Jackson Hole

The last weekend in June Ryan & I went to Jackson Hole with my parents. We left Saturday morning and went to see my grandparents in Clifton. After visiting with them for a while we decided we better get on our way. We went through strawberry canyon to Montpelier and then went over to eat in Afton. We had decided to take the more scenic route to Jackson so we we around the Palisades and into victor up to the top and then into Jackson. We stayed at the Jackson Hole Inn and it told us to check in at The Snow King we kind of got confused but we finally checked in. After getting situated we decided to go on the Alpine Slide. I was kind of lame but I had fun. We got my mom to go and she is not a heights or ride kind of girl but I got proof that she really went. After that we went and shopped a little and then went to eat at Bubba's. We came back to the hotel and went to sleep and were wok up at 6:00 to water dripping. I thought that my dad was using the sink but the next thing I know is he's back in bed. I looked at him and he said that the ceiling was leaking by the door. I thought OK and went back to sleep. We then got up and went to eat at the Virginian. Then off for a long ride home. We went through Hoback Junction over through Big Piney and then on our way to Bear Lake. We met up with Ryan's parents and went to eat at Cafe Sabor in Bear Lake it was delicious.

Getting ready to leave Clifton

Palisades

The pass above Jackson
Mom & Dad Riding the lift to the Alpine Slide
The View of Jackson from the lift
Mom going down the Alpine SlideLeaving Jackson

Catch Up

I am going to try and update my blog with stuff that has been happening threw the summer. Things we have done that I will update about Jackson Hole, 4th of July Weekend, participated in Relay for Life, George Straight concert, ALASKA, Bear Lake Raspberry Days. So stay tuned for these updated events.

I went from this....

To this



I needed a change and this definitely was it.

May has went by fast

Wow did May fly by. Ryan was gone for 10 days so I tried to stay busy while Ryan was gone. I thought that those ten days would never come and know that he has been home time have just flew by.

Memorial Weekend was our first weekend at Bear Lake it rained most of the weekend. We took the trailer over for the summer and when we got there it was pretty good weather. We were going to mow the lawn and then realized that we had no gas. We went to the Pickleville market for gas and they no longer have gas (I was told they haven't had gas for a couple of years, I didn't know). We ended up going clear over to Laketown to get gas I know it’s along way but it was a nice little drive. I managed to mow the lawn and only go rained on the last 5 minutes. On Sunday we made a drive over to Idaho to buy Lottery Tickets (I didn't win anything) it was a nice break for all the people over at the cabin. We were going to stop and get a shake but I forgot my coupon for 10% off at Merlin's so we headed back to the cabin. So on Monday on our way home we stopped at Merlin's and got a shake. I order a Strawberry Cheesecake shake and they were out of Cheesecake so I got Strawberry Marshmallow. It was pretty good.

On May 26th my mom, sister and I went to the Taylor Swift Concert. It was a lot of fun. I was a little disappointed because Kellie Pickler didn't perform. I was looking forward to seeing her again. My cousin won backstage passes to see Kellie Pickler and then didn't get to see her. She was really mad but it was made up when Taylor Swift came out at their terminal and sang "Hey Stephen" and then gave her daughter her bracelet and gave them hugs. She was really good in concert and I would go to her again. This summer we are going to a lot of concerts the next one we will be going to is George Straight then we are going to Toby Keith and then Keith Urban. I am really excited.

Taylor Swifts Opening Act: GlorianaTaylor Swift (The guy in the cowboy hat is Heath)Taylor SwiftTaylor Swift after Love StoryThis Video is when Taylor came out at the top of the Terminal singing "Hey Stephan" (sorry it is kind of poor quality)

We had a BBQ with my grandparents for my birthday and Jordan's Graduation on Saturday. We had them over for hamburgers and hot dogs. Then we lit the Christmas tree on Fire. It was something my brother has wanted to do for a while and my mom told him that if he graduated she would let him burn it.

On Sunday we had another get together with my Grandpa Ballard and Elayne's Family as a going away party/birthday party/graduation party/fathers day party. We had a lot of fun. It’s not too often that we do a lot of stuff with that side of the family. My grandpa and Elayne left for Alaska on Wednesday June 3. I am really excited to go and see them in July. It will be here before we know it.

Grandpa and Elayne with Abigail after Graduation

It was my birthday on June 1st. So Ryan & I took the day off work. We didn't do a lot but we raked the yard and I washed the vehicles. They looked really nice until it decided to rain on them this whole week. My Grandma took us to Coppermill. Again it was for my birthday and Jordan's graduation. Ryan & I rode the bike it and she brought balloons so I had to have my mom take them home and then we went over to get some flowers that she got for me and all my balloons (there were 2 bundles).

