afternoon the whole clan (minus Chelsea) headed to Carthage Jail. I think that Carthage is an awesome experience.The spirit there is definitely strong. I could say more about Carthage, but I will leave it at that.

On Thursday the whole family headed to Quincy, Illinois for the day. Part of the group went to see Toy Story 3 and the other part of the group (Michelle, Kari, Eliza, Shaun and me) went to the local mall and went shopping. It was a pretty small mall, with not a lot of shops, but it was still fun. Shaun and I found a game shop in the mall, where we ended up having a lot of fun. The owner of the shop taught us how to play different games, two of which we ended up buying. (Ligretto and Ratuki). Once the others were done with the movie we headed back to Keokuk and had dinner at this pretty good pizza joint.

The rest of our evening consisted of getting things packed up for our drive home the next day. Tom, Kim, Shaun, and I did take a little bit of time to go exploring Keokuk. We ended up at the dam, where we were able to watch a barge get moved through the lock. It was actually pretty cool to watch. Nothing I had ever seen before.

Lucy Mack Smith House

Heber C. Kimball House

Us in front of the Nauvoo Bagpipe Band

The hole left by the bullet that killed Hyrum Smith

The Mighty Mississippi River

The Lock is full

It's empty now and the doors are opening

and the barge is on the move...

Family Vacation Day 3 and 4: Nauvoo

2010-08-17T08:58:00.001-06:00

On Monday, we spent the morning relaxing and checking out the giant house in Keokuk, Iowa we were staying in (pictures to come in last post about vacation...). That afternoon my Mother in Law, Father in Law and I were able to go to the Nauvoo temple to do baptisms for the dead (Thanks for the names Kari). It was a really awesome experience. Michelle and I each did ten names and Kim was able to do the baptizing and confirmations. It was cool. Another awesome experience we had was before we did baptism. All of the people that were there to do baptisms for the dead at that time met in the chapel and we had a little devotional by the Temple President! It was something I had never experienced before, but I am very glad I was able to.
Random fact: Did you know that the Nauvoo Temple has the biggest font? Well they do. It is 16 feet long and 12 feet wide.

After the trip to the temple we head back to the house we were staying in. That evening we had a BBQ and celebrated Shaun, Byron and James' birthdays. It was a lot of fun.

Tuesday the whole family headed into Nauvoo. Our first stop was the oxen wagon rides. It was pretty fun, it was especially fun to see how excited our nieces and nephews got. After that we headed to the pioneer games area and had some fun. There was something for everyone to do there. After playing there for a while some of the group headed over to the Browning Home and Gunsmith Shop. The guys really seemed to enjoy it. It was cool to see how they made guns back in the day.

Once we met back up with the rest of the group we headed to the Scovil Bakery and then the Red Brick Store. The second story of the Red Brick Store is where the headquarter for the church was, where the Relief Society was organized and were the first endowments were performed. Pretty neat!

Our last stop of the afternoon was at the temple to take pictures.

That evening everyone, but Kim, attended the Nauvoo Pageant. It was great the first time I saw it (two years ago) and was just as great this time. I am definitely glad we planned the reunion during pageant time. The main cast was really good.

Bryon and Shaun making dinner

Kari and the Kids (Eliza, Emelie, Michael, James)

Grandma and Emelie

The Gunshop

The Nauvoo Bagpipe Band

Family Vacation Day 1 and 2- Chicago

2010-08-06T21:32:00.002-06:00

On July 10 Shaun and I started our journey to the Kruger Family Reunion in Nauvoo, Illinois. We flew from here to Chicago, where we met up with Tom and Chelsea. Our flight was delayed 90 minutes so by the time we met up with Tom and Chelsea it was after 10 PM. Once we got checked into our hotel room we started our 2+ mile (round trip) walk to Pizzeria Uno and luckily they were open late! It was so yummy! I would definitely go back next time we are in Chicago (which I definitely want to do).

Sunday we spent a little time in downtown Chicago doing a little exploring. It wasn't much fun having to lug around our luggage so we spent a few hours at the train station, before getting on the train to Fort Madison to meet up with the rest of the family. The exploring we did do was fun, and I REALLY would love to go back some time and see more of Chicago.

Picture Time:

Shaun and I near our hotel. The tall building in the background is Trump Towers

Chicago Public Library

Giant Eyeball...I love the two random people in the picture..

Willis (formerly Sears) Tower

The Old Train Station

Us waiting for the old part of the train station

On the train

I love farm houses :)

The train we rode on in the Fort Madison station

This Last Weekend!

2010-06-22T10:28:00.000-06:00

This past weekend (Father's Day weekend) was full of lots of fun for us. It all started Friday night when we went with my parents out to dinner (Downtown Philly... YUMMY) and then down to the Strawberry Day's Rodeo in Pleasant Grove. Rodeo+ Strawberries= a good time. I really enjoy rodeo's and this is definitely one of my favorites to go to, it probably has a lot to do with the strawberries and cream you can buy. SO tasty. The rodeo portion is fun too!

Before the rodeo started they did mutten busting and cash cow. Mutten busting is fun to watch. It is little kids riding sheep and they get scored on how long they can hang on. Some kids do not want to let go, even if they are being dragged by the sheep. Cash cow is where they let a bunch of old kids chase after a cow, that has money stuck to it. Other events I really enjoy is barrell racing, cow milking, and bull riding.

Us at the Rodeo

Shaun eating Strawberries

YUMMY!

Saturday morning Shaun and I headed downtown where we met Jen and had a fun time checking out the Farmer's Market. Shaun and I bought some REALLY yummy pesto, some pasta, and a few pepper plants for our garden. After we were all done there we heading across the street to Caputo's from a tasty tasty lunch. By the time we were done with lunch Jen had to head to her friends house, so it was just us for the rest of our downtown adventure. We did a little shopping at the market at Caputo's, where we bought some prosciutto and some yummy Gouda.

After were were done there we headed over to the Gateway, where they were have The Chalk Art Festival. It was amazing to see the talent of all of these people. There were some awesome pictures that had been created. There were a lot of Alice in Wonderland themed pictures... Humm.. I wonder why....

Later Saturday evening Shaun and I met up with Aaron, Betsy and Lydia for a round of Mini golf and a trip to South Jordan Country Fest. Mini golf was really fun. I got two holes in one, which never happens, but I still ended up losing.. So not cool. At the Country Fest we just walked around checking out the booth. In the carnival area they had a dunk tank with this REALLY annoying guy dressed up as a clown in the tank. It was fun watching him tont people as they were trying to get him wet.

Betsy, Aaron and Lydia. Such a cute family!

