Colorful Colorado!!

Just in case anyone ever wonders why Colorado is called Colorful... take a look at this sunrise, it was absolutely gorgeous! Yes that's right I was awake and functioning at sunrise to catch this. So it started out all blue-like and then just before the sun fully rose it turned really really red. Way cool! This is just one simple example of course there are many many times when you can see how beautiful Colorado is ;)


























It seems like every day I look out the window and see something that is just awesome about living here in the Valley, it really is so beautiful. And of course the camera just doesn't do it justice (not to mention these are taken through the window...yes I'm a pansy when it comes to the cold so I didn't go outside).

Anyway just thought I'd put these pics in real quick :)

September... Oh My It's Gone!?

I can't believe how fast September went by. Summer was suddenly over :( I did a lot of traveling between Pleasant Grove and Alamosa figuring out what I was going to do exactly. Well I still hadn't found a job by the end of September so it came to a point where I had to decide if I could stay out in Utah or time to move home with the parents to get things going again. It really was a hard decision but I ended up moving back home! You know how it is The Valley just calls you home... only a matter of time before you can't ignore the call anymore ;)

Now that I finished my degree at BYU I have decided to go and get my nursing degree... I think I'm just going to keep going to school for the rest of my life. Well Adam's State (soon to be a University by the way) has a pretty good BSN program and so I have decided to go there and get this nursing thing on the go. So I've been home and it's been pretty nice hanging out with the family, catching up with old friends (total blasts from the past like you wouldn't believe) and helping a little bit on the ranch too.

Brittany and I were sitting here talking about how we both noticed how cool the trees have been looking, well we didn't have anything specifically planned for the next day so we decided to take a drive up into the mountains and get a good look before it was too late and we'd miss it. I thought these pics turned out pretty cool:



Proof we were there too ;)



So as you can probably tell the drive up in the mountains was a huge success (specially since the pics are never as good as it actually looks).

July and August Flew right by

THE BRAZOS!!!

The two cabins!

Andria and I went with the boys down to the Brazos.... they worked on the fence and we were "the cooks." Well our job only came when it was time to eat so we had a lot of fun just enjoying being in the mountains and having a good time getting away from all the hustle and bustle. Jackie, Jessie, Katie and Rachel joined us a few days later and we all had a good time hangin out at night at the cabin.

Alexis was truly enjoying running around on the deck... not the safest game to play...but we had fun.

Lynn went down to chop wood....


Then he gave me my official lesson on how to avoid chopping your leg open in the process ;)
Then Andria gave it a shot as well


Back at the cabin for the evening!
Jessie took out her braids and was a little concerned with the poof..lol
Check out Jess drinkin her juice... what a good little toad ;)


Alexis was loving being outside, lookin for fish, hoppers and all sorts of creatures.

Oh the trip was coming to an end...sad but definitely excited for a nice hot shower!
Lynn our trusty chauffeur navigator/dj


Stopped for a little lunch..... yummy ;)

LAKE NAVAJO!!!!!

Ahh the yearly trip to Lake Navajo! It's a week-long trip of camping out, playin in the water, and baking in the sun. Andria and I only got to go for two days but we made the best of what we had. Nights filled with card games, hot chocolate and TONS of giggly girls.

Britt and Lynn look awfully suspicious....
Jessie, Ryan and I chillin on the other side of the "card table"
The Captain Morgan Crew coming in to dock ;)
All Jammin to the music... Lynn of course rockin the boat!
Andria and Alexis playin in the water
The parents all went for a boat ride...
Floatin out in the middle of the lake
Alexis found some buddies....

STAMPEDE & PIONEER DAYS!!!

Once again they had Stampede and Pioneer Day Celebrations on the same weekend. Makes for a pretty crazy weekend but kind of nice if you're coming from out of town. Thursday Tom and I drove down from Provo with Ryan's new car... we met up with everyone in Monte just in time to book it over to the Rodney Atkins concert! Andria and I fell right back into our old concert jammin' selves. Pretty sure that was the first concert that our little brothers were there with us. We tend to get a little excited and really let loose, if you could have seen how our brothers were suddenly not so sure they wanted to claim us as family ;) What can I say though, we really know how to enjoy a concert!

Rodney Atkins and more importantly the hot guitar player in the back ;)

Look at that look from Lynn... yikes!
Andria and I helped embarrass Jessie a little too... teachin her our ways ;)
Rachel, Jess, and Katie...group pic?

On Friday and Saturday we all went down to Manassa for the parade and the excitement down there... yes that's right both Friday and Saturday, you just can't stick to one day you must make it for both.


Patiently waiting for the parade:


After the parade we all sit under the famous tree... same place every year!

Craig found Jessie to make a good pillow and Briana found Craig also makes a good pillow...just a little chain business going on.
Aunt Lucy helping Alexis out there... Jess chillin on the side ;)
Alexis and I had to drink together... any time I wasn't paying attention she would remind me that she was taking and drink and therefore I should also be doing so.
Cute... mom and daughter on the merry go round

Pioneer days wouldn't be complete without a journey out into the fields... whether it's a horse ride or out shooting guns...it just has to be done ;) Horses were the chosen activity this year. Definitely one of Alexis' favorite activities.

