busy little bees

josh and i have been on-the-go these past few weeks but it has been fun! it all started with kim's bridal shower. kim is one of the girls who worked for us last summer in alaska. she met nick, who drove tour buses, and it was love at first sight. the two are super cute together and we couldn't be happier for them. the bridal shower was at firehouse and it was yummy as usual!

we were also able to attend their wedding reception at the alumni house at utah state. she looked beautiful and he didn't look too bad himself!

while hanging out at the reception, erin (another alaska girl) challenged josh to a smartie competition. he told her how obsessed he was with smarties and she bet him that he couldn't eat 30 packs of smarties in one sitting. well, he took the challenge and started chowing them down. he got to about 24 packs before he started realizing how many smarties it really was. he had to back out, but not before we calculated that he had eated 333 individual smarties. i'm starting a fund now for his dental bill.

brett and amber came up to visit us and we had a great time! we hung out all friday night and watched the opening ceremonies and then the next day we made breakfast and headed up to preston to float the river (again!). we had a great time and brett was so funny to watch on his tube. he didn't want to fall off and kept squirming to stay on even though at some points the water was only 2 feet deep. we were laughing so hard the whole way down the river. brett and amber are so fun and we were so happy to have them up to visit us.


the next day, my girlfriends and i headed off for a much needed vegas vacation! the reason for the vacation was that jaynann had her adorable baby emma a few months ago in cedar city and we all wanted to see her. so we decided to make a whole trip out of it. stacy flew in from houston, i came down from logan, and we were all on our way....
we call ourselves the fufu sisters (basically the jones drink was an obsession we all had all through high school and the name just kinda stuck with us. the drink pretty much tastes like carbonated jello mix and is nothin but suga!). we made sure to purchase plenty of fufu berry soda and this was the first bottle to be opened by yours truly. it was about 9:30 in the morning.
our stop in cedar was a successful one as we all played pass the emma. she was so stinkin cute and we even got her to smile at us. we kept her and jaynann busy we we headed to taco bell (another high school memory... 7 layer bean burritos) and we also hit up the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 movie. classic chick flick, but we all liked it. after that movie, i decided for stacy that she is the only friend of ours to be able to have a destination wedding... so while cruising in greece next month she needs to scope out a place where she can tie the knot. then i have an excuse to go to greece. my dream.



after visiting the daly family and saying our goodbyes, we headed off to vegas. we made sure to bring plenty of music that would remind us of our high school years. i brought all of my "now" cds. they are classics. especially when you listen to them 7 years later. i didn't even download the music on my ipod and we used the cds because that made it feel even more like high school. we finally made it to our hotel... 2 blocks off the strip and fabulous! josh's cousin brandon has a time share with this company and let us use his points to get an amazing deal on a suite overlooking the strip.

backseat drivers
the official driver (with the help of gina, the gps)
the next day we lazied around at the pool in the morning (only crazy fools would be out in that blistering hot sun any later than noon), then we showered up and headed to the strip for some great food and shopping! we hit up all the designer stores... stuff we won't be able to purchase any time soon... as well as stores within our price ranges. of course we had to make a stop to cheesecake factory as well. it's a tradition even though i've worked there. the food was great (as always) and i even ran into a few people who had transfered there from the slc location.

of course we hit up the fao shwartz toy store with the infamous piano from big. stacy and i (the musically talented ones) decided to play chopsticks for everyone. this first picture is of me attempting to play it alone...
and this is the two of us playing together. we were absolutely terrible but it was so fun. stacy has a video posted on her facebook that is absolutely hilarious.

the pig with the pigs
my first slot machines. they were no fun. you lose your money way too fast.
the next day we spent more time in the sun...

we did more shopping that day and decided to hit up sushi for dinner. i had never eaten sushi before so i was super excited. we picked a place at ceasars that over looked the strip and it was fabulous. you'll have to check lindsey's blog to find out exactly where it was and what we ate because i had no idea! all i know is i didn't like the one with eel and avacado and i was a fan of the cooked ones. haha




we did more walking around that night and also decided to test our luck at blackjack. stacy and i were able to double our money but poor lindsey lost all of hers. better luck next time i guess!

here's the damage we did as far as shopping goes. we did quite well for ourselves (probably because we all spent the bulk of our money on makeup!) and everything fit in the civic quite nicely!
when i got home, my cute hubby surprised me with "i missed you" flowers. what a sweetheart. it was weird being away from him for 5 days and i definitely missed him!

that night however, he decided to get creative with his razor and shaved his facial hair into what i called the vendetta cut.
see the resemblence? yeah... pretty scary. i only let it last a day. that basically sums up all of the adventures for the last week or so. tonight we're heading to jackson for the weekend with some friends to do some camping, horseback riding, and river rafting so i'll have more posting to do when we get back!