Miss Lydia

The two of us... and my awesome sunburn...

Our weekend ended Sunday night with a visit at Shaun's parents house and a BBQ at my grandpa's house. All in all it was a GREAT weekend! I love getting to spend time with family and friends!

(SORRY for the super long post!)

Seth and Sarah's Wedding and more

2010-06-22T09:32:00.000-06:00

Shaun and I both know how stressful the weeks before you wedding can be (although I think it was more stressful for me than him... but oh well) and so we thought that we would take Seth and Sarah away from all the stresses that come from preparing for the big day. We decided that we'd all go bowling the Saturday before their big day and I am glad we did, because it was a lot of fun. I also think it helped them unwind a little bit. It was nice to get to spend time with them.

Here are some pictures from our little outing:

Game #1.. I didn't do so good

(L (Lotion)= Shaun, BG (Banjo Girl)=Me, SB (Sugar Butt)=Sarah, MM (??)=Seth, P(?)=Amy)

Game #2.. I did MUCH better!

Seth and Sarah... being them =)

Shaun bowling

Sarah bowling

The following Friday, June 11th, Seth and Sarah were married in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. After all the pictures were taken we headed over to The Lion House for a yummy wedding luncheon. It was fun to be able to help them celebrate their special day.

Their reception was held the following day at "The Castle" as our family likes to call it (The house it was held at looks like a castle, mot and all). They had an Alice in Wonderland themed reception with lots of tasty for.

Introducing Mr and Mrs Seth Nielsen

Aren't they just so cute?

Awesome decorations

Sarah with her Bridesmaid (Amy and Maddi)

The Maid of Honor (Her sister Rachel)

Them right before the cutting of the cake

Cutting the cake...

...Feeding each other...

...The aftermath

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband Concert

2010-06-19T18:04:00.000-06:00

Shaun really likes them and so I thought I would be cute and surprise him with tickets and I am glad I did. The show was A LOT of fun and our seats were great! Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband were really entertaining. Their songs were awesome and funny. All in all the night was REALLY enjoyable. I am glad we went and I look forward to going to their show again next year (if not before that).

Here are some video's:

So this video is from last year's concert at the Sandy Amphitheater, but they did it again this year and all of them had camera's. I can't wait to see the video.

This was really cool to watch (this isn't from the concert we went to)

Now a few pictures:

Ryan Shupe and The Rubberband

Shaun and I at the Show

My newest concert t-shirt.. I LOVE it! (and yes I know I look cheesy in the picture)

Family Visit in May

2010-06-19T17:33:00.001-06:00

On May 13th, Shaun's grandma, Venna Kruger passed away. It was something we all saw coming and are happy that it finally happened for her. Venna's health has been going downhill for a long time now and we all know that she is in a best place. She is back with her husband who she has been separated from for 41 years now. (Dutch passed away from leukemia when Kim (Shaun's dad) was 16.) Plus she is free from all the pains and physical limitations she had.

Funeral services were held the following Monday, which gave time for family from out of state to get here. It was fun having family we don't see very often here. Shaun's brother were able to come down. Byron flew out here with James (nephew) and Tom and Chelsea (and Jake) drove down for the weekend. It was a quick trip for them, but it was fun being able to spend time with them.

One fun thing I was able to do while family was in town was to go the Living Planet Aquarium with James and Michelle (Shaun's Mom). We had a lot of fun! The aquarium is pretty awesome, especially for the size. There was tons of cool things to see. They are going to be build a bigger location sometime in the near future and I can't wait.

Grandma and James

James watching the penguins

Touching the stingrays

Next to the GIANT lobster

Riding the carousel (not at the aquarium, but at South Towne Mall)

Sugarland Concert

2010-05-12T18:38:00.000-06:00

I just have to say that I really enjoy Girls Nights out! It is fun to get to spend time with just the girls. Well for this Girls Night out we went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and then to see Sugarland in concert. They put on an AWESOME show! It was TONS of fun!

Danny Gokey and Julianne Hough opened up the show. They were both okay, but not great... Julianne Hough's portion of the show was all about dancing on the stage half dressed. She kept dancing with poles... I was worried she was going to start taking off what little she had on...

The Sugarland portion of the show was great! The stage was awesome, the light show was awesome, the music was awesome! Everything about the show was AWESOME! Plus I got to spend time with two great friends! One thing that really impressed me about Sugarland is they gave a autographed guitar away to a young girl in the audience. I thought that was awesome. That girl is forever going to remember that!

Anyhow here some picture :)

Megan, Me and Betsy

It got really bright where we were sitting so Betsy put her sunglasses on :)

The awesome stage

Jennifer Nettles

Kristian Bush

Kristian delivering the guitar

Pot roast practice

2010-05-04T08:35:00.005-06:00

Sunday we made yet another pot roast. Each time we make our pot roasts they get a little better. We have done chuck roasts and cross rib roasts. Sunday's roast was a cross rib roast. I wanted to document the recipe (sized for a 5.5qt slow cooker).

Our Ingredients:

1 30oz roast
1/2 onion
8 celery sticks
8 red potatoes (could have been more, but it is all we had)
1lb carrots
3/4 cup water + 3/4tsp beef bullion
2tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1.5-2.5 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions:

We start by salting the roast and preparing the vegetables. Sprinkle kosher salt over all sides of the roast. Cut all the celery, potatoes and carrots and put them in the bottom of your slow cooker.

Start warming water and bullion mixture on medium heat. Once mixture is warm add worcestershire sauce and keep warm until you are done with the next step.

French cut the onion and start heating a 12 inch sauté pan over medium-high heat (Do not use non-stick for this as you will be deglasing later). Put oil in the pan as it heats. Once pan is hot add onions and cook until onions are soft, but stop before they start to caramelize.

Once the onions are done pull them out of the pan. Immediately give the pan another shot of oil and put the roast in the pan. Sear for 30 seconds to a minute on each side. You want a nice deep brown color on the roast. Once you are done searing the roast remove the pan from the heat. Remove the roast from the pan and place it on top of your vegetables in your slow cooker.

Remove any extra vegetable oil from your sauté pan. Deglase the pan by pouring the water/bullion mixture into the pan. The pan should still be hot enough to instantly boil some of the liquid. Use a whisk or spoon to break up any bits of meat residue stuck to the bottom of the pan. Leave on medium heat until you are ready to use it.

Put the onions on the roast. The french cut and sauté helps with this as the onions are less likely to fall off of the roast. If the onions fall off and into the vegetables and liquid they don't caramelize as well during the cooking process. Once the onions are on the roast pour the deglasing liquid from your sauté pan over the roast.

