Swore we'd NEVER do it again!...but we did!

After our experience with buying the Jeep we swore we would never buy another car again!...But, we did! To make a long story short (as short as I am capable of :)) the Jeep has not been a very reliable car and we have put TONS of money into it, even going as far as not driving it for several months and relying on the Neon as our only car just to not fix what was wrong with it. We decided to see if we could trade it in with the Cash for Clunkers thing that was going on, but, it didn't qualify. While we were at the dealership we decided to see what the trade in value would be and we went from there. In both our car buying experiences we were very upfront in that we told them how much we wanted our monthly payment to be and for how long...if we could strike a deal for something we liked then lets make it happen if not, thanks for your time see ya later. We were very clear and they agreed! After finding a car we liked and test driving it they brought us an offer that was easy to refuse almost $200 a month more than we said we would pay...we laughed a little and said, "Thanks, obviously you did not understand. Have a nice night." And we proceeded to leave! The sales man was very rude and just walked away. As we were leaving a manager came out and asked if we would still be interested if they could get the price to what we wanted. Ryan said yes, but that we were very disappointed with the way the salesman treated us. Anyway, He called us back 2 hours later and said they could make it happen! We went in the next day and signed the paperwork...they even ended up paying off the Jeep, which was Awesome!

I don't know why when you make your side so straight forward they think it is ok to mess with you...it takes walking away for anything to happen.
But, this is what we ended up with....2007 Dodge Caliber (white, just like the picture). We wanted something with a hatch back to have the space of the jeep but not the gas mileage...after a few weeks we are very happy with the trade/purchase.

This is what the inside looks like except ours is a manual not an automatic...but sometimes I wish it was! :)

This is the funniest part of the car...in the glove box there is room to store sodas or waters and the AC passes through it to keep them cool! I think it is hilarious! :)

She's the BEST!

Wives don't come much better than this one! That's all.

THE TETONS!!!

Last week we went to the Grand Tetons for a family vacation. It was a lot of fun! While the family stayed at the camp site enjoying the benefits of a 27 foot trailer, Me, Ryan, Nick (Ry's little brother), and Diamon (my 12 year old niece) all went on a rugged over night back wood hike (about 22 miles)! IT WAS AMAZING! I have decided I hate pictures because they just do not do amazing things justice. The things we saw were amazing and we came home with over 400 pictures but not one really captures our surroundings. Here are a FEW pictures...I am going to put a slide show on the side bar for more pictures.

THE GANG! Nick, Ryan, Diamon, & Me

Diamon was so fun to have on this hike....it was really intense and we were nervous she wouldn't make it but she was a trooper. She was funny and kept a positive attitude--she lead a lot of the way as well.

We had all kinds of weather...sun shine, cloudy, COLD, SNOW, HAIL!!! Not in this order but throughout the hike. We probably went through 5 hail/snow storms! The next picture shows the size of the hail...I won't lie--it hurt!

We crossed 3 snow Fields and climbed 1,400 feet in elevation within 1.2 miles...it was really steep and kind of scary in parts.

We did have homemade taco soup for dinner. It was freezing and we were hungry so HOT soup was awesome...I even burnt my tongue.

Random wild flowers covered parts of the trail.

This picture is from the river from the picture above it. They had designated sites for camping. We woke up and all of our stuff was frozen!

Ok, another bear story (we have all the luck!) Ok, so in the back country there are bears! We took all the precautions they tell you too, we even had a bear box we had to carry for our food. Well, the pans didn't fit in the bear box and we woke up to this ...smashed pans that had been ripped in to. The lid either has a bite mark or claw mark....but we heard nothing and nothing at our camp was touched so the bear messed with our food stuff about 75 yards away from our tent but not us! We dodged a bullet on this one as well...we have had enough close calls for a summer with bears!

Exhausted! Here we waited at the Hidden Falls for my parents to come pick us up!

The whole thing was awesome and I can't wait to plan next years trip!

Lisa B. if you read this do you remember our trip to the Tetons when we were in high school? I still have a picture of us standing in front of the Hidden Falls! That was a fun trip! :)

Happy Birthday Bunny!

It is funny how every year we get a little older and older and no matter how old Ryan gets I seem to always be just a little older! Can this be fair?

Any who! Ryan had a birthday this month...28...and lookin GREAT! :)

This is from or recent trip to the TETONS!!! (More to come...it was AWESOME)

Ok, so one of the cutest girls ever! lives next door she just turned 13...she loves to bake and she made this cake for Ryan. It is his favorite...Spice. She made it from scratch!!!!! It took her about 4 hours to finish it! It was AMAZING! Thanks Mariah!

He Loves Me Not...NO, HE LOVES ME!

