Tim McGraw

In the words of Taylor Swift, "When you think of Tim McGraw, I hope you think of me!" Well I hope you think of me and Victor having a blast at his concert!

My ADORABLE little husband is so much fun. Back in February I saw an advertisement for Tim's concert and told Victor it would be fun to go to. A few days later he came home from work and told me to check my e-mail. I just assumed he had sent me something funny. But when I checked it there was a confirmation e-mail for our tickets to the concert!

Victor is the one who listens to country, but I do love Tim McGraw.

We had awesome seats and the show opened with Love & Theft (I had never heard of them but they did a good job), and Lady Antebellum. Tim was AWESOME! He is such an outstanding performer and seemed so appreciative of his fans. He spent most of the concert reaching out and trying to touch every one's hands. Just a classy guy and I would recommend his concert to anyone. We would MOST DEFINITELY attend again if he comes back to town.

Thanks so much for a great time babe!

My camera battery was about to die so the quality of my pictures was VERY poor. But you get the jest of the picture.

Oh, we also ran into some dear old friends who we thought had fallen off the earth. So good to see Kelton and Dani! I needed a picture as proof of their existence.

The List

I love our city. It is the perfect size and there are so many fun things to do. When we moved here I started to compile a list in my head of everything we had to do once we had time and finished school.

Well here we are three years after graduating and life just didn't slow down like I thought it would. We are always running around doing something fun (BBQs, road trips, co-ed sports teams, kids) but never quite hitting everything on my list like I thought we would. I just can't figure out where time goes. But I can finally say we have officially crossed ONE thing off! Can you guess what it is?

We have a semi-pro (I think one would call it a AAA team? Not sure though) baseball team that is pretty good and we FINALLY made it to a game!! It was so much fun, we went with our friends Tiffany and Brendan and had a blast. They even did a big fireworks show after the game. This is most definitely something we need to make time to do again.

I am just happy to be able to cross it off of my "Fun Things To Do" list. Next up is the Shakespeare Festival!

4th of July Fun

We love celebrating the 4th in our hometown. There is nothing like a big celebration in a small town!

After the fun run we headed to the parade. The boys were soooo excited and ready to snag some candy. It was so cold this year! We all had to bundle up and I was counting down for the parade to be over so I could warm up in the car (who would think I would turning my seat heat on in July?).

The first pictures were taken by Conner and he really wanted me to post them. Here ya go Conner, great photography work!

The boys impatiently waiting for the parade to start. Mason didn't join in the parade long fun of running out to get the candy. After his first few all he wanted to do was eat it! Definitely MY kid!

After a quick little BBQ for lunch we headed to the park for kids races. Poor Mason! He wanted to take off as soon as Victor got him lined up on the starting line. Victor had to tell him not to move and when the gun went off that is exactly what he did. . . not move! He took 1st last year, guess he will have to wait another year to regain his title.

Zack did a great job! He took second and is showing off his reward. He wanted to race every heat after his. He kept telling us he wanted to do it again! You can even see him lined up with Conner for Conner's race. :)

Conner held his own and finished third!

I am a dork and part of what makes the 4th so much fun is seeing and catching up with old friends. I get so excited to see everyone and their cute families. This is my adorable friend Allison. Oh the memories I have of cruising around in her beamer and listening to her 70s CD. Good times!

Later that day Mason got to see Poppa's horse. He was cute and excited! We couldn't get him on the horse, but he sure did love seeing and petting him. Now when he rides his rocking horse or stick horse at home he always tells me, "Dis (this) Poppa's horse, John Hennie". (The horse's name is actually John Henry).

Krista bought us these rockin' dragon socks in Vegas to wear for the Fun Run. She nixed the idea a few days before the race. But Krista I just wanted you to know I still put mine to good use! It was so cold and I didn't bring any pants down with us, or even any carpi's for that matter, so these awesome socks helped keep my legs warm at the city fireworks that night. I think the socks certainly put me on the best dressed list.

We had another great BBQ and of course the very best part of the 4th is always the last! We headed down to big city fireworks and set off few sparklers while we were waiting.

The 4th is one my favorite holidays! Can't wait until next year!

