Father's Day Weekend

Friday, June 18, 2010, Mike only worked a half day and I didn't work, so after running some errands, we decided to break out the 4-wheeler and go for a ride. We decided to ride Mineral Fork trail, which is up Big Cottonwood Canyon, because we have been on it before and it is a short ride, we started riding around 5:30pm. Previously when we have rode this trail, we have never made it to the top, for various reasons, but this time all the way to the top we went. When we got to the top we found an old mine and even some snow, but along the way were some really pretty waterfalls and some breathtaking views. It is always nice to escape the city and the heat by going 4-wheeling, all while enjoying the mountain fresh air.

Saturday, June 19, 2010, I volunteered to help out with the Community Health Fair that Riverton Hospital, where I work, hosted. I took part in testing total cholesterol and blood glucose. So, while I was at work, Mike went to a golf tournament with a few guys from work. Later that evening we went to Allison's, Mikes sister, to watch Alex, our nephew, while Allison, Steve and Shayna, our niece, went out for Father's Day.

Sunday, June 20, 2010 Happy Father's Day.
Since Scott, Mike's dad, is serving a mission in Peru and since my dad was just getting back from a long two weeks of annual training for the Guard, we went to Karl and Iara's house, Mike's uncle and aunt, for again another amazing Brazilian BBQ. We also watched Brazil win against Ivory Coast in the World Cup. After leaving there, we headed to Allison's so I could take some pictures of their family and for another BBQ. Although I talked to my Dad on Fathers Day, it was weird not splitting time between Mikes Dad and my Dad on their day. Although we missed them, they both know we love them very much and hope they had a great day.

Do you like Grandpa?

The other day I was watching Shayna and Alex and after Allison got home we were asking Shayna names of people in our family. Example, Nesha and ? Bike!, Kristy and ? Aaron!, What is your Dads name? Steve!, What is your Moms name? Allison! and after we went through the ones she knows really well, we asked her ones she isn't to sure on yet, like, What is Grandpas name? Uhmm..., after a little help, Scott! Do you like Grandpa? Yes, because he makes funny faces! I started to laugh so hard because it is completely true and also because Shayna hides from Grandpa every time she sees him, so to hear her say that was so funny. She has to be the cutest little girl ever.

On another occasion as I was watching Shayna and Alex, Shayne wanted to go the the park, so being the good aunt I am, I loaded the diaper bag and we headed to the park. Shayna loves the park, I seriously think, no I know, she could spend hours there. She loves to go down the slides, so since Grandma and Grandpa are gone I thought I would take pictures of her, for them.

I love watching Shayna and Alex, they are so stinking cute! I am so glad that I have Sister-in-laws that have kids because nieces and nephews are so much fun. I love them all.

Our Dogs

So, every once and a while I will post pictures of our dogs, not only cause they are cute, but so Scott and Carol can see them. Mike is a little partial to Junior, he is the darker one, but every once and a while he decides he still loves Maddy, she is the white one, and takes a pictures of her too.

5K

Yes, that's right Mike, Allison, Mike's sister, and I all ran a 5K Saturday May 5, 2010. As part of Me and Mike's "change of heart" and in order to keep us running we decided to run a couple 5K's this summer, Saturday being our first one. We all finished only a couple minutes a part. Allison left both Mike and I in the dust finishing with a time of 33 minutes, Mike then left me in the dust with a time of 36 minutes, and I sweeping up the dust on my way in, finished with a time of 40 minutes, not so bad for our first run. Our goal is to finish the next 5K, which is July 5, with improved times.

Later that evening, Mike and I joined my mom for a concert in the park. Mark Owens and Tracy Lawrence, both country singers, were the performers. I knew most of the songs Tracy Lawrence performed, I grew up on country, but Mark Owens was new to me. I liked the evening but I can't say the same for Mike. He didn't grow up on country so he didn't know any of the songs. It is hard to go to a concert not knowing any of the artists songs, but he was a good sport. However, he did mention that he like Mark Owens. I think he liked him because he is the new style of country, not so twangy. Tracy Lawrence can be, especially his older stuff, a little twangy. After the concert we laid back and watched some fireworks.

