SNOW in St. George!

So it was snowing today... and since I was at school I got a picture with a couple of my classmates - Jenn (left) & Amy (right). I haven't seen snow in St. George in a while... maybe even since our wedding... :) We are in front of the Udvar Hazy building and you can see the institute building in the background.

and a close-up..

Trip to Brian Head

Yesterday, since it was a holiday, Natalie took her kids up to go snowboarding for the day. She invited McKay and I to go with them, as well as Berlyn's friend, Sydney. So all together it was Natalie, her kids Berlyn, Dryden, and Elle, McKay, Sydney and me. I was the only one to go skiing (I have never been snowboarding and didn't feel like learning that day). It was really fun - I hadn't gone skiing in over 2 years. Brian Head Resort (a little over an hour north of St. George, UT) was pretty nice, but I have definitely seen better snow. Maybe I'm spoiled with northern Utah's snow or Idaho's snow... but I thought it was VERY icy there. It was fun, anyway. It got pretty cold after about 2pm so we quit a little earlier than we had planned.
I thought this was pretty interesting - I wore my heart rate monitor while skiing, and during the 4 1/2 hours of skiing I burned 2,000 calories! Crazy!

Here is Elle and McKay - Elle surprised me with how good she is! She's so young but so good!

Here I am (in blue) with Berlyn on the ski lift

Here are Dryden (left) and McKay (right) on the lift in front of us.

Can't wait 'til next time - I can go with Jesse!

Liar's Dice

If you have seen Pirates of the Caribbean 3 you may remember this game. My parents learned it from some of their friends from Idaho, and they taught the game to Jesse and me over the holidays. There is a scene where the pirates are at a table playing a game with dice, and the game is called "Pirate's Dice" or "Liar's Dice." I found the rules somewhere online, but you can also buy the game from Walmart or just dice from the dollar store works too. We played at Matt & Lindsay's place (and Cody was also there) last night and it was a lot of fun. :) Ella and Kash are CUTE!

Each player gets dealt 5 dice, numbered 1-6. Ones are wild and therefore count as every number.
Each round, everyone rolls their dice secretly, and the starting player makes a bid.
Play proceeds clockwise. When it comes to you, you may either raise the bid or challenge the previous bid. Note that you are not bidding on just your dice, but ALL the dice in play.
To raise the bid you must increase the number of dice on the track, or keep the same number of dice but increase the value of the face being bid on. Example: the previous player says seven 4's. You can say seven 5's, seven 6's eight of something (or nine, ten etc. of something), but not seven 2's or 3's (because that would be going down).
If instead of raising, you challenge, all players reveal their dice, and whoever is wrong loses one die. Remember that ones are wild, so will be counted as any number.
Exception (we didn't play with this exception, but it sounds interesting): if the bidder was spot-on, then everyone loses a dice except the person who was right, i.e. the bidder.
Play then begins again with the person who won that challenge.
The winner is the last man standing.

(I have modified these rules to the way that we play... so if they don't make sense, then find the rules somewhere online and play your own way, or, better yet... invite Jesse and me over to come play with you!)

Mitt Romney takes Michigan!

I've never been into politics much, but I am excited this year because I watch the news (Jesse always has it on in the background). I have been semi-following the presidential primaries. I am especially excited that Mitt Romney is doing so well! He has "2 Gold & 2 Silver" now. Go Mitt!

Happy Birthday, Jesse!

Jesse's birthday was yesterday (4th of January) and those of us in town got to celebrate (with McKay, of course - his birthday is on the 1st) at Olive Garden. It was fun to get together with everyone and we had a good time. We wish you were here, Adam! (Adam's birthday is coming up on the 8th.)

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.

I've been Tagged

When you are tagged I guess you give 7 interesting facts about yourself. I now tag Angela, Jackie, and Ashley. Here they are:

1. Although I am from Idaho, I hate being cold and I have definitely acclimatized to St. George's weather. The weather in Idaho is too cold for me! I love being warm. I even love the heat in St. George.

2. I have 21 nieces and nephews - 4 (+ one on the way!) on my side and 17 on Jesse's side. I even know all their names. I love big families and I am glad I married into one!

3. These are a few random things I can do / have done: ride a unicycle, juggle, play piano, play guitar, sang in choir, I was on a swim team, I ran track and cross-country, I played softball in high school, I recently took up road-biking, I took a year of violin, I played soccer and T-ball and slow pitch when I was younger.

4. I love to garden and can't wait until I have my own to grow tomatoes and other yummy things!

5. I've only been outside of the country once, and that was to Canada this last summer. I would LOVE to visit Europe and Mexico and Australia one day! I love foreign accents and I collect foreign money. :)

6. I love to learn about the body and how it works and how to be healthier. Science has been my favorite subject since I took Trigonometry in high school. :) There is a lot to learn as a nursing student and I hope I can keep up with it all!

7. I love my family and my in-laws - I am so blessed to have them all in my life. I love my wonderful husband Jesse and I am so grateful for the way he treats me. Sure he is busy, but he always finds time for me. I love being married to him and I am so happy I married my best friend. I love the gospel and I love my Savior. I am so blessed with the knowledge of the Atonement and that I can return to live with Him one day. I am surrounded with wonderful people in my life and I want you all to know that I love you all! Thank you for everything you do for me and the time you put in to be my friend. Happy Holidays!

