Happy Holidays

I love the holiday season! (minus being cold) I think as I get older I realize how blessed I am. Jess and I had a great Thanksgiving. We ate at Jess' parents house and then we headed to my grandmas for left overs. I love that are families live close enough that we get to spend time with both!

Every year since we have been married Jess and I have cut down our own Christmas tree with my family around Thanksgiving. Well this year we got a lot of snow really early and we were not going to make it up to the trees on 4-wheelers so Jess and a friend from worked hiked up to get one. I think he picked out an awesome tree! I love decorating our Christmas Tree.


HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Brad Paisley and the Dirty Dash

On Friday night we went to the Brad Paisley concert with some friends. I gave the tickets to Jess for his birthday. We both really like Brad Paisley and the concert was amazing. Darius Rucker performed before Brad Paisley and he did great too. Brad Paisley is a great performer. He really knows how to put on a show! It was one of our favorite concerts!

All of us at the concert



On Saturday Jess and I ran in the Dirty Dash Race which is a 10k mud run held at Soldiers Hollow. I ran with some of Jess' family. Our team name was the "Dirty Daines " ( Thanks Tenniel for making our team shirts) Jess ran with his friends, the 'Dirty Dudes. This race was so much fun. The race was ran on a trail but during the race we had to do a whole bunch of different obstacles like running through lots of mud, crawling over walls, sliding on a huge slip and slide, and those were just a few.
Here is a picture of Jess and I before the race. We definitely didn't stay this clean!

This is a picture of the Dirty Dudes team (Brian, Jake, Matt, Justin, and Jess) before they hit the really muddy parts of the race.

This is a picture of the giant slip and slide that we got to slide down. It was so much fun!

The boys heading towards the finish line.

The dirty dudes at the last obstacle. Jess is the one crawling in the mud. When I saw him at he end of the race he was covered in mud from head to toe!

Our team jumping into the muddy water right before the finish line.

The Dirty Daines team at the end of the race.

This whole weekend was so much fun. If anybody gets a chance to go to the Brad Paisley concert or run in the Dirty Dash do it!

Happy Birthday Jess

Jess celebrated his 25th birthday yesterday. We started the celebration on Sunday with a family dinner at our house with both of our families. This is a picture of his cake.


Jess blowing out the candle in his cake.


Jess loves the Dallas Cowboys and we finally broke down and bought him a jersey.


Max was really good at helping Jess open his presents.


Jess with his Utah State running shirt.


Jess opening his leaf blower. He loves to work in the yard and he really wanted a leaf blower.


Jess with his tickets to the Brad Paisley concert.


And last but not least his motorcycle. Jess has been looking for one for a long time and he finally found one on his birthday!

Happy Birthday Jess! I hope you had a great birthday! I love you!

4 years

For our anniversary this year we decided to pick up and drive to Jackson and Yellowstone. We booked a room at Grand Targee on Tuesday night and our plan was to get up and leave on Wednesday. On Wednesday we got up and headed to Jackson. We typed the address to the hotel into Betty Garmin( Jess got a Garmin GPS a few years ago for Christmas and we named it Betty. I am not really sure why.) Anyway, Betty was trying to take us through Idaho but Jess and I decided to go through Afton, Wy. We had been to Jackson a number of times and we like going that way. Well we when got to Jackson Betty Garmin said that we were still an hour and a half away from hotel. This didn't make any sense because our hotel was just 12 miles outside of Jackson according to Hotels.com. Well honestly Betty is never wrong so we followed her directions. It turns out that Betty was right and our hotel was an hour and a half away from Jackson. When we went to check in we were kind of upset because we were not close to Jackson at all. We were actually at the Grand Tragee Ski Resort. The guy at the front desk said that this happens all the time. Two other couples besides us thought they were booking in Jackson too. It turns out if you book a hotel through Expedia or hotels.com they measure distance "as the crow flies" So we were actually only 12 miles from Jackson if we hiked over the mountain. Out hotel turned out to be a lot of fun. It was so beautiful and peaceful. It was one of the most relaxing places that I have ever been.
Jess and I at the pool with the Mountain in the background.

There was only like 20 people staying at the hotel total. The people there said that it is not very busy in the summer so if you want to go somewhere relaxing this resort would be good. We we the only ones in the pool and it was really warm. This is a picture before we jumped in.

Jess and I in the pool.

Because we were an hour and a half away from Jackson we ended up being closer to West Yellowstone. This turned out to be great because when we got there we found this cute cabin to stay at. We really like West Yellowstone because there were some cute shops and restaurants to eat at outside the park.

