A lesson in family ...

This weekend we went down to Southern Utah to visit family. We hadn't been down in a while (way too long!) so we had a lot of people to see. We were very busy - but we had so much fun getting to hang out with everyone. Lot's of pictures!


Here are Josh and Merrill - our two football stars. We went to both of their games, and they both did great!


This is Josh, Emily, Gracie and Will ... posing before their adorable primary program. They sang so loud and beautiful! (with the exception of Will ... who is in nursery ... he spent the entire time rolling trucks around and trying to sit on my foot :)!)

Here are the Travis family 5 ... after a Saturday of football and playing in the Kanab pool! Their names all start with an M ... McKenna, Merrill, Madilynn, Marin and Mace :)! I am always so impressed when Merilee (my sister in law) can spout off their names in quick succession without mixing them up!

McKenna (our oldest niece) was singing in church on Sunday, so when we went to Kanab on Saturday, she sang her song for us. It was "I Heard Him Come" - a favorite of mine and Jeff. And McKenna did an amazing job!! She is so talented! Jeff and I love it because I sang it in High School and Jeff's grandpa sang it at his mission farewell ... so needless to say we were so excited to hear it again (we later joked around that Jeff's mission and me singing in high school would have been at the exact same time!)!


This is Dalton and Preston on their playground slide ... Alee didn't want to pose with them, so she got her own pic.


This is us with Grandma and Grandpa Crosby. They are some of the neatest people I know. We are so lucky to have them in our lives - for their example and legacy. They fed us dinner from their garden! We're especially glad we got to spend time with them.


And last, but certainly not least ... this is us ... eating at In n' Out!! My favorite! Don't we look In n' Out satisfied?!

On our way home my mom called and invited us over for dinner! It was SO nice not to have to cook when we got home - it was very thoughtful of them!

Just 5 more minutes...

I think Ellie takes after me... she is NOT a morning dog. Jeff gets up early ... and we are both still in bed. Then I get up and get ready for work. Ellie is still snuggled down. Finally, when I have to go downstairs to eat breakfast and leave, I normally have to coax her down with me. This is not easy, and occasionally I have to carry her down (if I am in a hurry). Then when we get downstairs she heads strait for her downstairs bed. And promptly falls back asleep. Rough life :)!

Spoiled Rotten

Being married to Jeff makes me very spoiled ... but he outdid himself again ... so I just have to tell you about it! My trip ended much worse than it started thanks to Delta.

Delta delayed our trip by a couple of hours because our plane was coming from an area of high winds, so they decided to fly in a different plane ... from Atlanta! They flew in an empty plane from half way across the country and wonder why their industry isn't doing well. That plane happened to be broken. So they canceled the flight. After 6 hours at the airport we were transported to a super swanky hotel (that was nice :)!), and were supposed to fly out the next day. Shocker ... they delayed that flight and said there were still problems and they didn't know when it would really leave. We got a refund, and flew Frontier home instead :)! Yay for being home!

Jeff didn't even know any of this ... and still surprised me three times when I got home. First I walk in and this adorable purse is waiting for me with a little card! So cute! I am a sucker for fantastic purses ... and this one is definitely fantastic!

When we were still downstairs, I asked if he smelled paint. He acted really innocent ... but my nose doesn't lie. We had been talking about painting up our stairway and the upstairs hallway for a while, but just hadn't yet. Well he painted everywhere! It looks SO much better ... much warmer!

And finally ... after all this I looked around and realized he had cleaned the whole house. The whole thing!!

Nothing makes a trip better than coming home to him without surprises ... but with surprises ... unbelievable :)! I love you Jeff ... you are so sweet!

Wilderness...

So I am at a Wilderness Symposium for work ... with Jill (one of our RTs) in Boulder, CO. Can I just say ... there are SO many reasons why we don't really "blend" with the crowd here.

