Christmas 2012

Just like that my Christmas break is done and over. Ugh! We had a great time, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of being in Parma. It was the first time B actually spent some quality time with my family so it was really good. We had a lot of fun, and played lots of games!

My mom loves Christmas, and always makes sure it is so special for all of us. I just love it! I’m so glad B and I were able to be there this year! To start of the festivities Mariah went through the temple on the Saturday before Christmas. I was so happy for her, and since it was so close to Christmas our family was pretty much the only ones in the session. It was pretty cool, even if we got the case of the giggles at one point… don’t worry I repented! Still though it was a great moment to be together, we just missed Maddie! Our family also had to sing in church the next day, and so B was introduced to the Blaylock Family Singers. It turned out really good! That night we had a get together with friends, Jenn, Julene, and Megan all came over and it was a lot of fun. Like old times but now we multiplied our spouses. We laughed a lot per usual, and got caught up on the gossip. A successful night all around! I just love how you can have so much fun with life long friends! Oh and dear Julene your secrets are safe with us, HA!

Mads and B messing around at Hyrum's house! #cheerislife

Christmas Eve is always my favorite. We played some Volleyball, and then we got dinner ready. We have dinner on Christmas Eve just so we can enjoy Christmas! It was ham and funeral potatoes for us and they were so good. Later that night we made gingerbread houses, and then mom let us open our Christmas PJ’s! It was the best. Everyone had a pair, I couldn’t stop laughing at B’s because he looked like Parker. Well I just thought of Parker when he put them on! We took pictures and then dad told us the Christmas Story, in the scriptures! Then it was time for Santa. My mom I guess had asked B to be Santa before but none of us knew about it, and so when he came around the corner I about died. He was perfect (except his skin was a little darker than usual), Liam didn’t know whether to be scared or laugh. So he just sat there, it was so funny. I was laughing so hard because B was making funny jokes, that naughty Santa, jk! It was seriously the best! We also had our traditional white elephant gift exchange. The gift has to cost $0. So it's always way fun!

I freaking love her...

Here we all are, in our PJ's! Thanks mom for making them ALL!

I just love him, he cracks me up all the time!

My white elephant gift! I love a good boob job kit!

B got a diaper filled with "poop" aka Snickers!

This is my sexy Santa. LOL!

Kissing Santa... I'm one good girl!

Dad reading us the real reason of Christmas...

Our gingerbread barn... feeding trough included!

Christmas was also awesome, my mom spoiled us per usual with a lot of clothes, gift cards to our favorite stores, and everything else we wanted! B got a Pea Coat, a drill, and a really nice watch! We also got a lot of decorations to make our house look pretty, and B got 2 pairs of Jordan Shorts oh and his Boston iPhone case he’s been wanting. It was so great! It was the best watching Liam unwrap his toys though, seriously kids make Christmas that much better because they are excited about everything. The best part though was when Maddie got her iPhone. I’m pretty sure she was so surprised! We got my mom a Kindle Fire and she loves it, and dad finally got a smart phone too! Welcome to the 21^st Century dad!! HAHA! Both of our family’s spoiled us this year with lots of great gifts, and we appreciate it so much. I just love Christmas, honestly it’s the best day EVER! We played our new games we got that night, and talked to the kids, which is always emotional during the holidays just because it’s hard not to spend it with them. We also played a lot of Mario Kart and Kinect with the new games we got too!

Our First Christmas together!

She's the cutest thing EVER! I love baby Grace!

Let's see we've got Spidey shoes, Batman jammies, and the Hulk. I say that's about right!

B got his drill!

Reece and his suspenders!

Spiderman!

This is not Spiderman, she's just a weirdo!

Also during the break we went and saw Les Miserables. So good. The singing and everything just gave me chills the whole time, I don’t know if B was a complete fan of it, because well he’s not used to the whole musical idea, but that’s ok (I’ll continue to break him in). We played a lot of Mario Kart on the Wii and had a lot of fun with the babies. All of them are just so cute!

Les Mis!

It was just a great break, and I’m sad that it’s already over! Mariah leaves on her mission in less than a month now, so we’ll be home again shortly! I just hate putting my Christmas stuff away though and the Christmas music is no longer on the radio, it’s so depressing… Oh well… it’s the last day of 2012 so I can celebrate just a little longer right?! Happy Holidays!

