Lions and Tigers and BEARS! OH MY!

          We had a blast in Yellowstone last week for a mini-family reunion (meaning only 1/3 of the family was there... still like 30 people though ha ha!). We got to see almost every animal we dreamed of seeing. . . even bears! I have tons and tons of fun pictures... And a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are just a few.

Allie the Babe :)

My cute cousins after a bear RAN across the road!

I guess this was before Yellowstone when we stopped at my Grandpa's... We saw this bus and had to snap a picture!

Girl cousins! (Sad that Kaycee's face is covered...)

Allie and Brooklyn were disgusted that Briana ate an ant.

 Can you guess which two really didn't jump? Looks pretty real I think. :)

Old Faithful!

 Oh Mom and Dad. ;)

 The mother bear we saw! We got some really good video too. Come to my house and I am sure my dad would love to show you.

Life is Happy

There are so many things that make me happy right now. Life is good. :)

I have a good job. It is an adventure and I am learning a lot from it. At first I didn't think I would like it, but I was WRONG! I work with a lot of great people and learn new things every day. And, I pretty much just get to drive four wheelers around. How fun is that?! If I am brave enough, I will have to post a work picture later of me and my pesticide-covered-self in my big rubber boots and all my grubby work clothes.

I am also having a blast running and preparing for the Wasatch Back. I don't know if I have ever enjoyed running as much as I do right now, even when I was running cross country or track! On Memorial day, I got to run my first race since last year's Ragnar. It was tons of fun and I was just happy to finish. But I did end up doing better than I thought I would, whew! (Can you see the purple and the striped feather extensions I have in my hair? My friend Charley put them in for me a couple of weeks ago. Fun summer thing!)

Here is a picture of me and one of my new-found best friends, my own little brother Seth! I don't know what makes me love this kid so much. Maybe it is because he will always go to the store with me so I don't have to go buy myself, he brings me warmed up rice bags when I am cold in bed, and he gives me big hugs when I get home from work. Or maybe it is his beautiful blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, and tan skin. I sure have fun with him! Oh, and this picture is proof that I am beginning to care less and less about wearing makeup this summer. Why bother? I also wasn't ready for the picture. :P

Here is another random picture that I had to share. Allie always falls asleep on the couch in the fetal position. :) Even with her super long skinny legs. I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Another thing that makes me happy is Bekah. :) She makes me laugh. And, she reads my blog. And, she let me take this picture of her! We had a super fun road trip for her birthday to Idaho Falls to see her cute family. It was sort of like having a glimpse at what life was like for my mom growing up, because Bekah is the oldest of 13 kids! And I love every one of them. Especially Josh. ;) I don't know why I have a thing for little boys lately. They are just so dang cute.

We got to go running by the Idaho Falls temple. Super gorgeous!

We got to get some of the yummiest things ever-slushies!! Slushies are my favorite summer treat. I could eat them every day, all day. Tigers blood.... MMMM.

We tried to make waffle brownies (just cook brownie batter in a waffle iron). The first couple turned out pretty delicious! This one didn't. I forgot to spray it.

Here is cute Josh and cute Ben. They were so much fun. :)

The birthday girl herself!

And of course, we can't forget Cami! I was so happy to see her again. Poor girl had something weird painful thing going on with her eye. Still cute though.

Another reason life is good? Andrew's one year mark is on Thursday. Hooray! And supposedly the second year goes by really quick. I sure hope so. I miss all these awesome missionaries!

And to finish all of this off, I may as well admit some other things that make me happy: Justin Bieber, lotion, the May General Conference issue of the Ensign, sun tans, Reese's sandwiches (think nutella + peanut butter on bread), getting letters in the mail, and last, but not least... taking naps!

I Miss You. . . :)

Just going through old pictures and wanted you to know.

I'm. . . engaged?

One of the Elders in Andrew's apartment who's always playing jokes changed this:

to this (this is the front of his planner lol):

He later wrote Andrew this letter:

(You may want to click on the pictures to make them bigger and readable)

Ha ha! I thought it was a good joke.

Bon Appetit!

So last semester, my roommates and I got a bit-- addicted, you could say-- to watching Food Network (our favorite show? Chopped). Maybe it's because my family never had cable at home, or maybe it is just because I love to cook... Either way, it has inspired us to try some exciting creations. :) Around the end of the semester, we decided to make a chocolate souffle one night. It actually turned out really good! However, we didn't have the fancy dishes we were supposed to cook it in, so we just made it in my lovely purple mugs.

Here is our lovely chocolate souffle. Bekah wouldn't be in the picture. Humph.

Oh, and how could I forget about the time we tried to make grilled pineapple? 

This past weekend I went up to Provo to visit. Bekah had the brilliant idea of making Baked Alaska! I wanted to make creme brulee. So why not make both? We had a couple of days. Only this time, we bought legit ramekins to cook them in. (Blessing: they were even on sale!) We were supposed to be borrowing a blow torch for both of them, but we ended up not borrowing it and just making do with the oven broiler. I thought they both still tasted mighty fine! There is also a picture of our breakfast that was happy to see us. :)

 Bon Appetit!

P.S. Here are some cute pictures this weekend of my Grandparents. My grandpa, who had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago (see here), is doing much better!

A Little Bit of Everything

          I don't really understand how a blog works yet. I don't really get all of the formatting and such, so this is kind of messy looking. 

          First of all, my cousin Mary got home from her mission in El Salvador!!! She looks beautiful and radiant and I just love her. :) Made me wish Andrew's mission would go a little faster...

          Second of all, these are some beautifully delicious cupcakes that Allie and I made. Yummy! I think they were practically as good as The Cocoa Bean's.

          And finally, here is a picture of Allie's dance group at their competition a week or so ago. They did so well, they even got 1st place! And they have got the MOVES! Wish I did too. :) Sigh. I can't get this picture to center. Oh well, maybe I will figure it out later. Pretend it is.

        

         

Nate the Great and the Handsome Haircut

          Late one night, Nate asked my Dad if he would give him a haircut. Unfortunately, 9 o'clock is much too late for an elderly soul such as my father, so poor Nate was going to have to wait at least until the next day. Me being the kind sister that I am offered to cut his hair myself, that very night!
          I pretended to be confident in my hair-cutting abilities. I guess I did a good job of convincing him, because he agreed to let me. I told him if it didn't turn out we could just buzz it all off anyways. :) Nate is handsome enough that I figured I couldn't do too much damage. Besides, I think he has too many girls following him around, so even if it would have turned out bad I wouldn't have complained.

                Mwa ha ha. . . .                                                    Before

 



          Lucky for him, it turned out great! I only had to have my Dad give me advice and help me out a couple of times. . .  and by the time I finished, even my dad, the hair-cutting champ, gave it his stamp of approval as a mighty-fine looking haircut. Maybe I should quit BYU and go to hair school.

(Yes, he took his shirt off. Yes, I look like crap. Sorry.)