1. We wash our hair regularly. There is a girl here with dreadlocks. The real kind of dreadlocks. The kind that only a razor and some serious grow-out time can fix.
2. We wear shoes in public places. At the networking reception we were both in heels. There were people (as in multiple) that were barefoot. At a conference.
3. We don't recycle everything we touch. There are 4 trash cans in our "waste free" hotel room... so we can recycle. It is overwhelming though because I can't figure out exactly what goes in which can. For example ... where was I supposed to spit out my gum? Compostables? Or landfill (gasp)! Don't get me wrong ... I am all about saving the environment ... but that is a bit extreme ...
4. There is NO water served at the conference. Alcohol, coffee and tea. And not a bottle of water in sight. People in Boulder don't like the waste of bottles of water. But no one who works with troubled youth seems to have a problem getting drunk ... weird.
5. Our "waste free" hotel looks like the rainbow threw up on it (they really embrace different life styles). Where is my camera when I need it? It is super colorful with a "chlorine free" pool and hot tub. But we just got out of the hot tub and we smell weird, and my skin is iching ... never a good sign :)

We are having a fabulously, hilarious time ... we are learning a lot and Jill is a good travel buddy. And we can't help but laughing at everything that is happening ... it is just so surreal. I just had to keep you updated on my exciting traveling life :)!

Crazy Week

Last week started with our anniversary ... which was SO fun ... and then everything seemed to go a bit crazy!

Oh Thursday I got a call from my mom saying that James fell and broke his arm on the playground! It broke the forearm in two places and he had to have surgery that night to put metal rods on either side of the bone to keep everything in place. Sad! He was so brave through the whole thing ... and quite chatty when on morphine :)! Now he is home and doing well ... he is impossible to keep down. He swings his healing arm around, and is constantly playing outside with his friends. I guess boys will be boys :)! We forgot our camera ... so no pictures!

Friday night Jeff and I went to an Owlz game. Boy they last for a really, really long time. I think it is because they aren't very good. But it was fun ... and we got to sing during the 7th inning stretch ... which is my favorite part of the game!

On Saturday morning Jeff and I ran a 5K! We set a goal at the beginning of the summer to run one, but hadn't yet. We were "training" really hard, and then about a month ago ... we just stopped. So we were pretty proud that we did as well as what we did considering that. We made it in 32 min. So not stellar ... but nothing to be ashamed of either. It was really fun!! The funny part is who we got beat by ... keep in mind there were several people. But my favorite was a pregnant woman! Now it wasn't like "is she or isn't she pregnant" ... I'm fairly certain that if she wasn't trying to put herself into labor she was a good 8 months along! And at the very end, her slow, but very steady pace caused her to pass us and beat us by a minute or so. Sad ... but very funny :)! She's probably a marathon runner in her non-preggers life. (I tell myself that to make me feel better :)!)

That afternoon we went to the Spanish Fork Kite Festival. They had all these crazy kites and booths set up. This is one of our favorite kites - it is a girl "swimming" being chased by two fish! We got to test drive Seguays. Fun!

That night my parents took us out to dinner for our anniversary to Red Robin! It was fun ... we thought that was so nice of them! Thanks guys - we love you!

And last but not least ... on Monday night we went to see Tamara and Dan and ate dessert with them. It had been a while since we hung out, and we missed them! Tams and I went to school together (met our freshman year) and have some great stories over the years. We lucked out and our hubbies really hit it off too!

To top it all off ... I got tagged 3 times! THREE! I feel ... so popular! So get ready for a really long Tagged blog next time :)!

Three Fantastic Years!

We just celebrated our three year anniversary! Three years ... wow! It has gone so fast, I can't even believe it. Last year we decided to take turns planning what we would do to celebrate and this year was Jeff's "year." He did such a fantastic job! He made reservations at the Washington School Inn in Park City. If you haven't ever stayed there it is a must. It is so adorable! It was one of the three schools in Park City and was used until 1931. Each of the rooms is named after a former teacher and everything is so old! Even the hot tub is down in the basement area and surrounded by rock. Very cool ... And they have a New York trained chef making breakfast and appetizers in the evenings - both were very yummy. We walked around Main Street and then ate dinner at Ruth's Chris. Their chocolate explosion is the best ... gooey and chocolaty ... my favorite! I love getting all dressed up (and Jeff knows this) so it was really fun that he picked a fancy restaurant. This is a pic of us looking anniversary-fabulous.

Our anniversary seems to bring fall on ... it poured when we were there. So we opened up our windows and listened to the rain! The next morning we took our time getting ready and eating breakfast.

Tuesday was our actual anniversary. I had a dinner to go to for work, so we didn't get to see each other much ... but Jeff was super sweet and had flowers and a card waiting when I got home and then took me out for dessert! I took a pic of my flowers, but the computer is doing something weird and won't load it ... they are beautiful ... red, orang and yellow! Man ... I have a lot to live up to next year when it is my turn!

Looking back though, it has been a pretty amazing three years. I couldn't ask for a better husband ... or best friend. I am really one lucky girl!