St. George 2011

This year for Fall Break.... oh wait. We don't have Fall Break anymore because.... we're not in school!!! Wahoo!

Actually, we did end up going down to St. George over Fall Break anyway. We were hoping that Brian's cousin and his wife (who is also pregnant, & due 5 days before me) could come with us. Sadly, they could not. Brian & I still had fun without them.

Brian got in a few bike rides, which always makes him happy.

I just got to relax and do absolutely nothing, which makes me happy too.

And we did some shopping, which usually makes us both happy. This year was a little different.

I am about 17 1/2 weeks along. Not showing a ton to those who don't see me without clothes on. (Meaning: Everyone besides myself and Brian.)

But to me, I am starting to show. I'm at that in between point where if you don't know me you think I normally look like this, but if you know me (and look really hard) you can tell something's different. But I just want to show enough that people know I'm pregnant.

Maybe it's only a first time mom thing. So here's my advice to first time moms:
If you don't feel like you look pregnant enough, go shopping.

I was just looking for some longer shirts, and yes, some maternity pants for work. This shopping trip didn't last very long (and not just because I was too tired to keep going.)

Nothing fits like it used to! (Obviously) I'm wearing sizes I don't usually wear! (Obviously)

I was not prepared. But it definitely helped me feel pregnant.

We ended the shopping trip by getting an "Apple Pie" caramel apple from the chocolate store. Totally made me feel better.

The other thing that makes it totally worth it to almost start crying in Target because you're wearing maternity pants:

At 17 weeks, I started to feel my baby move.

Kicking, all the time.

This is definitely Brian's child. They never hold still for long.

Spring Break

For Brian's last Spring Break we headed down to our favorite vacation spot, St. George.

On Thursday Brian and I both got our teeth cleaned by my sister Natalie.

That afternoon Brian went on a bike ride with his cousin Jason.

That night, they weren't home for dinner. Brian called to say that it had gotten dark so they were walking their bikes back to the car.

They didn't get home until 10:00 that night.

And it was then that I found out that they were actually lost. And they wandered around in the almost-dark for hours trying to find their car.

Brian said they spent the whole time praying and almost knelt down together on the trail. And then they found the car.

I'm glad they got home safe.

On Friday we all went to the temple.

We'd never been to the St. George temple so it was fun to go through with my brother, sister, brother-in-law, and grandparents.

We got to see where my parents were sealed and it was a nice way to spend a rainy day.

That evening we did some shopping, which the boys just loved.

Brian actually likes shopping for me. He makes me try on new things and buy stuff I wouldn't usually.

I got some really cute shoes that are a little on the wild side and a fun new purse.

For dinner that night we went to one of those frozen yogurt places. Perfect dinner in my opinion.

Saturday Brian did a ride in the morning and then we went to see Tangled with my sister.

That night we played games with Nat and Adam and some of their friends.

Sunday was perfect weather.

We walked to church and listened to my grandparents speak. They did a good job.

My grandma made us a great dinner and then we headed home.

It was a nice relaxing vacation. I'm sad we had to come home.

But after this year, we can go down whenever we want.

On my mind

This seems to be all I can think about lately.



A Disney Cruise.

I spend down time at work researching them.

Contemplating where we could go: The Bahamas (I've been once, Brian hasn't), Mexico, Alaska.

Remembering how fun and relaxing it was.

Thinking how nice it would be to just get away for a while.

And have everything done for us. All we have to do is get there.

And the food. Oh, the food.

I love Disney. It's no secret.

We could probably find a cheaper cruise if we looked really hard.

But I like that the Disney cruises are so family friendly, and I don't have to worry about drunken people, and gambling, and all that.

I just like to relax. And eat. :)

So this is what I do all day. Dream about going.

Anyone want to come with?

Bear Lake - Part 3

My favorite part of Bear Lake this year was Game Night. I may be a little biased though because I was in charge. My Grandma had seen a commercial for this show and she wanted me to do games like that. So we played:

Minute to Win It!!!

We divided everyone up into 3 teams.

Team 1: Merrill, Aubrey, Nat, Marci, Shannan, Brendyn

Team 2: Sarah, Dad, Dani, Meggan, Brad, Mom
Team 3: Grandpa, Grandma, Kristi, Parker, Brian, Matt

Judges: Jen & Melissa

Here are some (ok, a lot) of highlights:

Face The Cookie

(Nat & Shannan)

Bite Me

(Parker, Aubrey, Sarah)

Hanky Panky

(Brendyn, Kristi, Mom)

Candy Elevator

(Meggan, Nat, Brian)

Nat after she finished. I love how she looks so proud of herself.