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday May 29, 2010, Valter Day. Allow me to explain. Mike's aunt Iara also know as, TiTia, is from Brazil and her dad Valter still lives in Brazil and due to some unfortunate events with Iara's mom, Valter came to the USA arriving May 18th. Since we were on our cruise when we found out Valter was here, Mike said, "We have to go to Iara's house on Saturday." Saturday came and after mowing our lawns we headed to Iara's. This would be my first time meeting this infamous man and I mean infamous man. Everyone talks about him, how funny he is and about all of his idiosyncrasies and after meeting him, he really is as funny as he is talked up to be. Although I had to have my own translator with me all day because Iara, Karl, Mike's uncle, Mike, and Valter were all speaking Portuguese, we literally laughed all day. We had such a good time. We planned our tentative trip to Brazil, we want to go in 2014 for the World Cup, we talked about soccer, and the trips that Valter had planned when he returned to Brazil. We also planned a Brazilian BBQ for Memorial Day. All in all it was a very good day, good company, great family and lots of laughs. Sorry no pictures :(

Sunday May 30, 2010 Mike, Me, Kristy, and Aaron all went up American Fork Canyon for a BBQ dinner. We ate Dawgs and Burgers as Aaron would say, roasted some Marshmallows, and took some pictures. After the canyon we all returned to our house and watched the Gray's Anatomy Finale. It was a very fun relaxing evening.

Monday May 31, 2010, bring on the food! Today was our Brazilian BBQ and can I just say, Brazilian food is pretty much amazing. Who else thinks of rapping Chicken in Bacon and grilling Pineapple coated with a brown sugar glaze, and eating a salad with cut up green, red, orange, and yellow Peppers, Onion and Vinegar over Rice. Karl even made a Brazilian BBQ, yeah! BBQ's all always amazing but add Brazilian food and Brazilian people and you have a party.

We celebrated Valters birthday but due to some unfortunate events, Valter had to return back to Brazil early and was not able to be there, but we recorded us singing happy birthday to him. When Iara told him this, I think he started to cry. We made a joke that since Scott and Carol are on their mission we are at least going to get together as families once a month and then when they, Scott and Carol, return we will stop. Scott and Carol are the glue that holds the families together so without them, we all have to be glue.

The day was filled with good family, good friends, great food, lacrosse and stories. The gentleman of the groups were playing catch with some lacrosse sticks and someone threw the ball over the fence and I was the lucky one to jump three fences to retrieve the ball. We talked about Mike's and our friend Tyler's mission to Brazil, it was fun to see them go back in time and relive some on the great and even not so great experiences of their missions. Even Grandma joined in on the fun. We also ate and ate and ate. I have to admit I think I ate at least 2 Pineapples. We love spending time with family. Later that night we also went to the Pony Express Days Rodeo with my Mom, which was awesome. We had an amazing weekend, packed full of fun.

Cruisen'

Sometime back in January we decided with our friends, Kitch and Angela, that we wanted to take a vacation together, so after great debate we decided to go on a Mexican cruise. Then we had to decide on which one, Baja or Rivera and after much debate we choose Baja. A Baja Mexican cruise includes Catalina Island and Ensenada. So, we booked it for May, that way everyone would be out of school and would have no excuse not to go.

Sunday May 23, 2010 at 5:30am we put our car in drive and headed for California. We arrived in the Sunshine state about 5:00pm, Utah time, checked into our hotel room and headed to Shoreline pier. For a Long Beach, California pier, I have to admit that I was disappointed. I thought it would be somewhere that we could waste a few hours and eat some amazing food, but it failed on all levels. The food was not good and the pier itself seemed run down, needless to say we didn't stay long. We headed back to our hotel room around 7:30pm, Utah time. We decided a couple hours later that we were hungry, since I didn't eat more than a couple of my dinner. So we googled good places to get some dessert in/near Long Beach and we found Jongwaard's Bake-n-Broil and decided it couldn't be any worse then dinner. To our surprise it was amazing! I don't know if it was amazing just because our dinner was so bad or if it was just plain amazing.

