Pumpkin Patch and Pizza!

A couple of weekends ago Mike and I took our trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out this year's winners! I explained to him that picking out a pumpkin was like picking out a wedding dress...there are a lot to look at but once you see it, you know that its the one. I know, I know, my thoughts are deep. It was absolutely freezing so we got to the point of finding 2 pumpkins that looked pretty good and getting the heck out of there. Both of our pumpkins were pretty heavy, and we didn't get a wheelbarrow, so Mike used his super strength and hauled them around. Such good times! Afterwards we went and had pizza buffet! All the pizza, salad, breadsticks and diet coke (my drink of choice) that you can stuff in you for like $7 or $8! Love it! More fun fall activities to come this weekend....and I'll try to be better about posting about them!

Welcome!

We are so excited to have another baby to welcome to the family! No, not us, Mike's brother and his wife just gave birth to a baby boy on October 9, 2008! Unfortunately they live in Houston so we are going off of pictures but he is absolutely adorable and we are all so thrilled to have a new nephew! With our busy schedules, we hope that we will be able to make it down to Houston before he is walking!

We also found out that my oldest sister is pregnant with her third baby! Her due date is May 9 and we are so excited. Its about time we get another baby in my family! They live close so it will help to fill the need I have to cuddle all these babies being born into our families!

A little behind...

I have gotten pretty behind on updating our blog so this is just a quick overview of what Mike and I are up to. School started up again for the Fall semester. Its taking up pretty much all of our time. Morning classes, night classes, day classes and both of us trying to work full time in between. We seem to be handling it all okay I guess. I had four midterms last week and somehow pulled an A on three of them...I haven't gotten the score back for the fourth one yet, but I am not expecting an A. Somehow Mike seems to pull A's too, all while taking the LSAT prep course and work. He is doing really well. He takes the LSAT this coming Saturday morning so we are really looking forward to having that over with and crossing our fingers that everything goes well.

Mike's birthday was last week, the big 23. Sadly enough though, it was more a grown up birthday than anything...meaning that we still went to work and to school. We did take a couple hours in the middle of the day and go to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Super good stuff.

Other than that life seems pretty much the same. Sometimes its just easier to stay the same anyway.

Panama...Came and Went

Mike and I got back from Panama this last Tuesday, and as much as I wish I was still on vacation, I am very happy to be home. I'll just give a quick run through of our days, they were pretty much jam-packed full of fun things!

Wednesday August 6, Day 1: Traveled ALL day! Flew into Panama City around 7 PM and stayed in a hotel.

Thursday August 7, Day 2: Woke up early and took another flight out to an island called Achutupu. We got to our hotel had breakfast, layed in the hammocks, layed on the beach, lunch, layed in our hammocks, took a boat ride up a river and hiked a bit in the jungle, layed in our hammocks and had dinner and watched the Kuna Indians dance then bed.

Friday August 8, Day 3: Breakfast, layed in the hammocks, took a boat to another island to tour the Kuna Indian community, lunch, layed in the hammocks, snorkeling, layed in the hammocks, dinner, and watched the Kuna Indians dance and then to bed.

Saturday August 9, Day 4: Woke up early had breakfast and took a flight back to the city. Had our driver for the week, a Church member Mike knew from the mission, Bonet, pick us up from the airport. We went to the Panama Canal, then drove in horrible traffic to Colon, one of Mike's old areas, where we saw Portobelo (an old fort) and the Black Jesus statue. Drove back from Colon, in horrible traffic, went to the big celebration/show for the dedication of the temple that was happening the next day. Mike ran into a lot of the members that he knew from all his different areas and ran into quite a few missionaries he served with. We took a taxi to a restaurant, with one of Mike's old mission friends and his brother and had dinner. We stayed in a hotel in the city for the rest of the trip.

Sunday August 10, Day 5: Breakfast and then got ready for the dedication of the temple. We first went to Casco Viejo, another old fort in Panama City, then walked a little bit of the City then went to the mall to get out of the rain. It rained a lot this day. Hard Panama rain. Then went to the temple dedication. We were in the third session at 2 o'clock. The dedication was awesome, and I got to watch it English, which was fantastic! (It gets kind of frustrating not knowing anything that is being said around you ever.) Afterwards, we ran into Mike's Mission President, who told us about a small reunion they were having that night at one of the church's. We had dinner and then walked, in the pouring rain and getting lost TWICE, from our hotel to the church where the reunion was. I was soaked. Mike was giving me the "full mission experience", so he says. At the reunion, there were five past mission presidents there and probably over 100 past missionaries. The most were from Mike's same mission president. Then we walked home in the pouring rain. So fun.