I love the people; Mom&Dad; Presidential Candidates 2008

Not a whole lot has been going on here... just work and school for me and work for Jesse. I had shingles (dormant chicken pox virus becomes active - a small rash) but it is practically healed and I am no longer contagious. They say you get it from stress... and it is pretty uncommon for someone under the age 50 to get it... well I guess school has been pretty tough lately. I started clinicals a couple weeks ago, and I am enjoying them. While I have been going through school sometimes I wonder why I am subjecting myself to this... but at clinicals I have learned why I want to become a nurse - it is because I love the people. It is very rewarding to help someone in a needy situation. I have had discussions with some people that think poorly of the medical field because the doctors and nurses dehumanize their clients (or patients) - which I know happens. Yet I still want to become a nurse. The patients I have come in contact with so far are not just patients to me - they are people that need my help. I have learned a lot about service and love the past few weeks, and I know that throughout my career as a nurse I have much more to learn.
My mom called on Sunday to tell me they might come down to St. George for the weekend of my birthday! (11/30 - 12/3) This will be their first time since our wedding, so they haven't had a chance to do anything St. George specific. Ideas, anyone?

So Jesse has joined the "RON PAUL REVOLUTION" and I am sticking with good ol'

MITT ROMNEY

at this point. Jesse was with me at the beginning, but he started watching movies on UTube that Ron Paul supporters have made. They are pretty much foo-foo with Ron Paul saying a few words from a t.v. show or interview. Sure, Jesse has a good point about Ron Paul's views on politics. But I just don't think our country is ready for him. What do you think?

Ron Paul

Tour de St. George!

So last Saturday, the 20th of October, I set out to ride 100 miles on my 5-week-old road bike. Dawn & John (Kurt's sister & husband), Kurt, & Ashley were all with me, but left me in the dust pretty soon after the start. A little after an hour into the race (about 13 miles), my chain fell off... soon after I fixed it and was riding again I crashed my bike trying to clip into my pedals. More irritated than anything, I got back on with only a little scrape. A mile later I noticed my back tire was flat. SERIOUSLY!?? I had no clue how to fix a flat, but some older guy helped me put my spare tube on... which popped while he was filling it with air. So the sag car came 30 minutes later and fixed my flat with a free tube. I was finally on the road again 50 minutes after I had stopped for the flat tire. By this time... everyone, I mean everyone had passed me. Including 10-year-olds on mountain bikes and older women traveling less than 5 mph.

This is a picture of me before the race (notice I am smiling without any pain).I had been trying to get the hold of drafting - which reduces the effort you need to make to go the same speed - but by this time anyone my pace was WAY ahead of me.

Here is the map of the ride:

Before this ride, the longest ride I had done was 38 miles. The total distance I had put on my road bike was almost 250 miles. So I wasn't sure I could even finish the race, but I knew I wanted to. Some of the only advice I got for the century was "get in a group." Since that was practically out of the question, I continued the ride and only drafted a total of less than 15 miles during the entire 100 miles. I basically rode the entire race by myself! I'm glad I did it, though. I surprised I am not more sore than I am.
Before I decided to sign up for the full century, I talked to Terrel about whether or not he thought I could do it. He actually suggested doing only the 65 miles. During the hardest part of the race (up Highway 18 to the top of Snow Canyon State Park - miles 70-80) I would think of what Terrel said and was determined to prove him wrong! The race was a lot more mental than I was prepared for, but I did it. I finished in 8 hours, 47 minutes and 19 seconds. They stopped the support at 9 hours, so I barely made it!
Ashley has some pictures on her site as well: click here

In the Nursing Program at DSC

(Before I lost my camera) So I have been in the Nursing Program here at Dixie State College in St. George for almost 2 months now. I've made some good friends and I've worked hard so far. I brought my camera to class (lab) one day and some of my classmates got a hold of the camera and took a few pictures. This is our practice before we practice at our clinicals.

As you can see, the dummies we have to work on are very life-like.

Irresponsible & Determined

So I lost our camera.. the one we got right before going to Sorensen's Camp in July. :( So there may not be very many pictures the next little while.. or long while..

But - I signed up to do the Tour de St. George (100 mile Bike race, aka Century). Jesse decided he wasn't ready for it yet, but it starts this Saturday at 8am and I am pretty excited to do my first century! You can read about it at this site. Jesse has been riding with me and helping me train, so I guess we'll see if I finish or not. My goal: under 8 hours. Wish me luck!

Hiking for the Spa

These are a few pictures I have taken while working for Fitness Ridge as a hiking guide. All (except one) of these pictures are taken back in Green Valley near the gap.

This first one is the sunrise with guides Carie (back, left) and Janet aka my Mother-in-law (back, right) and two guests in front.

I just thought this was a cool picture of the moon.

Here is Annie, Alan's sister, whom I also hike with.

This picture shows the city far off - we are really not very far away from it. It also shows the gap that I was in.

This picture is in Snow Canyon State Park - it is known as "The Staircase." I hike with Cody Pickett sometimes - he is the one in the blue at the top. If you can't tell, he is WAY ahead of us (the guest I was with and myself).I thought this was scenic so I took a picture. You can see Snow Canyon State Park - it is off to the right in the distance.

I love hiking as a job - I get paid to exercise! Plus I can work on my conversation-with-strangers skills...

Bike & Hike

Here we are with our new road bikes... including the nice shorts.

I took Jesse on a 3 1/2 hour hike up Tuacahn split and we had a good time. Beautiful scenery. The last picture you can see St. George and how high we actually climbed.