Christmas and New Years 2010

This Christmas 2010 Mike invited me to his house with his family out in Kentucky! I arrived late Christmas Eve night. Mike woke me up and whispered to me he had a surprise for me, "Good morning babe, I have a surprise for you,...You get a white Christmas!" He was so excited to tell me and show me! I was excited to see it too! :)
I'm the kind of person who has to shower right when they wake up before they do anything. So before we walked over to his brothers house for gifts and presents I had to shower. We walked over there (two houses down), and the twins had already opened some of their presents and were having so much fun, and we immediately started joining in the fun! His family is the best! they were handing me gifts left and right! They got me pajama lounge pants with a matching scarf, a basket from Longaberger, Mike gave me a diamond heart necklace, and a few more fun gifts! It was the best Christmas ever! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!

I stayed in Kentucky until Jan. 1! It was so fun to be there for a week and celebrate Christmas and New Years with the best family ever!! :) (except mine of course).

During the week we had hit and miss with the things we wanted to do. Some of the things we wanted to do were not open during the holidays :( but luckily some of it was outside so we got to just walk around the grounds and look. We had a full, busy, fun week! We watched horses race, went to museums, hung out at the house, stayed up late, went to a Christmas light show at a horse track, went to the Kentucky Derby museum (Churchhill Downs) and got a tour of behind the scenes and track! I had a BLAST in Kentucky!!

Here are a ton of pictures from my stay; I'll try to explain as I go... :)

I made Mike and I matching stockings
This was my white Christmas


Boys...
we had fun being lazy

Daniel Boone and his Fort, just outside of Lexington, KY




I try to put Mike in charge of the camera most of the time because he is more talented at getting better pictures than me :)




That little cat gave us a tour of the site since it was closed


This little house must be where the cat stays; his mansion


Inside the house; fireplace And picture!!

Keeneland Race Track
located just five minutes from Mike's house and across the street from the airport entrance

Keeneland "survives" by holding/hosting local horse auctions and uses that money to stay open and operate. It only holds three races a year.
Keeneland is the race track they filmed the movie Seabiscuit


Standing on the race track

Me standing in/on the Winner's Circle :)

A few things at the entrance to the race track

The girls bathroom.
you walk into this,

then you turn and see this

This bathroom totally did not match the rest of the building.

After we gave ourselves a tour of the track we walked into the gift shop and asked if there was anything else we could see, and they told us the jockeys practice at 6am till about 10am or 11am. We decided then we wanted to come watch them practice the next morning.

Deb got a new vacuum for Christmas but there had been a mess and the vacuum died. (wasn't as strong sucking up stuff like it was advertised. So she took it back and got a new vacuum. And this is what you get...



Later that night we (Mike, me, his mom and the twins) decided to go to another local race track and drive through and see the Christmas lights. After the lights there is a little museum to walk through then outside there are little vendors with food, drinks, and rides!! :)


MY DREAM RIDE
Camel rides!!


Now I just need to ride an elephant


We all shared that bag of kettle corn
Since the twins were with us we spoiled them, we kept them up all night, let them be crazy, and let them eat as much kettle corn as they wanted. We got home super late and gave them back to Aaron and Amanda, hehe opps, I hope they don't hate us.


The next morning we woke up super early to watch the jockeys at Keeneland practice


These horses are so fit and PRETTY!
they practice everyday. Jockeys can't be taller than 5'1" and weigh more than 110lbs. they have strict rules.


We dressed for a very cold morning and a very cold morning it was.

Louisville Slugger Museum

Largest bat in the world!

My studly man :)


We got to hold a Hall of Famers baseball bat and we had to wear the special white gloves.



We met a few famous past baseball players; kind of





Love...

If you are ever back east go to the Slugger Museum! It is so fun for all ages and very informative! Don't forget to take the tour of how they make bats! It's a very small factory but you walk right through the middle of the factory watching them make it all! SO COOL!!

