Weiners and S'mores

I know I just barely complained about not getting to have fun this summer, but Seth and I were actually able to get away a couple of weekends ago. We went down to southern Utah for a little weekend vacation. I use the term vacation loosely since my idea of "vacation" does not usually involve camping. It was however, a vacation from the daily grind. Seth wanted to go to southern Utah to get ideas for a business venture that he has been dreaming, thinking, and talking about for the past several months. Stay tuned for details in the next several months.




We took the long route to SoTah (Southern Utah). Here's Seth in Panguitch, enjoying a Sanguitch.

We made a stop in Bryce Canyon National Park and bought an Annual National Parks pass for 80 bones. Turns out it's not such a great deal since you can get into a lot of National Parks for free. We're going to make the most out of this pass by visiting as many of the National Parks as we can within driving distance. We're living on the egde.



We spent our first night at Sand Hollow reservoir in Hurricane (pronounced Hurricun by locals). We didn't really fit in with the rest of the crowd since we forgot our ski boat, truck, 54 foot RV, 4-wheelers, and dirt bikes. The scenery was beautiful though.


We spent the next day in Zions National Park and hiked Angels Landing. I had fun freaking Seth out by standing close to the edge. I thought it was funny, Seth did not.




By the way, Euros LOVE national parks! We saw a lot of them in both Bryce and Zions.

That night we camped along the Virgin River and had a traditional camping dinner. Weiners and S'mores. We were very unprepared and didn't have any cooking or eating gear. We roasted our weiners the good old fashioned way with sticks we found.



Sunday we stopped by my grandma's house to visit. This is what prompted my "wo is me" post from a couple of weeks ago.

We had a really good time and it was so great to be in the great outdoors for a couple of days. I was pretty impressed that I went two days without showering and handled it like a champ.

We also took the long route home and stopped by the Mountain Meadows Massacre site. Did anyone else that grew up in Utah think that it was a massacre of Mormons, not the other way around?

23 days til my next vacation and I can't wait!!!

She's 50 Ladies and Gentlemen!

My lovely mom turns the big 5-0 tomorrow. I am so grateful for my mom and totally look up to her in so many ways. Here are 50 wonderful things about my dear ol' mazsha.

1. She was born in Chester, Pennsylvania.
2. Grew up in Wilmington, Delaware.
3. She claims she could do pull-ups "forever" (we're not sure if we believe her)
4. She won a beauty contest as kid (or a Halloween costume contest, either way she was dressed up like a beauty queen).
5. She was horseback riding as a kid, and spooked her horse by screaming. The horse took off with her on it.
6. She first heard about the LDS church because she was in love with Donnie Osmond.
7. On a family trip to the West, they stopped at Temple Square. My mom filled out an information card.
8. Later that fall, 2 missionaries showed up at her front door.
9. Before she was baptized, she went to early morning seminary for a full year!
10. Her first day of church at an LDS ward, she wore a huge cross necklace around her neck. She couldn't figure out why everyone knew she wasn't a member.
11. She was baptized at 15 years old.
12. She was a homecoming queen candidate.
13. She found a great group of friends from her ward, and is still good friends with many of them to this day.
14. She graduated early from high school and went to college at BYU.
15. She did study abroad in Israel and got to go again a second time. Again, she made great friends there and is still friends with them too!
16. On her way back from Israel the first time, she toured Europe. She even visited her missionary boyfriend who was serving in Sweden. Ha!
17. She likes to bend the rules and push things to the limit.. (I love that about her!)
18. She met my dad in a student ward in SLC. My dad asked her out by sending her flowers and asked her out in the note that came with the flowers. My dad was really shy back then and never called my mom to follow up for the date. My mom had to call him to make sure the date was still on.
19. On Dec. 5th 1983, she became a mother to her favorite child.
20. She is a fabulous homemaker.
21. She makes world-famous mint brownies. They are in high demand at any family function or work party. It's funny though, because nobody in our immediate family likes them, not even her.
22. She makes the BEST missionary care packages. My brother was totally spoiled in El Salvador, I was spoiled in Russia, and she has also spoiled cousins who've served missions.
23. She loves watching my sisters play soccer.
24. She is her kids' biggest fan.
25. She loves tennis, both playing and watching. Lanx was born during Wimbeldon, which is probably why Lanx is my mom's true favorite child.
26. She lovews laying by the pool and getting tan. Mother like daughter.
27. She makes the most wonderful Sunday dinners. She loves having people over on Sundays and feeding them until they pop.
28. She loves a nice, cold Diet Pepsi.
29. She is very artistic and creative. We always had the best projects in school, because my mom practically did them for us.
30. She is a fabulous interior designer.
31. She's won awards at Parade of Homes.
32. She now is an interior designer for LDS temples.
33. She did the Nauvoo Temple.
34. She is a super hard and efficient worker. She can get things done 10 times faster and better than most people.
35. She's ultra-organized.
36. She is genuinely interested in other people.
37. She extremely empathetic toward others.
38. She cries in movies, while watching tv, commericials, and reading greeting cards.
39. She once missed an entire day of work to get caught up on episodes of 24.
40. She did the best braids in our hair when we were little.
41. She threw great birthday parties for us.
42. She took us to the pool practically everyday of the summer and has lots of dinners with fresh corn on the cob.
43. She's a movie buff. Loves, loves, loves them. Especially with movie theater popcorn, no butter please, but lots of salt.
44. She a talented seamstress. Pete and I have matching outfits to prove it.
45. She is a thoughtful gift giver.
46. She is always down for a pedicure.
47. She is beautiful and classy.
48. She always has gum.
49. She had a crush on Luke Staley's calves.
50. She stays in touch with old friends.

