Fall Colors, Rugby, and the Opera

This last weekend my parents and I took a trip over to St. George. The journey over was one of the longer drives I have ever been on. We decided to take the "scenic route" and so it took us twice as long to get there. We left Blanding and went up through Hanksville, then to Capitol Reef, then we made our way over Boulder Mountain. I was starting to get burned out with this long drive, but that is when we hit some great fall colors. The higher we climbed on Boulder Mountain, the brighter and more vibrant the colors became. We stopped at a rest stop near the top and took a few pictures of the scenery. After coming down off the mountain we wound up at Cannonville and went to see Janice. We had never been to her new house, so we stopped in to see her. It was nice to talk to her for a bit. I was really suprised at how big her house was though, that thing was huge. After visiting with Jan for almost an hour we hit the road again. A little farther down the road we made it to Panguitch. This was a particularly exciting for my dad, because it is where he grew up. We drove around town for a few minutes while my dad checked out a few familiar spots. When we got going again we made it to Parowan, which was our stopping place for the night. We met up with Farley and Tina in Parowan and spent the evening together. We went to dinner then went and played pool in the lobby of our hotel. After that Farley, Tina, and I went swimming. It was supposed to be a heated pool, but the water was pretty chilly. It was a lot harded getting in that water than it was hopping in the pool in Mesquite two weeks ago.

The next morning we got up and finished our journey to St. George. We spent most of the day just hanging out and taking it easy. We did a little shopping, and got to see a movie. We went and saw Forever Strong. It is a movie about the Highland Rugby team. I didn't think I was going to like it, but it was a really good movie. After the movie we went and ate at Texas Roadhouse. We had a great meal, and I had one of the most tender steaks I have ever eaten. It was amazing! After dinner we went to the hotel and relaxed for about an hour before heading to Les Miserable at the Tuacahn Theatre. It was really neat seeing it out in the open with the canyons as a backdrop. It was a little different than the last time I saw it, but it was still well done. We got back to the hotel around midnight, then Farley and I headed for Mesquite to try our luck on the slots. It was a lot of fun to just hang out with Farley, plus I won $3o! By the time we got home it was like 3:00, so we were both really tired. The next day we had breakfast together and then headed for home. It was another long drive, but it was worth it. Well, here are a few pictures to enjoy.

Construction Updates

Well for the past couple of months, our house has been a construction zone. We have had our upstairs hallway, Farleys old bedroom, and the bathroom torn apart and getting remodeled at a slow pace. I had actually intended to do more pictures to show a progression, but you all know how the saying goes, I think it is something to the effect of "the pathway to hell is lined with good intentions." Anyway, we are getting pretty close to the finished product now, so I thought you might enjoy these pictures.

The re-designed closet in Fars room

Another view from Fars room

There is a ton of tile in our bathroom now

The new cabinet and sink.

The carpet on the left is in Farleys room, and the carpet on the right is in the hallway

The Trip That Almost Wasn't

This past weekend I got to go down to Mesquite with my friend Kyle to pick up his wife and his mother-in-law. Dany and Carrie had been there babysitting for Danys sister Clea, so Kyle and I went to pick them up, and to celebrate Kyles 21st birthday. We actually had planned on going to Vegas while we were down there, but it didn't really work out. Anyway, a few days before the trip I got a call from Kyle saying that the trip was off because Clea and her husband were going to be stranded in New York for a couple extra days because their flight got cancelled. A couple days later we found out that they had managed to get a flight for Saturday night, so the trip was back on. So I spent the next day and a half getting all my school work lined up so I could leave. Then on Wednesday night I got really sick, and was suffering through work the next morning, so I was ready to back out of the trip, but I was able to get over it on time. So long story short, it worked out in the end and we had a great trip.

So we left Blanding on Thursday night at 6:30 after I got done with all my school stuff. It was a very long drive to get to Mesquite. I could barely stay awake towards the end of the trip. We got to the house around 1:00 in the morning. The next morning we got to have a pretty quite morning. In the afternoon we drove over to St. George and did a little shopping and had lunch. Then we went back to Mesquite for the rest of the evening. We actually wound up going to the tailgate party for the high school. It was really weird being there because we didn't know anybody, but we went because we provided beans for navajo tacos. I guess the party was sponsored by Clea and her husbands business. After that we went back to the house and opened up the pool. It was really fun to have that nice of a pool all to ourselves. After swimming we went back inside and fired up the Wii. We played tennis on that for a couple of hours. I never knew you could get sore arms from playing video games. The next day was a little more challgnging. Dany and Carrie had been there all week babysitting 4 kids, and we had been able to kind of avoid them for the most part up to that point. Since they were out of schhol on Saturday, we couldn't really avoid them too much. So we had to fight and deal with them almost all day. They were CRAZY! We still managed to have some fun throughout the day. We went swimming that afternoon for a couple more hours. That evening we went to the Eurika Casino for the prime rib and crab legs buffet. It was a lot of really good food. After that we went back to the house and wtached Baby Mamma, and it was a pretty funny movie. Then we had another tennis tourney on the Wii. We had a little early birthday celebration for Kyle. Then at 12:01, when Kyle was officially 21, we headed back to the Eurika Casino to play the slots for a while. I won $30 like right off the bat, but ended out breaking even. I walked into the casino with $20 and walked out with $20, so I walked out feeling alright. Finally today we made the long journey home. It is never any easy drive, but we had Kyles Kia loaded to the brim. We were very weighed down. It was well worth it to just get away and have some fun for a weekend.

