Weekend Trip

Ry and I seem to never get enough time together, so we planned a little weekend get away. We were originally planning on meeting some friends in Vegas, but things didn't work out so we decided to plan a camping trip to Zion Nat'l Park. We were super excited to use our new tent and camping gear, we both got off work around 2PM on Friday afternoon and left as quick as we could. The drive down was full of random stops for treats, rest stops, picking out books on cd, etc... so in short, we ended up rolling into St. George around 12:30, much later than expected, so we decided against trying to find our camp ground in the middle of the night so we found a hotel in St. George and thought we could set up camp the next day in the day light.

Ready...set...take your time...
Needless to say this was our tent not only for night one but for night two as well.
We got up super early (aka Ry woke my up at the crack of dawn,) we ate a yummy continental breakfast and headed over to Zions. The park was beautiful, i have never seen anything like it, the giant sandstone mountains are triple the size the mountains around here. We took a scenic drive before we started hitting the trails and then got on the park shuttle bus to head to our hiking trails.
Beginning of our hike up to Angels Landing...
Reading the description of the hike we are about to embark on, words and phrases like: falls from cliffs have resulted in death, shear cliffs, stay away from cliff edges.
Do we really want to do this? I am quite notorious for being a total klutz...
Looking down on the switchbacks we just climbed...
Half way there...
Almost to the top...yes, that is a chain that i am holding on to!
Pictures don't really do the steepness justice (does that even make sense?)
I almost fell off the cliff trying to take this picture because the wind started to pick up, Ry caught me and told me to keep both hands on the chain:-) But isn't it a cute picture??
Eating a little lunch at the top, an 800 foot drop on one side and a 1200 foot drop on the other, awesome!! If you're scared of heights i would never recommend this hike, crawling down by those chains was really scary. The wind started picking up on our way down and a storm started rolling in, we definitely headed down at the perfect time.
This is at the end of Refrigerator Canyon (toward the end of our hike), it's hard to tell, but i am leaning my entire body against the wind and holding on to my sweatshirt so tight, i think there were gusts around seventy to eight miles an hour, i have never experienced that feeling, it was insane!
My favorite pic of the trip... still on our way down from Angels Landing.
We made it!!!

There was a cute little trading post toward the entrance of the park, so on our way back to the hotel we had to stop for some yummy homemade ice cream on a homemade waffle cone with gummy worms, seriously nothing better it was delicious!! I took i nice little cat nap after our hike while Ry did some homework, got some In and Out which was really gross:-( they screwed up our order and it was less than satisfying. After that we headed down to Mesquite for the night got in the hot tub when we got back and slept like babies until early bird Ry woke me up at 6AM again, to eat breakfast and hit the road.

We made a couple stops on our way out of the park and took some more little mini hikes and explored some amazing rock formations and river beds.

Down in a gully of a random really pretty river bed...

Driving through Bryce Nat'l Park.

Amazing rock formations!!

Another really pretty little hike we took, we had a blast together!! This was by far one of the best trips we have taken, we took the long and scenic route home and saw some more beautiful mountains, old cabins, and amazing landscapes.

Easter, F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Britney!!!

EASTER SUNDAY

Easter was low key and really relaxing this year, i went to church with my parents and then Ry and I went to one of my bestfriend's, Mike, homecoming talk. He did a great job and it was so great to see him. After two sacrament meetings i was ready to relax before we went to Easter dinner at my grandparents. So Ry and i watched Baby Mama, SOO funny, i highly recommend it, and i made these cute little Easter cupcakes. Dinner at my grandparents was delicious, as always, and we had a great time watching the kids hunt for eggs.

Lizzy running around trying to grab as many eggs as she can, she has got a BIG sweet tooth and polished off most of the treats in the eggs before leaving grandma and grandpa's.

UTAH...SHOPPING...BRITNEY CONCERT

The past three days have been eventful and completely fantastic!!! Monday right after i got off work i drove down to Utah to meet up with some of my very best friends. We all got together and went to Costa Vida for dinner and caught up with everyone and then Randi, Kristen and I went to K's apartment for junk food and Twilight (we didn't make it very far because we just wanted to talk to each other, which was more fun anyway). When the boys got home from playing basketball we headed up to Chad's parents house to get a good nights sleep before our FULL day of shopping!!
Yummy Costa...
The good old trio...
I know we have a million pictures like this, but i honestly doubt i will ever get sick of them.
The damage...(sorry Ry and Chad) my entire backseat was loaded. We went to the new Nordstrom Rack in Sandy, which was AMAZING (and a million other stores,) and we found this "western" store in Springville, that was actually chuck full of the cutest clothes ever. I think if our wallets and husbands would have let us keep going there would have been no end to our shopping frenzy.
Guilty or ecstatic??? You decide.

