The Holy War

As you have seen we got season tickets this year for the Utah games. We have really loved going to them. The Big Game was coming up and Jason said that he was going to put our tickets on KSL. I was okay with that because we would get $1,000. The game was getting closer and closer and he lowered the price a little, and I was still okay. The Thursday before the game I was talking to some coworkers about the game and telling them that I was going if we didn't sell our tickets. I didn't think that they would sell being so close to the day of the game. Well, later that same day after all of the students had gone I called Jason to see how work was going and he told me that he sold our tickets and for a lot cheaper than I had thought. I was not a very happy person. Okay, I didn't really want to talk to him. I asked him if he could call and tell the lady never mind, but she had already picked them up. When I got off the phone with him I was really mad, I had gotten myself all hyped up just that day to go see the game, and this was really a once in a lifetime opportunity because of the seasons both of the teams were having. After stewing for awhile in anger and frustration I called Jason back and told him to call that lady he sold our tickets to and see if he could buy her tickets. She had only needed one more ticket, she already had two, but they wouldn't have been by each other so she was buying ours and going to be selling her other two. He called her and left a message. Meanwhile, I am at working really upset that I am not going to be going to the game. I was emailing my brother telling him what was going on and he couldn't believe it either. He asked me if I was mad enough to cheer for BYU and I replied Go Cougs. Jason called me back a little bit later and told me that he had contacted someone else with tickets and was going to buy them for the same price he sold ours, actually $10 cheaper. So in the end we did end up going to the game and cheered our hearts out. It was really exciting to be there and watch the action in person. We were happy that the Utes had another victory. I am not going to lie I shed some tears over thinking I was not going to be able to go, and those that know me know that I am not the biggest football fan. But this year I have really gotten into going to the games. All in all I learned that if I really want something bad enough all I have to do is shed some tears.

Another Huge Win!

Yeah for the Utes!
We went to the big Utah vs TCU game last night, and wow is all I can say! we have been taking tracks to the games which is nice because we don't have to worry about parking and it lets us off right at the stadium. I couldn't get off work yesterday until 4:30 so Jason came and picked me up from work, and we headed out to tracks. We just barely missed a train, so when the next one got there it was getting full already. We rode up to the station where you have to change train and got on another one to take us to the University. Can you say packed? I have never been so squished in my life! Unfortunately we missed the train that was a direct route to the stadium, but we made it there in one piece. Joy wasn't able to use her ticket so we had Andy come with us. We got there just in time for the kick-off. We were on our feet almost the entire night, which is good because there were so many people there we didn't all fit on the bench. When we would sit down I would sit on Jason's lap to give us extra room. I was getting sad close to the end of the game thinking that the winning streak was over. We all couldn't believe it when TCU missed their fieldgoal attempt twice! We are really glad that Louie is on our team or those would have been made for sure, King Louie is AMAZING! Around the last couple of minutes Utah had a huge drive and were able to score a touchdown!!! The crowd literally went wild. We were then up 13 to 10, but there was enough time for TCU to make a couple good plays and score again. They were marching the ball down the field and getting in fieldgoal distance when a pass was intercepted. Wow, I haven't heard so much yelling in all my life! The field was rushed and boy did they pull off a big win! We are excited for the last 2 games of the regular season. GO UTES!!!

