Emily and Chris

I know I have been doing better about updating my blog this year, it is so much easier now that I can do it from my phone! However, I still have managed to miss some really fun things we have done! We went to see Daniel Tosh in Salt

Lake with Breanne and Aaron, we had an awesome pirate party, we attended a frozen Luau at The Bean/Bowman residence, we celebrated Chris’ half-birthday, Zach came home from Peru, and our dogs were adorable , and Chris and Mike came for an Easter visit and my beautiful friend Kimberly got married. Here are some pictures from things I didn’t get posted!

Phoebe honored Chris this year by asking him to take her to the Grace Lutheran Father Daughter dance. I got super excited and ask Kendra to let me take Phoebe for the afternoon. We went to Paisley Punch for a manicure and pedicure. Phoebe got purple toenails and zebra striped fingernails. Afterward we went for a milkshake at Arctic Circle and then to Claire’s for some accessories Phoebe picked out some Zebra jewelry and some flowers for her hair. Then we went and got her hair done! She looked so beautiful and grown-up! Chris looked very handsome (of course!). They had a great time!

Whoo! Crazy spring break this year! Phoenix was a blast! We have a great time! We flew in from Pocatello on Thursday night with Edythe and Phil. We landed later in the evening and by the time we got the car and found the condo everyone was starving! So for dinner we had (Yay!) In and Out! We headed back to the condo after that and everyone was ready for bed.
The next day was the first night game we have attended in Phoenix. We watched the San Fransisco Giant v. The Oakland Athletics. We had awesome seats right behind home plate. Benji Molina (Of the famous Molina brothers) is the catcher for the Giants and his wife and new baby were sitting right behind us!
The second day we went to my favorite ball park (Maryvale) and saw the Brewers and the Padres. I was excited because for the second year in a row I got see David Eckstein play! We sat directly behind the Padres dugout. It was perfect weather and perfect seats! I even got a coach to throw me a ball!
That night Becca flew in to join us. We had In and Out for dinner again Yum Yum Yum! My favorite!
The third day we saw The Mariners at the Dodgers. We seriously had the best seats! We were right down the first base line. It was SO cool! Ichiro was standing like 6 ft. away from us! Chris caught a foul ball hit by Ryan Garko. The little boy sitting behind us was a big Mariners fan and my husband is a really nice guy so he gave it the little boy. The little boy said “I have been to 11 Mariners games and I have never seen them win!”
We went to the most fabulous restaurant I have ever been to! Yes, even better than In and Out It is called Chino Bandito. It was featured on Diners, Drive-in’s and Dives on Food Network so we decided to check it out. It is Chinese Mexican Fusion. It was AMAZING! Really spicy jerk fried rice, spicy sweet and sour chicken wrapped in a tortilla and covered in cheese with sweet ginger black beans! OMG! Also, homemade snickerdoodle cookies! I could eat it every day!
We had an amazing time in Phoenix! We couldn’t have asked for better seats or better weather!

This Spring break is a crazy one! I spent Thursday through Sunday in Las Vegas with my Mom, Aunt Al and Christian and Lexie and Gabe. Aunt Al and Christian have a darling condo there! Al, my mom and the kids drove down on Wednesday and Christian and I flew on Thursday night. Our flight was delayed so many times that we could have driven to Vegas by the time we got there!
We had a great time seeing the sights! I have never been to Las Vegas before. We also went to see “Tony and Tina’s Wedding”. If you ever have a chance, GO SEE IT! It was SO hilarious. It is like really going to a wedding, the actors come sit at your table and talk to you and tell you the back story and you get to be involved in all the family drama. Christian got to be part of the Village People to do the YMCA and wore a hard hat that was way to big and kept sliding down over his eyes. It was SO fun!
We also went to a magic/comedy show for Gabe’s birthday. The guy was really funny and did a couple of really cool tricks!
I also discovered a new addiction The In and Out burger is AMAZING! I like a double-double protein style with animal style fries… Yummy! I could eat it everyday (and did while we were in Vegas)! Only 3 days and I can eat it again in Phoenix
The drive home was on Gabe’s birthday. And he was very good on the trip. We stopped at a convience store and I let him pick out all the candy he wanted I really like being the fun cousin.
The trip was really fun and I was glad to spend some time with IF family. It seems like we hardly get to see them! Now its home for 3 days and off the Phoenix with the Joslin’s for Spring Training

Around Thanksgiving Chris and I decided that the kids in our lives are growing up too fast and that we are missing it!  I wish that everyone in both of families lived closer so that we could see all of the kids, sadly, that is not the case.  We decided that once a month (at least) we would try to borrow Shawn and Phoebe and Jack and Lily to go do something fun.  It works out well because they are all so close in age and seem to really like each other.  My friend Breanne and her fiancee have a little girl and little boy (Abby and Karter) so we have been inviting them to come with us.  The first thing we did in January was go bowling.  It was a blast!  Phoebe is SO good!  She even has her own bowling ball!  We put the bumpers down and let the kids go crazy.  I think all of the kids stepped over the line and slipped on the greased alley at least once   Karter rolled his ball and then tried to chase after it.  We all had Happy Meals at the bowling alley and a great time.

