The Pack

Roger's Update

2011-11-15T11:08:00.007-07:00

It has been a REALLY long time since I updated our Blog...and I'm sorry!! We moved into our new house and it has been crazy!! (Plus I SWEAR that my camera charger has little legs and runs away)

So this Blog Update is mainly going to be words with very little pictures...so I'm sorry if it's boring!

Let's see...July I started as an Consultant with the Pampered Chef...and honestly I'm loving it!! It's so much fun, the rewards are amazing (free products, free money to spend plus an awesome paycheck)!! I get paid to party...how can that get any better?? Plus, it has really helped to pay some bills off and help make ends meet when Rich was out of job...which he's not anymore (we'll get into that a little later)!

I've seen not only the tangible rewards but also the intangible rewards...I've grown as a person, because honestly I HATED getting up in front of people...if you got 3 people (or more) together I'd shake so bad, my voice would quiver and I'd be soooooo nervous...and now, I can get up in front of a room of 30+ and not be nervous. (I still get a little bit of butterflies...but it's getting soooo much better)

I just past my 90 days...and I'm still going strong!! I even have a Team member under me which is awesome!! It has been amazing meeting new people, hearing their stories, and helping and sharing the business opportunity with others. It truly has been my MORE that I was looking for.

In other news...Rich got a job back in September...he didn't officially start until October, which turned out to be a blessing!! He now works up at the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake in their Lab (ARUP). He is definitely glad to be working again, likes the people he works with and will continue to grow within the company. He will be learning a lot of new things, different tests, machines, etc that I think he's really excited about, because right now he's doing just a better basic few things...but it will get better. And plus with ARUP he can start going to school and they will help with tuition!!! AWESOME!!

Now you maybe asking why starting his new job in October...vs September was a blessing. Well...right after he found out he was getting this job, there was about a 3 week wait period before he actually started and even while he was interviewing with them he different feel good. He even got to the point he couldn't hold ANYTHING down, literally within seconds of drinking or eating it would come right back up. He was SOOOOO sick. Well turns out he is Diabetic...and it was his diabetes that was making him SOOOOO sick. Luckily he had 3 weeks to get on medication, figure out what worked for him, figure out what he could and could not eat, etc. before he started this new job. So it has really been a lifestyle change for us...especially for him. But its getting a lot easier. And it does help that with this new job he received instant benefits and has been able to meet with a Diabetes Specialist up at the U of U hospital.

Now...does things happen in 3's or what...of course they do!!!

So not 2 weeks after he started his new job...which by the way he goes in at 3am (so that was a huge change to get used to getting up really early, driving in the dark, roads empty, and going to bed so early)....so not 2 weeks after he started he rolled his Jeep Wrangler three times and totalled the Jeep.

Let me tell you folks, that is NOT a fun phone call to get at 3:30am!!! And what's worse, is the person who called couldn't get a lot of information from anyone at the accident so she couldn't really tell me anything...other than "You need to get here"...which was physically impossible for me to make it to the scene of the accident before they hauled him away in the ambulance.

I told the lady who called, that she would have to call me back when they figured out what hospital they were taking him to because by the time I made it to Beck St he would already be at the hospital.

They took him the U of U...because he worked there, so it would be better with our insurance. Okay, no let me tell you how LUCKY Rich is...I actually drove past his Jeep when it was still sitting on the side of the road with the Tow Truck pulling it on to the truck...and I HONESTLY thought he would be banged up and would have tons of cuts on his face and arms.
I arrived at the Hospital and when I walked back there and saw him I was AMAZED...not a SCRATCH on him. NOT ONE!! So instead of freaking out I said to him "Do we need to shoot your spotter?" (A Moab/Jeep joke)

Turns out, they were a little worried about his heart because of his history, and they were worried about his neck and back. They cleared his back pretty quickly, but he was litterally in a neck brace for 24 hours before one of the Doctors "accidentally" left his brace off (bascially no one wanted to liable for taking the brace off and having something happen). Again, Rich is lucky...and while we were still waiting in the ER, they did a CT and something near the Pancreas looked funny, they actually came to us and told us that they thought he had Pancreatic Cancer. So they ran an MRI...turned out NOTHING was wrong with his Pancreas but they found blood clots in his right lung. If they hadn't done the MRI they wouldn't have found the blood clots...so again another blessing!

Rich had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours because of the blood thinners they had to put him on because of the blood clots...I pretty much stayed at the hospital all day, expect for trying to get the Jeep out of the Tow/Impound lot for insurance and then went home at night to feed dogs and get some sleep.

Well needless to say, Rich is fine, he'll be on blood thinners for at least 3 months...and now the struggle is finding a new car for him to drive. And let me tell you, NOW is NOT the time to buy a used car. It doesn't help that our budget is only so big because of insurance money but we'll figure it out. Luckily we know people who have spare cars (my dad and my boss) that have been nice enough to let us borrow them.

The Jeep

New Adventure

2011-07-18T11:30:00.002-06:00

My new little adventure begins!!

I am a Pampered Chef Indpendent Consultant!!!

I absolutely LOVE my Pampered Chef products and decided I could share that with all of you!!

BUT...I do need your help...

Book a Show with me either Catalog Show, Cooking Show or Wedding/Bridal Party.

I am booking AUGUST right now and the Host and Guest specials are AMAZING!!

Hosts get half price items, discounted items, 60% off specific items and 10% discount for an entire year!!

Guests also have specials if they spend over $60 plus a large discount on an awesome piece of cookware!!!

For the 1st two people who book, cooking shows, with me in August I will do what's called a PARTY IN A BAG, meaning I supply EVERYTHING you need: cups, napkins, plates, and ingredients for recipe we make. All you have to do is get your friends, family and neighbors together for a PARTY.

I'll come to your house, make a fabulous recipe, show you some amazing products and have tons of fun doing it!

Please help me out, I could TRULY use help getting my name out there.

Hosting a show earns you Free stuff, discounted items, and sooooo much more!!

Plus it truly helps me out!!

I truly love Pampered Chef products and would LOVE to see all of you, spend time with you and throw a Party!!

Call/text/email me today!!

801-668-7399 or stef.pamperedchef@gmail.com

Vegas June 2011

2011-06-20T10:44:00.003-06:00

For Christmas I surprised Callie with Tickets to go see Celine Dion the week after her birthday, which is June 3rd, so we booked a hotel room and waited for June to come!!

Well it came and we had a blast!

This is us, first day there, at the Cosmopolitan

We stayed a condo, the Jockey Club, wedged between the Bellagio and the City Center. What's nice about a condo is it has a fully stocked kitchen so you can take food down to save money.
Funny story...so Callie and I went grocery shopping on Wednesday night, bought what we wanted to eat, and put it in the freezer (pizza, bite size cordon bleu's, fries, etc) and well Thursday morning I woke up at 5 am, got ready, and then packed the cooler. I remembered everything but the stuff in the freezer (pizza, etc). I remembered the bread, lunch meat, condiments, but not the dinners! But neither of us even realized until that night when we went to go make the stuff. We didn't even realize while we unpacked the cooler at the condo in Vegas! So Thursday night we went out and Friday morning we went to find a grocery store in Vegas.
We drove around, doing a lot of u-turns and finally found a Von's Grocery store. Went in and grabbed everything but the cordon bleu's...we couldn't find them anywhere in the store. So we asked the meat department and they said they did not carry ANY type of cordon bleu (weird huh?!). So we put everything back and got back in our car and drove further down the road...finally finding a WALMART. We got everything we wanted and went back to the condo to head to Caesar's to go to the Pool!

Callie had to have a pic by the Holstein Cow at the City Center

Inside Paris, I had to go get my favorite dessert, a choc. pastery that is AMAZING!!

Dinner on Thursday night

Dinner Thursday night.

Walking around Vegas Thursday night, just outside New York, New York.

We went and bought tickets for Friday night, to go see Phantom of the Opera

Caesar's Pool. Girls get in for free, so we totally utilized it!
It was so hot Friday day that we only lasted like a couple hours before we threw in the towel.

At the Pool at Caesar's

Friday night we went to see Phantom of the Opera! It was awesome! Still one of my favorite broadways!! (Sorry really no pics for that day) We had cordon bleu's for dinner while we were getting ready to head to Phantom! So nice to be able to take food!!

This is us heading to see Celine Dion Saturday night.

We also went to the Outback at Casino Royale before the concert!

Us at the Colosseum at Caesar's headed in to see Celine!

It was an awesome concert. A lot more mellow than what my mom and dad saw last time she was in Vegas! But still very good. She has an amazing voice, and an amazing sense of humor!!

It was an awesome trip...and I honestly can say I appreciate Utah weather a little more due to the heat of Vegas!!

New House

2011-05-17T11:17:00.004-06:00

Here is our new house!
Located in Hooper!
Fully fenced, full landscaping, even has a lot of shrubs and stuff!

Awesome kitchen with granite counters, raised bar, stainless appliances, pantry and intercom system throughout home!(great for music!!!)

Here is the great room with rock fireplace against one wall. This room currently has surround sound built into ceiling/walls.
House has new carpet, newer paint, tile floors and surrounds.

Master bathroom with jetted tub, HUGE counter with tons of drawers, awesome lighting over counter top, tile floors/surround and the closet is in the bathroom (great for people who have a spouse who gets up before they do in the morning)!

It is a 1/2 acre lot with large patio, and a huge concrete pad in the back that we are going to fence off for the dogs, as well as a space for a shed and huge garden. Already has trees and a walkout basement.

The bedrooms are large, and there is currently one bedroom finished in basement. So we'll eventually finish the rest of the basement to include another bedroom, bath and family room as well as tons of storage space.

We are hopefully closing this Friday, if not it will be Monday the 23rd!

We are SOOOOOO excited!

We'll have to invite you all over for a little BBQ or something!

Limbo

2011-04-25T14:13:00.005-06:00

Our lives are completely in LIMBO right now!

We live out of

In my parents BASEMENT.

There are 3 of us, 1 bedroom, 1 hid-a-bed and 1 bath.

All of our stuff is in

Still trying to buy one of these (again)...

This is actually the house we really really want...just having a hard time getting the mortgage's to agree on a Short Sale...so we continually go out and look at other ones...but ALWAYS comparing it to this one! Plantation shutters, 20k (easy) in concrete work, fully vinyl fenced, rambler with 3 small stairs from garage to house, huge open kitchen/great room with an amazing kitchen, fully landscaped and so much more!!
Maybe this will be the week we find out whether the short sale is going to go through on the above house or not...??!!

LIMBO is fabulous...and no end in sight yet.

Wish us luck!

Sold Sold Sold

2011-03-17T14:32:00.003-06:00

So this is the year of huge changes for Rich and I...we are moving!!!

Goodbye this house...

Hello to the unknown!

We put our house on the market...12 days later we had an offer!!!

Now we are counting the days until we close and will begin putting things in boxes beginning in April!!

We don't know exactly where we are going yet...we found a house we really like but its a Short Sale and it's being a little tricky...so we are keeping our eyes open for others and hopefully will have some place to go when our house closes around Easter!!

I also listed my next door neighbor's house (below) and and just got an offer on it as well...in UNDER 30 Days! West Roy is HOT right now!

In other news...well I'm still going to "jail" at the end of the month for Muscular Dystrophy! I still need help reaching my goal of $1600!!

Please Please Please go to
www.joinmda.org/2011ogdenlockup/stefaniecentury21

to help!! Even $10 would be very appreciated!!

Talk about tuggin' at the heart strings...

I had a little girl call me, a local Utah girl, the other night, she was maybe 6-7 years old and she has Muscular Dystrophy and was thanking me for helping send her to the Muscular Dystrophy Camp this year!! It takes $800 for 1 child to go to the camp for a week...and I would really like to help as many children as we can make it there!

