A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Shopping, Please

As it turns out, this post is long overdue, but I need to document the fun things that I do (take a trip to Vegas with the girls) and the things I do that are so out of character for me, although not unwelcome by any means (shopping for 12 hours straight.)

The idea came to us one day when I was talking to Steph via instant message complaining about how badly I needed to get away and hence the idea was born and booked within a couple of days. We decided that a shopping trip was definitely in order, therefore we planned nothing but what stores we had to hit. We were ready to go, just had to wait until the magic day.

We stayed at the Stratosphere although it was more of a home ground for us to layout out our booty from a hard days work, pass out on the bed and wake up only to repeat said activities the next day. Of course, we had to eat at In 'n out. I know, so cliche for a trip to Vegas, but what the heck-it was delicious. It was the perfect little get away for the girls before life got to the point where we wouldn't be able to jump in the same car and drive out of town. Steph has since moved to Arizona for probably the craziest reason-to live with her husband, sheesh! Who does that? Love you two! Jacy just bought a new house, Congrats, Jacy, and is now up to her ears in remodeling, and then there is this dark cloud looming over my head like I am getting ready to move myself away from family and friends, and pretty much anything that is familiar. . .why do I have that feeling? Oh yea, that's right, we are getting ready to move to the Sunshine state never to return again! Just kidding, we will be back at Christmas. Anyway, it was so fun, and I am so thankful to have such fun friends.

BEFORE

(Jacy, Steph, and Moi)

I am pretty sure this is a before pic, because after, as you can see in the next picture, I am pretty sure we had zero energy, not even enough to muster up a smile. So here we go with the before and after.

AFTER

Thanks for ALL the fun memories girls.

Round Here. . .

So, not much is going on right now, but I thought I could write about all the little things that I am doing to keep my mind occupied. Over memorial day weekend, Mike came home for a visit! Woo Hoo! I picked him up at the airport and brought him home to a house full of people moving all of our furniture out and into a storage unit. Welcome Home Babe! And thanks to all the helping hands that day, we definitely couldn't have done it without you. As for when we moved out, it wasn't until about 3 days later, so we spent a couple of nights sleeping on our mattress on the living room floor (I know, a little white trash, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do), with absolutely no other furniture and no food in the entire house. It was quite the experience, but it was nice to just hang out and have most of the moving done. On memorial day we went 4-wheeling with Spencer and Steph up Farmington Canyon. I guess you could call it our last big hurrah. Spencer is leaving to do the same training Mike has been doing, so lo and behold me and Steph are being abandoned by our husbands, left to fend for ourselves living in our parents' basements!

(Me, Mike, Spencer and Steph)

Actually, it has been nice being back home. It is a little strange, I'm not going to lie, but I am so grateful to my parents for letting me mooch off of them for the rest of the summer. Mom and Dad's house will be our last stop before heading off to California. It is nice to be spending time with them now, because come September it will no longer be a short drive to visit family.

As far as summer goes, it is going. I haven't really done anything yet to make it feel like summer. No baseball games, no swimming, nothing, nada, zilch! And not that I am planning on returning any time soon, but I miss having the quiet parts of my day filled with homework and projects. School really helped keep my mind off things I otherwise don't like to think about (the fact that I still have 9 weeks, and some odd days left until Mike comes home), but I'm not counting or anything. I will see him in a few weeks when he comes home to visit over the 4th of July, so adding to the fact that Independence Day is my favorite holiday, having Mike home will make sitting in my parent's backyard eating homemade ice-cream and watching fireworks that much more enjoyable.

How Did I Get So Lucky?

I know I am a day late, but better late than never, right?

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that I am so lucky to have two wonderful mothers that are the best example to me of what a mother should be. If I am half the mother they are, then my kids will be pretty well off.

