Cowboys, Water, and Pioneers

This past week has been such a fun one! Jam packed with activities. It started off with our annual trip to the Strawberry Days Rodeo. We decided this year we were going to dress up. It's always more fun when you're in character! A night of rodeo queens, tight jeans, fresh strawberries, and horses. Very delightful.

The next day it was off to Lake Powell. Benita Bates, Roxanne Hutchins, Jacob Sohn, and Myself all went to Powell with our friend Cami Dye's family. It was so fun! Lake Powell is definitely one of my favorite places. We had such a good time.

One of the highlights was the weenie wars. We spent hours out on the lake knocking each other off of the water weenies. If you ever get a chance to ride on one of these take it. They are SO fun!

Benita, Cami, and I sporting some sweet boating hair.

Trevor was home for a few weeks from school so I got to hang out with him a couple times. Trev has been one of my closest friends since I was in like 7th grade (and he was dating chels ;)...) . I love when he comes home and we get to play!!Saturday our ward hiked up Ensign Peak with Jack. R. Christensen. He taught us along the way and at the top we received yellow bandannas to symbolize the Banner the pioneers raised when Brigham Young climbed Ensign Peak and coined his famous phrase. "This is the right place, Drive on." It was so neat to talk about the pioneers and how much faith they must have had to trek all the way out here and to look out and see what has become of it. I was surprised I'd never even heard of Ensign Peak before.

Me and Benita at the top of the peak.

Also...Still going strong with no DDP! I thought Lake Powell would be the death of me, but it ended up not being too bad. My friend Cami is doing it with me, so it has helped to have some moral support!

oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun....

Ipod in hand, swim suit on, beverage (water of course...two days down of no DDP!), and a good book. Today I plan on lying poolside all day long. BRING IT ON!!

So Long, Farewell...

Well folks. You heard it here first. Today is the day I am officially ridding myself of my DDP addiction. I almost can't believe i'm actually writing these words because those of you who know me understand that I have a special place in my heart for this amazing little beverage. Picks me up when i'm down...tastes SOOOO good poolside on a hot summer's day...treats my sweet cravings with a 0 calorie effort. Despite all this I want to see if I can do it. Let's hope I'm strong enough.

Thanks for the good times DDP. Hello H20. I guess I need to start practicing saying "I'll have a water with lemon," cause thats all this girls gonna be gettin'!

I HEART Daddy-O!

Wow….lacking on the blogging. My apologies. All in good reason though! This past week has been crazy, but really fun. My mom and sister Nichole both came from AZ and we were able to do a little home showing, shopping, eating and the like. Tyler came down with the kids and we went to lunch. My dad came up at the end of the week to get out of the heat, and we had a Father’s day Party at Jason and Tamra’s yesterday afternoon. LOTS of family!! (and so much fun of course.) To top that off Benita, Lindsay and I threw a bridal shower for Heather which was so fun (I’ll try and post some photos)! AND Benita, who happens to be the ward activities guru, put on a sweet BBQ up the canyon. With that came a lot of fruit cutting, treat making, and the like. So, mixing that in with work, and all the usual stuff it was basically one thing after another.

It was fun to be able to spend Father’s Day with my dad. He is such an amazing guy. I’ve seen him accomplish so many things in his lifetime, and that has set the example for me to push myself. I was trying to think about what my absolute favorite memory with my dad was, and I’ve really had a hard time narrowing it down. He is such a fun guy to be around so the good times are easy to come by. Because I have so many I’ve narrowed it down to my top few favorites J

