Back in the 801... or 385??

Side note: If you're confused by the 385 someone told me Utah is adding another area code, and I think they told me it was 385. I could be wrong though. But I'm thinking I'm 76 % right on this one.

This week was a crazy week. An emotional week. We laughed, we cried, we ate way too much- (okay maybe it was just me) -but the most important part about this week was that my brother came home from his mission!!! Being the first mission homecoming in my immediate family we were all stoked as could be, maybe even blowing it a little overboard... no, I don't think so actually. It was so great to see him.

Let me set the scene for you... We were running late already to pick Jordon up from the airport... (why does that always happen on important dates!) Jory drove and all of us "back seat drivers" wouldn't lay off of him to tell him to drive faster. As some of you may know he drives like a grandma usually, but he went totally out of his comfort zone and drove 15 over. We were so appreciative. As we "app-ed" Jordon's incoming flight we found out his flight was AHEAD of schedule 5 minutes... all of our hearts sunk to our stomachs and we kept replaying Jordon coming down the escalator stairs with everyone else cheering for their homecoming missionaries and Jordon not having a familiar face in sight. That would have been awful and let's just say Jordon wouldn't have referred to us as "his family" anymore after a traumatizing event like that.

After what seemed like an eternity of swerving in and out of solid road lines, quick halts and go's ... we finally got to the drop off cite...
Jory still driving, screamed back for us all to jump and that he was going to just keep driving. He had NO TIME TO STOP!! All of us threw open the 3 car doors all at the same time and jumped out of the moving vehicle ... Just kidding. But really though, we looked and felt as though we were in a movie, Home Alone quite possibly, running through the airport, literally at a full on sprint, to make sure we could see Dodees face while coming down the stairs.

: ) We made it.


Slowly moving down the escalator stairs... our view...
brown suit pants- definitely floods, a brown vest and suit jacket-definitely a western suit, a bolo tie, and to top if off a 50 gallon cowboy hat. (just kidding I don't know the correct gallon termonology for cowboy hats). IT WAS JORDON! Best moment ever.

crappy picture I know, but it was the best I could do while shaking

Mama

I wish they always dressed like that

ahhsohappee

So how appropriate would cake pops with ties on them be to celebrate?

Like brother like sister. We can't handle the flash. I had no idea he was down with the sickness like me.. soooo good to have him home! : )

we go green, we ride bikes

So, okay, we really don't go green all the time.

We don't really ride bikes that often at all, we just got them. But, we like to think we're pretty great at it.

Except... when instances like Saturday happen, after 30 minutes of your flat road bike riding- which really, I'll be honest here ... burned my child bearing hips and thighs, (no, no child bore from those hips yet if you were wondering). We got to a hill. A measly little hill. Jor yelled to me asking if we could do it, and acting like he was crazy because it was so small, I yelled back, "totally!"- easy for a pro like me, right?

Needless to say, if you were a plain jane passerby, driving down a Saratoga Springs road early Saturday morning, this is what you would have seen.
At almost the base of a hill, you know... possibly the hill was at a slight increase- but definitely not near the top. You would have seen a girl, in her early twenties, standing next to her bike. Not on her bike, trying to defeat that hill, no, she didn't make it that far. She would have been breathing hard, she was pale, and wobbling back and forth because she was dizzy and quite possibly was about to vomit.

At least one of us made it to the top. As you can read, I am absolutely terribly out of shape. Honestly, I can barely walk today. (Not sure if I should be admitting this all..) But, I promise you by the end of this summer I will conquer that hill.

Jory surprised me with these awesome new helmets. He was so excited about his green beaut. He is so cute. But, every time I look at him with his helmet on, this is what I think of. . .


Oh, I love him. (Jory, not the mushroom.)

the worst best things about camping

Friday after work Jory, nervous, came to tell me that he had just spent 80$ on a annual "national park and canyon pass". Which A. That makes me feel like a terrible wife that he would be nervous to tell me that he had just spent 80$! Ha, but maybe it was the fact that I had just told him we reallllly needed to start pinching our pennies 'cause he is going to take me to Sweden next year!