This month, the kids wanted to go Roller Skating.  Chris and I were a little skeptical since neither one of us have skated in 10+ years and the kids don’t really know how.  I was pleasantly surprised that roller skating is a little like riding a bike.  I put the skates on and it came right back to me.  However, it is very difficult to explain to someone else how to balance and move at the same time.  Again, Phoebe did really well! She is the only one that has been before and brought her own roller blades.  She even did the limbo contest with her skates on!  She did awesome!  All the other kids took a break and cheered for her.  Shawn, Jack and Lily all had a few good falls but mostly between the walls, railings, Chris and me they managed to stay up.  I think that their favorite part was when Chris and I would both take them out, one of each side, so we could pull them fast around the rink.  We had pizza for lunch at Goody’s so we could show off how cute and smart the kids are and then went to McDonald’s to play on the toys and have ice cream afterward.  I think that everyone was ready for a nap by the time we got done.

These are from our first trip… Bowling

And these are from Roller Skating

I’m not sure why I didn’t get anything written this summer.  We weren’t particularly busy, we did a lot of nice things though.  We played in the Farm Bureau Golf Tournament again this summer and it was really fun!.  We started regularly biking (mostly to Goody’s).  My mom came for a wonderful visit.  We had SO much fun!  Sheri and I had a fabulous time visiting many many many garage sales and finding treasures this summer.  Chris took a wonderful trip to Canada with Phil to go fishing.  They had a great time!

I guess one of the biggest things is that I’m not doing band this year.  This is the first time since 5th grade that I haven’t been playing my flute.  It is really odd and I miss it.  Brooke and Zach aren’t here anymore though’ so it wouldn’t be the same anyway.

Summer is over now and it is back to school.  I had a really tough time getting in to my classes again this semester, but I am finally now registered (The second week) and I’m now just waiting for my financial aid to go through.

I got a job at Goody’s, which is wonderful.  Chris and I joke that my benefits  are better than his because we get 50% off all of our food now   Also, I have started baking and selling my cookies there.  The first day they ALL sold out in 3 hours!

Chris is still loving his job at the  Bureau and he is of course very successful at it.  He is really looking forward to college football starting on Thursday!

I am sure now that I am sitting in class all day everyday I am sure that I’ll be back on here all the time again!

We had lots of fun riding our new bikes this summer.

On our way home from the FB golf tourament

Chris and Phil at Hatchet on their fishing trip

My Mom and Me at Charley's for the Drag Show

This weekend was Grandma’s 85th birthday.  Family came from Wyoming, Lewiston, California and of course all over town.  It was so nice to see everyone.  I feel like I don’t even see the people who live in town enough!  Brynn and Noah are SO grown-up and adorable!  Friday was pizza at Grandma’s with the family.  23 of us plus dogs in Grandma’s nice warm house   Saturday Lori and Guy had a BBQ out at there house, the weather was awful but the food and the party were great!  We did a really fun thing for Grandma.  I made a poster of 85 reason why we love her.  We emailed the whole family, but of course, I waited until the last minute (didn’t think of it actually) so a lot of family was traveling already.  We came up with most of reasons ourselves, but tried to make ones that applied to everyone.  It was really nice.  Chris read it out-loud at the party and everyone was all teared up and laughing.  I think Grandma really liked it.

Here is a link to the PDF if you are interested in looking at it.

85 Reasons Why We Love Grandma

I thought that when school was out I would be able to update this more!  However, I have now found out that without the time I’m not paying attention in class to do it, I don’t do it!  We have done SO many things since school got out!  Chris and Phil have had to replace 3 posts in our fence.  The first time they did it last summer it took them 4 weekends I think.  Now they have it down to a day long project!  We all keep joking about if the insurance business goes under at least they have something to fall back on

We put in a vegetable garden this year.  It is sorta an experiment this year.  We planted lots of things!  Carrots, peas, zucchini, pumpkins, acorn squash, crook-neck squash, straight-neck squash,  radishes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes.  So far, the radishes sprung up, they look like a little carpet out there.  Also, the cucumbers died

We got a new shed!  It is so nice!  We were so excited to get rid of the piece of crap tin one.  It looks fabulous.  We also got new patio furniture.  It was so worth it!  We spend so much time outside in the summer that it was something we definatly needed to do.  I bought our wicker for $50 at a garage sale 2 years ago and it was pretty trashed then.

I got a new bike.  It is SO awesome!  Chris and I really want to try to be healthier this summer.  We also sand and repainted Chris’ bike.  It look really great.  The people at the bike shop didn’t believe that we did it with just spray paint.  I will convert Chris’ to the “dark side” of middle of the night projects!

Brie and Tilly are naughty (mostly Brie) but good.  We are a very happy little family.

Spring Break was fabulous!  Everything about it!  We had a fabulous time in Phoenix!  I am putting the pictures up in my gallery.  We saw three fabulousd baseball games that were very fun and very different.  We tried burm seating, which was interesting.  I got to see Manny play, even though he didn’t do anything ( struck out looking twice, and hit into a double play).  It was so nice to spend some time with the Joslin’s.  It was so nice to spend more than just the weekend with Becca!n The weather was awful when we returned to Salt Lake.  Of course, none of us brought coats and I didn’t bring any real shoes… It was a cold walk to the car.

We were home for one night and Chris Clark came for the weekend.  I hadn’t seen him since my birthday so it was really fun!  We didn’t really do anything, mostly homework and errands, but we got a new Wii game and it was so fun!  You have to dance and totally make a fool of yourself.

School is keeping me so busy!  I can’t seem to get caught up on anything!  I am doing really well in my classes, even thought I feel like I’m totally slacking.

YAY! We arrived in Phoenix today… LATE!  By the time we got to the hotel it was 11!  We left Pocatello at 2!  I’m so excited to be here! I’ll write more soon and put up pictures tomorrow!