Please Please Please help me raise enough money to send 2 kids to the Muscular Dystrophy Camp this year!! I can't do it without you!!

Thank you so much!

MDA Lockup

2011-02-10T12:53:00.002-07:00

Go to: https://www.joinmda.org/2011ogdenlockup/stefaniecentury21

to donate today! Or call me if you want to donate via check or cash!

Receipt will be given because ALL DONATIONS are TAX DEDUCTIBLE!!

I truly appreciate all of your help and support!

And I KNOW with your help I can reach my goal of $1600!!

Thank you!

Family Pics

2011-01-10T13:53:00.003-07:00

So I still haven't put Christmas Pictures up but that will have to wait because I don't have them here with me now...so instead you get the family pictures we took on Saturday in the FREEZING cold!!

Callie, our VERY good friend (and roommate), has a very nice camera and was willing to do the pictures for us!

It is VERY difficult with 3 dogs to get a good shot...surprisingly this was one of the 1st shots we took...probably within 5 pictures we had this one...all of them looking at the camera!! This is the one we chose to give to our families...so it was our favorite of them all!

Again...all of them looking at the camera! There were A LOT of distractions for them at the park that VERY COLD day! Ducks, people feeding the ducks, little kids (Kyra LOVES little kids) and people walking their dogs. We thought it would be a fairly slow day at the park because it was so cold, but even with the temperatures below freezing it was quite a lively place!

I love Kyra (Red/White) in this one...but even with the other 2 not looking directly at the camera it turned out okay!

This is Callie and I. Callie is our new roommate at our house! She is truely a part of our family and my best friend (beside Rich of course)! We had a really hard time getting this picture because it seemed like the dogs wanted to stand directly in front of us, trying to get our attention, with their backsides towards the camera...they never want to be in a picture until we DON'T want them!

This is us trying to get all 6 of us...we set the timer on the camera, positioned the dogs with Rich and I, and Callie was going to come join us before the timer went off...well Kyra thought that Callie was coming to get loves so she stood up so Callie and I are trying to get her back in position before timer...but FAILED. Oh well its a funny picture and I still printed it and put it in a frame on my mantel!

Kyra and I on one of the bridges in the park! I knew she'd be the one who would stand up on the fence posts to kind of pose for the pic!

This was the FIRST shot we took...pretty good huh?
It was VERY difficult for us to take our coats off because of how cold it was...but after this shot we convinced ourselves to...and boy was it COLD.

Thanks Callie for doing the pics!

Cement and Thanksgiving

2010-12-04T15:18:00.008-07:00

THANKSGIVING 2010

Webster Family
at Mom & Dad's House

Bailee holding Cousin Sara's new baby!

Dinner...good food and lots of it!

It's fun to see the cousin's that we don't see that often!

Uncle Leon brought his Dune Buggy remote control car and was using the kids as obstacles! It was pretty cool!

We were lucky this year...we FINALLY got cement on the side of our house where the dogs live!! Yeah...no mud this year!! Our friend Brandon Minster came with his skid loader and helped us get the gravel done...man he is REALLY good on the machine it took him like 15 minutes to do it!! We thought we'd only get the gravel done this year...but the dogs wouldn't walk, lay or anything on it...so we knew we had to get cement.

Gravel

Brandon and his son driving the skid loader.

The cement is wonderful! No mud this year!

Thanks to everyone that came to Thanksgiving and to Brandon for helping with Cement!!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T12:55:00.005-06:00

So I am not a HUGE Halloween fan...actually Rich and I are "those" people who hide on Halloween, either in our own house with all the lights off or we try to go to dinner and be away from the house the entire night.

However my mom likes to see all the grandkids in their costumes so she does a Halloween party at her house. This year was quite the event!

Parade to the neighbor's house!

More parade!

Cohen as a Tiger! He's so darn cute!

Paxton the cowboy/horse! He was so facinated by me taking pictures of him I have a dozen or so cuz he wanted to see each one after I'd take it! I loved this one though cuz he's smiling the best and you can really see the costume!

Curtis as Wolverine and Hunter as Spiderman

Jake as Optimus Prime!

Jade as a fairy!

Eliza as a Mermaid!

Jade loves to pose, and she'll keep posing long after you're finished taking the picture!

3 oldest girls were all Witch's!
Kenadee (left), Sage (middle), Bailee (right)

Mom's activites also included Donuts on a String! It was really really entertaining! These are the oldest kids giving it a go! Sage won this round!

Jake was sooooo funny...he was pretty much covered with powdered donut!
He wouldn't give up though!

The younger kids! I think Jake was the winner! Eliza enjoyed it a lot too! Jade wasn't too thrilled by it, but it was fun to watch!

It was the best watching Jason, Dad and Jon do it! Jon won, but it was very entertaining!

Oh the fun and thrills of the Webster Family Get Togethers!
I don't have any pictures of the 2 other games, which were pin the apple on the witch's mouth (kids really enjoyed this, they each wanted to go twice), and throw the ball in the pumpkin holes, this one was a little difficult, but fun to watch!

We had dinner before activities which consisted of Enchileda's, Rice and all the fixings, including my homemade guacamole (which I was suprised how quickly it disappeared)!!

Thanks Mom for a fun and eventful Halloween Party!

Lake Powell 2010

2010-09-15T14:03:00.010-06:00

Rich and I a couple of weeks ago decided, while sitting on our jetski's in the middle of Willard, that we wanted to go to Lake Powell...so we planned it for the weekend AFTER Labor day to avoid the crowds. We probably spoke to every person we knew who owned or had access to a boat, I even Facebooked it as an open invite...and it ended up being Rich, myself, Doug Russell (a Broker I've worked with for years) and my dad came down a day later...we had 2 jetski's, 2 boats and a house boat...and 4 people.

Yes, we could have and wanted more people...but nobody was able to make it or didn't want to..?
Anyways, the first day was really rough...we were so tempted to pack up and head home, and we hadn't even begun... Actually the entire trip was one of those where in the end we wondered if it was really worth it...I'll get to that a little later!

It took us a long time to get to a point where we actually enjoyed what we were doing... Rich and I headed out Tuesday night, stayed in a Hotel in Kanab and then drove the rest Wednesday morning. We got to the marina (Wahweap) around 7:30am. Doug was there with his boat, hadn't but into the water yet, but had slept in his boat in the parking lot of the marina. (My dad was coming Thursday morning, and was bringing the 2nd boat)

So we loaded up a bunch of stuff in Doug's big and old cuddy boat, launched, went and unloaded stuff into the house boat, went back to the marina, launched the jetskii's, went back to the house boat, tied the jetskii's up to the house boat, and Rich & I took Doug's boat out to 'hunt' down a spot!

Loading up the Houseboat at the Buoy it stays at. This is Doug's Cuddy boat.

The 2 jetskii's being towed...at first.

Rich looking at the map (that is the houseboat's table) to figure out where we should go.

We went up Gunsight canyon and found an excellent spot (by this time it was probably 1pm)...we couldn't figure out how to save the spot without leaving one of us behind to sit there and save it...so I jumped out, and sat on the beach for probably 2 hours waiting for the boys to return!

Rich went to find Doug to tell him where we were at...it ended up taking so long because Doug had gotten lost, and had headed up towards the Dam and Antelope Marina instead of turning up the main channel...so it took Rich awhile to find him. Doug showed up in his boat, towing one of the jetskii's however he had forgotten to grab the key to the jetski so we couldn't run it at all until he went back to the houseboat to get the key. He returned with the key, just as Rich turned the corner about 1 mile away from our spot...here's where it goes downhill...

So Doug jumps on the jetski and tells me to take him out to the houseboat so he can beach it...about this time the wind had really picked up (however it wasn't blowing at all while I sat in the sun on the beach waiting for them...of course it picks up when we are trying to beach and stuff)...he was mad about the wind and mad that he couldn't get the rope off the front of the jetski so he just threw the rope into the foot area of the jetskii...I got him to the houseboat and when he jumped off the jetski to the houseboat his foot took the rope with him...and the rope got sucked up into the intake grate and propellor...so I had to immediately turn my machine off so it wouldn't continue to suck it in...so I was literally dead in the water. Doug kept driving away, in the houseboat headed to go beach it...

Well the fun didn't stop there...normally BEFORE you beach a houseboat you untie the items you are towing...so they don't continue to fly forward as you stop on the beach...well Doug didn't allow Rich to do that before he beached...and he beached HARD...hard enough to make Rich fall flat on his stomach as he was standing on the back deck of the houseboat trying to un-tie the towed jetski... Well as you can probably imagine...the jetski' flew forward as the houseboat stopped and scratched up the front of the jetskii pretty badly...I couldn't do anything but sit there, with the heavy winds and watch from a far as it all went down.

Rich was MAD...he jumped on the scratched jetski, zoomed out to me, made me switch jetski's so he could sit on the back deck of the jetski and hold the rope of the broken machine to tow it to shore...because we couldn't start the engine of the machine that sucked up the rope until the rope was out...

Well...so we flipped the machine over...Rich and I...and attempted to take the intake grate off because we couldn't reach our hands in to reach the rope...it took us a good 20 minutes to find the right size tools from Doug's toolbox on the his boat...we got it off, however the nylon rope had begun melting onto the propellor shaft so we had to use a saw, knife and scissors to get the rope off...finally we got it out, however we were then worried that the seal was broken so we were worried the jetski would just take on water...so we started to put the intake grate back on...4 bolts...shouldn't be that hard right....???? WRONG...last bolt broke off the top 1/2 inch of it...however we got really lucky that with the 3 remaining bolts the grate was still extremly tight so we were able to flip the machine back over, turn it on and run it. We ran it HARD for about 15 mintues, playing, spinning, jumping, racing to try to see if it was going to take on water...at first it seemed to...so we got really disappointed...but the more we played on it the less and less water it seem to take on until finally it stopped taking on any!! We fixed it!!!

However it was sad to see the other jetski so scratched up...so far our trip was turning out to be a disaster!! Rich was mad at Doug, and Doug was mad at Rich...I thought we were for sure going to drive back to the marina and head home that day...but finally Rich and Doug calmed down and we put it all behind us...

Anyways...so pretty much our Wednesday was gone, we got a tiny tiny bit of wakeboarding in (Rich did anyways) Wednesday at dusk...

Thursday morning my dad left Syracuse around 8:30am and drove down to Powell to meet us, pulling my other Broker's boat (he let us borrow it)...he said the winds were so bad that in areas he couldn't exceed 45 mph (like around Nephi). Thursday morning we did a little wakeboarding...then we went to Antelope Point Marina to get gas in Doug's boat and get some ice, we were planning on being at the Wahweap marina to help my dad launch the boat around 2ish...he ended up not getting there till around 3:30pm...we had barely tied up Doug's boat before my dad was backing down the ramp to launch the boat. So Rich went to back the truck down and my dad got in the boat to back it off...

Rich and I ended up riding back to our spot with my dad in Toby's boat (my boss/broker)...it was fun to see my dad's smile...he hadn't been to Lake Powell in 7-8 years and hadn't driven a boat for about 6-7 years... It was fun to see him smile and look around remembering all the years we spent in Powell growing up...we went to Powell at LEAST once a year if not twice a year from when I was a VERY young kid to 7-8 years ago...

Dad driving leaving the Marina after he first arrived...look at his grin!

Doug knee boarding.

So my dad, because of his heart, is not supposed to ski anymore...so instead he knee boarded! And he surprised us all! It was awesome!

He instantly started doing 360's! It was awesome!

