sun valley meets the david

We just got back from a week long vacation to my favorite place in the whole world- Sun Valley.   Ever since I was a little kid, we've gone up to Sun Valley every single year with my grandparents, and all of my aunts, uncles and cousins on the Child side.  I have so many wonderful memories of the place- learning to ice skate at the Sun Valley Ice Rink, getting my red shoes pecked by a swan at the duck pond, swimming with cousins, participating in the annual cherry spitting contest, bike riding through Ketchum, going fishing with my grandpa, and listening to James Taylor and John Denver.

The annual Sun Valley vacation is what my siblings and I look forward to most every summer.  This year was no exception- all 35 of us (minus just a few missionaries and out-of-staters who couldn't make it sadly) headed up this year for the magic! (Thankfully Mike loves it now just as much as I do:)

 stopping in Shoshone for the best soft serve ice cream ever

 After a scenic four hour drive, we made it!  First stop: Burger Grill.  Best.Burgers.Ever.

 That night, we had a big dinner, family night, and Minute to Win It Games with Everyone.

 

 

Everyone was put on one of four teams for the games and we all got matching hats! 

 

I had to put a nylon with a baseball in the toe on my head and swing at, and knock over a bunch of coke cans.  These are the weird things we love to do together!

 

Mike participated in the ball catching game with lint rollers. 

This year my immediate family stayed in a different condo than normal.  Since there are 10 of us now, we needed a big place.  While this condo was spacious and there was a bedroom for everyone, it was definitely outdated.  Along with furniture and decor that made us feel like we were in the 1970's, there were some crazy weird accessories around the house that we had some fun with.  Stacie and Bennett came up a little later than the rest of us, and so we decided to 'decorate' their bedroom.  After all, they had only been married about three weeks, so we wanted them to feel comfortable in a "honeymoon suite".  This was all spurred on by my 16 year old brother, but the rest of us gladly participated and found weird things around the condo to include..... Enter the bedroom tour:

 His & Hers nasty old bathrobes (wondering who would actually put these on their bodies?), Human Physiology and Essential Urology books for a little light reading, and best of all, a freaky cheap miniature version of 'The David', found on a book shelf in the living room. 

 I thought the scrabble letters were a romantic touch.

Bennett and Stacie laughed at our little display, but best of all, this formed a creepy game we played all week with the David.  Every night, a couple started out with him.  The goal of the game was to sneak the David into somebody's bedroom and leave it on a piece of furniture without waking them up. If you were trying to place the David and the recipients woke up, you had to move on to another bedroom and try again.  The couple (Ethan and Preston were considered a couple since they shared a room) that ended up with the David in their bedroom at 6:00 a.m. lost the game, and were forced to carry around the David in public that day for at least an hour. 

It. Was. Hilarious.

The first night, the David switched hands about half a dozen times.  Nobody slept too well because everyone was either trying to place the David, or worrying about getting the David.  Usually I'm a very heavy sleeper, and even I didn't sleep too soundly.  Mike on the other hand, is the lightest sleeper in the world.  We didn't get stuck with the David once because he woke up every time someone tried to sneak in our room.  During the middle of the night I woke up to go to the bathroom and I was trying to find my phone to have a night light when Mike suddenly woke up and lunged at me from the bed screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!".  I almost peed my pants it scared me so bad and I screamed back in terror that it was me!  His wife!  And I didn't have the David!

Once we got that settled, and I visited the bathroom, we tried to go back to bed.

A couple hours later, around 5 a.m. we woke up to my brothers and dad running through the house.  According to the teenage brothers, my dad cheated, but according to my dad, the David was rightfully Ethan and Preston's.  Poor Preston tried to place it in everyone's room, but we were all wide awake at that point and he obviously did not succeed.  Ethan yelled from the bottom floor of the condo for Preston to come down and bring the David because, "WE AREN'T DONE HERE!"

A few minutes later, Mike and I are almost back asleep, when we start hearing commotion outside.  We popped our eyes open at the same time in disbelief and ran to the window, only to find Ethan scaling the fire escape with the David in tow.  Seconds later he made it to the roof and started attempting to drop the David on my parent's balcony.  Preston is standing 30 feet below, with his shirt off watching the whole thing, Ethan is basically yelling because he is not capable of talking quietly, and the neighbors are shutting their windows (after all, it's 5:30 a.m.- yes, I'm embarrassed that we were 'those people').  By this point my mom has now stuck her head out their sliding door and is telling Ethan to a) be quiet, to which he replies that "I can't- I'm into this mom!" and b) "Get off the roof and take the david with you because you're not giving it to me!"