I don't have any pictures of August... probably because all these pictures weren't actually mine... the credit goes to Andria for being ready with the camera. So in August I moved to Pleasant Grove, UT. Yes that's right good ol' PG. Katy Tindall found this AMAZING apt for us to live in and well we had an absolute bast there. While I was there I finally finished all the testing for my CNA and passed on the first try!!! I was really excited about that. We lived with the Schrievers, and awesome family who took us in and treated us just like family.

June Birthdays

So right before and right after the cruise there were some Birthday celebrations to be had. Pretty sure Brittany will agree June is a very important month ;)

Mine had a cowboy theme...



Britt did an awesome job of pulling this one off...she got a lot of participation...everyone dressed up and everything!

Next it was Brittany's turn to age a little... So the day started off with a game of laser tag, then we went to the mall for some fudge, you'd be surprised how much fun that can be.
eating our spoils...

Then it was off to Red Lobster where Brittany and Jessie both enjoyed some LARGE drinks....we had just been on a cruise so it was a hard habit to break ;)


We then went back to the house for the best cheesecake....that's right Claim Jumpers Cheesecake! it was huge...I don't have any pics so you'll just have to take my word on this one, seriously insane!

Then while Lynn and Jessie were off picking up the movie for the night Brittany, Ryan and I attempted the tent making... oh it was quite the tent to start out ;)
The three of us barely fit so it was a no go when the other two came back.... but it was a fun little pass-time
Once we had a group effort going we made much better progress and successfully made a tent just like we used to back in the good ol' days ;) I have to say it was pretty cool.

We all slept a little light that night wondering if Lynn would still be alive in the morning. The exercise machine (that was holding up some of the tent) wasn't the most stable thing. It had fallen earlier when the cats decided to play on the tent. Lynn seemed to be in the danger zone, so we were all thrilled to see he survived!!

A Picture's Worth 1,000 Words...look out!

AHHH The Cruise!!

OK so Britttany, Ryan, Lynn and I all went on a cruise at the beginning of June! K so most of you already knew about it since we constantly talked about it until we left... getting all the pictures in one place is seeming to be a little bit tricky. So before it becomes old news here is just a few of the 555 pictures we took ;) Told you all we'd take plenty of pictures! So I added explanations of what is going on and what all we did... won't be the least bit offended if you just want to look at the pictures cause there's a lot.

So we left from the Denver airport (Brittany's first time flying) and all went well as planned. I had a very nice conversation with the poor fellow who ended up sitting next to me... I think he had planned to read his book, but ya know how I gab. So we finally arrived in San Diego, CA!!!

Here are the four of us just off the plane and yes still in the air port. We are waiting for our luggage, of which I am happy to report all made it to the proper destination ;)We successfully found our way to the hotel, sadly though our room was not quite ready. Luckily they could see our enthusiastic attitudes at the thought of lugging our luggage around for a 1-2 hours in San Diego so we checked our bags and headed out for some adventure....of course when we found ourselves tired from the plane ride the nearby Arby's sounded like the perfect distraction. When we got back to the hotel we waited a few more moments when we realized that......

...Brittany and Lynn had matching outfits on! Oh how cute!

Well after a few minutes more our room was ready for us. After checking in both Brittany and I decided that we were in great need of a nap... it was just a little short nap and so the boys waited......

.... very patiently I might add. After our naps we were ready to go exploring and find out what San Diego had to offer. Mom and dad had really enjoyed eating at "Anthony's Grotto" a few years ago, so they suggested we check it out for some good seafood! We made a quick reservation and we were off!
Looky here we found it!

We sort of underestimated out abilities because our reservation was not for a few more hours so we played tourist and walked around the warf. There really was a lot to see... The Star of India (this ship pictured), lots of little cool artsy things, a museum on a ship, The Midway (of course the main attraction there was that the Navy was having a little shin-dig on board and so there were many many military men around that one). Pretty sure Brittany and I enjoyed that ship the most of our tours ;)

I don't know why we didn't get a pic of Lynn by this sword fish but we seemed to get everyone else.

Well it was finally time for dinner, we were all getting quite hungry and we tend to get a little grumpy when we're hungry so it was wise for all for us to get some food. So our first night at Anthony's was really good, we all tried new things and kind of figured out what we liked the best. After dinner we decided that 4 miles really wasn't that far to walk back to the hotel. Ok ok so we were really thinking of the cab fare that none of us wanted to pay for. The sun was setting and so Britt and Ryan sped up and walked quite briskly towards the hotel. Lynn and I decided we were in no real hurry so we just casually let them get ahead. It wasn't long before we could no longer see Brittany and Ryan but we had confidence in their ability to make it back safe and sound. We soon found that, at least in this part, people in San Diego don't do much walking.... the sidewalks would suddenly cut off and then pick up a block or two later. This made our journey quite interesting indeed. We found ourselves jumping fences and looking far ahead to make sure we ended up on the right side of the freeway at the right time. Lynn and I got about half way and decided we had cut the cab fare in half and that would do for us. We hailed a cab (with Lynn's excellent hailing skills) and were at the hotel in no time. Ryan and Brittany weren't there yet and so we called to make sure they were safe.