Rich driving up our first canyon of the trip...on Friday! We went up Rock Creek Canyon to find a friend of Doug's and then we went to Dangeling Rope (I told Rich about the Ice Cream so he wanted to see it for himself) and then we went up Cathedral Canyon...it is so much fun being back there, going up the canyons, swimming up as far as we can, then hiking up even further! I love that part of Lake Powell!!! It was just Rich, my dad and I that swam and hiked up the canyon's, Doug didn't ever want to.

So up Rock Creek Canyon was this cave...we went under it in the boat (Rich and I) and then the 2 jetski's played in there...it was really cool.

After 6 years of not being able to wakeboard, Rich finally is able to this year...he's slowly getting the strength back in his leg!! He was doing awesome!

Doug skiing...he never seemed to be happy with the water...looks pretty good to me!

Rich and my dad in the bow of Toby's Boat...

Rich playing on the jetski behind Toby's Boat.

My dad and I drove up the rest of the way up Gunsight canyon to look at some people's sandcastles and adobe houses carved out of the sand (that someone recently did) and on our way there there was a boat fishing up there, we slowly drove past them and on our way back they were still there fishing, but the water was BOILING because of the strippers...it was AMAZING to watch, it literally looked like the water was boiling all around us and the boat...so the guy fishing was very easily catching them, so he gave us one...so we took it back and Doug cooked it...it was REALLY good, even my dad had several bites (which is SOOOOOOOOOO amazing!).

Eating lunch up the canyon on Saturday...I believe it was West Canyon...? We cooked elk burgers on Doug's boat, and took the jetski's up the narrow stuff. It was a very fun day!

My dad sitting on top of the houseboat on Saturday.

I think he truly enjoyed being back to Lake Powell, we even took the 2 jetskii's out to some of our old camping spots....it was fun! Oh and the memories that come FLOODING back!! We even talked about having a Lake Powell reunion with the 2 other families that went to Powell with us EVERY year! I think that sounds like a WONDERFUL idea...it would be close to 100 people, but it would be SOOOO fun to see everyone again! What do you think Golds...Squires??

Doug driving his boat on Saturday, coming back from the canyon...shortly after this picture was taken, he had me take over and I drove the rest of the way back to camp.

So Saturday night my dad left around 5:30pm, Rich and I went with him to the marina to see him off and to help load the boat on the trailer. I followed them on the jetski and then Rich and I drove back together on one machine.

Sunday consisted of breaking down camp and heading into the marina to leave. Rich and I wanted to get out of there early enough to get home before dark...so we immediately got up, broke down our tent, packed up everything...Doug didn't have the same idea...he didn't care when he left...so he was moving VERY slowly. So it took a lot longer than we had hoped...and a lot of pushing to get Doug to move!!!

Finally around 1:15pm we left Doug's boat tied to the dock, he was getting gas in the houseboat, and the owner of the houseboat (a friend of Doug's) was on his way to come use the houseboat, Doug decided he would wait for his friend to arrive and possibly spend one more night in Powell. He was going to beach the houseboat next to the docks at the marina and wait for his friend...so Rich and I left...we didn't want to wait around, and we had to get home.

I took the first shift on driving...made it beautifully to Kanab, ate some lunch, got some gas and continued on our way...made it beautifully to Mt. Carmel and just past Orderville when my MPH gauge started to drop, and I couldn't accelerate...so we coasted off to the side of the road...we were REALLY lucky because right at the spot it happened was a cut off on the right side, because it was a winding canyon... We popped the hood, checked the fluids, tried our cell phones, which none worked but occasionally we could get text messages and a phone call here and there out on Rich's work phone...otherwise we would have been walking 3 miles back to Orderville.

My car couldn't go forward, only reverse, so we were stuck.

So here we are sitting on the side of the road at mile marker 91...this is the only picture of me for the entire Lake Powell trip...we were able to get a hold of my dad, who had gotten home Sunday morning at 1:30am...went to church and basically loaded his truck and brought his flat bed trailer back to get us.

Rich pulled out our camping pads and fell asleep on the side of the road, I played games on the phones, slept a little and read a newsletter thing from Lake Powell.

Here's us broken down...we sat on the side of the road for 6 hours, then it took us about 1.5 hours to get the truck loaded onto the trailer. We didn't arrive at my parents house until 6am Monday morning, so Rich and I didn't go home, we crashed in my parents basement for a few hours and then took my car into the transmission place (who we had it rebuilt with/by exactly 4 years ago) and they are looking into it.

It turned out to be a VERY expensive trip and a trip that in the end we are thinking..."Was it worth it?"

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Lake Powell, but boy do bad things come in 3's...we have really bad luck I guess!

Summer 2010-So Far...

2010-08-18T19:58:00.007-06:00

So much has been going on I haven't had time to update our blog with pictures of what we have been up to this summer...I don't have any of us Jetskiing but I have lots of the cabin and other things!

RICH'S BIRTHDAY Party at my Parent's House.

May Opening Presents

WIGHT FAREWELL Party
My sister Amy and her family moved to Hawaii for the summer because my brother in law, Jon, is the project manager for the Hawaii Temple so they moved there for the summer and are coming home, possibly in time for the kids to come home for school.

Jake being a great cheese!
(Grandma, my mom, brought them all a game to play on the plane)

Curtis and his game from grandma

Grandma (my mom) and Kenadee

Our side of the table

Bailee with her present!

Garden area for Peppers and Herbs.
I have to plant them off the ground because my dogs like to eat the peppers...so this year Rich helped attached them to the deck beams in planter boxes.
The sprinklers get them a little wet, but I still have to hand water them EVERY day...but it's fun to see everything grow!

There are Sante Fe Grande, Jalepenos, Pimento, Bell (red/yellow/green),
Sorreno and Poblano Peppers

I also have Rosemary, Oregeno and Sage.

I had some extra Bell Pepper plants so I planted them in my front yard flower bed...Rich made fun of me at first. I wasn't sure if they would work because my houses faces North so I wasn't sure if they would get enough sunlight. HOWEVER they are actually growing faster then the ones in the backyard...oh and by the way they taste wonderful!!!

One of the green peppers from the front yard.

Some of the Pimento pepers almost ready to eat!

Sorreno Peppers

Jalepeno's (this is Rich's favorite)

Sante Fe Grande pepper...
This is such a pretty color right now, the originally grow as a yellow pepper and then slowly grow from yellow to light orange to bright orange to fire red! This one's almost ready to eat!

Other than these pictures we spent a lot of time at the cabin, I already put a large set of pictures of the cabin...I'll try to upload some more of when we took the jeep and went and did some 4-wheeling!
We also have spent a lot of time on the lake with the jetskii's. That's really hard to take pictures because I can't get my camera wet.

Overall it's been a pretty fun summer, busy with lots of work for both Rich and I. However there as been a lot of fun! We are going to try to go to Lake Powell the weekend after Labor Day so that should be a lot of fun!!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Book Party

2010-07-22T10:02:00.005-06:00

Usborne Book Party
When: Tuesday, August 10th
Time: 6:30-8:30pm (Open House Style)
Where: My House (Roy, Utah) or
online at www.ubah.com/HOS176399

Refreshments will be available
Bring a Friend!

Kids welcome!!!

Come enjoy great food and company while browsing some great Children, Toddler, Teen, Encyclopedia's, and more! Textures, pictures, activities, children fiction books (no pictures) and so much more!!!!
Books like the one at the top and these other books below:

Most books are around $10 or Less!

If you would like an invitation sent out to you in the mail or email let me know!!

I hope to see you all there!!

First Cabin Adventure for 2010

2010-06-29T14:14:00.006-06:00

So this past weekend Rich and I went up to the cabin (Top of Monte Cristo) and enjoyed an very much needed "STAY-CATION!" It was so much fun and so relaxing I honestly didn't want to come home!!
It was the first time Echo had ever been up to Monte/Cabin so it was fun to watch how she acted, how Kyra & her never seemed to stop moving, investigating and exploring. Bad thing though...because Echo will explore with Kyra they go further away from the cabin than when Kyra went alone... Dakota 90% stays next to a human because she rather have the attention of the humans than explore and that she also has hip/back leg problems that she can't explore/run as much as the other two.

(Above) The 3 dogs exploring the fallen down cabin...looking for "Pot Guts" I'm sure!

Kyra was so determined to find what was in this hole, by the time she was finished her entire head was under the ground! (Even Dakota got into it) (Above)

Cooking lunch on the Grill (Above)

Family picture in the back of my Expedition at Wheeler Creek! It is now my favorite picture of us because all 3 dogs are in it and looking at the camera with their ears up! (Above)

Rich's mom, JoAnna, fighting with Rich over the "lounge" chair. Doesn't she kinda remind you of Huckleberry Finn? (Above)

Mother & Son still fighting over the 'lounge' chair in the cabin. (Above)

I tried to stay out of it, besides taking pictures. Rich got up and gave the chair to JoAnna, who then kept rubbing it in, so Rich picked her entire body up, set it on the ground and then they began to wrestle! It was actually quite funny to watch...and I got some great blackmail photos if I ever need them. (Above)

Rich and Dakota on the front porch of the deck after going down to Wheeler Creek. (Above)

Gregg (Rich's 'Step' Dad) Blowing bubbles, the dogs couldn't figure it out! (Above)

Gregg & JoAnna (Rich's parents) down at Wheeler Creek walking back to the Expo after fishing on the creek!! (Above)

Kyra & Echo in Wheeler Creek. Can't get the dogs to get in the water and actually swim, I'm hoping that will change this year, I'm going to take them somewhere where I can get in the water with them and make them swim with me! (Above)

Echo accidentally went a little too far into the creek, the water suddenly was deeper than she could touch so she had to swim back...I laughed! I think she didn't mind the fact that it cooled her down though! (Above)

Dakota and I at Wheeler Creek. (Above)

4-Wheeling in my Expedition to get down to Sugar Pine Creek (Above)

Gregg caught a fish on Sugar Pine, don't worry we put them all back! (Above)

Me ATTEMPTING to Creek Fish on Sugar Pine. It didn't work...but then again it was my VERY first time Creek Fishing! (Above)

JoAnna fishing on Sugar Pine. (Above)

It was one of the best weekends in a long time up at Monte! I want to go back!!!

Rich and I love it up there, the Dogs love it up there, it's the last summer with Dakota so we want to spend a lot of time with her up there, and it's so relaxing. It also doesn't hurt that there are flushing toilets, running water, showers, and beds for us!!

We are SO lucky to have access to such a wonderful property!

Hope everyone is doing well and has a SAFE and HAPPY Fourth of July!!!

Update on Us

2010-06-10T14:54:00.002-06:00

Oh I have been a big slacker on my Blog Updating! I think it's me knowing how big a pain it is to upload pictures that I avoid it..so this post has NO pictures!! (Plus I don't have my camera with me)

Rich and I have both EXTREMELY Busy with work, so our lives have mainly been consisting of work, work, work!!
I can't remember if I ever updated things but Rich now works for Whipple Heating & Air as an HVAC technican and sales guy! So far I think he enjoys being out and about all day, he says the days fly by for him now. At his old job, Ogden Clinic, he was in a room, sitting all day looking into a microscope, never saw the sun, etc; so I think he likes being out, interacting with different people, and just flat out doing something different. It's been a lot of adjusting...learning something COMPLETELY new, in a totally new industry, and adjusting with the work hours and different pay structure...Because he's so new, and it is a sales job he works late hours, long days, has lots of EARLY meetings in Salt Lake. There have been days where he gets up at 5am, leaves the house just before 6, and doesn't get home until 11pm, and even a couple 1am's; just to do it the next day (so like 4 hours of sleep).
I think he's happier, which makes it ALL worth it!! Of course there are the frustrating parts, but we can work through those!!

