Brigham City, Bear Lake, Birthday Present Early

Mid-August James and I took a trip up to Utah. It was to visit family, get some skiing action and to the new Brigham City Temple. Kevin and Debra (James' parents) live just ten minutes away from this temple. Kevin is a Stake President as well and so his stake is in it's district. It was fun to see most everyone while there. We missed the Beasley Bunch though!

We flew into Utah and the day we arrived (Wednesday the 15th) the first thing we did was ski! James was supper excited :) This was the maiden voyage of the boat too - middle of August. There was a good laugh about that :) We enjoyed skiing until the evening. But the fun didn't end there! We did it all again the next morning!

James hopped the wake on his ski! I caught the sunset :) Jessica had smooth water on her run. Marsh caught some air and Reve loved catching water with hands :) Katie & Gavin were there with Mack and Grant but I failed to get good pics of them. :(

Cort enjoyed the lulling of the boat. Lexi LOVED to ski! Reve not so much. Talmage went with Michael and tried to go on his own! Grandma and Grandpa stayed with the babies while we played. Jessica caught this beautiful sunset.

The girl's run was cut a little short on Thursday because we had to go home and get ready for the temple open house. So we went back to the house with the babies and got them and us ready while the boys stayed out a little longer to play.

It was so exciting to go to the temple. This was a special day for touring because it was for VIPs and the Stake Presidents. As we were walking into the underground parking of the temple I was about to cross the driveway when a black Toyota Sienna pulled in. I stepped back onto the sidewalk so that I wouldn't get ran over :) and I noticed that someone was waving to me from the passenger seat, an older gentleman. In the split second that it took me to realize who it was the van pulled further into the parking area. I looked at James and said, "Um, Elder Neil L. Anderson just waved at me!" I laughed a little at that and said, "An apostle just waved at me!" Chuckles all around. That was kind of fun :) As we were going through the tour of the temple our guide said that Elder Bednar was two tours ahead of us too. Inside the temple with two members of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles just ahead of us. Cool :)

The temple was absolutely GORGEOUS. The colors were this pretty mix of light peach, blue, teal and white. It was so beautiful. The artwork was stunning too. The paintings were reminiscent of the surrounding areas of Willard, Elwood, Tremonton and Brigham. There were even two paintings by President Boyd K. Packer inside the office next to the bride's room. They had been donated to the temple by his family members. Here are some of the pictures that are posted on the internet. You can go to mormontemples.org/brighamcity, lds.org to see Brigham City's pictures or mormon.org and ldschurchtemples.com to see pictures of other temples.

On our way out we passed by President David L. Beck, the YM General President. Kevin and Debra got excited because they'd gotten to know him and his wife fairly well at the Philmont training for Stake Presidents and Bishops a few years ago. We talked a little bit outside with them. Very pleasant folks :)

The outside was just as beautiful with all the lovely flowers.

People that also were there just not in the photo was Katie & Grant, Uncle Nile & Aunt Debbie, and Grandma & Grandpa Boehme. Oh, and Michael & Chalyse baby#4 (present but not pictured ::wink::) (yay!)

August 16th was also Katie & Gavin's anniversary. We were a little late coming out of the temple and they were supposed to go to Maddox's for dinner. They were going to cancel their plans because of kids' bedtimes and the possibility of getting home really late but James and I volunteered to watch the babies :) We traded cars and headed back to their place and helped put Mack to sleep (he is so darn cute) We read stories, said our prayers and he went to sleep! Best kid ever :) And then I just sat and enjoyed the little squish, aka Grant. He fell asleep in my arms as James and I enjoyed some Shark Week. At one point he was awake and all of a sudden he looked right past me and broke out into this huge, it was big, ear to ear grin. It made me feel such that I had to turn around and look behind me. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised to see someone there. It felt like there was! And he was smiling so big!

What's a trip to Utah without some Bear Lake action? It's like a doughnut without the hole. Not a true doughnut. Otherwise it's just a pastry.