Aunt and Uncle Craziness

Jessi called us on Friday night and asked if we would want to take all of the kids to the zoo. Never having gone before we said sure and called Janica and Hilarie to see if we could kidnap their kids for a couple of hours. We all met at my mom's house around 9:30 am. We all didn't get their at the same time so we were later than we planned on leaving. Everyone seemed really excited to go trick or treating at the zoo, but we had no idea what we were in store for! We got close to the zoo and saw a bunch of cars parked on the street so we pulled into the neighborhood and decided not to even try to find a spot in the zoo's parking lot. When we parked we had no idea how far away we were. We had to take a picture of everyone against the gorilla.We ended up walking for about a mile. Which was okay because the kids got to know each other then. We had Jessi's kids (with Jessi) and Janica and Hilarie's kids, which came to eight total. They all got along well and it was nice because they mostly all had someone close to their age (except Brayden) to hang out with. So after walking what seemed like forever we finally made it to the zoo and then had to wait in line to get tickets and enter the zoo, how crazy! We had thought that we would get up their early and be home around 1:00 at the latest, but we were wrong! We ended up getting the tickets and the time on them said 11:58. So there was no way we were going to follow the time schedule we had previously thought. The zoo was a madhouse to say the least! There were so many people there it was crazy. They had tables set up for the kids to go get candy at, but there were lines to wait in to actually get the candy. So we ended up skipping a lot of candy tables and looking at the animals instead. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun, and I don't know how many times we counted to 8 to make sure we had all of the kids with us. To go from having no children to eight is a big adjustment! Thanks to Jessi when the kids were hungry or thirsty they had a jelly sandwich and water. Thanks Jessi! We walked around for a couple of hours. I think we all agreed that our favorite part was the tiger. It was active pacing back and forth and while we were standing there it jumped into the water and was swimming. That was really neat to see! When we decided to go we knew we had a long hike back to the car, but most all of the kids did great! We had Bryndee fall asleep in the wagon, but thanks to Marah it was no big problem because she held her. We only had one loss, Marah lost her devil tail. Even though the kids didn't get a lot of candy I think that they had a lot of fun. I hope so because that was our first and last time ever doing that! We stopped to get some pizza, which was suppose to be lunch, but at almost 4:00 it was more like dinner or a snack before dinner. We ate at my mom's backyard and the kids played together for a little while there. All in all I think that everyone (except Jason) had a really good time, but will not go again. I was handed all of the pieces of costumes that the kids got tired of wearing so I ended up with horns and a cape on carrying an axe most of the time.

Say Cheese!

Family is what it is all about!

We have wanted to get new family pictures for a while but as a family we haven't been able to find a time when we are all available to go out. Last Friday we found time to meet at 5:30 to take the pictures. Jason and I were bringing the camera to shoot with and we were halfway to the meeting place when we realized that we had forgotten a wireless remote to take the pictures with so we headed all the way back home. To make matters worse there is construction going on right in front of our street which makes it really hectic to get in and out. Needless to say we were there 1/2 hour late. We started taking pictures but we were chasing the sunlight. It just gets dark too quick lately. We took some good shots, but are planning on going out again. We haven't yet worked with any of the pictures yet, but we thought that we would get some on for now. After taking pictures we all went out to dinner. We had 3 tables, 2 of adults and 1 of just the kids. They had so much fun sitting with their cousins! It was a good time getting out with the entire family!Cousins just hanging out together
Grandma, Grandpa, and Grandkids
The Whole Family
The Kids
Brad, Janica, Brayden, Kailee, and Marah
Bret, Hilarie, Carson, and Madison
Jason
Kimberly and Shai

The Big Game

Wow! That is all I can say. We bought season tickets to the Utah football games this year. It has been really fun going up to watch them play. I am not the biggest football fan, but Jason loves it! I do enjoy going to the games and get into them if I am there. They played Oregon State on Thursday and it was a huge game! Oregon had beat the 1st ranked team so now we were hoping that Utah could beat them. It was a very intense game! Utah was up at the half but Oregon must have had a pretty intense talking to in the locker room because they came out fighting after halftime. Our defensive line was able to hold them to only a couple of touchdowns, but the offense just didn't seem to make any progress. It came down to Utah scoring at the last couple of minutes to tie it, which was amazing. Then they were able to hold the Beavers off and get within field goal range. With only 2 seconds left Utah was able to pull out a win. It was simply amazing! Although it was a late night, we had so much fun! We are looking forward to the next game here against Colorado. GO UTES! (Sorry mom and dad!)

Bear Lake

Jason and my dad decided that we needed to go up to Bear Lake and go 4-wheeling. So they found a date where we could go. Jason and I have a time share up there so we stayed in it. It was really nice. My mom, dad, LB - Kurt, and Shai came with us. Our time share had 2 bedrooms, a murphy bed and a couch. Our plans were to take Friday off and leave right after work Thursday night, but unfortunately that didn't work. My school decided to have parent teacher conferences that night so I had to be at the school until 8:30 and we decided that we didn't want to drive up there that late and use our time share for just a couple of hours. So we left way too early on Friday. Jason and I had to take our dogs up to his dad's house. He had 5 dogs at his house for the weekend, crazy but we really appreciated it. Then we met my parents around 9:30 and went our 4 wheeling. We had a great time! Thanks to mom we had an amazing lunch at a ranger's station. We rode for about 26 miles and then went to check in at our time share. We all got in the shower (at different times of course) and then relaxed and played games the rest of the night. Jason, Kurt and Shai got up really early to take pictures out at the marina, but the sunrise they were expecting didn't happen. We went out 4-wheeling again in the same place but took different paths. This was Shai's first time on a 4 wheeler and at first she was nervous, but by the end of the day she might have become a little too daring. Luckily it only sprinkled on us a couple of time and overall the weather was really nice. We had a really fun time and were happy to spend some time together. I will be posting some pictures of our trip, but Kurt took most of them so I need to get some from him.

