Summer's in Utah

So this past week we've been a little outdoorsy which is always fun! Josh has been rock climbing with his friends a lot (pictures to hopefully follow), we've had picnics in the park and we hiked the Y! Something I thought I would never do... 1. because I thought I was physically incapable since I'm ridiculously out of shape 2. I just didn't think we would ever make the time. Well obviously we did and I'm glad I did. I'm also extremely glad I had Josh by my side pushing me, because no matter what anyone tells you, that mountain is steep! I also haven't done much physical activity since, I don't know, 2 years ago :) Anyways... my goal is to start exercising more and enjoying what Utah has to offer. Besides the hike, Josh and I went running along the Provo River trail which was so pretty! Again... Josh had to motivate me to keep running the entire time. So here are a few pictures to go along with my stories:

















Next on our to do list:

1. 5k Run on Saturday (Yes... that's right, in 2 days)
2. Hike Timp... some day
3. Drive the Alpine Loop
4. Go rock climbing with Josh
5. Go back down to Zion's and camp
6. 10k Run in July
7. Scooter Ride's around Provo
8. More running on the Provo River Trail
9. I would like to ski/snowboard once while I'm in Utah (will postpone this until next winter)
10. Run a 1/2 marathon, maybe in October
Bonus: 11. Josh to run a triathlon... I don't know when.

The End.

I promised you pictures....

These are a little out of order.Making their way out to the field. They played at Texas Stadium in Dallas.

Our nephew JT, what a stud!

We went out on the lake while we were in Dallas, and yes, believe it or not, I got in the water.

Mark, Josh and Zack. Just waiting to eat at a good 'ol fashion Texas steak house.

Out on the field at Texas Stadium

Just arriving at the field.

We went in the Cowboy's locker room. Probably not their real locker room, but it was still sweet. We saw T.O., Tony Romo's and the rest of the team's lockers.

Fun in the car. Josh's peace sign, Justin, Jeremy, Elliot and Mark. (I took the picture).

Summer lax BBQ.

Spending time at the Austin's

Josh being interviewed after the game.

I know I look pregnant, I am not though. Just a picture of Josh and I.

Future home... Utah

Ok fine...I'll post again! So things have been a little busy lately with Josh finishing up school, us going to Dallas for lacrosse and trying to figure out what lies ahead in our crazy lives. I have a lot of pictures to post from Dallas but they're at home on the computer and I'm at work, so I'll post those later tonight or tomorrow.

First off, Dallas was amazing! I love going out there and now that Josh's parents just moved out, we were able to spend time with them. They also live on a lake which is awesome and we went out on the boat and went wakeboarding, etc. It was so much fun! Josh's tournament also went well! They made it to the semi-finals which was so great and that game was played in Texas Stadium which is where the Cowboys play!! Unfortunately they lost that game, but I am so proud of Josh for being such an amazing player and finishing off his lacrosse career on a good note. He received First Team All-Conference and Third-Team all American, which is amazing!! I'm so proud of him and so sad that it's over :(

The next item of business... as the title of this post suggests, we are definitely staying in Utah, at least for the summer. If things work out and Josh gets a full time job out here, then we'll be here at least a couple of years. I know, I know... it's kind of sad because I was really excited to go to California and enjoy spending time with my parents and of course the beautiful weather, but we can buy a house out here! So that's really exciting. We are actually in the early process of looking for something out here, preferrably in the South Jordan area, but we're just starting, so we'll see what we find. It's really exciting too! Right now we're debating on buying a decent house or a brand new townhouse... so there are still decisions to be made. I am extremely grateful we now know what we'll be doing for at least the next 3 months, it's such a relief to have this decision finally behind us. It's also great that we can stay here because Josh can play summer league lacrosse with his friends, I still have a great job and Mike and Rebecca are out here!

So even though I didn't think I wanted to live in Utah, I think what I really didn't want was to live in Provo. Utah is beautiful and the place that we're looking at moving to has a brand new temple being built just down the road which would be great! It's in a really new area and it's right in the middle of where I work and where Josh could be working. We're still going to keep our condo down in Provo, which will be nice because we'll just keep it as a rental property for now.

So, for my family/friends in California, I'm sorry, we thought for sure we would be coming out... but for now we'll be staying here. So come visit us! I'll keep you updated on Josh's job hunt and our house hunt... but things are going well and I couldn't be happier.

