Rachel is married!

I went to one of my best friends wedding on July 5, 2014. It was in Calgary Alberta Canada. I drove up with 3 strangers, and stayed for about 6 days. It was so great to see Rachel Johnson; I hadn't seen her since my wedding 2 1/2 years ago. Crazy! Her husband, Mike, seems like a really great guy. I'm so happy for them! I wish them the very best. I got to meet a lot of Mike's family and a lot of Rachel's extended family. It was an exhausting, but fun-filled trip. Canada is beautiful and I thought of the tv show Heartland,  because it was so beautiful. I'm so glad I went!

Here is the couple: sealed for time and all eternity

Calgary Alberta Canada Temple

I helped build and decorate the reception. It took 2 solid days of working non-stop. I mostly did all of the lights.

It turned out great! It was a beautiful reception for a beautiful couple. 

Here I am with the beautiful couple. 

I also drove to the town High River, where Heartland is filmed. It recently got flooded, so the whole town is under renovation.  It felt like a ghost town, but it was still awesome to drive through it. I got ate by mosquitoes taking the picture above. So the rest of the pictures are taken from inside the car. 

This street is where the had a cattle drive in the show.

I also loaded up on some of my favorite Canadian candies. We also got lucky and had really nice people at the border. 

Holt Reunion 2014

We had a Holt Reunion at the end of May. We all got together at the Holt cabin for a weekend. It was a grand old time. There was delicious food to be had, fun games that were played, memories that were shared, birthday's that were celebrated, horses that were ridden, and so much more. What a fun time!  Hooray for family. We drove down with Chauncey and Mallory, it was a little cramped but lots of fun.

Andrea and Chelsea and Harper

Justin taking some of the kids on a mule ride

Grandpa Holt, Steph, Grandma Holt, Chauncey, Chelsea

Mallory and Steph holding Harper

Steph, Mallory, Gabby, Chauncey

Justin playing one of the games (a minute to win it game where you had to knock down the water bottles with some flour in a nylon that you put on your head)

Nick, Gabby, Harper

Reagan had a birthday

Everyone went into town to vote for Mark and the kids helped throw candy out at the parade

Justin, Steph, Chauncey, Mallory getting ready to head back to Rexburg

Linda with Mckenzie and Harper

Chelsea, Harper, Hunter (poor Hunter got sick)

Justin and Steph on a horse/mule ride

Texas Trip (April 23 - May 3, 2014)

I have been slacking on my blog posts. Sorry about that. Life has been crazy. In the last couple of months we:
- got back from spending 4 or 5 months in Nevada (didn't really plan that, it just happened)
- Justin started his 2nd to last semester (I'm so excited for him to be done)
- I went to Texas for a week and a half for an impromptu reunion
- I worked for 2 weeks cutting potatoes (that was a new adventure)
- we just got back from a Holt reunion in their cabin in Nevada

But here are some pictures of my Texas trip (it was so fun and so wonderful to see almost all of my family): It was a grand old time. We did so many fun things. I have a more detailed account of my trip in my journal. I love my family!

My wonderful nephews and niece (Andrew, Bradley, Cameron, Taylor)

They are so cute. The theme song for the trip was "Let it Go"

Mom and I went to this park where there are alligators just hanging out. It was awesome!

This giant guy was just chillin' right in the path. We just slowly and quietly walked by him. It was quite sketchy, but very exciting.

I love my mom. She is my hero

We hiked down to this river; beautiful!

We went to the Bluebell Factory and learned how they make ice cream. Very cool!

Then we got a scoop of the ice cream! Yay!

Me and Tay tay

Poor Ben has a broken foot and was a trooper

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time! Hilarious. haha

This is another great shot of us

We went to Chuck e Cheese (or Chunky Cheese as mom says) for Andrew's 4th birthday

Ben and I had a blast playing all the games

Andrew turns 4!

The Texas Battleship

It was fun exploring it

Andrew and I played a lot of games together

We went to eat at the Goodson's Cafe. Represent. Woot.

Mini-golfing

Here we all are (minus Dad, Matt, Jake, and Justin)

Steph's 1st turkey

Steph's very 1st turkey

Below the pictures is part of my journal entry of it (it's long, so you don't have to read it)

George and Steph

It was the morning of the 18^th (our last day there). We were in the right place at the right time. We had set up above the road because we saw 2 toms.  George called to them and they were gobbling, but not getting any closer.  So we kept coming down towards the road to try to get closer. I spotted them walking down the road. George told me where to stand and was yelling in my ear to “shoot it! Shoot it now!” I kept calm considering I was being pressured hard to shoot.  I couldn’t see the turkeys when he could and I told him I couldn’t see them yet. But I took a moment when I could see them, and shot him. I just thought, just keep calm, take a moment so that you don’t miss. I was shooting George’s double barrel shot gun and pulled both triggers by accident. Haha I didn’t mean to, but I blasted that turkey.  My finger was weird on the triggers, so that’s why I think I pulled both at once. It surprised me and nearly knocked me over. Then George told me to go run down there and hold it down so it didn’t flop all the feathers off.  I was going as fast as I could, but wasn’t very fast, so Justin ran down past me and held it down for me. It was just a little jake, but I was so proud and glad I didn’t miss. My heart was racing for a while afterwards. What a great memory.  My very first official hunting experience; I loved it!

We were down there right at the opening of the turkey season, so the toms weren’t too excited about mating yet. We saw a lot of turkeys and got a lot of them to gobble. It was exiting to hear them answer the call. If they were with a hen, the hen would lead the toms away.  We got 1 other turkey to come it and get close enough for me to shoot. Unfortunately, we set up wrong and he came from the opposite side we thought he would. So there was a tree in my way and I couldn’t get a shot. It was fun watching him come in to our decoy and puff all up and show off.  Turkeys are very smart; I had no idea. George said they are able to see 350 degrees and have excellent vision and hearing. George had so much knowledge of turkeys and knew what they would do and where they would go; it was incredible.

The first part of the week was rough because the weather wasn’t really cooperating. The first day was too windy for the turkeys to hear us. Then it was rainy. But the last morning was perfect. We slept in a little because we were letting the trees drip off the water.  Turkeys don’t like the wind because then everything is moving and the water dripping off the trees makes it hard too. We were persistent and it paid off. It was beautiful country and we saw a lot of deer.