Lots of Catch Up...

I know I have been so bad at staying caught up on everything, so i'm going to attempt to catch up on the last three months...

VEGAS VACATION

MARCH 2010

Ry and I took a much needed vacation down to Las Vegas in mid-March. Ry loves AM radio and I love music; since we don't agree on either of those options we both went to the library and loaded up on audiobooks, something we both agree on. We left after Ry got off work and stopped out at my parents for dinner and then hit the road for a LONG drive. I try really hard to stay awake on roadtrips, but unless i'm fully engaged in conversation or really interested in whatever we have playing I fall asleep fast.

We made it down to Vegas Saturday morning about an hour before we could check into our room so we just wandered around for a while before we could check in. We stayed at the MGM Grand Signature, it was beautiful, private and exclusive---we loved it, and can't wait to stay there again. The first night we settled in to our room and got some food for our little kitchen, since we didn't want to eat out every night and got a redbox movie.

Ry jumped in the shower while I got the movie and popcorn ready. I ran to the bathroom after I put the popcorn in the microwave and came out to a room full of thick, black smoke!! Somehow, the popcorn had caught fire, so I grabbed the popcorn bag and threw it in the sink, yelled at Ry to come help me as I was jumping on the bed trying to flap the smoke away from the detector. All of my fanning effort failed and the fire alarm sounded, I called to the front desk and the lady said "there's a glitch in the system don't worry" and hung up before I could tell her I actually did start a fire. A little while later three hotel guys came to our door and had us evacuate while they filtered the air and cleaned it up, I felt like such and idiot. So much for our relaxing night in... we ended up just wandering around the strip and came back to a room that smelled heavily of smoke. Our first night was a great adventure thanks to me, OOpsy!!

These pictures are not in chronilogical order and I can't get them to move so I will narrate the pictures despite their jumbled order. Monday Ry and I went to the Hoover Dam, the new bridge was absolutely mind-blowing, it is HUGE!!! After we got back from the Hoover Dam we went to the Miracle Mile and shopped. After our feet got tired from shopping we went and laid out at our pool, it was soo nice and relaxing and the weather was perfect.

Our bestfriends, Randi and Chad met us our last couple days in Vegas. We went to Coke world and tried all the different flavors from all over the world...some of them were disgusting, and some were surprisingly delicious! We wandered the strip with them and did all the touristy stuff you can do in Vegas.

VIVA!!!!

HOOVER DAM

Hoover Dam pictures...

If you look closely at this pictures you can see a guy in the background belaying off the bridge, he's one of the builders. (He's in the top left corner).

KA

Wednesday night Ry and I went to the Cirque du Soleil show KA. The story was about a brother and sister who were bestfriends and got seperated when they were young, it told the story of both their lives and showed them reunite and the end. The music was amazing, the acrobatics were awesome, and the stage was hydraulic so it could rotate in every single direction, and it did! It was absolutely incredible!!!

THE STRIP

We did tons of walking, which is good considering all the food we ate. I think we ate at PFChangs at least twice if not three times, we ate at CPK twice (once with my cousin and her boy and once with Randi and Chad). We had such a great time just relaxing with no worries about work, school or anything else.

MGM GRAND

Since our hotel was attached to the MGM we would go down everyday and look at the lion exhibit. I loved the lions, they act just like my kitties, they were so cute!! They were sleeping most of the time, but we got lucky a few times and got to see the trainers feed them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI!

Sunday night we went to dinner with my cousin Nikki and her boyfriend. About half way through our dinner we figured out it was her birthday, she not super into birthdays, which makes me sad, because I love to go all out! If only I would have known... we had a great time with them and it was so fun to see them!!

THE BODY EXHIBIT

Tuesday, Ry and I went to the Body Exhibit, it was the best! We spent three hours wandering through the different rooms with the different organ systems and different cuts of the cadavers reading all the fun facts on the walls. I wish we could have taken pictures in the exhibit because words could never do it justice. The way they preserve the bodies makes them look freshly disected, and they had an exhibit where they had injected plastic into all the arteries and veins and then burned the rest of the body away with acid, so it was just a shadow of a body made by the veins and arteries, it was beautiful!

After the body exhibit we went shopping for some clothes for Ry, because he had already worn almost all the shirts he brought. We shopped for a while, laid out by our pool and then turned in for the night and ordered room service, pizza, wings and fries...so healthy right?!