(At this point we sprinkle a Lipton onion soup dry mix over the roast. I am inclined to try a roast without it next time to see how it works.)

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Notes: This cooking method with the cross rib roast resulted in a piece of meat that was firm, but not chewy. The same method with a chuck roast results in pieces that tend to fall apart a little more. Adding too much cooking liquid is the quickest way to get overly soft vegetables. In the past I have also tried using a dry rub mix instead of just salt on the roast; It definitely adds some nice flavors.

Another edition of Food by Us

2010-04-28T15:53:00.002-06:00

Shaun and I really do love cooking! We especially love trying new things. Some of the yummy things we have made recently are Anniversary Chicken, homemade waffles with homemade strawberry syrup, and "Davinci's Horse" Burgers (name still in the works).

Anniversary Chicken

Recipe:

6 chicken breasts 3 green onions

1/2 c. teriyaki sauce 1/2 (3 oz) jar real bacon bits

1/2 c. Ranch dressing Chopped fresh parsley

1 c. shredded cheese

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken and saute 4-5 minutes, until lightly browned. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in 9X13 pan. Brush with teriyaki sauce. Spoon on Ranch. Sprinkle with cheese and green onions. Add bacon bits. Bake 25-30 minutes. Garnish with parsley

**Note: I didn't follow the exact recipe. We used less chicken since there was just the two of us. There was extra teriyaki sauce, which I just poured into the casserole dish. I also only used about 1/3 of a cup of Ranch dressing, but that is what I needed for the amount chicken we had. I also didn't use fresh parsley... Just the dried stuff...

Homemade waffles & strawberry syrup

Shaun made these for us the other morning. It was REALLY yummy. He followed the waffle recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook we have. For the syrup he took 3/4 lb strawberries, 3/4 cup sugar and just enough water to cover the strawberries. He then cooked it on medium/medium high heat until it reduced.

"Davinici's Horse" Burger

These burgers were a lot of work, but REALLY good! Shaun ground a chuck steak and garlic with our meat grinder attachment we have on our KitchenAid. He then formed them into patties and put them on our grill. We then topped the patties was sauteed mushrooms, Davinci gouda, A1 sauce, and a little horseradish! They were SO yummy!!!

My 25th Birthday!

2010-04-28T15:16:00.000-06:00

On April 19th I turned a quarter of a century old!! Kind of crazy (well at least to me!) It's amazing to me to see how much I have done in live thus far and how much more I still have/want to do! I wouldn't want to take back any of the experiences I have had in my life. I know that everything has happened for a for a reason and that I have grown so much.

I'd have to say that my 25th birthday was a great one, filled with food, friends, family and fun! Celebrations for my birthday started on the 11th at Shaun's parents house. They had us over for a yummy dinner and then Michelle gave us treatments! (THANKS!!!) The following Friday night (the16th) we had friends over for cake and ice cream and games! It was TONS of fun! Shaun made homemade ice cream and a lemon cake with cream cheese frosting! It was SO yummy! It was great to be able to spent time laughing and just having fun with Aaron, Betsy, Brook, Christie, Matt and of course my cute husband! Thanks for coming you guys! I am glad that I got to celebrate my birthday with you!

On my birthday I went to school and then Shaun took me to lunch. That night we went out to dinner with my parents, my grandma, my Aunt Brenda (who's birthday is on the 18th, so we always celebrate our birthdays together), and Grandpa. We went to the Texas Roadhouse and it was REALLY yummy! And then Shaun and I went and walked around the mall. All in all it was a great day!

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! You made my day great!

Oh and I just have to say that I LOVE my primary girls. I knew that they were up to something, but I wasn't quite sure what it was. Last Sunday after church we had a knock on the door and it was Ali, one of my girls, with a plate of cookie and a card signed by all the girls, wishing me a happy birthday! It was SO cute!

Here's a few pictures

The ingredient for the ice cream.... Way fattening, but OH SO YUMMY!!!

My birthday cake

Blowing out the candles

Modeling the present my cousin Jen gave me!

The cookies and card from my primary girls

The Muse Concert

2010-04-10T09:48:00.000-06:00

This past Monday (April 5th) Shaun and I went to the Muse concert at the E-Center. Back in January I won tickets to the show from 101.9 The End. I am really glad we got to go to the show. It was awesome. Silversun Pickup were the opening band, but by the time we got there we had missed most of them(*). The Muse part of the show was awesome though. The light show was really cool and the music was great.

Shaun tells me after the concert that the whole concert he was trying to figure out how the screens they had work. They had three screens that they projected images onto, but sometime they were see through, so it intreged Shaun. It would be my hubby that would be thinking about how it all worked.

Anyhow... Here are some pictures from that show... Not all of them are the best pictures, but it will give you an idea of what the stage/light show was like.

Shaun and I before the show started

The stage before the show stared

The start of the show (guys walking up stairs...)

This is a bad picture, but this shows how the stage was setup.

Three screens with movable podiums under them

The drummer kept turning and would face those that were behind the stage

Cool lights

Before the show started Shaun pointed these out to me up in the rafters... Giant eyeballs....

I kept looking up there because I wants to know what they were for....

...and at the end of the show (at least the end we stayed for) we found out.

They had confetti inside...

* Shaun and I thought that we had left plenty early for the show, but we turned out being completely wrong. We ended up being about 30 minutes late to the show, due to traffic and the crappy setup of the E-Center. In addition to this it started to snow on our way to the show, so we grabbed an umbrella to try shielding us from some of the snow. Well we get to the doors and they are telling everyone that they have to leave the umbrellas outside, so Shaun decided to take ours back to the car so that we didn't take the chance of not getting it back. Needless to say we are not impressed with the E-Center. Shaun doesn't want to another concert there until the trax line is complete.

Last Saturday's Drive

2010-04-03T09:48:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday Shaun and I were invited out to Grantsville to a surprise party for my Aunt Shirlynn's 50th birthday. When we have gone our friends, Tammy and Andy's house in Stansbury Park we have thought about taking the long way, but the weather hasn't always been the greatest and/or we haven't left ourselves enough time to take the long way. It was different this day though. It was a gorgeous day outside and we had the time to take the drive. I am so glad we did! It was really nice drive and the scenery was beautiful! Googlemaps told said that would take us just under 2 hours, but we were able to do it in and hour and a half (and no we weren't speeding the whole way!). We even were able to make a stop along the way! Here is the route we took:

The stop we made was at the Steptoe's military camp. Nothing big, but I was able to take a picture of the gorgeous mountains and Rush "lake"!