Nose Dive

(Matt, Merrill, Dani)

Defying Gravity

(Brad)

Chocolate Unicorn

(Marci, Dad, Grandma)

Junk in the Trunk

This can only be shown in true form, through video

(Starring: Dani)


Double Trouble

(Brad)

Whippersnapper
(Shannan, Aubrey, Marci)

What a Racquet

(Dad, Brendyn, Grandma)

And last but not least,

Bottoms Up

(Starring: Nat)

Everyone had a lot of fun and we laughed A LOT.

(All instructions for the games can be found on the show's website)

Bear Lake - Part 2

We always do lots of fun things at Bear Lake. Here are a few:

Golf Horseshoe:

(Mom)

(Nat)
(Kristi)

(Brendyn)

(Melissa)

(Brian)

We went on our annual 10 mile bike ride. It's not a hard ride, but I'll admit, it was easier on a road bike than a mountain bike.

Here were are before we left. I love how Nat & I are just proud that we're going biking, and Brian's made sure to show off his bike. :)

Brian went on another long bike ride by himself, and I went down to take pictures of Nat learning to skimboard. She did great!
Doesn't she totally look like a surfer chick? Hot stuff!!

The great teacher, Matt and new prodigy, Nat.

My aunt Meggan tried too. But she mostly ended up like this:

Other fun things that I don't have pictures of:

• Swimming at the pool. Brian went down the new kiddy slide they just put in. He barely fit.
• Watching movies and playing board games.
• Eating, and eating, and eating. So good.
• Getting to know new family members that have been added since last year.
• Relaxing and reading books. (I finished almost 3 while we were there.)
• Golfing. Well, Brian went golfing with my dad & grandpa & cousin. This was his first time in years. He actually had such a good time that he now wants to take up golf.
• Getting ice cream from the local shop. Always yummy!

Bear Lake - Part 1

Bear Lake was awesome this year, as always. It was a little less crowded, and we missed a bunch of the family that couldn't be there, but it meant that no one had to sleep on the floor, unless they chose to. :)

Most of us got up there on Sunday night. We started off playing a game called Lap Stack. Everyone sits in a circle, each person has their own chair. Then a list of questions is asked. If you can answer yes, you move to the right. If you answer no, you stay put. Hence, you have people that start stacking up on other's laps.

My mom's in charge of this one. I think she does it so she can just laugh at all of us.

Dani & Dad

Marci & Matt

Aubrey & Marci

Parker, Grandma, Brad & Nat

Nat, Merrill, Grandpa & Dani

Brad, Brendyn, Kristi & Shannan

Dad, Brian & Me

We all had a lot of fun and I think it's a great way to start of the trip.

Randomness

So usually after something happens, or we go somewhere, I'm too tired to post about it right away.

This then leads to me procrastinating posting.

Then I get overwhelmed thinking about "catching up" the blog.

So eventually I do an overload of posts and start all over.

But I just realized, I keep a regular journal. It may not have pictures or fancy fonts, but I keep it pretty up to date. So why am I stressing about the blog?

So I'm not going to anymore.

I'll get to things when I get to them.

Hence, the following:

Spring Break was awesome! I loved being in St. George and the weather was beautiful.

Brian got to ride his bike lots, I got to do crafty stuff with my sister and cousin, and we talked A LOT. :)

We got to hang out with my sister and brother-in-law, and my cousin and her husband. Always fun.

We got to hang out with my grandparents, who I think are amazing and so cute.

One morning when we were still in bed and my grandpa was leaving to play golf he said to my grandma, "See you later. Love you." She said, "Love you too, love you more." He said, "No, never." She said, "Yes, always." That is the True Love Elder Holland talked about. 50 years and going strong.

I got to have my teeth cleaned by my sister, who's in dental hygiene school. Yes, it took all day, but it was worth it. And now my teeth feel so nice again. Sadly, I haven't been to the dentist since before we got married. That's what happens when you get married and have no insurance.

I also chopped off my hair! (I'll post a pic of that soon.)

It's a bit shorter than I planned but I like it. Brian likes it too.

Sadly, we had to come home to this awful cold. blech.