As for me and my work, I've had a super busy last couple weeks in Real Estate! Listed a Bank Owned house in Ogden & 3 hours later had 4 offers, and by the end of the week had a total of 9 offers submitted to the bank. (Investor Special!!!) Closed in 14 days!!!
Have been working with some other clients to get some other listings, a couple buyers and just got another Bank Owned listing yesterday that I have to work on (they require a lot of work for the first week or so, even before they are on the market!).
And not only am I personally busy with being an Agent, my office has been really busy, and since I'm the office manager I have been really busy too!! Plus because its the first of the month I've been busy with Rentals!!
But you know what...I LOVE BEING BUSY!!!

In other news, it's almost time to go to the CABIN!!! Still snow on the main road into the cabin, but we can possibly get in the back way this weekend?! And hopefully by next weekend or by the 25th we can get in the front way!! I know my dogs are itching to go!! It's their FAVORITE place to go, and it will be Echo's first time up there so it will be WAY fun to watch them all!! And plus, this will be the last summer Dakota will be around before we have to put her down because of her hip/leg problems that it will be a very sentimental summer!!

Jetskii's are out, and ready to go...if it would STOP RAINING!!!! We are planning a Lake Powell trip for end of August to 1st of September which I am REALLY looking forward to!
So our weekends will vary between Cabin and Lakes!! Should be an AWESOME summer!!

I wish I could say that I'm planning some amazing trip for this year, like I had last year (Italy or even the Caribbean Cruise that we went to in May) but I'm not...with Rich's new job it's hard right now to be gone for too long! And plus I think 2 cruises in 1 year may cover for a while! But it would be nice to look forward to a TRUE VACATION!! Maybe next year, around Feb/Mar!?

Other news...Rich and I purchased a 150 Gallon Salt Water Tank to replace Rich's current 90 Gal. one...it is a used tank, but surprisingly in really good shape. Rich is just getting everything PERFECT (as you all know he has to have everything) before we transfer to the 150 GAL. I told Rich though, that I DID NOT want to be around when he did the move! It was SOOOOOO much work moving the 90 Gal. from upstairs to down that I don't want to do this transfer!! The mess, the work, the time, and the casualties are usually large!! I will make sure that plastic gets put down EVERYWHERE in the basement because of the salt water...but otherwise I think I'll be at an "appointment" or "something"!!

I'll try to get some pictures uploaded of the new tank, and the progression it is making!!
Along with the 150 Gal tank we got a 24 Gal Nano Tank, that will be our upstairs, Fish Only tank. For all the fishes we can't have in the downstairs tank because of the corals!! Should be fun! (Rich is calling that tank my tank...I think I'll just enjoy it but he can maintain it too!!)

In OTHER news...Since January 1st I have lost 20 pounds!!! YEAH ME!!! I have cut out ALL soda pop, caffeine, most sweets/sugars, and have REALLY watched my portions! I don't eat everything on my plate whether at home or at a restaurant (which I think has really been the biggest thing!!)...I haven't been doing much, if any exercise, which I'm hoping to begin once I get rid of this STUPID cold I have been fighting for 2 weeks!!! (I thought I was over it, then a week ago it came back and attacked my throat/voice!!)
I bought some new work out videos and have my older ones too so that I can continually switch it up!! I just have to keep myself motivated...but I think that if I continue to see weight loss it will keep my motivation up!!!!

Anyways, that's what's been going on with Rich and I...nothing TOO exciting...

Hope things are going well for EVERYONE!!

Life as we know it...

2010-04-21T15:42:00.008-06:00

I haven't updated my blog in so long...so this may be a long post so that I can show/tell you what the Roger's have been up to!!

I guess I'll start with Siding:

Jason & Erin have been re-siding their home...and Rich and I have gone and helped them a couple times. The 2nd time we helped was when I remembered my camera, however the 1st time was the most memorable!!

1st Time Siding

Jason called us and asked if we could come help...so of course Saturday morning came, we went over and the sun was shining! It wasn't expected to snow/rain until in the afternoon, so we figured we'd get some done before it started!!

It was Jason, Rich, my dad, & me--Erin was inside with the kids, which we truly appreciated her doing, so that Eliza and Cohen wouldn't require our attention, so we could focus 100% on siding. Well we didn't get much done at all before the temperature dropped and clouds rolled in. (I think we got some of the old stuff torn off and that's it) And then the rain started. I only had a hooded sweatshirt, Rich & Dad had jackets that was NOT water resistant; Jason was the only one who was able to get a water resistant jacket on. Rain turned to slush and it was pretty cold.

Did we stop.....????

NO! That would have been TOO easy!

So we hung up a tarp, nailed it to the roof, and made a tent like thing so we could continue, of course we did this AFTER it had started raining. Now usually when you are working hard, working up a sweat you stay warm...well that would have been the case had we never gotten wet from the rain, so are shoes, socks, pants, jackets, hair/hats, gloves were wet...and they never dried so it was cold!! But we kept going, we started around 8am, rain came in around 10am and we didn't stop until 5pm!! We got a lot accomplished for the weather we were dealing with! The wall of what used to be the garage, now turned family room, was complete!! And we started on the Southeast corner of the home-only made it part way!

Thanks Erin & Jason for the Pizza for lunch!!

I wish I had pictures!!

It is a running joke between us that we need to come over all the time, because we were working right outside Cohen's bedroom window, hammering the siding in, and he slept GREAT!!

2nd Time Siding

So we got together a second time to help, this time Dad didn't make it, so it was Jason, Rich, myself and Erin was again with the kids, and when she could come outside to help she did!

This time we started around 3pm and went until 9:30pm. We got a lot accomplished, the entire South side actually, besides the 4-5 in pieces at the very top that Jason said he'd do alone. We had to start by helping Jason put in a new front door, new trim, etc and then we could continue onto the siding (which we had already ripped off the old stuff)!!

Erin made us AWESOME Taco Salads for dinner!! Thank you!
And it was beautiful weather!

I'll tell you what though, I didn't realize my arms could hurt that bad after hammering for so long!! Still have more to do...and I'm sure we'll (Rich & I) will be working side by side with Jason & Erin to finish it up!!

Here are some pictures of before and afters!!

(We worked on the South Side, but we didn't get Old Siding Pictures-but it was the same as the ones shown below!)

North Side of Home-Before

East Side of Home

Front Door-South Side (After tearing down old siding)

New siding going up

Rich and Jason doing trim around windows.

Who's Walking Who?
So Rich and I have started taking the dogs for walks...we walk about a total of a mile, which for us not doing anything for SOOOO long is pretty good! We walk to the Elementary School just North of our house, let the dogs run around a bit at the park, then walk back to our house.

Imagine if you will 3 Wolf looking dogs walking towards you...it's quite a sight!! I definitely wouldn't feel scared about walking alone at night with those 3!!!

Sometimes I feel like it is them taking me for the walk and not the other way around! They are pretty good though, it's the starting out that usually is the worst, because they are so excited. Dakota (our 3 year old Black/White Malamute) doesn't even need to be on a leash. She has hip/joint problems that she can't walk very long or very fast so she stays right by our sides! Although she is definitely hurting by the time we make it back home...so sad! She's only 3 and she's had hip problems since around 1.5 years old...

Kyra, Echo, Dakota and of course Rich!!

Dakota (Black/White, 3yrs), Echo (White, 6 months), Kyra (Red/White, 4yrs)

Dakota (on the far left) is dragging her leash, because she doesn't need it!

At the Park, Resting!

That's a seriously LONG tongue!!

Easter!

This year we celebrated Easter with my family at my mom & dad's! Scavenger Egg Hunt, Easter Egg Hunt, Easter Story, Dinner, Dessert. It was also celebrating April Birthdays!

Dad telling the Easter Story

Opening up Easter Gifts from Grandma (my mom)!

Scavenger Hunt-Sage & Grandma (my mom)

Scavenger Hunt-Bailee & I

Waiting for Grandpa (my dad) to start his story after scavenger hunt.

Easter Egg Hunt
Bailee, Eliza, Sage, Kenadee
Easter Egg Hunt
Sage, Bailee, Jade
Kenadee-Easter Egg Hunt
Eliza-Easter Egg Hunt
Even Baby Cohen got into the Easter Egg Hunt
Birthday Brownies!

Dessert-Brownies & Icecream!

Busy Busy!! Thanks to everyone involved in all of these events!!!

Its a DOG Gone World

2010-02-22T11:17:00.005-07:00

So as many of you know, well probably all of you know, Rich and I are HUGE dog lovers! (Me probably more than him, but anyways...) So we did a crazy thing back in January...we got a 3rd dog... Now you probably don't think that's too big of a deal, but these dogs are not indoor dogs, they weigh over 50 lbs, with our largest being 85 lbs....and probably twice a year they shed loads of dog fur (that could probably weigh around 50 lbs a dog)!

Now, even with all of this I love them! They are my babies, I spoil them, and they are truely a blessing! Every night they provide a way to relax, because no matter how my day was, they still are VERY excited to see me, they show their affection, and wear their hearts on they "sleeve" (figuratively)!

Alaskan Malamute's & Huskies (Northern Breeds in general) are stubborn but hardworking animals. They are known for being difficult to train, escape artists, and impossible to take off a leash; even other Northern Breed owners are amazed that all of our dogs can walk without a leash, they never leave our yard, and all pretty well trained. (Sit, stay, come, etc) My answer to those people who's mouth drops to the floor when they meet our dogs...it's a LOT of hard work, and we CONSTANTLY work with them. Malamutes/Huskies love to work, but they have to see value in what they are working on...so mundane tasks such as sit, stay, etc are that much more difficult because you have to make them WANT to sit or stay. Every day I make them sit, stay, lay, etc, so it's a CONSTANT lesson. They must sit to come out of the kennal, they must sit to get their food bowls, they must stay to get a treat, they have to lay down to get a treat... HOWEVER Malamutes & Huskies LOVE to please, and so even a head rub makes them happy!

Here are some pictures of my 3 babies...sorry the poor quality, I only had my iPhone pictures today!!

Dakota (3 yrs, Black & White Alaskan Malamute)
(not the greatest pic because she moved, so it blurred)
We call her Baby D, however we're thinking of changing it to Mama D because of how well she treats our newest puppy! She has bad arthiritis in her back legs, so she acts older than she is, doesn't like to run or move a lot, but is VERY loving, but one very stubborn girl.
She LOVES treats/food, so we are currently trying to get her to loose weight, and because of her love for food it sometimes makes it difficult to make it sit, stay, or lay because if we have a treat in our hand, that's all she sees, and it's like she forgets her manners!

Kyra (4 yrs, Red & White, or sable, Alaskan Malamute)
We got her in the middle of Summer 2006, so we had a lot of time, with nice weather, to work with her. She LOVES to please, and LOVES to run, and play. We call her Spaz 5000 because she has SOOOOO much energy. Because of her energy she sometimes forgets her manners when there are new people around. SHE LOVES LITTLE KIDS, if she sees them she gets SOOO excited, I think she feeds off their energy. However most of the kids in our neighborhood are scared of our dogs, they call us the "Wolf Family".

Kyra, again. She love to wrestle and that's what Rich is doing with her in this picture.

Our newest addition, Echo (5 months old, White Siberian Husky)
It is amazing how different a Husky and Malamute are, and yet they are so much a like too! She's very VOCAL compared to Kyra and Dakota, and VERY stubborn. But boy does she know how to sit and get attention. She has been welcomed into Kyra & Dakota's lives very well (ya never know with dogs, we've tried other dogs, and it hasn't worked very well). She nibbles on Dakota's lips, wrestles with Kyra and Dakota, and plays keep away with Kyra. Some people, even our vet, said that it wasn't a good idea to let her live out side, but she's been out there 100% of the time since middle of January. We'd let her go out to our backyard to play for a few hours with Kyra and Dakota, and then bring her in to sleep and eat, but one day we couldn't get her to come inside, so she stayed out, thinking the next night she'd want to come in, she didn't and she's been outside ever since. Husky's are VERY social dogs, meaning they absolutely HATE being alone, so if anyone is considering getting one, make sure that he/she will not be alone because they will howl, whine, and destruct because they hate being alone.