After the party Shaun and I decided to head Downtown to walk around Temple Square. I had completely forgotten that it was the General Young Women Meeting that night (seeing as I am not in YW's and that I don't have a teenage daughter..), so needless to say things were a little crazy when we got down there! We were able to find a parking spot though and were able to walk around until it got too cold. All in all it was a GREAT day! I love days that I get to spend the whole day with Shaun! Our night ended with a Foursquare "run", which I will let Shaun tell you about!

A set of Sister Missionaries stopped to talk to us and want to take our picture....

Meatball Souvlaki Recipe

2010-03-22T12:20:00.002-06:00

Meatball Souvlaki

By Donna Meadow (Woman’s Day Magazine-Feb 17^th, 2010)

Yogurt Sauce

1 cup plain Greek yogurt 1/3 cup chopped fresh mint

¼ cup water ¼ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp garlic powder ¼ tsp salt

Meatballs

To cut down on prep time, buy prepared turkey meatballs. Just roast for the last 10 minutes or use the follow:

1/3 cup plain dry bread crumbs 1 large egg

1/3 cup water 1 tbsp dried minced onion

1 tsp ground cumin ¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp salt ¼ tsp pepper

1 lb lean ground beef 1 lb medium zucchini cut into ½ in rounds

2 tsp olive oil 1 medium red onion, cut into ½ in thick wedges

3 plum tomatoes, cut into 4 wedges Warmed pocketless pitas

Lettuce (optional)

1. Position racks to divide oven in thirds. Heat oven to 500ºF. You’ll need 2 rimmed baking pans lined with nonstick foil.

2. Yogurt Sauce: Mix all sauce ingredients in medium bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve with meatballs.

3. Meatballs: Stir bread crumbs, egg, water, minced onion, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until blended. Add beef; stir with fork until thoroughly blended. Roll rounded tbsps into balls; place on lined baking pan.

4. Put zucchini and red onions on other lined baking pan; toss with oil. Place vegetables on top rack, meatballs on bottom. Roast 20 minutes.

5. Remove pan from oven, turn browned vegetables over, then push to one side, and add tomatoes; turn meatballs. Roast meatballs and vegetables 5 minutes more or until tender; toss together.

6. Serve on pitas with lettuce if desired. Top with yogurt sauce

Per serving :363 cal, 31g protein, 17g carb, 3g fiber, 19 g fat (9 g sat fat), 132mg chol, 450mg sodium

NOTES: We decided that next time we do this recipe that we are not going to add the water to the yogurt sauce. It was REALLY runny.

Another thing we learned is that you really do need to oil the foil when you line you pans. Otherwise the meatballs just sticks and makes a huge mess out of them.. It also makes it hard to flip them over like the recipe calls for.

Also, we didn't put in the tomatoes, since neither of us are huge tomato fans and because we couldn't find an tomatoes that looked good.

Meal Planning

2010-03-21T22:04:00.002-06:00

Shaun and I have never been really good at planning what to have for dinner or for actually grocery shopping in general, but we have been trying to be better about plan our meals out and then going shopping for the things that we need to complete those meals. We started by making a list of foods we know that we like and then by going through recipes of things we would like to try making. We plan two weeks at a time and thus far it has been a great things for us. We having been doing this about a month now and it is a lot easier when it comes to dinner time. It is also nice because we are eating out much less (there are those time that making a meal doesn't happen, like the night that my dad got admitted to the hospital and we went to see him) and it is in turn helping us spend way less money.

Each week we have to try at least one new recipe/things we have never personally made that we try. Some of the new things we have tried thus far are Dockside Mexican Hotpot, Meatball Souvlaki, Chicken Enchiladas, Poppy seed Chicken, Corn beef and Cabbage. (I am willing to post recipes if anyone want them) It has been fun to try new foods or things that our parents have made for us that we ourselves have never made. Hopefully we can keep up with this meal planning and that we will get better at it.

Here are a few pictures of the things that we have made:

Meatball Souvlaki

Pork Chop Salad

Our version of a "Chubby"

(We made these before we started the meal planning, I just hadn't posted them so I thought I would)

Navajo Tacos

Pi Day 2010

2010-03-21T21:13:00.000-06:00

It is (well it was) that time of the year again... Pi Day! We, of course, had a party in celebration. This year Pi Day was on a Sunday so we decided we would celebrate the night before.

We had a pretty good turn out this year. There were about 20 people that came (a third of those who came were kids). It was a lot of fun. We had The Pie and pie. Everyone who came brought something, which helped out a lot. We had 5 different types of pizza (The Pie's Greek pizza is REALLY good! I had never had it before, but I loved it!), plus yummy cheese stick and about 5 different types of pies (cheesecake, apple, pumpkin, banana cream, and chocolate cream). Everything was really tasty and it was great to be able to just spend time with our friends talking and getting to know each other better. Pi day is never anything really big, but it is still fun to be able to have the party, one that I would have never of had had I not married Shaun.

Another reason I like this time of year is it marks the anniversary of when Shaun and I first met. March 15th 2 years ago is the day that Shaun and I first met in person. I honestly cannot believe how quickly time has gone by. It has been the best two years of my life. I am so glad that things have happen the way that have, because I have never been happier! I look forward to may more Pi day celebrations with Shaun!

Valentines Day Weekend

2010-02-17T11:43:00.001-07:00

Valentines weekend was a lot of fun this year. We didn't do anything huge, but we got to spend time with each other and both sets of parents.

We decided to go out to eat Friday, instead of Saturday like we originally planned. We were both craving sushi, so we ended up going to Simple Sushi. It was SO SO SO good! They have some of the best sushi I have every had. I would definitely recommend it to you!

Saturday I had to work, so we didn't spend much time together. That night though we did have my parents over for a late dinner and that was a lot of fun. It was nice to be able to spend time with them, something we don't do very often.

On Sunday we went to Shaun's parents house for dinner. The food was yummy, like always. We also got treatments, which always makes us feel better. Body work is awesome!

For V-Day I received an awesome CD from Shaun:

I totally love it! I have listened to it every day. If you haven't listened to Ingrid Michaelson before I would definitely recommend that you check her out. I have two of her albums and I love both of them.

Shaun received the latest Weezer's album from me.

I have listened to a few songs off of the album and I like it.

Anyhow... V-Day was great! Nothing big, but I am okay with that. What is important is that I have a great husband and family to share it with.

Super Bowl XLIV

2010-02-17T11:09:00.005-07:00

This year Shaun and I were invited by my friend Megan to attend a Super Bowl party at her parents house. Neither one of us are huge sports fans (I will admit that I do like sports more than Shaun does), but we thought it would be fun and it would give us a chance to spend time with our friends. And it was actually really fun. Shaun thinks that this was actually the first Super Bowl that he has watch.