My little brother graduated from Mountain Crest on June 2nd (with help from my sister and mom). I can't believe he is old enough to graduate. I swear it was just last year that I was getting married and he was only 13 running around with the cousins. My mom had seen an announcement that was for someone else graduating and she wanted me to put something together for my brother. We went out and took some pictures on Saturday and had them printed the same day. So here it is.

The AnnouncementJordan & His Girlfriend TaylorJordan Getting his DiplomaThe Family after Graduation

Ryan’s family had a BBQ on Saturday the 6th. We had a lot of fun. The whole family was there and even Ryan’s aunt Twila and cousin Kinley. Ryan invited a friend from work (Jeremy and his family). The kids had so much fun running around. We had ribs & Dutch oven potatoes for dinner and then sat around the fire. It was a lot of fun.

Hunter & Memphis playing on the trainHunterTaylorWhitney & Taylor

We had a birthday party for my grandpa Johnson on Sunday. Because it was raining we had it at my mom's house. It was a lot of fun getting together with the family.

My Mom's Family (Jill, Lynnette, Jan, Grandpa Johnson, Grandma Johnson, Keith)The Family with their spouses

I have a busy summer coming up so hopefully I can keep you all posted on stuff that is happening in our lives.

Baby Duffel

Breanne had a baby girl on Sunday. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 19" long. She has dark hair and looks alot like Breanne. Although I haven't seen any baby pics of Ethan so I can't say who she resembles the most. They didn't have any girl names picked out so it took a little while to name her but it fits her.

Abigail Duffel
Trying to show her hair.

Me holding Abigail

The Proud Grandma Holding Abigail

WARNING! Alot of Information Updated

So it has taken me some time to write about what has been going on in my life. It has been kind of busy. I will try to hit everything that has happened within the last 3 months. Sorry there is a lot of stories and a lot of pics.

In February we went to a Jeff Foxworthy concert, that was Actually quite good. We went down with my family and our friends Brad & Kristen. The opening act was a band called the Standards they are an acapella (not sure if spelling is correct) group they also were really good.

Jeff Foxworthy

The Standards

Then at the end of the month the whole family got together and celebrated Hunters birthday(nephew). He got a lot of cool toys and we all had cake and ice cream.

HunterThe first weekend of March our bowling team went to state. I did pretty well I got 46th place and won $9. I know its only $9 but it is better nothing. My aunt Lynnette did pretty good as well she won $46. We were the only 2 on our team that got anything from state. While we were in Ogden for State we ate at my dads friends restaurant (Top Shelf Sports Grill), it was their grand opening. I had me a pizza that was Alfredo sauce with ham and pineapple it was delicious. I also had to try their deep fried pickles. I know it sounds gross but they were sooo good. The guys were taking my Grandma Ballard to the airport. She was going to Arizona to see her sister and daughter. So While they were already down in the area we talked my dad, Jordan and Ryan into stopping in and surprising Jeff.

Me, Lynette, Marsha, My Mom at Jeff's Restaurant

Breanne, My Mom, Lynette, Marsha at Texas Roadhouse

The second weekend was the Annual Sportsman's for Fish & Wildlife Banquet. We go pretty much every year and this year we left with a 270 Browning Gun. They always play a game at the banquet where you buy a $2 bill for $20 (if you think about it, it is kind of a ripe off) then they read off the serial number and if it matches your $2 bill you get to pick out a gun. Well my number was the first number read. I got to choose from 4 guns. I had to have Ryan come and help me pick it out because I didn't know Which one to go with. We had a choice between a .270 shortmag, a 30-06, a .22 handgun and the .270 browning. You already know that I/Ryan chose the .270 Browning. He claims that it is his gun but it is really mine and we will argue about it all the time.