Just a few sites from driving through town...old buildings mixed with modern buildings, and a hospital...




Shaker Village

This is a another very neat place to visit! The Shakers are a very unique group of people


The twins were just having too much fun :)






Shaker Village Volunteers sewing rugs, pillows, etc




Love


On the way home from Shaker Village, we decided to take the other part of the circle route and we ran into this...
Just a dream :)


Resting, playing or helping, boys are always "doing" something



CHURCH HILL DOWNS
Home of the Kentucky Derby




I am facing the stalls that the horses wait in. And the alley right behind me in the picture is where the horses and jockeys enter the track.

These are the stalls that the horses and jockeys wait in and get their final checks before entering the track.


Venetian Way, the name of the horse that won the Kentucky Derby in 1960; the name of the street that Mike's parents live on.

And of course Secretariat!
His name is in gold because he is one of the few horses that have won the triple crown




Behind me on the last picture is the finish line.


A mock finish line near the back entrance of the museum

Inside the museum playing :)




We could have spent Hours in that museum!!

Our weight changed a little bit over the break...

My turn to ride


Merry Christmas



LOVE xoxo

Winter 2010

Now that I have explained why and how far back my pictures date back to. I'm not sure I want or will show all those old pictures for lack of time, yours and mine, and space And because I know you would much rather see the newer pictures!! :)

I'm just going to start back in December 2010; Mike and I were anxious to go snowboarding and decided to drive to Salt Lake to enjoy the Utah powder, we drove to the hill...it was closing in one hour. so we went to our second choice the hill that was right before the first one, and what do you know... it was closing in one hour. We decided Utah hills are lame and drove back to downtown Salt Lake to have our selves a nice fun night on Temple Square. We were not dressed for the occasion as we were in our snowboarding attire, so excuse the attire:




On one other occasion while trying to find the right road to the ski lift just outside of Pocatello, we surprisingly ran into two moose on our "wrong" road (men don't lost). We were about one or two car lengths away from them, but they were kind of scared from the sound of the car, so they kept running.




Sorry there a few other little things that happened between all of these but I just don't have time or space to bore you with some of them. I'm just doing the FUN, HAPPY, EXCITING highlights.

Mike surprised me with tickets for the dedication to the new BYU-I Center on campus. President Bednar and Elder Nelson were the church leaders that came. It looks EXACTLY like the Conference Center. It was a very good meeting and fun to be apart of.
It looks like we were kind of far away but we were actually only one section behind the reserved seating.




Shopping at midnight on Black Friday in Idaho Falls




The line was already wrapped around the building by 12am at Best Buy and they didn't open til 3 or 4am. The last picture is Target and they opened at 5am, I think. Some people are crazy!! It was SOO COLD, as you can see people at Best Buy had tents, chairs, sleeping bags and blankets they were covering their heads with, and even mini stoves they were cooking food from! Some of them even had a car in the parking lot and were taking shifts sitting in line and in the car. Man were they prepared! (or they had done this for many years and figured out how to do it).

Catch up

Ok, so I have been Really bad about keeping my blog updated. Mostly because I haven't been able to get my pictures off my camera to my computer! And because I really wonder if people read or look at my blog. But Mike came over the other night and helped me!! So...today is the start of something exciting! hehe Blogging :)
I also have to admit I have pictures from um, well...Halloween! AH!! so if you read this make sure you read down and look at all the new posts! :)

P.S. I LOVE MIKE

Summer '11

Well it's been over a month this my last post and i have been saying to myself i will do that tomorrow when i get home from work. Then tomorrow comes and it's 6pm and i am just not in the mood any more. so i promise myself tomorrow after work, and again, and again....you get the point. So i logged on tonight after a long fun day at the water park with my niece and decided i needed to do something on my blog; at least let you know im thinking of you and knowing i need to update it so you can all see why i just haven't updated and why i am so busy!

The days pass so fast and some days i wonder how i got through the day because i barely remember how it went.

