Winter Drive

On the Saturday before Christmas, Justin and I decided to take a drive. We ended up going to a canyon near Richmond. It had been snowing for the past few days so the trails were covered with snow and the trees were covered and everything was beautiful. We ended up having to wait a little bit for a lama to get out of the middle of the road.
A little ways up the road we came to a teenage boy, about sixteen or seventeen years old, and his faithful dog stuck in a snow bank. From the looks of it, he had been there for awhile. I've never seen a more grateful expression as the one the boy gave Justin when he offered to pull him out.

It took a little bit to pull him out, but no worries, the purple truck came through for us.
It was a pretty drive. We ended up driving around Richmond and then took another trail off into the snowy mountains.

It was really pretty. We had a lot of fun just getting away and exploring.

Justin took this picture because he wanted to show how deep the snow was.

Don't you think Justin is pretty photogenic?We had a fun time. We enjoy going out and exploring. It is a very pretty time of year in Cache Valley.

How to Make Cookies

Justin and I decided to make some Christmas cookies. I was still feeling a little sore, so I just made the dough and Justin pretty much did the rest! He is the Ultimate Cookie Maker. Let's go over the steps on how to make the perfect Christmas Sugar Cookie.

Step One- Make the dough. (No picture provided)
Step Two- Get some dough from the bowl Step Three- Roll the dough into just the right thickness
Step Four- Use the cookie cutter to cut out the Christmas shape desired
Step Five - Put the cookies onto the cookie sheet and into the oven for cooking (important note- contrary to the belief of my mother, cookies should not be cooked for the full time stated on the recipe)
Step Six - Put the cookies on the counter, make a complete mess, and get ready for frosting.
Step Seven - Decorate cookies with frosting (made exactly how Justin likes it with various taste tests in the process) and sprinkles as desired. (Justin does not believe in using sprinkles sparingly)

And there you have it. The perfect Christmas cookie!

For those of you who don't enjoy reading, please feel free to watch the above movie of "The Ultimate Redheaded Chef" making the cookies himself in a step by step process. You will have to turn your volume up pretty loud.

Congrats Justin!!

Justin finished up his last final as an undergraduate student on Tuesday!! We are so excited to be able to move onto the Masters Degree. I am so proud of all of his hard work that he has put into studying and earning his Bachelors of Engineering Degree.

I am so proud of Justin and all that he does. He has been so focused with school and making sure that he has the best grades possible. He is the best ever.

Congratulations Justin!!!

In Memory of Kyrri

Kyrri

September 2001 - December 2008

I ended up having to put Kyrri down the other day. She got sick about a month ago so Justin and I moved her into a flat cage without any perches because of problems she was having with her claw that wouldn't let her balance anymore. At first I felt really bad about making her be on the flat surface, but we later realized that she enjoyed it a lot. She would run all over it and rearrange the mirrors and toys that we had put in there for her. Even though she was sick she still wanted to wrestle with us (she would play fight against our fingers...she loved it).

She had been a good bird. She learned to whistle the same way that we used to whistle to call my puppy to come to us. Kyrri enjoyed trying to make more noise than Justin when he would start singing. She was fun to play with and to have around. We will both definitely miss her and her cute, little personality.

Too Much Puppy

Well, plans have changed for us. After spending a week with Zoey we have learned that she might not be the best fit for our family right now. She has bounds and bounds and bounds of energy and needs more attention than we can give her under current circumstances. We are taking her back to where we got her today so her original family can find what they believe to be another good family for her.

It'll be sad because she is adorable, but in the end it will make things easier. For a ten month old pup she was extremely strong and didn't respond to her name at all. I'm sure we'll all sit back and laugh in a few days as we remember our short time with her and all of the Christmas decorations that she would grab and take off running with, when she thought that she was tougher than the horses, when she would try to fit every dog toy on the floor in her mouth, how she only wanted to play with the toys Hollie was playing with, or even just when every time she layed down she rolled onto her back so somebody would rub her belly.

