An Olympic weekend

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On Friday, we had a 6 hour Olympics party with friends where we watched the opening ceremonies and grilled Ribeye steaks, ate fruit pizza, and added about ten countries to our vocabulary. 5th grade geopgraphy was clearly a failure.

On Saturday, we drove to Holladay to help Chris and Kaitlyn move into their new apartment- we don't really know how we're going to cope with them being gone.

On Sunday, we said half of a goodbye to most of the jokingly coined 'Best Friends Club.' We owe most of these friendships to Chris and Kaitlyn for sharing their friends and giving us a jump start into the world of being married almost a year ago. The 'club', which truly was open to all, would get together to relish in all sorts of conversation, food parties, and fun. And now, almost all of them are moving across the country to pursue law school, and dental school, and overly ambitious things that we think they would be just fine to go without and stay here with us. Luckily, we're getting together one last time before we have to say our real goodbyes..

We are currently accepting applications for new friends.

Lake Powell.

If you’ve never been to Lake Powell, just imagine a smaller scale Grand Canyon. Then imagine that someone left the hose running. It’s also safe to assume that it’s one of the richest Lakes in the world, seeing as how it now owns multiple pairs of my sunglasses and hair accessories (you will be greatly missed, Ray-bans).

And, for those of you having trouble imagining, you can enjoy the scenery via this Britney Spears music video (watch here).

It’s one of the greatest places in the world, and perhaps the greatest thing about it is that every year, due to the varying water levels, you’ll find yourself on a different lake- full of different caves, cliffs, and coves. The second greatest thing is Big John's Texas Barbeque- their pulled pork sandwhich has forever changed my life.

I think Europe caught wind of its amazing-ness and decided to go on vacation the same time we did- there were countless binocular clad foreigners touring Paige, Arizona in their rented RV’s- it was almost as diverse as Disneyland at peak season- a sight I never expected I’d see. However, it’s been years since I’ve been to Lake Powell, and while the ethnicities in the area now differ, nature’s color pallet has remained the same- those red rocks and that emerald green water just about made my eyes burst from beauty! Not to mention the incredible Slot Canyons we shimmied through- breathtaking, I tell you. All of it. It just may be the happiest place on Earth- Disneyland, you’ve been outdone yet again.

And we're off.. again!

This weekend we're headed to Lake Powell for the 24th of July (thank you, Utah!) and luckily we have a brand new form of entertainment, the iPad, to keep us from talking and singing and game playing- just all that normal social interaction roadtrip stuff we used to have to do before portable technology. We got Glitter Fins a fish sitter, did our dishes, and now Lake Powell here we come!

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The birthday was overall, a complete success. After days of party planning, present wrapping, and secret keeping- I couldn't sleep. So I woke Alex at 6:30 a.m. and gave him his presents. The first- a 7 year old's dream: a Batman bag, complete with mask and handmade Batman shirt, for their surprise Batman party. Second, the new iPad, complete with case. I'm not entirely sure which he loved more, he's pleaded for both over the past few months. Regardless, he was over-the-moon excited, so I patted myself on the back for a job well done. I proceeded to drag him away from his presents and we departed for breakfast. We had frenchtoast with Chris and Kaitlyn at Kneaders, the best option for a Thursday morning in Logan, dinner at Elements with their family, and then even more present opening. You better believe we sported our homemade, matching shirts to dinner.

And then finally, the Batman par-tay commenced. Complete with homemade Batman icecream cake. We delivered the invites- I'm still trying to get over their adorableness- and just hoped people would show up. Luckily, we had the best turn-out imaginable. We also have the best friends imaginable. I mean really, we do. We spent the night enjoying S'mores, homemade Joker oreos, and our husbands saving the world via our front porch. Pure birthday greatness. 

  

The birthday festivites will continue as we head to Salt Lake with Chris, Kaitlyn, Jess and Paul to see the new Batman movie tonight. Happy birthday Alex, here's to saving the world for another year!  

You're invited..

Happy birthday!

One year ago today- Alex gave me a ring. On his birthday, of all days. And at Disneyland, of all places. Why someone would give themselves a birthday present of a moody, semi-irrational future wife is beyond me, but I am so glad that he did!

I didn't quite know how to top last year's gift, so I took a little inspiration from Mr. Jobs and it definitely did the trick! I'll be vigorously documenting today's events- Kaitlyn and I have spent all week preparing for the night's events and seeing as how the Universe seems to find humor in ruining such things, I'm hoping it will go flawlessly.

I'm the luckiest to spend today with my 25 year old dreamboat- happy birthday to my handsom husband! I hope today makes the quarter-of-a-century mark a good one. 

Breaking Bad.

Breaking Bad started its fifth season on Sunday, and  Alex and I just about fell off the couch out of excitement. We’re those people who entered the ‘Win a walk on role’ competition about 10,000 times. We feel that we won in spirit. Alex has also tried to create a multitude of baby name variations using Walt or Jesse, but that’s about where I drew the line.

If you aren’t big on Chemistry teachers making narcotics to provide for their family once a sudden illness strikes mixed with occasional humorous profanities, then I would say steer clear. But, apparently we’re into that kinda thing. We breezed through seasons one through four in the month of October alone, so this long awaited fifth season has tried our patience- but it’s going to be worth it. We’re sure of it. And if you want to join, we’ll be at Alex’s parents house every Sunday night, glued to the T.V. from 8 pm until 9 Mountain standard time. All hail Breaking Bad!  

