Jackson 2011

 

We went to Jackson Hole in August with my family and had a great time. Steph took all the pictures and I just barely got them from her so that’s why I’m so late posting about it! We stayed at a little cabin at the KOA and it was awesome. Dan and I had the “loft” and we could touch the ceiling with our feet when we were laying in bed. It was sweet. Very small, but perfect for our family and my parents spent a few nights before we came and spent two nights there.

We went on a hike to a jumping rock on Phelps Lake with Steph and Andrew. It was gorgeous. We love it up there.

We had to wade across a small pond/lake and it was FREEZING. Steph and I were just screaming and squealing across it even though we were planning on jumping into the lake a little later! Luckily it was really warm outside.

  Dan and I on the sweet jumping rock with such a beautiful view.

Steph took some amazing shots of us jumping off the rock. Dan busted out the toe touch on this one. The water was so freezing, and I was more scared to jump into the ice water then from the height of the jump!

Precious.

I love this picture of Steph from the hike.

Here is my jump off of the rock. It was a little scary but really fun and I did it a few times after the first jump. We warmed up in the sunshine afterwards on the rock.

  On Sunday we went to watch the rafts come through Big Kahuna. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed the water before we drove home.    

This is the best picture of my Dad. I seriously love it.

     The whole fam with the river behind us. We had a good time together and loved enjoying being outside and it was so beautiful there!

My blood hurts

Dan is a beast. When I decided I wanted to run the Top of Utah half marathon, he signed up for the full marathon! I don’t know what he was thinking but he wanted to do it. The race was 2 weeks ago and he killed it! He slept in Logan and only got about 3 hours of sleep so I was pretty worried about him. On top of that, it poured rain for about 7 miles of the race!

I drove up to Logan with Julie and the boys and as we came into Cache Valley and saw the black clouds and drove the pouring rain, we were pretty worried about our boys. We waited for them at mile 17 (In our Ute gear of course) and cheered and held signs that Julie had made.

Dan was looking awesome at this point and still feeling pretty good. I thought he might want to stop to change into a dry shirt or get some meds but he just showed me his sweet muscles and kept running!

We drove a few miles ahead to look for Jon and Wellyn got distracted by the worms everywhere because of all the rain. He is a total boy and loved the worm. Everett was terrified of it at first but quickly became obsessed with looking at it and he kept entertained by throwing rocks. Love those boys.

We saw Dan coming up again and still looking strong. This was about mile 22 and he said “everything is starting to hurt right now”. But he kept going and so we went to the finish line to wait for them to cross.

I was so excited to see his cute face come running to the finish line and he looked amazing (a little wet, but still great!). He finished in an amazing 4 hours 18 minutes! He didn’t have tons of time to train and didn’t get a lot of sleep but he did it!

I was seriously so proud of him, I got teary eyed! I’m kind of an emotional person and I cry easily, but this was such a neat moment! He worked so hard and pushed himself so far emotionally and physically and I just wanted to squeeze him!

Julie with her cute signs for the boys and Dan trying to look happy even though he was pretty much dying. He was sore for a while and told me his blood hurt. Funny.

The boys after the race in their matching outfits! Loved it. Take note of Jon’s bloody nipple! Yikes…

These boys are so cute and Everett was just happy as a clam chowing down on his ice cream sandwich. He was a mess but still adorable.

 

Congratulations to Dan my man! I love this boy and I’m so proud of his huge accomplishment!

Top of Utah

 

I’m really late posting (and still haven’t posted pics of our trip to Jackson Hole a few weeks ago since I don’t have the pictures!) but I ran the Top of Utah half marathon last week and I can’t believe I did it! In a million years, I never would have thought I could have run for over 2 hours straight! But I did it and it was a great experience and I’m so glad I did!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The night before the race, we stayed in Logan at Bre’s house (thanks Bre!). It was about 30 seconds to the starting line from her house so that was awesome. This is me before the race getting pumped up! Luckily my eyes cooperated and I was able to wear my contacts the whole time without any problems. Dan sent me off and I was all alone for over an hour until the race started.

I am a slow poke runner and I was not in any hurry to push it too hard. I just wanted to enjoy myself and enjoy the race and that is basically what I did! The weather was amazing and the canyon was gorgeous. The first 7 miles down the canyon was great and I loved seeing Dan waiting for me at the bottom of the canyon around mile 7. I was feeling good except for a little bit of problems with my knees. I stopped for some grapes, ibuprofen and a picture and then I continued on…

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The middle of the race was also pretty good and I saw Dan a few more times along the way which pumped me up. I kept trying to be mentally positive and even though my knees were kind of hurting, I tried to remind myself that I wanted to be doing this and that I was strong and I enjoyed it. I think it helped me keep going and feel good!

I had to take a potty break at mile 11 and the last two miles were really hot (I hate the heat!), but I kept trekking and finished in just over 2.5 hours. Definitely not a speed demon, but I was super happy with it and just glad that I basically ran the entire time and I didn’t keel over dead at the end (like I thought I might!).

