Yellowstone

Carson and I got to go to Yellowstone for the family reunion on his mom's side. I love getting together with family!! It is always interesting to observe the unique personalities of everyone in a family. For example, Grandma is determined to see everything, I hope I still have that much energy and drive when I am her age. Danny gets really grouchy when he has to ride in a car for 2 days straight. Dallen however can sleep for hours in a car.Traveling with family also get interesting, because no matter how well intended everyone is to keep to the schedule, it always takes longer than planned to load everyone in the cars, even if they were ready on time. One thing that saved the day however was a little book called, "Chicken in the Headlights" (the audio version of course). I was nervous about bringing it along because I knew that if a certain member of the family did not like it, they would not let me hear the end of it. Luckily everyone loved it, and we were even able to lend it to another family, and they also loved it. So if you want some lighthearted fun on a long road trip, you should definitely listen to this book, the narrator does such a good job. Anyway we saw lots of stinky geysers, buffalo, and elk. Unfortunately no bears or moose decided to grace us with their presence. Though we did see plenty of stuffed ones in Jackson Hole, along with lots of other cool things like fossils, wood carvings, and raccoons in canoes. We even got to go to a cowboy ranch dinner, and though the yodeling was not really our taste, other parts of the show were great.

Some of the many buffalo that we saw.

Old Faithful!!

Playing football with the cousins.

Jackson Hole

Before we left if I would tell anyone that I was going to Yellowstone they would say, "Oh yeah Yellowstone is great." I started to get the feeling that I was one of the few people in the world who had never been to Yellowstone. Now I can officially say that I have been to Yellowstone, and yes it is lots of fun.

1 YEAR!!!!

Yep it's been one year since I married my best friend!!! Well it has actually been over a year, but since we celebrated late, my post is late. We wanted to do something fun for our anniversary so we decided to head to Provo and hit Seven Peaks on our way to a family reunion at Yellowstone (post to come). I had never been to Seven Peaks before, and I have to admit I was scared of some of the slides. Carson kept teasing me that I had to do the scariest looking ones first, but I insisted on easing into the intensity. Anyway it was lots of fun, and I even braved every slide except one called Jagged Edge. It was this straight down slide, and after doing the other slides that were super similar, I was tired of having water spayed in my face the entire duration of the slides, and large red marks on my back from the slides. There was this crazy scary ride called Boomerang. It is basically a giant U and you get in a tube and fly down it, then up, then down and so on... These cute kids were in line in front of us, I think they were siblings, a boy about 13 or so and a little girl about 10. She was starting to get really scared when they got to the top, but you could tell he did not want to back out, so he just kept telling her it wasn't scary. And here I am terrified just like a 10 year old thinking I should just walk back down with the little girl and let Carson and the boy go together. But the little girl braved the ride, and so did I. It was fun, but super scary too. Even after I had done it, I would still look up at it and think, "I couldn't do that one." Unfortunately there are no pictures of us doing any of the fun slides because in order to get fun pictures one of us would have had to sit out.

Mmmmmm doesn't he look good???

Then we ate dinner at the best place ever....

I also introduced Carson to Sub Zero, one of the best ice cream places ever. They make your ice cream right in front of you with cream and liquid nitrogen. So cool!!!

Carson also got eaten by a dinosaur.

It was a great anniversary trip, and it has been a great year!!! Heres to an eternity more.....

I love being a twin!! Always have!!! Always will!!! People used to ask Megan and I if we liked being twins, and if you really think about it, we can't really answer that question objectively since we have never not been twins. But even if I had ever experienced not being a twin, I think I would still say I love being a twin. Think about it, I have someone to share clothes with (especially a bonus if like me, you don't think you have the best fashion sense in the world). I always have someone to talk to and hang out with. Someone who's opinion I trust about movies, books, recipes ect.... And most importantly I have one of the best BEST friends anyone could ask for.

We have always been linked in a special way. We did not share a bedroom when we were in high school, but still if Megan couldn't sleep, neither could I. Even as Megan and I grow up, and start to separate our lives, we go and marry guys with practically the same last name (as if having our husbands mix us up isn't enough). And Carson will tell you how annoying it is to have your wife get carsick everywhere you go because her twin sister is pregnant (so glad that is over).

When we were in high school Megan and I used to pack the same track clothes to work out in, so then when we got out on the field we not only looked alike, but we were dressed alike. Funny how no one believes that it was totally not planned. Well we had another one of those moments today. Carson and I headed over to Megan and Andrew's for a presentation...and as soon as I walked in the door I noticed that Megan and I were wearing the same shorts.