YEAH!

Many of you know that we have been working on being approved for adoption. We have finally finished all of the paperwork and have been approved! We are really excited and hopeful. We are going through LDS Family services and they have each birthparent choose the couple they place their child with. We need to be proactive and listen for those looking into adoption. Please help us by keep your eyes and ears open too. These are the collage pages we made. The resolution isn't the best on this, but we think they are fun.

Last Camping Trip of the Summer

Jason and I went on his department camp out over the weekend. We went to Stillwater, which is close to Evanston. When we got there Kristen and Scott where already there with most of their stuff already set up. We staked our claim to a spot for our tent and then got busy putting everything up. Not too long after we arrived Katie and Steve showed up. Kristen introduced us to an amazing thing called banana boats. You take a banana and cut a slit in the peel and the banana and put goodies inside. Then you wrap it in foil and put it in the fire. Wow, what a delightfully fattening treat! The next day Jason and I went on a four wheeling ride. We went on a trail called the Wolverine. We had a great time. We went up to Lilly Lake, which is where the first and last pictures were taken. Later that night Sunny and Aaron came up. Other people from his work said they would come up for dinner, but they never showed. I don't blame them because that is a long way to go just for dinner. All in all we had a good time, and it was nice to have one final camping trip before summer is over.

We have now fixed out photography site so check out some of the latest pictures there.

Finally 21

My LB Kurtie just had his 21st birthday on July 31st. To celebrate we (Mom, Dad, Bret, Grandma, Grandpa, Kurt, Shai, Jason, and I) took the fun bus out to Wendover. We had a fun time. On the ride out a crazy man sat across the aisle from my mom. When we got there we were all starving so we used our coupon and went to the buffet. We had plenty to eat. After dinner we went and used our other coupon to get our 5 dollars to play on. The first place we went was to the blackjack tables. Kurt, Bret, Jason, Dad, and even my Mom sat down. They all ended up losing, but played awhile before busting. Then we went over to another Casino and played blackjack and poker on the machines. Jason ended up winning some of the money he lost, but I lost some there. Shai and Kurt went back to the first Casino and Kurt played blackjack some more on the tables. Once we got over there. The table was full and everyone was making pretty big bets. Kurt was able to win there too. In all no one lost a lot of money, and we all had a really good time. Kurt is a great guy! He has always seemed older than he really is, he was 16 for two years in a row. I just don't believe that he is that much younger than me. We have had some really good times together. Kurt is a very giving guy and would do anything he could to help someone out. I am just glad that he is my brother!