I’m kinda ticked that we didn’t get any pictures of me after I crossed the finish line! I promise I finished, but I was distracted and we just forgot to get some pics of me with my medal! Dangit…but I did finish and I felt pretty dang good. I was definitely tired and my knees were hurting, but I survived and I enjoyed it!

I will definitely run another half at some point, but for now I will just keep running a few times a week without the pressure of a race. Dan and I are doing a 10k on Saturday and it will be fun and a lot easier than a half marathon. Dan is running the Top of Utah marathon on the 17th so hopefully I’ll have a positive post about his experience soon! I can’t imagine running twice as far as I did for this race…barf! But he is a beast and I’m sure he will be amazing!

Lasik

This is not too terribly interesting of a post and I have been so busy lately that even though I have a bunch of things to post about…I just haven’t done it yet!

Anyway, I’ve been wearing glasses since I was 7 and contacts since I was 10. I’m waaaay blind (-9.5ish) but I’ve always been fine with contacts. Lately I have been having problems with my left eye that started in March. I haven’t been able to wear my contacts for more than a few hours at a time since then. So basically I’ve been wearing glasses and no make up almost every day with a few random times of wearing contacts and make up. I can’t wear make up on my eyes because I’m so blind that I can’t see my eyes to put make up on them even if my face is smashed against the mirror! I went to my regular eye doctor about it twice and he gave me multiple drops (holy expensive) that didn’t help. I finally went to another doctor closer to my house for a second opinion and some help. I saw him for the 3rd time last night and he finally determined that I really can’t wear soft contacts anymore. Are you kidding me?! I have inflammation and bumps on the inside of my eyelid and he said it could take years to heal and could come back.

I almost started crying when he told me that and although one other option he suggested was hard contacts, I have pretty much decided I’m going to get Lasik. I have always wanted it and dreamed about how it would be to be able to see all the time, but it was something we were going to do in the future. Now we will probably do it in January so I still have to deal with stupid glasses for a few more months.

But I’m really excited to finally be able to see without glasses or contacts and I know it will change my life and be awesome! BUT I’m also being obsessive and researching and reading everything I can about Lasik. I wanted to see if anyone has any opinions, suggestions, or recommendations for me about it. I have never heard any horror stories, but there are a lot out there online and I don’t want to be misinformed. I also don’t want to go to just any random doctor, but I don’t want to overpay for a name or something that is unnecessary. So I’m going to go to several places for consultations (armed with my list of 5000 questions of course). Please let me know if you have any information for me about this! Thanks all and I promise I’ll have more interested posts soon…I have several projects finished or in the works!

Bear Lake

 

We went to Bear Lake for a quick weekend with Steph and her boyfriend Andrew. We left Friday afternoon and found a camping spot on the east side of the lake. It was gorgeous and the weather was amazing. The water was super high so there was no beach and the water was just a few feet away from where we camped.

We cooked tinfoil dinners and they took waaaay longer than expected! Luckily we got in the water while we waited to cool off! The water was surprisingly warm and comfortable.

The sunset was beautiful! We really loved sitting around watching the the sunset and just relaxing.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed some swimming before packing up to leave. Dan absolutely loves the water and he was in heaven. It was a ton of fun.

We headed over to the west side of the lake and got some yummy raspberry shakes. For some reason, there was a covered wagon for us to enjoy our shakes in…

After shakes, we rented jet skis and played around on the lake for a few hours. It was so much fun and we had a blast riding around on the lake. The water was amazing and warm (weird for Bear Lake). I don’t have any pictures of that, but it was awesome!

Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch, and then we drove over to Preston for the Preston rodeo! It was a really gorgeous drive through tons of small towns and when we got to Preston, we grabbed a seat and watched the parade before the rodeo. Small towns are pretty awesome and Preston is a classic small town. It was great.

You may have noticed I have glasses on a lot lately or if they are off, I have a lazy left eye….I have been having major problems with my eye and I really haven’t been able to wear my contacts for more than a few hours at a time for the past 4 months! I think I finally got it figured out but my eye looks crazy in some of these pictures!

Dan went with the classic cowboy look…he kills me and I laughed every time I looked at what he was wearing. Funny kid. Steph found these awesome cowboy boots at D.I. for 12 bucks! Lucky!

 

Before the rodeo, we wandered around the carnival/fair. People watching was really awesome. Sometimes I just stare at people…

This was the only picture from the rodeo that I got! But the rodeo definitely didn’t disappoint and there were tons of famous and really good rodeo-ers there! The bull riding and bronco riding was really exciting and we had a blast on our little mini-vacation!

Life Changing

 

The title may be a bit exaggerated, but I was thinking of random things I have wanted to post about and it seems like the overriding theme of them all is that they have changed my life. Okay, only one really has (my great friends) but the others have definitely made my life awesome so I wanted to share!

Best.DI.Find.EVER. I love rocking chairs and have always wanted one. I came across this beauty at D.I. for 25 BONES! Are you kidding me?! Love at first sight. It is in awesome condition and extremely sturdy. And we were even able to shove it in the Accord without too much incident. Don’t worry, the gold grandma designs on it are just painted on so I plan on re-painting it at some point. Hopefully I will use it to rock my babies some day!

