BIRD is the WORD

We spent this past week up at Snowbird at the good old Iron Blossom. It was so much fun because my ENTIRE family got to be there! Spence, as you all know from the last post just got back from the mish, & then Stacy & Chris & their 3 girls all drove into town. We swam, played games, played tennis, watched movies, slept & ate, ate, ate! Now that's my kind of vacation. :) All was well until Friday afternoon when Mike, Chris, Spencer & Spency's friend Andrew decided to rent some scooters & go up the tram & then ride down the mountain. As they were about to leave Stacy says to Chris, "Make sure you come back with all of the pieces you left with!" Well about an hour or so later we get a call & Chris had hit a pothole on the trail & broken his ankle badly. The ambulances came & took him straight down to Alta View Hospital where he got some X-Rays & was evaluated & it turned out that he had broken his ankle & some of the ligaments had come off. So, he ended up staying over night & having surgery the following morning. All went well & he is now "recovering", I just have one question, Would it still be considered "coming back with all the pieces that you left with", if they were all still technically there, just all broken & mashed up? Anywhoo, on a much lighter note, let me semi-explain the pictures above. As you can tell in the top one that they are all swimming, but I don't even want to try to explain Mike in this photo, so moving on... the next one down is Camren & Lyse eating some ice-cream (Cams favorite treat!) on the balcony of the condo. The third one down is all of the kids playing The Candy Bar Game, now you have to know that I grew up going to Snowbird every summer of my life & every time we were up there, there was a game of The Candy Bar Game played, so it's basically tradition. The adults played our own game of it too, but there is no evidence on film-so sorry. The last picture I think is so sweet, the cousins wanted to sleep by each other & one of the night's we ourselves walked in to go to bed & this is how Jaden & Aly wound up, all tangled up in each other. Although really you can tell by the picture, it's mostly just Jaden all over Aly & both of them just sleeping soundly either way. What a fun trip! Thanks again Mom & Dad for letting us come up year after year, it is ALWAYS a BLAST!

He's BAAAAAAAACK!!!!

It's official, my youngest brother Spencer just got back from his mission to Japan & it is so much fun to have him back!!! He is the comic relief of our family. He is one of my favorite people to be around on the whole planet! My parents & Jess & Matt went over & actually picked Spence up from Japan, so I was kind of in charge of getting all of the "Welcome Home" stuff in order. So this morning I went & tied yellow ribbons around all the trees leading up to my parents house with a family neighbor Lisa Elder & then I went with Spencers "friend?", Megan & put up cups on the walkway above Bangeter. Which in & of itself was quite the task considering the cups that I had bought didn't exactly "fit" inside the chain link. I'm sure it would have been pretty humorous watching us shove the cups into place. But all in all it was a success! My older sister Stacy & her clan all came into town today as well & it was so fun being all together as a family again, I have to admit it made me a wee bit emotional at times. Later in the evening I went to go grab some Village Baker for everyone for a late dinner & Spencer offered to come with me. It was so fun to have him all to myself for our little food run. Spencer is just such an awesome brother & friend. I am so proud of him & so happy that he is a part of my family. When he was gone, it always felt like something was missing. And even though I know that he is going to miss Japan, & for my own selfish reasons I am sooo glad he's HOME! :)

WOW, What a Hole!!!

The process has BEGUN! Wehoo! Ladies & Gent's we have a hole! I never thought that I could get so excited over some dirt, but as soon as they start diggin' that dirt, that's when the excitement begins! And the best part of it all was that Mike or Larry didn't have to do any of the work (I guess that is the benefit of paying someone else to build your house, now isn't it?)! More updates to come, I'm sure I'll be over there taking a plethora of pictures to share! Stay tuned....

MODEL BEHAVIOR

Krista had some of our nieces over for a sleepover & we ended up doing make-overs & "Glamour Shots"! Krista did the lovely hair & I did the make-up, hello, do they even need any? No, they are all so gorgeous, Naturally! It was so much fun, it's always good to have a "girlie" night! They all cracked me up too, while we were waiting for some of the girls to get their hair done, we decided to get a pen & pretend it was a microphone & we'd pass it around & we were making up a rap about our night. Keep in mind that it was midnight by this time & we were all a little bit delusional. But it was hilarious, they were crackin' me up left & right with some of the rhymes they were coming up with! Good times!

A bunch of goons at Lagoon

Thanks to my in-laws, our family got to enjoy a great day at Lagoon! The top picture is Jaden & Camren with their Grandma & Grandpa- I looove that picture! Vickie & Larry are some of the nicest, most generous people I have ever met & I am so lucky that they are my in-laws! We had so much fun going to Lagoona Beach & on all of the rides. Camren especially loved the Dinosaur Drop, he would laugh so hard every time it dropped, it was soo cute! Love Lagoon!

