Jeep Safari 2011

It was that time of year again! Jeep Safari! We drove down on Wednesday night but we didn't leave until about 8:00 pm and by the time we were driving over Indian Canyon, it was snowing! I was thinking, "Holy cow! I can't believe it is Jeep Safari/Easter Weekend, and it is stinking SNOWING!" Ridiculious.

Moving on....we made it safe and sound and fell promply to sleep after reaching Moab. The next day Ryan needed to work on his jeep. Just a small repair of welding his steering box back to his frame....:) 8 hours later, the jeep is ready to go! Ha ha! I don't really remember much of Thursday. I just know that we all hung out and had a good time. And I cut mullets. Here is Ryan's:



On Friday we woke up early and went to join the "Official Jeep Safari Group" down at the gas station. To run with the "Jeep Safari" you have to pay a fee, which goes to trail upkeep and stuff like that, and then you can run the official trails. Our group had about 50 jeeps in it and we were running Steel Bender. I think. We started out and things were all good, but they quickly fell apart. The group is on a schedule and so everytime the "Gunner" (the leader jeep) thought that we didn't have time to do an obstacle, he would put someone at the obstacle and make everyone go around. It was so boring!!! We pretty much just drove on flat ground all day. I absolutely hated it. I would never run with the jeep safari officials again! I would rather just donate my fee and then do the trails that I wanted! Anyway....we got to do 1 obstacle because there was no way around it. It was called "The Fall" and it was very true to it's name. You creep your jeep down over this ledge, and then at some point, it is just too much and you just have to let your jeep fall down until it hits the bottom. This isn't too unusual. I can't even count the number of times Ryan has done this with the jeep. The part that is special about this is that on the right side of your jeep, there is nothing but air! Just this little cliff/roll off place with nothing to catch you. It was so stressful to watch the jeeps go down! One guy's jeep fell and when it hit the bottom, he had a bit too much momentum and his jeep kinda bounced up on his right front tire and his back moved toward the edge! It was so scary! I thought he was going over for sure! Here are the pics of Ryan, then Dan, Andy, and Papa Stubbs each on "The Fall."





The next obstacle that we were able to go on was a complete fluke. The Gunner would have liked to make us go around, but Papa Stubbs broke down on the little around trip and so we got some extra time and a few people were able to go up. It was called "The Dragon's Tail" and it was pretty cool. Nothing special though. I didn't even take a picture! We had to stay there for quite awhile so that Papa Stubbs could try and fix his rig. The whole jeep safari group stayed with us and that wasn't really fun. We told them that if they would like to continue on out, that we had enough people and enough help just in our little group that we would be okay. They wouldn't. And then when we finally got Todd's jeep fixed, they still made us go around all the obstacles! Argh! Never again!

The next day my belly was a bit tight and the rest of the girls were staying home with Tawnie (who is just about ready to have a baby, so she couldn't go jeeping!) and just going to have some girl fun time.

We were told that we could drive up to Gemini Bridges and take a look at the arches. Piling into Mindy's new Yukon, we headed up the trail. It was such a bumpy ride! Ryan's jeep was more comfortable on the trail than this Yukon was! Poor Tawnie! All the while, these jeeps are passing us on our way down and giving us the craziest looks! I don't think they could believe that a bunch of women and babies were taking an SUV up to see the arches! Turns out, the trail was NOT as smooth and easy as the boys thought it was, but we were having a super good time on our adventure! We did make it up to arches and Tawnie didn't have her baby out there, so that was good:) We also took these silly "seductive" pictures to give to our husbands for Easter presents. It was pretty fun! And silly:) And I will not be posting a copy, but much to my dismay, Ryan has the photo proudly displayed in our front room, so feel free to come over and see it any time! ha ha!

After getting home that night and telling the guys about our adventure, Dan remembers that he installed airbags on the back tires of the Yukon and they had left them fully inflated so that was why the trip was so rough! It was like we were riding on bricks that didn't let the shocks work! Now we know;) And yes...Tawn had a pretty miserable night and next day. Her belly had took quite the beating and was very worn out.