Reason for the Season

Christmas break is finally here. In a few short hours we will be headed to Parma to celebrate with our family for an entire week. How awesome is that? The only thing that will be missing is Tajia and Parker. Hopefully we will be able to see them soon! We miss them!
Anyway, work is always CRAZY this time of year, with a ton of events and things to be done before the year end. Last night B and I went to my company work party, had delish food and laughed! Most awesome part of the work event is prizes, and this year I won this:

That's right an iPad! I couldn't believe it. I seriously tried not to cry to realize that I won an iPad. Merry Christmas to us!

Most importantly I'm so thankful for this beautiful season, it has been extra special for B and I this year as we witnessed so many Christmas miracles this season. Many prayers were answered and we have felt much comfort from so many people. I don't know why December always seems to bring so much trials and heartache but it does. I guess that's why there is Christmas so you can be grateful for everything you have! For my Family Home Evening lesson I told B about the short story the Gift of the Magi. He had never heard it before and it pretty much fits how we both have been feeling this Christmas time. Wanting to give so much but not knowing how. I think that story is just beautiful. How the couple gave up their most precious things in the world for the other. It's also such an awesome time to remember Him. He is the reason for the season, and I love that we dedicate a whole month to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

This year my life has changed more than any other year I've been alive, and it's been wonderful and crazy all at the same time. I wouldn't change one single second. My heart is so full! Be safe, have fun, and most importantly love who you're with, and make some good memories!

Much love and Merry Christmas!

Unicorns!

How is it Wednesday already? I am pretty excited though that my Christmas vacation is quickly coming. I have an entire week off... Well counting weekends I have 9 days off. CRAZY! We are spending time in Parma and I'm totally excited about that, I'm sure I've mentioned that before HA! Anyway, B is almost done with finals, and I'm so excited for him to be done. He's been a little cranky trying to finish up all 18 credits, but he has 2 days left... SAY WHAT?! What will he do with his time after that I'll never know. Although today he got this:

So he's official which is awesome in so many ways. He is the first to intern at Madison Memorial as an Administrative Intern. So basically he's the guinea pig, but I think he'll do great. He'll open the doors for the many other students who are looking for a foot in the door in their careers. He has already met so many wonderful people who are willing to help him in life, and that's so great. He'll start next semester so I'm excited for the new things he'll learn, welcome to the Corporate America darling!

Also, I've had some scary health problems this last month. Mostly bad cells that were cancerous so I got them removed ASAP. It was pretty painful but I managed to make it through. Yesterday was the day I had them removed so last night I was a little out of it. This morning B asked me if I had a dream about unicorns, which I totally did, I was amazed at how he knew that. He then said "Just wondering since you told me that you found the unicorns and was wondering if I had seen them." I laughed so hard. I must have been really excited about those unicorns! I am thankful though for the most part things seem to be OK. I mean at least we still have our sense of humor!

Must be December!

This weekend was pretty chill which was great we went to B’s cousin’s basketball game, and watched Christmas movies, and homework. It’s that time of year and I’m determined to show B every Christmas out there. So far I've educated him on Charlie Brown’s Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the Jim Carrey version), A Christmas Story, and Christmas Vacation (ok so he had already seen this one, but it’s a classic). He still needs to see a White Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and It’s a Wonderful Life. He thinks I’m pretty cheesy for loving everything about Christmas, but two nights ago during our FHE he gave a great lesson about Christmas so I think he’s starting to see how you need to celebrate it EVERY day. HA!

Lately we've been stressed, just about life and its ups and downs. Don’t get me wrong we recognize how blessed we are, sometimes though you just have to go through trials to make yourself better, or to learn how to handle situations differently, or most importantly learning to sacrifice and be patient. Anyway, we both haven’t been sleeping the best, so when I came home from work Monday I saw this:

B sound asleep. I mean don’t get me wrong there are plenty of times I fell asleep doing my homework but I thought it was so funny because the couch is literally like 5 feet away. Bless! He’s almost done with the semester, then we will only have 2 semesters left and he’s done, I can’t believe it! He took 18 credits this semester so he’s definitely ready for a break come Christmas time. I sure love him and I’m grateful for how hard he works, at the current moment I think he has a 4.0!

Things at work are picking up, Christmastime in our busiest time of the year, so it’s nice to come home from work and just chill with B. I am excited for Christmas this year because we are all going to be in Parma. It’s going to be so fun, and we get to spend a whole week at home and I’m truly grateful for that too. If you haven’t recognized it yet, I just love this time of year and all the hustle and bustle that comes with it. Hooray for December and Christmas!

