It's been a while!

Hey Everybody... I'm sure most of you know who read my blog that I've been on many adventures over the past month. I'm working on getting posts up with LOTS and LOTS of pictures for you! It will be my weekend project to keep my mind off of school, plus I have to get it done before John goes back to school next week and I'm back to very rarely getting to use the computer. But not to worry I keep up on all of your blogs from my couch using my iPod. A very neat tool but not conducive to posting (since it only lets me write in the title part ;) Oh yeah, you'll have to scroll down past this post because I'm back dating my posts to when they should have gone up ;) O how I love blogger's ease at keeping my journal writing in cronological order (and letting me cheat, just a little!)

San Diego with Cousins :) Beware MONSTER POST!

***I'm going to post this without all the pictures just to get it up but will be adding slideshows all day as I get the pictures uploaded and made :) I can't just sit here all day anymore though waiting A) I'm way to impatient! B)I have a very dirty house to clean!***





We had a grand time on our last hu-rah of summer. We headed to our favorite vay-cay destination... San Diego! And we didn't do what we always do... ok yes we did, but we did more too! We expanded our eateries, and our sight-seeing spots. We had a blast!

One of the first things we did was go to Sea World which was open until 11:00 or so and tried to catch a bunch of their night shows (which of course they schedule them all at the same time or overlapping). Anyway we had fun, and that's all that matters! We didn't take nearly as many pictures as we did last trip, but I did take a bunch of videos!

The next morning we headed to Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument. IT IS AMAZING! This was probably one of the highlights of our trip for me. I loved sitting up on the point and watching the ships, boats, etc head from San Diego Bay into the Pacific ocean. The best part was hearing all the sea lions barking. I couldn't see them, but they sure are noisy! After exploring the history of Point Loma and learning about Cabrillo's many adventures we headed down to see the tidal pools! I was so excited about this. Unfortunately it was high tide so we didn't get to explore the tidal pools, however watching the waves crash against the rocks and feeling the spray was lots of fun too! The coastal rocks have some very cool looking formations as well!

After Cabrillo National Monument we headed to Old Town... we were planning on Old Town Mexican Cafe... but we decided we should try out one of the other 100 restaurants in Old Town, especially this one


Yup that's right Cafe de Reyes! So COOL! And honestly SO DELICIOUS! I of course ordered the Chile Rellano, I've been on the search for my favorite one, and this one is close to topping the list. The only reason it doesn't is because it's in San Diego, and my other topper is 15 minuts away so much more convienent to be my favorite! Here are some more pictures from the Cafe de Reyes area of Old Town.

That evening we headed to the zoo with Tyann and her family. We rode the bus and the skyfari and got our first glimps at the new elephant exhibit. I also got this video of the lion... he was pretty fiesty each evening we were there! Pacing around, growling/grunting, and spraying the onlookers. This video was right before he sprayed the first time, and I about got it, but didn't thanks to John grabbing me out of the way.

Thank Heavens! That night we had our first taste of "parenting" lol ok so not really, but Kamryn did come spend the night in our room, in our bed, right between us all night. It was a lot of fun, and worth it for one night :) The funniest thing is that Kamryn talks in her sleep so in the morning we asked her about all the things she told us and she didn't remember a thing! OH and this I didn't even remember to tell Tyann, but I have to share with you!!! It is so funny, but also a little TMI so if you don't want to know stop reading!

That night when Kamryn(5) got to our room she went in and used the bathroom. She came out and declared that in the morning I HAD to put lipstick on her. I don't own any lipstick and told her that. She said, well what's in the box on the back of the toilet then? I just told her it wasn't lipstick. She said oh and dropped it (thankfully!) I wasn't sure how I was going to explain tampons to a 5 year old! TOO FUNNY! I love kids, they say the greatest things!

Here are some more pictures of, OF COURSE, the Pandas :) We took Lauren and went early (we waited for at least 30 minutes before the park opened) to make sure we got lots of time to spend with the panda bears. They had the sisters out since mom had just had a new cub the day before! I started getting really annoyed with all the people asking where the new cub was and why it wasn't out on exhibit with mom... (John had to remind me that not everyone knows as much about panda bears as I do) So for those of you that don't know much about pandas, they are 4 ounces when they are born. That's the size of my cell phone... The mom is only considered pregnant for 6 weeks. This is the 5th cub bai yun has had. 2 have been sent back to China, the other 2 girls should be there as well, however China has allowed us to keep them since the earthquake there destroyed their research facility. There's tons more I could tell you but...OK well enough panda 101.

