The Last Hurrah!

Every time I go in to see the chiropractor his medical assistant always asks me if I've been up to anything fun, or have any fun plans for the weekend. Every time he asks I want to punch him in the face. Does it look like I'm capable of anything fun right now? However, two weekends ago I did have fun plans!

Ash and Pat came down Friday afternoon! They were only able to stay until Sunday morning so we packed our weekend full. We tracked down a peacock at a nearby park, fed ducks, wandered around Petco, watched Frozen, fell asleep to it, and then rewatched it while playing Munchkins. Made chicken nachos, went to our beloved Chinese food buffet, and ate way too much dessert.

Every time they come down we have to do something crazy outside. We've hiked Angel's Landing and rock climbed before. This time we were hoping to go to an exotic petting zoo down in Nevada but unfortunately they were closed. So we took them rappelling instead. If we don't frighten them with some sort of outdoor activity we haven't done our job. lol

They both rappelled, twice, like champs! I was the official photographer for the day since I was crippled and drugged. Hopefully we'll be able to head up to see them in Provo one last time before they move to Portland. And if not, we've got California in the works :)

Vegas time!

Ash and Pat were here with us last week partying hard! Well, Pat and Chad were at the Electronics convention in Las Vegas. They went Wednesday and Thursday and then Ashley and I went down with them and we spent Friday and Saturday morning there.

Yup, the only one who couldn't figure out how to look at the camera while taking the picture. So hard.

 We stayed in the fabulous Treasure Island, we love it there since it's so close to the fancier hotels and the hotels rooms have been renovated pretty recently - super comfy beds and very clean.

We shopped until we couldn't shop anymore Friday night. We didn't stop until we all got something :) At one point Chad and I thought Ash and Pat had been kidnapped, we got a pretty good butt shot of a complete stranger, and we loss $21 total. Then we ate way too much food at dinner and wandered around the strip until way too late.

We slept in and got some of our favorite pastries at the Aria before heading back to St George. It was a quick but fun trip! Chad and I are counting down the days until we can go back... lucky for us we only have to wait 4 days :)

 

Hail to the Victors

After failing to get a good family picture at Temple Square we tried again the next morning. Again, we were ridiculous and decided that it would be a good idea to do this outside, in the cold, without our coats on. Chad was determined and we all decided to buck up and do this thing. And do it we did. Pretty adorable if I do say so myself.

Christmas 2013

Oh Christmas, you were wonderful. We headed up to Provo on Tuesday afternoon just in time to go out to our favorite sushi place. The parents were good sports and treated us all to one of our favorite dinners even though it wasn't necessarily their favorite.

Ashley had to work Christmas and the day after, sad day. So we hung out and chatted, slacklined, watched a horrible movie (R.I.P.D. anyone?), ate cookies, grocery shopped and counted down the minutes to when she would return :)



We opened presents and stockings and all of us kids were absolutely spoiled. It was fabulous. Not to mention the grocery shopping trips mom took us each on to restock our pantries. Merry Christmas to us! I was dancing around WalMart like a little kid the entire time! In addition to Christmas spoiling I have a birthday in January so I also got a few extras at Target, hello polka dot jeans!

Speaking of birthdays, my dad's is the 27th. So there was even more celebrating! Dad took us all to Salt Lake where we shopped our hearts out at the new mall. After he reigned us all in we went up to the Joseph Smith Building and ate dinner at the very top, overlooking the Salt Lake Temple. SO FUN. Afterwards there were multiple attempts at pictures at Temple Square but it was cold and Tay and I may have had a hard time holding still. We managed to pull our ish together for some pretty awesome pictures on Saturday though.

We saw Enders Game (loved), ate our hearts out at Chuck-a-Rama, and played Pictionary until Dad couldn't take it anymore. The boys escaped at one point to go climbing at a gym and do some shopping of their own at REI. While the boys slacklined the girls got crafty and did some easy sewing projects. I can now crochet a square... and a rectangle. Bam! We all got our craft on and decorated our own ornaments this year, it was a good time.

Hopefully you guys had a wonderful Christmas and could spend it with those you love doing and eating all the other things you love. In other words, hopefully you had a great Christmas love fest like we did :)

Where are we, Vegas?