Our 2012 Christmas Wish Lists

So a couple weeks ago B and I made our Christmas lists. So before I start writing them down I need to explain them, it just somehow became a tradition in our family to write down EVERYTHING you’ve ever wanted on this list. It’s pretty funny, I mean you’ll see as you read through our lists that there are obviously things we aren’t going to get, but it’s always awesome to dream! That’s the magic of Christmas!

B’s Christmas Wish List 2012

-          Jordan Shorts

-          New Socks

-          Dress Shirts for work

-          Ties

-          Pin-striped suit in Black

-          Mac-Book Laptop

-          Black Pea Coat

-          American Eagle Shirts

-          iPhone 4s Cover

-          Black Ops 2 video game

-          Red Sox Baseball Tickets

-          Golf Driver

-          Citizen Watch

-          Nice/Big picture of Rexburg Temple

-          Buckle Jeans “Seth”

-          Taylor Guitar

-          Garments

-          Temple Pants

-          Slippers

-          King size bed

-          Wife to be happy

-          Power Drill

-          Flannel Shirt

-          Wet Dry Shaver both for head & face

-          Black Dr. Martin’s (casual)

-          Sperry Shoes

-          Anything with Boston Red Sox

-          Jordan Sweats

-          Jordan jogging jacket

-          Teeth Whitening

-          Camera/Video Recorder

-          Dr. Dre Beat Box

-          To spend Christmas day with my children

-          iTunes gift card

-          Movie Tickets

-          Cuff links

-          Trip to Hawaii

-          Disneyland or Disney World Tickets

-          Head shaver from Sally’s

-          Cologne

Sav’s Christmas Wish List

-          Black Skinny Jeans

-          Tall Brown Dress Boots with a rounded toe

-          Tall black dress boots (like my mom’s)

-          Mint Green, Gray, or any other colored jeans

-          Jeggings

-          New white tennis shoes

-          Brown and or colored boyfriend jacket

-          Rose Gold Watch

-          Seasonal decorations or any decorations for our house

-          Church pictures

-          Wedding pictures printed 5x7 or 8x10’s

-          Perfume

-          Coach purse

-          Boot socks

-          Gift card to Dairy Queen

-          Razors

-          Jewelry

-          Old Navy men’s sweats

-          Men’s basketball shorts

-          Make-up – Urban Decay, make-up brushes

-          Hounds tooth Cardigan

-          Wireless FM Transmitter for iPhones/iPods

-          King Size down comforter

-          Rotating/Standing space heater

-          Big curling iron

-          Shelf for our wall

-          Black or colored end table

-          Plane Tickets

-          Better Homes & Garden Cookbook

-          Colored Pea Coat

-          Welcome Mat for outside

-          Leopard Flats

-          Table Cloth

-          iPad

-          Kitchen Table

-          Barnwood Sign

-          iPhone cover

-          Bread Maker

-          Food Storage

-          Go on a cruise

-          Diamond Earrings

-          Gift cards to Old Navy, Journeys, Amazon, Maurices, or anywhere else

Let the Holiday's Begin!

Holy cow I've got to hurry and update! It's almost December, jesh! We had a lot going on over here. B in head deep in homework as the semester is fast approaching its end. He's done amazing this semester having 18 credits, plus being a newlywed, and well just doing my bidding. Its been fun though!

Thanksgiving was awesome. We spent the weekend in Rigby. Well the day in Rigby. The rest of the time we just kicked it our house. It was a lot of fun, I missed my family, but it was great to spend time with the new family and share in their traditions. A lot of game playing and murder in the dark to finish off the evening. I even managed to get my tree on Black Friday (more on that later). Anyway, during the Thanksgiving break my little sister Mariah even got her mission call... she's going to the Atlanta, GA North Mission. I was so excited for her, she's going to do great and I know her life is going to change. So happy for her! I'm going to miss her up here though, she certainly add drama and excitement to our boring married life! Oh college!

This is what I did Thursday morning, watched B play in the Turkey Bowl, I shopped the Black Friday ads, and relaxed in my slippers!

For FHE on Monday we decided to put up our Christmas Tree and decorations. Since we are on a super tight budget these days we got all of our decorations for our tree at the dollar store. I was super impressed with what you can find there. We had to get our lights at Kmart, but other than that, everything else is from the Dollar Store or a hand me down (thanks mom)! I love Christmas, it's magical, and fantastic. I'm so excited that B and I can celebrate it together this year, and he can experience the magic my mom creates during Christmas!

Also today is Jenn's birthday! Quarter of a Century! I love her and I wish we still lived in the same town to celebrate. Oh the joys of growing up and moving away! Hopefully my present will suffice, all I can say is I'm thankful for her, I'm a better person because of Jenn! Happy Birthday!!