Monday August 11, Day 6: We had breakfast and then met up with our driver again, Bonet, who took Mike and I and Mike's mission friend and his brother to a road to hike up a mountain with the Panama flag on the top. We saw some huge spiders. Gross. Went back to the hotel and picked up another mission friend and his wife, and went and got "Immigration HotDogs", which are some pretty good hotdogs that have all kinds of weird stuff on them including potato chips and pineapple sauce. Pretty good. Then Mike bought me a beautiful pink rose. Then we drove to Casco Antigua, were we saw some old cathedrals. Bonet took us to his house so we could put the shell on the truck and we met his adorable children. We saved a sloth on the side of the road. Then we drove to El Valle, basically just more jungle. Crossed some fun Indiana Jones bridges and saw a waterfall. Drove back to the city and ate at some Chinese restaurant. We were all exhausted and high on fumes from riding in the back of the truck. Lots of laughing at the dinner table. Then to bed!

Tuesday August 12, Day 7: Up early and traveled all day! We got home at about 10 PM.

Can I just say how grateful I am for carpet, not wearing flip flops in the shower, dry air (as opposed to humid, gross air) and sane driving. God bless America! We had an absolute blast though. Absolutely something every wife should get the opportunity to do with their husband, go back to the place where they served their mission. To be able to see them with these people that they love, and understand such a small portion of what they went through for 2 years, you gain a new respect for them, gain such a stronger bond between one another, and fall in love all over again.

Panama, Here We Come!

Completely unplanned but couldn't have come at a more perfect time.....Mike and I are headed to Panama on August 6th! They are dedicating the Panama City, Panama temple on August 10th and so Mike and I are going to go down there for that and to do a little vacationing! (For all who don't know, that is where Mike went on his mission!) I am so excited for it! Amazingly enough, we were both able to fit it right into our schedules, plus its right after Summer semester ends and before Fall semester starts! We are hoping to spend a couple of days on the amazing islands just North of Panama and then head to Panama City and do some touring! I will for sure be posting some pictures when we get back though! I plan on taking somewhere close to a million of them!

Birthday Fun and Fourth of July!

So my birthday was last week, and I decided that on my birthday I wanted to go to Lagoon. I don't know why I wanted to go, because I always get motion sickness, but it just sounded like fun. So Mike and I, and my sister and her husband, grabbed the Dramamine and went up to Lagoon. We spent the first few hours swimming at Lagoon-A-Beach, which was really pretty fun. It was nice and hot outside so the water felt great. Then we changed clothes and hit the park. I was very aware of the fact that I might get sick, so I tried to only go on the rides that I thought my stomach could handle. I knew that the water rides would be easy for me, but of course, Rattlesnake Rapids was closed for an hour or so, so we had to go on the Log Flume. Which is all fine and great except for everyone else that was going to go on Rattlesnake Rapids, decided to kill time by going on the Log Flume. We waited in line for ever. A little kid that was standing on the railing thing slipped and kicked me in the back while we were waiting in line. That was pretty funny. Any way, we did end up going on Rattlesnake Rapids, which soaked us! And it felt good. We went on a couple more rides, watched the always amazing Broadway Show, and then went on the White Rollercoaster. And that is the ride that did me in. I was pretty sick after that ride I didn't even want to walk. Stupid Dramamine. FYI: It doesn't work. So then we just sorta walked, and sat, and walked, and then we played some games. Luckily when I got sick it was already like 9:00 at night, so me getting sick didn't ruin the whole day which was lucky. The games were fun though. Mike won me a great big, white stuffed dog! So fun. But I was happy to leave when we did. In the end, it just didn't feel like a birthday. Because I can go to Lagoon any day. We had fun though.

Then on the Fourth of July, we woke up early and my other sister and brother in law came and picked us up to go boating. Mike and I were exhausted but we were excited to go. We went down to Utah Lake. Everyone says they hate it because its dirty but I like it because its warm. And the water really was very warm when we got there. Mike was the first in the water, doing some wakeboarding. Its the first time he had done it in years but he really did great. After some wakeboarding fun, which of course, I don't know how and will never know how to do, we pulled out the tube. The tube they have is great because its just got nice little seats with back rests so it was more relaxing than challenging to be on. Plus, all you have to do is go with one of their daughters and they make the ride really smooth. So Mike and I got on the tube with my niece and just had a nice little ride. She is probably better at holding herself on that tube than I am, of course, she was in the middle so that makes it easier. We were on the lake until about noon and then we went home. By this time I was exhausted. I didn't even want to shower I was so tired. Mike went and got us lunch and I showered and then we ate and I took a nice long nap. We really had no plans for that night, but not for long because Mike's parents called us and asked if we wanted to do something that night. So Mike and I, and his parents and his brother and his girlfriend, went over to Sandy to watch the parade. That was pretty entertaining. Sandy's parade usually is. But you can tell in the picture to the left that we were absolutely exhaused. Afterwards, they took us to dinner at Johnny Carino's, where I ate way too much, and then I got free cake because they told the waitress it was my birthday, even though it wasn't. The cake was great though. Then Mike and I went home, dropped off some leftovers and went and watched some fireworks. I was so tired I fell asleep during them and Mike had to wake me up for the finale. Which was great, but I just was excited to go home and go to bed. We had a busy couple of days but they completely wore me out!