It was a whirlwind of a weekend. Chad and I drove up to Provo as soon as I got off of work on Friday. Not only did we get to play with Pat and Ash, but my dad was there too! He was on his way home from visiting his parents in Idaho and was going to fly home Saturday morning. So we got to hang out all Friday night and Saturday morning. It was awesome! We ate way too much food, burgers and ice cream, and had a good night just hanging out!

I was still trying to get over my cold and unfortunately Chad caught a little of it. So we weren't the most peppy over the weekend. I was more of a zombie. The boys managed to jump off the platform at the BYU pool and the girls went scrub shopping and were the big winners at the Nicklecade. Ashley channeled Grandma's good luck and hit the jackpot twice! Now to channel that luck for our next Vegas trip... We threw in some Mexican food for good measure and some delicious lettuce wraps, just to off set all the donuts and ice cream.

Just in case anyone else is in the same cold boat as us, Ash and Pat introduced us to the most fabulous cough drops ever. They are called Cepacol and they have Benzocaine in them, so they seriously numb up your throat. They were a dream come true for Chad. You won't be able to feel your itchy, fiery throat any more, because you won't be able to feel your throat. Again, perfect for Chad but panic inducing for me. If you have any sort of weird issues with feeling like you can't breathe these aren't for you though. But they work SO well if you don't have some sort of weird anxiety about that.

Classy pictures of us eating some Classy Candy.

Sunday morning we were back on the road headed home. Provo decided to send us off in style. We couldn't wait to get home and out of the horrid snow. Our tires aren't really equip to deal with snow, they don't particularly like the rainy roads we occasionally get in St. George. We made it back safe and sound, then promptly spent the whole afternoon/evening sleeping and watching Netflix. Which is the very best way to end the weekend.

Aaaadventure Time!

It really was a weekend full of awesome.

We started it out with cheap Mexican food. Nothing like tacos and burritos to get you ready to rock climb! Shocking, I know, that we took them rock climbing. We were all super successful too! Chad clearly rocked them all, one in the dark. I made it to the top of the first one, Ash was about a step away from the top of the first, and Patrick sped up the second climb. As a side note, I ran into a tarantula while climbing when I was nearly at the top. He just sort of moseyed back into the large crack that he was looking out of.

Oh the crazy eyes

The moon that night was a little out of control, SO big. The pictures really do it justice, ha, no.

Chad made us some rockin' spaghetti after all the climbing and then hiking back in the dark. Things to do before climbing next: 1. get a first aid kit together and 2. put the headlamps in our backpacks! I feel like I'm forgetting a number 3. We have 5 headlamps sitting at home. They don't do you much good unless you actually have them. Luckily the moon was almost as bright as the freakin' sun, so it wasn't as dark as it should have been.

We finished up the night in the most glorious and beautiful way possible

We cut each one into 4 pieces and devoured them.

The next morning we were off again! Lucky for us Zion's was open and Angel's Landing was up next on our list! We have been talking about taking them on this hike forever. They both seemed slightly hesitant but ready to go.

We made it to all the way up to where it starts to get tricky before there was some second guessing. Patrick made it up the first set of chains when he realized how high up he was. He headed back down to safety while the three of us powered on. I didn't make it the first time either, so no biggie. Ash was a super star and cruised through the whole hike like it was no big deal.

Along the way we ran into my cousins, Misty, Brett and Forest. Funny meeting you here.... on the top of a mountain!

We did another short hike to the Emerald Pools, watched the boys throw rocks in the river, and then headed back to the car to get some much needed food. We never planned on spending the whole day there, but we just couldn't help ourselves :)

We have finally figured out the best way to finish up any trip to Zion's. Right around the halfway point between there and home is a fantastic Chinese food Buffet. It's pretty cheap (for a buffet), we don't have to drive all the way home to eat (and of course then be starving and willing to eat anything, shakes and French fries anyone?), and hello? it's a buffet. That's exactly what I'm wanting after a long day of hiking and snacking on a granola bar. Heaven. I discovered their almond cookies this time and made it out of there with 6 in my pocket. Why are those so good?!

We just relaxed after that, ate more junk food, watched Adventure Time and The Big Bang Thoery, and shared all of our pictures. It was a fast but awesome weekend! Thanks for coming down guys!