Apparently they ended up crossing the freeway and "taking an exit" on foot! Quite the adventure... (Here is Britt stopping to smell the...flowers on the way)

They thought there was an unspoken rule that taking a cab was prohibited for this particular journey. Well you can imagine they're disgust when they found out we had in fact caught a cab. Luckily all was forgotten when we found out the hot tub and pool were still open. Then next day was time to board the CRUISE!!!! So we left the hotel and Lynn demonstrated his cab-hailing skills....
He was quite the pro...Britt had to give it her best shot...not to be outdone by Lynn!

Meanwhile Ryan and I decided they had the whole cab thing under control and so we could simply relax and wait.

Well we headed straight for our ship, The Elation, which we were informed is bigger than the Titanic! (We had been debating that one earlier and so it was good to know who won of course). We got through all of security, checking our luggage and then we found out that our rooms would not be ready for a while. So what do we do when there is extra time???? Eat of course!! Since we had all figured out what was best at Anthony's the night before we decided to head back and get it! Their clam chowder was to die for! So we got off the boat and went to enjoy a nice warm bowl of chowder. You might be wondering why on earth we would want warm food in the summertime in California? Yeah we were thinking the same thing but there was a chilly wind that was blowing and Brittany and I were cold! (surprise surprise)
After our little lunch we headed back to the ship and found our cabin was ready! We checked it out and yes Brittany and I had to take a short nap... we just wanted to be well rested for the cruise... anyway Lynn and Ryan once again waited patiently and then we all got up and went to dinner...our first dinner on The Elation!

Brittany suspiciously checkin out the menu

So many good choices I didn't know where to start

The boys were taking this dinner thing WAY too seriously, but what could we expect....food is a serious topic with them.

That night we went around checking out the many things going on and of course did Not go to bed early! The next day we were anchored just off of Catalina Island! So we got up and ready, we headed off

on the little boats that take you to the island. I know Lynn looks so happy.... He really was excited!

See all that excitement on his face?

oh the view of the island from our little boat was really pretty

The excitement only continued as the day went on! I was ready to party!

We weren't kidding when we said, "Squish together for the picture!"

On Catalina Island we found a lot of little cool shops to look at and definitely played up the whole Touris thing.

Britt and I found some ice cream!

Next we played around a little bit on the beach, the water wasn't the warmest but it was still fun!

After the beach Brittany and I decided to head back to the boat while Lynn and Ryan went kyacking... (they didn't take any pictures of themselves).

There was so much more sun on the boat!

As well as a buffet of food, we were hungry

...and thirsty! (Britt's pina colada)
That night waws formal night and so the boys got dressed up with us...Lynn was my date

Ryan was pretty serious about his lobster

Lynn was just happy to be at dinner

I do like to eat too

Britt and her three desserts! Our waitor was so funny, every time we ordered the chocolate melting cake (on the right) he brought two for each of us...along with whatever else we ordered!

Couldn't resist... I'm flying, I'm flying!

Brittany had to go flying too

As we were "flying' we saw that the hot tubs were still open at the end of the ship...so we hurried and changed for a little soaking!

Yes, we played with all the bubbles...it was just too tempting! I don't know bout you, but Lynn's face just screams trouble to me.

After all the hot tubbing we were thirsty so we headed to the bar for some pina coladas!

OK, so there is this piano bar below and behind us, it was pretty cool, we spent a lot of our decision making time here at this very spot!

We went down for the dance competition... afterwards we hung out with our cruise activity director, Stew...a very funny guy!

The next day we were surprised to find out that we got to stop in Mexico afterall!! Stew came on the air and told us it was going to be a, "Cracker of a Day!" So we hurried and got ready to check out Ensanda!

This is Lynn and me walking in downtown... we caught a bus to go see the bufadora (blow hole thing) and on the walk down this is what we ran into...

this guy dancing and playin music

The four of us at the bufadora! We had a real hard time getting a good pic that had us all in it and the water shooting up behind us... it really was pretty cool.

Here is Lynn and Ryan down at the market... it was fun too.

This is me bargaining for a nice bracelet. After Mexico we headed back to the boat and had a lovely dinner... as always. Then we realized that we were leaving Mexico and wanted to go see it as we left.

Ryan...might be a tear in that other eye!

Lynn and I were also checking out the lights as they disappear.

The next day was a, "fun day at sea" the boys were reading by the sun.

Yes that's Ryan reading "New Moon"

Next it was time for ping pong!

Lynn's pretty serious in the background!

Brittany and the monkey towel...kind of a scary sight to walk into in our cabin, but we got used to it after a little while.

This is our last night with our awesome waitor, Gereom from Manilla (in the Phillipines). He took such good care of us and kept us laughing pretty much all night long. Lynn also got to find out more about the Phillipines (he is headed there on his mission in August).

Of course there are sooo many more pictures that we took, if you want to see more look on facebook.