Easter

For Easter this year we camped at Green River and then went to Arches and Goblin Valley. It was such an awesome trip. The first day we were there we went to Arches and hiked the Delicate Arch hike, and the Double O hike (even though we didn't make it to the Double O). The hikes were wonderful and the views were incredible. For those of you who haven't gone to Arches, I highly recommend it! The scenery is breathtaking and the hikes are a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures from Arches:

The next day we spent the whole day in Goblin Valley and a slot canyon ( I can't remember the name of it). This was my first time at Goblin Valley and I loved it. I felt like a little kid again because it is like a big play ground. I will for sure make another trip there. I would once again recommend this to everyone. We played all day and took a lot of pictures but I will just post a few. We hiked to the top of the plateau and could see for miles all around us, we found an awesome cave and we had so much fun in the slot canyon.

Here are some of the pictures:

Here are some pictures of the slot canyon (these pics don't give it justice, it was so cool):

99 Things

To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. Mine are in Pink

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (Will do in June!)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38.Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square (Will in June)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life.
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

New York here we come!

This will be my first visit to NYC!
I am so excited !!!!
I can't wait until June!
If you have any advice for me (what to do, where to eat, what to see) I would greatly appreciate it.

2 year anniversary

Luke and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary on Dec 20. We decided to keep it low key so we just went to dinner at The Iron Gate Grill (I highly recommend, it was so yummy) and then went up the (snowy) canyon to watch a movie. It was a really enjoyable night. I am so lucky to be married to Luke, he is such a sweetheart. He even sent flowers to my work, which was shocking because he typically doesn't do things like that.
I am so blessed that I was able to marry my best friend. I love you Luke!

Christmas

I love Christmas, it is my favorite time of year! I love decorating the tree, and looking at Christmas lights, I love spending time with family, I love shopping, and I love Christmas music. We went to Salt Lake to celebrate Christmas with both our families. It can be extremely tough to have both families within a mile of each other because they both expect you to do everything with them. We have had spread ourselves thin in order to go to both sides of the families' Christmas parties. We have a lot of fun, but sometimes it can get really stressful.
Luke's brother and sister-in-law left for New Zealand Dec 21 so we celebrated the holiday with his family a little early. It was nice to get together with them.
We were able to spend a lot of time with each family this year, which was really nice. I had a very good time. Luke spoiled me for Christmas! I feel that he made me look bad ha ha. We got a Wii (it has been a ton of fun to play), he gave me a diamond bracelet, among lots of other things. It was a nice Christmas.
I hope everyone else had a great Christmas too!

Disneyland and Thanksgiving

This is a little late, but better then never I guess. Luke and I celebrated Thanksgiving in Parowon along with his parents and his dad's side of the family. I've only seen that side of Luke's family once or twice so I didn't know a lot of them. Fortunately, the group was pretty small so I was able to get to know them a little better. The funny thing is we ate Thanksgiving dinner at the only hotel in Parowan (it's the biggest gathering place in Parowan as well). Thanksgiving day we stuffed ourselves and then decided to go to a movie. We drove into Cedar City, a 15 mile drive, to watch Blindside, but by the time we got there all the showings were sold out. I was kind of bummed because I really wanted to see it.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving we drove down to St. George and saw Blindside at the theater there (it is a must see), went to the Pizza Factory for lunch, visited some of Luke's cousins on his mom's side, and then met up with my family to go to Tuachan to see the Nativity. While we were there we stayed at Luke's aunt's house, which was really nice of her.
Saturday we started our long caravan (Luke, Tristan and myself in one car and then my parents and Jantzsen in another) to Sunny California. We looked at buying plane tickets, but it ended up being a lot cheaper to drive, so we chose the frugal route. When we got to CA Saturday afternoon we went to Laguna Beach. I can't even explain how much I loved it there. I love the beach, and I love the sand, and I love the water. It was relaxing to just hang out at the beach, and we got a lot of good pictures (which I will post later). Did I say that I LOVE the beach?? ;)
My cousin lives in Southern CA so we met up with him on Sunday and went sightseeing in LA. It was pretty cool, but not as great as I thought it was going to be. Now that I have seen LA once I don't think I need to go back. There were way too many people for my taste. It's a good thing we met up with my cousin because he was able to show us around the town. He also showed us the LA temple which is beautiful.
Monday and Tuesday we went to California Adventures and Disneyland. They were a lot of fun and I am really glad we went, but I can wait another 15 years before I go again. I was surprised how many people there had young kids in strollers. I would never want to have a stroller at Disneyland with that many people around. It just seems to inconvenient.
Well, we took our pictures with Mickey, Mr. Incredible and a few other characters and we rode all of the rides. Unfortunately, we had to wait in quite a few lines. Last time my family went to Disneyland we didn't wait any lines, so I was expecting that because we went at the exact same time of year last time. Oh well, we had fun
On Wednesday we went to Knott's Berry Farm, which was awesome. The rides are geared more for adults, and there were no lines at all. We were able to get on rides as soon as we walked up to them. It was awesome! I think that was Luke's favorite part about the trip.
On Thursday we left CA for Las Vegas where we stayed at the Stratosphere. The room was nice and cheap, but if you want to walk the strip I would recommend getting a hotel that is centrally on the Strip. We walked the length of the Strip from the Stratosphere and we figured we had walked 8 miles. I was tired be the time we got back to the hotel room. While we were there I even played a couple slots (for the first time) I only gambled $1, but I lost that dollar. Gambling sucks ;) We only spent one night in Vegas so I think it would be fun to go back and spend a couple days and maybe go to a show. We'll see.
On Friday we drove all the way back to Salt Lake City. It only took us 6 hours, but it took my parents 8 because they took a little detour and then ran out of gas ha ha. Thankfully, they got back home just fine.
Overall our vacation was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to go on another one!

Here are some pictures:

I have a ton more, but it takes forever to upload so maybe I'll put more up later

Halloween

I love Halloween!!!!

There are also pictures of us playing chubby bunny and trying to eat donuts off a string, but it was taking too long to upload so I will try again later.