Maybe she doesn't LOVE being twins with me though, because right after the picture was taken she ran upstairs to change her clothes so that we would not be wearing the same thing during the presentation.

Oh well I still love being a twin!!!

Our New Place!!

Carson and I have been crazy busy the last 2 weeks. We became apartment managers, so we packed up all our stuff and started moving. On top of that we had to clean a few apartment including our own, made a quick trip to Moab where we hiked to some really cool indian ruins, came back home, where Carson had finals, and I had graduation. Thru all of this we had a few interesting moments...

• Carson dumpster diving because I threw away his newspaper
• Finding a statue of Christ at DI for $2.00
• Finding an entertainment center at DI for $25.00
• Moving our couches about a million times
• Losing a bocce ball in the creek and walking in freezing cold water to find it
• Dallen finding the bocce ball!!!!!
• Losing another bocce ball
• Turning my hands purple from washing marked quarters
• Trying to cook plantains for the first time
• Totally failing at cooking plantains
• Found out that there is no shortcut from Oak City
• And found out which dryer does not work in our laundry room

So you see we have been very busy, but now we are all moved in and loving our new place. Even though it is not very big, it is twice the size of any other place that we have lived yet so it feels like a mansion.

Our Bedroom

Kitchen with green counter tops

(Carson does not like them, but I don't think they are that bad)

Living room

Bathroom (more green counter tops)

And my beautiful new clock that was a present from my siblings for my graduation in its new home (thanks guys). My walls are a little bare, but I am working on that.

And the totally unrelated apple pie that I made because we had tons of apples

Blessed

(Monticello Utah Temple)

Carson and I were really struggling with what we should do this summer. We were not sure we would be able to find jobs here, but we weren't sure if moving to Moab was the right thing either. We weighed a few options, and thought we had found what we should do. We went to the temple one afternoon to be sure we had the right answer. As we sat in the temple together, neither of us felt that what we had decided was right. We were no closer to knowing what we should do, but we knew the Lord was mindful of us, and we left feeling much more peace then when we had gone in. On our way home Carson stopped at a random gas station to grab a paper to read that night at work. In it he found an employment ad for apartment managers. We applied as soon as we could, and at the interview we were hired right on the spot. We finally knew what we should do this summer. It is so great to have reassurance that the Lord is watching out for us, and to have a temple so close that we can go to when we need help.

Graduation!!!

I did it!!! I graduated. Thanks to everyone who came to share the special day with me!!!

The Business Blues Band.

(the dean and 3 professors, so cool)

I have to say after all this hard work the alumni association made it worth all the effort by giving each graduate one giant.....

chocolate ice cream cone!!!!!

(Carson also took me out for ice cream as my graduation gift so the 4 years of lectures, homework, papers, and tests were totally worth it)

Carson's New Toy!!

Carson is spoiled rotten!! Look what he got!!

(he got a really good deal though, and I guess he deserves it)

Snowboarding

We got to go snowboarding on Saturday. It was the first time Megan could go with us so we were way excited. Andrew is a little more experienced than the rest of us, but Carson and I have gotten lots better this year. We were even attempting jumps by the end of the day (well I am not really sure you can call mine an attempt). Megan was a first timer. She did awesome, although she may be pretty sore now. I am hoping that we get to go one more time before the season ends, but since life is pretty busy right now I don't know if it will happen, oh well it was fun while it lasted. On a completely unrelated note,I am super excited that it is warming up.

March Madness!!

March has gone by so fast. Carson works and goes to school. I just work. And we both play!!!! Around the 17th the leprechauns struck, and we were left with green milk for quite a while. We also got to see lots of family when everyone came for Alex's baby blessing. We had a great weekend with everyone. There was a BBQ, swimming, games, and other fun all weekend.

On Monday after blessing, Carson and I headed up to Brian Head to teach Stacy, Parker, and Payton how to snowboard. It was a challenging day for some, but we had fun. I am posting a video of Stacy going down because at one point in the day she stated that she was too old for snowboarding, well the video is proof that she can do it. Carson and I both felt pretty bad for Stacy because she did not get as much instruction as the kids since they needed a little extra help. I must say though I have a new respect for the instructors that I work with. And of course we cannot forget about the time spent with Jimmer and the rest of the BYU team this month. Megan and Andrew would come over and we would watch the games together, I am glad that the team did so well this year. And now for our other exciting news... Carson and I get to go to conference this weekend. We are way excited!!! I love conference. We are going to the Sunday morning session if anyone wants to look for us!