The many thing that I was looked forward to were the commercials. Usually Super Bowl commercials are really funny. Not so much this year. There were are few Doritos commercials that we thought were pretty funny. They won in my book for the best commercials this years. Here are a few we liked:

You can see all of the Doritos commercials here. There are some pretty funny commercials.

Another fun things about the party is we guessed who would win the game and what the final score would be. My guess was 33-21 Colts and Shaun did the opposite (21-33 Saints). Well in the end Shaun won. He had the closest score. Towards the end of the game it was said that whoever won gets to hold the party next year. So I guess we will be holding a party at our house next year.

18 Months!

2010-02-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

Shaun and I have been married 18 months now (as of Tuesday)!! I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. It is fun to see where we started and where we are now. We are starting a new chapter in our lives and I can't wait to see where it takes us. I know it will be an emotional roller coaster, but I am completely on board.

Thank you babe for a great 18 months of marriage! You are the best. I am so glad that it is you that I get to spend my life with. I couldn't ask for anyone better!

Car Accident

2010-02-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

Monday of the week I was heading from my parents house to Winder Farm to pick up some milk and then it my grandpa's house to do taxes. I hadn't been on the road very long when a guy decided to pull out in front of me and I hit the side of his car. I am pretty sure the his car it totaled. From an estimate I have received from a body shop, they are saying I have about $2100, but we can't get the hood opened so there might be more damage under that hood.

State Farm is the insurance company that the other drive has. They have been really good to work with. Someone contacted me Monday evening to get my statement as to what happened and within the hour they had called back to tell me that they were accepting liability for the accident and to let them know where I wanted to take the 4 Runner. Tuesday I called in sick and ended up at Instacare to get my shoulder looked it. They are thinking that I have jammed my rotator cuff. So he told me that if it isn't feeling better in a week to go see an orthopedic specialist... Fun for me... Tuesday I also went to an auto body shop that Shaun's cousin recommended and got an estimate from him. I talked to Shaun and he felt good about going with them so I called State Farm back. They finally got back to me yesterday and a claim adjuster came out this morning to look at things. I will hopefully be able to take my vehicle in by Monday to have it repaired!

Here are some pictures...

My vehicle....

His car...

I am pretty sure his car is totaled...

Hopefully everything will get taken care of quickly and I can have my 4 Runner back. It is going to be weird driving a rental car...

Betsy and Lydia's Baby Shower

2010-01-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

New year eve our friends, Aaron and Betsy, announced to us that they were being presented that weekend to another birth mom. Shaun and I were really excited for them. We were also really excited for them when Betsy called me that following Monday to tell me that they had been selected. Lydia Rose was born on January 11 and is so very cute.

This last Friday I, along with Stacie and Megan, were able to throw a outdoor picnic themed shower for Betsy. It was a lot of fun to be able to celebrate the new addition to Aaron and Betsy's family. It was also fun to be able to get together with the girls, eat yummy food, and to be able to chat.

Here are some pictures from the fun night!

All the cute decorations. Megan & Stacie did a great job!

Everyone who came, minus Betsy's mom who was taking the picture

Betsy's holding Lydia

Betsy with the blanket I made for Lydia

Lydia and Jackson (Megan adopted Jackson in September). They are SO cute!

2010-01-17T14:34:00.002-07:00

I think this video has an awesome message that women really need to remember.

Enjoy!

Food made by Shaun

2010-01-08T20:14:00.002-07:00

Lately Shaun has really got into made his own food. He loves watching Good Eats. Here are two of the things that he has recently made.

Yummy eclairs

Mayonnaise

Cream Cheese Wontons

Primary Update

2010-01-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Shaun and I survived the rest of the year as Sunbeams teachers!!! They didn't eat us like we thought they might on the first day we taught them. I will definitely miss teaching some of the kids more than other, but I really do love each of them.

So it is a new year, which means new classes. This year I am teaching the Valiant 10 girls class (they changed the numbering to the age that the kids of when they go into the class, not the age when they leave...). My teaching partners name is Elizabeth Sorenson. It will be fun to get to know her more. Another fun thing about my class is I already know most of the girls. I had them last year in our first 2 classes! Another cool thing about this year is I never have to do sharing time!!! I am VERY excited about this!!

So you are probably wondering what happen to Shaun. He got released. A few months ago he got called to be the assistant to the secretary in the Elders quorum. The Bishop called him on his way to the Primary activity last week and told him that he was being released so that he could focus more on Elders quorum. I will miss teaching with him.

Christmas and New Years

2010-01-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

Christmas this year was great! We were able to spend lot of time friends and family in the last couple of weeks! We were also able to spread our Christmas celebration over a long period of time!

The week of Christmas we went to a Christmas FHE at one of the families in our ward house. It was an opportunity for all of us (I am almost positive that they invited the whole ward) to get together and talk and enjoy yummy treats. The next night our friends Megan and Kyle invited us over for a wonderful dinner. It was a lot of fun and the food was great!Wednesday I was able to spend some time with Betsy. We did a little shopping and wrapped her Christmas presents.

This year was my Christmas to work at work (we either work Thanksgiving or Christmas...). I ended up working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I worked the morning of Christmas Eve so we were still able to go to my Grandpa's house for the yearly party that we have there. It was fun. I wasn't feeling the best though, because I had received an early Christmas present.... An ear infection... Anyhow. The night was full of food and family. Shaun had been busy while I was at work and made homemade eclairs for the party. Everyone loved them.

Christmas morning Shaun and I opened present. We then got ready and headed to my parents house and were able to spend some time with them before I had to head off to work. Shaun spent the afternoon with friends and then headed to his Grandpa's house to spend some time with him.

On Saturday we did Christmas at my Grandma's house. We had different kinds of soups, finger foods and desserts. Santa Claus even made a surprise visit.

Shaun's parents were in Indiana for Christmas this year spending time with Byron and Kari's family, so we celebrated Christmas with them the following Wednesday. We were also able to celebrate it with Tom and Chelsea, who has come down from Seattle for a week to spend time with family. Also in town was Sarah, a family friend/distant relation (we say she is related by research). It was a lot of fun to be able to see them and spend time with all of them.

Now on to the New Years Celebration! This year we had another fondue party, but this years was A LOT better! We has way more people come this year and it made it better! This years guest included Kenrick, my cousin Jen (at least she stopped by for a few), Betsy and Aaron, Shaun's former co-worker/friend Jen and her kids, Christie and Matt, Tom, Chelsea and Jake (Tom and Chelsea's Dog) and then after midnight Doug and Tua stopped by. We spent the evening talking, eating and playing Rockband! It really was an enjoyable time! I am already looking forward to next years party!