Fun Run

Victor and I got up way to early to participate in our hometown's 4th of July Fun Run again this year. I think whoever named it a "Fun Run" needs to rethink the name. Running is not fun!

Victor did the 10K and did awesome!!! Especially considering he has not been running regularly and even did a 25 mile bike ride the day before. He took 2nd in his age group and 3rd overall! He also got a PR of 46.03. Way to go babe!!!

Make sure you are sitting down for this one. . . I ran the 5K and took 1st in the women's division, 1st for my age group (men and women), and 3rd overall! ha ha I have to live in the moment, I am certain something like this will never happen again! I came in with a time of 23.12.


Court told us he was going to run last year and was a no show! We gave him a little beef about it (I even called him out on the blog!). But guess whose smiling face was there to greet us when we got there for the race registration?!? Yep, it was Court! You're the man Court!

Now, I took a moment to think about this one and there seems to be another person who tells us he is going to run and never has. . . Mr. Eliason we will be expecting to see your smiling face there huffing and puffing with the rest of us next year!

The class of '97 was well represented, my friend Misty and her husband ran as well and did awesome! It was fun to see her and her super cute family, it has been a long time.

And then there is Rick and Krista. I asked Krista to run with me last year and she shot me down. Who would have thought that she would have turned into a running rock star since then?!?! Krista is tearing up the running world and doing half marathons like they are nothing. Rick is starting to join her as well. They tried to talk to me into doing the 10K with them. Ummmm, no way Jose! I just started running a few weeks before the 4th and 5K is plenty far for me!

Ahhhh, done with the race and putting my stinky armpits on Krista and Vic. :)

SuMmEr PlAy

After VeGaS Victor and I headed home for a few days with Zack and Mason. Conner stayed with my parents because he had SwImMiNg LeSsOnS. Victor worked a couple of days and then we all headed back down.

Conner's teacher said he was the BeSt kid she has EvEr had in class. Thanks for being such a GrEaT kid Conner! He has also turned into quite the little FiSh. He PaSsEd his class and is on to level 5 next year.

We had a few days to play so we took the kids to one of our favorite tourist towns, PaRk CiTy.

We love the AlPiNe SlIdEs. Zack wasn't so sure about things on the ride on the lift up the mountain. However, after the first trip he was begging to again!

I wasn't sure how Zack would react to the alpine slide so I took it a little slow down the mountain. Victor and Mace came in right behind us. I asked Zack, "Was that fun?" And he told me he wanted to do it again. I turned around and asked Mason the same question and he let out a HuGe sigh and said, "Dat (that) AwEsOmE! Want to do dat gain (again)!" Victor and I CrAcKeD up at his big sigh!

Conner finally making it to the top of the rock climbing wall.

Mason and Zack loving EvErY minute of the carousel ride and begging to do it again after every ride! We were there all day riding everything a million times!

Naturally we HaD to SqUeEzE in some shopping! There was a bakery right next to the restaurant we had dinner and the kids all picked a treat. The car was SiLeNt while everyone devoured their little yummy goodness.

My mom and the little ones hit the pool the next day.

The boys loved the water and the little white slide.

Meanwhile, Victor took Conner for his FiRsT trip to LaGoOn! Conner loved it! His favorites were the colasus (sp?), the wicked, and old white RoLlErCoAsTeR!

I love DrIvE-iNn MoViEs and Ogden has a fun one. We met up with Vic and Conner later that night to take the boys to see ToY sToRy 3.

Everyone in the back of GrAm'S car waiting for the movie to start.

I found these cute little SoLdIeR gummie candies, of course we had to have them for the movie! What a cute little flick. If you haven't seen it yet, it is HiGhLy recommended.

It was back to the PoOl the next day. Can you tell we are WaTeR pEoPlE?

Mason will throw the ball then try so hard to swim like his BiG bRoThEr to retrieve it.

My MoM and my SiStEr Camille are so GoOd to me! I read all of the Twilight books and was dying to see it! My mom has heard of them, but that is about where it ends and my sister has only seen the movies. Despite that they were ThRiLlEd to go see the movie with me! We made it a FuN gIrLs night! (Missed you Jen!) I also haven't been to Logan in so long that I can't remember, so that was a fun experience as well.