Sun + Fun = LAKE POWELL

We spent this last week down in Lake Powell, and not that any of you care, but yes Mike & I did drive all the way home from Mesquite last Sunday & then the very next day we drove all that way back out to Lake Powell. Needless to say we are a little bit sick of driving- apologies go out to our Chevy Prism who made the long haul all possible! Anywhoo, the "vacay" was a Blast!!! The weather was awesome & the water couldn't have been a better temperature. We stayed on my parents best friends, The Sartori's, Houseboat. They are the nicest, funnest people & our family has always gone to Powell with them every year since I can remember. We got to swim (the boys favorite thing to do, especially after they realized that they could do it "all by themselves", with the help of their life jackets, of course), Jet Ski, Wake board (did you see how stinkin' cute the picture is of Camren going with Mike?), Knee board, Cliff Jump, swim some more, & just relax! I believe I was able to take a nap every single day that I was down there. Ahhh, Bliss! :D

Vegas Baby Yeah! (Insert Austin Powers Accent)

Okay, so we actually spent the weekend in Mesquite, but we drove into Vegas for the day & it's the only place we happened to get any pictures. It was such a blast! We went with 3 other couples, Betsy & Gentry, Adrienne & Ian, and Candace & Steve and here's the big part....NO KIDS!!! Thanks Mom & Dad for watching our wee ones! Betsy & Gentry have a condo @ Mesquite & they were so nice to let us all come & stay there. We drove down & we had a "Girls Only" car & a "Guys Only" car, we stopped in Cedar City for some Chilli's for dinner & then made it to Mesquite around 9:00. The next morning all of the guys went out golfing (in 108 degree weather mind you), while us girls went & chilled at the pool- so relaxing! Then we came back, had some naps & headed to Vegas! So much fun, the picture up top is all of us eating at a diner in one of the hotels. The second one down was this awesome guy that acted like a robot & he was hilarious!We also got to go & watch the fountains at the Belagio, loved it! They are so awesome & fun to watch! We also had so many funny stories come about from our trip, & as expected most of them involved Mike. Lets just say he went over to the casinos & got into trouble like 4 times, & he wasn't even gambling! It was seriously just so much fun & I loved all the people that we went with!

Tagged...

20 Year Tag

20 Years Ago...

1. I was 7 years old

2. I was living in Guadalajara, (Spelling?) Mexico

3. I was playing Kissing Tag with a boy named Javier

4. I was very tan from swimming every darn day

5. I was obsessed with "Fake Nails"

10 Years Ago...

1. I was 17 years young

2. I had a "serious" boyfriend, but I'm not sure which one :)

3. I was working at Village Baker, Yum!

4. I was loving being able to drive, even if it was just my parents '89 Pontiac Grand Am

5. I was sluffin' a lot (sorry Mom)

5 Years Ago...

1. I was 22 years of age

2. I had gotten married (at the innocent age of 19, hey...I was almost 20!)

3. I had a 1 year old "little bud" (that's what I used to call Jaden)

4. I was living in a one bedroom apartment in West Valley City

5. I was touring with Britney Spears as a back-up dancer....j/k, I just had to see if you were really paying attention.

3 Years Ago...

1. I was 24

2. I was living in our beautiful house in The Oaks (W.J.)

3. I had a new bouncing ball-o-joy Camren

4. I started doing Freelance work for M-A-C

5. I cut all of my hair off (well technically that was really a little over 4 years ago)

1 Year Ago...

1. I was 26 anos

2. I was teaching dance in my Studio called "Pop Rox"

3. I was trying to get preggers again (no luck yet)

4. I was sending Jaden off to Kindergarten- so much for calling him my "little" bud!

5. I was serving in Jr. Nursery

So far this year...

1. I'm the big Two Seven

2. We sold our house :(

3. We moved into Krista & Jesse's Basement :)

4. Met a lot of awesome people in our new ward

5. Had back surgery

Yesterday I...

1. Was miraculously still 27!

2. Went to the doctors (see 1 year ago, #3)

3. Cleaned my room

4. Watched the Premier of "Wipeout" -Hilarious by the way

5. Read some of "The Host"

Today I...

1. Ran a BUNCH of errands

2. Drove thru the Temple Parking lot, just to look at it with Cam

3. Got Wendy's Drive thru for lunch

4. I'm going to watch So You Think You Can Dance

5. Made a To Do list of stuff to be done tomorrow

Tomorrow I will...

1. Be one day closer to 28

2. Go to the Design Center & pick out all of the fun stuff for our new house

3. Get everything ready for our upcoming Vacations

4. Register our cars, Hopefully

5. Eat something or other

In the Next Year I will...

