On our Way Home

Of course we stopped at Grandpa's house on the way back - he is so fun to talk to - just full of advice and stories. Since Pocatello isn't far from Idaho Falls (about an hour drive) we have tried to stop by every time we go up north.
Congratulations, Olivia! Sorry we weren't able to make it to your baptism, but you have made an excellent choice in getting baptized! We love you!

Here is a picture of Jesse with Grandpa.I tried to get some video of him - he was holding my hand during part of the video, so sorry for how dark it is and not a very good picture. I hope you enjoy! We love you, Grandpa!

White Christmas in Idaho

Our trip to Idaho was nice - I love to see family especially since I live so far away now. My whole family was there - Jeff, his wife, Jackie, and their 2 kids Veronica (3) and David (9 months); Angela, her husband, Tom, and their 2 kids Hannah (3) and Hailey (22 months); Jesse and myself; my younger sister, Rachel and my parents. It was nice to see everyone there. We didn't get a family picture, however... you'll have to talk to my dad about that one (he was in charge of organizing it). The drive down was clear the whole way, and since it snowed every day we were there our drive back included some ice and snow - thankfully we arrived with no accident. I was nervous letting Jesse drive in the snow while we were there because he grew up in St. George... where it snows once a year. I have probably told Jesse this 10 times, but I just felt more comfortable driving - "I took driver's ed in the snow!" Anyway, here are some pictures I got from the trip and you can go to Jeff & Jackie's website and Tom & Angela's website to see more. Just click on these links and they will bring you to their websites.

This is Jesse and my niece, Hannah. She's 3 years old and knows how to pull up an internet webpage of Dora and print from it. That is pretty smart!

Here is my dad and Rachel working on one of many puzzles this holiday break.

Here I am trying out some holiday candy from my stocking (Angela in the background..).

Angela posing. :)

Jesse with my niece, Hailey. Something kind of sad, but funny that Hailey does, is when she is really mad or frustrated, she will get down on her hands and knees and then bang her head on the ground. It's afterwards when she cries that is the sad part.

Here is Tom. This is the living room - where we have most of our conversations over the holidays.

Here is David (Veronica, Jeff, & Jackie in the background). He's already a BYU fan.One family tradition is having these mini-oranges around all the time during the holidays. (Yum!)Cute smile from Veronica. My brother and his family stayed the night at our place on their way from Los Angeles to Idaho Falls. I made smoothies for them in the morning and Veronica wouldn't try it. But after her parents bribed her, she said "If I drink this smoothie, I get a piece of bacon, a BIG piece!" She takes after her dad in that she is a meat eater.

Here is a cute video of playing some games:

Here is my dad playing Nintendo Wii Bowling - this is the 2nd time I have ever beat him at bowling. :)

Another family tradition - going bowling. Here are Jesse, Jackie, and Jeff waiting their turn. I got my 2nd best - 143!My dad's seat is always behind the computer monitor. Here he is laughing as Tom helps Hailey bowl.

Here is Angela and Hailey. Jesse bowling - go Jesse!
We had a good time up in Idaho, thank you Mom & Dad!

You can also go to Jeff & Jackie's website and Tom & Angela's website to see more. Just click on these links and they will bring you to their websites.

Cold Weather Ahead

So Jesse and I leave for Idaho tomorrow... and this is supposed to be our weather (compared to St. George - what we are used to). How did I manage growing up in such a cold place? Both my dad and Jesse know I don't like to be cold and that I am almost always cold. At least we get to spend the holidays away from school and work (sort of...) and with family. :) Idaho, here we come!
The 27th for example... high of 21 degrees in Idaho... and high of 38 degrees in St. George - both are cold but I prefer the 38!

Jesse is Mighty

When Jesse is feeling a little depressed, his favorite thing to do is to visit THIS SITE. He gets pretty happy when he views it... (as you can see in the picture).

Christmas Tree

For the first time ever I got to go cut down my own Christmas tree! Well, I guess I cut into it about an inch and Jesse finished it off. The day after Thanksgiving we headed up to Pine Valley and hiked around a bit to find the perfect tree. Once we had it cut down, Jesse hauled it up to our car and we wrapped it up in a tarp and stuffed it into the car. Yes, we stuffed into the back of our Subaru with hardly any damage done to the tree. It was fun and maybe even a tradition I think we should do every year! :) We'll see if it happens, I guess.Yeah, it is short and fat but we love it... at least I love it.

Birthday Weekend

So it was my birthday yesterday and my parents (Craig & Mary) came to visit for the weekend. It was pretty fun - we went to Zion Nat'l Park and hiked Emerald Pools. It was raining on and off all weekend - you can see snow in some of the mountains in the pictures of Zion. They also came to church with Jesse and me and helped me out in the nursery. After church we had a nice dinner at the Bird's house and then watched the Christmas message from the 1st Presidency. My mom also helped me finish decorating our Christmas tree.

My mom and I - Time to open presents!

Me and my mom in the backseat on the drive to Zion... Jesse decided to take us on a tour to Colorado City because he took an unnecessary turn... it made for a long drive, but wasn't too bad.

Zion is so beautiful! This is only the 2nd time I've been since living in St. George. You can see some snow in these mountains.

Here I tried getting a picture of the leaves - some leaves were bright pink.

Here's all 4 of us
Jesse, me, my mom, my dad

Because of all the rain, there were multiple waterfalls. This picture shows 2 of them. (One is in the distance to the right of the crooked tree.) Once we reached the middle emerald pool we decided to head back. All the rain had made so much water that we had to get logs and make ourselves a bridge to cross over the water!

Here is my mom with a bunch of pink-leafed trees. They were really pretty!

Here is yet another waterfall. This one was probably the tallest we saw - you can't see where it ends, but it is almost twice as long as you can tell.