A simple striped rug.

I thought I should get craft on Saturday- it should have stayed a thought.

I was under many false, amateur impressions. I thought, "how long could it take to paint a few stripes on a rug?" As well as, "one tube of acrylic paint will be more that sufficient" along with "when Alex comes home I'm sure he'll want to help".

Lesson learned, craft world.

After an hour and a half of taping, and two trips back to Michaels- I gave up. The rug is still sitting on the floor of our laundry strewn office and I have no desire to rekindle the crafting flame.

I can only hope to muster up the energy needed to paint the remaining 60 stripes by hand. And seeing as how I'm going to need about 3 more tubes of paint, I will have to take it day by day (this is mostly due to the fact that Michaels only accepts one 40% off coupon per day) and by some miracle I hope to eventually relish in a new striped rug for our bedroom. 

National French Fry Day

Alex and I celebrated National French Fry Day on Fryday Friday at La Beau's here in Logan. It was a small fortune for the large caloric intake, but I'd say it was worth it.

Rumor had it that the Arby's in Canada was giving away free small curly fries. I found this ironic since it was national french fry day. Regardless, I've decided to make every Friday a Fry Day.

Puppy hungry- us? What gives you that idea?

Even though this T.J. Maxx clearance item looks like Cousin It and a marshmallow had a baby, it reminded us just how puppy hungry we are.  

Truth be told..

Today I woke up, and I was excited. I was excited to eat my leftover pizza from dinner with friends last night. I was excited that our sink is overflowing with pots and pans, and that it’s Alex’s turn for dishes. I was excited that I have half a sheet of better-than-sex cake in my fridge. I was excited that I showered last night, and that I wouldn’t have to shower again until tomorrow could sleep in. And most of all, I was excited because there were 10,000 project ideas swimming around in my semi-conscious brain that I wanted to do for our house, most of which probably involved leopard print. I’ve had a skip in my step since 8 a.m. and for no extraordinary reason, but it’s done my heart good to think that all these little things have got me so excited. Maybe this means that some real excitement is just around the corner- fingers crossed that it involves something that barks- but for now, I’m going to drag Alex to Michaels and force him to be excited about my soon to emerge house projects.

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Grandma's House.

My trip to Arizona was the best, in every sense of the word. But then again, Grandma's house is always the best! Especially when your Grandma has every self serving gadget known to man. Some examples: a gadget that sweeps and mops her floor with minimal adult supervision, a capsule on her counter that vacuum seals all her bread for softness and longevity, as well as every slicer, dicer, and splicer you could imagine. And don't forget her bicycle and movie collection- yes folks, just about every movie ever made (that's worth seeing, that is). There are years of entertainment in Grandma's spare bedroom alone.

Living in Utah, away from all of our extended family, really makes you appreciate being able to get together and spend time with each other. I sure had missed it. 

I expected Tucson to be hotter than a flaming habanero pepper, but instead I was greeted with monsoon season, and 29 mosquito bites. It really is something to watch the streets of Arizona overflow with water- and then drive 20 miles in it to Uncle Bunk's house. Luckily, I was raised by a Tucson native, and the river-run streets didn't even phase him. 

The 4th of July was spent celebrating the love of our country by eating a feast fit for a small army. And of course- Aunt Kelly's baked beans- which are heart stopping, in more ways than one. We watched the fireworks extravaganza from the shore of a river bed behind Uncle Bunk's house, and then came back and ate some more. It was perfect.

I couldn't even tell you what we did the rest of the week, because I was too busy enjoying all the family time I was getting. But it was fantastic, I'll tell you that. 

Until next year!

And I'm off!

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I'm headed to Tucson, Arizona- the oven of America- to celebrate to Fourth of July with all the family! I cannot wait to spend my days in Grandma's pool, eating my Aunties baked beans and spending some much needed down time with all my family that I rarely get to see.

Sadly, our bank account told us that Alex will have to stay home (it's almost more expensive to fly to Tucson, than it is to Hawaii- riddle me that, U.S. Airways). So even though it will be awesome to sleep in a queen size bed all by myself won't be the same without him, I can't wait- 110 degree weather here I come!

And what I did do..

Three years ago to the date, we had just emerged from an 18 hour flight to Rome, and were caught in a hurricane force rain storm outside of the Colosseum. Three years later, our adventures consist of an iPhone and a fan. That’s life for you.

Friday was quite the reunion- Ashlee has been working in New York, and now is home for a short time before she moves out to Chicago for a new job (talk about ambitious..). With her in town, we had to get together before she was off to Oprah’s homeland. So on Friday we met at Zupa’s- no one’s surprised- and then reconvened at Ali’s adorable townhome just outside Salt Lake (a mere 5 minutes from Zupa's- Dream!) where we crammed 5 years of girl talk into 3 hours. I've got to do this more often, before my body goes into Zupa's friend withdrawls.

 
It was so needed, and so fun to get together with my gals- until next time, I’ll have these pictures to hold me over.

**I've withheld some of the seriously weird stranger photos from the night, for everyone's sake.

What I didn't do this weekend..

Please- someone tell me I’m not the only one with three laundry baskets that have seemingly exploded about our laundry storing room office.