1. Have another Birthday- Wehoo!

2. Move into our new house

3. Let's all cross our fingers & our toes that I will be pregnant

4. Celebrate our 8 year Anniversary

5. Start teaching Dance again!

Thanks for the Tag Ruthanne! I tag Heidi, Natelli, Amy & Alyse- you heard me ladies, now get to it :)

Um, You look like Bob Saget

So, I just HAD to do a post about this, because I find it Hilarious! Ever since Mike & I have been married people have told him that he looks like Bob Saget! He of course hates this. Who wouldn't, Bob Saget is a WEIRDO! So it seemed like every week or so Mike would come home & be like "Oh yeah, someone else told me I look like Bob S. again today" & we'd just laugh it off. But it all came to a head when a few years back Mike had to go on a Spring trip to Mexico for school. Well me & the boys went & picked him up from the airport & on the way home Mike says to me "You'll never guess what a Mexican told me" & I said "What?" & he said "He told me I look like flippin' Bob Saget!!!" I, of course just burst out laughing so hard! How funny is that? And, for the record, I think that Mike is waaaaaaaay better looking than Bob Saget & in fact Bob Saget should wish that people would come up to him & say "Hey, you look like a really ugly version of Mike Johnston!"

Home Sweet Home

Alrighty Than! So with everything being up & then down, on & then off with the whole building on our lot thing- We have finally actually came to a decision!!! We are no longer building on our lot, instead we are having good ol' D.R. Horton build us a house! It is beautiful & I feel really good about our decision, I feel like it's where we are supposed to be. So the whole "building process" should be starting shortly & we should be in by Thanksgiving! Mike & I are so excited!!! Mike's dad Larry is the sweetest guy I know, cause he offered to buy our lot back from us & I believe that he is just going to try to sell it. What a blessing, Truly!

HAPPY! HAPPY! JOY! JOY!

Happiness is..... Slaughtering the Lakers!!!! I was so happy with my Boston Celtics last night that I literally jumped up on our coffee table & started doing a "Happy Dance", Mike in turn looked at me as if I'd lost my mind, but do ya think I cared...Of course not, I was too dang Excited! All I have to say is.... GO CELTICS!!!

If you ain't LAUGHING, Then you ain't LIVING

So this is kind of a random post, but I watched "The Bucket List" the other night & one of the things on Morgan Freeman's list of things to do before he dies was to laugh until he cries. While even though I think that this is a great goal to have, I also thought that it was kind of sad, because if he had made that a goal, then obviously he had never done it before in his life. I know that it was just a movie, but as I have mentioned before in my blogging, Laughing 'til I cry is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world! I never feel as refreshed & rejuvenated as when I've just laughed my heart out! It's the best feeling in the world. Plus I have always felt that laughing bonds me with other people somehow. And as many of you know, I am the type of person who if I am trying to re-tell a story & I think that it is funny, I can barely get through the story because I am laughing so hard & no one can even understand what I am saying. So then they look at me like I am crazy & then that makes me laugh even harder! I apparently am also the person who thinks things are really funny when others around me don't find them as humorous. In that case I always think that it is just their loss for not seeing the humor in it & therefore missing out on the opportunity to laugh. So here is to Laughing a little more & a little harder every day!:)

ZOO ANYONE?

Jaden had his Field Trip to the Zoo today & I was his "Chaperon". It was so much fun, I could've just died when I realized that I had forgotten my camera. Man!!! So the bottom picture is him right when we got back & he still has his cute "Zoo Badge" on. I said to Jaden "Smile" & he's all "I am Mom" & this is the picture we got. I guess that this is Jaden's new smile! It really was such a fun day with him though (a little chilly, but at least it didn't rain on us). We got to ride up on the bus together & luckily we are still alive, the bus driver was CRAZY! I felt like I was going to fly into the next seat every turn she took. Once we got up there I was only assigned to Jaden & one other boy. The animals were more active than I have seen them in the past, I think cause it was colder. We did the whole train ride thing, ate our sack lunches & headed back home. Good Times had by All!

SPAAAAAHHHH!

Today I cashed in my Mini Day Spa gift certificate that Mike had gotten me for Christmas @ the Sanctuary! It was so relaxing to say the least. I got a facial (my first ever & hopefully not my last-I loved it!), then I got an hour long deep tissue massage- so nice, really worked out all of my knots. And finally I got a pedicure, something about pedicures that just makes you feel all girly-girl. And I am a self-proclaimed "Girly-girl", I guess it's better than being a girly-man, Am I right Ladies? Anywhoo, if you have the means to ever get any treatments done at the Sanctuary I would highly recommend it. They totally pamper you there....Loves it!