Monday May 24, we couldn't board our ship til 1:30pm, California time, so we went down to the beach and played in the sand and took pictures. At 12:00pm, California time, we headed back to our hotel, we parked our car there for the week we were gone, and called a taxi to pick us up. We boarded our ship just after 1:30pm, California time. That day and night consisted of finding our way around the ship, some on board entertainment and karaoke.

Tuesday May 25 was our Catalina port. We got off the ship that morning after Angela and I went for a run, the boys went to the buffet while we were running, and after Angela and I ate breakfast. We really didn't have anything we wanted to do that day besides lay on the beach, so we found the beach and laid there. After getting back on the ship and eating lunch we again found our way to the sun. If you can't tell we wanted to soak up some Vitamin D and natural serotonin. After a day in the sun and a nice sun burn later, we headed in to clean up and eat some dinner. After dinner we went and took some classic sunset pictures.

Wednesday May 26 was our Ensenada port. I forgot to take my camera off the ship this day so no pictures, sorry. When we got off the ship this day, we didn't have a clue what to do, all we knew was the excursions were super expensive and we didn't like the idea of spending 100's of dollars. So the plan was to get off the ship, do a little shopping and get back on the ship. I don't think Mexico is the place to be walking around with the look of boredom on your face. But to our surprise, as we were walking towards downtown, we found a wine country tour for $15 per person round trip and decided to do it. The winery we went to has been around since 1982, it was cool to hear how nothing changed as far as their wine making goes in all these years. After the wine tasting tour our taxi driver, Ben, dropped us off at a really good Mexican restaurant that was right down town, so after lunch and after doing some shopping we headed back to the ship. After we got back on the ship, we found ourselves again basking in the sun.

Thursday May 27 was our day at sea. We didn't do much this day, we spent some time in our room, I did some homework and we both took a nap. We felt that we had spent enough time in the sun so we tried to avoid it or at least stayed covered up as much as possible. We did however play some mini golf. That night we packed our bags so we could disembark early the next morning.

Friday May 28, time to head home. After the long 12 hours car ride home, getting home around 8:00pm, we picked up our dogs from my mom's house, told her about our trip and after hearing about her week, we returned home unpacked our bags and went to bed. The best part of this day was getting home and seeing our friends, Kitch and Angela, reunited with their kids after a week of separation. It is crazy how much, not only did Kitch and Angela missed their kids, but how much their kids missed them. I have to admit, I pray that someday I will have that feeling of seeing my babies after I have been away from them, but until then, I will be an onlooker of someone else's joy. All in all it was a very good and much needed vacation.

A Time for Change

We, as people, know we are suppose to eat healthy and exercise at least 30 minutes a day to lead a healthy life style, not so hard right? If that is all it takes, then why are there so many unhealthy people, us included? What is so hard about getting 30 minutes of exercise a day? Because we all work long hours and when we, people, get home the last thing we want to do is exercise. But in reality we, people, all sit in front of the T.V. for at least an hour a day watching our favorite show, why not just DVR our favorite show and exercise for 30 minutes, just think how many commercials you can loop through! We also all know that we are suppose to eat at least 3 balanced meals a day, balance meaning correctly proportioned foods from the 5 major food groups. What is so hard about that? Once again long hours at work, trying to exercise for 30 minutes a day, and then trying to find energy to come home and cook a balanced meal. Man fast food or box meals are so much faster not to mention convenient!

That my friends is the story of our lives. So on Saturday May 8, 2010, Mike and I decided we were done with being unhealthy, it was time to make a change. So we got rid of all the things in our house that were our biggest temptations and went to the store. We bought some Slim Fast to help start are diet plan and also to help get some weight off of us so it would be easier to exercise and shopped on the outside perimeter of the store, that being where all the healthy food is. Then after coming home and putting all the food away, we went for a run.

I have to admit that this is not our first time experiencing this "change of heart" but, for some reason this time felt different. We started our Slim Fast diet Sunday May 9, 2010 and followed it really well for 2 weeks, then we went on a cruise and everybody knows that a cruise is instant death to any diet. But for those 2 weeks we ate only 1500 calories and ran at least 3 times per week. So I have to admit, so far so good!