I think I have the best mom any girl could ever ask for. She is patient, and she always sees the best in everyone. She has always been our number one fan, no matter what activity we were involved with at the time. She was always on the sidelines at soccer games, on the front row at school plays, dance, piano, and voice recitals. At times she almost seems like the energizer bunny. She never slows down and that smile is always on her face. I have so many fun memories with my mom, whether I was sitting in the back of an aerobics studio listening to my mom count off a routine for the class (by the way mom, I loved the headbands and leg warmers), or just dancing like lunatics in the kitchen to some of our favorite songs. Somehow, she even got my brothers to participate in this activity. We spend so much time laughing, and having a good time (even though I am sorry that a lot of the laughing is at my mom's expense) she has always been a good sport and put up with us. I love her dearly, and don't know what I will do when she doesn't live just 10 minutes up the street.

I am so lucky to have a sister that has been such a great example to me for the past 27 years. She, too, is an excellent mom (as you can see by the happy boy in the picture). She loves to have a good time, and seems to always have the energy for it (wonder where she got that from). I have vivid memories of Erin doing a full on dance routine, while carrying on a conversation with whoever was in the room at the time, and not missing a beat. She has so much energy, and just like my mom, I rarely see her without a smile. She definitely notices the positive things in life and the smallest things make her happy, and she is able to put smiles on the faces of those around her. I am a better person because of these women, and I can't ask for anything more. I love you guys. Thanks mom and Erin for being you! And HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Georgia on My Mind

I have to start off by saying when we were in Atlanta, Mike was hit hard with a cold so we decided to just stay in and watch a movie, and this is the movie we watched.  It was so good.  I think I am obsessed.  I can't think of what else to say about it but that it made me feel good.  I am so glad that I saw it and highly recommend it.

So anyway, a couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Georgia to spend some time with Mike.  It was definitely way too short, but we had a good time none the less.  We stayed downtown and were within walking distance of the world's largest aquarium, and the World of Coke.  You heard me, I said the WORLD OF COKE!  Coke and sea creatures.  I was in heaven! 
This is Mike having a coke with Mr. Pemberton, the founder of Coke.  Originally Coke was an alcoholic beverage, but in 1885 he came up with a nonalcoholic alternative.  And aren't we glad that he did!
This is a sea dragon.  I thought it was so cool.  It actually looks like a miniature version of Pete's friend, Elliott. 
This is a whale shark.  Some interesting facts about whale sharks.  They are the largest living fish species, can grow to be up to 40 feet long and weigh about 15 tons, and can live for about 70 years.  And they are able to house the monstrous creatures in the aquarium.  I thought that was pretty cool. 
We went to lunch at a burger place just across the street called Johnny Rockets.  I was a fun restaurant, and they even have in-house entertainment.  The waiters and waitresses did a full on choreographed dance for everyone.  It was fun.

The outside of the aquarium.

Some crabs, but these aren't just any crabs.  These are giant crabs whose legs can grow to be 14 feet long.  They were huge, the picture just doesn't do them justice.
And of course we have the giant Coke bottle.  One can't help but throw out their goal to not drink coke/diet coke when surrounded by giant coke bottles.  Yes, we did partake but it was delicious!
This is the tasting room at the World of Coke.  Coke has 64 different flavors all over the world, and they have every single one on tap in this very room.  It was pretty cool.

Everywhere Mike goes, he has to represent!  Go Utes!  It was such a fun trip, I was sad when it ended, but he gets to come home soon for a little visit and I can't wait.  

However Far Away. . .

As Valentine's day came and went this year, for the most part it was very uneventful. Now I say for the most part because my awesome parents stayed in on V-day to have dinner and watch a movie with me. I woke up early on Saturday morning and made a list of things that I needed to do that day. I made a trip to Lowe's and then to the grocery store and until the cashier wished me a Happy Valentine's day, I had totally forgotten what day it was. When your husband is gone, and you are spending the day alone, ignorance is bliss, especially when it comes to the love-fest we like to call Valentine's Day. So, I tried to get totally wrapped up in what I was doing so that I wouldn't think about it. All of these feelings of total and utter disgust for the holiday itself would be thrown right out the window if I were talking about the weekend before Valentine's Day. So let me take myself back.