It certainly was a sight to behold.  Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Only with my family on vacation.  

Despite my parent's best efforts, the David was sitting smugly in their room by 6:00 a.m.  Stay tuned for my father's adventures with David at the swimming pool......

4th of July Weekend

In my mind, nothing beats the 4th of July.  It's pretty much my favorite holiday (second to Thanksgiving only).  We spent the past two fourth of July's in Idaho Falls (they have an incredible firework show by the way), and so this year we decided to stay home to celebrate on our home turf.  I hadn't been home for the 4th since before my mission (four summers ago!), and so I was so stoked to celebrate Utah style.  I had been talking up all of the festivities to Mike for weeks.

Our weekend began Saturday morning with the annual Centerville 4th of July Parade.  I realized pretty quickly that the Centerville 4th of July parade is pretty lame, but hey, it's tradition and our claim to fame throughout the year! 

It was 95 degrees and blazing hot, and so we were thrilled to go check Raging Waters off of our Summer to-do list! Talk about ghetto, old, and rickety!  We were there for about six hours and loved every second of it! 

The next day, Mike and I had a little BBQ on our grill, then we went and watched an outdoor movie and ate 4th of July fruit tart!

On the actual 4th of July, I ran my first race in about ten years!  Don't get too excited- it was just a 5k, but a fun one at that!  Mike and I convinced the rest of my family to participate too.  The race was in our neighborhood- and it was beautiful.  It started at Popperton park, and went through the avenues on 11th, through City Creek Canyon and ended at the Salt Lake Capitol.  What a great way to celebrate our glorious country!

I was very happy with the race- it was mostly downhill, the weather wasn't scorching yet, and I beat my goal time by 4.5 minutes!  Everyone ran it in under 30 minutes- which was awesome!

Mike did amazing!  He practically flew to the finish line!  I took 4th place in my family (hence me wishing 4th place made the podium), which I was really happy with!

We enjoyed the rest of our holiday lounging around, saw 'Midnight in Paris', had a big BBQ, and went to Oakridge with my extended Hymas family for fireworks!  It was a perfect weekend. 

 

 Mike has learned that dressing for holiday's is fun!

Happy Birthday America!

We love you!

Idaho Youdaho Road Trip

A couple weekends ago Mike and I set out on a little road trip up to Idaho Falls to see Mike's parents!  And you know what driving in the car with me for three hours means?  I start to get pretty obnoxious with the camera.... poor Mike.

 

look at his face... he doesn't even humor me anymore by looking at the camera!

 

 Idaho the beautiful.  The clouds were phenomenal.

It just so happens that Kari, my sister-in-law, and her four kids are living in Idaho falls for the summer before they move to Ohio, so we were stoked to see them too!  We miss having nieces and nephews that live close by!  We made it safely Friday night, had dinner and then played games and hung out.  Saturday morning Mike and I went running around the Greenbelt (where the actual Idaho falls are), then we all went to Clate's t-ball game. 

 

 the kid knows how to play ball

 this is my favorite picture Mike took- oh to be 6 again playing t-ball and running the bases!

Afterwards, we made our way to the world-famous (or Idaho famous at least), Big Jud's.  You don't understand how excited I was to try this place!  Ever since Mike and I started dating over two years ago, he's talked and talked about how amazing their burgers are!  The best part is that the restaurant is in this old podunk building that used to be a gas station that's in the middle of nowhere.  I take that back- it's smack dab on a cow pasture in the middle of nowhere!  Man vs. Food (one of our guilty pleasure tv shows) actually went to Big Jud's to attempt to finish their 1 pound cheeseburger a while back.  We ordered one for the sake of trying it and it took up one whole plate!  It was the biggest cheeseburger I'd ever seen.  Sadly I was drooling too much to even think to take a picture, but it did not disappoint!  It was juicy, not too greasy, and cooked to perfection.  I can't wait to go back!  I joked about eating the whole thing by myself, but it actually ended up feeding five of us! Maybe next time...