This is the only real life changer. I love these gals and always will. Shelley came to visit and her and Bre came over for dinner without their cute kiddos. I missed the kids but loved talking to them like we have since high school. It’s weird how much has changed in our lives but how exactly the same things are when we get together. I can’t believe how long we’ve been friends and they are amazing people and have truly changed my life. I love skyping with them too!

Another shout-out to Breanne for introducing me to Lemi Shine. My dishes have been looking pretty awful for quite a while now. They are grimy and have a film on them. I always end up re-washing them. I tried a few things but Lemi Shine was a game changer. No joke, this was incredible. My dishes looked brand new and I am so happy! I followed the directions (use without dishes first) and I will try to scale back and use the least amount as possible but wow, I am a happy camper now.

Along those same lines, I have been making and using my own laundry soap for a while now! I know it seems pretty hippie/granola/weird but I love it! I heard about it a while ago and dismissed it, but saw it again on a blog and decided to check into it. There are a lot of benefits including saving money and using less harmful chemicals.

The ingredients were all found at Walmart in the laundry aisle and I have made and used an entire batch and I can easily say that it does the job as well or better than Tide or Gain which I have used in the past. It cost about $8 for these and it lasts a while and then you just have to replace the Fels-Naptha which are only $1 per bar (the other ingredients will last forever). Here is how to make it:

1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 bar Fels-Napth soap (I’ve heard Ivory works as well)

The only hard part is grating the soap which takes forever unless you have an electric grater but it’s not a huge deal. Mix them together and use 1-2 tablespoons depending on the size and dirtiness of the load. I made one batch and I loved it so I’m going to make a triple batch which should last me several months. I feel hippie-ish doing it, but I love it!

I have mentioned perkstreet before and I really love it still so I wanted to share. I think everyone should go and get a perkstreet account IMMEDIATELY. Really. We first heard about it from Dave Ramsey and we have been using perkstreet exclusively since November. It’s an online bank (backed by the FDIC), and it’s not a credit card. You use the Mastercard for anything and everything and if you run it as credit, you will accumulate rewards and you get 2% back on EVERYTHING. Really, everything. When I say “you get 2% back”, you can get it back on a Mastercard giftcard which you can use anywhere you can use a Mastercard credit card. Groceries, gas, bills, shopping, etc! Sweet! We used it to pay Dan’s tuition which was awesome! We have earned over $600 back since we opened it in November!

It took a little while to switch over all our automatic bills to the new card, but most of our bills (except mortgage and few others) accept credit cards so we earn 2% on those. The only stipulation is that you have to have at least $5,000 in your account to get the 2%. But even if you don’t, you still get 1% back! Currently they only have a checking account, but they keep saying a savings account is coming very soon. I have my perkstreet account linked with my Zions Bank account so once in a while I can easily deposit checks to Zions and transfer money back and forth to perkstreet. We use our perstreet card everywhere and you can set a pin and run it as debit if need (but you don’t earn the 2% on debit). We set up direct deposit into perkstreet as well and it has been really awesome.

I HIGHLY recommend looking into getting a perkstreet bank account. It is a great idea and the people who work for perkstreet seem to be genuinely great people who want to encourage people to live within their means and avoid credit. There is also no annual fee or any fees unless you don’t use the card at all for a month (not a problem if it’s your “regular” card). They have a facebook page where they respond to questions within minutes and I’ve heard their customer service email and phone is also great. If anyone has any questions about it, let me know and I will be happy to answer them!

We are still really into Dave Ramsey and love his theories and overall philosophy about avoiding debt, saving money and living frugally and within your means. We are totally debt-free except our house and we’re working on building a comfortable 6 month emergency fund. Dave suggests waiting to contribute to your 401k until you have your emergency fund, but we are still each contributing a small amount to our 401k’s through our work because our company each has a good match that we’re taking advantage of.

I feel really strongly that people should take control of their finances, make a budget, and live within their means. Money isn’t everything, but having bills you can’t pay creates unnecessary problems and stress in your life. If you can avoid that, then why not? It’s hard to not get everything we want right now and not easy to drive old cars (harder for Dan in that department), but it’s so worth it to not have debt hanging over our heads and know that we have a good plan for our future. I also think that there are a lot of women who are completely uninvolved in financial decisions, budgets, etc and this is a huge mistake. I would die if something happened to Dan, but it’s important to think about the future and so many women wouldn’t be able to take care of themselves or their families if they lost their husband. This needs to change and women need to take control of their lives and become empowered by learning about their finances and making decisions for their futures. I’m not even going to get into the importance of getting an education but too many women rely on their husbands to always take care of them and this doesn’t always happen. You need to be prepared for any possibility and by sitting down with your spouse and discussing your budget, savings, and future financial plans is a great start. I also recommend looking into life insurance and making sure you have a term life insurance policy. Don’t just take your life for granted and think that it will never change. Being educated is the best way to be prepared for the future and the feeling of comfort that you have in knowing that you are financially secure and knowledgeable is priceless.

Sorry for my little rant there, but it’s something I feel strongly about and something I want to share! It’s obviously my opinion only and if you know me, you know that I have a lot of opinions