Ryan has been wanting to go camping and so we pulled the trailer to Idaho Falls to see Ryans sister. We left Friday morning and got up there Friday afternoon and were going to stay until Sunday. The wind was blowing on Sunday really bad that there was a warning out for "High Profile Vehicles" with the truck and trailer we didn't want to risk driving home on Sunday. Come Monday morning when we were leaving there was a lot of ice on the road we thought we might have a long drive home. As soon as we left Rigby and got into Idaho Falls the roads were fine so we got back into town about 1pm. While we were up there we went to The Museum of Idaho and saw the Titanic that was on display there. It was really interesting. When you go in they give you a boarding pass of an actual person that had boarded the Titanic. It told you what class you were in and were you were headed. They had real items that were found and they had some replicas of what the first class dining and rooms were like and also the third class. It was amazing to see the different in the classes. When you got to the end of the Exhibit it had a list of first class, second class, third class and crew members that survive and died. I was really sad to see how many people died. Ryan's person was a first class male that died and I was a third class male that died as well. Whitney, Kelly and Taylor went with us and they all survived the Titanic. If you want to go click here for more information. It's only $7 to get in and the exhibit is there until September. I was a lot like the Body Worlds Exhibit, but they have glass boxes and posters with a lot of information about the Titanic. They also have a real ice berg there. Can you imagine being in 32 degree water. I think it would be hard. It's hard enough to get into Bear Lake in the month of June.

My Boarding Pass

Ryan's Boarding Pass

We finally bought our plane tickets to go to Alaska. It took a lot of courage to finally buy them. I am really excited to go back and show Ryan how much fun it is. It was going to be the first plane ride for Ryan but his work is going to have him travel this year. His first trip is in May, so by the time we go to Alaska he will be prepared for a 5 hour flight there.

My Mom and brothers birthdays are April 7th & 8th so we celebrate them together. We went to Fredericos for dinner on the 7th because we had to bowl on the 8th and because my brother was "hanging out with his friends". I can't believe that my little brother is now an adult (well legally) he just turned 18 (he is still a kid to me). That makes me feel old. He will be graduating High School this year and have to join the real world and get a real job.

My Little Brother

There are babies everywhere. When we went to the sportsman banquet I swear every other woman that walked by me was pregnant. As most of you know my Sister is pregnant and due in May. I found out not to long ago that my two best friends growing up Tosha and Cammy are pregnant and due in October. Tosha is having twins, she is due October 1st and she just had an ultrasound and found out that she is having a boy and 80% the other is girl but they are going to have another ultrasound to confirm. Cammy is due on October 20th and hasn't found out what she is having yet. Also my Co-worker/really good friend Holly just had her baby on April 15th. He was 9lbs 8oz and 20.5" long. I have had a lot of fun at work and getting to know Holly I am sad that she is gone. We now have a new graphic artist named Jen and she will be fun to work with and get to know.

Preston Adams MitchellCongrats Holly you have a beautiful baby. I hope all is well.

Now that I have blabbed on about the past three months. I will try to keep up on the blogging to at least once a month.

Better late then never

So its been awhile since I have done a post, things have just been a little crazy around here. At The office I am working on the "Babes of 2008" section and we have had a lot of problems with the internet form so I have had to call people back to try and work everything out.
My family went down to the Body Worlds Exhibit on the last Saturday they were open. BAD IDEA it was so busy, we waited in line for 2 hours before we got in. Then it took about an hour to an hour and half to get through. There was so many people in there we couldn't even get close to the cases. We then went to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory(way yummy). My mom and dad had to hurry to get to the Jazz game that they thought started at 6:30 and then when they got there it didn't start until 7:00. Ryan drove down earlier that morning to go to the gun show with the guys. Then us girls went down later. For a While now Ryan has been looking for a new gun ( an AR-15) and finally got one(a bad "A" AR-15) when we went to Salt Lake. He couldn't find what he wanted at the gun show, but found one that a guy was selling that was just perfect. So after we got done eating we went to Pleasant Grove to pick it up. Well when you go to Pleasant Grove you pass Cabela's so of course we had to stop and get some ammo so he could go home and shoot. Turns out he was too busy so he didn't even shoot it until Wednesday.
I started bowling again at the beginning of the year. I bowl on Mondays with some friends and Wednesdays with my family. This week, on Monday I didn't do so well, so I was hoping wendsday would be better. We bowl three games and the first game I got a 173 which I thought was really good for me because my average is 134. My team kept telling me to keep it up and I told them that will be the highest game of the night for me I will probably only get like a 116 or something like that. Well the next game I got a 152 I felt pretty good about that I went down from the 173 but not to much. Then on with the third game I scored a 199 only 1 pin shy of scoring a 200. I was extremely devastated because if I could have just not guttered the one ball I could have had a 200. You don't get much when you get a 200 but you do get a pin. I really was looking forward to adding a pin to my collection. I have only every got over a 200 once I think I got a 204 so I have one pin but I have quite a nice collection of patches. I still broke a record for myself, my total series for all three games was a 524. I haven't yet recieve a patch for having a 500 series.