After stuffing our faces, we decided to go swimming!  We drove up to Heise, this old water park nestled in the mountains of eastern Idaho next to the Snake River.  It actually had natural hot pots there as well as normal water park stuff, which was so cool! 

After we finished up at the water park, we had a picnic on the river, skipped rocks, and went home and crashed.  Sunday we went to stake conference, had a bbq, played with nieces and nephews, and relaxed before heading home to Salt Lake. 

 

Halle & Chloe

 baby Thomas- I wanted to take this kid home!

Thanks Gary and Carol for a great weekend!  We love you!

Stacie's Wedding Part 3

Okay, I promise this is the last installment of the wedding for those of you who think all I'm ever going to write about anymore is Stacie's wedding day!  She's my sister okay?  Lay off people!

Where was I?  Okay, on to the reception and all of the chaos that ensued...

The reception was held at a beautiful new place in Sugar House called Cucina Nassi.  After freshening up, Mike and I were driving to the reception hall to get there in time for pictures when I got a call from my mom.  She proceeds to inform me that my dad and two of my brothers (all of whom were dressed up in tuxes at the time) got into a minor car accident on their way to the reception.

Debaucle #1: Yes, my dad got into a car accident on the way to his daughter's wedding.  Talk about a money pit, man!

Once my mom assured me that nobody was hurt, it actually became quite hilarious.  You see, my dad doesn't pay attention when he drives (any family member will agree).  In fact, I'm truly surprised that this hasn't happened before.  As Ethan tells the story, they were just a few blocks away from Cucina Nassi when my dad turned to my brothers and made some joke about the party not starting yet because the three of them weren't there, and then BOOM..... they ran into the car in front of them at a stop light.

Luckily no one was hurt, there wasn't too much damage to either car, and my dad was a good sport about it.  He was laughing about it five minutes later and didn't let it ruin his night.

 

scotty h. post car accident

Literally thirty seconds after I hang up with my mom, I get a phone call from Stacie.  The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi Stace

Stacie: Hey, have you guys left yet?

Me: Yep, we are just a few minutes away- almost there.  What's up?

Stacie: Weeeeeeellllllllllll...............we have a situation.  Ummmmmm, Bennett lost his pants.

Debaucle #2: Yes, you read that correctly.  Bennett, the groom, misplaced his pants.

The first thing I thought was 'Seriously?  You already got busy at the hotel?'  But it turns out, dear old Bennett, with the stress, excitement, and craziness of his wedding day, had left his tux pants in the dressing room at the temple after taking pictures.  And now, minutes before he was supposed to be the focal point of more pictures, he was pantless.

Talk about a crazy predicament.  

So, here's what happened next:

 

beware of teenage boy half naked

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  As fate would have it, Bennett and my brother Ethan just happen to be about the same size.  So, Ethan handed over his pants to Bennett for the sake of pictures, and ended up lounging around/worshiping his body in his white shirt, bow tie, and underpants for a good hour or so.  Like any sixteen year old would, he loved having an excuse to hang out half naked.

Don't worry...my grandparents went to the temple, found the pants, and Bennett changed into his real pants (the ones that actually matched his tux) just minutes before guests arrived.  

If you thought that was the end of outfit malfunctions, think again.

Debaucle #3: Lipstick meets my booty

Everyone had made it to the reception hall safely, the pant situation had been solved, and I thought the rest of the night was going to be smooth sailing.   We started having fun with my camera.....

After snapping a few pictures, Allie stopped me dead in my tracks and told me that I had something on my butt.  

Oh no.

Oh yesssssssss.  At first we thought it was chocolate, but after my mom tasted it, she determined it to be plum lipstick of some sort.  

First of all, I don't even own plum lipstick, so how in the world did it get on my bum?  It remains a mystery to me still to this day, weeks later. 

my back side.

Now, I know it wasn't my wedding day, and nobody was going to be paying attention to my bum besides my husband, but still, I'm not exactly comfortable walking around with spots on my booty, especially spots that could quite possibly cause people to believe that I am currently experiencing womanly problems and need a tampax.  YIKES.