As soon as finals are over next week i should have more motivation to get my blog updated. Mike is helping me update my computer so all should be well in a few weeks; because again, next week is finals! :( can't wait for those to be over.

I have so much to update and am so excited to get it all up and get that nagging bug i have off my shoulder (which would be my own self).

Sorry! I'm trying to redesign my background and layout. I hope to have it done soon!! I know it looks terrible! If you have any suggestions or would like to help me let me know, please!! I have NO IDEA what I'm doing or how to do it so...it will take me a long time, sadly. Sorry again, and please bare with me! thanks!

WICKED

On other news this last weekend was SO amazingly fun!!
Mike and I drove over to Boise to see the famous Broadway show WICKED :) We woke up very early to be able to get to our 2pm showing. Mike has never seen the show before so it was a huge treat for him, and of course he, and I, LOVED it!! We had the amazing opportunity to sit on the second row and we both watched the jaw dropping performance with out blinking or flinching! AMAZING PERFORMANCE!! What a great weekend with the one I love and making his day!
We were only able to be in Boise for the day and it was SO worth it! Mike spoiled me while we were there and we just had a blast during our road trip! :)




Mike anxious for the show to start :)


Minutes before the show started!


Intermission...we were in aww, SO in love with the show, and each other!!

Tender Mercies

It has only been a week since going the the temple and it has been such a blessing for me. I have noticed many 'tender mercies' in my life and I just have to say a little prayer and thank the Lord for everything :) For other obvious reasons, it gave us another reason to celebrate; Mothers Day! I love Mothers Day and I love that we get to set aside a specific day to show our mothers how much we love, and how grateful we are for them. I love my mother and know she does and puts up with a lot to keep our family going. She works very hard and I appreciate all she does for me! :) HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM :)

May 7, 2011

Temple Day

Rexburg, ID



Today marks a major mile stone and accomplishment in my life and I am so grateful I was able to spend it with all my family and siblings at the temple (I was only missing one sibling, and I sure missed them!).

I am so overwhelmed and blessed and happy to be clean and righteous to receive this marvelous and scared blessing. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful I feel :)

I never thought at this time in my life that I would be doing this, but life throws curve balls and I think it was the perfect time to do it! I just can't wait for the/my other major goal/accomplishment in my life. Greater days are ahead and I can't wait to share them with the one I love the most!




I owe a huge Thanks to all my friends and family for the love and support they have given me through all this and the patience they have had to deal with, haha :)

I have a greater testimony of many things and am so excited about the path of life I am heading.
Words can't even begin to describe how happy I feel (even though I may not be showing it), and how at peace I feel. I am just trying to soak it all in and enjoy my time with family and the spirit that I have with me. May we be strive to Choose The Right and visit The House of the Lord often. I love my family and my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ.


my siblings and their spouses


my parents and I

Pre Temple

Thank you to all who have and are supporting me accomplishing my goal and going to the temple. I have loved the road and am getting excited to participate! Today is a busy day getting last minutes details done and bought.

Love you all and hope you have a great Mother Day weekend!

How Great...

Check this out! :)
She is my FAVORITE singer! I hope some day I can meet her :)

Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill

How Great thou art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLMzr3PFgk&feature=player_embedded

EASTER

HAPPY EASTER BABE

I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the Easter basket I made and all the fun cute things in it! stupid me!
Despite my stupidity, Easter was a great day and we had a blast! We attended church (great ward), made BBQ chicken dinner together, and exchanged our Easter baskets :) PERFECT DAY!

I managed to get a picture of a few of the things I put/made to put in his Easter basket...


Going to WICKED!!!!



Going to Nauvoo!

And of course everyone needs a little Easter candy



Happy Easter babe! I love you!

YEAH


Today is the best day, the best day of my life!!


He's here and I am the luckiest and happiest girl in the world!!

I love you babe!

Work week...