juneau, ak... aug '07

i was looking through my journal earlier and realized that a year ago from today i was living in juneau, ak and my family was there visiting! my parents, siblings, grandparents, and uncle came to visit and we had a fabulous time. we packed the week full of excursions, sightseeing, good food, and fun. it was so fun to show my family the place that i had called home for 2 summers. it was also something that we had to look forward to and made the rest of the summer go by quickly! i decided i'd post a few pictures of the adventures we went on.

one day we took a day tour by boat to tracy arm. this is the south sawyer glacier and it is so fun to get close the glacier and hear and see it calve. i had been on this excursion a few times, but the weather was amazing and the glacier was calving left and right. it was fun to watch my family get excited about the scenery and the wildlife we saw.



after spending an entire day on a boat, we were exhausted and wanted to have a low key night. so we bought some candy and took over the lobby of my parent's hotel. we played poker all night and had a great time. i came out on top with armfuls of carmels and good and plenties.

we had great weather while the fam was visiting so one day we decided to go kayaking. my parents had never been ocean kayaking so it was way fun to show them the ropes. we were also lucky enough to have some of our girls join us in the fun. it was so sunny and the water was perfect. we made our way to sandy beach and were able to play around for a little bit in the sand and take some pictures. this day was super fun and one i will remember forever.



we made sure to plan a hike to the mendenhall glacier because hiking to the ice caves was one of our favorite things to do. i tried to prep my parents for the hike (it's a little difficult, especially when you have to climb the rocks) but they did quite well. i was impressed. being able to touch a glacier and actually get inside of it is an amazing experience.

we made sure to plan on going on many bear hunts and we sure saw our fair share of black bears. my parents came at the perfect time (as the salmon were spawning) so the bears were out and about looking for a good meal. it was fun to watch them catch the fish and shred them to pieces. bears were one of our favorite parts of alaska (besides the time that a bear broke the locks on our garbage, spread trash everywhere, and the police officer made us clean it up).
we also spent a day ziplining and it was a blast but sadly i have no pictures from that excursion. my mom was a hoot because she had never done anything like that before and laughed the entire time. there were a few days that i had to work so i sent the family out with josh to the visitor center at the glacier and to the hatchery and i also sent them on a hike up mt roberts to get a great view of the harbor, cruise ships, and downtown juenau. they were also kind enough to give us a hand when we got our shipment at our store. my grandma was in charge of putting out the hairclips and she took it upon herself to sell the items to our customers too. she's a crazy lady.

the last eventful thing that happened on their trip to juneau happened just hours before their plane departed. josh was trying to get up the nerve to ask my dad for permission for me to marry him all week and he postponed it to the last possible minute. so, while we were eating breakfast and saying our goodbyes, my dad and josh were having what could possibly have been the scariest conversation of josh's life. however, my dad seemed to be in a great mood after seeing his daughters and having a great time in alaska so he was easy on josh and granted him permission to marry his eldest daughter! :) ( haha my dad can be a little intimidating at times but he's a softy at heart and has welcomed josh into our family with open arms! ) all in all it was a fabulous vacation and we loved having everyone there to play with us!

90 days, goin' strong!

so josh and i hit the 3 month mark yesterday... who would've thought?!?!?! jk but we were able to spend the day together with friends and family in salt lake, which was fabulous. josh had a bunch of appointments, including his laser hair removal, and a couple of dr appts so we decided to make a day of it. we made sure to hit up the fashion place mall and the nordstrom sale. and honestly, what is a trip to salt lake without a little cheesecake factory lovin? well, we picked a fabulous day to go because it was national cheesecake day! and even better than being a holiday to honor my favorite dessert... all cheesecake slices were only $1.50 instead of the usual $7-8. we had to take advantage of such a great deal! josh's family was kind enough to meet up with us and treat us to lunch and it was great. thank you so much!



after our tummies were full, we headed to josh's dr appt's and i'm happy to report that everything looked great and they didn't find anything new or suspicious looking. no news is great news to us! so now we get to get to sleep soundly for the next few months until we visit the dr again. after the appts, i headed over to my friend collie's house to see her cute new baby easton! collie and i have been friend since we were born and it's so exciting to see her all grown up and a mom! she and zach are such a pretty couple and they sure do make one beautiful baby! i forgot to take my camera out and take some pictures but she has some cute ones on her blog if you want to check them out. thanks for letting me come visit you and hold your cute little one!

