Vacation to Idaho and Utah

I just got back from a wonderful vacation to Idaho and Utah. I was able to visit all of my family. I loved every minute of it! I went from house to house and became reacquainted with my nieces, nephews and siblings. One thing that I learned quickly is that they all have busy lives! I got to observe it firsthand. It was the first week of school. So I took some of them to school, attended 3 different soccer practices, and went to different activites throughout the week. I loved being a part of everything and seeing what they do.

In Idaho I was able to attend the Twin Falls Temple dedication and I went with my parents to the Rexburg temple. It was awesome. My younger sister Jenny, my mom, dad and I went on a drive to the Teton Dam or what's left of it anyway. My parents talked about how the dam broke and what they did. It was really neat to hear their story.

My trip was a blast as we played fun games, talked, laughed and ate delicious food the whole two weeks! Thanks everyone for making my trip fun and memorable!

Here's a few pictures.

Teton Dam

Rexburg Temple

Beautiful Idaho...you can see the Teton Peaks in this picture.

Crafts I did in Idaho:

Popsicle cards--I first saw these cards at my sister Melissa's house and loved them. So I was very happy when my mom had all of the stamps to make them. I think they are so fun, cheerful and cute!Journal--I also made this journal which is basically paper glued to a tablet, but doesn't it look so much cuter than a plain old tablet?!

Post-it note holder. This was fun and easy to make. The back is actually a coaster, then you put pretty paper on it.

That's all for now!

Great Weekend

Last Friday night we went on an awesome date. We went to downtown Indianapolis. There is about a 2 mile long canal that runs through the city. It's really pretty and there are a lot of people that go there to walk and hang out. Also, there's a store that rents kayaks and pedal boats. We rented the 2 person kayak and it was a blast. At first I was trying really hard not to get wet. So, I would very carefully put my paddle in the water. Nels made so much fun of me. Since Nels was doing all the work, he would run us into the sides and he almost paddled us into a fountain. We laughed our heads off. By the end, I was wet and gave up on staying dry. So I actually paddled. When we were sychronized we went pretty fast. We even got a compliment from some people in a pedal boat. :) On the canal there was also a gondola which was cool to see. We noticed as we were kayaking that they play old movies in the "park." So we'll have to try to do that sometime. It was a great way to see what there is to do in Indianapolis.

Here's a few pictures:

The batteries in my camera died so I barely got this picture taken. It's not very good, but if you look really, really close you can see the gondola. There were lots of pretty bridges that we went under too.

Here's us in our plastic kayak. :) Here's one of the fountains Nels tried to run me into.

Saturday we drove 2 hours to Louisville, Kentucky to go the temple. It's a beautiful drive. It's so lush and green with lots of trees. I enjoyed this drive so much more than Lafayette to Chicago. Especially since there was very little traffic. The temple is really small but very beautiful. When I was there I recognized a girl and she recognized me. We talked to each other for a while and then I remembered we were in a communications class at BYU-Idaho that was six years ago! It was fun though to see a somewhat familiar face. We had a lovely time in Kentucky and the temple.

See how the trees are surrounding the temple.

It's so green there! I loved it!

Dining Room Table

Nels and I bought this cute dining room set. It seats 8! The leaf is inside the table. The best part was that we didn't have to build it! We are really enjoying it. Now we need to invite six people over and see how it does!

Random News:

The past couple of days I have been reading Breaking Dawn and I finally finished it. Wow. I really liked it. I like how just when you thought things were going to be fine there was a plot twist. Of course, I loved that it was a happy ending. So, it's been a very relaxing couple of days.

My friend just had her baby this morning around 8:00 a.m. So she was born 08-08-08 at 8 a.m.! Congratulations Lorilee!

Also, it is my sweet niece Abby's Birthday. Happy Birthday Abby!! She is six years old!

Living Room in Progress

We painted our living room...twice. The first time we chose a deep brown and only painted one wall. It was okay, but really bold. We decided we wanted a calmer feel. So we found a lighter brown and painted all three walls. I like it a lot better. We also purchased curtains. First time we have ever bought curtains and we've been married 5 years!!! I think they add a lot to the room. The next thing I'm working on is putting things on the wall. I'm still thinking of what to do. So if you have any ideas or if you know of a good website to search for good ideas, let me know. Meanwhile here's before and after pictures.

