Yellowstone for Labor Day

Dan and I love Yellowstone. He would go every weekend if we could and he constantly daydreams about having a cabin there someday. Dan’s family goes every summer and we have gone at least once every year since we’ve been married. The problem is that there are 30 of us in the family now with 14 (soon to be 16) kids! It can be a bit chaotic with all that and there is not as much flexibility as Dan would like. He loves to stop spontaneously and watch for animals and wandering around geysers is not our favorite thing!

So last year we decided to plan our own trip to Yellowstone over Labor Day and we loved it! We decided to make it an annual thing and we went again this year. Last year we stayed at a dumpy place that I hated so this year we planned waaaay ahead and I found an awesome place that turned out to be perfect! It was called The Evergreen Motel and it was GREAT. I highly recommend it. It was a perfect little place right in town with a cute cabiny feeling. It was updated and we had a small kitchen in our room so we could make lunches and eat breakfast in our room. It was spotlessly clean and had cable and WiFi. Sweet!

The best thing about this trip is that we didn’t have a set schedule. It’s just Dan and I and we did whatever we wanted and didn’t make any plans. The only plan we had was a covered wagon cookout thing. We slept in and I let Dan take the lead because there was nothing in particular that I cared to do and I knew that whatever he wanted to do would be great.

We stopped by the Firehole on our first day and it was actually open for swimming. Usually it’s closed because of high water when we come in the summer. It was really pretty and Dan couldn’t resist jumping in even though we hadn’t planned on it. Luckily he had his Salomon adventure shorts and Chacos and an extra pair of pants in the car! He was in heaven.

I pulled out a camp chair and sat on the shore and read my book, drink my diet coke and ate some cherry jelly bellies (yumma). We were both happy campers and I probably would have swam if I had clothes and a towel but maybe next time?

It started to rain after a few minutes and it was pretty awesome to see the raindrops on the river. I took cover under a huge pine tree and didn’t get a drop of water on me! It was a great spot to watch the rain and Dan in the river. He swam for a bit longer and we waited for the rain to pass then we moved on!

We did a lot of driving which is a bit hard on my pregnant back but the great thing is that we can stop any time we (or I) want to, we had lots of snacks and I took a few naps too! Unfortunately because of my pregnant bladder, I had to pop a squat a few times and I visited every nasty camping style bathroom along the way (I have severe anxiety of those things).

We visited Yellowstone Lake and the Yellowstone hotel. Two of the nights we were there, we did some wolf watching. We did it last year and loved it. The views of the valley are amazing and we just sat there for hours waiting and watching and talking to the other people there. The picture below is my favorite because I know how completely happy Dan is! I read my book and of course ate some snacks and enjoyed the beautiful views!

The weather was pretty awesome and felt like October here in Utah. It got pretty chilly by the evenings but we were prepared for it. We saw the wolves both times and it was awesome! We saw a lot of other animals too including coyotes which I’ve never seen before but no bears this time.

We also went one of the falls but it was a different view than we usually have. We decided to hike about a mile down to another lookout and we didn’t realize just how far down it actually was! The hike back up was realllly steep for this gal and we had to stop a few times to catch my breath! But it was gorgeous and a good workout for sure! And luckily it was beautiful cool weather so I really enjoyed it.

We did a covered wagon dinner cookout one night and it was fun. It’s probably not something we will do again and it was a bit overpriced, but we still enjoyed it. We rode these covered wagon things for a few miles and they had dinner for us. A guy was singing up front and the atmosphere was really fun.

Unfortunately it started to rain and hail just as we were getting ready to go. We were fine and loaded up the wagons but in the 40 minutes it took to get back to our cars, the storm got out of control! There was tons of thunder and lighting and it was a complete downpour. We were covered on top but we sat in the back row so our backs and bums got drenched and it was freezing! We also had to go through the middle of a herd of bison which was a little bit scary but exciting.

Check out Dan’s sick camo hat that he wore non stop…I think he wishes he were a redneck. The pic below was clearly before the rain started.

The view from the front seat of the car.

We came across a bunch of bison in the middle of the road and we were the first car to come up to them! I was kind of freaked out because a few of them were just staring at us in our car and they were honestly as big as our car! We waited for about 10-15 minutes then finally were able to barely creep around them!

We stopped for lunch at Mammoth and there were tons of elk on the lawn of one of the houses. There was one huge buck and we watched them for a while and talked to the ranger about them.

 

We had so much fun this year in Yellowstone. We really love it there and it went by too fast! We can’t wait to come back next year with our new babe and hopefully he loves it there as much as we do!