I really wish it would stop snowing. I'm ready for it to be spring.

Speaking of, we also did lots of crafts in St. George so I'll post pics of mine soon.

My whole family went back down to St. George for Conference weekend. I missed being with them.

I loved Conference! Amazing! As always. I can't wait until then Ensign comes and I can read the talks all over again.

I've decided I hate public restrooms. I just hate the whole idea of sitting next to someone while you take care of business. Gross.

I also have an irrational fear of toilets. I'm always worried they'll overflow after I use them, just because they don't like me.

Gross, I know, but the title is "Randomness".

I got to help my little brother-in-law dye eggs on Friday night. I don't think I've done that in years. It helped me get into the holiday mood a little more.

While we dyed eggs, Brian, Derek, Paul, Nancy, and Nathan, all worked on Nathan's physics homework.

I'm glad I chose the egg job.

Only a few more weeks of school. I can't believe it's gone by so fast.

The first two years of the Architecture program DID NOT go by that fast, while we were in them.

Brian says it's because we were awake for more of them. This year we've gotten more sleep. :)

I still can't believe that we only have one more year left of school.

Kind of scary because I have no idea what we're going to do after he's done. I guess we'll figure it out when we get there.

Brian said his favorite talk in the Priesthood session was Pres. Uchtdorf's about Patience. He rushed home to tell me all about it.

I get it, I get it.

I liked a lot of the talks, but I can't pick just one favorite. But I did love Elder Holland's talk. He's hilarious and so strong.

I also love Elder Bednar because he can make his talks flow so smoothly and he gives practical applications on whatever his subject is.

I love that I always leave conference feeling like I should, and will be able to do better.

Happy Tuesday! Here's to the snow melting quickly!

Bringing in the New Year

To bring in the New Year, Brian and I (and my parents and two siblings) went down to St. George to spend it with my sister and her husband. We happened to leave on the snowiest day possible, and it took us 6 hours to get there, but it was well worth it. It may have only been 40 degrees outside but we rolled our windows down when we drove the Boulevard because we were so happy it was warm. :) (We quickly rolled them up soon after.)

We got to spend a lot of time with Nat & Adam, and Brian got to go biking so we were all happy. We went to see the movie Avatar on New Year's Eve and got out at 11:55pm. Just in time to race home and watch the fireworks and ring in the New Year.

I really liked the movie though. I thought I wouldn't because it was so futuristic and seemed like a guy movie, but I loved it! It's a long movie but you don't get bored at any point. And the story is really good. Everyone says it's Pocahontas in the future, which is kind of is, but it's at least Pocahontas for adults. :)

On New Year's Day we slept in a little, and then helped Nat & Adam move. They've been living in his mom's house while she was on a mission, but now she's back and they wanted to get their own place. They moved to this really great one-bedroom apartment with a huge kitchen and living room. Well, comparatively speaking. :) But I really liked it and I think they'll like it too.

It was great to just hang out and be with family and relax in "warm" St. George. I was not too excited to come back to the cold. :(

Fall Break '09

In what has now become a tradition (because we did it last year and decided to go again this year) we headed down to St. George for a long weekend during Fall Break. We go so 1) I can see my sister Nat, and 2) Brian can go do some end of season mountain biking.

This year we had the chance to stop in Cedar City & see my friend Meg. She's one of my best friends from USU and we hadn't been to her new house. Her husband made us dinner but then couldn't be there because of work. Next time Kyle. :) But it was still fun to catch up with Meg and see her cute house.

This year, my cousin Marci stayed in town. She usually goes somewhere else every time I come down so I never get to see her. But I'm happy she stayed. We got a chance to all play together while the boys rode their bikes.

Marci, Nat & I decided to be crafty so Marci took us shopping for all the supplies and to find lots of other good deals. We went to the dollar store where I got some cute Christmas decorations, then Michael's for scrapbook paper, and then to Robert's for block letters, and then to a store call Krumpet's, which sells way cute decorations for cheap. I got WAY too much stuff, but because Marci is such a good deal-finder, I didn't spend as much as I usually would.

After spending most of the day Friday shopping we just relaxed when the guys got home and got some pizza. Then for some reason we were all really tired and went to bed early.

Saturday we decided to get up early and go to the garage sales around town. Nat and I hadn't done that before but Marci's a pro at it. :) So we had to try it. I wasn't planning on getting anything because I got so much the day before and because we didn't really bring a truck or anything to take stuff home. Boy was I wrong.

