Weekend in Cedar City!

Mike and I spent last weekend with my parents in cedar! It was a short visit but we had fun. Mike is crossing off the rooms he has stayed in at their bed & breakfast. He has one more to go, and it just happens to be MY old room. We always have a great time. Good food, lots of games, and a road trip to either Bryce Canyon or Zions.
My personal favorite is Zions which is where we went this time. I've always felt a connection there. We went on a few hikes and stopped when it got to muddy. We also took Mike through the tunnel *Simkins Style* at the top of Zions and he fell right into place. We have this tradition (thanks to my dad) of sticking our head out the window and what was originally a scream like an evil laugh "wah ha ha haaaaaa" has turned into a whole new animal. Siren sounds, "Hey you guys" (goonie style. This was mikes addition), "slow down", , along with just screaming bloody murder into the passing cars. Which usually ends with the slamming of breaks and hysterical laughter and tears down my dads face. If you have never been, its about a mile drive in pitch black aside from the lights of cars going through. Once we reach the end we act unsuspecting in case of a complaint- and mike pretended to be asleep against the window! A true natural! :) My mom has never joined in and she claims it is because she is laughing so hard. I'll accept that answer! :) We ended our day with dinner in the charming little town on the main street and stopped for dessert at Dairy Queen on the way home.

We also went to Kolob on Monday before we left and found a few more muddy hikes. It is such a beautiful area they live in and everything is within 45minutes. (Dad.. where is our group picture?)

My dad had so much fun playing taboo on their trip to CA to see my sister Hailey he bought it for our visit. We had a lot of good laughs especially at my dads expense. I'm grateful for these memories and the pictures my dad takes. The above are a few from our visit!

Thanks for another memorable visit!

Happy 1st day of Spring!

I'm so glad this winter is over. Don't get me wrong. Certain things are fun, cuddling up next to the fire & watching a movie, eating hot soup, & snow ball fights! But spring! It says it all.. I get a little spring in my step just thinking of it!

The motivation was clear yesterday, despite the reports for rain and the wind working effortlessly to gather the clouds together. Mike and I started the beginning of a long project in the yard. I cleaned out scrap wood stacked in our once beautiful garden box and picked up garbage that had found it's way into our back yard after a long winter. I ripped up the once beautiful fruitful plants from the garden and made room for new seeds! Yes, we are doing seeds this year! YIKES!
This year we are adding cucumbers, carrots, snap peas, red onions, beef tomatoes, to our garden in addition to last years tomatoes, peppers of every kind (jalapeno, Serrano, sweet, etc), squash, and herbs, herbs herbs...

Before Pictures:












Speaking of herbs, we also started our rock wall under our new deck where we are going to have our herb/flower garden. The soil was to low to comply with code, so a raised garden was the perfect functional remedy! I'm super excited about it! :) So much fresh edibles! :) YAY

While I was busy doing that stuff, mike was using his mighty man muscles to transplant trees from the back yard to the front and back again.. not an easy job! But he's the man to do it!

We had a great morning working out there and by 1pm we were done and ready for some in&out burgers! So we drove our dirty wind-blown selves down and joined the gluttonous "animal style" crowd of burger eaters!

The afternoon was spent in the kitchen making oatmeal, white chocolate, butterscotch, dark chocolate, coconut, pecan cookies for our NEW neighbors. (YES, all of that is packed into one little cookie) As of now, we are still eating them and our neighbors have no idea what is in store for them (us)!

Hitting the gym hard this week!

Our baby fix!

As ya'all know.. Mike and I are behind on the baby making (by Utah standards) and it is something we both want and pray to have. It's fun that a few of his (our) family members have newborns and even better that they trust us with them. Blake and Alysha went out for a date night and dropped this cute little guy Wyatt off at our house! It was so much fun. He is such a great little boy and so adorable. He has the cutest little expressions and Mike and I caught ourselves just watching his every move even when he was sleeping. We talked, sang, and snuggled and sadly returned him to his loving parents! Thanks Alysia and Blake, we hope to have him over again soon! :)

Fridays Kids!

