10/25/09

Words of the Prophets

Have I ever mentioned that I have incredible sisters? My sister Kerri has started a new blog that will focus on studying the most recent conference talks. Anyone can comment, and if you want to contribute, just view the sight at http://www.wordsofthelatterdayprophets.blogspot.com/. We're going to study one conference talk a week, beginning with President Monson's talk "What Have I Done for Someone Today?" from the Sunday morning session. Please post your comments about the talk by next Sunday, November 1st. You can link to it and all other conference sessions here. You'll find the links to listen, read, or watch them. I look forward to reading your comments.

10/18/09

Family Pictures 2009

I finally resized our family pictures. I loved them all, so here's the lot of them. It really is a photo day. There are ways to put these into a collage or something, but this is what I'm up for right now. I am loving these pictures. Thanks again, Meegan.















Several Posts Plus Many, Many Pictures

I'm home nursing a sore throat, so I've spent my time updating my blog. My free time decreases dramatically when school begins. But we've been able to do a lot of fun things with family and friends. Thanks everyone for being such amazing parts of our lives. See below for pictures of our Jackson/Yellowstone trip, pumpkin patch adventures, 1/2 marathon, and vacation to the Dominican Republic.

Jackson/Yellowstone Trip

We met up with John and Shanna Foster yesterday and made our way to Jackson, WY, and Yellowstone. It was so fun to see them again. They've recently moved back to Idaho and we're looking forward to many more similar adventures. The kids had so much fun together.

In Jackson we came across a clown making balloon animals. Everyone had one, even Baby Lexi.


Emma got a purple butterfly.Hallie had a pink butterfly.
Ashlyn got a pink poodle.
Brady, Hallie, and Emma really enjoyed playing together. They all enjoyed running as fast as they could.
Here's the group, including a tired and hungry Ashlyn.
Old Faithful is always a successful sight. Even the hour plus wait was worthwhile for such a breathtaking natural event.

Pumpkin Patch

Emma's preschool went to the pumpkin patch again this year, and we decided to make it a family affair. Everyone loved the corn maze.
Look at those good-looking farmers, not to mention the calf.
Emma found one of the biggest pumpkins in the patch to take home.
And Ashlyn laid her own!

1/2 Marathon


My sister has been telling me I needed to post about the 1/2 marathon Sept 5. Yes, it's been a while, but I did actually do it. I trained for about 10 weeks. It was a lot of work, but I'm so glad I did. Nick and the girls came and cheered me on before they had to leave for Wyoming to Nick's Uncle's funeral. While I wanted to be there, I'm not so sure there will ever be another marathon in my future, and I really wanted to meet my goal. Luckily everyone else supported me.

I was able to complete my race of 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes. That's not a record time by any means, but I was able to run/jog the entire way. It felt so good to accomplish my goal, and I can honestly say I had a blast. Thanks everyone for the support.

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 2009

Nick and I had the amazing opportunity to go to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic for 6 days at the beginning of the month. It was amazing. It was an experience neither of us will forget. The culture was very different from our own. The best part though was getting to spend time together and loving every minute of it. I'm so blessed to be married to my best friend.

This was taken in front of the fountain in our hotel's front lobby. We stayed at the Grand Oasis Marien. It was beautiful and the food was great. The only downsides were how difficult it was to call home and to get outside of the hotel without paying exaggerated prices. Other than that, it was amazing. We're not sure we'd do an all-inclusive again, but it was good for this trip.
Hotel lobby.
On our last day, Nick and I walked through town (4.5 miles) to this tram. We rode it to the top of the mountain, where there is a beautiful garden.
Statue of Christ at the top of the mountain.
We rode back to our hotel in this van with 20 other people. I snapped this as it drove off, so you can't see the missing side door (built in air conditioning), but yes, the window is broken out in back. Nick likes an adventure!The beach at our hotel.
Sosua Beach. If you ever want to hear the adventure story of arriving/leaving this beautiful beach, just ask. This is already a long post.
Snorkling at Sosua Beach.
A typical gift shop on Sosua Beach. We got a laugh out of the name.This fort was built in the 1500s to protect the bay from pirates. It was fascinating to explore.Another picture of the resort.Our room. The maid would leave us fresh flowers daily and usually make some fancy arrangement out of the towels, such as a swan.Nick on the Yasika Adventures zip line.My turn! We got to go on 8 runs. The view was fantastic, and the adrenaline rush wasn't too bad either.
View of the ocean at sunrise from our hotel balcony.View from the other direction.The most amazing thing we did was go to the 27 Waterfalls. You climb up the fall to turn around and jump or slide into them. Nick couldn't believe I actually jumped off the 20+ foot jump just to ask if we could do it again. I'm all about facing my fears. These are our amazing guides. The taught us all about the plants and animals in the area and even knocked passion fruit out of the trees for us to eat. They were great.The only downside was that we must have ruined our underwater camera as we tossed it down the falls to our guides to take pictures. This is the only photo we got.We had so much fun. It was an incredible trip. Thanks Kathy for watching the girls the entire time. We couldn't have gone without you!