Ellia

What an adorable baby girl. Ellia Mae Gillespie was blessed last Sunday and she looked beautiful!

The proud parents Jeremy & Stefanie.

Viva Las Vegas!

Jared & I had a wonderful weekend with our friends Ryan and Sarah in Henderson, NV. Jared kept saying, "That's the funnest time I've ever had in Vegas" and we were both really sad to leave. We got there late Thursday night but still got to see Brady & Easton before they went to bed! Friday morning we met Kevin & Amy at the Monte Carlo and had breakfast with them. We were lucky we got to see them before they left.
Next Jared & I visited the Coca-cola factory and m&m factory which I had never been to before.

Some pictures we got with the m&m's

Friday night we went to The District to eat dinner and watch the outdoor movie that was playing (The Goonies) but it started raining and lightning so we sadly had to go. Still an unforgetable experience.

The boys wear their "Y" shirts every game day at Uncle Chad's request.

Another first for me was Hoover Dam. Jared enjoyed this machine a little too much! You had to crank the handle to create enough power to keep the kitchen appliances running.
Jared needs some training on how to and not to make a baby look at the camera :)
Here are a couple of the many cute traits the twins have.
Doing their army crawl then turning over on their side!!

Brady plays with his ear while he drinks his bottle. I finally know how to tell them apart!

That plate came out full of bananas and bread and was gone in seconds. Those boys can eat!

Saturday night we saw Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. What a GREAT show! I think we all wanted to see it again as soon as it was over.
That was the end of our Vegas/Henderson weekend with the McGivens. We were sad the Hills weren't there too but we'll come visit again (if it's ok)

Thanks Ryan & Sarah!

P.s. Sarah mentioned on her blog these margaritaville shoes that both Jared & Ryan got so I had to take a picture.

Join us for La Cucaracha!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Mt. Timpanogos

This looks like a painting it's so pretty. I highly recommend going up Timpooneke rather than Aspen Grove. I thought it was prettier and not so treacherous! Most of the water falls were dry on the Aspen Grove trail which was too bad.




You can kind of tell how hard the wind is blowing by my hair! This picture was taken at the VERY top of Timp.
Fall is a fun time to hike it with all the new colors coming in!

This was our last bit to the very top. We had some food on the East side of the mountain then got up and faced the wind to finish the hike. We were not very prepared for what was to come. It was FREEZING COLD, and the wind was AWFUL! Thank goodness Jeremy had an extra shirt or I would have gotten hypothermia! If you do this hike take gloves, a hat, and a sweatshirt! The good thing is the wind pushes you toward the side of the mountain while you're walking so it helps to keep you from falling!

Mt. Timpanogas

Mt. Timpanogas

Jared got a good picture of Timpanogas temple from Timpanogas.
Hanging on for dear life hoping the wind doesn't blow us away. It really is that WINDY

Mt. Timpanogas

It all began very early, in this picture the sun still hasn't come up.

Jeremy, the GEOLOGY major (thanks Ryan, I even wore Jeremy's shirt that said BYU Geology) , taught us about the limestone that was all around and the fossil fragments found in it. He could tell about how much water use to be on top of it when it was formed! He really knows his stuff! Sadly Stefanie had to stay home with cute little Ellia.

Here's our hiking group, the guy on my left is Jeremy's new brother-in-law. Have you seen Man vs. Wild on tv? Well I think this guy (Greg) looks like Bear Grylls. He's also a Geology major.

TAGGED again

1.Where did you meet your husband?
*The first time I met Jared was working at the Bear Lake State Park Marina. It's a good thing I'm a morning person and asked for the 6 am shift because that's when they all liked to go boating!
This is Jared and I just want to add some things to our first encounter. I need to thank Justin Wilde for getting her to come over and talk to us before we launched the boat. Let me just say that this was the first time I had been nervous picking up on a girl. While Justin did the smooth talking I kept asking for her number; however, Heather was being extremely difficult, and she still is, and would not give me her number. She says that we were a rough looking bunch. I say differently. So after a few moments of gentle persuasion that we were and still are some good old mormon boys and the flash of a temple recommend, expired by the way, she gave in and I got her number.
That night I was able to convince her to come up to the cabin and have a party with all of us and she willingly came. When I was texting her to come up that night my heart was beating pretty fast and after three years of being married she still makes it skip a beat or two. I guess I was pretty smooth by saying, "what's your number, what's your number" over and over again. I was pretty clever with the pick up lines!

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?
*I probably said "Good morning, it's seven dollars." ( the park fee) I replied saying, "dang baby you are cheap, I like this corner!"
.3. Where was your first date?
*I hate to say it because it has a bad reputation but it was at Squaw Peak (spelling?) He took me to Los Hermanos to eat then we met Derek & Chelsea, who were dating at the time, and played games in the back of Derek's truck at squaw peak. For some reason Jared and I stayed until 1 or 2 am just talking, I promise! I had decided then that he probably wasn't my type.

4. Where was your first kiss?
* In the driveway at the BL cabin. He kissed me twice because he said the first time he felt like I was trying to back away :)

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?
*We started dating exclusively in January, got engaged in May, and married in August. So by the time we were married we had known each other 1 year. To some that's long and to others it's short. I thought it was just right.


6. Where did you get engaged?
*We were going to Paris that weekend and Jared said we had to stop in Salt Lake to go to a mission companion's reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial building so we had to dress up. We got there and there were a bunch of girls in prom dresses so it seemed like a wedding was going on then Jared went to the hostess and said we have a reservation for 2 --at The Roof restaurant. Then I knew something was going on. We ate dinner by the window with the view of the Salt Lake Temple and he had flowers come to our table while I was getting my plate of food. It took me awhile to notice them though. Next he was in the bathroom for a really long time before we went down to walk around Temple Square. ( He was on the phone with Geoff) We walked out and there was a rose with a note and I knew it was for me. He hid 12 roses around the place and I had to answer a question about him at each one, then on the circle platform, where bride's stand to get pics taken, there we 12 more roses with a picture of the temple and a "?". Then I saw flashes of light from behind a bush and said that looked like Aleena. Yep, Geoff and Aleena hid to take pictures. They are sneaky huh Sarah! Derek and Chelsea came later too. It was really sweet and fun! We got to Paris pretty late but it was worth it!

7. Where did you get married?
* In the Salt Lake Temple! Everything went GREAT!
8. How did the reception go?
*We had one in Provo and one in Paris & they were both perfect! Jared and I still talk about how easy and low stress they were. For us anyway.
9. How was the honeymoon?
* It was fun but a little rocky. We stayed a few days at the house in Washington then rode a ferry to the San Juan Island and stayed at a bed and breakfast. We rode mopeds around the Island and were fighting the whole time, then we went on a sunset kayak tour which was wonderful!! Jared did a fabulous job planning the whole thing.
People I am tagging
1.Amy Morris
2.Joslyn McNair
3.Jeff Gardner
4.Alex Stoddard

Sunday Drive

Jared & I went on a Sunday drive to the Paris airport and decided to drive through the bird refuge also. It turned out to be really pretty with the rainbow and the neat clouds.


The sunset over the Bear River.

Our funny creatures

Jared and I found some interesting creatures on our tour through the Bear Lake bird refuge. He's so cute!


This was the first thing we saw when we got out of the car. It hopped and scared me.

And here's Megan and Austen's cats, Sushi & Robot.

How can you not like cats....so cute