COKE WORLD

Ryan tasting a concontion that we had mixed of all the grossest flavors:-)

DINNER AND A SHOW

After a day of laying by the pool, wandering the strip, shopping and most importantly...relaxing, we headed down to the mirage. The last night we were there we all went to dinner at CPK before Randi and Chad went to see the Beatles LOVE show. It was so nice to catch up and be with them, we wish we lived closer!

Free dessert anyone?! For some reason (maybe because they were extremely slow and we were very nice, and quiet,) they brought us free dessert...yummy!!!

Overall, we had a wonderful trip and it was so great to catch up with our good friends. Thanks guys!!!

Island Park & Super Bowl Party

ISLAND PARK
We have had a very busy year so far... Ry and I took a much needed long weekend (from Thursday to Monday,) two weeks ago up to Island Park. We had so much fun playing games in the cabin, snowmobiling and relaxing with each other. The snow was perfect and we could not have asked for better weather. The first three days we were there were blue skies with a couple little white puff clouds and the last two days it snowed about ten inches of fresh powder.

This is me raging through the fields and having an absolute blast, I have decided that this is my kind of riding. I get too scared on steep and deep mountain riding, I like when I can see everything around me and don't have to worry about avalanches.

This is the beginning of our ride up Red Rocks Pass... Isn't it beautiful?

Ry ready to go...

Once we got to the top I swear it dropped about twenty degrees and the wind picked up like crazy. Despite the freezing wind burning our faces we thoroughly enjoyed the view and the ride up was unforgettable.

We made it to the top of Red Rocks Pass and the continental divide, Ry is in Idaho and i'm in Montana.

Of course Ry couldn't stop at the pass he wanted to keep going higher... So we did and the views just got better. I stayed as close to the trails as I could, since I got stuck every single time I got off of them and Ry ventured out into the deep "fun snow" and had a wonderful time!
Ryan's family came up for the day and brought Mareesa, i'm SO glad that she came because while the boys went on their big ride up to Two Top we hung out in the cabin with games, books, movies, and kettle corn!! We had some great sister bonding time and stayed nice and warm while the boys froze their bums off and spent all day digging out the less experienced riders.

SUPER BOWL XLIV

As always my parents threw the best super bowl party ever. We had so much food that we could have fed an army, none of us really need to eat for the rest of the week. The fans were pretty evenly split; Ry, Me, and Mareesa cheered for the Saints, and the rest were rooting for the Colts.

Showing off our jerseys...

Happy that our Saints won!! Great super bowl followed by a little Wii action.

Lately...

Last week I made the most delicious, homemade Cafe Rio Salad. I found the recipe on this great website: http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2007/11/jared-and-i-love-cafe-rio.html It is quite time consuming but worth every second!! I think it tasted even better than Cafe Rio, is that even possible!?


We have a group of super fun girls who get together to play BUNCO once a month. I have never ever, ever, in my whole life got a "bunco" (for those of you who aren't avid bunco fans, a bunco is the three of a kind of the number you are trying to roll) and this past Thursday i got NINE, yes, that's right, nine Buncos!!! To top the night off I ended with a Bunco, with the most points, AND the traveler!! It was a night for BUNCO miracles, I had a blast and can't wait for our next one!!
We had a great girls night last night with the girls from work. We went to THE LOVELY BONES; this movie is horrific, by the end of the movie I was literally almost peeing my pants. It was a good movie, but if you get even a little scared about kidnappings or murders then don't see it. I sprinted to my door after Charish dropped me off and Ry looked at me like i was a psycho. Needless to say it was a fairly restless night and Ry is ready to kill me because I am being overly paranoid.

My Top 2010 Resolutions

I have lots of New Years Resolutions this new year!!! You know if you don't write them down they probably won't happen, so here are a few of my top ones written down:

Go to this place twice a month...
Read this EVERY day...
Get into PA school...
Go on a date with this guy once a week...

Eat more of these...

Do A LOT more of this...

So I can look like this...

It's the Most Wonderful (and busy) Time of the Year!!!

This Christmas season has absolutely flown by, I cannot believe it's over!! I can already feel that this year is going to fly by just as fast. Ryan and I have been incredibly busy with work, family activities, and our new toys. I was recently called as second counselor in the Young Woman's, I am so excited about this calling! We have been in this ward for over a year and a half now and I was honestly losing any hope of ever getting a calling so I was very surprised when I actually got one. It is nice since Ry is in Young Men's we go to mutual every week together.

The Fam

My parents' friend, Mike, has been coming every Christmas since I was born to visit us dressed up as Santa. This was year 24, can you believe it!?
Ry telling Santa how good he has been this year... Sorry it's so blurry!