Most importantly I really didn't do my thankful list this year, I'm bad. I'm so thankful for so much, and it's made evident especially the last couple of days how much I am blessed. I have a wonderful husband who makes sure I am happy above all other things, an amazing family who loves me, friends who make sure I'm taken care of, a job so I can have a roof over my head and a place to sleep, and a Heavenly Father who knows exactly what I need! Let the Holiday's begin...

Worth It!

I used to be a lot better about my blog, you know every day sort of good. Sadly it’s just once a week these days and I hate that. I don’t know if it’s because I got married and my life isn’t as dramatic or just because I don’t have a lot of things going on?! Either way there is still a lot of great things that happen in my life that I should probably document. Mostly because I’m still a newlywed and I still spend a lot of time with that husband of mine.

This past week was a little rough, I mean B had a huge paper due, and I have been really stressed. Those two things mixed together created the perfect storm in our household. The kind where I am crying for no reason and B just doesn’t feel like talking (which is odd for him). So when I came into work on Friday was really sad and well just miserable. I even said to my co-worker (who has been married for 40 years) “you know being married is really hard sometimes”, and she just flat out laughed at me and said, “That’s the understatement of the year”. She’s like if marriage was easy don’t you think that the divorce rate in this country would be a lot lower? To which I replied well yeah! Just made me think of a quote that Jenn said to me once about love and how it isn’t easy but nothing worth having is easy.

I then thought back to a year ago this weekend, B wanted to break up, because he wasn’t ready to be serious. I just cried and cried, and just well drove home to Parma to wallow in my misery. I just didn’t know how I was going to go on living without him, because I knew he was it! I’m so dramatic I know. Anyway, I just remember having that feeling that it would work itself out and no matter the outcome and I would be happy. Here we are present day and we are married, pretty crazy! I’m just glad I listened to my heart. It wasn’t easy, and in fact it was downright hard, but it was so worth it!

Anyway, to bring this full circle having little fights here and there is nothing compared to what some people go through and B and I still have a long way to go! Also this weekend was the Boise Temple Dedication and one of the talks was about eternal marriage and how it’s SO important. My heart was just so grateful for it all. The ups and the downs, because quite frankly the downs make you appreciate the ups! Struggling right now helps you focus on what’s important! The dedication was beautiful and the spirit was strong, I guess because that temple holds a special place in my heart too, but the prophet was in my temple! My sister got to see him and preform for him and I’m so grateful she got that experience! Once in a lifetime for sure!

Also because I find this so funny I found B sneaking his 4^th or 5^th cup of hot chocolate last night and I thought it was so funny. He sure loves that Cocomotion!

Family Picture Time

This past weekend we made a fast trip down to Parma to take family pictures and go through the Boise Temple Open House. My parents were tour guides so it was the perfect opportunity to head on down to Parma. First of all, all of the babies are growing like weeds. Baby Reece and Baby Grace have now reached the chunky stages and are starting to grow into their personalities! Liam is crazy per usual and sure loves his Uncle B!

Seriously as soon as she said, one... two... three... Reece sneezed sending snot everywhere, we were all laughing so hard. I love it!

Here is my favorite photo of the weekend! It was freezing outside, and Liam wasn't very happy but we managed to get in a good photo. I love the colors of fall, and look at how our family has grown. We added three new people this last year!

We sure wished Tajia and Parker could have been there for our photo shoot, they were the only ones missing, hopefully soon though they will be here for the holidays and we can always have a photo shoot!

The adorable Gracie! Love her, she is such a doll!

Here is Baby Reece... honestly he's just so freaking cute!

We made our final stop at the temple. It was beautiful, and they changed it up quite a bit! It's awesome how many people were there to see it. Liam was the best when he kept saying, this is so pretty, look at all of the sparklies. I can't wait until I get to see the dedication this weekend, the Boise Temple holds a special place in my heart because it's always been my temple. So happy it's finally open!
We spent the rest of the weekend playing games and just relaxing, it was pretty great!
I'm so glad my family isn't too far away that we can see them for a weekend. We are spending Thanksgiving up here with B's family so we won't be back again until Christmas. It was so great to finally have B make the annual family photo, he was so excited that he'll officially be in the Christmas Card this year!

Halloweenie!

