Awesome Air Races

The day finally came. Jeff and I packed our bags on Friday and headed out to the Air Races in Reno. The drive there was super long, and for just a 3 day vacation, the drive seemed almost too much. But we did make it along with a few bugs we picked up along the way. Well I guess there weren't just a few bugs, it seemed more like outside of Winnemucca we picked up every bug alive. We got to the hotel late Friday night and pretty much went right to bed. The next morning though, we got up early and headed to the show. It was so cool. There were stunt planes doing tricks, races by airplanes, and our favorite Blue Angels flying. I never thought that planes could race each other but that was a really neat sight to see. They all take off and make a huge loop around the sky so that they are all lined up then the take off and fly around a track 5 times. They get going really fast and it is neat to see some of the photo finishes they do. We also saw a lady who did stunts in her plane. She did this amazing thing where she flew upside down only 20 feet off the ground and cut a streamer that two men were holding in half. I couldn't believe it. She also spun her plane around in about 30 circles right in a row. She is crazy, but awesome. The culmination of it all was the Blue Angels flying. I don't think I could ever get bored of seeing these planes. They are so neat flying in their formations and getting so close to one another. It was wonderful and Jeff and I are already planning our next year's trip.

Back to Busy

I haven't updated my blog in a long time because Jeff and I haven't had much time to do fun things. We both went back to school a few weeks ago. He is now attending University of Utah, and spends most of his time either at school, in a lab, at work, or doing homework. I feel so bad for him, but hopefully we will be done soon. I have gone back to school teaching, and it has felt like I have had so much to do every night. I think September is the most busy month of the entire year. We finally had Labor Day weekend, but we still didn't do much together because Jeff went backpacking with his family and I spent the weekend with my sister. I guess our lives are pretty boring right now. Hopefully I will have something more exciting to post after next weekend. It is Jeff's birthday and we are headed down to Reno to go the Air Races and see the Blue Angels. I am sure that will be the highlight of our month! Yea!

Baseball and Sisters

August has been a very busy but very fun month. Jeff and I have enjoyed spending some quality time with my parents and sister. We have been shopping, having dinners, slumber parties, and of course some good old fashioned Baseball games. Dad bought us all tickets to go to the Bee's game last week, and Mom got us tickets to the Raptors Game on Tuesday. Jeff and I love going to these games with the family. It is always nice to sit at the ball park, have our ballpark pretzel and hot dog and just enjoy the game. Thanks DAD and MOM for the fun time.

I also wanted to add that I am really glad that it is back to school time. Not only because I love going back, but also because I am hoping that Brittany will be able to get back into school and stop hurting herself. She has spent the last few weeks down with Kidney Stones. They were actually bad enough that she had to have surgery on them last week. I am glad she is better now, and I hope it stays that way. I love ya sis.

August Camping Trips

Jeff and I had a fun night on Friday going camping. We have tried to have a lot of traditions between us but most have just fallen by the wayside or we just got too busy to do it again this year. Luckily we still were able to continue our oldest tradition of going camping overnight each year one weekend in August. It all started when I first met Jeff. My friends and I were going camping the very next weekend after I met him and we invited Jeff and his friends to come along. It ended up that all of Jeff's friends bailed on him except Klint, and I didn't think that he was really going to show up, plus I had decided that he liked my best friend at the time and that I didn't really have a shot with him anyway. Well he surprised me and still came along. That was probably the first time we really let on that we liked each other. We spent the whole night sitting by the fire or in my car talking. I think we got about 1 hour of sleep that whole night. Well ever since then we have been inseparable. It was a great camping experience. So Jeff and I have done it every year since. The first year we had no trouble finding a place to camp. Last year we were a little late heading out and we tried to go camping over Labor Day. That was not a good idea. We drove up the canyon quite awhile but every camp site was full, so we finally turned around and camped out in our back yard. It was fun for me, but we live by the freeway and it was really hard for Jeff and I to sleep. Needless to say we weren't about to do that again. This year we thought that if we went at the beginning of August we would have more luck. We headed out Friday at about 5:00 and thought that we were giving ourselves plenty of time. We got down the canyon and realized that we were seeing a repeat of last year and that all the campgrounds were full. We didn't want to give up on our oldest tradition so we ended up driving all the way up to Monte Cristo (which by the way was where our first camping trip was). We saw some hope when they didn't have a campground full sign. We drove on in and found only 2 plots left. Boy were we lucky. After that things were just great. We talked by the fire and Jeff played with some matches(he used the whole box making towers and such). Then went to bed, got up the next morning and headed home. We don't do anything special, but I sure enjoy the time we have just sitting and talking by the fire. It really gives us a chance to feel closer to one another. I hope we can continue this tradition forever and eventually with our own family.