We actually got Echo because we aren't sure how much longer Dakota will be around because of her bad arthirtis. But it sure is amazing to watch how much more active Kyra and Dakota are since we brought Echo into our lives!
It sure will be interesting to have 3 dogs at our Cabin this summer, 1800 acres of land for their enjoyment!

There are moments where I want to kill them, there are moments where I want to cry because I'm so frustrated, and there are moments where I say let's just get rid of them, but the happy moments out weigh the bad, and I know that Rich and I will FOREVER be a Pack of Malamute/Huskies!!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T12:56:00.009-07:00

Unfortunately I forgot my camera on Christmas Eve so I don't have any pictures of the Webster Activities, which included Gift Exchange with Siblings at my Parent's house, family picture at my parent's house, and Christmas Eve traditions at my Grandma Teeples house. You can see pictures on my mom's blog.

Christmas Morning we always have the dogs come in for Christmas Morning. This year because of the new carpet I laid down blankets everywhere so they never touched the new carpet!

Kyra (left) & Dakota (right)
eating their Christmas Treat!

Rich & I have a tradition that we surprise each other with the Stockings for each other.

Rich & his new Driveline for his Jeep.

Rockband for our Playstation 3!!

We spent Christmas Day with Rich's Parents!

Presents!!

I don't know what it is about Rich, but where ever we go he finds the recliner chair!
Sitting on his lap, surprisingly, is Doopy "Dog". It's VERY unusual to see Doopy this close to Rich!

JoAnna & I made the Christmas Feast! We started with Finger Foods such as Bean Dip, Summer Sausage & Homemade Spinach & Artichoke Dip! YUMMMY
Main Course: Prime Rib, Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Rolls, Red/Green Jello

Rich & I bought our NEW Rockband, Beatles Edition! Gregg & JoAnna enjoyed the singing because it was music from their era! It was tons of fun!

More Rockband!!

Overall, it was a GREAT Christmas!

The day after Christmas we went to lunch with Rich's Dad, Steve, and then to dinner with Jenn & Bryan Littrell and then saw Avatar! We planned on pulling an ALL nighter, by finishing the night off (after the 3 hour movie Avatar) with games, board games, Rockband, whatever! Instead we ended up at the ER. Rich left the movie about 45 to an hour early, telling me he had a headache and couldn't do the 3D anylonger, but really he was having chest pains. When we got out of the movie, we found him, alone in the Movie Theaters Lobby clutching his chest. Anyways I went to get the car, with Bryan, and Jenn stayed with Rich in the lobby. When I got back with the car, she helped him stand up and he passed out, hitting his head on the hard cement floor! He was out for about 1 minute, we called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. He doesn't remember anything after he passed out till the ER doctor was asking him questions. The Doctor ran all sorts of tests (blood work, X-ray, EKG & a CT scan for his head), they all came back clean! So they gave him some pain meds, both for the head and chest pain, and said his confusion and memory loss was probably caused by a concussion. He's home, just resting, thank goodness! But it's still not any fun spending nights/mornings in the ER! I just wish, as I'm sure he does too, that they could truely figure out what was wrong with his heart and fix it! He's tired of all the problems, Dr. visits, pain, medical stuff, etc, as am I...but we'll get through it I'm sure!!

Anyways, I hope everyone's CHRISTMAS was wonderful! I hope that the New Year brings you all great happiness and cheer!!

Cookie Night

2009-12-22T09:59:00.007-07:00

So of course we did our Annual Christmas Cookie Night where the family, Teeples Side, gets together and frost dozens of Sugar Cookies, eat pizza and make Gingerbread Houses. I honestly think we've been doing this tradition long before I was even born!!

Of course, because Rich & I don't have kids, well not ones my mom lets in her house, we are designated the "helpers"! I take the pictures, help whichever kid needs help frosting their gingerbread house, and usually I pick up some pizza's on my way to my moms! So it's a BUSY night for me!

Here are some pictures of our event!

Eating Pizza

Kenadee

Grandma & her birdhouse "Gingerbread" house.

Bailee & Sage

Wynn & Ricky frosting cookies

Curtis Frosting Cookies

Paxton eating a Frosted Cookie

Eliza by her Gingerbread House

Hunter & His Gingerbread House

Jade

Cory & Gracie

Mom & Jake

Baby Cohen

Michelle & Paxton

The whole lot of them makin' their gingerbread houses.

Cookies...and more cookies!

Have I ever....

2009-11-30T15:32:00.002-07:00

The object is to copy & paste the list of "99 things" to your blog & bold the things you've done!! You should all do it! It's quick, I promise!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (rockband counts right....?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Visited a Castle
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person (not all that I thought it would be)
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Spent New Years Eve in Trafalga Square
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Have been published
81. Visited the Redwoods
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Testified in court
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Thanks to this year alone I've been able to mark a lot off!!

Italy-Cruise 2009

2009-10-27T14:55:00.018-06:00

I was fortunate enough to go on a 12 day cruise and spend additional days in Rome these past couple weeks!

My travel companions: Kathy Lamond (aunt), Grandma Teeples (mom's mom) and my Mom.

Saw some amazing sites, ate a lot of food, walked A LOT! But it was amazing!

Here are just a very small sampling of the pictures of our trip to Italy!!

When we first got to the airport in Rome it was pouring rain! Luckily by the time we got to our hotel it was sunny! And then we were sweating because of the heat and humidity the 1st day and 1/2 in Rome (before we got on the Cruise Ship). We left the airport around 8:30am on Friday the 9th of October, arrived in Rome around 7am (Rome Time) Saturday October 10th. And we hit the ground running. We couldn't check into our hotel until around 1pm, so we lef tour backs with the front desk and started walking around the city. We had a Vatican Tour around 1pm that afternoon.

Our hotel was directly across the street from the Vatican Museum entrance, so it was very convenient to many sites!

We walked over to St. Peter's Square before our Vatican Tour. We tried to see a lot of sites that first day and 1/2 in Rome before we got on the Cruise Ship.

Before our Vatican Tour, while walking around the city around our Hotel, we saw the exterior of Castel St. Angelo (as pictured in Angels & Demons the movie) and walked over the Angel Bridge.

Inside the Vatican on our Vatican Tour.

Our 2nd day in Rome, before we were to get on the Cruise Ship, we walked around a little more of the city, and went inside Castel St. Angelo.

The Wall leading from Castel St. Angelo to the Vatican (same one pictured on Angels & Demons)

On top of Castel St. Angelo. The Views were absolutely breathtaking! This was probably one of the big highlights for me!

Still inside Castel St. Angelo

After leaving Castel St. Angelo we walked down the street and found this gorgeous Palace. We don't know the history of the palace, but we think it is used as a city office building! It was beautiful!

CRUISE

Our first port was Portofino, Italy. Beautiful harbor town, very expensive! Beautiful yachts, stores like Gucci, Dior, etc. We ate Gelato, and then it started to thunder, so we got back on the Tender to our ship around noon, and it started to pour. The waves/wind/rain go so bad they had to stop all tenders, bus the remaining passengers to Genoa and those of us on the Cruise Ship sailed to Genoa, and picked up the passengers. It was supposed to be the first formal night, but they canceled it because of this and made it open sitting, so we ate dinner in the dining room looking over the city of Genoa, which was beautiful!

PISA/FLORENCE (2nd Port)

Leaning Tower, of course. We docked in Livorno, took a train to Pisa, saw the tower, then took another train to Florence and walked around looking at the sites, shopped a little in a leather market, and took a train back to Livorno. I don't have any pictures of Florence on my camera, and I haven't gotten copies of Kathy's pictures yet!

2nd Day in FLORENCE
Guided Tour: Wine Tasting in Tuscany

We were a little disappointed that they didn't show us the actual vineyards, but its quite a process they go through to make the wine! And the Villa was amazing!

MESSINA/SICILY

When we got of the ship in Messina we didn't really have a plan, so we talked to a taxi driver waiting outside the ship and took a taxi to Tauromina (the ruins of an ampitheatre). It was cool. It was a little rainy, which I'm sure they weren't thrilled about because of their recent landslides/mudslides!
Our taxi driver then took us back to Messina walked around the main square and then went back to the ship, ate lunch, and then went back into Messina to find some Gelato!

Eating Gelato outside our ship.

1st day in VENICE

Gondola ride in the small canels.

When going under the MANY bridges in the small canels, the Gondolas have to lean to right side to fit under them!

Again, eating gelato in Venice by one of the MANY MANY bridges. Venice was probably one all of our favorite places! It was beautiful, and amazing that they live with so much water surrounding them! We would be walking, turn a corner and the side walk just ends and there would be water, so you'd have to turn around and find another way to get across with a bridge. It was colder here, and we didn't see much sun because we were inside the tiny walkways/alleys, and find stores in the tiny alleys that were awesome! This is where we all did the most shopping!

2nd day in VENICE

St. Mark's is below sea level so this time of the year water is covering the entire square and inside the cathedral. Our tour guide said that later they will be wading through knee high water!! You could see it bubbling up from the drains, etc.

Standing in front of St. Mark's Cathedral (in the background you can see the walkways they made to get around the square and into the cathedral because of the water!)

Doge's Palace, the Golden Staircase. This was the Palace and City offices of the leader(s) of Venice! We had a tour that included St. Mark's Cathedral, Doge's Palace and Glass Showroom. Inside the Palace we got to see the rooms where the leaders ruled Venice. The artwork, ceilings and rooms were amazing. Our tour guide was terrible, we could barely understand her, so about 1/2 way through Doge's Palace we found another tour group from our ship, and switched our headsets to match her frequency! She was an excellent tour guide!

CROATIA

Croatia was the only stop outside of Italy that our Cruise made. We took the cruise's shuttle to the entrance of the Old Town, called Grad, that is completely surrounded by a wall. The city looks like a fortress! It's beautiful. You can pay to walk the top of the wall, which we did and we are very happy that we did!

Inside a Palace inside the Old Town. It is now a museum that includes some original furnishings! It was cool.

The view of the city from the wall! Isn't it gorgeous!

Entrance to the city!

On top of the wall overlooking the water! The water was sooooo clear it was beautiful!

NAPLES

Pompeii is the city in Naples that was destroyed by a Volcanic eruption in 79 AD. It was my favorite, because of my love for Archeology.

Another of Pompeii, I could have spent hours there! We were on a guided tour so they really only hit the hot spots, but after I read more about the city from a book Kathy bought there was so much we missed!!

Pompeii didn't have a sewer system, so the sewer was in the streets, so they created these stones to make cross walks for pedestrians, but that the carriages, etc could still go through. There are still indentations in the cobblestone from the carriages.

A casting of a dog who died in the eruption of 79 AD that covered the city with ash! There was also castings of people who died, it was amazing to see!!

Our guided tour was supposed to be Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast by boat, but because of the weather they canceled the Amalfi Coast and took us to Sorrento instead. We were quite disappointed that we were not able to see the coast, and were disappointed that they didn't just take us to the coast in the bus to show us! Sorrento poured so hard we pretty much stood around waiting for the guide to take us back to the boat! So it was a big disappointment.

In the middle of the town of Sorrento we saw some railing and what looked like a big hole in the ground...and as we approached we saw this!! It was beautiful, and had a big waterfall as well!