Quilt help

 

So I would really REALLY love a beautiful quilt for the babe but there is no part of me that knows how to sew (or ever wants to learn). Maybe some day I will want to learn, but for now, I just don’t have the desire at all.

I still really want a quilt so I wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions of people who make quilts that I could pay for their time. I just want to get an idea of a price to see if it’s reasonable to do. Here are a few pictures that I found online that I like. I’m really not super picky about a complicated design, I just want to pick the fabric and I don’t want it tied. I really love the quilted look.

If anyone has any recommendations or suggestions about the best way to go about this, please let me know! I did ask at the fabric/quilt shop in Ogden (has the cutest fabric ever) about this and they gave me a very general idea of a quote so I do have something to go off of but I wanted to ask about it here too!

Shark Week and Girlfriends

Shelley came for a surprise visit and I was so happy to see her and her cute kids! She ended up staying for a few weeks and I got to see her several times. Shell and Bre came over to hang out one night and we had a good time. I say this every time we get together but I love these gals. They are like my older sisters that I never had. They have done everything before me so they give me their advice and I always trust it completely. Now that I’m pregnant, they are my go-to gals for information! They both have two kids and are pro moms. Their kids are so well behaved, smart and just great in general, so I know I will be bugging them lot over the next few months (and years to be honest) about pregnancy, giving birth, taking care of a newborn and raising children! I can’t wait to go visit Shell in Connecticut in a month!

Dan is obsessed/terrified with sharks and last week was Shark Week on Discovery Channel. We have been looking forward to this for a while and Dan invited his brothers and parents over to celebrate and watch the premier! Dan is so creative and hilarious and he decided to make red jello with gummi sharks and army guys in it.

We had to go on quite the adventure to find the gummi sharks (Winco doesn’t have them anymore!!) but it looked awesome! Dan put the army guys in the shark’s mouths and cut some of the guys in pieces so it looked like a bloodbath. Gory but so funny.

We had swedish fish, gummi sharks and goldfish for snacks.

Dan with his wonderful creation. Notice his sweet shirt as well. “Live every week like it’s shark week”. We got him some art with that quote from Etsy and he has it in his office. I made him the shirt a few months ago with my Silhouette Cameo and he loves it. I used iron on vinyl and it worked really well. A few pieces started to peel off after several washes but we just re-ironed it and it has worked great.

Because of Dan’s love/fear of sharks, we have already purchased 2 shark outfits for the babe. We haven’t bought many clothes yet, but we already have 2 shark shirts! These are pretty adorable and our babe will be as obsessed with sharks as Dan is!

Here is a picture of the bump at 23 weeks. I’m excited because I’m finally looking like I’m actually pregnant instead of just chunky. I can still wear most of my clothes, but I bought some maternity jeans last week and I love them. I also bought some leggings and I’m sure I’ll be wearing a lot of leggings with long shirts and sweaters.

I’ve been feeling pretty good, just a little more tired than usual, but no more sickies like the beginning thank goodness! I just get winded super fast and have to rest. I have also had really bad back pain nearly the whole pregnancy. I have done a few things that help but there is not a ton I can do.

I have been working out but not nearly as much as before I was pregnant. I try to do an “official” workout 3 times a week and Dan and I will also go on walks as well. I hate the heat but when it cools down we will start doing bike rides again too. My weight gain has been steady but right in the normal range. It has been hard because I lost so much weight before getting pregnant and I was so strict and now I need to eat more and it can be hard to see the scale go up instead of down! But my body is taking care of this babe so I try not to stress and not eat a lot of junk or treats and have healthy snacks. I am still tracking most of my calories and my weight on Livestrong.com. Check out the chart of my weight since January! Yikes. It does make me happy that at 5 1/2 months pregnant, I’m still below my maximum weight from back in January.

I have been feeling him move a TON lately and it’s awesome. Dan still hasn’t been able to feel him because he stops moving when Dan tries to feel! But he goes crazy most of the day and it’s the weirdest/coolest feeling ever. I can’t wait for Dan to feel him too! We haven’t talked a ton about names, but we have about 5 names that we both agree on right now. I will share them eventually but we are still working on it and we aren’t going to decide for sure until we see him. I know people say all babies look the same but my baby will look different to me and I feel like I need to see him before I know for sure what his name is!

Updates around the house

Garden update: it’s out of control. Everything has done amazing except for the red onions. They grew really tall but they are tiny so that was a bummer. But just look at the madness.