after a little more visiting with our families, we met up with our friends to have a bbq. thanks to the romero family for providing the meat (i'm not sure they know they did, though) and thanks to our friends who came! the food was great and the company was too. after dinner, we headed to artic circle for some ice cream cones. when we got back to the house, we busted out the poker chips. us girls are going to vegas in just over a week and we're planning on spending a little bit of money gambling because we're finally old enough to and we finally have a little bit of money to spend. however, lindsey didn't know how to play blackjack so josh offered to teach her and give me a little "refresher course" so i don't look stupid sitting at the blackjack tables too. we had a blast playing 21 and josh taught lindsey (and me) enough that we can hopefully come home a little bit richer (or at least a little more well dressed!) we were so into our game that we didn't even stop playing until close to midnight. and then josh and i had to drive home. the drive wasn't fun but the day was awesome and we had a great time hanging out and laughing with everyone!
this is cameron pointing at his favorite thing in the whole world... his iPhone
and this is cameron's picture after he used some fun features on my new camera to let the whole world know just how much he loves that iPhone.


oh, on our last hand, decided to go "all in". i bet just over $300 in chips and i was dealt an ace and a 10... i made $750 on that hand... hopefully that luck continues with me for the next 2 weeks... then our vegas trip won't be a bust!

underwater camera

so, i have had an underwater camera for a few months that needed to be used and developed and it finally happened! we bought the camera while on our honeymoon because we planned to swim with the dolphins in tortola (tortola is part of the british virgin islands and is right in the heart of the caribbean). it has been a dream of mine since i was young and we had a blast! here are a few pictures from that day...aww... what a happy boy!
dolphin kisses for josh
here, there are 2 dolphins pushing on my feet... they were so strong that i stood up completely
oh earplugs... what would i do without you and your boldness? oh pathetic...

josh holding on to their fins
getting pulled along...
our day with the dolphins was an experience of a lifetime and one that we will never forget! if anyone gets a chance to do it, it's well worth the money, i promise! we bought some of the pictures that they took of us while playing with the dolphins, but i wish we would have bought the video that recorded our whole experience. oh well... next cruise!

the other adventure that our underwater camera came on was us floating down the Bear River just outside of Preston. many of my friends float this river weekly and the redneck in me was dying to go. since we didn't have to work on the 24th of july, we decided it'd be a perfect day to spend some time in the sun, have a little fun, and relax. kelsey and lauren came with us and we had a great time.
it's obvious that i was super excited...oh so manlythere were only 2 things that happened on the river that i wish hadn't. first- don't listen to kelsey when you're approaching some rapids and some rocks. she was leading the pack and told me to go right. well, i went right... right into the worst part of the rapids! i tipped and got sucked under and my sunglasses floated away. geez kelse, thanks! not too cool. :) other "not too cool" thing... while floating, stupid dragonflies kept landing on us. it was annoying but they are pretty harmless. well, i wasn't paying attention to them too much and felt a creature land on me and just brushed it away without looking at it. unbeknownst to me, it was a bee who decided to retaliate and sting me. it was the first time i have ever been stung by a bee and it hurt like crazy! i made josh come to my rescue and pull the stinger out. i couldn't keep the tears from welling up in my eyes... what a wuss. other than those unfortunate events, the float was fun and we're looking forward to doing it again when brett and amber come to visit next week!

yummy in my tummy

ok, so these are one of my favorite treats ever! they are indoor smores made with golden graham cereal. i love them and could probably eat a whole batch if i didn't have to share. i had a dream last night completely centered around these treats so i decided i'd share the recipe with everyone and then i'll probably go and make a batch, too!

indoor smores

8 cups (13-ounce box) graham cracker cereal
6 cups (10-ounce bag) miniature marshmallows, divided use
1 1/2 cups NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Milk Chocolate Morsels
5 tablespoons butter OR margarine, cut into pieces
1/4 cup light corn syrup, (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Pour cereal into large bowl.
2. Heat 5 cups marshmallows, morsels, butter and corn syrup in medium, heavy-duty saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract.
3. Pour marshmallow mixture over cereal; stir until well coated. Stir in remaining marshmallows. Press mixture into prepared pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Cut into bars.

yummy!

it's that time of the year...

that's right. shark week. one of the most anticipated weeks of the entire year. the discovery channel goes crazy with shark documentaries and crazy marine biologists who will do just about anything to find the great white sharks and get cool footage while doing so.
the mythbuster clan have also taken on solving certain myths pertaining to sharks- whether or not they are affected by magnets; if you were being attacked by a shark and hit its nose, would it back away and your life would be spared; does the way a dog paddles frantically in the water as well as the scent of their urine and pheromones attract sharks; and is it in your best interest to play dead or try to swim away while stranded in the middle of shark infested waters? all of these questions and more are being answered this week.
i am terrified of sharks. always have been and always will be. i always get a little nervous jumping into the ocean because i have always felt that they can smell my fear. josh however is obsessed with them. his dream is to one day swim with the sharks. quite a death wish, right? the best place to swim with the sharks is in the bahammas... i told him we can go as long as while he's out swimming with the sharks, i can be on dry land hopefully pampering myself at a luxurious spa. and hopefully he will return to me!
anyway, if there are any of you that are as obsessed with ocean life as my husband is... tune into the discovery channel this week. you will not be disappointed.