It was SO SO SO nice up there! The weather was perfect. Not hot at all and in the evening & morning there was enough of a chill to get me wrapped in a light blanket. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Katie, Gavin, James and I went four-wheeling. I got some serious dirt action on my back. But it was fun! Mack got a ride in too :)

Debra hung the bird feeder out and I caught some visitors taking advantage of it's sweet nectar :)

While up at the cabin, we were able to enjoy another Pickleville Playhouse production. Oh. My. Heck. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a LONG time! We went and saw The Hanging of Juanito Bandito. HILARIOUS! It was like the sequel to the one we'd seen before.

 So, there was a reference made in this play. You know how in the LDS church we have a lot of acronyms? For example, EQP, GA, YM, YW, BYC etc... Well, a reference was made in the play about having an FEC. Anybody besides myself know what that is? I swear I was the only one that laughed in the play! C'mon my fellow BYU'ers - if you know what DTR stands for you should totally know what FEC stands for! Can you guess it?

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Future Eternal Companion.

Anyone else get that? Oh...It was hilarious nonetheless. I had a great time :)

Something that happened while we were up there was a fire on the mountain! Apparently there were some people 4-wheeling and their 4-wheeler caught on fire which then caught the ground on fire! We saw it happening from the lake. We had gone down to go swimming and we saw the smoke from where we were at. We were pretty far away and we could see the flames so we knew they were pretty big. But the emergency response teams were really fast so the flames were put out quickly. The ground was pretty charred though.

All made it safely home though. No one was hurt and the damage was big but nobody's cabin was damaged. Lesson learned - no more 4-wheeling in the heavy brush allowed. Effective immediately :)

My parents met us at the airport Sunday night with our car so that we could just drive home. We flew into the Phoenix airport at 7pm so we didn't want to get home too late. So they were awesome and did that for us. Boomer sat with me on the way home. I'd missed my little buddy :) We made it home safely and by 9:30. Great timing.

I week later I got a wonderful package from the FedEx man - a NEW CAMERA!!

Not that I didn't like my iPhone and all (I mean, it took the above photo - its a great camera) but I needed something a little more....I can't think of a word for it. Hey James, what's a good word for what I'm thinking? "Technical." Oh perfect! Thanks. I needed something a little more technical. I've already been playing around with it and I LOVE IT! I still have lots to learn about it and it's gadgets that came with it but here's a few that I've already taken.

Lunch

My friend's daughter's eyes

This is my second favorite I've taken

This is my first. I LOVE THIS SHOT! And you can see my reflection in his eyes when you zoom in real close :)

Thank you James for my camera!!

Olympic Fever & More

Well let me tell you, it's a sad day tomorrow when the closing ceremonies of the XXX Olympics come to an end. It has been so much fun watching them. I kept all my July 4th holiday decorations up to keep the spirit of Team USA alive for us :) I even bought a team USA Olympic banner. I found some pictures on the internet of some of the more famous highlights (they're the ones that I paid most attention to as they were on prime time NBC when I got home from work :) ).

Tower Bridge in London. The giant rings hung there throughout the games.

For the Opening Ceremonies, the Queen was picked up by "James Bond" and brought to the Olympics.

Here's how she entered :) This was awesome and hilarious to watch. She's such a sport to do this (well, she didn't actually jump out, but just the fact that she filmed part of it and made it look like she did shows her sense of humor).

And she's as beautiful & elegant as ever :)

The forging of the rings

They're assembled.

The lighting of the Torch

 

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

 I loved watching for the Royal Family. They were out and about amongst all the games and showed their support and their positions as Ambassadors. It was fun to see them.

I formed a crush on Ryan Lochte & Michael Phelps (um, who wouldn't??) Ryan won 5 medals this year: two gold, two silver and one bronze. Michael won 6 medals, four gold and two sliver.

Good Sportsmanship

I followed women's gymnastics for most of the games. It's my favorite summer sport. The Fab Five were the team at the London 2012 Games: Jordyn Weiber, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Kyla Ross. They were the first USA Women's Gymnastics team to win the team final since 1996 (the one where Kerri Strug hurt her leg). Gabby Douglas also won the gold in the All Around final.

The reaction of USA of hearing they won gold in the Team finals

Princess Kate came down to congratulate Team USA on winning the team final. So nice!

Another big deal for USA - Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings won the gold again in Beach Vollyball.