You know your husband loves you when he makes you (in the words of Michael Scott from the Office) a mix-tape-CD! Oh, yes ladies and gentleman...Ryan made me a mix-tape-CD and it is not even Valentine's Day. :) We are so much a like in so many ways (that even our science teacher at UVU thought we were brother and sister :) ) but, we could not be more different in our music tastes! So, he tried to broaden my horizons and made me a mix-tape-CD of what he likes right now. Not that I don't like some of his music, it is not what I usually listen to...but I just might start. He is into the new Green Day CD...it is not that bad, I actually really liked it! I just thought it was funny and thoughtful that he made me a mix-tape-CD...just with out the love songs! :) Thanks honey!

The Hunger Games

Ok, so when I asked for recommendations for books, this one came from my friend Taylor. She said that if I read it I would not be disappointed...and I wasn't! IT IS AWESOME! It is called The Hunger Games and is totally easy reading but you get into it really quick! I usually only listen to my books M-F to and from work but the week ended and I couldn't stop so we went to Barnes and Noble and I had to buy it! I read all day Sunday and finished listening to the last couple of chapters on my way to work on Monday. I LOVED IT!

Now, I say the same to you..."Read it, you won't be disappointed!"

I think there is also a second book called "Catching Fire"...I will let you know what I think!

So, You Think You Can Dance?

NO, BUT, HOW I WISH I COULD!!! I am in love with So, You Think You Can Dance! (It is my secret obsession...not a secret anymore) I wish so bad I was a contemporary dancer. I think it is so beautiful! Is it ever too late to learn to dance? I want to dance like this:
WATCH THE VIDEOS...THEY ARE AWESOME!
It is about addiction: Kayla & Kapono
It is about breast cancer: Melissa & Adea
I just love it and "So, I WISH I could Dance!"
I am very happy SYTYCD will be doing a fall season as well! :)

"Our" Best Friend!

Not "Man's" but "Our Best Friend! Chase is a funny puppy! He makes us really happy and he LOVES us! He really can't be away from us...he is always in the same room, he tries to sit on our laps, he pees quick so that he can come back inside and hang out! He truly is our little best friend! Oh, and he thinks he is totally human and feels entitled to everything we eat and have...especially our socks! We find socks outside and all over the house. He doesn't chew them he just carries them around and lays on them. When we leave we put up a baby gate so that he can't get to the family room (he has been known to chew up the couch cushions more than once!) but, one day we forgot and when Ry got home he found Chase in the front room sitting in a pile of about 15 socks he had gathered up. And his new favorite place is the love sack. We have bought him doggie beds galore buy he wants nothing to do with them but he loves that darn love sack! He is also the best swimmer ever! I could watch him all day swimming. He just loves it and where ever there is water you can know he will make his way there, it is like he is drawn to it! :) He is also FEARLESS! He is the best hiking companion ever, he tries to run up and down everything! Sometimes it freaks me out! And he has so much energy I am sure he is eating crack for breakfast...I am just not sure where he is getting it!His nose totally changes colors with the seasons (pink in the winter-black in the summer)

My FAVORITE picture! He is such a pretty dog!

This is my first video, YEA! This is him swimming at our camping trip. (This is one of the lakes the bear hangs out at)

The last thing about Chase is that he has about 100 names. I am surprised he does not have Multiple Personality Disorder!

Chase Arizona Jones, Chaserbug, The bug, bug, pupperoni, bug a lug, puppers, roni...and the list goes on! :)

LOVED IT!!!

We are big Harry Potter fans! We got to see the movie last night and it was AMAZING!!! I really loved it. Go see it....but if you only watch the movies and have never read the books you are missing out! I recommend you read the books. The movies are good but the movies are 1,000 times better!Now that the characters are getting older...I am pretty sure I have a crush on Harry Potter! :)

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!

This weekend Ryan and I planned an adventure...well, at the time we only thought it was going to be a camping trip but, we soon realized it quickly turned into an ADVENTURE!!! :)
We went to a place we found on-line because all of our favorite spots were full due to the holiday. It was called Barker Recreation Area near Escalante, Utah. A place neither of us have been. We also passed through a bunch of cities we didn't know existed but are sure glad they do like Henry Ville were houses are actually built in the ground and Tropic where I found I want to be buried. They have this great little cemetery nudged up against a cliff right on the main street...if you ever drove by (and the chances are slim) you would have to stop and pay your respects. Anyway, after a 14 mile drive up a dirt road doing switch backs we arrived Thursday Night.
Oh, but 2 1/2 hours into the drive as I was watching The Office on my ipod (Diversity Day) and Ry was listening, he yell, "oh Crap!" and rushes to pull off the freeway. We had a tote tied to the top of the jeep and he said he thought something had flown out...I looked and thought that maybe it was beanie because I put it on top and now I didn't see it, no biggie right? Well, he said, "no, it looked white" With a closer look I noticed that yes, in deed, the 3 pairs on undies I packed were not there! You have it right folks!!!! I ran (well, walked) back up the freeway about 1/2-3/4 mile to find my scibbies strung along side the freeway along with a pair of socks and 2 bandannas! :) I snatched them up and headed back to the Jeep. When an emergency vehicle with light on pulls over and offered me a ride back to my car. "Whites" in hand I climbed in because the man said it, "a short ride is better than no ride at all!" Well, with the tote refastened we were back on the road.
The next adventure comes when to our surprise both cots did not fit in the tent we borrowed. (we have overnight camping gear. We had to borrow more comfortable 3 day camping gear) The tents hooked together to Ry's body slept in one tent and his head in the part where the tents connected! Ok, that is not a big deal the big deal is that Chase decides to find the smallest crack possible in the text and sneaks out at 12:30am! So, we go out to call him and lucky him, he got to sleep in the car the next couple of nights!