CHRISTMAS EVE 2009

Christmas Eve is always my favorite; we started at my parents' house with our traditional progressive dinner for hors dourves, next was the Wood's house for salad and soup, and then the Bullington's for cleansing palate foods that were light and fluffy, and then we ended at my Grandparents' house for the main dish and of course delicious riz à l'amande my Dad and Brandon were the winners of the marzipan piggy! We got some very nice things and had an amazing time with all of our family, thanks everyone!!
Grandma, Scott and Kaid

CHRISTMAS DAY 2009
Ry with all of his goods, he didn't get a really big present this year- his snowmobiles and truck were an early Christmas. But he got lots of fun little things, Ry really like Louis L'amour (an old western writer) and I was so excited to find a collection of his books at Costco, I got him the whole set.
I got very spoiled this year... I had Ry's presents all wrapped under the tree along with the rest of the family gifts. I had given Ry my birthday/Christmas list at the end of November so he could start preparing, the main thing that I really really have been wanting since we got married is a KitchenAid. I kept hinting to Ry that if that was the only present I got I would be a happy girl but he told me that I was not getting one. I kept peeking under the tree to see what I was going to get and there was not a single present under the tree for me. I tried to act like i didn't notice but I wasn't very good at hiding my disappointment and Ry just rubbed it in. I big box came in the mail a few days before Christmas and Ry made me open it, it was a bread maker! We had a blast making lots of homemade (does that count as homemade?) bread before Christmas rolled around. I was pretty satisfied and was convinced that was my big present for Christmas so I wasn't really expecting anything else, especially after the way Ry had completely convinced me I was not getting a KitchenAid this year.
So on Christmas morning I opened all of my stocking stuff which is always my favorite and there were two teeny tiny presents under the tree for me. I opened the first one and it was a box of cherry cordials, (which i don't even like) and then I opened a package of targets; so I thought, maybe he got me a gun and it's hiding somewhere around the house. I just kind of looked at Ry and gave him a reluctant "thanks" and then he said, "I think Santa left one more present for you"... he went over to the other side of our house and brought a HUGE box. It was a beautiful metallic black KitchenAid!!!! I was soooo excited and have thoroughly enjoyed it since Christmas.
After Ry and I had our own little Christmas morning together we headed up to his parents' house. Jeffery loved opening all of his gifts and was a tad overwhelmed with all of them. I got a bathroom heater that I use every single day now, I love it! Grandma Sims gave us a really sweet gift as well, she gave me a Christmas windmill carousel that was her mother's, she thought with my Danish heritage that I would love it, she was right.

One of our favorite parts of the day was talking with Marcus! He talked for about eight hours and he did not want to get off the phone. It was so great to hear his sweet voice, he is such a great missionary and I really can't believe that this is the last Christmas that we will talk to him and that next Christmas it will be McKaid that we will be talking to.

Kaid and his darling girldfriend, Brekka. They are so cute together and we had lots of fun playing games and hanging out with them.

I am turning into quite the domestic godess with all of my new kitchen toys. My parents got us a crockpot and a bunch of snow mobile gear. I have been really wanting a crockpot since it is hard for me to make dinner when I get off work at eight, it's been nice to just throw the stuff in in the morning and have it done when we get home.

NEW YEARS EVE DAY/ NEW YEARS

Ry and I both worked a half day on New Years Eve and the second we got off we headed up Buckskin to do some riding! We had a ball and the snow was perfect!
Another ride up Scout Mountain, this was the most beautiful and perfect day! (Do you like my cute pink helmet and googles?!)

Ry on the other love of his life...

That's me on my sled plowing through the powder.

Me again...
Daring Weenie again!

Ry doing his crazy moves...
A beautiful evening up Buckskin.
Sisters

This is my daring little sister jumping up a cornice, she is a little dare devil!!! I'm still terrified to do this, I get hurt way to easily. I think Ry likes going with her better because she's not chicken like me.

IDAHO FALLS TEMPLE

My cousin Kirsten is going on a mission the the Czech Republic and went through the temple for the first time a few days after Christmas. My Grandma, mom, two aunts and I went through with her. It was a wonderful way to end the year and great way to start off the new year. Ry and I are really going to try and go twice a month this year.

AVATAR

We always go to a movie on Christmas break and Avatar had the winning vote. I wasn't really that excited to see it, but it was a great movie. It's definitely one to see in the theatre, but I hate 3-D because it gives me headaches, (that was the only option the day we went). So if you haven't see it, see it non 3D.

Happy New Years 2010!!!!