I know we will all miss Zoey and her big, floppy ears and her gigantic puppy paws. We can only hope that she can find a home that can truly give her the attention that she deserves.

Weekend with Zoey

Justin and I stayed at my parents this week to help Zoey get used to her new home. We had lots of fun with her. She can be pretty hyper, but she is adorable.

My Dad layed some sod in the backyard so that the dogs wouldn't get muddy each time they went outside. Zoey made sure that she was there helping.

She also liked playing in the back of Justin's truck.
After the third day she eventually got tired and laid down to rest.
Zoey also wore Justin out and the two of them took a little nap together.
However, Zoey didn't want to just lay by Justin she wanted to lay on his stomach instead.
Zoey loves raw hide bones. She would sit and eat them whenever she wasn't running around.
Zoey was also good about sharing because she let my sister's dog, Hollie, have some of her bone too.

Zoey

Justin and I got a new puppy today!!! She is a ten month old, purebred black lab.

She was in a family that needed to give her away, so we went and met her and decided that she would be good for us. My parents are letting her stay at their house until we find a place that we can keep her ourselves (which might not be until after Justin is done with school).

She has great big paws and great big ears and lots and lots of energy. She gets excited to see us and just bounces and bouces until we come and get her. She will be lots of fun to have. I have been wanting a dog for a long time now and Justin and my parents are being good enough to humor me enough to let me have her. We had to get an older dog that was already potty trained so that my parents wouldn't have to deal with potty training a new puppy in their new house. What great parents and husband I have!!

Caught Red Handed

Or should we say, "Caught Blue Handed??!!??!"

This morning Justin called me to come and look outside. When I got there, this is what I saw.
We also noticed that there was a matching one of our neighbors door- who are also U of U fans. However, on our other neighbors door - big BYU fans- was a big U of U sign. We weren't sure who had done it, but I am pretty sure that we have caught the guilty party!!!

The war is on!!

I decided that I should post my opinion on which team I am cheering for this Saturday. I figured that since the University of Utah is my alma mater I should probably cheer for them. Here are a few other reasons! Red is a better color than blue! (Don't you all agree? Justin looks better with red hair than he would look with blue.) Cosmo is a goofy name for a mascot (not the Swoop is much better, but for the sake of this post, Cosmo is a more goofy name).

The M&M is a Utah fan!
Baby Nathan is a Utah fan.
(He is definitely wise for such a young age.)
In fact, his parents, my sister and brother-in-law are even such big UTE fans that they customized their clothes they wore to my wedding to show their true colors! (That one is for you Dan!!!)
Santa Claus is also a UTE fan. So you know what that means. If you cheer for BYU this year, all you will get for Christmas is a lump of coal.

All in all, the University of Utah just has a better team this year!
Go UTES!!!!

Baby Nathan

Justin and I were in Salt Lake on Saturday and we went and visited my sister. It is always fun to go there because you get to see how much my nephew Nathan has grown. He is now crawling all over the place and standing up on everything.
He has the cheesiest little grin. He will be focusing on something and then just turn and his cheeks seem to get chubbier and he'll smile a great big smile.
His puppy Aspen and him get along pretty good. Sometimes Aspen get locked in the kitchen but Nathan will crawl over to her and try to let her out to play again.
Here we are all resting. Aspen sometimes forgets that she is a big dog and not the traditional "lap" dog. Nathan had just got up from a nap so he is still looking pretty tired. He is such a cute little baby.

House Sitting

Justin and I had the opportunity to house sit for my parents last week. They have a dog that needs lots of attention and care, and my horses are in their backyard and needed to be fed. This is Hollie Dae. She is obviously, a border collie. She was a Christmas present for my little sister a few years back and that is how the name was inspired.

Hollie is a little obsessive, and by a little, I actually mean A LOT.
This is one of Hollie's tennis balls. Rarely do you see Hollie without a tennis ball in her mouth or on the floor right in front of her nose. She sets is down and stares at you with those puppy dog eyes that you can't resist.
As you walk around my parents house or their backyard, you will see tennis balls or racquetballs scattered about.