- My dad teaching me how to drive a stick shift…This took place in the THS parking lot. Go, T-Wolves! We happened to be driving my dad’s sweet gold truck that I so lovingly called “the rattler.” Dad must have had some patience with me because we took the whole day, and I did learn!! The learning process was sped up by the fact that my mom and dad were going out of town taking the Durango, and I didn’t have my own car yet, so my options were learn to drive to truck or not go anywhere. I chose option A. My dad has always been so willing to teach me new things and has been super patient with my in the process. He’s always believed that I could do anything. I’ve never once heard him tell me he doubted my ability.
- I feel like Les, Elaine, and I have spent some quality time together. So, I’m lumping together me + the parents time. Being the youngest I’ve been fortunate to get my mom and dad to myself a lot. We’ve gone on fun trips. They’ve let me come home and hang out in AZ with them. They come here and visit…all very fun. I’d have to say the past two Vegas Bowls and Our trip to Montana/Canada were some of my favorites. I’ve loved our car road trips especially because I get to learn so much about my parents. Just talking and hearing about their life experiences is so fun.
- Lastly, I loved having my dad’s support in all of my dancing growing up. He was an excellent “Drill Dad.” Driving props around, coming to dinners, shows, competitions, cheering for me, knowing our routines well enough to pick out mistakes. It was awesome. I loved having his support.

Those of you who know my dad can agree he is a high quality individual. I love him so much! Happy father’s day Daddy-O!!!

buggalicious....

Well tonight Benita and I decided to go to get some dinner because we were STARVING and we didn't want to take the time to make something. SO after leaving the house we set out to find a place to eat. Of course at the top of our list were the usual favorites...Bajios or Zupas. These were both quickly discarded due to the fact that we realized it was already 9 o'clock and all of our favorite places were closed...so we decided to try out Mi Ranchito...a new addition our list of regulars. I was pleasantly surprised last week when we went there. I can usually NEVER find anything I like to eat at the authentic Mexican restaurants because everything is smothered in Cheese. BUT They have a grilled chicken wrap that is really healthy and quite delicious. So, we get there and due to the late hour we're able to find a curbside spot on state street...speeding up the dinner time process. We were seated immediately, and Rodriguo was quick to rush us a warm bowl of chips and some fresh salsa. Beni and I both ordered; a chicken enchilada and a grilled chicken wrap, respectively. Again I was surprised with how quickly our food arrived, not at all disappointed because again..we were STARVING. We dug right in, barely stopping to breathe. My wrap started to fall apart in my hands and I looked down to try and re situate and thought i saw some charred something...so i went to pick it out and IT HAD WINGS!! The worst part. It was only a half a bug... The other half apparently was swimming in my stomach. I, of course, began to dry heave. Benita didn't believe me...until she looked a little closer and took my plate away from me so I would stop freaking out...needless to say my meal was comped. I guess its back to the original regulars...

Breaking Dawn

For all of you Twilight Fan's...of which i know there are many.... Here is the first chapter of Breaking Dawn...I don't know about you but i'm QUITE excited. I'm not sure what to expect after reading this first chapter, but I'm sure it will be amazing!

http://saint-ann.livejournal.com/21072.html

Memorial Day Weekend

Me and the Fitch fam flew down to Arizona to spend some time the the family and get a little R&R. We had so much fun playing games, swimming, eating, and laughing. I love spending time with my family more than anything in the world! Me and My little Savy monkey. This picture is probably a new fave of mine... I mean who can resist those million dollar smiles?

My beautiful little side kick. I had such a fun time hanging out with Kiley this week. We are definitely Itunes buddies, and she always keeps me laughing. I wish I got to hang out with her more!!

The sista's... oh how I love these two. I'm lucky to have such awesome role models and best friends! (aka. workout buddies, shopping partners, craft partners, etc. etc. etc.)

ummm...how cute are they?? What kid doesn't love a blow up slip n' slide...

Memorial Day wouldn't be complete with out a little BBQ. Let's be honest. Bottom line-My family knows how to eat.

ahhh...pedicures. If only you could see the middle aged asian woman who I was blessed to be working with. I'm pretty sure she hated me, and pretty sure she was talking about me the whole time. Does any one else ever feel that way? Oh well she put a sweet plaid print on my toes :)

I had so much fun with the fam this past week. I wish i had more photos. Its always so hard for me to leave and come back to what?? getting up at 6:30? work?? cooking my own lean cuisines for dinner?? You're right that's way better than home cooked meals, yummy restaurants, sleeping in, and shopping... JK I do love Provo though :)