And the next day was Easter! I got Ryan a little basket with candy and some grilling tools. I think he will be very excited to use them. He got me a "Clapper" that I hooked up to my bedside lamp. It is really hard for me to reach all the way over and turn it off at night (we have a super high bed and the nightstands have to be a long distance away to use the drawers under our bed) so it really has made life easier for me:)
We went to church and all they guys wore their mullets. It was pretty funny!
And then we rested after church and came home. It was a delightful weekend!

Las Vegas Trip!

So here is a quick little recap of our Las Vegas trip from last month! I couldn't find my camera cable, so I just waited to put these up. Now, I am seriously behind on cool stuff and I need to post a bunch!

Anyway.....



We went to Las Vegas at the end of March/first of April for a quick little 3 day trip. We stayed at the Stratosphere (which I don't recommend) because it was super cheap. It was cool to see everything from the observation deck, and Ryan really wanted to jump off the top (they have a bungy-jumping thing....not my favorite) but I'm really glad that he didn't!

So to start out the trip we got checked in to our hotel and then ran down the strip to the Bellagio. We watched the water show and took a few pics:





We also walked through Caesar's Palace a little bit and then finally went back to our hotel room. I was so super tired and just went straight to bed.

The next day we really dove into the Vegas experience. We walked all around the strip, ate delicious food and went to a show. It was called "The V Variety Show" and it was really fun. My favorite part was the host, who was super funny, and then the Argentinian Drummers. They didn't do much drumming, but they were hilarious! I could have watched an entire show with just them.

The next day we did much of the same stuff. We went shopping for a little bit (I wanted to go to H&M) and then found a magic show that was super cheap, so we went to it. I didn't really love it. The magician wasn't very good when relating to the crowd. His magic was mind-blowing. But he kinda sucked as a stage performer.

And now is the dirty little secret part of our trip: we went gambling. I didn't use my own money (I don't know if that makes a difference) because family members had sent money that I was suppose to "gamble for them." I only had a little over $20 and I actually won $30 with Benson's $5, but I still hated loosing the rest of it! I told Ryan, "I could just take everyone's money, buy a shirt and earrings, and just tell everyone that I lost it. Then at least I would have something!" But Ryan told me that doing that would be very dishonest and I had to agree. Bummer. I don't think I was made to be a gambler.

The next day we really didn't have much to do. We had to leave in the early afternoon, and we didn't really have time to go anywhere, so while Andy and Tawnie went off to find games and food, Ryan and I decided to run shopping for a little while.
We took off from Vegas and decided to stop in Mesquite to grab a little bit of food at Wendy's. This is really where our adventure began! It just so happens that when Ryan got out of the car, he tossed the keys in the cup holders. When I got out of the car, not realizing that Ryan had left the keys in the car, I hit the lock button! So there we were.....stuck in Mesquite. No one had their cell phones and no one would let us use a phone! It was so frustrating! We finally got a hold of a lock smith, but they couldn't open up my car. It was like watching two bickering old married people argue. They finally gave up and called another guy to come over. He was out on a location, but said that he would come when he was finished. Fast forward 1.5 hours and he has arrived! Rewind to the old bickering guys: they tried for almost 2 hours to get in. Only succeeded in getting a tool stuck in my window. Back to the other guy: He had the car unlocked in under 5 minutes! It was crazy!
Needless to say, we were very behind schedule and ended up driving all the way to Moab and just spending the night. I missed a half-a-day of work the next day, but I guess that is just the way the cookie crumbles!

And that is the end of our adventure!
Here are a few pictures:








Don't ask.....

Leave them alone and they'll come home....

Little Bo' Peep has lost her camera cable and doesn't want to blog without it.



Pictures make everything better:)



And someday....when I clean my closet and find it in a mass of other things, I will put up our entire story of cutting into our "Surpise Baby Cake" WITH PICTURES.

Anyways.....



I'm going shopping this weekend. Ryan is coming with me (evil cackling laugh in background....) and he has no idea what he is in for! I'm thinking big too! I want to go so many places! Household stuff (IKEA), Growing Mother stuff (Motherhood Maternity, Target, Old Navy, etc.), Baby stuff (JoAnn's Fabric), Hair stuff (5 State and Cosmoprof) and I want to go to the mall! I'm not sure we can fit it all in (in this weekend or in our budget! ha ha!) but I sure am going to try! I'm also planning on wearing sensible shoes.