Goodbye BYU

Well, Josh is officially done with school!! Well, the classes at least...he still needs an internship to graduate, but no more finals for him! I am so proud of him and so happy that he got a great education. We are both now college grads and I'm so glad! As for our future, things have turned out differently than we expected. We now have no idea where we'll be in a month. It's pretty much 50/50 between Irvine, CA and Salt Lake City. There are definitely good things about both places and the different opportunities that he has are both great. So we will be happy either way, but I'd be even happier knowing where we will be! So, only time will tell... we're ultimately just waiting to hear from the Irvine job and if that doesn't work out then we'll be staying here a couple more years. Man, I hate the unknown!!

Well, the past 4 days have been pretty crappy. Josh has been in Oregon since Wednesday so I'm lucky enough to be all by myself. I hate being home alone, I just couldn't go with them because of work. So far though, they won their game on Thursday and they're playing right now and winning by a lot! So I'm sure they'll win today too. They come back tomorrow morning, so I'm really excited! After this weekend, they have their conference tournament next weekend and then in about 2 weeks we go to Dallas for the National tournament!! I get to go to that one, so I can't wait!

That's all for now...as soon as I know what's going on with our lives, I will be sure to let you know...

For those of you who like Cafe Rio...

I found the best recipes! So a good friend of mine was so kind to give me her recipe for the Cafe Rio Pork and let me just tell you, it tastes pretty darn good! Of course it's not exact, but it's pretty darn close and way too easy not to try it yourself! We made this for dinner tonight and had some friends over and it was a hit! So here is the pork recipe:

Cafe Rio Pork

5-6 lb Pork Roast (loin) (Mine was only about 2lbs)
1 tbs cumin
1 c brown sugar
12 oz bottle La Victoria (red) Taco Sauce
20 oz bottle coke

Cook roast on low for 12 hrs in crock pot with water added halfway up the pork. After 12 hours, drain water and add remaining ingredients. Continue cooking for four hours. Shred meat and cook for two more hours.

I actually didn't have cumin, so I didn't use it, and I thought it still tasted great. I actually started the pork last night before I went to bed and let it cook while we were asleep and then in the morning Josh added the rest of the ingredients and we actually let it cook even longer because we didn't eat it until about 7pm...so you can cook it pretty long. Those are just guidelines. Also, if you want to make it a little spicy (which we did) use the medium La Victoria sauce instead of the mild. I think I might try mild next time though...I'm not a very spicy eater.

Now, my favorite thing at Cafe Rio is the salad, so I had to make the dressing as well! This also turned out great! Here is the recipe for that:

Cafe Rio Salad Dressing

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (MAKE AS PER RECIPE...I forgot to do this at first, haha)
2 tomatillos (tomato like vegetable with a husk around them)
½ bunch of cilantro (I only used 1/4 bunch and it was plenty, so add a little at first, but you can always add more)
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño (Use the seeds too if you like it spicy. I actually just got a jar of jalapenos and put a tiny bit in)

Use a food processor/blender to blend all the ingredients well. Refrigerate.


I hope you enjoy.... because we sure did and we have plenty of leftovers!

Kinda fun...

I love to type and here is a little test I took, see how you do! I got 2 words wrong.

99 words

Speedtest

So I took it a second time and improved my score! YAY!

I know... I know

Ok... so spring has sprung, obviously and I still haven't changed my blog. I am really bad at this. I just don't have anything to say! I still work at Fidelity, Josh is still graduating, we're still living in Provo...I guess I just have better things to do than blog lately!

Well, Josh had his last home game of the season last week which was sad, but all of the seniors were recognized and it was great to watch him play. His dad and brother were in town, which made the weekend great and my parents were in town as well! It was a wonderful weekend. Also, Josh was picked as the national lacrosse player of the week!!!!! I couldn't believe it, he is so amazing! He had such an amazing last few games and is just playing awesome! No wonder they gave him that title!

Another fun thing that I did was on Saturday, my sister-in-law Rebecca and I went to the tryouts to be on Deal or No Deal! I absolutely loved that show and had my heart set on sending in a tape with the huge application that went along with it. Well, my dad told me about the tryouts Rebecca was going to up in SLC, so I went with her! Much easier than making a tape. It was an interesting day, and some people you could tell would never make it on the show and I wanted to just tell them to not waste their day....but it was an experience nonetheless. We waited in line for about 6 1/2 hours just to be given 20 seconds to say why we should be on the show. Well, they don't pick anyone there, they just say that they can call you.... so who knows, maybe 4 or 5 months down the road you'll see us on the show! (Or driving an Escalade beacuse I already won, haha).