New Years day we had another party at Shaun's parents house. It was fun to be able to see Michelle's side of the family and get to spend some time with them.

Picture Time!!

Tom and Jake

Aaron and Betsy

Matt and Christie

Chelsea, Kenrick and Tom

I hope this is a great year for everyone!!!

Christmas Decorations 2009

2009-12-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

Shaun and I finally put up our tree and the rest of our Christmas decorations. I didn't put up as much this year, but oh well I like it just the way it is. Here are some pictures:

Our tree, village and train

I love my nativity set!

Shaun was having fun with his camera...

Christmas lights and more!

2009-12-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Shaun and I have been having a lot of fun this Christmas season! At the beginning of the month went to Hale Center and saw a Christmas Choir. Then last week we went to The Forgotten Carols at Cottonwood High School with Shaun's parents. It was everyone's first time going, except mine. It was fun to be able to share something new with them. It was really good! I love how it changes slightly every time I see it, but it is still the same story!

Another fun thing that Shaun and I have done, is we went to see the light downtown at Temple Square with some of our friends.There was 9 of us, Megan, Kyle, Jackson, Stacie, Andy, Betsy, Aaron, Shaun, and me. It was a lot of fun to go with them! Thanks again Megan for the invite! Here are some picture from the outing.

The Girls & Jackson! (Stacie, Betsy, Megan , Jackson & Me)

Kyle forgot Jackson's gloves so Megan improvised!

ElfYourself....

2009-12-13T21:12:00.003-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Primary Update!

2009-12-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

The year is almost over and so is our time being Sunbeam teachers (at least that is what we have been told... We will see...). Each week is a new adventure and some Sundays it's an adventure I'd rather not be on. Logan has very few good days, but those days we love! This last Sunday I wasn't feeling 100% and luckily it was a semi good day for Logan. Unlike 2 weeks before hand when we had to go get his dad because he won't listen and while Shaun was going to get his dad he picked up his chair like he was going to through it at me... Scary.

It amazes me the different levels our kids in the class are. We have Anna, who can draw picture that you can tell what they are, she can write her own name and she can say prayers all by herself. Then there is Logan who can't do any of that. The other kids are somewhere in between.

I really do like being a primary teacher. The kids are just a challenge, but one that is getting us ready for kids, right?

Thanksgiving

2009-12-07T23:52:00.003-07:00

This year for Thanksgiving, Shaun and I traveled to Port Orchard, Washington to spend time with his brother and sister in law, Tom and Chelsea. It was a lot of fun to be able to get out of town for a few days and to get to spend some time with them. It is about a fifteen hour drive to get up there and Shaun and I decided to just do it in one day. This won't be happening again.. It is definitely a two day drive for me. Driving was all we did on Wednesday.

Thursday was turkey day! We spent the morning getting ready to for dinner. It was fun to be able to bring a little bit of everyone traditions to one meal. There was a total of 10 of us for dinner. Tom, Chelsea, Kim (Dad), Michelle (Mom), Tamara (Aunt), Wally (Uncle), Christine (cousin), Daniel (cousin) and then Shaun and I (Everyone is in the picture to the left, except Tom, who took the picture-Thanks for the picture!). Shaun's parents had traveled up to Port Orchard the weekend before and had spent sometime with Tom and Chelsea earlier in the week. The rest of the gang already lives up in the Seattle area. Anyhow... It was a really nice dinner. We had tons of food and it was just fun to get to spend some time with Shaun's family, especially the members that live so far away.

Friday Shaun and I decide to venture to the other side of the of Puget Sound (aka Downtown Seattle). We took a ferry from Bremerton to Seattle and spent a few hours wondering around. It was a lot of fun. We went to Pioneer Square, Pike's Market and we walked along the pier. We had SUPER yummy calm chowder in a sour dough bread bowl for lunch from Pike's Place Chowder at Pike's Market! It was seriously so good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I have a thing with hoodies. Pretty much everywhere I go I have to get a new hoodie. It is just what I do and this trip I was going to get one since I didn't have a chance the last time we were in Seattle for his cousin's wedding. The one I ended up getting has a skull on the front of it and says "To error is human. To Arrrrrr is pirate." and then of course it said Seattle on it under the saying I thought it was way cute.

That night when we got back to the other side Shaun and I met Tom and Chelsea and we went to The Boat Shed for dinner. They have some REALLY yummy food and a great view of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (which is where Tom works). Then we headed home to play some Rock Band and watch some movies. It was a fun day.

Saturday we spent the day with Tom and Chelsea. We went to Poulsbo, which is a REALLY cute little town that has a bunch of little shop to explore and they also Central Market, which is a VERY large grocery store with all types of cool food. After we were down there, we headed to Silverdale to do some shopping at the mall and then head home for some more Rockband.

Sunday was our long trip home. The best part of the trip home was when we stopped in Pendleton, Oregon on the Indian Reservation and got to pump our own gas! Oh and getting to see all of the pretty scenery in Washington and Oregon was nice too =)

Here are a few more picture from our trip.

The Jake Monster

Playing some Rockband

Seattle's Art Museum (I'd love to go back and see the finished product)

Pike's Market

Shaun and I on the Pier

Shaun and I on the ferry ride back to Bremerton. It was COLD!!!

First Annual (hopefully) Pumpkin "Carvenival"

2009-11-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

This year Shaun and I decided to have a pumpkin carving Halloween party. It was a lot of fun! We ate super in bread bowls, roasted marshmellows and carved pumpkins. Here are some pictures from the party.

Tua carving his pumpkin

Christie & I carving our pumpkins

Amber & Daniel carving their pumpkins

One of Christie's finished pumpkins

Daniel & his finished pumpkin. He is very proud of it!

Tua's first every carved pumpkin! Awesome job!!

Amber's finished pumpkin. Amber & I actually did the same design....

Austin's Halloween costume

My Halloween costume

Fall Photo Shoot

2009-10-28T19:44:00.005-06:00

I decided that I wanted some updated pictures of Shaun and I. I had my friend Amy do them and I think they turned out great. (You can visit her photo blog here). Here are a few of them that I really like.

Tonight...

2009-09-25T23:18:00.002-06:00

Shaun and I went on to the circus with my parents! It was pretty fun. It's amazing that they come up with some many different acts. They had dogs, tiger, elephants, horse, and zebras that all did different acts. There was also tight rope walkers, human cannon balls, walking and the ceiling and a few more. It was fun to feel like a kid again. After the circus we walked around The Gateway and enjoyed the nice weather!