And I hope that I am not spoiling the suprise, but Ryan and I found out that our baby is a dude! For those not tight with my Haslem side of the family I will need to give extra info: Seems the Haslem girls would have been super wives for Henry the Eighth. We are now 4 for 4 on the baby boy team (and Katie's husband had 2 boys previously, so my parents will have 6 grandsons!) Anyway...my sister told me that if we had a boy, we probably wouldn't really need to buy anything because she saved all of her boy stuff. She was not lying! I crawled up into my parents attic last night to check everything out and I was blown away! Katie had stuff that I would have never thought about! Mysteriously, she no longer has a high chair, but we don't need one of those very early on, so I'm off the hook for baby shopping! I can now spend all my money on fun things like clothes and bedding! Boo-ya!

All About Ryan

I kind of need to catch up on the cool things that have been happening with Ryan lately!

He now owns a llama. I think he might love it more than a human baby. We are keeping it up at my sister's house and Ryan wants to go up almost every night to take the llama's on a walk. We bought it so he can take it backpacking (they are great pack animals) so he needs to get it conditioned before summer comes.


I will admit that I think they are quite adorable:)

He played in a dodgeball tournament a couple weekends ago. It was so much fun! Just a bunch of guys throwing rubber balls at each other for hours. He was pretty darn sore the next day too! The members of his team were: Himself, Ben Pugh, Dane Young, Andy Stubbs, and Jed __________. They didn't do too shabby. However, they did not make it to the Championship round either. Nice solid effort boys!


Ryan just chillin (actually...probably just got out! ha!)


The team races to get to the balls first!

His new company, Briggs Construction, is doing pretty good. We aren't raking in the dough (in fact....I don't think he has pulled a paycheck yet.) and I'm not quitting my job anytime soon! Although, I would like to get to the point that I was doing much more hair (hint, hint!) But things have been as good as we could hope for. Lots of prayers and faith seem to keep bringing in the jobs and with the oilfield doing a bit better lately we are optimistic that they will be busy this summer. Keep your fingers crossed! I'm just so excited that he and his brother Andy finally decided to take the plunge and start their own company! I think in the long run it is going to be a great way for them to support their families and in the short run it will teach us to be thrifty (something that both Ryan and I have always struggled with)! So if you hear of anyone needing a little work done....either construction or hair....send them our way!

All-Backed Up

My house is always just a bit messy. I'm not really a "clean as you go" type of girl. I usually like to go into overdrive and do it all at once. I get into a cleaning mood and with the right music, and can literally clean for 3-4 hours. This makes my heart happy:)

So on Wednesday I was having a quick run through on the cleaning madness. I get off work at 5 pm and my visiting teachers were coming over at 5:30 pm. I needed to clean my house and FAST! Otherwise, these poor sweet ladies whom I don't really know (I've been in the Primary since Ryan and I got married) would think I was the most horrible housekeeper in the Beehive State! So I'm doing my best impression of the squirrel from "Over the Hedge" and running around like a mad man trying to get floors vacuumed, shoes picked up, lovesac fluffed, etc., etc.. I come to the dishes and of course, our sink is completely full. So I'm rinsing little bits of food off and stuffing them in the dishwasher. Pretty soon, I realize that as I am rinsing the dishes, the nasty, dirty water is not going down the drain. This is normal. It just means that I have rinsed enough that our disposal needs run. So I flip the switch. The water (and food particles) start coming up the other sink!! It really isn't draining! I decided to salvage the situation, light a candle and hope that the ladies couldn't see the dirty water in my sink.

I called Ryan later and he told me to leave it until he got home on Thursday night. There was no chance that I was going to let that happen! He said best guess was that it was clogged down in the p-trap and that it just needed taken off and cleaned out.

So now I feel I must talk about my plumbing skills:



And that is about it. Impressive resume eh? I thought you'd like that!

So I got all situated with my little bucket underneath the pipe and ready to untwist the p-trap. Once I got it off, the water really started it flow. It was disguisting! And I had one moment of panic when I really thought that it was going to overfill my bucket and go all over the floor! I just about died as I scrambled for something to catch everything with. Luckily, it stopped just short of the top.

And yes, the p-trap was very clogged. I had made browned hamburger for tacos and had drained the grease down the drain (not my brightest moment!) and it was just this little hardened mass closing off the tube.

