Updated photos of my garden

Click on the title of this post to take a look at my updated pictures of my garden. I added captions to make it more interesting. I ate my first home grown carrot today; it was so yummy. We had a salad made from swiss chard and carrots from the garden, and other veggies from the store, which will soon come from our garden (tomatoes and cucumbers).

Countdown to Hawaii

We only have a few short weeks left before the Hawaii fun begins. Is everyone working on their base tans???

Happy Birthday Holly

Can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks and give you a birthday hug.

Happy Birthday Holly!!

I hope you have a wonderful day, and that your birthday is as fun as mine was. Enjoy your new puppy! He's adorable. Love you!

Thank you for the Birthday wishes!

I feel very loved as I look at my hope chest and see all of the cards that you sent sitting on top of it. It was such a great day because of the cards and phone calls I received; I really felt loved.

Ryan and I went to Sizzler for dinner to revisit the restaurant choice of my youth. The food was as good as I remembered it. For birthday celebrations we went to the drive-in to see Transformers and Evan Almighty. I loved Transformers, but slept through Evan Almighty. I imgaine that it's funny, but it started at 12:15 am, and I was too tired to stay awake.

On Saturday Ryan went shopping with me to use some of my bday money and gift cards. When we were in Target he asked me how much I had accumulated in goods, and I told him that I still had quite a bit left because everything I picked out was on clearance. He then said "they have some cool banana chairs here that I bet you'd like." Of course we all know that I really wouldn't choose to add an accessory like a banana chair to my apartment, but Ryan thought it was a great idea. We had to pass though because they were out of stock. Thank goodness.

Well, it was great fun. Thank you for making it special.

Ryan and Rachele's 4th of July

So Ryan and I went camping with his parents and a couple of his siblings. We camped at the best site in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The camp site sits along side a beautiful river and our site was next to a mini waterfall. We bbq'd steaks, cooked up some s'mores, and sat around the campfire. In the morning we went on a hike to White Pine Lake. It's an 8 mile round trip hike, and it was pretty difficult. We climbed from 7100 feet to 9300 feet in about 3 miles. The first mile was easy, which was very deceiving. The final destination was worth it though. It was the greenest trail I've ever seen. There were tons of wild flowers in bloom, and you walked along streams and rivers the whole way. It was great fun. We're now getting ready to go to the Freedom Festival in Downtown Provo. We were going to see Live Free or Die Hard, but Ryan's family wanted us to show them around the Festival, so we'll just have to wait to see the movie. Well, enjoy the pictures.

P.S. Notice in one of the photos that I'm wearing my Life is Good Shirt. I got the picture for you mom.

Las Vegas & The Grand Canyon

Our mini vacation to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon was so much fun! Except we are worn out now and need a vacation to recover. We flew in Sat. morning and immediately felt the effects of the 110+ heat. Luckily there is never an air conditioned building far away. So basically our trip consisted of eating yummy food, shopping, a tiny bit of gambling (I'd lose on the slots and John would make up the difference on the poker machines) and seeing some great shows. We had tickets to "The Blue Man Group" on Saturday night. If you ever have a chance to go see it, don't hesitate. It was pure entertainment...funny, great percussion, and clean! Sunday we were able to get tickets to see The Beatles "Love", Cirque du Soleil production. It was amazing! Again, I'd highly recommend it. From start to finish it was just pure music and the amazing acts that you'd expect from Cirque du Soleil. On Monday we took a day trip to the Grand Canyon with a quick pit stop at Hoover Dam. This was a highlight for me. John's been several times, but it was my first trip to see it. I was absolutely in awe. It looks unreal. We only had a couple of hours there so we didn't get to hike or explore too much, but to be honest between the heat and the altitude, that was ok. I definitely want to go back during cooler weather so we can hike or plan a raft trip or maybe ride the burros down (seriously!). It was so beautiful, it's almost indescribable. I was just standing on one of the lookout points and thinking this is just so amazing.