The picture of the bathroom and the sitting area.

Jess and I at one of the falls in Yellowstone.

Our first day in the park we took a lunch in and had a picnic.

Jess and I waiting for Old Faithful.

Old Faithful erupting. I thought this picture was cool because the water looks like it is mixed with the clouds.

Jess and I went swimming in the Firehole river. Jess remembered swimming here when he was younger so he was really excited when we found it. The weather was awesome and the water was pretty warm. There was one place in the river where the current was really strong. Everyone was jumping off a rock into the current and it would just carry you to a place where you could swim to the edge. Jess had done it a few times and he really wanted me to do it. I was being a little bit of a chicken but Jess talked me into getting up there. It was not high but the water was really fast. Ahead of me was a little boy who was probably 10. After he went I decided I could do it. It was actually really fun, a little scary but fun.

Jess standing by the Lower Falls in Yellowstone.

As we were driving around the park the herd of buffalo we walking pretty close to us. Well this one came right up by the drivers window.

By the time I got the camera out he was already headed down the road but I took this picture from inside the car. (that is why it is kind of blurry)

Jess and I at Yellowstone Lake. This was one of my favorite places. The lake is so beautiful and it is huge.

On our way home we drove through the park and headed home through Jackson so we made it there after all. We had a great trip and I would definitely do it again!

Bear Lake and Dodgeball

Last Thursday Jess, Max and I went over to Bear Lake. We took a picnic over and we just spent the afternoon enjoying the sun and the water. It was so much fun! We need to take day trips to Bear Lake more often.



Jess and Max running in the water.

Max loved the water. We would throw the Frisbee and he would swim out to get it no matter how far we threw it.

Max was so tired when we left that he jumped in the car and went right to sleep!



Last Saturday Mountain Air put together a dodgeball team to play in a charity tournament for the Special Olympics. For playing in the tournament they all got matching shirts and sweatbands. The games were a lot of fun to watch!


The team lined up and ready to play.

Jess and I after the games.

Real Salt Lake

Last Christmas Jess bought me tickets to some Real Salt Lake soccer games. We have really enjoyed coming down to the games. This past Wednesday was by far the best game that we have been to. Real played the LA Galaxy who had not lost yet. Real beat them 1-0. It was a great game!

Jess and I down on the field after the game.

Real Salt Lake are wearing red and the LA Galaxy are in white.

The stadium was packed.

After the game David Cook put on a concert for all the people who had tickets to the game. They set up a stage on the field and let people come to onto the field for the concert. It was a lot of fun and he did a good job. He played 7 or 8 songs and he also sang the National Anthem at the beginning of the game.

LAKE POWELL

Last week we went with a bunch of friends to Lake Powell. It was so much fun and the weather was amazing. The last day we were there it was 101 degrees. It was so nice to be in warm weather and out of this crazy rainy weather that we have been having here. I had never been to Lake Powell and it is beautiful. There are so many canyons and cliffs. We had a great time! I took a lot of pictures so it was hard to choose which ones to post.

This is the house boat we stayed on. It was called the Unwinder. Thanks Dave and Kris for letting us stay here!


All of us on the house boat wearing our foam hats. It had always been kind of a joke with our friends that when we go boating on our boat we wear foam hats. I don't really know if it is because they float or what but we look stylish!

Jess, Jake, and Bryan trying to stay on the tube. I must have been doing a great job driving because they look like they are going to fall off.

BreAnna, me, and Stacey riding the Super Mable Tube. This is one of our favorite tubes.

Bryan, Jess, Ryan, Jake, and Justin enjoying the sun.

Jess going off the slide on the house boat. The boys had a lot of fun finding different ways to slide down and trying to land on different things. I think there favorite was landing on the Hot Dog tube.

Jess doing a little surfing.

Jess and I with our boat docked at them little store they had. I can't tell you how good the ice cream tasted in 101 degree weather!

Me getting ready to jump. All of the boys jumped off the cliffs too. The pictures of them are on another camera. Maybe one of them other girls will blog them.

Stacey, Me, BreAnna, and Mary before we jumped off the cliff.

Jess, Justin, and Byran take a little ride on the tube.

The boys!

The first day of our trip was Bre's birthday. Jake surprised her with a cake.

Jess and I on the boat in Annie's Canyon. This was one of our favorite places. We we got into the canyon we all jumped in the water. It was a lot of fun!

Jake and Jess surfing.

This is my trying to surf. I have only done it a few time and I am still not very good at it. As you can see I am concentrating really hard.