WASHINGTON

Jared & I were able to spend 12 days in Washington & here is a LONG post of our adventures.

We drove to Boise Tues. after work & stayed the night at Jared's favorite hotel (because of the yummy continental breakfast.) Wed. we stopped in the tri-cities to visit his Grandma, Aunts, Uncle, & a cousin. We drove the scenic route that takes you pretty close to Mt. Rainier. It was funny starting out a summer vacation by seeing snow!

Jared decided to surprise me with a plan to visit Forks (where Twilight takes place) & 1st Beach in La Push. We listened to twilight on disc on our drive to WA & ended up finishing right as we were driving into Forks. It wasn't even planned that way.

Even though the movie wasn't filmed here, the people are enjoying the attention & trying to make it as real as they can for visitors.

Since this was a bit out of our way we planned on staying at a place called Mats Mats Bay where his Grandparents have a little place to stay. Too bad we forgot the key & ended up taking a ferry at 11:30 p.m. to Seattle & getting home very late!

They had this sign at the hospital, a house "pegged" to be Charlie's, & a Bed & Breakfast they say is where the Cullens would've lived.

Jared enjoyed Twilight but got REALLY SICK of how she describes Edward & Bella's love for each other over & over. He wanted some action which is why he enjoyed listening to New Moon on our way home much better. He is currently reading Eclipse, which I told him had a lot more action & killing in it.

We went to the place where she first visits with Jacob & it was beautiful!! We froze! There were about 6 surfers in full body wetsuits from head to toe in the freezing cold water.

Another reason we decided to drive up this way was to see the Olympic National Forest & we also walked through the Hoh Rainforest! The funny thing was it was sunny everywhere outside of Forks but whenever we drove back into Forks it was overcast!
Jared & I went to a Mariners vs. Indians game & they were doing a "turn back the clock" day so the first 20,000 fans got a free hat from the 1980's. Jared was VERY excited & wore his almost every day. The players wore uniforms from 1989 I believe.
Yes it was sunny but we were in the shade most of the time & it was sooo cold.

We had so much fun at this game we went to another one to see them get beat by the Red Sox. Before the game we walked around Seattle & saw more Red Sox fans than Mariner fans. I guess it helps if you win some games.


You can see the Red Sox fans watching the Red Sox warm up. This was 2 hours before the game even began!
Jared almost got as high as Mt. Rainier ;)
DEREK & CHELSEA arrived Wed. night & boy did we have a lot planned for the next few days! We had a 7:30 am tee time Thursday morning, then we had Ryan's famous Cottage Cheese pancakes (sort of), went sea kayaking on the sound, then ate a yummy dinner at the Ram (a tradition.) We also love that Chelsea's birthday is near so we get their free birthday dessert!

That night we went to Batman. Jared & I had already watched it on this trip but Derek & Chelsea wanted to see it & Jared was begging me the whole time to go see it again so we did.

The next day, Chelsea's birthday, we had planned to take the boat from Lake Washington, through the locks into Puget Sound, & dock the boat & hang out in Seattle. We were VERY prepared but after about 10 min. of cruising on Lake Washington the boat lost power & the brand new belt broke :( So we had some nice boaters pull us over to a public dock, then called $Vessel $Assist$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to tow us back to the Marina. It was very relaxing & Jared enjoyed not having to drive. There are soooo many beautiful homes on the lake.

We took Chelsea to a nice restaurant with a GORGEOUS view of a marina & watched the sun set. It was delicious! (yes Derek & Chelsea, I still tease Jared about the waitress)
Hope you had a fun Birthday Chels, thanks for spending it with us.....again!
We walked out on the pier where there were tons of people crabbing, it was filthy but fun to watch.

Just some extra large Rhuebarb from Phyllis's garden next door.

OK, so Jared & Derek went to find golf balls on the old jet ski. It was quite the sight!
Here they are getting on....................
and here they are falling off! You can see Chelsea out in the water, we were all laughing our heads off!

It was another fun time in Washington!!

The 4th has come & gone

One of my favorite holidays is the 4th of July. This year was my first to do the 8.something mile kvsi fun run. You run from Montpelier to Paris & I was nervous to do it but my friend Diana ran with me & we visited the whole way so the 1 hour 44 min. run seemed like 30 minutes. Jared left us to run by ourselves but met us at the end.

After the yummy chuckwagon breakfast & "awesome" parade we went out to the lake to my Aunt & Uncle's cabin on the east side.

We don't know who's paddle boat this is but Jared, Brady, Casey, & Baily had fun trying to sink it.

Later that day Jared, Brady, & I decided to see if we could find smooth water on the west side to go wakeboarding. I went first then we ended up having to tow a boat that had broken down way south. It was getting dark so Brady went while we still had some light & Jared missed out on some smooth wakeboarding. Oh well, the people were very grateful because there weren't many boats out at 8 p.m. We ended up pulling the boat out at about 10 p.m.
The sun has set, thank goodness they weren't out patrolling.

Here's me with my two cousins, Joslyn & Lacey. We don't get to see each other often but it's fun when we do.

I finally got to meet Joslyn's little girl Hattie. She's adorable!

Saturday we did a lot of boating & found out my cousin Kip's boy is a little fish. He was scared on the boat at first but ended up loving it & LOVED jumping off the back!
All in all it was a great 4th of July weekend!

Lavender Days Anyone?

Jared is such a great husband. He'll do almost anything with me even if it is girly. In Mona, which is right by Santaquin, the company Young Living does a Lavender days since they have fields & fields of Lavender. We started off the day with the "run through the lavender" which was a 5k race through the lavender fields, of course. We had a blast & yes I beat Jared ;)

So to explain the picture below. We made this wreath from fresh lavender & Jared carried it around the whole rest of the day for me, I think he liked it ;) A lot of ladies would stop & ask him where he got it. We got these DELICIOUS drinks called Big Kahuna & they had a flower on the straw so Jared looked really cute with that & the wreath!

