Becky, Jared and Sarah
Vacations
Wedding in Idaho Falls
Jul 14th
Last weekend we drove to Idaho Falls for the wedding of my old roommate, Sara Olsen, in the Idaho Falls Temple. The sealing was great. The sealer gave advice on being in the world but not of the world, making families a top priority, and other similar advice. Jared was so nice and watched our baby Sarah during the sealing. They went geocaching while I was at the sealing. Below is Sarah with a geocache.
I also got to see another old roommate Stephanie. I haven’t seen her in a long time, so it was nice to catch up. Below is Stephanie and me.
We had a nice luncheon at Sizzler and then took naps at Sara’s (the brides) new house where we (her friends) were staying. (Sara if you read this your house is totally cute and I’m so jealous) While we were there we saw the goat that was the highlight of the last post. Then we went to the reception. It was a nice reception. I have to mention their reception went from 6-8 and when we arrived around 6:30 the line was 15-20 minutes long (or so it felt like) and when we left at 8 the line was still at least 20 minutes long. I guess it just goes to show how popular Sara is. Well while reading this post you may have wondered where are the pictures of the bride and groom, well alas we didn’t take any. I know, you drive 4 hours to go to a wedding and don’t take pictures of the bride and groom, I’m ashamed of myself. Speaking of the drive, this was the longest road trip we have been on with our Sarah. She did okay. We really haven’t perfected bottle feeding yet, so we stopped once on the way there and once on back to feed her. I don’t know if I will want to go on anything longer until she is a good at taking a bottle or at least when I’m use to giving her a bottle. Well, it was fun to go to the wedding, thanks for inviting us Sarah, have a good married life!
Note to Self: Our Future Pet
Jul 12th
We went to Idaho this last weekend (I’m sure Becky will write a post about it). If you know the setting, the situation may not seem as strange to you. But anyway, I saw something there that made me excited.
A Pet Goat!!
That’s right, a pet goat. It was a pygmy goat and it was so cool! We were at Sara and Brad’s house (they were getting married which was why we were there) and their next door neighbor had a goat as a pet. It was just like having a dog! I got so excited that you can actually do that! And the pygmy goat was the perfect size. I hadn’t realized it before, that I could have a goat in my back yard like a pet like they did. It totally made my day. Since Becky and I can’t agree on what kind of dog we would want, if the desire for a pet ever came from our kids, we decided that we’d get a goat (as long as we get a saddle or something so the kids can ride it, is what Becky says).
If you know me, you know I love goats (unless I only told Becky, but Becky knows and she still loves me). There was a goat farm on my mission and one goat in particular, Cookie, was just as friendly and playful as a puppy. So I made a movie about Cookie when I got home from my mission. Cookie is the white goat in the video. So this blog is a note to myself that when my kids start asking for a pet (like a dog or something), we’re totally getting a pygmy goat! (P.S. Here’s the movie about the goats on my mission. It’s worth a watch)
5 weeks!
Jul 8th
Sarah is now over 5 weeks old!
We have had many, many milestones, since everything that Sarah does is the first time. Since I already covered the first week I’ll start with the her second week of the month.
Sarah’s first bath-June 5th
Go BYU!
One Week
Two Weeks
Rolling Over – June 10th.
We got the video of Sarah rolling over on June 10th. She rolled over a few days before that but we didn’t “catch” her until then. We are very proud of her, she is very active and strong. You can see the videos in previous posts.
First Doctor’s Appointment June 15th
Sarah was holding my hand for comfort after getting some blood taken. She did really good. She wasn’t up to her birth weight yet, so we had to go up the next week. Lucky, she was good by the third week.
First time eating out June 18th
We went to the Brick Oven, it was the first time Sarah eat out. Well, she didn’t actually eat and she slept the whole time. But we had fun!
First Real Bath June 20th
Sarah’s First Time at Church -June 20th
We only went to sacrament meeting, but it was still Sarah’s first time at church, she did really good and slept the whole time.