Update!

It took me a long time to update but I said I would so here it is. At the beginning of June, my Grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. So my family threw them a big party. We had a lot of fun. We took family pictures, ate tons of yummy food, played a couple games and ended the night watching my Grandma and Grandpa cut a two tier cake that we ordered for them and watching them feed it to each other, just like you would when you get married. It was cute!

The second week of June, Mike being a Priest leader, and me being a Miamaid leader, had the opportunity to go up to Youth Conference for a day. We weren't able to go for the entire time because of our crazy schedules so of course we picked the day that they were going boating. We drove up to Deer Creek early that morning so that we could spend as much time up there as possible. It was pretty windy until about 2:00 in the afternoon, not too mention the water was absolutely freezing so the youth had a hard time even wanting to ride on the boats. I didn't really want to either. I was so cold and very content on the beach but I felt bad that no one wanted to get on the boats so Mike and I got on one of the boats. We just did a little tubing but total, I only spent just a few minutes in the water because of how cold it was. The rest of the trip I spent on the beach getting sunburned. We did try to do a little fishing but we didn't have much success. We had a good time though and love having callings with the youth in our ward!

The weekend after Youth Conference, Mike started his LSAT prep class. He is gone all the time now! Even when he is home he is so busy catching up on homework. I get kinda lonely at home so I have been trying to keep myself occupied with my own homework, or running, or going over to my parents house and hanging out there. At least there are people there. Mike is really enjoying the class though and seems to be learning a lot. The test isn't until October but we're going for the top!


Country Fest was last weekend. Mike has his LSAT class that Saturday morning so I went to the parade with some of my family. It was pretty hot outside but we had a good time. Any reason to be outside is a good reason.

Also, that night, they of course had their free concert and Mike and I never miss out on an opportunity to do something free, so we called up some friends and met them to see Darryl Worley in concert. It was good concert. Mike and I enjoyed ourselves. Plus whats better than hanging out with friends, laying on the grass, listening to some good country music?

This weekend, Mike and I went to Murray Park and had a picnic and did one of my favorite things....feed the ducks. I really don't know why I love it so much but I get a kick out of watching ducks fight for bread. The stupid seagulls wouldn't leave us alone though. We made a point of only letting the ducks eat the bread and not giving any to the seagulls. They were mean.

This weekend we also did another one of my favorite things...went to a Demolition Derby! I don't know what it is but watching cars crash into each other is so exhilarating. Mike's brother and his girlfriend went with us. I don't know how much they enjoyed it but Mike and I had a good time. There weren't any good fires or anything but we saw quite a few good hits and some cement barriers tips, so it was all worth it.

Behind!

I promise I am going to update this week!!!

Take me out to the ball game...

Over the weekend, Mike and I went to a Bees game with some friends of ours and it was so fun! We sat out on the grass because it was really nice weather. And they actually won! I was impressed. It was a pretty good game. There were a couple of homeruns that the bees should be proud of. Plus every time there was a homerun the crowd got something. Like the first homerun we got Sconecutter. All we had to do was take our ticket to Sconecutter and we could get a free scone. The second homerun we got Del Taco. So all we had to do was take our ticket to Del Taco and we could get a free burrito. So after the game we all went to Sconecutter and got ourselves some scones. And then on Saturday night Mike and I went to Del Taco and got ourselves some free burritos. That $7 ticket to get into the game was a good investment considering all the free food we ended up getting! We had a good time though. Its good to have good friends!

Happy Anniversary!

Mike and I celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend by taking off to Las Vegas! We needed a break between semesters anyway and I wanted some warm weather. We drove down on Saturday morning and couldn't check into our hotel until 4:00 so we just walked around the strip and went and picked up our tickets for Phantom at The Venetian. We ate at The Cheesecake Factory, which in my opinion, wasn't good, but we didn't get cheesecake so that could have changed my opinion. We did some more walking, because that is what you do in Vegas, and then we went and rested our feet in our hotel room and then got ready for the show. Phantom was absolutely amazing. The theatre was absolutely beautiful and exactly how you would imagine it should be. All of the actors were awesome and had great voices. The next day started out at a Brunch buffet. Can't go to Vegas without hitting at least one buffet. It was pretty good. Then we layed out at the pool for a few hours. It was so hot. I need to learn to put on sunscreen. I got pretty burned. Then we did some more walking, took some pictures and went and rested our feet again. I took a pretty nice long nap, while Mike watched some TV. Then we went and got milk shakes and watched the Bellagio water show. We were both pretty wiped out, even me with my two and a half hour nap, so we went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning just the normal pack up, check out, drive home routine. We did stop at Jack in the Box in St George and had lunch. Its tradition. Whenever its available on a road trip, we eat there. We like it.