Mike and I knew that we weren't going to be able to spend Valentines day together (again), and had talked about doing something special before hand. Well, I kept asking him what he wanted to do and he didn't care, so I took it into my own hands and planned what I would consider a perfect date night. I thought it would be so great to get a couple's massage and then spend the night at a cute little B&B, and then have the following day off to do absolutely nothing but hang out. After doing a little research and tweaking my plans just a little, the perfect weekend was planned and paid for, and I did it all on my own. We ended up going to Heber and we got massages at a spa up there and then we went to dinner at a cute little restaurant, called Breadstix. Then I had booked us a room at the Homestead ( like I said, I tweaked the plans a little bit, but have you ever tried to book a B&B in the vacinity of Park City in February? Yeah, it's impossible, unless you want to spend $400/night.) But it turned out to be so charming and the perfect night was made even better being holed up in our cabin-style room with my cute husband watching The Office and 30 Rock. I took then next day off and we worked on the house and got Mike packed and just hung out. I love nothing more than just having a day off with Mike, because it is so rare. Anyway, just wanted to say that Mike is the greatest and I miss him everyday! Can't wait to see you soon (hopefully)!

(This picture has nothing to do with our weekend, it is just my favorite picture of us!)

I just thought I would include a few pics that have nothing to do with football.  We did a lot of walking while we were in New Orleans.  It was a great opportunity to see a little bit of history in the city.  I must admit that I was apprehensive about the trip, having heard lots of scary stories about the city.  I know, it must be totally different when the city isn't overcrowded by tons of football fans walking the streets, but I must say that by day I loved New Orleans, not so much at night.  Anyway, this is a street in the French Quarter.  I loved the house with the flower boxes and the more I looked at the pic, the more I noticed that the other buildings weren't too bad themselves.

There was a crew of street dancers that were amazing break dancers.  They put on numerous shows during the day and I must say it was worth stopping for a half hour to watch.  The things they do to their bodies is just amazing.  
We stopped at a cemetery on our way out of town, and it was really cool.  Now I know you are probably thinking "cemeteries aren't cool", but seriously, these ones were.  They can't dig because they are so close to the ocean so all of their graves are above ground.  They were really neat.
This was just a cool door to a family tomb in the cemetery.  There was a huge statue on top, too!
Hope you enjoyed your tiny trip to New Orleans!

A Utah (wo)Man am I! GO UTES!

Well, we did it!  We made the trek to New Orleans (Nahlins as it said down there).  After 24 hours in the car, we drove into the city and were at a dead stop along with everyone else in the world that decided to celebrate the new year in New Orleans.  New Year's eve in New Orleans was a bonus, but of course we were down there to cheer on the Utes in the Sugar Bowl.  Now I know I don't need to go into detail about what happened that night, because if you watch TV or listen to the radio, you know that they beat the Alabama Crimson Tide.  GO UTES!  I must say though, that although extremely arrogant, the Alabama fans were quite gracious with their loss, and at one point some lady came up gave Mike a hug and congratulated him on the win.  It was so worth the drive (OK, honestly, I would have still preferred to fly) but I am so glad that I was there.

This is the bus that took the team to practice, and the game.  It was pretty cool to see it parked on the street in front of their hotel all week.
This is me and Mike at the pep rally.  It was insane how many people were there to support our football team.

This is us in front of the Superdome.  It looks more like a Super Spaceship to me, but oh well.  It was huge!
And this is the view from the nosebleed section of the super dome.  Even though we were extremely high up, we could still see everything that was going on.

This was after all of the Alabama fans had left the stadium and the trophy was presented.  There was quite a feeling of camaraderie amongst the Utah fans.  It was so fun walking the mile back to hotel with people cheering the entire time.  After, we along with 10,000 (at least it felt like that many) Utah fans, and thousands of astonished Alabama fans, poured down Bourbon street to celebrate.  Our celebration was a little milder than say most of the people that were there, but none the less, it was a great time!
Final Score
And last, but not least, the perfect season.  This trip was something that I will most likely never forget and can't wait for the next time the Utes make it this far.  We already promised the couple we went with that no matter where we are, we will meet up for the next one and anyone else that would like to join us is more that welcome!