Family Camp Out

We were able to go on a camp out with Jason's extended family for a weekend. We went up to the East Canyon Resort. This year instead of getting a condo for the weekend they got the family reunion site. It was really nice. We went up on a Friday and set up camp. We were thinking that it wasn't really camping because it was a huge lawn, but we would change our minds later. Grandpa Jay and Grandma Betty brought hot dogs for dinner. It was really fun roasting them on the fire. A couple hot dogs were lost due to the fire pit being so deep. We sat around the fire talking and having a good time. Around midnight Jason and I decided it was time to hit the sack. We were peacefully dreaming when all of the sudden the sprinklers came on. This was at 5:00 in the morning!!! The sprinkler that was hitting our tent was at just the right angle (wrong angle) that it sprayed the water up and under the rainfly. So we sat there for awhile thinking that they couldn't stay on for too long. After a couple of minutes Jason remembered that his camera was sitting out by the fire pit, so he ran out to save it. When he got back he said that there were about 35 sprinklers going off. We just couldn't understand why they would put the sprinklers on when we were camping there. In the meantime the water is still coming into the tent. I was snuggled in my sleeping bag and didn't realize until the morning how much water was coming in. When Jason get back from saving his camera his sleeping bag was all wet inside and so was the mattress so he couldn't lay back down to go to sleep. I Finally he said that we was going outside. After about 15 minutes we thought that they would be shutting off. We were sure wrong! They stayed on for a whole hour. It was funny because Jason just stood in the middle of the tent for about 15 minutes, just standing there doing nothing. Needless to say we had a huge puddle inside our tent. I was able to go back to sleep after they turned off because only the outside of my bag was wet. When I finally got up Jason had talked to his aunt and uncle and it was a big misunderstanding that they went off. The resort thought that we were coming up that morning and the grass hadn't been watered for a couple of weeks so they thought they would take the opportunity. We had to unload our tent and move it out to a sunny area to dry the huge puddle and our sleeping stuff. The cousins went swimming after breakfast and we just stayed around the camp taking and playing with our dogs. It was a good relaxing time. When the kids came back Grandpa Jay and Grandma Betty showed them how to play a new card game. It was fun watching and listening to them play. I spent most of the time crocheting. We did take our four-wheeler up because there are some good trails up there that you can only go on if you have a member of the resort with you, so we thought that it was a good opportunity. We took Jordan on our wheeler and Carey took Kenzie, Brittany and Steveo in his Rhino. The Rhino Got everyone inside extremely dirty!!! We couldn't go too long because dinner had to start soon. Jordan had a blast. When we came back we put our swimming suits on and went to the creek at the back of our site. A big pile of rocks was built up so it made a really nice pool to relax in. Some of the cousins came in too. After we bumped the volleyball back and forth and played a little badminton. That night we sat around the fire again, and luckily the sprinklers were shut off. The entire time up there Malory wanted everyone to play a big game of volleyball so that morning we got a group together to play, but not for long because more people wanted to go on the wheelers. So Jason and I took our four wheeler, Carey took his Rhino with Jordan and Brianna, Mason took a four wheeler, and Marshall took the dirt bike. Marshall has just started learning on the bike so we were planning on taking it easy. Well the trails weren't as easy as Carey had remembered so we went a while and then headed back. I was really impressed how well Marshall did on the dirt bike. He took a hard fall, but when we got to a meadow he got back on to try some more. What a trooper! When we got to the meadow Brianna was riding with me on the four wheeler so I thought that I would teach her to drive it. I showed her where the gas was and how to make it go. She started out slow and kept getting faster and faster when all of the sudden I wasn't comfortable with how fast we were going. I told her to go slower, but she just kept pushing harder on the gas, so I had to take her hand off the gas to stop us. I guess I didn't explain how the gas worked well enough, so I tried again and she did really well. I even let go and had her steer too. Carey took Jordan on his four wheeler and had him drive it. The kids absolutely loved being able to drive! It was cute because Brianna was scared at first on how fast it could go when she was a passenger, but when she was driving she told me, "I am going to get one of these when I grow up." Sorry Jessi! All in all we had a really fun time. It was really good to spend time with family and get to know them better. Thanks for putting such a fun time together Denna, Carey, Kris, Coy, Grandpa Jay and Grandma Betty!!!

Summer Fun

My mom and I took all the kids to the Tracy Aviary and Liberty Park. It was a very hot day, but we managed to have a lot of fun anyway. We first wandered around looking at all of the birds. It seemed the kids favorite was the peacocks running around. Another favorite were the Bald Eagles. It was fun for the kids to actually see one. We were not able to go to the bird show because we were to late for the first one and then next one was too far away. After the Aviary we grabbed some lunch and went to Liberty Park. The kids had there swimming suits on so they were able to run through the water cool off from the blistering heat. The three older kids enjoyed getting wet, but the two younger ones had a blast playing in the sand. What is it with little kids and sand, I think it is like a magnet to them. We had a lot of fun watching and taking pictures of the fun they were having. It is so fun to see them all together getting along and playing with their cousins. My mom is the greatest grandma. She is always taking the kids and doing fun activities with them or just having them at her house. Anyone can really see how much she loves her grandkids and loves being with them even though they wear her out. She is an amazing woman!!!

4-Wheeling

We bought ourselves a 4-wheeler. So we just had to take it out that day. We called My parents to see if they would come with us. We went to Hobble Creek Canyon, by Springville. We had a late start, but we still got some good riding in. One thing Jason and I both do when we ride is that we love to follow pretty close to the person in front of us, so we are constantly eating dust, which in turn makes for a very dirty faces! We found a large puddle so we both had to go riding through it as fast as we could. Jason has the black helmet and I have the white one. we had a blast!

Photography

Many of you know that we have a business called Sacred Memories where we create videos. We have been so lucky to do many different types of videos. We just finished a dance video for my sister's dance company and are starting a Quince. We have also gotten into photography. One of our favorite things to do is to go out and take pictures. When we have free time we like to go out to various locations to take pictures. It has been really fun to figure out all of the new functions of our new camera and also the new Photoshop program. We have a website in photoshop express that is online that shows some of our favorite pictures. To get their click on the website and then you have to click yes, which should take you to the sight. We are always updating and putting more pictures on.