These ladies won the gold and made a new record for the women's track 4x100meters event. They. Were. Incredible. These ladies don't even hit the ground when they run. They fly. Hardly an exaggeration there. Hardly. It was amazing to watch. GO TEAM USA!!

The medal designs for the games. Silver and bronze show the front, gold shows the back.

 Its fun fun fun to watch the Olympics. I know there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes but its great to have an event that brings the world together and you can see the interactions and sportsmanship of everyone. I loved watching other countryman congratulate each other and show their support. My friend said that the camera captured the USA member saying "Holy cow that was amazing!" and giving a hug to another athlete. Its great to see and hear that. Well done London 2012. Well done. :)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, here's what James and I have been up to lately.

James went on a YM/BSA backpacking trip to Romero Pools (Oro Valley). He got this really cool back pack for it. He looks amazing no? :) The trip was only an overnight one so he wasn't gone too long. James said it was fun even though they had rain and the boys acted like boys. :)

A beautiful view of Oro Valley.

While James was out on this camp out, I was home. Sitting in front of the T.V. Well, I'd had enough of just sitting and being by myself so I put out a Facebook status asking if I could be of service to anyone the following day so that I didn't have to hang out by myself. I got a nice response :) I was invited to go on a walk, help clean a house, and paint a bathroom. Well, as luck would have it, I got sick that night. Not sure with what but I ran a fever and lost my appetite. I did go on the walk the next morning and felt fine while walking, but once I got home, I sat down and didn't get back up again. My head and my stomach were done. So I ended up doing the very thing that I didn't want to do! I was really bummed. I had to withdraw my offer to help until further notice. I had wonderful visiting teachers though. They brought me over popsicles, offered to fix me brownies and also some ginger-ale and crackers. So sweet. Also, upon returning home James found that the tree had been knocked over again by a storm and so he had to stand that up. We had our friend and neighbor Nick Bogle and his 3 strapping young sons come over and help him put it back up. How interesting the turn of events that when I wanted to something for someone else, I in turn get served. Funny how that worked out. I am grateful for all the people that helped our family. We have some great people around us.

James and I did eventually get to follow through on my offer to help paint a bathroom though. On July 28th, our friend Sara Castillo's birthday, we went over and painted her master bathroom. She had something else to do that day so we were happy to do while she was gone. It was her birthday that day so I also made her some incredibly delicious cupcakes for her. They were cookie dough cupcakes. And they were awesome!

While she was out, her hubby Todd was secretly planning her surprise birthday party for that night. So James and I were left alone to paint the bathroom :) It was fun. James loves to paint so he was in heaven. We'd brought over his iPod and were rockin' out to Juanes. We did the main part of the bathroom together, me acquiring paint in my hair and on my clothings :) After that was finished I left James to do the smaller throne room on his own.

 

 

Then, later that night, the party! It was a fun to be sneaky and surprise her. She was upstairs when I arrived and there were a few other sisters down stairs decorating. She didn't even know we were down there! She told us later that she just thought Todd was decorating the cake. It was awesome when she came down the stairs, with closed eyes per hubby, and to see the surprise on her face when she sees 12-15 ladies standing in her front room yelling "Surprise!!" She had a great time. Her party was a fondue and a "mocktail" party. So we were served virgin martinis, pinacoladas, and strawberry dacaries (spelling??). It was a lot of fun!

More of a strawberry smoothie but hey it was still really tasty!

It's awesome to see ladies that are expecting holding drinks :)

And that brings me to today!

I was again at the Castillo home, but not as myself. I was asked to be a princess at their daughter's princess tea party birthday party today. It was cute. I don't know how good I was but I enjoyed it. Little 3-4 year old girls are adorable. They tried playing Duck Duck Goose and it was hilarious. One little girl would run every time and try to be chased! Sara was really creative and made scones and little tea party sandwiches (kid friendly pbj sandwiches cut into little triangles) and their "tea" was apple juice. The little girls got to play "Pin the Fire on the Dragon" and they got to decorate sugar cookies! It was sugar loaded fun! The girls really enjoyed themselves.

Me & the birthday girl.

 On a side/random note:

I got business cards!! Need to contact me? Here, here's my card...heehee! I feel so official!

I caught this awesome lightning strike while driving (yes I know, slap my wrists) but the storm was so beautiful and right in front of me I had to do it :)