Josh has a game tonight against the U of U, (their rivals), but I'm sure they'll win. Then they go to Oregon next week. That is what's been going on for the last month...

Spring is just around the corner!

Well, I love spring. I love everything about it! I like summer a little bit more, but spring is amazing because it means it's going to start getting warmer! I can't believe this weekend is already daylight savings! It's way early this year, but it'll be so nice to get out of work when the sun is still out! I am sad though because having lived in Utah for over 5 years now, I have still never snowboarded. I always wanted to and Josh is so good at it, that I thought I would have gone by now. But I still haven't! So, before springtime finally comes, I need to take a day snowboard trip while we still have snow!

On a different note... yesterday was my day off and I had such a nice day! I have Tuesday's off and the weekends, but I work long hours the other 4 days. But yesterday Josh had some of his lacrosse friends come over and they made eggs benedict for us for breakfast! It was so nice of them and it tasted great! I've never had it before then. After they left Josh and I ran some errands and went up to IKEA for the first time. I can't believe I haven't been there since it's been built. But it's just like all the other ones :) It was fun to go though and we ate .50 cent hot dogs and a cinnamon bun! Yum! After IKEA I went to my old roommates' house and we played some mario party. Then I came home and hung out with Josh and ate dinner. But an amazing Tuesday night activity is $1.00 scoop night at Baskin Robbins, where every scoop is just a buck! It is starting to become a tradition with Josh's friends...we've gone the last 2 weeks. What a great deal!

And lastly... I'm already stressing out about moving in May...yikes, I don't even know where to start....

BYU vs. Simon Fraser

I just got back from Josh's game this afternoon and I thought he played amazing! The whole team did great! We won 17-11 (I think that was the score) and Josh scored 5 goals! I love to watch him and the team play. It's his senior year though which is sad to think. After the game they provided us with some lunch so we stuck around and ate a bit. Tonight Josh and I are going to go ice skating with some friends... I'm excited!

Here's a funny picture that was taken during the fall and it's funny because this was right after they scored a goal....during the game. Haha!


ALSO...my nephew's name is..... Ryan Allan! So cute! I totally guessed the whole Ryan name before it was discussed. I think it's such a cute name! Ryan after his dad's middle name and Allan after his grandpa's middle name. (Steph's dad). But I think the real reason they chose Allan was because it's one of Josh's middle names as well! However, we are unsure of the true spelling of Josh's name because it's different on his birth certificate, social security card and the records of BYU. But on his birth certificate it is Allan, so Ryan was named after his uncle too, haha!

Aunt Tiffany

Well... big news!! My amazing sister-in-law and brother had another baby...and guess what?!?! IT'S A BOY!!!! So as of right now we have 6 nieces and 1 niece on the way, and now finally 2 boys! We need more boys in this family. Which is something I never thought I would say, haha. So they didn't want to find out what they were having (they haven't for any of their kids) and so I'm at work yesterday and I get a text from my brother saying "It's a boy" so my inital reply is, "well, I thought you weren't going to find out?" and he goes, "No.. she had the baby." Haha, well, that came as a big surprise because he came 4 weeks early, but I'm OK with that! I get to be an aunt again! So congrats Rob and Steph...no name has been picked out just yet, they actually didn't have any ideas when I talked to him yesterday either :) But I'm sure they'll come up with some cute. Maybe Ryan (which is Rob's middle name) I think that's cute. We'll see!

Now...I feel like the reason I don't blog as much is because I always feel like I should have a reason to blog, like a trip or some big news or something. I also always love seeing pictures in blogs, so I thought, well I don't have a picture for that so I can't blog about it. Well, after realizing that a blog is more like a journal... I'm going to just start writing and not worry about making it fancy anymore.

So the news in our family is that we're all set to come down to California in May. "All set" as in I've talked to work about relocating, Josh's internship is good to go, and now we just need to pack everything, yuck! I don't look forward to that. Also, Josh has a lead on a possible job opportunity down in Aliso Viejo, which we don't know much about yet, but he's in contact with the guy in charge. So, we'll see what happens, but it sounds really great!

Well, I know I say this everytime, but now that I know my posts don't have to be newsworthy, I am going to try and be a better blogger. Especially since I have access to the website at work :)