Shuffle Board on the Ship

ROME
(After Cruise)

Spanish Steps

Monument to the first king of Italy. They sure love their monuments!!

Outside the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon...it's huge!!

Trevi Fountain...this is absolutely amazing!! AND it still uses an ancient aquaduct system, and so the water coming into the fountain is fresh water and drinkable!!

Rumor has it if you throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain it ensures your return to Rome!

LAST DAY IN ROME

Tour: Colosseum & Ancient Rome

Interior of the Colosseum, absolutely amazing! I learned so much. We had an EXCELLENT tour guide that would help us visualize what the Colosseum looked like when it was built and being used! It was amazing!

Roman Forums: largest Archelogical site in the world! It's amazing how they have preserved what they have found!

Leaving Rome! Sad!

We booked our flights through Delta, but they partnered with Airitalia so we were didn't board our flight until 10:40am, but we were supposed to be in the air by that time!! They did catch up that time once they were in the air, so we only landed a little bit late in Newark, NJ! However you have to go through customs, then pick up you luggage, go through customs again, then re-check your luggage back in, then go through security again! So we had to RUN to get our connecting flight! We were the last ones on the plane. It was a very long and stressful day!

It was a GREAT trip! Thanks Mom for including me!

New Addition to the Extended Family!

2009-08-12T10:00:00.007-06:00

I want to welcome Baby Cohen Jason Webster to our family!!!

Daddy reading to the kids!

Big Sister Eliza kept calling him "my baby"! It was way cute!

Yes, that's me holding a baby!

Congratulations Jason, Erin & Eliza! We love you guys!

Adventures

2009-07-14T18:40:00.015-06:00

I haven't updated our Blog in a long time...and we have had so much fun I don't know where to begin!!

Back in June we went to Lake Powell with my boss Doug Russell, his wife and 2 of his daughters. We took the Jetskiis, of course, Doug took his boat, and he had his friends houseboat! Rich and I camped on the beach in a tent...We had tons of fun, it had been almost 8 years since I had last been to Lake Powell so it was fun being there.

The water was rising so quickly we had to move the house boat daily to keep it from rocking; we watch rocks/sand disappear beneath the water daily, it was amazing!

We went up one canyon, hung out on the beach, rode the jetskiis, alot and just had a fabulous time!

Here are some pics of this adventure!

Lounging at camp

Canyon Fun

Cowboy Doug

Jackie having fun (Doug's Daughter)

The House Boat

Doug Skiing Behind Jetski

What A Stud!

Just Chillin'

"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" Quote from Wicked The Musical
On Sunday, we let Jackie take our car to go to church in Page, AZ...she went to one church it was closed for construction, and when she walked back to the car to go find another one she found a flat tire...Dad, Mom the tradition lives on, something has to go wrong/break down on EVERY Lake Powell Trip!! So Rich and I left a little earlier than Doug & Linda (his wife), on Monday, to get our tire fixed in Page, AZ! Here are some shots we got coming back into Utah and going over the Dam!

Our next little adventure took us to the mountains, camping with the dogs. It was our first time camping in a tent since we met...usually we would just go to the cabin when we wanted to go to the mountains, but this time we went to public land, up off of Wasatch Ridge on Monte Cristo. We found a nice little meadow on a dead end street where we could camp with the dogs without any worries of other people. It was so much cooler up there then it was/is down here in Roy!

Just last weekend we went to Anderson Cove with some good friends, spent Friday night, Saturday and all day Sunday playing and having fun in the sun and water! We had the jetskiis and then Rich's good friend Brandon Minister came up in the afternoon on Saturday with his Wakeboard boat...we had a blast!

Kelty & Cache in the Jeep

Our Spot on the Beach (very very little beach)

Brian cooking Saturday Breakfast

Jenn Wakeboarding behind Jetski

Rich Playing with the Kids

Aly, Cache & Kelty

Jenn & Cache

The Wakeboard Boat (Brandon Minister's)

We had tons of fun on ALL these adventures, and I'm sorry that I didn't update the blog sooner and dedicate a single post to each adventure...but life gets carried away from you sometimes...Like they say, "Time Flies when you're having fun!"

Party

2009-07-07T10:36:00.001-06:00

Cookie Lee Party

Thursday, August 20th, 6:30pm-9pmI am having a Cookie Lee Party at my house August 20th.

I'll be sending out invites and would love to invite you all, so please email me your mailing address so that I can send you an invite! My email: vr4girl@hotmail.com

Come enjoy great food, great company, great jewelry!

I would LOVE to see you ALL there!

New Toys

2009-05-30T20:17:00.006-06:00

5 years of marriage and we just barely bought our first toy together!! We were lucky enough to come across a great opportunity and deal to buy 2 brand new Jetskis/waverunners!!

We picked them up last Saturday (Memorial Weekend) and as many of you know it rained 98% of the weekend, so we were only able to go Monday morning to Pineview; it was cold, and my biggest complaint is there are absolutely no beaches; meaning no opportunity to get off the Jetski, enjoy a drink, etc.

So today, Saturday we decided we'd try out Willard Bay. It was a perfect day, not too hot, but warm enough you could get in the water and enjoy the sun! They had sandy beaches, covered pinic tables... Rich and I got there by 9:30am, played until 1pm, then Rich's mom & stepdad came, and then Jason/Erin/Eliza came at 2pm. We played for hours, enjoyed the sun, played in the sand, and enjoyed the day!

Here are some pics of our new toys and the beautiful day we had!

We are having so much fun!! We love having people go with us, so give us a call!!!

Cruise 2009

2009-05-12T11:48:00.014-06:00

Rich and I were very lucky to be able to go on a 7 night cruise to the Western Caribbean!!! It was actually last minute planning and very spur of the moment-but lucky for us that helped with the cost of the cruise. (*Warning-long post, lots of pics)

Leaving the Port

Our Group from the Table. We had an awesome group at our Dinner Table each night! Rich and I decided they must choose people in the same age group because we were all between 24-32!!!

Our First Formal Night!

We would come back to our room each night and have these way cute Towel animals. Almost every night they would purposely find my sunglasses and put them on the animal!

JAMAICA

We sat on a beautiful beach for a few hours!! Entertainment & good food!!

GRAND CAYMAN

Swiming with the Stingrays

Coral Reef Snorkeling

BELIZE

Altun Ha Ruin

River Wallace Tour

Manatee(s)

Crocodile

Monkeys

MISC

Stairs

2009-04-24T13:21:00.005-06:00

We are fortunate enough to have family/friends that are willing to come help with building things and doing home projects...
Since we moved into this house our deck was really more of a balcony because it was really high with no stairs off it. So last weekend we invited the family over to build stairs...payment: FOOD!

So the Erickson's (Wynn/Melissa/Kids), Jon & the kids, Jason, my dad & mom and the Bangerter kids (because Michelle just had Baby Paxton on Friday) came over Saturday afternoon and did the hard stuff. Rich and I finished putting up the railings/spindles Monday and Wednesday nights.

What did I do?? I babysat, A LOT of kids. This is how I entertained them...
treats, TV and games.

In the middle, we decided to eat...Flank Steaks, Baked Potatoes (hamburger/hotdogs for the Kids) and then it was back to work.

Thanks everyone for your help!! It is greatly appreciated!! We and the dogs love them!!!

Twilight On DVD

2009-03-16T22:19:00.003-06:00

I know what I'm doing this Saturday-do you??

I've pre-ordered and will pick up Friday night at midnight...most likely, if not 1st thing Saturday morning!

I know I know I'm completely obsessed...but I'm perfectly okay with it!

I will be happily enjoying Twilight in the comfort of my own home on Saturday. With my very comfy couch, blankets, and surround sound!! I will watch the movie and then ALL the behind the scenes, and special featurs on the 2 Disc Special edition DVD!!!

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

Valentines Weekend

2009-02-16T11:13:00.004-07:00

We were fortunate enough to join Jenn & Bryan on a weekend getaway to Midway, Utah! We stayed at the Wolfcreek Condos by the Homestead Resort, and just enjoyed a very relaxing weekend.
We had pizza at the condo Friday night, played games, swam in the pool/hot tub, did fondue (chocolate and cheese) and went to dinner at the Homestead Saturday night. It was a ton of fun!

Thanks Jenn & Bryan for inviting us and making it a GREAT weekend!

Heart Surgery #2

2009-02-04T21:39:00.002-07:00

Once again Rich went in for Heart Surgery...we probably wouldn't have known to do another one if he hadn't been like a Zombie the last 3-4 weeks. Usually he's a morning person and he could barely get out of bed in the mornings; he got off caffine and thought that was the cause, so to make it through the day the past 2 weeks he has had an energy drink, but even then he was SOOOO tired. So last Thursday he asked one of his doctors to check it out, the Doc took his pulse, told Rich to sit down immediately and did an EKG. After seeing the EKG the doc called Rich's heart doc at the UofU and made an appointment for the next morning. We immediately scheduled a surgery for today. The surgery lasted 2 hours, he had to be awake the entire time, and now has the worst migraine he has ever had. He's been sick to his stomach, can't hold food down, and is miserable. I think he'd prefer chest pain!!

It's Finally Done...!!!

2009-01-15T10:31:00.006-07:00

We finally finished our basement-bathroom included!!! Now we just have to hang some pictures and move the office down, but other than that we are done!!!

Rich did a fantastic job finishing everything himself I am so proud of him. He put so much blood, sweat and time into finishing it!!! We had to completely replumb the basement bath because when we bought the house it only was plumbed for a 1/2 bath, but we wanted to add a full bath (the space is plenty big). We thought that we would have to crawl around in a 2 ft X 2 ft space filled of mud...but luckily when we lifted our suspended plywood floor and looked below it was easily 4 ft of space and it took no more than 2 days for Rich to finish moving pipes around. At this time we had already painted and put up trim work in the bedroom and family room so before we could get carpet we wanted to finish the bath (sheetrock dust is not fun!!)

Well one day when I was out shopping with my mom we stopped at Buy Direct, just to look, and found a carpet that felt nice, was good quality and was cheap!!! (Seriously what more could you want?) So I scheduled a guy to come out and measure for the following Monday (it was Saturday) and we had it installed this past Monday!! It looks awesome, feels awesome and gave us a deadline to finish the basement. So Saturday & Sunday of this past week Rich and I rushed to put the floor in, install the toilet, sink and finish painting trim and walls!!! What a rush.

Anyways...carpet is in, and we have spent almost every night since watching movies hanging out.
We bought a new sectional from RCWilley's (which is very nice), bought mom & dad's TV from downstairs...
Rich won his Biggest Loser Contest at work and so with his winnings he bought a Surround Sound system; it was like a little kid going to the candy store, he was so excited! He can't wait to get our friends, Jenn & Bryan to come over and play Rock Band on their playstation (we don't have it)!!!

So needless to say was are quite excited to have all done, and are excited to have someone/anyone come over and enjoy it with us!!!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-29T09:57:00.003-07:00

Christmas this year was a little different than usual...instead of going to the Annual Teeples Christmas Eve celebration Rich & I went to Rich's mom's house and had a great dinner, sat in their Hot Tub & Played games...sadly no pictures to show you but it was a great Christmas Eve.

Christmas day was good too...Rich & I have this tradition that we secretly surprise each other with $20 worth of stocking stuffers...so we woke up set those out for each other and then opened presents. I got a set of pans and I gave Rich a very nice collage of tank pictures (He's been talking about having some pictures taken of the tank and framing them...so that's what I did-except I was the photographer as well).

The framed art of Tank Pics

After our present exchange we of course bring the babies (the dogs) and give them new toys and treats. We were running a little late that day and had to kinda rush through everything so that we could get to my mom's for dinner/lunch and gift exchange with my family.

