Finally

So it has been 10 months since I lasted posted. I decided it would be a good idea to catch up a bit :-)

Grand Canyon!

I flew down to Dallas one last time so that Chris and I could drive back to Utah together and make an adventure out of our drive. I had talked to a friend at work and she suggested that we stop in Sedona. I am glad she did. It was a great little town. There is a place called Slide Rock State park that has an 80 foot natural water slide on the way to Sedona. We stopped there to enjoy the slide. The water was cold but we had fun. The rocks were really slippery. Chris and I went down the slide and were walking back up. The rocks were really slippery and Chris did not have any shoes on. I stopped and turned around and I saw Chris flat on his belly. He had slipped on the rocks. He was okay so it was really funny. I wish I had seen the fall!

The next day we went to the Grand Canyon. We only had an afternoon to see it. I wish we would have had another day to explore a bit more but it we still had a great time.

When we first got to the Grand Canyon it was a little cold and very windy. I was afraid it would be like that the entire time and we did not dress for rain or chilly weather. I did not post it but in another picture we took I could not even open my eyes because it was so windy.

Chris being his crazy self!

The views were so pretty. I guess it is about 10 miles across most places rim to rim. Most of the time you could barley see the river which is about a mile below. A couple of interesting facts I learned was that it can be 20-30 degrees hotter at the base/river then on the rim and many times it will rain on the rim but not down at the river. I thought that was crazy!

As you can see this raven was not afraid of people at all. He even poised for a picture with Chris.

We decided to end our day with a hike. We wanted to get to a good point to see the sunset but we had to get out past the mountain. We barley made it for the end of the sunset, unfortunately we did not see the whole thing but it was still gorgeous. I love this next picture, it almost looks fake!

I thought this was fun!

This is at the end of the sunset!

One thing that is different about hiking in the Grand Canyon is that the easy part is one the way to the destination and then after you get there and head back you have to do the hard work. We watched the sunset and then had to make our way out as it got dark. We loved it! It was tons of fun.

On our last morning we were able to take a helicopter ride to see the red rock cliffs of Sedona. We were able to go for free because we got suckered into listening to a time share presentation but hey at least we got a cool ride out of it. Here are some of our aerial pics.

Summer Adventures

Chris left at the beginning of May for the entire summer :-( I did not like being without my husband but I did try to keep myself busy by going on a few trips. My first trip of the summer was to see Chris in Texas but I do not have many pictures to post from that trip. Chris went down to Texas for an internship in accounting with KPMG. We decided that we could make a little extra money if he went down early to sell pest control. My first visit for Chris was mainly selling. Yes, I did it again. It is definitely not my favorite thing but I did all right.

A few wakes later I was able to take a trip to Montana to see my grandma. I haven't seen her for 3 years. I was definitely past due for a visit. My grandma is a great lady. She has so much spunk to her. She has a great personality and one I would like to emulate more. She is fun loving and will laugh at the drop of a hat. I was also able to see my parents during this trip. They planned their trip around when I could go so that we could kill two birds with one stone.

The next adventure of the summer was seeing my husband again. We both few into Iowa for Chris's family reunion. We were only in Iowa for a couple of days. We haven't seen Chris's grandparents for a few years so it was nice to catch up with them.

Once we left Iowa we few to Dallas and I was able to spend about a week with Chris. By this time he was working full time for his internship. I thought that I was going to be really bored by myself during the day but I wasn't. I was surprised at how quickly the time passed. We had a little more fun this time around. We went to a Rangers game, Fort Worth, and out with some of Chris's friends from his internship to name a few. Of course the time went by way to fast and I had to come back to good old Utah a slave away at work :-)

A few weeks after I got home from Dallas I went to my family reunion in McCall Idaho. A lot of our extended family was there. I had a great time visiting. I had not seen some of them for 5 years or more. I wish I would have taken more pictures. My dad got a great one of me flying off the banana while being pulled behind the boat. The banana seats five people. I was the oldest on the thing by at least 9 years but the only one to fly off at that particular instance. The water was FREEZING but I had to connect with my inner child and past and try the banana again!

More Weddings!!!