Halloween was pretty uneventful for us this year, well in the aspect that we didn't go to a party or anything. We did however hand out a TON of candy. B warned me there was a lot but I figured my 55 piece bag would be plenty. I should have gotten the 500 piece bag... holy cow! We had so many trick-or-treaters it was nuts. I loved seeing all the cute kids, they were so precious. My only complaint is that if you have a beard, no costume (one excuse was it was too hot, please), and you have a lower voice than my husband I really don't want to give you candy. We finally had to shut our light off at 8:00 because we ran out of candy (after our third trip to the store). It was so fun handing it out though! It was the warmest Halloween I can remember so that made it even better. I love Halloween!

Here are our kids and their costumes, Tajia is a princess and Parker is Mr. T. Parker is so funny. We sure wish we could have been there to see them:

Here are Grace, Liam, and Reece. A fairy, pirate, and skunk respectively

The pirate Trick-or-Treating

Look at that skunk! So cute!

Here is my costume I titled it "I love cats"... Bless!

At work we had our Halloween potluck, my friend Mindy brought these adorable owl cupcakes! They are too cute to eat!

Halloween has now come and gone! It's time for the holiday season to begin. Love it!

Snowfall and a Celebrity

This week has been great we had our first snowfall:

We woke up to about 6 inches, isn't that crazy? Well it's expected for Rexburg, but still. B thought we would be a good husband and get up early and shovel the walk and get all the snow off of my car. In the process of looking for the light in my car he open the sunroof instead! HA! When he came in from shoveling he was ticked, and I couldn't help but laugh! It's ok, I'm sure Pearl needed a good white wash inside too. The roads were so bad that morning, but thankfully the snow is already melting.
B became famous...per Beehive Credit Union:

Look at how cute he is! Too bad we didn't get any monetary compension. I think I'll be his manager!

We carved our first pumpkin together! Isn't it sppooookkkyy?

We had Sarah and Jake, Clint and Tenille over for FHE and we carved pumpkins. This isn't as hardcore as Clint's, but I still like it! Don't mind it's special eye!
This week was tiring but we also managed to get ourselves to the temple, and play volleyball on a intermural team with Mariah which was so fun! I can't believe we are coming up on our last week in October. Holy moly! I'm excited for the holidays though, and I have a house I can finally decorate. Here's to a great weekend, and a Saturday where I have NOTHING planned and I am so happy about it!

Pure Joy

If there is one picture to explain my happiness of today it would be this one:

I just love it so much. The rest of my wedding pictures are almost done and I cannot wait to see them, but she posted this one for me to see and I can't get over it. It's like all the people I love most in one picture, and of course being silly! The only people I can't see are Mariah and Kenzie, but I'm sure in the real photo they are there! Most of all I love my mom's face, she is expressing exactly how I felt that day! Love it! It's sometimes hard to capture pure joy, but I think this picture is perfect!

My weekend was great. B was gone for half of it so when he got home late Saturday night I was more than thrilled. I had a girls night with my co-workers and it was B's mom's birthday yesterday so we played games Saturday night (which I won both times we played) and dinner and cake on Sunday. We had a lot of fun.

B and I tried watching Hocus Pocus, it is that time afterall, but we are old married people and fell asleep watching it. Good thing I've seen it enough times :) I'm totally ready for the holidays though, I may or may not be listening to Christmas music on this drizzly day while doing some Christmas work.

Oh and yesterday B got a new calling at church... he's going to be teaching Sunday School to the 15 year old's. I'm sure he'll be asking me to make treats on a regular basis... oh joy!

The Tough Mudder!

I can’t believe another weekend has come and gone. I feel bad, we’ve only been to our ward like once, and I’m afraid they are going to think we are inactive or something. Just busy going places… This weekend was for B though, he ran in the Tough Mudder. Ok, first of all nothing can prepare you for what this “race” (if that’s what you want to call it) and what it is all about. O.M.Gee…. It’s just insane. B was in a foul mood all week because of it. He so didn’t want to run it, but he had already committed himself to do it so I wouldn’t let him back out of it. He really hadn’t even been training for it because he hurt his back pretty bad in our car accident, then the wedding and then all of the sudden BAM time for the race. B’s two best friends in high school talked him into running it and I still can’t believe he agreed to do it. Straight up crazy.

We left late Friday night because I had to work and B had to finish up his homework for the weekend. Hyrum and Emma were in town for her brother’s birthday so we got to see them for like half an hour. Love them! That baby Grace is quite possibly the cutest baby girl out there! B and I were so tired driving to Utah, I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. We didn’t get there until close to midnight. We stayed with B’s BFF from high school Tyson. They live in Saratoga Springs and it’s so beautiful out there! I don’t think B was fully prepared for the next day because he didn’t sleep very well. I could tell he was so nervous!