We have harvested the following: spinach, lettuce, cilantro. parsley, basil, cucumbers, carrots, green beans, peas, green onions, zucchini, tomatoes, and maybe more…can’t remember. It’s amazing that all this came from some tiny seeds I planted a few months ago! I love it and I’ve learned a ton about what to do differently and change for next year.

This all came out of one quick harvest the other night. Basil, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots and cucumber. It’s crazy! I have made a lot of delicious and relatively healthy zucchini bread and we love it. Luckily I only planted one zucchini plant because that has been insane.

A few things for next year:

• plant more: peas, peppers
• trellis the peas
• trellis the cucumber
• probably won’t plant: carrots
• plant 1 cherry tomato plant
• plant less: spinach, cilantro, parsley, lettuce
• fertilize everything, especially onions, cucumber
• give tomatoes their own box with support
• give zucchini its own box

Our backyard flower beds look awesome and I love the bright flowers. They have just exploded and gotten huge. We will still add more perennials to our backyard in the fall but I love the color we have had so far.

A few weeks ago I got the hankering to repaint our half bath on the main level. I had painted it the orange color over a year ago but it was just too much for me in that small room. And it clashed with the counters and cabinet.

So I painted it the same gray we have in our master bedroom and I also painted the cabinet white and added hardware. It looks a million times better now and it was almost free (just bought the hardware)! I may add something where the vinyl was but I’m not sure yet.

I also want to get a different rug, but overall, it feels much calmer and brighter and doesn’t clash as much with the counter and floors.

Nursery progress! I am dying over how much I already love this room. Dan has been a beast and done a ton of work and it looks amazing so far.

Remember when it used to look like this? Keep in mind those are fairy stickers and one wall was sickly green. And that orange rug won’t stay there.

Now it seems so much bigger and brighter and I LOVE IT! We still have tons of work to do but I wanted to update with some progress. We still have to caulk a ton and I will paint the board and batten bright white to match the walls. Hopefully we can build a window seat too! The color looks really blue in here but it has a greenish grayish tone to it as well and is really pretty. We also painted the bathroom across from the nursery the same bluish color and it looks a lot different in there too.

I bought this crib on KSL ages ago because it was the one I wanted for cheap! I still love it. The top of the board and batten has a shelf so I can put artwork on it (not above the crib obviously).

There is a ton more to do in here and I am excited to figure out what type of rug to do, artwork, a dresser, glider, lighting, etc. Of course I have tons of ideas and plans so hopefully it all works out and looks as great as it does in my head!

Celine the dream

Steph and I went on a quick last second sister trip to Vegas last weekend to see our long time love, Celine Dion. I have been obsessed with Celine since I was really small and I always had all her CDs. I adore her and finally seeing her in Vegas was a dream come true. We had a blast together and I used Priceline bidding to get a hotel and once again, it didn’t disappoint. We got a great hotel (The Westin) at an awesome price. It was perfect because it was about 2 blocks from the strip and much quieter and classier than strip hotels.

The first night when we got there, we took advice from the concierge and went to dinner at Senor Frogs inside Caesar’s Palace. It was a bit rough getting there because it was still around 100 degrees at 8:30pm at night (we didn’t think it would still be that hot!), and Caesar’s Palace was a lot further away than she said. So I was on the verge of a breakdown by the time we got there. They also managed to give away our reservations even though we were early. Nice.

Luckily it turned out really well and the place was a huge party. See pic above of our waitress giving people shots in a congo line next to our table. Sweet. It was half bar/half restaurant but it was all open and it was a hopping party. There were tons of people and it was super loud and crazy. They had loud music and just a lot of drunk people but it was fun. It wasn’t to the point of being gross and the people were just funny to watch. We had a blast and the food was great but that could have been because it was after 9 when we ate.

They had these funny signs that they kept moving next to people at the tables and I got high maintenance. Not even true. I look like a rock star and I blame it on working half a day then driving to Provo and on to Vegas then walking to Caesar’s Palace in the heat, then eating at 9:30pm. And being pregnant.

Speaking of being preg, my sis took this pic. It’s a big exaggerated with my back arched, but it’s starting to look like a real belly now instead of just looking like a chunk!

On Saturday we slept in and hit up the pool for a while. We went to a buffet at Excalibur and it was a bit disappointing but not too bad. It was cheap. And yes I’m wearing the same shirt that I wore the night before.

Saturday night was the big show and luckily Caesar’s Palace was about half a mile away and I came prepared by wearing my Chaco flip flops and carrying ice water.