Happy Birthday and the Best Husband

Well I have made it to 26 years old. It seems really old to me but maybe that is because my cute adorable husband keeps reminding me that he is only 24 right now. I had a wonderful day. We went up to Bountiful on the 23rd to see the parade so that we wouldn't have to get up early on the 24th. It was nice except something happened that postponed it for about 20 minutes. Well we weren't going to sweat to death waiting so we left. We went over to Jeff's friends house for fireworks which were awesome and headed home. On the 24th we were able to celebrate my birthday with my family. It was a great day filled with delicious food from the Gray Cliff Lodge. Neither Jeff nor I have ever been there, but it was one to remember. They fill you pretty full. We then went back to our house and did our own fireworks and ate Chocolate Pie. It was a very nice day with my family.

I also want to mention how wonderful my husband is. He is definitely one of a kind. I think it must be from growing up with 5 sisters. He didn't want any help getting my birthday presents this year. He did it all on his own and he did such a good job. He paid attention to hints I gave over the last few months and showered me with everything I love. I am amazed at his ability to get the perfect gifts every holiday. He always outdoes himself and surprises me with things I actually love. Now I dated many guys that didn't have a clue about gifts for girls so I am pretty excited that I have a husband that does such a great job. Thanks Jeff!!! I love you!

Washington D.C.

So my plan was that I would update my blog regularly during Jeff and my trip to D.C. this last couple of weeks, but unfortunately time just got away from us and all we had time to do was walk around all day and crash when we made it back home. The few days we did get home early were completely taken up by our really cute nieces (which was fine by us). So instead I will show some of the pictures we took along the way.Here we are the first day walking and walking and walking to see all the memorials we could. We were excited to start and we saw everything we could. That day alone w e started with a tour of the White House and then went and saw the Washington Monument, the WWII memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, the Lincoln Monument, The Old Post office, and Rob's work.Day two included a long walk to go see the Jefferson Monument and other sights along that area of town. We also got a chance to go through many of the Smithsonian museums that day.

Finally on day three we got to relax a little since it was the 4th of July. Here are some pictures of us at the US Capital, where we went to see the fireworks. And of course a picture of our sweet new niece Jocelyn. (What a cutie!!!)The next week started out with my favorite part of the trip, a walk around Arlington Cemetery. Here is a picture of the Unknown Solder and the Solder that guards his tomb. That was a neat thing to see. We also drove out to Mt. Vernon and took a tour of Washington's house, and a short stop to look at the Washington D.C. temple.For the next two days we traveled up to New York on a bus and spent our anniversary up there. We were able to go see my favorite thing about New York - Wicked, and something Jeff really wanted to see- The Statue of Liberty. They were a very packed two days as we tried to fit in everything we could along with a 5 hour bus trip and then another 2 hours on the Metro. Thursday we returned back to D.C. to see the Capital building, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Holocaust Memorial, and then to stay late to see the monuments at night. This day started off wonderful since all the first buildings were all right around each other. By mid-day though that wasn't the case and after that day was over we had walked about 16 miles. Boy were we tired. Here is a picture of Jeff at the Capital, me at the Library of Congress, and the monuments at night.Friday we took a trip with Meredith and the girls out to Monticello to see Thomas Jefferson's house. This had to be my favorite tour because the tour guide was so knowledgeable. It was a fun day to spend with the girls. The last day in Washington was probably Jeff's favorite. We went and looked around the National Air and Space Museum (here is a picture of the Wright brothers plane) and then hung around to eat at Fogo De Chao - a Brazilian Restaurant. After that day we just packed up and on Monday we went out to Baltimore with the kids to an Aquarium then out to eat and back on the plane to come home. What an awesome trip we took.

Off to Washington We Go

It is finally here. On Wednesday Jeff and I leave for Washington D.C. to visit Jeff's sister and her family and to see all that Washington has to offer. I have never been back there and Jeff hasn't been since he was a little boy so we are really excited. It took us two years to save enough money for this trip and now we are only a day and a half away. It still doesn't seem real though since we bought our tickets about 5 months ago and didn't really plan what we were wanting to do until just a week or so ago. I couldn't ever get Jeff to sit down and plan anything out before then. But now we have a pretty good idea of what we are going to do and what we are going to see and I can now get excited about it. I can't wait to leave. We are also going up to New York for our anniversary and I convinced Jeff to take me to Wicked (my new favorite Musical). I love my husband. He is so sweet and wonderful for taking me on this trip. I am also excited to see my beautiful nieces. Jeff's sister has four of the cutest girls in the world and we can't wait to play with them. This is definitely our trip of a lifetime.