Ok, so keep up with me...oh, I forgot to mention that at a 17 camp site camp we were the only, ONLY ones there! The camp host who lives in another camp site down the mountain comes up every day to clean the bathrooms...so, it was kind of like a cleaning service :). Anyway, talking to him one night he said that they have a bear up there but he is usually around the lakes...yes, the 3 lakes we had hiked to and let our dog swim in all day...yep, those lakes! But, he hadn't seen it in a week but just giving us a heads up. Cool, so the rest of the night we talked about how cool it would be to see a bear, knowing very well that if it actually happened we might wet ourselves! More adventure! And, No we did not pee our selves!! Saturday morning Ry woke me up at 6:30 am (I slept with ear plugs in) and asked me if I "could hear that?" well, I could it was really close. So, I unzip the tent window and "Seriously, I can't make this stuff up" 55 feet (we walked it, later) away from our tent was a bear tearing apart a dead tree to eat the bugs. The day before the Camp host tells us that dogs are good to have because black bears do not like dogs because they associate them with packs so just the scent with keep them away...But, do you remember where I said Chase was? Yep, in the car!!! Ry, wondered if he could run there and let him out although Chase would probably just try to play with it and get eaten in the end. So, we just watched him not believing our eyes. And of course took some pictures: Yes, that is the screen to the tent!!! Lets see you get out of your tent to take a picture of a bear!!! :) Anyway, he ate there a few minutes and then just walked off. So, we ran to the car and got Chase and then we had to go to the bathroom and started walking over there but we heard him eating again and it sounded close so we ran back to the car (without a potty break) and drove all around the site looking for him, we were bear hunters but, no luck! Our only picture is embedded into our minds! WE SAW A BEAR, A BEAR!!!! Dead center in the picture you can see Ryan (I know he has a green shirt on and
kind of looks like a tree) but he is standing where the bear was and i am in our
tent...that is how close!
So, it goes on. We drove out of camp and within an hour we went from lush Forest to dry desert! The perks of living in Utah. We took another 26 mile dirt road...seriously we were so out in the middle of no where I was afraid we would never be heard from again! The price you pay for marring an adventure man! Anyway, the road that almost killed it...it took us to these slot canyons in the the desert. But, to get in you had to climb up about 15 feet and wade through water. Chase could do the water part but climbing strait up would be tricky so we opted to walk though these other ones until they became way to tricky for the pup...we should have heeded the warning:
On our way back to camp we stopped at this picnic area to eat lunch called the "Devil's Gardens" it turned out to be a little slice of awesomeness! There were these huge rock formations all over that you could get on and climb! And, just our luck this trip our camera battery died here so, there are few pictures of our random adventure here.
Anyway, it all worked out we made it home alive and WE SAW A BEAR!!! :)
Other highlights:
-Seeing tons of HUGE deer come out in the evening all around the camp grounds.
-Seeing 3 HUGE elk, from a far but still cool.
-Seeing tons of ducks and hearing a woodpecker.
-Seeing a mama skunk and her 4 babies and watching her drop each one down a cattle guard.
-Seeing the 100's of cattle all over the mountain and having to fight them for space on the road.
-making our first dutch oven (just the two of us) meal: pepperoni/sausage pizza with peach cobbler.
-having 5 lakes within a few mikes hike.
-Watching Chase swim like he was born to do it (well, his bread kind of was) all afternoon.
-Actually wearing Chase out! If you know our dog he pretty much acts like he eats crack for breakfast but we wore him out! This is an accomplishment!
-The incredible scenery! We wish that it was closer and more accessible to more people so that more people could see it but then if that were the case it wouldn't be that awesome!
-having the whole camp ground to ourselves.
-Having 3 days of exploring new places TOGETHER!
-Oh, and SEEING A BEAR!!! Seriously, I can't make this stuff up! :)

Special thanks to the people who made this trip possible: My dad, my brother-in-law, Dan, and my friend and neighbor Tammy Bruun! Thanks for letting us borrow your stuff, but now we want to keep it all! ;)