Where we spent the majority of our free time.

Emma, Kyle, and Mandy

Kyle reading his home made birthday cards.

Kyles cake!

Ready to blow out the candles.

The New hp!

Well after struggling to make a decision on a new computer I finally broke down and got a new laptop. I had Farley help me find a good deal on this little hp. I figured that I needed to have one for school, and I can use it for a lot of other good things too, so now was just as good a time as any. If all else fails, I will have another means to keep my blog up to date.

The new machine!

A Late Report

So this last weekend I took a trip to Mesa Arizona with my parents so we could visit Zeb and Hil. We wanted to go check out their new apartment, which was very nice, and to attend Zebs White Coat Ceremony. So we left Blanding on wednesday evening and drove to Flagstaff and spent the night. Then we took on the rest of the traveling to Mesa on Thursday morning. It was so nice to take the trip down in two stages, it made the trip a lot more tolerable. Anyway, we just spent most of our weekend relaxing, watching movies, swimming, and eating too much. On Friday morning we got to go to the White Coat Ceremony. It was pretty cool to witness that becasue it is an outward symbol of Zeb actually hitting the home stretch to becoming a doctor. I know he would disagree with that statement because he still has a long way to go before he finishes (you can check out the official countdown on his blog). So we had a really good time down in Arizona there were only two negatives in the whole trip, the heat, and the drive home. We took a route home that we were told was faster, but it took FOREVER! I was so ready to be home by the time we pulled up to our garage. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the ceremony.

Every wonder what Santa does during the summer?

Waiting in line to receive the honors

Making his introduction

Putting on THE White Coat

The proud parents

All About Me!!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? The airport, coming home
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Roast Beef
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Hope not
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I'd like to think so.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? No...yes, gets em every time
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Yes
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? It depends on the pair of shoes.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? That is a loaded question
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Demeanor
15. RED OR PINK? Red
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Being 21 with the body problems of a 90 year old
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Grandpa Redd
18. WHO DO YOU WANT TO TAG? Micah
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? levi shorts and blue reeboks
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Beef Broccoli
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Tina reading me the questions of this tag
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Lime Green
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? sage brush, fresh baked anything, and rain
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? A guy from Italy at work
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU? She is pretty much awesome!
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football, basketball, and Olympic events
27. HAIR COLOR? Dark brown
28. EYE COLOR? Blueish Green
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Supposed to
30. FAVORITE FOOD? any grilled meat, pasta, cheesecake
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? happy endings
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The Bucket List
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Blue
34. FAVORITE SEASON? Fall
35. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? hot fudge brownie sundae
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND TO TAG? Well, Tina has already done it
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND TO TAG? Carson
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? healthyutah.org
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? CSI: NY
42. FAVORITE SOUND? a light rain storm
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Crofton, Maryland
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? impersonations
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Almost in my aunt's car
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Oh, reading what Tina hasn't already told me...and Hilary!!


Transcribed by Tina

The X-Adventure

So Kyle and I decided to go for a little drive the other day, and it turned out to be quite the journey. We took the x-terra out towards mustang because Kyle wanted to get some cool pictures of wheeling in his x. So we were messing around on some fairly rocky roads to set up some nice photos, and we wound up running into an unforseen problem. We were heading down a hill that had been washed out on one side. So we tried to avoid the big trench, but it didn't work so well. The dirt on the edge of the trench was extremely loose and right as we hit it, the x started to slide and tip. We stopped and got out to check out the situation, and we were definitely sliding into trouble. So after several minutes of trying to figure out our best option, we started piling all the rocks we could into the trench. eventually we got it built up enough to get ourselves out. I must admit that I thought we were actually going to roll the x for a while, but we made it out alive and well. Kyle and I almost had to change our shorts after that one. Enjoy the pics of us not being stuck.