Us at the circus

Shaun received a email from his brother, Byron, tonight. Inside the email was this picture and caption:

James said: This is not a kid, this is a Shaun . He lives in Utah.

For those of you who don't know, James is one of our nephew that lives in Indiana. I thought it was cute so I decided I needed to share with you!

Cake Blog

2009-09-22T17:24:00.000-06:00

I have decide to make a blog to post all the cakes Shaun and I have made/will make! We are really having a lot of fun with cake! Check it out Cakes by Shaun and Alicia

September Thus Far!

2009-09-22T17:22:00.000-06:00

Well it's been over a month again since I have updated this thing. I keep telling myself that I am going to get on here and post about things that we have done, but it doesn't happen because we just stay so busy. But at least I am here now updating you!

Since I last updated here are the major things we have done or have happened in our lives.

+ I went part time at work. It has been really nice! The paychecks scary me, but I know that we will be okay. The reason I went part time is I am back in school. There is so much to remember, but hopefully I will get it all.

+ Our ward this year, instead of having a ward camp out, had I ward carnival. For this Shaun and I made two cakes. One for the dinner we had Friday night and one for the cake walk the next day. Here's how they turned out.

This is the cake we made for the dinner. Nothing too fancy, but still cute

This is the cake I made for the Cake Walk.

+ The Saturday of Labor day weekend Shaun and I went up to Swiss Days. It was sprinkling on our way up there, but by the time we parked it has stopped. While there we ate their yummy BBQ dinner and just walked around. There was a lot of cute stuff (including fun baby stuff!!), but I didn't have the need to buy any of it. We had taken Provo Canyon up there and so on the way back down we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls. It was really pretty.

+ It was my Grandma Nina's 85th birthday this year. So on Labor Day we had a little family get together for her birthday. It was fun to get to see family, especially those we don't get to see very often. I decided that I wanted to make my Grandma her very own giant cup cake! I needed to have spent more time on it, but I still think it turned out okay.

We were trying to hide it from my Grandma so she wouldn't see it... That's why there is such a great background.

+We went to the State Fair opening night with Shaun's parents, Kim and Michelle. It was fun. We walked around and looked at all the different things the fair has to offer. It was a lot of fun. When Kim and Michelle decide it was time for them to go, Shaun and I decided to catch the last of the rodeo! We didn't see much of it, but when we did see was fun!

The sheep were trying to chew their way out of the pens

The cute baby pigs

+ I love Greek food and every year I go to the Greek Festival. This year Shaun and I went. The food was REALLY tasty! It was also a nice little getaway for the two of us.

+ We have season tickets to Hale Centre Theatre. It has been a lot of fun for us. They latest musical we have seen is Scarlett Pimpernel. It is SO funny! This was Shaun first time seeing it and I think my fourth time. So very enjoyable! I would definitely recommend you see it.

+ This last weekend I had I little time away with my Mom, my mother in law and two of my aunts. We went to Logan for Time Out for Women. It was a REALLY enjoyable experience. We stay at the Sherwood Hills Resort for the night! It was so pretty there!

This is the view outside our room!

+ Saturday after TOFW was done we headed home so that Shaun and I could go to the Brad Paisley concert. That was a lot of fun! It started to sprinkle though, so we decided it was time to head home early! What we did see was great!

+ It was our ward's Primary program on Sunday. I was amazed at how well our little Sunbeams did! Even Logan!! (Well mostly because he was hiding most of it...)

+ Last night we went spent some time with my friend Nan and her husband Gene. We had sat around a fire making smores and talking. It was great to spend time with them!

Well I think that about updates you on our lives! I hope everything is going great for all of you out there!

I am finally updating!!!

2009-08-11T17:39:00.005-06:00

I have decided that I am not very good at this whole blogging thing. I will work on it, but no guarantees. Anyhow.. I am at least updating it now, right?

Shaun and I have stayed pretty busy the last couple of months, but we have had a lot of fun! Shaun is still working for Conexum and I am still at the hospital. I will be starting back up with school in 2 weeks and I will also be going part-time at work.

Let's see... Here are some of the other things Shaun and I have been up to.

-On the 4th of July Shaun and I spend the day with my parents at Riverton Hometown days and then we headed out to Grantsville to my aunt and uncles house for a BBQ and for fireworks. The BBQ was a lot of fun, but the fireworks were a little disappointing. They are usually really good, but no so much this year.

-The Fray was in concert on the 18th of July and we went to it! It was a lot of fun! It was nice to be able to listen to some great music and just relax on the grass. Fun story... Shaun and I were at the ticket window buying tickets to the next concert we are going to (Brad Paisley) and a girl came up to me and informed me that my shirt was on inside out! OOPS!!! We had taken a nap before we had gone to the concert and I guess when I put it back on I had put it on inside out. Neither Shaun or I had noticed it though because of the design of the shirt... It was pretty funny...

-Shaun and I were also able to go to the Oqurrih Mountain Temple open house with my friends Nan and her husband and son. It is a very pretty temple. I was really nice to be able to go with them and spend time with them. I was amazed at the number of people that we saw that day that we knew.

-Shaun and I have been to 2 rodeos this season. The first one we went to was the Strawberry Days rodeo. It was fun, well all except the getting rained on the whole time part... that wasn't so much fun, but that just adds to the adventure right? The other rodeo we went to was the Days of '47 rodeo, which this year was moved to the E-Center (not a big fan of this move...). This is what we did for our 24th of July. It was pretty fun. One of the bull riders got hurt pretty bad though... As he was riding the bull he fell forward and hit his cheek on the bulls horn and then was bucked off and then stepped on by the bull! OUCH!!!!

-Here is a primary update for you. Shaun and I had adjusted to teaching our class and everything we going great. We even did okay when the other Valiant 10 teachers didn't show up and we had to take both class... Well now we have a whole new class to adjust to. One night, while I was at work, the primary president called and told Shaun that there were needed to do some changes in with some of the classes and asked that we now teach the sunbeams. I wasn't really happy about this, just because I had grown to really like our Valiant 10 class and I didn't want to leave them. So we have been a little sad about it, but sunday was our first day teaching the sunbeams and it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be. They are actually REALLY cute kids!!! Hopefully they stay that way.

-One of the most important things that happened is Shaun and I celebrated our one year anniversary on August 2nd. We didn't really do anything to celebrate, because we were driving home from Vegas, but it is still great to know that we have made it through our first year of married life! I am SO grateful for Shaun and all that he does for me. He puts up with a lot and I am so grateful. I have loved spending the last year for my life being married to him and look forward to many, many more years ahead of us. I look forward to the day when we can be sealed together for time and all eternity, so that I will know that I get to spend the rest of my life and all eternity with him. There is nothing more that I want. I love you babe!