The second house we stopped at I ended up getting a bookshelf. It was $10 but I only paid $7. I was so proud of myself for haggling. I also ended up getting two books for $.75, because I had to have something to fill up my bookshelf. :) Luckily Brian wasn't too upset and he and Adam worked for 15 minutes to make sure it would fit in the trunk of our car. :)

After garage sale shopping, we worked on our crafts.

Here's Marci, our deal finder and craft instructor.

Here's Natalie, sanding her letters. She doesn't like sanding very much.

Here's me working diligently on mine.

And here's me and my cute sister Nat, so proud of ourselves for being crafty.

Here are my finished letters. Unfortunately, I've gone a little crazy packing so I've already packed them up, along with the other cute Halloween decorations, so I might not get them out again after we move but before Halloween. :)

Here are all of our finished letters. Nat did the other Boo! and Marci did the Fall. I think we did a good job.

Saturday night after the boys got home from riding we all went to dinner. Brian's cousin Jason had come down as well (sans his wife) so he came out with us.

From Left to Right: Jason, Matt, Marci, Adam, Nat, Me, Brian

I had so much fun with the girls and Brian had so much fun riding with the guys. I'm glad we've made this a tradition. But I was still sad to come home to rain and cold.

Glad Reunion

Every other year the Glad's have an extended family reunion. This year we went to Flaming Gorge. We camped out by the reservoir and even took a dam tour. Luckily, we got to sleep in the trailer this year and there were hardly any bugs. I did much better than the first year we went on this camp out. (I'm not a big camper, surprise surprise.)

We had a really fun time with the family and got to see some family that lives a little further away that we don't see all the time. It was great! Still, by the time the weekend was over, I was ready to go home and get a shower and sleep in my own bed.

(Pics coming later.)

Girl's Weekend 2009

Every summer since my sister and I got married, my mom takes all of the girls for a weekend away so we can have some girl time together. I love this tradition. This year we went to Wolf Creek up near Ogden. We spent most of our time watching movies and talking and eating. Great times! We went into Ogden for a day to go to the mall. We spent over an hour at The Quilted Bear just wandering around and looking at all the cute crafts. We also did a small service project, making mittens from the humanitarian aid website. Overall, a very good weekend.

One of my favorite quotes I came across that I want to make a plaque of says this:

"Life's journey is not to arrive safely at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways totally worn out shouting, 'Woohoo! What a ride!'"

(Again, pics to come later.)

Bear Lake 2009

Every summer my family goes to Bear Lake. They've been going since my dad was 13. Well, this year, Brian's family decided they wanted to start a tradition like this as well. And they just to happened to plan it so that we didn't have to make two trips up to the lake. We went up on June 26th and stayed with Brian's family first. We went swimming and hiked the Minnetonka caves. 888 steps. Long walk, but very cool. Literally. 40 degrees. But fun. At the end of the cave, they turn off all the lights and it's complete dark. Then they asked for a volunteer with a diamond ring. I got chosen and they shot a laser pen into my ring. It threw red dots all over the cave. Very cool.

We also went to the beach for a walk on Sunday. None of us got in, except Stuart couldn't resist. He ended up covered in mud. Gross.

On Monday Brian and his cousin went for a bike ride, and because they took so long, the rest of us got shakes without them. They made their choice. :)



On Monday night we headed over to my family's condos. We chatted and played a fun silly game called Ninja Strike. You look ridiculous while playing, but it's really fun.

The picture of me looking over the glasses is my imitation of what my mom looks like sometimes when we're teasing her.


Of course you have to have the water pictures. Brian and I only went out on the boat once, because the water is freezing, but it is still a beautiful lake.

Brad and my cousins are all goofballs that like to pose for silly pictures.

Brad is getting really good at wake boarding, but I had to still put the picture of him wiping out.


One of the favorite traditions is to launch water balloons. We fill up hundreds of balloons and launch them out to the boys waiting to catch them. Then the boys usually turn around and start a water fight with the ones they caught. This year, it began when they came around and popped the water balloons right on top of my grandma & grandpa's heads. We all got involved and were soaking wet, but good memories were made.