oops, too many great things, guess I'll keep going.

51. She loves Josh Groban.
52. She is often praised for the wonderful job she does at work.
53. She is very selfless
54. She has a strong testimony of the gospel and lives it everyday.
55. She's the #1 mom, sister, aunt, friend, daughter, mom-in-law, and wife!

Happy Birthday Mom!

I wish I had a picture to show you all my cutie mom, but luckily, most of you know what she looks like .

My New Fave Craze

Bikram Yoga. The hardest thing I think I've done. First off, I'm not very flexible so yoga is hard anyway, but when you turn the heat up to 110 degrees and ad 40% humdity, well that's just insane! I started going to Bikram Yoga (also known as Hot Yoga) last week and have gone three times since. It's awesome, everyone is in as little as possible and sweats like crazy. You wouldn't think it'd be that hard but it is. My first day they gave me a little orientation..."Make sure to breathe in and out through your nose so you don't pass out." "If you feel like you are going to faint or throw up, just kneel down, or lay on your back." "Have fun!" Knowing there was a very good possibility of puking or passing out, I was a little nervous. I didn't barf or pass out, and ended up loving the class! It's 90 minutes long and at the end you feel such a sense of accomplishment and you feel like you lost 5 lbs. in water weight. The only bummer is it's way expensive. I signed up for an intro. pass which was super cheap, but a regular pass is like $300 a month! It's pretty clever of them to charge you a super cheap intro package, get you to absolutely love it, then charge you an arm to continue! I highly recommend trying Bikram if you already haven't. There's one in Sugarhouse and Sandy.

No fair.

I came to an awful realization over the weekend and it hit me even harder as I was driving to work today. This is my first summer as a full-fledged, 9 to 5, working class adult. I'm a tad devastated about the whole thing. I realized this over the weekend when I realized that most people had just finished their finals and were starting their Summer of Fun 2008.

The past two summers have been some of the best summers of my life!! The summer Seth and I were dating we went to Seattle together for his BFFs wedding, then to Coronado to meet the Herway fam, then to Hebgen Lake, then to San Francisco with my family, then back to San Francisco to watch Seth compete in an Ironman competition. (I think that was the order they went in). Then the first summer we were married we went to Havasupai, Greece, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, and England. I know that I was VERY lucky to do all this fabulous things, but I think I got a bit spoiled because now I expect summers like this every summer!

I also have been very nostalgic today thinking about spending summers at my grandma's in St. George and going to the pool everyday and eating THE BEST lunches afterwards.

Now that I have to be a grown up and be responsible and Seth has to study for boards, all we get is a measly (sp?) 4 days of summer bliss. I'm at work right now and all I can think about is how bad I wish I was going to the pool everyday and eating Otter Pops. I can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel though, because eventually I will have kids and I will be able to introduce them to the wonderful world of summers at the pool eating Otter Pops all day and playing night games at night.