Thursdays Happenings

This past Thursday the weather cooperated enough for a few hours that we were able to get out of the house. We hiked up Waterfall Canyon and even talked my little sister and her friend Bobbi into coming with us. Oh how we love exercise and nature and when you put the two together you get something great!

Jake even caught a lizard on the way back down!


Later that night I cut my hair. It was kind of a last minute thought, but I was able to get my an appointment. This is how the night went:


Just getting settled.

The last of the pony tail! It's GONE just like that!

TWO hours later:
(after ALOT of thinning out....the girl said she has never cut such thick hair)

The finished product!


About 10 inches worth of pony tail that I will be sending off to donate to a program called Beautiful Lengths to make wigs for women with cancer. This is my second time donating my hair, but definitely the shortest it has ever been!

It's definitely going to take some getting used and I have to learn how to do my hair again, but overall I'm happy with the outcome. One thing is for sure....my neck won't have to support as much weight any more!

Kylie's graduation

My little sis graduated from Viewmont High yesterday!!!

It's so crazy to see her all grown up!



She had lots of family there to support her and cheer her on! (this is only part of them...)







We are so proud of you Kylie! We love you! Way to go!!!

Bug Off!

Last Wednesday Jake and I took the afternoon off work and loaded all our camping gear into the car. We were headed to Antelope Island to camp for the evening. We were stoked! We got there and set up camp. We enjoyed a nice hike where we saw these things:

We thoroughly enjoyed the lizards and deer and all the beautiful scenery. The weather even cooperated for us and the sun was shining brightly. So brightly in fact that Koda with her black fur was looking for every bit of shade she could find as we were walking.



After getting back from our hike we were just relaxing and something started to get more and more irritating. There were little gnats flying all around everywhere. They seemed like harmless little insects, but we were wrong. We had put our bug spray on and thought we were prepared. The slight breeze calmed down and there were bugs flying in and out of our ears, buzzing all around our faces, crawling all through Koda's fur and biting us everywhere. Our bug spray (even after being reapplied 3 or 4 times) was not even phasing them! There were zillions flying around! We were being driven insane by these tiny things...literally! After much debate we finally decided we would be much less miserable if we came home for the night. So we took down our tent and loaded all our gear back into the car after just a few hours and headed home with much disappointment.

Upon arriving home, this is what we found on the bumper of our car....
Several hundreds of souvenirs that we would have to scrub off the next day.



We then cooked our tinfoil dinners (that were meant to be cooked over the campfire) in the oven and watched a movie. I must say we slept a lot better in our own bed than we would have on the ground with a zillion bugs buzzing around us. Even though things didn't go exactly as planned, we still enjoyed just spending time together!

We are still suffering from our itchy bug bites and offer a warning to anybody out there reading this: AVOID Antelope Island for the time being until the bugs die down a bit...you won't regret it!

Happy 26th Birthday!!!!

On Friday May 14th was Jake's 26th birthday!!! Since Thursday is our day off we decided to dedicate this day to Jake. We got to relax, go to the temple, and go looking for deer sheds down below our house (one of Jake's FAVORITE things to do!).

Friday Jake's family came down from Logan and treated us to some dinner at Texas Roadhouse! Jake was loving all the attention he got when they brought over the saddle for him to sit in....ok, not really but he was a good sport about it!

HAPPY 26TH BIRTHDAY JAKE!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!

Jake has finally had time to ride his bike a little bit more. Koda LOVES to go mountain biking with him. When she gets home though she lays on her bed and barely moves because she's been playing to hard!


I had to share this cute picture of our niece Aubrey. She LOVES Jake's cowboy boots. When Jake needed them to wear she got a little upset when we had to take them away. Now we just need to bring on the cowboy hat and break her into the idea of becoming a cowgirl!

Great Week!

Jake FINALLY finished with school for the semester, which is a great, great thing! He is happy to have started his summer break and looks forward to his student teaching this fall and then the big GRADUATION in December!

On April 28th Jake's mom turned the big 5o!!!! We went up to surprise her for a special party held in her honor at the Copper Mill!

Here is Jake with the guest of honor:

Tammie did a GREAT job with the decorations!


Jake and his brother Jeff showed up in the exact same outfit....what are the chances?! I guess great minds think alike!

We were able to spend the night and enjoy part of our day off on Thursday up in Logan.


Saturday night we were able to enjoy a game of bowling with our friends Kevin and Stefani.

We even got to do a free session of bumper cars....it's great to feel like a kid again!


Now we just need some warm weather so we can move on to our summer activities! Bring on the sunshine!

Cross Country Skiing

This past Thursday Jake and I decided to try something new...the sun was shining and we wanted to get outside! We rented cross country ski gear from the WSU wilderness rec center and headed up to Snow Basin. It was our first time trying it and we loved it! Jake of course figured it out a lot quicker than I did, but by the time we were done I was starting to get the hang of it. Koda may have even loved it more than we did!

This is one of the highlights of our day..... Let me assure you, it was NOT on purpose, that is what makes it so great!

To Jake's credit this was the ONLY time he fell down the entire day and I just happened to get it on film! I on the other hand fell quite frequently!

That night I was able to hang out with my girlfriends. Trina was visiting from Washington D.C. and Emily came from Lehi so Stacy and I decided to drive down for a little visit! We had a great night full of laughs! I love these girls!

We definitely appreciate and look forward to our days off!

Hope everyone had a great Easter! We had a blast with Jake's family. It's so great to have a time that we can celebrate the fact that our Savior was resurrected and that He lives! It's important for us to reflect often about this throughout the year as well. Last week at church when I was teaching the sunbeams about the first Easter and the resurrection, one of the little boys just kept interrupting me and saying "I love Jesus". I would respond by saying "Well that's great, He loves you too." It wasn't until later that I thought about how as adults we don't talk about Christ or show our love for him near as often as children do. Their testimonies are so pure. I think we often forget that we are children of God and what that really means...We have divine potential! I'm so grateful for my calling and the many things those 3-4 year olds can teach me!

Other events:

Look at the hail that came down at our house last week! I've never seen anything like it!


A few weekends ago Jake and I bundled up and went to Powder Mountain to volunteer at the Special Olympics. We had so much fun! We were assigned to be the finish gate timers for the intermediate course.

Our favorite part was the awards ceremony. We have so much to learn from these individuals! Everybody gets a medal at the Special Olympics, but no matter if it is gold or bronze, they are happy as can be! You can hear "I won! I got 3rd place!" Why can't we as a society be more like them? Why can't we be as happy for others success as we are for our own. Why can't we be fine with just doing our best even if it isn't better than everyone else?

These were our two favorite athletes. You couldn't help but have a smile on your face when you saw their enthusiasm!

Oh how we have so much to learn!
Jake and I had so much fun, we would like to make this an annual tradition!

We woke up this morning to 6-8 inches of new snow! We are ready for spring!

Jake only has 2 1/2 more weeks of school. I can't wait to have my husband back and I know he can't wait to have a few spare seconds in the day! He's worked so hard this past year and has accomplished so much. I'm so proud of him!