I also struggled a bit with putting it back onto the pipes. It was a bit variable as to where it could hook on, so that was confusing. However, alls well that ends well. And I didn't even have too much of a mess! Ha ha!

So do you guys have any plumbing stories/disasters? Please share them!

Rachel's Awesome Post Idea

So Rachel Morgan did this post just last night and I liked it so much (and it got me thinking about old crushes) that I just had to steal her idea! So Rachel-here is all the credit (BIG SMILEY FACE!)

In kindergarten my older sister convinced me that if I liked a boy, I had to "ask him out." I didn't quite know what it meant, but Katie was so smart and always had all these boys calling her, so I figured she totally knew what she was talking about. So there I sat on the orange carpet right before reading time asking Nathan Brown if he would go out with me (I still don't know where we were going! ha ha!) and bless him if he didn't tell me that he couldn't in kindergarten, but we could when we were sixteen. We were just friends at the time, but by golly if he didn't stick to his word and take me out a few times! Awesome friend:)

Landon Eldredge was my hearts desire for the remainder of elementary school until Jerome Hutchison came along in 4th grade. They were the only 2 boys in all those years that even came close to being as tall/taller then me and hence, they were crushworthy material.

I had a tendancy to develop crushes on the tall guys in class (and if they were normal. I wasn't liking the kid that ate his boogers in 7th grade just cuz he was tall!) so you can pretty much figure all of my crushes from that point on. Let me put it this way-if you were ever eye level or higher to me, I probably liked you at one point or another between 6th-12th grade! Ha ha! But don't worry....there were a few shorter ones too! (Drew Gilley you sly dog! ha ha!)

Speaking of tall....tallest guy I ever had a crush on was 6'9" and played for the BYU Volleyball team. He was in my missionary prep institute class and was quite dreamy. Since I was thinking about crushes I decided to see if I could even remember his name. I couldn't. But his jersey number was 13 (I remember because this is my favorite number) and I think he is still playing cuz he left to go on his mission right after our class.

Crush that changed my life was obviously my husband! When he showed up in Roosevelt with all of his rippling muscles, tan skin, and super good looks, I just about died. What a HOTTY!! I even use to call him "Hot Stuff Stubbs" cuz it was the only appropriate title for all those good looks:) I kinda thought that he was a bad boy cuz he has these little indents in his ear lobes that look like he had his ears pierced at one time (he didn't. They are just natural.) and he just had a bit of a swagger. Ya ladies know what I'm talking about. The Swag.
So after talking to him after a ward activity one night, I realized that he was a really good guy. Never drank, never smoked, served his mission, probably never said a curse word before he met me (I corrupted him...:( we are talking super good here.
And he married me! After more than a year of dating and another year of marriage, I still feel like the luckiest girl in the world! Oh how I love it when a plan comes together! (NAME THAT MOVIE!!!)

30 Day Challenge-Whatever Tickles Your Fancy

So....I had two things that I was thinking about this morning.

1-I have lost my debit card. I have searched my purse twice, my car once, all of my jeans, jackets and coat pockets and still I have found nothing. Ryan has searched his truck, my car and his wallet and still no luck. It is quite distressing. I shall be cancelling it this afternoon. If someone has it-you better get your purchases in before then!

2-Back in high school everyone got caught up with this idea that if you didn't ask someone to a school dance, you must be boycotting. Once accused of boycotting, there could be no redemption. Making sense thus far? Good. So here is my experience with boycotting:

It just so happened that for 2 years during my high school experience I had an out of town horse competition over a girls choice dance. Ergo, I did not ask someone to the dance as I would not be there myself. Because of this, I was labeled as a girl that boycotted the dances. Do you know what happens to girls that boycott dances? It becomes guy code that said girl must not be asked to future dances. This didn't last all year, but both years that I went to my out of town horse competition, I then got to sit home for the next couple boys' choice dances because I was being punished. I remember that these were very sad, lonely nights.

Jerks. I hope that it made them feel better to hurt my feelings for something that I didn't do.

And I'm glad I got that off my chest. I don't know why I was thinking about it this morning, but I was:)

And I'm glad that I married Ryan:) I'm such a lucky girl!