The boys left earlier than we did, and it was FREEZING! Wow, there was even snow on the mountains, so I knew we were going to freeze and we weren’t the ones getting wet! It cost $40 to just watch B, and even the spectators had to sign a release form so this is hard core. Candice (Tyson’s wife) and I marked out our path of watching the boys compete! We got there just in time to see B just into the Artic Enema aka an obstacle full of ice water that you have to swim in. I would have quit right there! We didn’t see them until mile 2 and they seemed in good spirits then! We waited another hour and half until we saw them again, by then I could tell it was hard. It was half way over and B was struggling because his calves were cramping. I just kept telling him he couldn’t quit and to keep going! There’s no way I could have done that! The hardest obstacle we saw was the one posted in the video below, 8 hills of water and mud! I have no idea how they didn’t freeze to death! I really thought after that, it would be over and B would quit but he kept going… They all did! I was totally impressed! We didn’t see them for another mile or so and by then I could tell B was just ready to be done, but they weren’t quitting now! The final obstacle was running through the wires that had 10,000 volt electricity running through them. Crazy! They all finished though, 5 hours after they started! I’m so proud of B, a HUGE accomplishment and totally something he’ll always remember! Especially because he had the flu Monday and Tuesday! Way to husband!! Don’t worry I cheered, and froze to death… but in the end I was so happy for them! If you want to see a list of all the obstacles B endured, or check out official pictures go to toughmudder.com

B said this water so FREEZING!

This is a long video, but he said this obstacle was one of the toughest!

Jumping!

Half way there!

Love his face, he did it!

Doing the Boa Constrictor, honestly I would have died from claustrophobia!

Crossing the finish line!

They did it! Way to go boys!

Conference and Yellowstone...

I had seriously a great weekend! My parents, Maddie, and her BF Fletcher came up this weekend to visit us! It was a lot of fun, but we were sure busy! My parents arrived late Thursday night, and I was so tired I really didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them, but it was so great to have them here, at my house! How delightful!

Friday I got off work early and headed home to my mom faithfully chopping tomatoes for some homemade canned salsa. OMG. I love that stuff. I helped her out of course, with the chopping and then just caught up with her and Maddie and all of the Parma gossip per usual. My mom and I took a trip to Porters because well, it’s only the best craft store! Plus all of their Halloween stuff was half off, so hello! A good time with my mom per usual. That night we all went out to eat at Craigos and it was fun, since it is a buffet we had to get every time of pizza and then my mom would just take a bite of each. Family style for sure! It was fun though, and then we came home and watched some BYU football and finished canning our salsa.

 Ry enjoying Craigos!

Saturday we woke up and watched a little bit of conference (how great is the lowering of the mission age), and then piled up in the Denali and made our way to Yellowstone. It was a bit cold outside already when we left, but you know Yellowstone is the top of the mountains so it was freezing, but the sun was shining and it was beautiful up there. The fall is totally a different sort of place up there. We saw buffalo and elk, and still a lot of dumb tourists who get way too close to wild animals. B even got warned (by another tourist) that if he continued to call the female elk he would get a $500 harassing fine. HA! We thought that was super funny. Mariah kept us entertained with her stories of things she found on the internet (people check out the Illuminati, Mariah swears it’s real), and B had some great stories of when he used to work up there. B was also introduced to the Blaylock family road trip games and singing, lots of singing. I think he thought we were sort of weird because my mom raised us on all of these crazy songs, but now I think he has come around. It was a super fun day, and we even had a picnic (even if I couldn’t feel my fingers)! Old Faithful was a delight, and at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone we met a strange man, who never really quite told us why he perched on the edge of the cliff. It was good to make our way home and just relax.

 All the kids loaded up!

 These are my favorite part about Yellowstone...

 Freezing cold Old Faithful!

Mariah... weirdo!

 Oh hey!

 The infamous "Elk"

 The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

 Maddie and Fletcher

My adorable husband!

Guess where we are?!

I love this picture, just missing the brothers and sisters-in-law

Look at that water!

My amazing mom and dad

Sunday was conference and the morning session was just great! I loved Elder Holland’s talk. I mean I always do, but his talk was soul stirring. I mean I actually felt different about life after he got done talking. So good. B made steak for the family then it was time to say goodbye. Ugh, I wish we really did live closer, because I miss my family so much. They make me laugh! Until another 6 months, what a FABULOUS conference weekend!