June 28th First time Lindsey and Parker saw and held Sarah
Fourth of July in Delta, UT
First time geocaching – July 4th
Wyoming
Jan 28th
Over Martin Luther King Day we decided to go to Wyoming and visit Jared’s sister Nicia (and her husband Joe and daughter Alyssa) for the 3 day weekend. We had a lot of fun. The one thing Jared really wanted to do with them was geocache. Since Nicia lives near two other states so we were able to get 3 more states to our geocaching map. While we were there we also got a ton of baby girl stuff from Nicia. Jared’s mom saved the baby clothes from her last two kids, gave them to Nicia, and since Nicia is having a boy and I’m having a girl she gave them to me. You wouldn’t believe how much clothes there are. So, we spent some time sorting them in sizes. But hurray for baby clothes. Also while we were there we went to dinner at a nice Pizza place. Nicia made us Happy Chicken for Sunday dinner and yummy caramels. We played some competitive games of Monopoly Deal (this is our new favorite game, you definitely need to buy it and play it. Oh it is also way cheap as games go because it is a card game so seriously get it). We also got in a few songs on Rock Band and some Wii Tetris. We also got to spend some quality time with our cute niece Alyssa. She was really cute. As you can see in the picture below she was way into her play cell phone while we were down there. The weather there was so nice. Well, looking back we did a lot in 3 days! Anyway it was a wonderful trip. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
December
Jan 2nd
We have done a lot this last month so buckle up and enjoy the ride.
December 1st-16th- School, work,and everyday life.
December 17th-18th- The weekend after finals ended we drove down to Arizona for a wedding. We caravan-ed up with Jared’s sister, Nicia, her husband Joe, their daughter Alyssa, and Jared’s step sister Caitlin. On the way there we stopped in Vegas. We found a room at Circus Circus for less than $30 a night! Once we checked in we hit the strip. The first place we stopped was Ross, much to the boys annoyance. (For reals, we have a Ross in Orem!) What can I say it was one of the only stores that we could actually afford and they have a bigger selection then the one that is close to my house. Well, as all Ross shoppers know it takes a little bit of time to shop at Ross. So the boys ditched us and started walking to M&M World. If any of you have been to the strip, that is over 2 miles away and they took my 2 year old niece, Alyssa, with them. Well, when our shopping was complete we called them up to see where they were only to find they had been walking for almost an hour. So, we were advised to take the Monorail so that we’d get there about the same time.
We met the boys who only had to wait for us 10 minutes or so. While in M&M World we went to a 3-D movie, entitled “I Lost My M in Vegas” or something similar. (Nicia and Jared both thought the movie was out of focus and you had to cross your eyes so much to get it in focus. We left with headaches…)
Dinner was the next item on the agenda. We ended up going to the Cheesecake Factory at Caesar’s Place. At dinner we meet up with Dave (Jared’s Dad), Kathy (Jared’s step mom), Emily (Sister), and Justin (Step brother who would be married in a few days and the reason for the trip in the first place) Here is us at Caesar’s Place.
After dinner we all walked over to watch the water show at the Bellagio. It was a Christmas theme this time. By then we were all wiped out and our feet and taken enough so we went back to our hotel and ended the night. Here are more pictures of us on the strip.
In the morning I was still set on exploring so I dragged Jared around with me and we explored Circus Circus while everyone else had a nice relaxing morning. But unfortunately for us there isn’t that much to do in the morning in Vegas. So we did what we did the one activity you can do at 24 hours a day in Las Vegas. We gambled. We put a dollar in the penny slots (I know we are high rollers, but they wouldn’t take anything less). When we got to around 90 cents we won some pretty good odds and got back to $1.33.
Then we continued playing the slots until we were back at $1 and then we got our voucher for the dollar. So we made out even with our Vegas Gambling Spree. It was actually pretty fun. What was not so fun was the drive ahead of us. We actually took the wrong way and added 2 hours to our trip. When we got there it was dinner time and we stopped at Peter Piper Pizza for dinner. Jared’s first job was at Peter Piper Pizza and so he was supper excited.