We also decided to do breakfast with Shamu when we were let into the park 30 minutes early, hadn't eaten breakfast, and they still had poolside tables! It was fun, but nearly not as GREAT as it usually is. We were told it was because they were practicing for their morning show, but the food was good, and they refilled our big cup for FREE! so that was great. I did get some great video though! Here you go!

Here are some other random pictures from our vacation. I'm going to have to steal some of tyann's pictures because somehow I have NONE with any of them! This was one of the BEST trips we've had. Thanks to Tyann and her family for letting us play tour guides for them and show them around some of our FAVORITE places!

Visit to Salt Lake/Provo areas

The last week in July we headed up to northern Utah to see Dana(my seester) doing here thing (archeological dig) in SLC. I love my sister and she ALWAYS does the COOLEST things! Take for example... in just 1 week she will fly halfway around the world and spend the next 4+ months in Jerusalem! See I told you she's cool, waaaaaaaay cooler than me!

Did I mention that we have a blast together? We did some shopping, ate yummy food, and went to through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open house.



My wonderful friend Jessi whom I didn't get a picture with (!?!?! not quite sure how that happened) went through the open house with us.

Such a beautiful place.


It was a very different Open House experience for me. Basically we walked through the whole temple in a giant line. I felt like I was a cow being herded... the problem with this was the lack of reverance and lack of time to linger.

But it did not take away from the beauty. The best part was the couple at the end bearing their testimonies of eternal families in one of the sealing rooms. That was a great experience!


Afterward we went to dinner at Johnny Carinos. Very Yummy! I mostly ate John's dinner though (which was the point since I just ordered an appetizer) He had Pepperoni Macaroni... IT WAS SO YUMMY! We had a great time catching up with Dana and Jessi. It was great to see you Jessi! We've decided it was time for Jessi to come visit us next. We can't wait to have you at our house!


We had an amazing time... One of the highlights was Dana showing off her tan lines, they're pretty hilarious! I can't look at her feet and not laugh... it shows what a white girl she really is :) Here are some pictures :)

The Grand Canyon North Rim

I've begged John to take me to the Grand Canyon since we moved down here 5 years ago. Last year when my mom and brother went and I couldn't go really spurred the desire. We had wanted to go earlier this summer but with John's HUMUNGO load of homework we didn't make it. So John finished school and we headed out. We were actually planning on staying at the North Rim Lodge so John had been watching to see when there was availability. The day before John was done with school he checked and there was room. So of coure we waited til the next day to reserve it once his last final was over. When he went to reserve a room there were none, he even called twice and still nothing. At 9:00 the night before we left (the same day he had called twice and nothing was available) John was checking again and sure enough there was a room for us. We had such a great time! The Grand Canyon is truly an amazing place!

More of our hiking around the Grand Canyon Lodge

We drove out to Cape Royal ( at least I think that is what its called) and that was amazing! The hole in the rock is called Angel's Window. This was also where we got to see "the bottom" of the canyon...the Colorado River!

I was amazed by all of the flowers in bloom so of course we had to stop and take pictures!

Missing

John's cousin's son Justin Hughes is missing from Reno. He is 23 years old and hasn't been seen since last Monday. The link is http://justinhughes.blogspot.com/ please check there for more information.

Sorry about first the wrong link yesterday, and then I didn't know it was wrong because I sent it from my phone right before we watched Harry Potter at the movie theater and when we FINALLY got home yesterday I didn't have access to an actual computer because John was working on the last of his homework.

Some people's bad attitudes

So I posted this:



Remind me to tell you about the jerk at costco :)



and thought I'd share the story.

Let me just start by saying yesterday was a roller coaster day anyway.