I have also posted some other posts about things that have been going on in our lives. Enjoy! (There are 8 total posts from today!)

Shaun went to Defcon... And I played!!!

2009-08-11T17:29:00.005-06:00

In Vegas that is! For the last couple of year Shaun has wanted to go to Defcon (it's a hacking conference), but hasn't been able to. This year, however, I decided to let him go. He seemed to have a lot of fun. He even got to go to a class that was taught by Adam Savage, who is on Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel (SUPER jealous about this!!). Shaun also got to spend time with some of the guys that he used to work with at Backcountry.

While Shaun was at his classes all day I was free to play in Vegas. Friday I pretty much just spend the day relaxing around the hotel. I did wonder out of the hotel for a little bit to go shopping and to go visit the Las Vegas Temple! My mom and cousin Jennifer drove down friday after they both got off work, so I was able to spend sometime with them on Saturday! We spend most of the morning relaxing and eating lunch and then we heading to the strip. We went to MGM and watch Lions have a quickie... Super funny... and then we went and played at the M & M factory and the Coke factory. We also went to Mandalay Bay and the Tropicana. That night we all went out for sushi with the boys. We didn't do anything really big, but I still had a fun time!

Sunday was pretty much just us driving home. Oh yeah... and it was Mine and Shaun's one year anniversary!!!

St George Temple

Las Vegas Temple

The male lion at MGM.. The trainers kept throwing meat at the glass and the lions would come lick the meat off of the glass.

Being all cuddly before the male makes his move... (We were sitting there watching the lions and all of a sudden the male got up, started humping the female lion... It was so funny to hear everyone reaction)

After the "quickie"

Me, Jen and My mom at M & M World

This picture was taken while waiting for the "Lost my M in Vegas" movie to start at M & M World. Right as the picture was taken Jen's already almost broken chair completed it's braking process

Melissa's Baby Shower cake

2009-08-11T17:27:00.004-06:00

On July 18th my mom's side of the family throw a baby shower for my cousin Melissa. Shaun and I decided that we wanted to make a cake. It turned out really cute! It took us a good 8 hours to finish, but it was WELL worth it, because it turned out so great!

Shaun's 27th Birthday!!!

2009-08-11T17:21:00.005-06:00

This year Shaun turned 27. It was a lot of fun to be able to spend time with him on his birthday. I wasn't able to spend his birthday with him last year, because I was on my last family vacation as a single woman. Shaun had to still work on his birthday, but I was able to take him out to lunch. We has sushi (YUMMY!!!). After lunch he headed back to work and I headed home to work on his birthday cake.

That night we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden with his mom, my parents, my aunt Brenda, and my grandpa. While at dinner he opened some of his presents (cash and a cool ice cream cookbook). After dinner we went to Murray Park and ate the yummy cake and had Shaun open his present from me. I bought him 18 discs of Good Eats (54 episodes total). I did a very good job picking out his present this year. He has been really cute and LOVES watching the discs. He has even got more excited about cooking! After cake at the park, Shaun and I went and visited his grandpa, who wasn't able to make it to dinner like originally planned, because of one of his aunts....

Picture time!!

Shaun didn't really want us singing happy birthday to him, so I decided that I would name this cat, who was hanging out near where we were sitting, Shaun. So we sang happy birthday to Shaun the cat.

Everyone, minus Michelle

Shaun super awesome b-day present from me!

His finished cake!

The side of the finished cake!

Our Garden

2009-08-11T17:11:00.005-06:00

Shaun has been working really hard to grow a garden for us! He started back in March by starting to grow the plants inside of our house... When the got big enough we moved them outside... Most of them however have not survived. Shaun did buy some other stuff that he has just planted outside. Our garden currently contained 2 types of potatoes (red and I think russet..), garlic, green beans, tomatoes, and some pepper plants. They only things that are really doing all that well are the potatoes and garlic. I think for Shaun first garden he has done a GREAT job!

Shaun working hard to get the garden ready

What it looked like after planting our first plants...

And now this is what it looks like!

These are the potatoes... they are REALLY big!!!

Cake Decorating

2009-08-11T16:59:00.005-06:00

Shaun and I had talked about taking a cake decorating class together and so we finally went to Hobby Lobby and signed up for our first class. It was a lot of fun! We learned a lot of different stuff. Here are some of the cakes we created.

Cake #1. We learned how to do image transfer, using piping gel.... We hadn't come completely prepared...

Cupcakes.. Using different flower tips...

Cake #2 using the same type tips as the cupcakes..

Our final cake!! We learned how to complete the rose, which we had been learning since week 2)

Side view of our final cake!

Byron & Kari's Visit

2009-08-11T16:18:00.005-06:00

Another thing that happened in June was that Shaun's oldest brother Byron and his family came out to visit from Indiana. Byron and Kari have 4 kids (James, Michael, Emelie and Eliza). Last summer, before Shaun and I got married, I was able to go on family vacation with his family to Cannon Beach, Oregon and I got to met Byron's family there. Since that time, however, they have had a new addition to the family (Eliza). It was nice to be able to met her and get to spend some time with my nieces and nephews. While they were here I was able to play with them at the playground at the school and I was also able to go to the zoo with them. It was a lot of fun! They are SO cute! James was a lot of fun. He loves posing for pictures. It was really cute.

James & Emelie on the slide

Michael on the slide. (This was the only picture I was able to get of him that day. He was being REALLY shy. It was cute!)

James posing for me

Michael hiding in the big shell on the playground at the zoo.

Emelie eating her cotton candy

Emelie and Grandma looking at the elephants

James posing on the gorilla statue

Michael, James and Emelie looking at the giraffes

Our fun day at the zoo with Tammy & Andy

2009-08-11T15:34:00.006-06:00

Back in June Shaun and I went to the zoo with our friends Tammy and Andy. It was A LOT of fun! Tammy and Andy are REALLY fun to hang out with. After we were done at the zoo we went to Ruth's Diner. It was super yummy!

Here are just a few pictures from the trip to the zoo.

We watched the spider monkeys play. There were fun to watch

It was Kleenex day at the zoo I guess and this little bug kept following us around... It REALLY liked Tammy and I.

So I am pretty much deathly afraid of birds... but I was able to be talked into go to the bird show that they have at Hogle zoo.. Not only did I go to the bird show, but I sat on the second row. I am pretty sure watching me was WAY more entertaining than the bird show =)