Thanksgiving

This year we drove down to Caliente, NV to spend Thanksgiving with the Holts. It was so much fun! We left Tuesday night and decided to split up the drive by stopping in Lehi and staying with Ashely and Jake for the night.  They didn't tell Cameron that we were coming so when we walked up the stairs and surprised him, it was so funny.  He just sat there for a second with this confused look on his face, and then once it registered he jumped up and ran to hug us. It was so cute.  It was great to be able to spend time with them. I love family! And taylor is adorable, and is walking, and loves clips and bracelets and all things girl. She is such a girlie girl. They are so cute.

We got to Caliente Wed night and just relaxed and hung out. On Thursday we shot some clay pigeons in the morning.  I hit a whole bunch! It was very fun and I shot about a box and a half of shells. I shot a  20 gauge shotgun, my shoulder was very sore from shooting so much.  But I had so much fun and it was warm enough that I didn't even have to wear a jacket. Good work Nevada.  We then prepared our mashed potatoes and went to Uncle Kevin's and Aunt Teri's house for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. There were a lot of people there, and it was very fancy.  We had name tags for where we were supposed to sit.  Very delicious food, but we had to leave a little early so Justin could get some homework done that was due on Thanksgiving. Really!? Who assigns homework to be do on Thanksgiving. Rude.

On Friday we had another Thanksgiving dinner at the Holt house.  But Justin had left very early that morning to go help his dad pack out an elk.  So Justin and Mark were gone all day and missed Thanksgiving :(  Mark guides hunts and his guy shot the elk on Thanksgiving, but it was too dark and late to pack it out, so they went back on Friday.  I got to sleep in and then I helped Linda get ready by vacuuming the whole house and helping with dinner preparations.  Poor Justin was so exhausted when they finally got back.  I'm glad Justin was able to help his dad, but I missed him!  We also had a talent show on Friday night and I played the guitar and sang. It was very scary and I was so nervous, but I did it!

Saturday morning we had a pheasant hunt! It was my very first pheasant hunt. It was so fun! I shot one! I wasn't very good because I would get too excited and forget to aim. haha I'm so silly. But I had so much fun and can't wait to go again!  We played some games and just hung out after the hunt. 

We left on Sunday and got to see Matt for about 30 min, but we got home pretty late, so our visit was cut a little short.  A great break and a wonderful time with family!

Here are some things I am especially grateful for this year (in no particular order):

- a loving, wonderful husband

- an amazing family

- the gospel, scriptures, the Atonement, a testimony

- a job that supports us and allows Justin to go to school

- an understanding and awesome boss

- a healthy body

- good doctors and antibiotics

- warm clothes (thermals and wild rags)

- a warm home

- cinnamon milk (it's very delicious)

- having the weekends off (for the most part)

- guns and shooting

- music

- chiropractors 

- blessings

- sleep

Justin wanted to add a few things:

- a wife

- family

- scriptures and prophets

- the gospel of Jesus Christ

- being blessed with the things that we need

- our opportunities 

- good health

- life

- hunting, fishing, elk, deer, and the outdoors

- engineers that make sweet archery equipment 

- the right to bear arms

- sports

Halloween

We were Thing 1 and Thing 2 for Halloween this year.  It was a very last minute costume idea.  We weren't even going to dress up, but then we were invited to a party.  So we went to DI and got Justin a red shirt and red pants and then went to Walmart to get my blue wig.  Pretty stunning I would say for such a last minute idea.

Haha we look so silly. Awesome.  The party was very fun and we found a game that Justin loved to play (which is rare)! It is called telestrations...we will probably have to get that one someday. It was a chill party with friends and we ate soup, hung out, played games, and had dessert. A great Halloween!

The Wind Caves

Before the hike

Robbie and Jenna next to Paul Bunion's loaf of bread

Rearranging the backpack

The bottom of a waterfall

The cave entrance 

Army crawling

The Pit

I wish I would have taken a picture of Justin climbing up the other side. What a man.

