Oh, beautiful for

spacious skies,

for amber waves of grain,

for purple mountains majesties,

across the fruited plains.

America! America! God shed His grace on thee!

And crowned thy good,

with brotherhood,

from sea...

to shining sea

HAPPY 4TH!!

Happy Father's Day!

Ok, so I know I'm a little late in the celebration but I would just like to take a minute and brag
about my dad and wish him a Happy Father's Day!

I have a lot of childhood memories with my dad but the one that sticks out is one fourth of July our family went camping at Birch Creek. My brothers and dad wanted to go fishing so I tagged along with them. My dad is a great fisherman and within minutes he caught his first fish! I watched him gut it and thought "that looks pretty cool!" My dad saw the intrigued look on my face so....he taught me how to gut my first fish! My dad was all giggles and probably in shock that his little girl liked doing this! 2nd fish got caught and who gutted it? ME!!!

Thanks dad for passing down one of your talents! I'll never forget that experience-even though it was kinda gross!

I love you, Dad and hope you had a great day!

One Year Anniversary/San Diego Trip

On June 21st, John and I celebrated our ONE year anniversary!! Yep, we made it a whole year! It really seems just like yesterday we were in the Rexburg Temple getting married. I can't believe how the time just flew by! There were some ups and downs our first year-but no one said it was going to be easy.

In celebration of our 1 year, John and I took a road trip to San Diego, California! We left Thursday afternoon and drove a LONG 7 hrs. to St. George and stayed at the "Coral Hills" Inn. After a long drive we were ready for some relaxation in the spa/pool. Very much needed!! We (well, I) got up early Friday morning, got ready for another 8 hr. drive to San Diego.

This was our hotel in San Diego "The Hilton"

Oh it was beach-side!!

That drive is SOOOO BORING!!! All it is is desert!! I would look to my left and see dirt, turn to my right and see more dirt and look out the passenger window and see nothing but miles and miles of road!! No trees, no skyscrapers! NOTHING! The radio would cut in and out...I was about ready to pull my hair out by the time we drove through Las Vegas!!

Once we got to Las Vegas there was a little bit of traffic. Normally, I would complain about the traffic backup, but I was actually grateful for the stop! I gauked at the Stratosphere, MGM, New York New York, and Cesear's Palace buildings! Finally, some civilization!!! Just a few more hours to go!

We arrived in San Diego Friday afternoon around 2:30p.m. We checked into our hotel and headed for the San Diego Zoo! WE LOVED IT!!! So many animals....and so many blisters! I went through a box of Band-Aids like you wouldn't believe! 15 blisters total on my poor little feet! ouch! The zoo took us about 3 hours to walk to see everything! My feet were burning as you can imagine! But, I toughed it out-how often am I at the San Diego Zoo?

These are just a few of the many pictures we took at the zoo:

Panda Bears


Jaguars

Gorillas


Otters

Tigers

Zebras

Red Panda Bear


Polar Bears

Flamingos

Elephants

Koala Bears

After the zoo, John and I went back to our hotel and grabbed some dinner and headed out to eat it on the beach. Oh, did I mention that we didn't see the sun the whole time we were there? It rained and it was cloudy the whole time! HUH?? Oh well! That didn't stop us! We walked around the beach and then relaxed by the pool/hot tub.

Saturday morning, we went to "The Broken Yolk Cafe" and had some breakfast before we headed to.......SEAWORLD!! That was definately the highlight of our trip! John had never been there before so he was super pumped to see Shamu and everything else! I've been there before when I was about 8, so I was just as excited as John was! We got there at about 11:30 a.m. and stayed all day!!

First stop-Shamu! We sat in the "Soak Zone" and wouldn't you know it? We didn't even get splashed! Which was ok with me since it was kinda raining!

Shamu and Trainer

John and I before "Shamu Show"


Lots of splashing!

Wouldn't that be just awesome!

Next, we saw Dolly the Dolphin show! So Awesome! Those whales and dolphins are so smart!


This is a "pilot whale"

This is where the Dolphins performed

Of course we took a lot more pictures of the Shamu and Dolly but it would take forever to download them! So hopefully, you get the jist of how much fun we had!

We saw a lot of shows while we were there including at Sea Lion Show (which was hilarios), Cirque de la Mar (an acrobatic show over water), and we went and saw some polar bears and penguins. The park is huge and it took us all day to see everything.

They did another Shamu night show as well as another Dolly the Dolphine night show. Shamu started at 8:30 p.m. and the Dolphin show started at 9:00 p.m. And the stadiums are on opposite ends of the park! So after Shamu, John and I ran (literally) all the way across the park to catch the Dolphin show which was pretty cool! SeaWorld was a blast!!

After the park, John and I drove to the San Diego Temple. This is the first time I had ever seen it! So Beautiful! I loved it! I've seen it in pictures but those don't even compare to what it looks like in person! It was gorgeous!