This tennis ball is placed on the sink because Hollie got it too muddy and it had to be washed so people would want to actually pick it up and throw it.

Hollie is a good dog. She definitely loves her tennis balls. If you hold it up she will just stare at it until you throw it. She is a fun dog to have around and takes good care of my mom. I'm afraid she has trained my mom more than my mom has trained Hollie.

Shooting!

Justin and I went up Hyde Park Canyon the other day to go shooting. We didn't have a lot of clay pigeons so we didn't shoot for a long time, but we still had fun.

I was informed that this is not the correct way to hold a gun.

I was also told that this also is not the way to hold a gun.
This is how I was told to do it, but I am sure that if you asked the "pros" out there, I would still be told differently. My Dad always makes fun of how I hold the gun. I guess that's what happens when he focuses on softball more than shooting (not that he doesn't give me a hard time for how I throw the ball or how I bat either).
I guess this is how it is really done! Justin is amazing! He was among the best at our ward shooting activity. We had a good time. It was such a nice day last Saturday that we figured we better take advantage of it by being outdoors before the snow comes...since we all know Justin's feelings about Logan and the snow.

Leeds v Logan

Brittany is still at work so I decided to make my first post on our blog. As everyone knows I am from the best place ever called Leeds, Utah. I have been telling Brittany that we are going to move there, but she thinks it is too hot down there and she really likes Logan and wants to stay here (I like Logan too, but I LOVE southern Utah). So I am making a list of reasons why Leeds is Better than Logan. Anyone can try to dispute but are going to be wrong.

WEATHER (lets start with this):

Leeds- People say it is too hot down there, but 320 days of the year is AWESOME weather down there, the other 20 are a little hot but there are plenty lakes to go jump in and still have fun, and the other 25 are a little cold but put on ONE coat and be fine to do whatever you want still. Scrape your windshield maybe 5 times the whole year and shovel your driveway of snow ZERO times. So basically you can ride horses 365 days a year if so pleased.

Logan - There are plenty of awesome days in Logan as well but nothing like Leeds, I would say something around 200 days. Logan gets way too cold in the winter time, you need to put on like 12 coats to stay warm, and Logan has plenty of hot days as well. You start scraping your windshield in early October and shovel your driveway, well too many times to make it worth it. So ride your horse 165 days less in logan than in leeds.

STORES:

Leeds - Alright so Leeds does not have many stores, but there are plenty of stores just fifteen minutes away. Lets see there is a Sportsmans Warehouse, last time I checked Logan does not. Costco is better than Sams Club any day, and where is a Kay's Jeweler or a Target in Logan. I need a Kay's for Brittany's ring and everyone knows how nice a Target is. Oh and the stores are spread out and not just on one street like Logan.

Logan - So stores might be closer by miles in Logan than Leeds but it still takes the same amount of time because of how bad the traffic is on main street in Logan. That's all I need to say.

RESTAURANTS:

No comparison on this one I am just going to say that within fifteen minutes again there are way more restaurants from Leeds than Logan. There is an Applebees, a Red Lobster, a Texas Roadhouse, a Mongolian Barbeque, a Famous Daves, a Cracker Barrell, a Chuck a Rama, an Outback Steakhouse, and of course the famous Pizza and Pasta Factories that are not in Logan. I could go on but I will just leave it at that.

FUN STUFF TO DO:

Leeds - Where do I start with this one. Lets start with horseback riding, there are plenty of trails right there in Leeds where you can saddle up your horse and ride from the farm, you can even ride right from the house and get to Pine Valley Mountain (Oak Grove). Riding dirt bikes and four wheelers are right there you can ride on the road in Leeds now from your house to get to plenty of miles of trails, whether its to Oak Grove or to the Virgin River and Babylon Rd. "Jeepin" or in my case now "truckin" is WAY better in the south than up here, with the trails and the rocks and the sand dunes. Lakes, you have a lake within 5 minutes and another lake within 10 minutes. Zions National Park, the third most visited National Park, is just a half hour away. Las Vegas is the same distance from Leeds as Salt Lake is from Logan, and Vegas is better than Salt Lake hands down. You might say that there is no snowboarding close to Leeds, wrong just one hour away is Brian Head which is a better resort than Beaver which takes 50 minutes to get to from Logan. Again I could keep going on with fun stuff to do but will stop at that.

