Island Park Cont'd

Island Park!!

This is a very belated post of our family trip to Island Park. My mom and dad were wanting a nice, relaxed family vacation, so they planned an incredible weekend trip to Island Park. We stayed at a place called Eagle Ridge Ranch... we had our own family sized cabin (complete with hot tub!), scheduled a couple horseback riding trips, went on nature walks, ate like fat people, watched Lion King only about 15 times, played games and slept a LOT (well, I did anyway lol). IT was such a fun weekend. We were so lucky to get Addi and Tess with us, Jake was missed very much by all of us, but we were fortunate to get part of his family! Thanks Mom and Dad for all you did for us. The mini vaca was incredible and totally hit the spot for relaxation and fun! Thanks for the food and making us feel like we were at a 5 star resort!! Mom I was so proud of you for riding the horse and not screaming once! You were sooo good!!

Addi was so cute on her very first horse back ride EVER! She was such a trooper and was so brave!

The hot tub was only like 90 degrees, so basically freezing for a hot tub! I only got in once, because it was so cold, yet everyone else thought it was just right. I was the lame one and froze the whole time we were there!! Sorry everyone :(

AT the Beach!

Tanessa took us to Cocoa Beach and we had the TIME OF OUR LIVES!!! Ryan and I boogie boarded and made sand castles and took a LONG walk on the beach (so romantic, right!?) However, he was Addi's little buddy. He is more of a "land dweller" so he stayed with her under the umbrella and played with her quite a bit. They were adorable to watch!!

Summer of fun (and many expenses) cont'd!!

I never got to finish my post that I published last week, so hopefully I can get this completed!! I promised my mom I would upload all my pics from our Florida trip, so i will try to squeeze as many as i can in this one!!


Ryan and I went to a really cool zoo while we were in Florida. Tess said it was the least impressive zoo there, but for us Idahoans, we were easily impressed!! We've NEVER seen an alligator or crocodile in real life, so for us, that just made it for us right there!!!
Check out the fat head on that sucker!!! It was so creeeeeepy being that close to the croc...
Pretty snapshot at the Epcot Center in Disney World. I LOVE IT THERE!

Close up!! I don't think we've ever had so much fun on a vacation. Ryan and I were all smiles the whole time!

Summer of fun (and many expenses)

It's almost sickening how long it's been since I've posted anything on here... I even deleted it for a while....but this summer, I actually have some things to post, so I am a little excited to get them posted!! Ryan and I have had an incredible summer. I am not used to having summers off and getting paychecks every month, so this has been one of the best summers ever!! This has definitely been a vacation filled with mini vacations!! Right before summer started, Ryan's sister Jenn invited us to Disneyland for a weekend, so that was vaca #1, after that I went to visit her again for about 5 days in Vegas, which was one of the best times I've had in my life, I just love her to death and feel very blessed to get her as my sister-in-law (vaca #2). THEN, we were invited by the Walkers and the Federico's to take a 4 day camping trip to Pine, which was quite an adventure!! Unfortunately the Federico's weren't able to attend due to a very unexpected death in their family (our love and our prayers have been going out to them ever since). So we went camping with the Walker family, who we love! Their family is our family pretty much, so we had a WONDERFUL time. We got a place right on the river, it was incredible! (vaca #3). The Tuesday following, we headed to Orlando to visit my big brother, Jakey, and his family. Words can't descsribe how much fun we had. It was incredibly fun, as well as incredibly meaningful. (vaca #4). I can't wait to go back!! I miss them soo much already. Each night we were there, I cried thinking of when I had to say goodbye to my precious Addi, and to Jake & Tessles. It just broke my heart. The night we said goodbye I cried myself to sleep and cried the WHOLE way home. Poor Ryan had to put up with the pitiful sobs for nearly 13 hrs!! He was such a trooper though!! Anyway, that's just my summer in a nutshell ( we had many more mini mini vacations to Pocatello to visit friends and family, and were able to have some visitors of our own here in Twin). Below are some pics that I felt worthy of posting!!
We got to go to Epcot Center at Disneyworld, it was AMAZING!!! Everyone needs to experience this!!
I am a HUGE Beatles fan, and in the "UK", they had a band called The British Invasion, that impersonates the Beatles and their music. They were so good, I was very impressed!
It was tough for us to leave the UK, since Jake served his mission there, it was pretty cool there. We even got a Galaxy bar!!! The best chocolate ever made I swear, and we have never been able to find it here in the states. Jake was bursting with joy hahah!!

Update and a lot of pics!

So I am bombarding my blog with pictures, I apologize!! I promised more pics in my last post, and so I'm posting pics of Ryan's birthday, and more Brutus (since he's more interesting and cute than us).
Anyway, just wanted to give a little bit of an update, we just got GREAT news that Jake, Tess and Addi are coming for Christmas!! I just about peed when I heard the news, not even kidding! I have been missing them like crazy and shed AT LEAST one tear every time I view their blog. There has been a definite void in our lives since they moved to Florida, so them coming home for a few weeks will do all of our hearts quite a bit of good! I have a cry session probably once a month to Ryan about how much I miss them, so it'll be a nice little relief for ryan too!!
Ryan is starting basketball this week, and he's really excited. I again, have mixed feelings!! I got to have him to myself for a whole week and it was so nice, I skipped going to the gym every day just so I could race home to spend time with my long lost husband! They just made cuts this weekend so they begin practice on Monday. It'll be good for me to get back to my routine, but I'm sad that I have to go back to not seeing him much!
I am still a slave at the office. I stress SO MUCH and my body does not handle stress very well. My face has broken out so bad that I can't even look in the mirror. I don't think my skin has been this bad in my entire life!! It's very disturbing. You won't see many pics of me posted because you will probably have nightmares!! (i'm a bit of a drama queen). Anyway, not too much to update you on, just wanted to put up a post so I don't get yelled at by people, and plus I"m bored!



My mom created the CUTEST card for Ryan, we were laughing so hard! She is so crafty and creative. Just love her to pieces!
Ryan was already chowing down on part of the present oma and grandpa gave him, she makes the best lemon bars! I think I ended up eating more than Ryan did!

We had such a fun Halloween this year. Most of the family was able to meet at Oma's and my parents this year to celebrate. Oma made her famous chili and my mom made her famous frosted cookies and frosted doughnuts! It was just so much fun to be with family. Aubrey looked adorable in her little Pirate hat, don't you think? The only bummer about the evening was Ryan's team lost their game against Idaho Falls. The score was 62-30 something... he wasn't a happy camper, I felt so bad for him; however, there was a small inkling of happiness felt because I get to have him to myself for the next couple of weeks until basket ball starts up again!


















Ryan was mad at me for dressing Brutus up as a bumble bee, but he looks so adorable, and he liked wearing it because it kept him warm!!