Us in front of the Temple

Wow! Isn't it just gorgeous!

Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and had breakfast at an IHOP which was just miles from the Mexico border! We were very tempted to cross it but we knew we had an 8 hour drive back to St. George. We stayed in the same hotel, did a little bit of swimming, grabbed some dinner at Cafe Rio and went to bed. We were exhausted!

Monday morning I dragged John to the outlet mall in St. George and did a little bit of shopping before heading back home! I only shopped for about an hour-I was kind of anxious to get the boring drive over with! Yipee more desert......Finally! The IDAHO border! I thought I would never see it! We got home and first thing I did....unpacked and blogged about our vacation!

This was such a fun trip but next time I think we both decided that flying would be a whole lot better!!! Next year we talked about going to Las Vegas and watching "KA" I hear it's pretty good-but we'll just see what surprises next year will bring!

Here's to many more wonderful adventures throughout the years!!! Happy Anniversary John!

Looks like I need to catch up...

For starters-John had another motorcycle race last weekend (June 6th). It was at Noise Park where it was last time. However, this time it was raining like crazy and it was so muddy!! I sat in my car the whole time watching and only took 2 pictures because our battery was low in the camera!!

John didn't get as muddy as the other riders but he was still pretty covered! This time there were only 12 racers in his group and he got 5th place! Afterwards, John and I had a "Victory Dinner" at Texas Roadhouse. It was so yummy! I love the rolls there!


Here they are lining up for the race


I don't think John is even in this picture....oops!

A couple of weeks ago, John went to the Sand Dunes with his brother-in-law and nephews. They have a lot of fun when they go! They leave around 3:30 in the afternoon and don't get back til about 10-11:00 at night!

And they're off!



Scott and Justin Searle


John, Jade Searle and Jade's cousin

Scott and Jade



Tiffany (sister-in-law) Hey! I didn't know girls

were invited! Thanks a lot!! Where was my invite??



After the Dunes, they all went out and had pizza

On Memorial Day, John and I took a drive to Palisades. It was such a beautiful drive! We just drove up, snapped a few pictures and drove back home. It was a short drive but it was fun!

Palisades

After we got home, Brett and Cherice hosted a BBQ for some of our friends. It was so fun! Eating, talking, and laughing! The food was great and John and I had so much fun! We love getting together with our friends!

Will it ever end???

Since the beginning of January, John and I have been searching and searching, looking at MLS listings, going from house to house trying to decided what we're looking for but nothing has really sparked our interest! It's kinda frustrating-either we like the house but hate the area or we love the area and hate the house! Then, we've been discussing whether we should build or buy the house that we are in (most likely not that option!) and expand on it....we have no clue!!

So, if anyone out there knows of a house that is up for sale or something please let us know!! I'm really tired of being cooped up in my hole of a house! :)

Fun with Hallie!!

I LOVE MY LITTLE HALLIE!! Here's some pics of Hallie and I having some of our fun together! She makes me laugh-I'm glad that she's my little buddy! Hopefully, she won't grow out of it! I just love her!!!

We like to play "horsey"


And...sometimes it gets out of control! Hang on
Boo!! This picture cracks me up!



Loves and Hugs





She likes it when I playfully bump my head on
the window-sometimes it hurts, but it's worth
it if I can get a giggle out of her! Which usually, I can!!



I LOVE YA HALLIE BOO!! I
hope that one day I can have a
little girl just like you!!

Wolf Creek/Girl's Weekend

Last year, a few of my girl cousins on my mom's side got together for a weekend and we had so much fun that we decided that we would make a yearly tradition out of it. This year only a few of us could only come but it was a blast!!

This year we had our girl weekend in Eden, Ut. at Wolf Creek Resort. It was beautiful up there! We stayed in a condo-type room with a balcony with a view of the mountains. Ash and I drove up there together on Friday afternoon....and that's where the laughs began!!

I love getting together with these girls! We stay up playing games, talking, vegging out and laughing histerically at everyone's stories until wee hours in the morning!

Saturday, we went out to lunch at a place called
"Eden's Eats" They had really good sandwiches
and salads


Then, we went to an antique store called "Dottie
Becks" It reminded me of a type of "Mini Bazaar"

I LOVED this house!!



After lunch we wanted to take some pictures
togehter-sometimes we can be really silly


These are my cousins: Darcie, Shyla and Lani
(All sisters)



Me and Ashley! This is probably my favorite pic!

Ashley and I left Saturday afternoon around 4. The drive home was kinda long due to the fact that I was driving and Ashley was....SLEEPING!!! :) Oh well, I kept myself entertained listening and jamming out to "Britney Spears" (don't make fun) and "Backstreet Boys" (boy bands never die!)

It was such a fun weekend and I can't wait to do it in VEGAS next year! WAHOO!! We missed those who couldn't make it but look forward to seeing you soon! Thanks ladies for a fun, care-free weekend!