Logan - There is definitely fun stuff to do in Logan, like all the mountains and canyons to drive up and to see pretty fall colors. And there are lakes close to Logan like Bear Lake you might say there is nothing like that down south, true but go just 30 more minutes than it would take you to get to Bear Lake from Logan and be at Lake Powell from Leeds, as some say the best lake ever. There is one thing that Logan might have closer and that is snowmobiling, although from Leeds you are only 40 minutes from dang good snowmobiling up Cedar Canyon.

Just one more thing, free property, I could save tons of money and I mean like 100 to 200 thousand dollars by building on the gorgeous property in Leeds and having a million dollar view which my parents have.

So if you are not convinced that Leeds is better than Logan now than I am sorry that you are lying to yourself.
(I really have nothing wrong with Logan and would be fine living here, but I still believe Leeds is better.)

Christmas All Year!

Justin is at a meeting right now and that is the only reason I am going to get away with this post and the addition of my playlist to the blog. When he left I joked that I was going to put up the Christmas decorations while he was gone. I know that he was a little worried about it. I figured I better wait until after Thanksgiving for that, because I don't want to skip Thanksgiving completely because I do love that too.

Justin and I went to "a few stores" today to try to find ornaments for our tree and Christmas stockings. I take after my mom and think that I need all sorts of decorations. I only ended up buying a wreath today and our Christmas stockings. (However, I do have a lot of decorations at my parents. I am sure Justin doesn't realize how much I have).

Every year my brother makes a compilation of Christmas songs that are different from the ones you hear on the radio. He was a little late getting me my CD this year. Last year I had it in the middle of August. I barely got this year's CD on Monday! Needless to say I have been anxious to listen to Christmas music. If it were up to me, I would listen to Christmas music from August on. Justin is against listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. I guess I have to compromise and just listen to it while I am alone.

Anyway, I thought I would share a couple of my favorite songs. I made sure to add the song from Home Alone because that is one of Justin's favorite Christmas movies.

Merry Christmas!!

Happy Halloween

Justin and I decided that we wanted to start some traditions. (Okay so it might have been more of my idea). On Thursday night we carved our pumpkins. I learned some valuable lessons this year. The biggest pumpkin isn't always the best because it just makes it harder to cut. Justin had to cut the top of my pumpkin off and finish scraping the insides out because I couldn't reach all of the way to the bottom.
I also learned that I am not very good at carving pumpkins and that pumpkin carving tools might make it a little bit easier. All in all though we had a good time.
Justin carved an alien into his (some say it looks more like Yoda). I carved a ghost into my pumpkin. Maybe by the time that we have kids we will have perfected pumpkin carving and will be able to do more complicated patterns.
I also made Justin watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." It is a silly show, but fun for Halloween. I think that Justin is probably glad that we will only have to watch it once a year. (I don't think he realizes that I have a Charlie Brown show for election day, Christmas, Easter, and even Arbor Day). Justin also started the tradition of cooking the pumpkins seeds. I am not a huge fan of cooked pumpkin seeds but he loves them. I think he had fun doing it and especially enjoyed being able to decide how much salt to put on them.

On Halloween we ordered a pumpkin shaped pizza. It looked like a jack-o-lantern if you really used your imagination. If not, it just looked like a pizza with the pepperoni made into a smile.

While we were watching a movie, I kept hearing cat meowing. I muted the TV because the cat was so loud that I thought if was from the movie we were watching, but I couldn't figure out how a cat meow fit into the scene. I realized it was coming from outside. We opened the door and there was a black cat under Justin's truck. Once it saw us it came to us and tried to come into the house. It stayed there for a while. I wanted to keep it, but was told that it would most likely be bad luck to keep a black cat you found on Halloween night. It was pretty cute though.