Wow I am So glad its the weekend! I worked a normal work week, but boy am I tired! I think it's mostly because I am So excited about this weekend and just want/ed it to come SO fast! and it's finally here!
I have had an interesting week; it kind of started last Friday. 4:50 AM ring, ring; got a text from the doc to ask what we were wearing to work and mentioned we could wear jeans to work. Hello! im sleeping! haha, I didn't text back and waited til I actually woke up to answer, but then Melanie and I decided to just wear what we were going to wear and take jeans to change into in case everyone else wore jeans. Well after all the confusion was figured out we jsut wore what we originally wore. Sunday I taught primary on sunday and it was an easy fun lesson (on the word of wisdom to five year olds :) ), early monday morning Courtney had her baby!!, tues-work, wed, drove 10 min to Rexburg to work but got another call to actually work in Idaho Falls, so I gladly turned around and drove back to Idaho Falls to work for the day. Thursday I found myself dozing off at work when i was supposed to paying attention to what the doc was telling me to do on the patient "we" were working on. Today was Melanie's last day in Idaho Falls!! :( Man i will miss her! Thursday's are now my Favorite day of the week at work because I get to see Melanie!!

I can't wait for this weekend to see THE BEST PERSON IN THE WORLD!! ;) Love you!

Temple Announcement

I love temples!



In case you missed the announcement;
This morning in General Conference President Monson announced three new temples!

My hometown of Meridian, ID, as one of the announcements, is now getting a temple!



I can't wait to see it all happen and attend the many events of preparing for a beautiful temple!

I love Meridian, ID and am always proud to say I am from Meridian, ID!

April Fools

Happy April Fools!!

Hope you all tricked your loved ones and had a quick trip to the bathroom from it! I know I did NOT! I had to do too many errands today; since Friday is my errand day :(
I had a few good ones in mind but the right things were just not in place for things to happen, sadly. Better luck next year I guess. I have never really been a huge prankster or big fan on the receiving end, but I try to play along with it. There is one that comes to mind:



Mike and I were in China teaching English and my students knew it was April Fool's tomorrow. I woke up worried what might be in store for me. Walking to class I told Mike I was quite nervous about the day. My mind was racing on what they might do; the whole class not show up for class. write something in Chinese and have me try to say it. I had No idea. Well I get to class, and by this point I was in a grumpy mood because I did not want any prank pulled on me in china by my students; LOL; so I stood in front of the class and the first thing I said was, "I do not want any pranks pulled on me today. I am not in the mood for them. sorry." I could tell they were kind of upset, disappointed and surprised, because we had become close as students and teacher at this point and they thought I would handle a simple prank. Well I kept teaching but kept a close eye on a few certain students. As the class kept going I kept looking at this one girl in my class and thinking, she is not in this class. I swear she is in my wed. only class. But again I just kept teaching and reminding my self I don't know ALL of my students names quite yet, so maybe I'm wrong. so i never said anything to the girl in case I was wrong. But they had the look and thought they got me. LOL! Still to this day I don't know if I was right or wrong because I never approached anyone about it. I was too embarrassed to ask!



The next class I was for sure I would be getting tons of pranks! So I had to really prepare myself! Class started normally and by the time our break came it was going smoothly. Then after break about fifteen minutes before class was to end one of the kids (one of the "problem" kids) said he was sick. I told him if he was sick he may leave and go home. He just kept sitting there. (because again I did not want a prank pulled on me). then he took a drink of water and bent over and 'threw up' on the floor!! everyone turned around and looked at him then looked at me to see how I was going to react and/or say/do. Again, all i said was if you are sick you can leave. A few people laughed, so I could tell it was a joke, but still wasn't sure because man, this kid was good at acting. so I let him do his thing and see how it all played out. Finally we all caught on and it was a good laugh!!

(The boy sitting next to Mike was the "problem" student-the good actor)


April Fools Day!!

let me know what you have done, or have received today or in the past on April Fool's Day!!