He free climbed it even though it was wet and slippery.  Then he tied a rope at the top so that I was able to make it up safely. 

hahahahaha creepy eyes because it was so dark

this is our second attempt to have less creepy eyes...Justin did way better

We went to some very sweet caves called the wind caves.  Robbie and Jenna Thompson took us.  It was about a 2-hour hike up to the cave.  It was a beautiful hike, but the combination of altitude and the fact that I was just recovering from a sinus infection made it hard to breathe.  But we finally made it and it was so worth it!  The caves were rugged and there were a couple parts where you had to army crawl through.  It was awesome. We all had headlamps because you had to use your hands to either crawl or climb through the cave.  Then there is a part that is a pit and to keep going you have to climb down one side and up the other side.  But it was wet and slippery and there was only a ghetto rope on the side closet to us.  But Justin and I decided to just go for it.  He was brave and went first.  He free climbed up the other side and attached a rope that we brought so I could make it up easier.  Going down the one side was very scary because there were no foot holds and it was so slippery; basically you had to use all upper body strength and lower yourself down by going hand over hand down the rope. Scary.  Luckily Robbie had gone down before me and could catch me at the bottom (plus the rope didn’t quite reach to the ground).  Coming back up that side was even harder and scarier because you had to pull yourself up with only your arm strength.  But we made it and no one died or got hurt! Bonus.

Once on the other side of the pit, Justin and I had a hard time figuring out how to get past this one part until these climbers from the other side came through.  It was scary though because there was a huge drop off below us that we couldn’t see the bottom of.  But we went a ways and it was sweet.  Such a fun trip and it wouldn’t have been possible without Jenna and Robbie because we had no idea how to get there.  We all went to dinner at a place in Driggs once we got back to the cars.  Thanks Robbie and Jenna for such a great and adventurous day.

Chauncey and Mallory get married

All the men

The women

On September 22nd, we were fortunate enough to go to Justin's brother, Chauncey's, wedding.  It was such a fun treat to be able to see them get sealed in the same temple we did (St. George).  It brought back all of the amazing memories from our wedding day. We are so proud of Chauncey and Mallory and wish them the best.  Justin's sister, Andrea, blessed her baby that same weekend so we were also able to be a part of that.  Although we couldn't stay long (we left Rexburg Friday and had to drive back Sunday), it was great to be with family.

A day at work

Today at work we got to A.I (artificial insemination) about 130 cows.  I was in charge of giving the shots and keeping them moving through the chute.  At the very end my boss let me A.I one! I took a class in school, but haven't had the chance to practice and perfect this talent. So I was a little rusty, but I was successful! I can't wait for more opportunities. Life is good.

Sometimes I don't enjoy that I have to work.  I get tired and sometimes work is a bummer. But today driving home I realized that I am very blessed. Here are some reasons why:
- I found a job very quickly
- It is something I enjoy (I get to work with cows and be outside and apply all the knowledge I learned in school).
- I am able to work while Justin goes to school
- I have the coolest boss every, who is so chill and very understanding and gives me time off whenever I need it.
- It's not minimum wage

So many other things. We are very blessed. Life is good.

Steve's wedding

A while ago...July 28th I believe, a good friend of Justin's got married and we went to his wedding. It was in Brianhead Utah.  Beautiful location. It was a fun adventure. Justin looked so handsome in his tux.

The three buds: Travis, Steve, and Justin

The food was really good and we loved the lemonade they served. Delicious. We had many a glasses. The olympics were also playing on some large tv screens in the cabin type lodge place we were in.  We were also able to zip down to Caliente and see Colby, Justin's brother, give his mission farewell talk. We're proud of you Colby. He is serving in Raleigh, North Carolina.

My Cowboy

These pictures are from the spring semester. They are from Justin's horse training final. I could never go watch him when he would train his horse, cowboy, because I'm always at work.  But, I finally was able to make it to his final because it was at night!

He looked so good and did such a good job! His horse has a very dominant personality: he told me stories about how it would square up and try to charge him at the beginning. But after working with him all semester, he was so much better! 

My awesome cowboy husband!

So handsome :)

When the sprinklers came on his horse would freak out for a little bit. I missed the first freak out, which was the best.