We stayed the night with a old family friend, Ashley. (Thanks Ashley)
Wedding December 19th- Justin and Stephanie were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple on December 19th for time and all eternity. The Sealer had some great words of advice. One thing that stood out to me was when you look at your wedding rings they are made out of precious metal and stone. So, when you look at your wedding rings you should remember how much more precious your spouse is. He also talked a lot about cherishing and treasuring your spouse. It was a nice sealing.
After that we had a nice luncheon. We decided we wanted to go see a movie, so we used our phones to find out the times and a theater close by. When we got to the theater, Nicia went first and found out they were going to charge them $6.75 for Alyssa! So they said “forget it” and so Joe, Nicia, Caitlin, Jared, and I just hung out, ate ice cream, and walked around stores until the reception started.
The reception was of course really nice and wonderful. On the way home from the reception we stopped at Joe’s Uncle’s house to pick up Caitlin’s luggage, since she was coming home with us so we could get an early start on our way back to Utah. There Jared got to ride in this car.
It is an Ariel Atom. It is the fastest accelerating street legal car ever. Jared recognized it from his racing games on his Xbox 360. Needless to say, he experienced the acceleration first hand. He thought it was awesome….
December 20th- Drove back to Utah. The biggest event was driving over the Hoover dam
December 21st --We attended the reception of Kevin Wiest, Jared’s best friend’s (Scott) little brother.
December 22nd- We babysat for my brother David. He only asks us to baby sit once a year so we try to help out. His kids are amazing to baby sit because they love to watch movies and can watch movie after movie. A babysitter’s dream. (And we like movies too, so it’s easy to watch it with them)
December 23- We drove to Washington. The roads were okay. When we arrived Jared and I had dinner with my parents and then went and played games with my cousins. We learned how to play Bang! My brother Justin and his family (wife: Beth and four children: Nathan, Hailey, Brooke, and Ryan) and my brother Mark and his wife Emily all arrived later that night.
December 24th Christmas Eve- We had a relaxing morning and then ate our traditional Christmas turkey dinner. My mom always outdoes herself. We had turkey, homemade rolls, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, jello cake, and too many pies. It was delicious, THANKS MOM!
Then we had our Christmas program. Justin read the Christmas story with his kids acting it out. Hailey and Nathan both played Christmas songs on the piano and all the kids opened a present.
Christmas December 25th- We started out the day opening presents. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, chatting, and eating. Hailey, Brooke, and I played “Pretty, Pretty, Princess.” This was a favorite of mine growing up. You get to put on jewelry as part of the game. I never won though. Brooke won and then Hailey won.
Jared and I also went over to my Uncle Phil’s where we played a bunch of games with Brittani, Taun, Tim, Aunt Meg, and Jessica. Uncle Phil even made us his delicious wheat scones (Thanks Uncle Phil)
December 26th- Emily had her baby shower. Emily (my sister-in-law) is expecting twins, a boy and a girl. Her sister’s planned it and did an amazing job. They really outdid themselves as you can see from the pictures. 
December 27th-Went to sacrament meeting and then drove back to Utah. Jared drove the whole way. What a man! (This made our trip driving for this month around 2850 miles). When we arrive in Orem we stopped at Jared’s Mom’s house and opened our presents there.
December 28th- Andrew (Jared’s brother) and Starrie welcomed their beautiful baby girl into the world. She is truly a beautiful baby, we only hope that we will be so lucky. 
After that we went to Jared’s Dad’s house and opened our presents there. Sorry, no pictures
December 29 and 30 were spent going to work and relaxing at home.
Decemver 31st Jared’s Birthday. Jared and I both worked in the morning/afternoon. After work we went to Jared’s Mom’s home for pizza and chocolate cupcakes. We were able to chat with his parents and Andrew and Starrie. We also stopped my Jared’s Grandparent Robin’s. We celebrated midnight on the freeway driving back. The romantic part about it was that we could see the fireworks going off in a few different places.
HAPPY NEW YEAR. Thanks for staying with us for that marathon post. We hope you had a wonderful 2009 and will have an even better 2010!