My sis was excited and looked cuties too.

Celine we love you!

Celine is back. Also, a picture of Celine’s back (literally).

We had pretty bad seats but they were still bloody expensive but well worth it. Our seats were high up but the theater isn’t huge and we still could see perfectly and enjoyed every second. We may have gotten emotional multiple times throughout the show. I was so entranced that I honestly thought that as the show was ending that it was only intermission! Disappointment and I could have stayed there for hours. She was awesome and beautiful and the music was magic.

Some shots walking back to the hotel. We only got hit on a few times and Steph just kept saying “she’s pregnant”. Totally worked. We went back to the hotel and watched a movie and hit the sack. The beds were dreamy and we slept in again and hit up the pool for a while on Sunday morning before heading out. Love late check outs.

Steph is an A+ driver and as we were pulling out of the parking garage, she forgot that we were parked next to a huge cement column and rammed into it. I almost wet myself. It was hilarious and thank goodness we weren’t driving her husband’s much nicer car.

We had a blast and hopefully we can keep doing sister trips! I love my sissy.

Preston Rodeo

 

Dan loves rodeos. Really loves rodeos. He loves cowboys, horses, small towns, carhartts, etc. I’m fairly positive he was a hard core cowboy in another life. His favorite place in the world is Yellowstone and he always fantasizes about having a cabin or ranch some day. He would love to be a real cowboy and I’m sure he would be amazing at it. Maybe someday…

But he loves going to rodeos and we have already been to several this year. A few months ago, we wrote down all the dates and locations of all the rodeos around us and so far we have been to West Haven, Ogden, Evanston and now Preston. We missed a few big ones because we were in Yellowstone but so far we have gotten a lot in. We went to the Ogden rodeo last Monday and it was pretty awesome. It was HUGE and there were tons of people and tons of really good rodeo-people (what are they called anyway, contestants?) And the people watching was pure entertainment. On Saturday we drove up to Logan for the afternoon to reminisce about our time there.

I absolutely adore Logan and USU and we walked around campus and it just made me so happy. It was such a weird feeling to remember my time there and part of my wished I was still in the middle of it! It is such a beautiful place and I had so much fun during the 4 years that I spent there. We took a picture on the “A” but you can’t really see it too well.

Above is a pic of me at almost 19 weeks along. Not too  big yet but my belly is definitely starting to poke out a lot and I’m getting chunkier for sure. I’m praying I won’t gain too much besides the belly region but I’m trying to enjoy it and not worry too much! Luckily I lost about 22 pounds right before I got pregnant so all my clothes were really big and now they still fit me! I’ll be buying maternity stuff soon enough I’m sure. Speaking of being careful about not gaining too much weight…

We had to hit up Aggie Ice cream and it didn’t disappoint! I love that place and sitting in there reminded me of my math class in the Nutrition building. I would stay after and get lunch at Aggie ice cream and I loved it. I usually had a pulled pork sandwich with fritos and it was something like $3. Not too shabby.

We also stopped by Al’s Sporting Goods which Dan loves. We spent a lot of nights wandering around that place when we lived in Logan and we got a few things that were on sale. We had some Cafe Rio for dinner (I have been wanting that for a long time and it was awesome) then we headed to Preston for the rodeo. I believe this is the 3rd time Dan and I have gone to the parade and rodeo together (I went once with friends before I was married) and I think we will try to do it as much as we can!

We found a shady spot to check out the parade and enjoyed the small town fun. The parade is so lame but I love it. There are tons of people and kids everywhere and it’s just a great atmosphere. The highlight of the parade is usually a huge Gossner’s food truck where they had out free chocolate milk (so amazing) but they didn’t do it this year! Tragic.

Some of the parade pics. These pictures are all from Dan’s phone so they aren’t too great.

Seriously loved the Star Wars people in the parade. Totally random but they do not mess around when it comes to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

 

We headed to the rodeo and barely got in on time because the line was HUGE. We had amazing seats though but the stadium seating is so tight! Everyone is crammed in and Dan’s knees didn’t even fit so he kept hitting the people in front of him. Whoops. Still fun though and the place was sold out! It is one of the biggest rodeos in the country and it was awesome.

We had a blast and it was such a fun summertime activity. Check out Dan’s sweet cowboy shirt purchased from Reams. That place is serious about cowboy clothes. Dan and I have tons of fun together and he is so great to take care of me especially now that I’m pregnant. He is always telling me to sit down or holding everything or getting me whatever I need. I just love him and can’t wait for the fun in our future!