Our Home

We just celebrated our 1 year anniversary of being in our house! We really have loved having a place to call our own and have tried to make it nice place for our family. We have done quite a few projects to spruce the place up a bit, I thought it would be fun to show you some before and after pictures we have done this past year.

2012

Oct. 2013

Outside work: Landscaping, sprinklers, sod, flower beds, rock walls, gravel, etc. 

2012

Oct. 2013

2012

Oct. 2013

New kitchen appliances, tile backsplash, new paint, furniture, etc.

 The Willard area has been very good to us, both the location and the people. We hope to stay here awhile and continuing making improvements making our house a home.

Road Tripping

At the end of September we went on a week long pleasure/business trip. We had just planned to go down to St. George with Lynn's parents for the weekend, but then last minute they asked Lynn to go to a meeting for work up in Oregon the following Monday. Well why not just make a long road trip out of it and go? Because naturally, the shortest way to get to Oregon from Willard UT, is south through St. George. Ha

Now if you know me at all, you know that I really do not love long drives and being confined in a vehicle for hours on end. But I really tried hard to enjoy it. We did over 2,000 miles this trip, whew!

We spent a couple days down in St. George enjoying the perfect weather. We just relaxed, did some shopping, and Lynn took his dad out for a mountain biking adventure. I'd have to say my favorite thing was going to see Mary Popping at Tuachan! I have actually danced on the Tuachan stage before but never gotten to see a production there, it was awesome! Thanks Jorgensens!

Next we drove, drove, drove. Driving across Nevada is serious death. I do not recommend it. And yet Lynn has made me suffer through it twice now.  We spent the night in Susanville, CA and the next day got Lynn to his meeting in Keno, OR. He was checking out a project to replace the fish screens at a big plant for Pacificorp.  (He ended up getting the job by the way :) Next stop for the night, Klamath Falls, OR. We are not fans of that place. When we got up the next morning, Lynn's mountain bikes that we had chained into the truck had been stolen. UGH. Seriously the worst feeling ever. We had Brian's bike with us too, which made it extra crappy. After filing a police report and watching surveillance videos, there pretty much was nothing else we could do. So we called our insurance and headed back on the road. (Our insurance turns out to be wonderful and we got the bikes covered. Thank heavens!)

We decided to take an extra day and go visit Crater Lake National Park. We've heard its a really beautiful place and decided to go check it out. Have I mentioned that we suck at visiting National Park places? Remember these awesome pictures of us visiting Mt. Rushmore?

Well here we are at Crater Lake.....

 

Ha ha, you seriously just have to laugh about the whole thing. The roads were all closed around the lake and it was super foggy so you couldn't even see the lake at all. We went to the visitor center and watched a little movie about the lake, and that was about it.

Here is what we missed out on.... No big  deal :(

via

We eventually made our way back home to Utah. I never wanted to get in the truck again. Ha. All in all we had a good time being together despite the craziness that went on, and look forward to many more adventures in our future!

LOTOJA

Lynn rode his bike from Logan to Jackson Hole in the LOTOJA bike race again this year. It is pretty much the main event that he trains all summer for. You can take the journey with us in a photo recap...

 

  

 

 

 

 

The boys did such a great job, I can't even begin to imagine being in the saddle for that long. Or to have the strength and endurance and eat a bunch of fake goo-like food along the way.  I'm proud of my boy and have a great admiration and respect for his commitment to the sport he loves.

We spent the night in Jackson and had fun recuperating the next day walking around town and then head back home to Utah. We drove home the route the bikers had just ridden the previous day. Whew! Seriously, that is so far. I just kept thinking wow... you were riding this whole time. Remarkable. They always say they'll never to it again.

Til next year....... ha!

Summer Wrap-Up

Can summer really be over?! Boo :( We have certainly been keeping ourselves busy over here. It seems like August is one of the craziest months of the whole year, and we aren't even going back to school!  I thought I'd do a random photo dump recap of all that's been going on with us as of late.

We went to the Demolition Derby in Logan with Brian & Cassie. They always provide quality entertainment. Although it was not super enjoyable when it decided to pour rain on us :(

A couple of my old roommates and our hubbys met up at Bear Lake for Raspberry Days.  Liv and Kyle live up there so we had a fun bbq together and raspberry shakes to finish off the night!

We went with Jeremy and his family to the Martin Harris pageant up in Clarkston. Lynn hadn't ever been before.  The girls did pretty well, and we all enjoyed it for the most part, although the cramped bleacher seating was a little tight for a biker who had just got done riding quite a few miles.

Isn't she the cutest?

Our little garden has been thriving this summer. We planted one tomato plant and four super hot pepper plants. Lynn loves some heat, so he has been making batches of salsa! It makes his nose and face sweat, but that's the way he likes it.

Our good friend Brian got married last month, we are so excited for him! Lynn threw a little bachelor party for him where they went go-karting and bbq'd. You had to wear close-toed shoes, so if you had flip-flops on, you got to rent some super cool velcro grandpa shoes :)

We were lucky enough to be invited to the wedding ceremony in the Salt Lake temple and spend the whole day celebrating with the Hendricks. It was a beautiful day and we're grateful for such great friends and happy for Brian & Cassie and their new adventure together!

We helped my mom tend Ruby for a couple days while her family was gone for a week long Lake Powell trip! That Ruby girl is so funny, but we love her. These are a couple pics of when uncle Lynny was taking a nap, and Ruby thought he should be awake :)

Leslie & Loral bought a new home up in Richmond! We have been helping them move and paint thier new place. It was a lot of work, but I think it turned out great! We're excited for them and their new home.

We ended the summer the only way there is to, at the Box Elder County Fair! I'm not sure if Lynn is sick of me dragging him there every year yet, but oh well, I love it! It is in my blood, you just HAVE to go to the county fair!

We have spent a few nights out the driving range lately. It has been fun just to relax and go hit a bucket of balls together.

I think that about wraps up our last little bit of summer! Bring on the fall!

Tour of Utah

I should probably have Lynn write this post, because I am in no way the expert...   We spent a couple days following and watching the Tour of Utah. It is a week long stage race throughout all of Utah. Some pretty famous dudes ride in it. And they ride crazy fast.

We went to Salt Lake at the capital to watch the circuit race. They do like 5-ish? laps near the capital. It was pretty crazy with so many people watching, and those bikes wizzed by SO FAST!  Lynn was in heaven, apparently this is a pretty big deal :)

A couple days later we went to Park City to see the last stage and the finish line for the Tour.  We met up with Brian and Cassie and watched all the bikers cross the finish line. These racers rode like 100 miles a day for a whole week. Sounds fun, right? Ugh. I would never be a professional biker.  It was fun to see them though and be with Lynn watching the sport he loves.

I swear only biking can give this boy that big of a smile :)

Kaylee turns ONE!

Happy Birthday cute Kaylee girl! We love you and had such a fun time at your first birthday party!