We scrubbed with club soda, hand soap, water, and Mike even ran to the store to grab a tide pen.  To my dismay, nothing worked.  The lipstick wouldn't budge, and I walked around all night with spots on my butt!  Fun!  As I was complaining about it, my little brother Preston assured me in all seriousness that nobody was going to look at my butt, and if anybody did they were a PERVERT anyway.  Oh bless his fifteen year old heart for thinking that even glancing at a girl's bum is perverted.  I hope he stays that way for at least five more years.

Anyway, the reception turned out to be a smashing success.  After planning my wedding, and now Stacie's, I'm trying to convince my mother to start a wedding planning business because she would ROCK IT.  She is so amazing and detail oriented! The venue was magical, flowers and decorations were classy and fresh, the band was awesome, the bride and groom looked amazing, and the italian food and gelato were delightful (it should have been- the owner hails straight from italy and owns one of the best italian restaurants in slc).  It was a perfect party, and a perfect evening.  

 Congrats Bennito and Stace!  Love you guys!

Stacie's Wedding Part 2

The morning of Stacie's wedding, Mike and my brothers decided that in honor of Stacie's upcoming marriage they would go golfing (how thoughtful of them, right?).  So, I being the worrier/control freak that I am, told Mike that I thought going golfing all morning under the hot sun was a foolish decision considering we had a major event packed wedding day to attend to.  I didn't want him to be sun-burnt, grumpy, or tired and so naturally sleeping in that morning and making me breakfast (kidding, but not) was a much better idea.  He didn't seem to think so, and in the end they went to the golf course at 6 am.

When I woke up I was bugged nobody was there to make me breakfast (kidding, but not), and so I decided to go on a run.  (This is subject matter for an entire blog post in and of itself- bottom line: I've begun running again).  I started on my normal run, thinking about how dumb my husband and brothers were for being outside all morning.  They were going to be pooped by the end of the day and I wasn't going to feel sorry for them.  I don't know if my ipod simply got the better of me, if the heat made me dillusional, or if I was overly emotional because my baby sister was getting married in four hours, but by the time I got back to my house I realized I had ran nearly seven miles.  (Mind you, running seven miles might be a normal day occurrence for you, and if that is the case, I praise you.  You are a better person than me.  Considering the fact that a month and a half ago I ran 1.5 miles and literally told Mike I needed to go to the hospital because I was going to die from cardiac arrest may help you understand that running seven miles is IN NO WAY NORMAL FOR ME. )  In fact I started to wonder what the heck I'd been thinking when I had to hold onto the railing and limp up the stairs to get to my apartment.  I was supposed to be wearing my beautiful new five inch camel heels all day, and the thought made me want to cry.  I decided to go eat breakfast with my parents and help Stacie get ready for the wedding, and so I hobbled to my car and drove to my parents house.

Mike and my brothers met me there, and while I was already feeling the sorry effects of a long run, they had experienced a relaxing, rest full morning on the green.  I'm pretty sure karma, or something evil like it was at work here because after all my nagging I was the one with the tired, broken down body.  Go figure. 

Anyway, the important thing was that Stacie and Bennett did it!  They got married!  And neither one of them were even nervous (something I cannot even remotely begin to understand- I was a nervous wreck on my wedding day.  It's just who I am).  It was a lovely ceremony, and the only thing that would have made it better is if I had worn waterproof mascara.  I was a complete mess by the time it was over, and I had makeup dripping all over my face.  Let me tell you, I looked like one HOT clown. 


I was going to wait and post some of the professional photos-- but it's summer wedding season folks and that means a 4-6 week wait (those of us who tied the knot in the dead of winter certainly didn't have that problem now, did we?)  In any case, here are some photos from the day!

 waiting outside the temple

 the sibs

 the happy couple! 

 stunning, gorgeous, timeless, classy, and lovely all rolled into one tiny little package

 aren't they perfect together or what?

 brothers being goofy as always

 parents and surrogate parents

 

After the photographer released us from picture duties, Mike and I decided to go to a nearby cafe for lunch to enjoy the cool air conditioner since it felt like an oven outside, and it was hot as hades in our apartment.  Hello it's finally summer in Utah!  This is how we looked/felt:

 

I realize the lighting is horrible and over-exposed, but the face says it all.  I just want a full body massage and a popsicle.  And maybe an ice water.  Is that too much to ask?  

Stay tuned for more (funny) wedding adventures!