Bear Lake was a little different this year, because there were so many people missing. (One was still on his mission, and the other 3 married couples were in summer school. Who does school during the summer?!?!)We only had 3 granddaughters, one from each family. But we still had a good time. We played the traditional candy bar game, which went really quickly when there's only 10 people playing. Hopefully next year more people can join us. But then again, I don't know where we'd put everyone if they all came. :)

Spring Break '09

I've decided that one thing I miss most about school is having Spring Break. :) I loved having a week off to just do nothing. To go somewhere and play, so that you could come back and focus for the few more weeks until school was out for summer.

Now, I do not have that luxury. I have to work, even when Brian is out of school. Which stinks because it's the only time I have to be with him. So this year we decided to take a long weekend and go down to St. George. I left work early on Thursday and we drove down.

On the drive down I read to Brian for 4 hours out of his Architecture Theory book. Wow, that was exciting. (Sense the tone.) But he was supposed to write a paper this week and hadn't read the material for it. So we read. It did make the drive go by surprisingly fast though.

We got to St. George in time to have dinner with my sister and brother-in-law and her friend. We then just sat around and chatted and of course had ice cream for dessert.

On Friday, the boys went for a bike ride in the morning, and my sister Nat had to work. So I stayed home and relaxed and did my cross-stitch until they got done around 1. Then we met at Frostop for lunch with our brother Phil. (Some of you might remember that this is my family's favorite place to eat in St. George and we always try to go there.)

After lunch, Nat and I decided to go layout by the pool at my grandparent's condo. We ended up laying out in their backyard, but only for a few minutes before the sprinklers came on! Nat laid out there a lot longer than I did. I'm just not patient enough to tan. I also don't tan. I just chatted with my grandma until we decided to go home.

The boys were napping and decided to go on another quick ride before dinner. For dinner, Phil, my cousin Curtis, his wife Karli, and their daughter Brynlee, all came over to Nat's house. We had pizza and played poker. Never mind that Nat, Adam, and Brian had never played before, and I had only played maybe a handful of times, (with Oreo's). My cousin Curtis had a set of chips to play with and they taught us Texas Hold'em. We had a good time though I thought I was going to lose for a while and be the first one out. I came to find out that Brian was giving me chips without anyone looking so that I could stay in. :) That's what good husband's do.

Finally I hit it big. I won a really big pot with a full house and these are my winnings. I also kicked my brother-in-law out of the game with that hand. :( Sorry Adam.



This is how Brian looked most of the game. He pretended that he just didn't know what he was doing, but I think he's just a really good bluffer. He's got that innocent baby face that fools people.

This is Brynlee. She's about 16 months and one of the cutest little girls I know. She's been the sweetest baby since birth, never really crying or being fussy. Always content and happy and a good sleeper. Even this night when it was getting late and she was tired, she would fuss for a minute and then be fine.

On Saturday the boys again went for a ride and Nat and I, with our cousin Miranda, went shopping! We were going to go to Vegas, but decided the drive wasn't worth it. (Our cousins had gone the day before and it took 2 1/2 hours one way.) We also didn't have tons of money to spend so we opted to just go to the outlets. I like the outlets better anyway. :)

I ended up find a cute shirt on clearance, flip flops for 30% off, a cute clutch for $10, and a purse for 50% off. It was a great shopping day.

After shopping we decided to treat ourselves to pedicures, since Miranda had never had one before. We happened to drive past this place that was having a special on pedicures so we walked right in.

I have gotten pedicures before, but never splurged to get anything fancy on my toes. I decided to try it and I have to say, it makes it even better. My toes just feel prettier with the little jewel and design on them. :)

(Top left - Miranda, Top right - Nat, Bottom - Me)

After pedicures we went home and watched 27 dresses. Well, I watched it, Nat watched most of it, and Miranda had a good nap. :)

Then the boys got home and we all went to Winger's for dinner and met up with Miranda's boyfriend Tristan.

(From left to right: Tristan, Miranda, Me, Brian, Nat, Adam)

After dinner we went back to Nat & Adam's and played Hand & Foot. I don't know what it is about our family, we just really liked card games. After staying up past midnight the two nights before, we were pretty tired and went to bed early.

Sunday we went to church with Nat & Adam and then left to come home. I got to sleep for part of the drive, but woke up to completely different weather. What a bummer!

I was so happy we got to go have this short little vacation though. Brian needed it too, to relieve some of the stress from school. He figured that in total, they rode about 50 miles in two days, two rides per day. They were pretty exhausted and sore by the second night.

Now it's back to the grindstone, but we only have a few more weeks until Summer!