A Summer Break

Last weekend we were able to go up to Idaho/Oregon to visit family and friends.    This was most likely to be our last visit by ourselves!  

We had a wonderful time, but unfortunately I didn't do a good job at pictures.  Half the time because I forgot and the other half because I just didn't feel like it!    The weather was gorgeous while we were there and I spent A LOT of time outside on back porches!  

One of my old roommates, Kaila, and her family let us stay the night at their house Wednesday when we got in late and entertained us for most of the day Thursday.   Kaila, her two girls and I all went to Aunt Kathy's school for haircuts.  I can't visit Boise without getting my free haircut!

The trip made me remember how wonderful my family and friends are.  Besides Kaila's family letting us crash at her house, another old roommate and friend, Mary picked us up and drove us all the way to Ontario, even though she had to turn around and drive right back!   She did it just so she could see us!    She was able to join us with my parents for Dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant, Shanghai.  Oh YUM!!!   My Aunt Darlene joined us as well and it was good to see her!

On Friday we relaxed for most of the Morning and then I was able to meet up with two of my best high school friends, Annie and Margo for Ranch Hands at Burger West!  Again, YUM!!!   I am so sad I didn't get a picture of us there!  I even had my camera with me!  I am blaming pregnancy brain on that one.

My Grandparents Returned Friday afternoon from a week of Camping and Fishing.  Grandma had caught a rather large trout that we grilled up for dinner, it was SOOOO good!

On Saturday my wonderful family threw me a baby shower!  It was great to be able to see everyone and even have a few friends from high school come.   I managed to get exactly one picture!  

   This is my friend Annie and I, both pregnant!  She is about a trimester ahead of me, though I swear I am just about as big as she is!!   In case you can't tell, my shirt says "Future Broncos" and yes I made it!  I mean what's a pregnant girl supposed to do to show her Bronco Pride?

Saturday night tons of family piled into Grandma and Grandpa's living room to watch the BSU-UGA game.  It was sooo great!  Lots of good food, company and of course a Bronco victory!  The only thing that could have been better would have been if Utah State could have held the victory over Auburn, giving both my Alma Mater's wins over SEC teams.   Oh well, at least with USU and BSU in different conferences, I don't have to pick who to cheer for anymore!

We left Sunday, but did manage to get a few pictures before leaving.

Is it just me or does the shadow in these pictures make me look like my hair continues right into a beard??  What the heck!

The week before we also escaped the heat for a few days and headed to Flagstaff.  Again, I didnt' get too many pictures, but we did manage to get a few at the Cardinals training camp.

 Hi Larry!

It was pretty fun to be able to be that close and see how a practice went.  It was a walk through with no pads, but still interesting!

Maren's Baby Shower

Last month we celebrated Maren's baby shower.   Maren and Joe (Adam's Cousin) were waiting until the birth to find out what they were having so the hosts of the shower had a very neutral theme planned.  Imagine everyone's surprise when baby Grace decided to show up early, before the shower even occurred!  

But since everything was already in order, the neutral theme went on.  I was very excited when I was asked to help with the desserts.  I made this cute little gray and yellow birdy cake and some matching yellow cupcakes.  

Everything is OK here!

This post is for my mother in law, just wanted you to know everything is OK here!

Your roses are still alive and blooming

And this guy still loves his car!



Suns vs. Celtics

Back in January my parents came to visit from Oregon.   Sadly, I got a terrible cold that weekend and we couldn't do much.   But, we had already purchased tickets to the Suns vs. Celtics game so we did go to that.

 My dad is a huge Celtics fan and has been since ever I can remember.  I remember everything when I was little that if there was a Celtics game on, everything else in the house stopped for the night (that was back before nearly every game was on TV!).   This was the first time he had been able to go see them and their visit here coincided with the Celtics being here so of course we had to go!

And again, trying desperately to get Adam to smile for a picture, story of my life!

Thanks mom and papa for coming to visit!  We sure enjoyed having you, even if all we did was sit around at home all weekend.

Its a white trashy cousins Christmas!

OK, so yeah, its February, I know but I don't care.  The awesomeness of this party had to be documented on the blog sooner of later!!!

Every year the cousins in Adam's family all get together for a white elephant party.   The last few years we have done the ugly sweater thing, but this year we wanted to mix it up a little bit.   Mission was definitely accomplished!

Here are some of the best/worst dressed couples of the night! (Alisa, hope you don't mind I stole the pictures from you!!)

Carrie and Jason

Rachel and Jordan

Emily and Paul

Julie and Isaac

Matt and Alisa

One of my favorite things about this picture is that you can see just how 'trashy' our backdrop is!!!   We had to have a full length shot just to capture Matt's shoes and socks.    Super Special!

Me and Adam

It took a lot of coaxing to get Adam to even kinda dress up, but he did look pretty ridiculous!

I only wish we would have got a shot of the food table as we had some pretty trashy food as well!   

Can't wait till next year to see what happens next!

Let him make cake!

This is what you get when you let a 2 year old decorate a cake

Focus

Determination

Creativity 

Eventually you just get on the table

Sneak a piece of candy

 

And prepare to dig in!

(P.S. as background to this post, it seems Brycen has developed an obsession with the show Cake Boss.... What else is an Aunt to do but provide one for her favorite nephew to decorate himself!)

A fish story

This is my grandpa...

He's the best fisherman in Ontario... Just ask him!  

This is my Skeptic Husband Adam

He didn't quite believe me when I told him that when you go fishing with Grandpa your pretty much guaranteed to pull in at least a hundred fish.

Here is my Mom enjoying the BEAUTIFUL day

She was the first to catch a fish... on her first cast... before anyone else had gotten their poles in the water

This is my dad

He wont look at me. 

Oh but look!  He caught a fish!

Adam wouldn't smile while holding his catch

Could be whole slew of reasons why.. I'll let you decide.

Here my dad and I are both bringing one in!

Yep, thats the way its done!

And this is how much fish we had after about 10 minutes

Sorry its blurry!  Those darn fish don't like being out of the water!

I love this pole

Yep, I caught my fish with an Ugly Stick!

After a few hours we had enough and went home

Lovely hour long boat ride back out of Owhyee Resevoir

And our whole haul

I think Adam is a believer now!  We filled a whole ice chest, about 150 fish. 

And then the best fisherman in Ontario has to go to work cleaning em up

I am so glad that Adam got to go fishing with my Grandpa!  Thanks so much Grandpa for a fabulous day of fishing!  We love you!

When Sadie comes to Play!

When Sadie found out just how much fun Brycen had at Encanto Park, she came all the way from North Carolina to check it out for herself!

Firs stop, Carousel!

Yep, its fun alright!

Then the train:

Driving the spinning car!

We sure were glad we weren't in Uncle Adam and Uncle Daniel's Car!  They were spinning like crazy!

Then we watched Mom and Uncle Daniel ride the Parachute ride..

Sadie and Aunt Abbey both agreed it looked scary!

Splash Pad!!   Can it get any better?!

Sadie was so brave, she even rode a ride all by herself!

I think we can all agree that Encanto park is a super fun time!  And I think Adam and I have found a new tradition... Lets hope Encanto Park stays around for a long time so we can take all our Nieces and Nephews!