If you knew me 3 or 4 years ago my attitude on life was much different than it is now. I was a downer, wanted everyone to join my pity party, feel sorry for me, and not a whole lot of good could be found. (I tried to hide it but my constant complaining about everything and trying to one up your bad day with how bad MY life was is kinda hard to hide) Anyway, since my lowest point which I'm not exactly sure when that was, I've tried to have a much more postive outlook on life. I'm not always successful with this, but I'm still moving forward and trying to look for the good in everything.

My point in sharing this is that I understand where this guy is coming from and really feel sorry for him. In the checkout line for costco I'm trying to tear out our coupons while John is unlaoding the cart, in the line next to us this guy is very loudly going on and on about how he hates costco and how they don't take credit cards and flipping out that they will scan his card before its "okay" with him. He wasn't shouting but he definately was wanting to be heard.

This is how it went down...

Guy: quite loudly "I just hate this store!"

Me to John: (in a normal person voice (not my normal voice...lol) but a real normal person voice) Then why bother comming? I mean if it's so bad...why come?

Guy: Excuse me?

Me: contiued to clip my coupons becaue I didn't really want to know if he was talking to me or not...


We check out and go to leave the store. On the way out I smiled at this grumpy man and then it continued...

Guy: AND THEN SHE SMILES AT ME ON HER WAY OUT... overly loud.


So I stopped my cart, turned and said
Me: If you hate it here so much save your drama and don't come.

Guy: Get the H*** out just get out!

Me:"Well you have a great day!" very genuinely. Cause I did mean it. I really felt sorry for this guy, I mean I know how I felt about the world when I acted that way

So maybe I was out of line saying something to my husband about this man. But his negative attitude was really obnoxious. Obviously, I've rubbed off on John because he went back and spoke with the man who continued to swear at him. I don't know what John said though.

But I really was going to share the story of how I have changed over the years, until he started swearing and then it became about the jerk at costco... anyway, thought I'd share ;0) Needless to say a more postivie attitude is something I will continue to work on!

My Birthday

Well this year I turned 26... ugh do I feel old, I don't know why this one is so much harder than any other but it has been. But it was probably the most celebrating that has gone on EVER! It was so much fun. In the couple of days before my birthday John brought me home gerber daisies which are my FAVORITE!

Also, Kami brought me a card and an Olive Garden Gift Certificate. For my birthday the Frei's took us to breakfast which was a ton of fun! Then we went to check on Joe who was going to have surgery that day.

John had class, came home, and we went back to St. George and I bought some new church clothes from Lane Bryant (my favorite store for clothes) and we went to dinner at Olive Garden. I had the new Steak Crostada dish and it was SO yummy! Then we got dessert and they sang to me and I got to blow out a candle and make a wish. That was fun, I haven't done that in years!

Then we went to Home Depot in search of my lawn chair I've been wanting since we had a good coupon. We found it and I LOVE IT! Thanks to my neighbors for introducing me to these great chairs! Then we came home and crashed!

Then Thursday my mom came down and helped me all morning in my classroom. It was so nice to have her here and helping me for a bit! We got a TON accomplished, thanks mom! Then she took me out for lunch (chile rellanos of course) and we got pedicures.

That night she and Bob took John and I out for dinner. We went to Samuri 21 in St. George. I only wish I would have had a video camera to show you the reaction my mom had to the grill being set on fire. It was TOO perfect! Anyway, we had a great time.

And finally my birthday celebrations came to an end.

Dear power chrystler jeep dodge, how stupid are you!!? First you change the price, then you can't find the 2nd ke and then the one you send us doesn't work!

My New Car!

Dear Chrystler, I really hate you for taking ALL the Dodge dealerships out of Southern Utah DAYS after I bought my new Dodge Caliber! Now to Vegas for service

Update**
I know I didn't ever post pictures or the whole story. However, the story is one I'd like to forget. Maybe one day I'll write it but I'm not in the mood today... However here are a couple of pictures of my now month old brand new dodge caliber. I LOVE it! Oh yeah, it also has a TON of miles (4,000 +) already... School for John, ugh!

Fourth of July Fun!

We had a great fourth of July. John cooked for the ward breakfast in the morning and then we headed up to spend the day with Jenny, James, and the kiddos. Here are some pictures from our fun filled day. Oh yeah, I finally got a picture of the hair twins... We always wondered where Toby got his wild hair. Then John cut his and it's just as crazy!