We StUfFeD ourselves at the Copper Mill before the movie and topped it all off with their famous MuDd PiE!

ThAnKs Mom and Mille for an AwEsOmE girls night! Oh and FYI if you haven't seen the Twilight movie, it is the best one so far!

Vegas Part II

Day 3

We enjoyed a tasty breakfast and made our way over to the Luxor to get tickets for the Bodies exhibit. I wasn't too excited about this one. I have a bit of a weak stomach, but this was right up Victor's alley and he was pretty stoked to walk through it.

It had preserved bodies and all sorts of information. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Thank goodness! It was fun and we all learned something!

Bodies Exhibit.

We then went out in search of the Mexican restaurant Pink Taco. It is in the Hard Rock Hotel and I have to admit, this looked like a fun place to stay! Our meal was excellent! Calorie packed I am sure, but scrumptious! It was pretty quiet while we were all stuffing our faces. We had a good time picking out Pink Taco memorabilia after too!

I ordered the tacos the restaurant was named after, yummy!

We then walked around and did some shopping. This is at the new City Center in the middle of the strip. The little tornado things were cool, we were all impressed.

After that it was some more fun in the sun! Well, fun in the sun for Victor, Krista, and Rick. I headed back up to my room because I wasn't feeling so well.

Krista looking so stinkin' cute in her new Pink Taco hat!

Vic, Rick, and Krista all got new sun glasses earlier that day while we were shopping. I think they are all super HOT! My job as a shopping consultant is full filled.

We got cleaned up and went to dinner at the House of Blues. Ironically, the band that was playing was from SLC!

I was enjoying my super good meal until I found a hair in it!!!!

Thank goodness Victor was stuffed, because I then devoured his burger.

After dinner we went back over to the Luxor to go through the Titanic exhibit. I loved this one! At the beginning they give you a passenger ticket and information about that passenger. When you get to the end you can look up that person to see if they lived or died.

It was awesome to see the artifacts from the actual boat, but so sad at the same time. This was an accident that could have been prevented and way to many people lost their lives.

Victor and I were both first class passengers who actually made it! My husband died though. Krista was a third class passenger who made it too! Rick wasn't so lucky although his family accompanying him on the trip survived.

Krista cracking us up on our way back from Cold Stone. Yep, we made sure we got there before they closed this time!

Day 4- The final day :(

We decided to give the House of Blues another whirl because we heard they had an awesome breakfast, and indeed they did! There wasn't even a hair in my food this time! ha ha

The House of Blues had some awesome benches outside of the restaurant. I loved them and wished like heck they were for sale!

We tried to devote most of time we had left that last day to the wave pool! We needed to get every ounce of sun we could before we had to leave.

Soaking up the sun.

We got our stuff packed up and wanted to make our way through the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay before we had to go to the airport. As we walked over, we found a whole other wing to the hotel. We wished we would have discovered it sooner, a lot of the restaurants look liked they were fun! Next trip I guess!

Shark Reef.

These jellyfish were my favorite! Aren't they cool?!?!

We went through the Shark Reef pretty quick because we wanted to grab some lunch before we went to the airport. We ate at Red, White, and Blue Cafe and it was good good good!

Safely made it back to SLC and claimed our luggage. Oh so sad our trip is over. I think that is what Victor's Zoolander face is actually saying.

Such an outstanding trip. We laughed so hard and had so much fun with Rick and Krista! We are thankful to have amazing friends like them. Thanks sooooo sooooo sooooo very much Rick and Krista!

It was just so nice to getaway with my adorable husband and enjoy some quality fun time to recharge as ADULTS! Naturally, having such a great mom and dad who are more than willing and happily watch my kids for us helps too! We don't ever have to worry because we know the boys are at their favorite place on earth and are being well taken care of (basically spoiled to death!). Thanks soooo soooo soooo very much to the bestest parents ever! Thanks mom and dad!

The time away we superb, but certainly we were looking forward to getting home and loving these little boys! This is what we found upon our return.