Lunch/Dinner was great, good food good company. I was designated the camera girl so I snapped a ton of pics, and here are just a few of them. Enjoy!!

Annual Teeples Cookie Night

2008-12-24T08:52:00.005-07:00

Of course we had our annual Teeples Cookie & Gingerbread House Night on Monday. I was designated the camera girl for my mom...so here are some of the pics of the evening.

Fall 2008

2008-12-04T09:57:00.002-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

2008-11-23T12:47:00.002-07:00

Twilight

2008-11-23T12:02:00.006-07:00

So I'm still absolutly obsessed with the book, the movie, the entire series!!! My family and I (girls only) were supposed to go to Celine Dion concert on Friday night...so we decided to make a day out of it, so we got tickets for Twilight for 3pm, were going to get dinner and then go to the concert, well Sunday my mom found out the concert had been canceled, so plans changed. Instead we went to the movie at 3pm, and dinner at the Melting Pot resturant!!! Mom felt bad because the Celine concert was our birthday presents for this year, so she made reservations at the melting pot instead...it was a Great Birthday Present if you ask me!!! I love food, and you definitely get a lot of food at the melting pot.

2008-11-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T18:30:00.005-07:00

As many of you know Rich and I went to Vegas with some friends to go to THE halloween party-Fetish & Fantasy Ball. We stayed right on the strip, walked all over looking at all the casinos, and had tons of fun at the Halloween Party. We went with Jenn & Bryan, Angie & Cory, Shane & Tracy and Tracy's mom & step-dad, and some of their friends. Here are some of the pics we have from the party and what not.

Testing One Two Three...

2008-09-29T22:03:00.008-06:00

Rich and I purchased a new camera...a small portable Sony Camera. I used to have a large 10 X zoom, that was the size of 4-5 of my new camera...so its nice to have a small easy and convienent camera to snap quick photos with!! So here are a few of the shots we have taken with our new camera...Rich's tank was our test product!

Fishes are very difficult to take pictures of...they are very camera shy!!! The fishes we currently have are: Yellow Tang, Blue Tang (DJ or Dory Jr), Flame Angel, 2 Anthias (yellow/pink/orange school fish), 3 Blue/Green Chromis (School fish), Six Line Wrasse (show off fish with horizontal lines across his body), Cleaner Wrase (long skinny blue fish), Nemo (and his anenome-not pictured), Spike (tiger tailed sea cucumber), Jacque (we have 2 of him...since we can't tell a difference they are both named Jacque-they are the cleaner shrimp), and the snails and crabs of course.

One of the setting in the camera let me edit photos...one is to add "sparkle" to the photo...our tank sparkles like Diamonds!!

The Sump Tank & Refugium (all natural filtration)

Frogspawn

Green Singularia

Brown Polys Eating

Below: Close up on the Brown Polys (again)
Tri-Colored Chocolate Chip Star Fish (in refugium because he/she eats the corals-but I really wanted one, so Rich got me one; he/she is an essential part of the "clean up" crew in the refugium)

Above: Ricordia Mushrooms or "fuzzy's"

Below: Kenya Tree on the far left, Purple Leather upper right corner, with Torch in the center, Hammerhead Coral in the bottom right corner.

Green Monti Cap Coral

Green Star Polyp or GSP

Orange Monti Cap Coral

Hammerhead coral (the heads look like hammerhead shark heads...hence the name)

Armagede-on Polyps (started out as a single head...only about 1.5 months ago...very hard to find)

Below: Green Star Polyp-slightly different version of the kind pictured above. This version is more difficult to find. Looks like sea grass (very bright green in certain lights)

Below: Slippery Tongue Coral

Candy Cane Coral

Our lives consist of....

2008-09-16T16:04:00.002-06:00

So I had a few people tell me I needed to add something new...well...here it is!!!

Our lives consist of only a handful of things: Work, School, Sleep, Food, Friends, Work...

We don't have a quick easy digital camera, so it's that much harder for us to add pictures or even get any pictures, so instead you get the rantings of, well ME!!

Rich is back in school this semester...trudging along, getting that much closer to graduating and then hopefully it's MY turn!! Yes, that's right I want to go to school, however it will be VERY difficult to get my schooling done where we currently live...so we'll have to look into maybe making a change when I'm ready to head back to school!!

Rich and I both work full time and we are STILL trying to finish the basement, life gets in the way when it comes to finishing it!! However we are very eager to have it done, and especially to be rid of all the DUST that it is creating!

Well for those of you who thought I needed to add something new...here ya are!! This is the best I can do with what I have!! Enjoy!

The Background?!?!

2008-09-09T17:25:00.003-06:00

I found this Free Background...and absolutely had to give it it's glory on my blog!! It is the Breaking Dawn background...and although the book has come and gone I am still very much in love and am thoroughly disappointed that I didn't find this background while we were doing the Countdown!! Oh well...we can enjoy it now!

Sad news though that goes with this series...Stephenie Meyer has decided to hold off finishing "Midnight Sun" (The book from Edwards point of few that matches "Twilight")!! Apparently someone she gave a draft too released it on the internet...and so she has decided to hold off completing the book-indefinitely. She did however put the 200+ pages that she had already written on her website in a PDF format...it's awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

The movie comes out in 70ish days!!!!! Yippee!!!

Anyways...this post was strictly because I found the "Breaking Dawn" background...and had to comment about it!!

Hope things are well with everyone!

A Little About Me

2008-08-21T12:23:00.004-06:00

I was tagged by Megan:
1) 10 years ago: Just about to start 8th grade. I would walk to school every day, rain or shine, with Haley Earle. Hung out with Megan Smith, Haley Earle, Carlie Anderson, Adam Ball, Kellee Hewlett...was a nerd for sure; got to miss a lot of classes because my aunt worked in the office and she would always come get me out of class to help her with things.
2) 5 years ago: Graduated High School, just turned 18...met Rich, via internet, about this time. But we didn't meet in person until Septemberish.
3) 1 year ago: We had celebrated the year mark of our new house, 3rd year of marriage and busy with work and school.
4) Yesterday: spent majority of the day with my family at the hospital. My dad had a serious heart attack on Sunday morning, and had surgery yesterday. When I wasn't at the hospital I was at my parents house helping my mom fix her fax machine.
5) 5 favorite snacks: Nacho cheese queso, dark chocolate, cookie dough, brussell cookies, unsalted or very lightly salted cashews.
6) 5 favorite books....Twilight Series, Sword of Truth series (Terry Goodkind), any Mary Higgins Clark (especially "Daddy's Little Girl")
7) 5 favorite places to run away: a book, the mountains (our cabin especially), Hawaii, home, anywhere sunny and warm.
8) 5 bad habits: I pick at my fingernails/hangnails when I'm nervous/anxious, sleeping too much, never exercising, waiting a few days before emptying the dishwasher after its clean...I have more I just can't think of them right now...sorry!
9) 5 things I would never wear: white pants, lipstick (willingly), nail polish, bracelet/watch, bows in the hair
11) 5 favorite tv shows: Bones, House, Criminal Minds, CSI (Vegas & NY), One Tree Hill

Bear Lake

2008-08-18T10:48:00.007-06:00

For our friend Bryan's 30th birthday he wanted to go somewhere and Jetski/Wakeboard so we headed to Bear Lake for the weekend of the 8th & 9th. Jenn & Bryan had rented some jetski's from a guy in Salt Lake, one that has 255 horse power (which was way too much power) but was the "wakeboard" edition, and another that had a little over 100 horse power (it was just enough power to have a lot of fun). Doug, who I work with, came up and brought his boat. Doug's dad owns a "cabin" up there in the Sweetwater Trailer park, we ended up just staying up at the cabin the entire weekend.

Rich and Jenn having fun on the tube-I think they hit heads!!

Jenn being "dangerous" on the tube!

We only had a small close group end up coming, Doug & his wife Linda, Jenn, Bryan, Cache & Kelty, and Rich and me were there from Friday afternoon to sunday afternoon. Bryan's mom, dad, sister and sister's boyfriend came up Saturday and Sunday morning.

Cache & Kelty on the beach!

Jenn, Bryan, Rich, Cache & Kelty on the tube.

Cowboy Doug on his boat!

We had a lot of fun, tubing, jetskiing, wakeboarding, skiing. (I inparticular liked the jetskiing the best...since I don't like being pulled by a boat on anything) Cache & Kelty liked playing in the water/sand, Kelty liked riding on the jetski, Cache liked it as long has you weren't moving fast. Rich and Jenn had a blast on the tube, Bryan and Jenn loved wakeboarding and Doug loved skiing behind the big jetski-it was a blast to relax with good friends and have fun on the water!! Saturday late afternoon the wind came in and we had some very big waves...we happened to be on the other side of the lake, so we had to travel the big waves to get back to our side of the lake-surprisingly the kids fell asleep in the boat during the big waves.

I don't know how they fell asleep with the waves...must be relaxing!

Bryan, Cache & Kelty on the big jetski!
Bryan wakeboarding!

Rich, Bryan and Doug on the big jetski

Jenn wakeboarding

Happy Birthday Bryan!!!

Mud & Tape

2008-08-12T18:11:00.002-06:00

Unfortunately we were unable or unwilling to hire someone to mud & tape our basement...so we are doing it ourselves. Okay Okay so Rich is really the main worker...I'm more just the "Gopher" girl! Anyways...it's a lot of work, a lot of mess and a lot of time! We are almost ready to prime in the bedroom area, we want to prime that area to see how well we are doing before the family room area is finished. We really only have the ceiling to texture and a little more sanding to do...and then we can prime that area and see how well we are doing. Here are the most recent pics.

What a Crank in the neck this causes!!

Rich's "Mexican" Stilts! At least he was smart enough to screw the old pair of shoes to the buckets so he didn't fall off!

Rich wore a mask while sanding...he looked like a white ghost everywhere except for where the mask was...I thought it was hilarious!

Memories!

2008-08-11T12:38:00.001-06:00

I've seen this done on many a blog...thought maybe it would be interesting to see what/who response I get.

What memories do you have of me?

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

I LOVED IT!

2008-08-03T16:09:00.001-06:00

I finished reading Breaking Dawn on Saturday and I absolutely LOVED it!!! I can't wait until more people have finished it so that I can talk with them about the entire thing!! Everything I hoped/wished for happened...so I am very thrilled with how it was written, the story and how it ended!
I AM A TWILIGHTER all the way!!!
I can't wait until the movie, I can't wait until Midnight Sun!
Go Bella & Edward!

WSU Fireworks-July 6th

2008-07-23T21:11:00.003-06:00

Sorry these pics are a little late, but I just barely got them from my friend's camera!

We went to the Weber State fireworks with our group of friends. We got there around 6ish and hung out until 10 when the fireworks began...all the waiting and the fireworks were MAYBE 10 minutes long! Oh well it was fun playing games and hanging out with friends!

I Am A TWILIGHTER!

2008-07-22T14:34:00.003-06:00

I decided it was time for a new post...and since Twilight Series is always on my mind...I decided to do like so many others are doing and admit online that I AM A TWILIGHTER!!!!!

I have a count down on my blog for the final book in the Series...Breaking Dawn, I watch the behind the scenes, trailers and anything else related every chance I get, I've read the series twice and want to start again!! Rich bought me the final book for Birthday and is going to try to pick it up Friday night...I know what I'm doing August 2nd!!! READING!!!!

The way that Stephenie Myer's writes is amazing...I've read about 10-15 books this year (not counting Twilight/Eclipse/New Moon) and nobody writes like her!! She keeps you so enthralled...and it's not just the Twilight Series...I just recently started reading "The Host" and it is just as enthralling!!