This is with the one dark brown wall. It probably would have been okay, but I just didn't know what to do with it...I'm not that creative.

This is after we painted all of the walls. I think it looks a lot more welcoming. I think it will look even better with some decorations!

Cards

I made a new friend at church and she loves to card too. So she came over and we made cards all day long! It was so fun. She had this dragon fly stamp that I looooved. I am going to go buy it as soon as possible. So here are the cards I made. She made about 6 cards too. Not bad for one day.

Take me out to the Ball Game

We finally did something fun. :) We went with some new friends to a minor league baseball game in Indianapolis. We watched the Indianapolis Indians and the Syracuse Chiefs play. The Syracuse Chiefs beat the Indians by a ton. When we left, the score was 13 to 1! Luckily, we were there when the Indians scored the one point. The little kids that were there were more entertaining than the game! But we had a great time, especially when Nels bought me a giant chocolate ice cream cone.

Disney World and Florida

Welcome to the Happiest Place on EarthJune 30 through July 8 we spent in Florida, joining Nels' family for a fun vacation. We spent 3 days at Disney World and visted 4 different parks-Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and EPCOT. We loved it and had the best time. After Disney World we went to another Disney resort at Vero Beach. We saw and did so much, but I'm just going to sum it up with the Top 5...in no particular order.

1. Meeting Mickey Mouse

We met Mickey in the Animal Kingdom and that's why he's all dressed up in Safari clothes.2. The rides and seeing the pictures of us after the rides was way fun. We went on tons of rides. Since we stayed at the Disney Resort we got extra hours which meant we spent almost no time waiting in lines! My top favorite rides were Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (you go 0-60 mph in 3 seconds!), Soarin' (at Epcot, it's not scary but just an awesome ride) and Expedition Everest in the Animal Kingdom. The pictures after the ride were so fun to look at. We didn't buy any though and I didn't learn about the Photopass until the last ride we went on which was the Test Track at Epcot. So here it is...3. Everything we did there, even if it wasn't a ride, was well...Magical. The presentations, shows shops and just walking around was fun and happy. We had fun in some of the gift shops.

Rrrrr Matie (Nels makes a good Jack Sparrows. :)

Rockin' out after the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.Epcot in front of the Spaceship Earth We bought these shirts--mine says "I'm with Goofy." :)4. Guess who called me on my Birthday?! Goofy! It was so cool. I was at Epcot and we were going into the American Adventure which is part of the World showcase. The greeter stopped me and said "You look familiar. Where are you from?" I said "Indiana." Then he said, "We've been trying to get a hold of you. Go over to that box and open it. Inside is a phone and dial 2144. There's a message for you." So I did that, and surprise it was Goofy singing Happy Birthday to me! Amazing, and yes, Magical.

5. Walking along the beach, picking up seashells and watching the sunrise as we sat on the beach early in the morning. It was beautiful, quiet and calm. Very peaceful memory.

The last day of our trip we went stopped at Gainesville to visit my cousin Del and his wife Rachel. Del and I were really good friends growing up so I was excited to see him and catch up. I was really excited to meet Rachel too. They've been married for almost 3 years and I hadn't met her yet. It was so good to talk and hang out with them. Of course we ended the night with a big bowl of ice cream. Here's a picture of us....we left bright and early the next morning. They were sweet and got up to see us off. So that's why they're in their pj's. :) The picture is taken in their backyard which is pretty cool with palm trees.

Last 2 random things. Down south they have this extremely yummy ice cream called Blue Bell. Really good flavors and Nels' family and I love it. When the trip was over we calculated that we ate a total of 6 and 1/2 gallons. There were 6 of us, so if we all ate the same amount we each had a little more than a gallon of ice cream within a very short period of time. What can I say, it's that good!

Also, on our way back from Florida our car hit 100,000 miles...here's a picture of that grand milestone. :)

Now we are back. We are all moved in to our new place in Indianapolis. Nels started work yesterday. So we are starting to get back into a routine. We loved our vacation and all the fun memories we created there. Well, as they say at Disney World, I wish all of you a Magical Day!