So, that impulse buy sparked a impulse camping trip for the night. We called my little brothers, met at Am Fork canyon, and Jor was able to cruise right on by the lengthy line of guests getting ready to pay their 6 dollar fee to go into Am Fork canyon... We had the annual pass baby! Haha, Jory held his "member id" card up in the window and drove by like he was thee shiz I tell you. It was hillarious. Honestly, I don't think anyone was looking when he held up that card with pride, but we all pretended for Jory. He's pretty cool.

We went up past Silver Lake Flat and hiked about a 1/2 mile to a pretty secluded area and camped. Why is it that...

1. Someone always ends up dropping at least one hot dog in the fire

2. It's such a difficult task to pee outside. Trying to position myself from being hidden from my brothers, the main trail AND making sure to not actually go on my shoes- okay I know too much information...it was really tough. Oh what a concept that is just so much easier for the male gender.

3. On the same subject, the smell of the campfire after your husband and two little brothers decided to urinate to put the glowing fire coals out completely out before you go hit the tent

4. Finding good wood. : ) After a very wet spring, everything is wet- including the wood you need for fire wood! Even with Jory's mad fire making skills we couldn't get FIA going. . . Nothing was starting.. and we had forgot our kindlin.. haha such a funny word. So, thank goodness for camping chairs with their big papery/fabric-y material tags, we ripped off the tags and were able to start a fire with those. Just not a real camping trip with a fire to roast your smores.

5. Cleanliness kind of disappears. How is it, that when you're outside... the concept of cleanliness seems to disappear. I mean heaven forbid... you usually end up having dirt under your nails (i'm being serious here that is one of my biggest pet peeves- and I have been known to try to have Jor scrape the soap to clean under those claws of his). Your nose get's wiped on your sleeve, the dirt or mud wiped on your pants, and you eat marshmallows off of sticks.

6. Why is it that you always end up putting your tent on the rockiest spot possible in the whole Rocky Mountains. Yes, that spot that is so rocky you have to sleep with your body twisted and contorted into awkward positions to avoid the jagged rocks that feel like boulders under your thin sleeping bag.

7. How I somehow always manage to end up eating it, yes, falling where ever I go. I hope other people have this problem. Whether it's hiking, or just sitting in a camping chair. Yes, that happened. I fell on top of the wood pile while reaching for a stick- mind you I was sitting, in a chair. I have bruises to prove it to you, but I don't think Jor would appreciate it if I showed you those brusies. Oh, and when hiking back down in the morning, I also fell, and grew another knee cap. On my shin.

the second kneecap

Really though, camping wouldn't be camping unless all these things happened. I totally love it!

Anniversary weekend

... If you want to stay at a lodge, on one of the seven floors, be one of the only 6 tenants checked in... get the pool to yourselves as well as the steam room..... very romantic I promise.

then sneak away to SNOWBIRD!

Wow, I just sounded like I was advertising for them. . . Ha, I wasn't. But, I did want to tell you that if you ever did want to go to Snowbird, go at the beginning of June or November. From what we learned this trip is that June and November are considered the "shoulder seasons" . It's in between skiing and the summer activities so there's basically no one there! It was a blast!

Floodageddon!!! Not really, but the rivers was really high and REALLY scary, I don't know why people take their children anywhere near these things. I shouldn't have let Jory get so close, haha

you caught me... I love jumpy pics

I would have jumped here.. or maybe even heel clicked... but I was wearing a dress.. and just to the left of me was a fairly busy road. I still think I should have jumped though.

Now for my favorite part... ahh.. the pool, and yes I got sunburned. I really shouldn't be excited about that.

It looks cold, but it was perfect!

I finally jumped. and heck yes I plugged that nose


LOOK at that farmer... this might have been right before I was awaken from my sun bathing escape by this very same man doing water aerobics... by his lonesome.. breathing heavy. He was fully into his ab and arm twist exercise.. which then turned into under water running, and not just one lap. I'm not sure he knew I was watching... I loved every second of it.