I cannot wait for the movie in December...I know that there are going to be some definite changes from the book to the movie...BUT I am still excited! I saw "Dark Knight" on Saturday and a Twilight Preview came on-I about screamed! You should have heard the silence in the theater when that was playing...and the chit chat after, the excitement!!!

(Michelle-I'm totally game for the midnight showing...!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Sorry this post doesn't have any photos...but I thought it was time to add something new...and this is the most exciting thing in my life right now!!!

First Trip To Monte-2008

2008-06-25T22:43:00.005-06:00

Our first trip into Monte for 2008 was very different than last year where we drove in with my Expedition, dusty roads and even before Memorial Day! This year we had snow...even in some places that don't usually have snow!

Preparing the Jeep for the snow ride...6-8 lbs of pressure in the tires!

It begins...Sitting on the snow, near the road!

The turn off from the road...when there's snow on the road in,
this is definitely the first challenge!

This time with the dogs, I would get out and walk with the dogs, to make sure they didn't get in the way! Actually I really only worry about Dakota...she thinks if she slows down or stops the jeep will too, but with the snow Rich can't afford to stop or slow down once he hits the snow!

Hanging out in the cabin...just the girls and me!

Rich unwinterizing the best feature of the entire cabin...a FLUSHING toilet!

The trip out...Kyra had to run all the way in/out (Dakota has a bad leg, so when she started walking with 3 legs instead of 4, we put her in the jeep, on our laps) Kyra won't ever quit playing up at the cabin using all her energy, and then we made her run back out! I think by the end she was very grateful for the Expedition! (We towed the Jeep up to the turn off on the trailer...a much smoother ride in the Expedition to get up to the turn off!) Kyra immediately crashed once she was inside the Expedition and able to lay down!!

She thoroughly enjoys it...but it was her first hard/long run of the season...by fall she will do the running 4-5 times each weekend, and then won't want to get in the truck when we hit the main road! She will never give up though-she amazes me! I think Dakota would enjoy it more if her leg didn't hurt her so much!

It was such a relaxing weekend...we did absolutely nothing but hang out with each other, played games, enjoyed the fresh air, played with the dogs and ate good food!! What a weekend!

Hawaii May 2008

2008-06-04T22:22:00.009-06:00

Rich and I finally went on a real vacation...it's only been 4 years!!! We've been to Moab, Monte Cristo and others like that, but not a "real" vacation where you climb on a plan, forget about everything, and not have to worry about packing a cooler of food (and using gas-especially at the current prices-ouch!)

Rich and I finally made it back to Hawaii...this time Maui! My parents were going and we tagged along! It was fun...they are very familiar with the island so that was very nice, kind of like our own personal tour guides!

Our snorkel boat ride...we went to Molakini and Turtle Town to snorkel. This is us in front of the "newest" part of the island...huge walls of solid lava. It was a very good company, who tried very hard to find wildlife for us to see (turtles, stingrays, even whales!)

We even saw some whales, and the captain of our boat said that in the 20+ years she had been doing this...she had never seen this type of whale and never diving like this! They were like Synchronized swimmers.

Rich and Dad were able to go on 4 shore dives...I think they both enjoyed it more than they would admit!

Hate to admit it...but this is kind of a dream come true for me! We drove the road to Hana (really really long road) and went to this particular waterfall along the way and swam in the pool! It was way fun!! A jeep of course...very fitting for this group! We rented a jeep for the day that we drove the Road to Hana....which was very nice so that you could easily see all the waterfalls, and have the wind in your face on the very long and winding road!
We hiked a lava tube just outside Hana...it was way way cool!
Dad and Rich climbed into this tiny little tunnel, see pic below to really see how small the "hole" was! (I can't remember the name of it).

We drove up to the main volcano on Maui (couldn't spell the real name even if I tried)...this is us at the top!
Dad had to stop and touch the only type of pine tree on Maui...it was kind of funny looking, the needles were soft, and hung straight down!So much like her mother! (I think Amy and Michelle have a similiar picture of Grandma Teeples in CA like this). Mom got COLD in the back of the jeep...!

We went to a Luau and bought a pineapple cup-basically they took out most of the inside of the pineapple and filled it with Pina Coloda mix, Lava Flow mix or Strawberry Daiquri mix...it was sooooo good!

Mom and Dad at the Luau with our community pineapple drink!

The sunset on our last night! Wow...Hawaii has some gorgeous sunsets!

Rich's 30th Birthday Party

2008-06-04T22:00:00.004-06:00

Some of our good friends threw a "Rock Band" birthday party for Rich in May...the requirement...dress up like a Rock Star. It's funny how when you tell someone to dress up like a Rock Star everyone resorts to the 80's or in some cases...a energy drink (see pic below)!

Enjoy the pics:

The entire gang!

Rich and me!

Some of the boys! (Bryan, Cory, Rich)

Anyone thirsty?

Some of the girls! (Me, Angie, Jenn)

Playing Rock Band...the coolest most addictive game ever!

What A Mess!

2008-05-12T20:31:00.003-06:00

With the help of Jason & Jon, we have been able to get almost the entire basement sheetrocked. The only thing left is the closet and the bathroom. We have to re-plumb the bathroom so that it can be a full bath rather than a half...we want it to have a tub! Here are some updated pics of what the basement is now...and boy what a mess it is! I see sheetrock dust everywhere in my house!!! Yuck! We have decided to hire out the mudding and taping-so that it is done right! Wow, it will be so nice to have this done! After this, we want to get stairs down our deck, new carpet and paint the 2 bedrooms and main bath upstairs...wow, that list never seems to get smaller!!

Rich's Fishy's

2008-04-28T21:02:00.007-06:00

Rich wanted me to update the fish pictures...this is definitely his pride and joy! But he is totally relaxed with it...and he is truly happy when he is watching them, working with them, or fixing something that usually isn't broken, but he feels needs to be "improved upon". I wouldn't trade that for the world...if it makes him happy, it makes me happy! Our Dory fish (the Blue Tang) tried to grow wings and fly away...after jumping out she ended up carpet surfing and we found her that night behind the tank, and we had to give her the 21 flush salute. I miss seeing her in the tank, she was such a vibrant blue that it always caught your eye! We will have to replace her, although we can't seem to find any that have her coloring!

In Memory of: Dory
May she swim in the deep blue sea!

Basement

2008-04-28T20:50:00.007-06:00

So we are finishing our basement...finally! Thought I'd put our progress thus far for all of your guys' enjoyment. Its a lot of work, time and money...but it will be so nice when it's finished.

This is the bathroom space...before

This is the family room and bedroom area...before.

This is the bathroom...now.

This is the family room and bedroom. We are doing french doors into the bedroom.

Good News!

2008-04-25T15:32:00.002-06:00

Rich and I received some good news...Rich does not have to have another Heart Surgery!!!! Well we are pretty sure...the Heart Surgeon can't meet with Rich until the middle of May, but even he is feeling very confident with everything he has seen thus far after the surgery. Rich's doctor at the Clinic did some tests today, and couldn't find or hear any irregularities. So we are very much relieved!!! Rich is so excited...he wants to get active again, like running, working out etc...which in turn gets me excited! It's fun for me to watch him get so excited. He's going to start doing some physical therapy for his leg, it just hasn't been the same since his accident at Monte 3.5 years ago...actually his little bone in his leg (I think it is called a Tibia) didn't heal straight, and looks really funny (Rich brought home some X-Rays from earlier this week)... Everyone who looks at his X-Rays (even now) tell him he is lucky to walk and now he wants to do even more than that, so he's going to start doing physical therapy at his clinic, and hopefully we can get some more feeling, strength and movement out of his leg so he can be as active as he wants!

Rich Heart Surgery #1

2008-04-05T18:32:00.004-06:00

As many of you know, Rich has his 1st heart surgery on April 3rd, and it was pretty successful. However, we will probably be having a 2nd surgery sometime within the month, apparently they can't go back in right now because of the amount of stuff they did the 1st time around. Basically they went in and did what's called a Aplation, Rich's heart had a "short circuit" and they went in, found the problem spot (in Rich's case over 20 spots) and burned the tissue in his heart to stop those areas from telling his heart to beat when it wasn't supposed to. This is us waiting for his surgery to begin...

This is some of the medical team that did Rich's surgery...he says they were his best surgery team he has ever had. (The doctor's are not pictured) He said they kept him perfectly sedated, and they were just a fun group.

Something New...?

2008-04-01T22:44:00.003-06:00

So I received an email, from my lovely Sister Michelle...asking me if I was ever going to post something new...Well Michelle here it is, something new just for you!

You see Rich & I's live is not as eventful or filled with pictures as all of your with children, so we have to come up with our own fun...

I thought it was time to show off Rich's pride and joy...and NO it is not the Jeep (sorry Dad)!

Rescued Husky

2008-02-27T19:39:00.003-07:00

About 2 1/2 weeks ago we "rescued"/found this beautiful little boy. His name is Shadow and he is a 9-10 month old Husky. We actually found the owners, well sorta, the owner is actually in Iraq (we completely support). The owner's wife is leaving him, and so his friend(s) are going to live in his house until he gets home. Well, to make a long story short...the friends do not like Shadow.
Well Shadow ran away about 2 1/2 weeks ago, ended up at our house...and then a week after we returned him to his house, he returned back at our front door.
We spoke to the friends...and we are going to be given Shadow this weekend. Fun fun fun!
I totally want to keep him, but guess what we can't, but we can find a good home for him! He's so lovable, playful and beautiful. There is just one little problem with him, he is so malnurshied he can't hold water or food down. He will need some work, attention and love to get through that. But he will do it...we know he will, he really wants to please people.

Washington DC July 2007

2008-02-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's been almost a year since Rich and I went to DC but I know many of you did not see the photos of our trip and the Bone Marrow Hospital stay. So enjoy!

The Rescued Pack

2008-01-13T19:59:00.001-07:00

Update: 1/18/08: The dogs owner was found, they (the dogs) seemed to like their owner, so Rich and I didn't feel too bad giving them back. We miss them...it was hard to let them go!

On Sunday, January 13th, Rich and I rescued these husky's from the streets of Roy. Both of them were timid, and scared of us at first, it took almost a full hour before the male (on right) would even let Rich pet him. They have such different personalities then our Kyra and Dakota. We are going to try to find their owners, but only if they are good owners. Both dogs are not well fed, the male's coat had not been maintained, and as you can see the little girl's ear has been cut. Kyra and Dakota played really well with the male, but the little girl (on left) didn't like Kyra and Dakota. We can't keep them, unfortunately, but we can find a good home for them, someone who will love them like we do, and someone who will truly take care of them. Aren't they cute? Anyone want some great dogs?

The little girl, we call her Sasha.

The male, we call him Jake.

He has one blue eye and one brown eye.

These pictures were taken after about 2.5 hours of grooming on the male.

Best Moab Trip

2008-01-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

If you asked me, this was our BEST Moab trip ever...it rained the entire time. Most people would think that that would ruin a trip, but not there! It was soooo neat to watch all the waterfalls fall of the red cliffs; it reminded me of the many trips to Lake Powell! Even with all the rain, we didn't let it stop us from enjoying the 4 X 4 trails, it definitely added some excitement to the trails!

About Us

2008-01-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

Rich and I have been married almost 4 years, time flies doesn't it?

Although many don't understand, we have 2 beautiful "daughters" that go with us everywhere! They are truly part of the family, although my mom would seriously disagree!

Kyra & Dakota are Rich & I's pride and joy...okay maybe mine more than Rich's, but they truly are our babies!

Kyra (red/white) will be 2 years in May, Dakota (black/white) just turned 1 in December.

I figured since everyone else had a blog...even though I don't have human children...I would get involved too!