We also got to try yummy lavender ice cream!

Here we are after the race with our bright red, sweaty faces.
Jared did get to see one manly thing. They do jousting at Lavender days which was fun to see but really hot. I don't know how they wore all their get-up in that heat.
Before we left we got to go & clip our own lavender in the fields.
It was really fun & Jared surprisingly even likes the smell of it.

This video is of a cute little lady showing me how to make the wreath. It was really hard & even though we were in the shade it was HOT! Everyone thought it was pretty cute that my husband was there helping me becuase they said they had to leave theirs home. Sitting across from us was a lady that's in the Tabernacle Choir!

Backyard Sunset

We always have pretty sunsets but the clouds made this one especially pretty!

Ragnar Refugees indeed!

Here's Van #2 at the finish line. From left to right it's Jake, Brady, Kip, Nate, Jared, & some dude with a mowhawk named Casey. They're not smiling because they're happy, they're smiling because they're delirious! Their van started in Liberty, UT, which is a place I wouldn't mind living. Casey was the first to run & boy was it HOT! After we saw him take off Mel, Wyatt, & I headed to Santaquin.

Here's Casey taking the slap band from the last runner in van #1
And he's off!
Here's Jared at the end of his last leg heading toward the finish line. The van couldn't follow him so he had to run with a bottle of water that was too warm to drink until Brady ran to meet him & give him some cold water.

Does he look tired or what? Once again, a picture of Casey's mowhawk

And now for some way cute pictures!! We caught Wyatt smiling which is very hard to catch on Camera!

Here's wyatt lovin' his bumbo & his giraffe.
I had to get the thumb, I mean big toe on here as well. It's too cute.

Ragnar Refugees update

I can't get any of my pictures of the boys to download right now but here's the update as of about 8 am today. Jared, Casey, Brady, Kip, Jake, & Nate are in van #2 so we met van #1 in Liberty, UT & Casey was the first to run from Van #2. Jared has done his two hardest runs & will be the final runner to end in Park City. Mel is talking to Casey & he still hasn't done his 3rd run so hopefully they will still get done before 4:00 so we can make it to the Bees game!

It's all growing!

My hydrangea bushes are doing great! It started with one ball & now the ball has flourished & two more are starting. I added some sulfate to the soil so we are still waiting for them to turn blue. They've only turned a darker pink.

My peas have done really great.
The carrotts were slow bloomers but better late than never!
I got all of my flower pots planted & Lucy loves coming out side with me. She always trys to roll around on the cement but she gets dirty so I always stop her. One day I'll clean our porch really good then let her have at it.
AND FINALLY OUR GRASS!! Jared & I check it every day & this morning we had green fuzz!! It's such a great sight.

She's such a cute cat!

St. George Tri

SWIM

Jared did his 3rd St. George Tri last weekend. This one was different because the wind was blowing & I had to wear my jacket the whole time. Normally we roast in the sun & get a sun burn not a wind burn. Jared was in about the 3rd heat & when it came to his turn they ended up canceling the swim because there were white caps. So the people who didn't get to swim all started from where they would've come out of the swim and just biked & ran.

Below is Jared in the yellow cap getting ready for the swim that didn't happen.

BIKE

RUN

RELAX!
Afterward we went swimming at the condos where we had my family vacation a couple weeks ago. It took only a few tries to figure out the code to the gate.

Red Cliffs State Park

This place was new to us & a lot of fun! The water was cold but worth it.

A nature-made slide

I hadn't planned on doing it but Jared talked me into it. Once you got up there it didn't seem so high but it still seemed narrow.

Angel's Landing

Before we headed back home we stopped at Zion's National Park & finally did the hike we've wanted to do for so long. Below is a picture of where we had to get up to.
Here is probably is easiest part of the hike. If you go at the right time of day it's all in the shade & very pretty!

This is where you start the switchbacks. It wasn't too bad going up but coming down wasn't so fun.

Here is where the fun begins. You go up this narrow part & it's really steep on both sides! There's a chain all the way up & it really isn't that bad. I was expecting a lot worse.

View from the top!

It was sooo much fun & I recommend it to anyone who isn't afraid of heights.
This little chipmunk took advantage of us taking pictures.

Neighborhood heroes

About a week & a half ago Jared, JO Jo & I were coming back from our run and taking our usual route back home. We cut through the True Value parking lot that connects with a dirt road that goes through all the sagebrush. On the side of True Value is the little gated area where they keep the trees & outdoor things they're selling. So we were talking & I kind of noticed someone in the gated area but just figured he was a working, even though the store was closed, until he threw down what he had & ran over the fence. That's when he caught my attention so I just said to Jared, "that kid was just trying to steal." I kept walking up the dirt road & Jared & the dog went over to search through the sagebrush to find him. It took several minutes then I saw some sagebrush moving & finally the boy stood up but had taken off the red sweatshirt he had been wearing. He was in between Jared & I & his little bike was in the middle of the dirt road. Jared yelled to him asking if he was the boy that was in there(the gate) & he said no, I'm just waiting for my friends. Jared replied, "in the bushes?" He started heading north through the long field of sagebrush & Jared yelled asking if he was going to come get his sweater & the boy said no, I don't want it. He walked right past his bike and was swiftly walking, partly jogging north. Jared took his sweatshirt & bike & called a policeman to come get it. All in all it was an interesting evening. We're guessing the boy was around 14 or so. I hope we never have this happen again!