My sophomore roommate Torrey got married in April. She is awesome and I was lucky enough to go to the wedding. It actually happened to be in my mission so I was also able to see a couple of people from my mission as well.

Quite a few of us were able to make it to Torrey's wedding. It was wonderful to see everyone. I miss them all and look back on the years with them fondly. The second picture is of Anne, Kaitlyn and me. Along with Torrey we were all roommates our sophomore year of college.

Weddings!

My Niece got married in this last March. I CANNOT believe that she is old enough to be married, let alone to actually be married!!! I had to tease her that she is seven years younger than me but only got married a little over two years after me. I always have to show pictures of my nieces and nephews when I get the chance. I just love them all so much. They are so old, which mean that I am old too...aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!

Here are more pictures of my other brothers kids. I miss them sooooo much. I wish they did not live so far away.

My whole family at Taylor and Denton's wedding. I wonder how long it will be until we are all together again.

Taylor had a beautiful dress! (it was actually the same dress that I wore but she had it her own with a different sash) I felt honored that my dress was still in style.

Some more pictures of my family just for fun!

Congratulations Chris

Chris had another flyout about 5 days after he got back from the first round to Dallas Texas. He interviewed with KPMG and they offered him an internship this coming summer which means a job the year after that! We are very excited. We are still waiting to hear back from one more firm and then we will have to make a decision. I am so proud of Chris. He works so hard and the fruits of his labor are starting to show.

I had this suprise waiting for Chris when he came in the door. I know, I am kind of a dork, but I sure had a lot of fun putting the candy gram together.

Washington DC visit

My brother Kevin's wife Ashley had their second little boy on September 19th. I love all of my nieces and nephews and decided that I needed to make a trip to visit my brother and his cute little family. Chris was in the thick of school so he could not make the trip with me. Luckily, he is a great husband and he let me go have fun with my family without him. I booked my flight for the 27th of February and then by chance Chris had an interview with Ernst and Young in DC and he flew out the same day. We wanted to try and extend his ticket so that he could stay in DC with us a couple of days but it did not work out because he had to fly to Dallas TX on Thursday for another interview. We were able to meet up with Chris on Thursday for a couple of hours before his flight to Dallas. We picked him up from his interview and drove to an area by the airport. My brother got off work early and met us for lunch. I'm glad Chris got to see my family and the kids even though it was just for a couple of hours. Below are a bunch of pictures from my trip.

My Adorable nephews. Pierce is on the left and Tyson is on the right

Pierce doesn't suck his thumb very much except when you want to take a picture. The instant the camera comes out the thumb goes into his mouth. This is me trying to keep that thumb out.

Pierce loves, and I mean loves, balls. He is 19 months old and he can name every ball you give him. We were driving in the car and he found a golf ball and he said golf. I looked over at him surprised he even knew that one.

Sadly, I did not take any pictures of the event but they blessed Tyson while I was there. It was great to be present for my brothers sweet blessing of his son.

Below are a few pictures of baby Tyson.

Ashley says Tyson always looks scared or confused when he is awake. You can see that expression in this picture. Scared but adorable!

My brother and sister-in-law. I wish we lived closer!

Halloween fun. The two cute cows!!

Three of my old college friends and roommates live in the DC area. We planned a get together while I was in town and it was sooooo good to see them. It has been over four years since I have seen some of them. Clark is the boy on the left. He was in our freshman ward and he lives in Philly and was randomly in DC for the weekend. It worked out perfect.

My friend Anne, on the left, lives in the heart of DC. We took a stroll together and sat and talked in front of the nations capitol.

My mom went out to see the baby and help out for three weeks. Our trips overlapped the entire time. It was great to spend a lot of time with her as well. My dad came out about half way through my trip. I was silly and did not take any pictures with or of my mom, darn it, but I did take a couple of pictures of my dad with pierce.

My last morning with my nephew. Isn't he just the cutest!!

I am going to miss them all. Of course I will miss the baby and my brother and sister-in-law, but this little boy stole my heart. I love his energy, the way he talks, and how says my name and Chris's name. I hope he doesn't forget me too fast. A big thanks to my wonderful brother and sister-in-law for letting me crash at their house and for entertaining me. I love them all so much!!!