Mike and I share the same interest in getting involved with some volunteer work. I did a search a couple months ago and found Friday's Kids. We both want to work with kids and this looked perfect! We signed up and spent our Friday night date night with a few Special needs kids that amazed us. If you ever want to volunteer 3.5 hours on a Friday, sign up with this group. There were about 5 other volunteers there from Kohls Cares, which is also another great organization. So there wasn't a shortage this Friday but they usually have a hard time finding enough people, so consider them in your search for volunteer opportunities. I can speak for both Mike and I, when I say we are Excited to return!

Beautiful Day!!

Okay, so this post might make my snobby CT friends judge! Don't judge.. I'm frugal! :)

I heard from the nurse at my Dr's office, that a salon in Provo was having a February Special! Everyone likes a good deal and I'm no different. During this month you can get 4services for $20! To good to be true??? Well sort of... But I recruited my sister Holly to join me anyway. A day of beauty sounded fun!!!!

We arrived with full makeup face and our first service was a facial! Who doesn't like a little anti-aging moisturizing cream? Sign me Up! So bye bye makeup and hello clean pours. Our second service was a pedicure! Those who know me know that my toes are a pedicurists biggest nightmare. They gently hug each other which makes the paint process a little difficult-- but aside from the asian lady I went to in CT "oh you so tall feet so small, so sorry, so sorry" they usually don't complain. I came up with an evil plan....I took the focus off my feet to tell them that my sisters toes have names. Jumbo shrimp, ET, cashew, peanut, and shrimp! P.s. No one cares, except for me and I think it's hilarious! :)

Our third treatment was the least impressive! I don't think it was as much the polish as it was the technique. I don't find painting the SAME nail over and over again until the polish is sticky and clumpy to be a great way to create devoted clientele but apparently we all have different opinions! So fine!
Our forth and last treatment was a hair style! I've always found it hard to speak the same language with a stylist, apparently English isn't a language of familiarity. 1" cut turns into 4" , long swoopy bangs, turns into a1 inch stubble across the forehead that is almost to short to put a a bobby pin in, & as I learned from this NEW girl "loose curls" translate into a look that you would imagine if Shirley temple & Medusa pro-created! But luck was on my side.. it was raining out! :)
Holly had much more success! THANKFULLY! Her hair was lightly curled, her nails stayed pink and smooth and Jumbo, ET, cashew, peanut, and shrimp were all happy with there newest applied color! Over all it was a great day, and we had fun together. A day of relaxation, laughter, and beauty with a few flaws was $20 well spent! Plus a makeup free face over lunch and shopping was a nice way to spend my Saturday!

I had planned to take before and after shots of our day of beauty but I was just having WAY to much fun...& forgot! :) and :(

I came home to find a surprise from my thoughtful husband. My Counter-top was full. Check out how thoughtful my hubby is... I'm so loved.

I'm so excited about my mixer "kitchen aid". I made my waffles this morning and homemade bread right now! :)

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y M O M M Y!

Today is my mama's Birthday-- I'm not sure I know how old she is, and she would probably prefer it that way! :)

A little about the birthday girl:
My mom is wonderful and I'm happy to have her in my life. She is creative, talented, smart and has a green thumb that would make any thumb envious! She has designed a beautiful Victorian house of her dreams, filled it with antiques she has collected on her recent travels around the world and to every antique store on the west side of the U.S. :), along with a flower garden you could never dream up- including private swings to sit and read or visit, and she has a successful bed & breakfast business that keeps guest coming back every year (with the help of my dad, of course). She is a great example of going after your dreams, and making them a reality. Her and my Dad gave us a fairy tale example of what a loving relationship should be like, and I want her to know how much I love & appreciate her hard work, her support, friendship, and love! Happy Birthday My Mommy! I LOVE YOU!!! :)

Click here to see the beauty she creates!

By the way...

TODAY... I'm a("80's") ROCKSTAR
....because my husband told me so!












..and he knows best!