BRITNEY SPEARS' CIRCUS
Charish and I with our pre-show energy...
Pussy Cat Dolls opening for Brit, they were fantasmic!!!
drum roll please....
I want to be a backup dancer for her....hmmm

Cold as fire baby hot as ice!!!
The finale (and entire show)... most amazing, ridiculous, mind-blowing i NEED to see it again!! Words cannot describe how amazing she was, there was constant entertainment, she didn't forget which city she was in:-), her costumes and props were fantastic,and she had actual circus people. Yes, there were midgets, flexible freaks, unicyclers, and tons and tons more. If you haven't seen this show add it to your list of must see, you won't regret it!

Dancing, sweaty, and just wanting more Britney!!!!

Random Post

The past month or so has been super busy for us but not super eventful, so this post is super random, and probably not that interesting to the majority of you. But i really had the itch to blog

about something:-)

BASKETBALL
The past month was full of watching lots of Kaid's basketball games, this is the district championship game. They made it to state and lost by one point in over time in the overall championship game.

The team was ecstatic!!

MINDY'S SHOWER
I threw my girlfriend, Mindy, her bridal shower... it turned out great!

MISSY RAE

Missy Rae had her last set of shots a couple weeks ago. She refused to go in her kitty bag, so i let her ride in the car with me, she did so good and got and orange star!!

VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENTS

Since Ry and I have had a couple weekends off, we have made a couple quick trips to Utah to watch Mareesa play volleyball. She is an awesome player and she is so fun to watch.

Great form!!

Ry's bored face...
Ryan got so bored that he volunteered to go shopping with me, this is a very rare occurrence in his life, he despises shopping. He lasted about 20 minutes while my mom and i scoured the racks and Nordstrom Rack.
Last weekend we went down for another tournament (i spaced taking pics,) and we took a little shopping venture and stumbled upon a jewelry store having an 80% sale!! They are trying to make room for all of their Spring line, i was just browsing around not thinking i would find anything or be able to talk Ry into letting me get anything if i did. I asked the sales woman if she had in small pave diamond band, and she did!!! It was beautiful, fit perfect, and....80% off, how could i resist?! Ry really liked it too, and said it could be a almost one year anniversary gift, i was so happy and i absolutely love it! Thanks RY!!!

MR. PHS

Kaid participated in the first annual Mr. PHS, it is basically a comedy pageant. He definitely did the best out of the thirteen contestants.

Telling why he should be Mr. PHS, this was their "question" for this part of the pageant.

Here is the story behind his talent, so he had a million different ideas that were all really great. He asked Mareesa if she had any yellow dresses in her closet, found one and... dressed up like a beast. He finally decided what his talent would be; he waltzed around to the song from Beauty and the Beast 'Tale as old as Time' with a raggity-ann doll dressed in a yellow dress. It was so hilarious, i died laughing and he came up with it all on his own!! Way to go Kaid!

They had a fitness portion where McKaid stuck a nasty mexi-stache and dressed up in under armor ad made funny faces the entire time, again laughing so hard my abs hurt.And the winner of Mr. PHS, McKaid Sheppard!!! He also won first in fitness (surprise surprise,) and second in casual wear, he dressed up as spider man, i didn't get my camera out fast enough to get a pic of it. Congrats Kaid, you are hilarious!

SWEET SURPRISE

Flowers aren't really Ryan's thing, he usually just says they are a waste of money and die after a few days (which i totally understand). Last week i was working three twelves in a row, i was exhausted and super sad that i couldn't spend the weekend with Ry. Saturday afternoon a little florist man showed up with this beautiful arrangement, my favorite color, favorite flowers, and it smelled amazing!!! Needless to say i made it through with a smile on my face and a skip in my step. Thanks babe, you're the best!

NEW CAR

Ry sold his car to one of his workers so we have been in the market for a new car for the past month or so. We test drove a bunch of cars and dealt with a few really annoying salesmen, and finally found a car that we both really like. It is a Chrysler 300, charcoal (my fave colour), leather interior, and most importantly it is SOO comfortable.