We've been married 2 years now! BEST 2 years of my life! Before we got married, at one of our showers, this lady told us that, "you need to bear through the first two years of marriage because they are definitely the hardest and really difficult"-- I'm not sure what her problem was! I can't imagine my life with out Jor. Anywho, enough of the mushy stuff. We're old timers now!

the best thing about spring is...

BABIES!!!

love: photography + love: baby animals =
lots and lots of pictures taking up space on my hard drive and I just can't seem to delete them.

Over the last few months this is what I've happen to gather up...

I love the awkwardness of the calfs bodies, with their boney backs and high hind legs.

of course the baby robins...


The coons...

I couldn't leave out our furry friends who stopped by for a climb on our garage posts.. where was their mama!

Seriously? this is the cutest beehind i've ever seen! besides jory's tush of course. agree with me!!


So the baby ducks were cute... but I don't think there is anything cuter than... baby... goats! It is a daily occurance for me to scope out ksl and search for these adorable critters. I beg Jory on a regular basis for them.
Now if I could just get my stinkin bunnies on the ball I could have some babies of my own... keep your fingers crossed would you? : )

depth perception

I've had fantastic vision until my second year in college. Then I started sitting at the front of the class because I HAD to, not because I wanted to. Not like I would ever, really ever, sit at the front of the class because I wanted to... really guys I didn't do that...
Anyway. Then about a year ago, I decided I really should get serious about this "seeing stuff" when I realized I couldn't see the road that well in the wee early mornings driving to work. Shh don't tell anyone.
So now I wear my contacts that I finally learned to put in after a many frustrated and emotional -even a bit teary nights with a husband not knowing how the heck he could help his distraught wife poke her in the eye to get the stupid contact in... or out for that matter.
I also wear glasses. Which are fun and if you use zennioptical.com you can get sweet prescription glasses for cheap! But, that's not the point. What I have noticed is when I do wear my glasses, I seem to lose my perception of depth.
Why you ask? How about the time I was at Colleen and Allan's house, (Jory's parents) and being a titbitnipply outside I decided run out to the car in front of the fam, the fam being Jory's Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother in Law (who thinks all girls are well, wimps in the first place- and his niece and nephew)... as they are all following behind me, just slowly walking to their cars...
In their view, a tall awkward girl (coincidentally named sarah) gets to the car, looks at the neighbors big truck while it drives by, and while doing so, opens the car door quickly ... and smacks herself in the face.
My glasses pushed up to my forehead, my eyebrow and cheek already swelling, sincerely shocked at the pain I had just caused myself, I screamed and jumped in the car and started to cry. Jory got in the car and trying not to laugh comforted me a bit, and then had to explain to his brother inlaw and family that yes, "Sarah had hit her self in the face with the car door, but she's okay."
I cried the whole way home.
Yeah maybe I do hit myself in the face with passenger car doors, but it's just because I usually don't have to open them when Jory drives...I should just leave the door opening to him- I blame the whole thing on Jory actually, he can't trust me with things like 'opening my own door', you know?
OR it could be that I just don't have any sense of perception in my specs. I may or may not have whammed my self in the face with other doors since then.

chillinwithmygnomies

I dare to challenge you- anyone out there, who thinks that they have more t-shirts than my husband. And oh, no. I'm not talking about any high fashion gap t-shirts here. I'm talking about the boxy, short, and always an awkward fit t-shirts.

You know. The kind of shirts that you get for free from large school gatherings, book fairs, or blood drives. These shirts might be on the top list of Jory's favorite things!

I didn't discover this t-shirt fetish (besides the freakish amount of green UVU tee's that he first brought into our life.. but I thought that was normal for a retired wolverine mascot) until about a year after we were married. I was cleaning out old boxes in our storage room and I came across a ginormas box of these hilarious shirts.
I am sure that we will beat you any day to a tshirt count off.

But. Now that we have this box of shirts in our lives again.. (for Jory atleast), we have to wear them, right?
So I've decided it's the new fad, you know? At least our new Sunday fad. Instead of walking around in your own high fashion under wear on sunday- after you kick off the heels and suits, (alright I don't really wear heels I'll admit it .. I'm not a true woman, I'm a wimp!) We change into these beauts.
I love sundays.