The Big 31

Because life was so crazy busy for Ian's big 30th birthday last year, I wanted to do something much bigger, and a lot more fun for him this year. So we invited our most favorite people and their super cute kids over for a BBQ. 

Our awesome tree did not cooperate with our Patio use, so we moved the party to the driveway. Dang tree...kept leaving little green surprises in everything possible!

The Birthday Boy looking handsome as ever!

Mom's idea was a success!

Sidewalk chalk kept the kids completely occupied.

So occupied, they didn't even realize there was cake.... And I forgot to even offer them any until it was too late.

Ian forgot he wanted to wear his Father's Day present from me... so he changed mid party :)

On his actual birthday, we went to dinner and walked around the green belt.

I sure do love my husband!

4th of July in Teton Valley

We went to Driggs for the Fireworks for the second year in a row. Pretty sure we'll go to these from now on! They are so much fun and quite the show!

It was a dark and rainy day. The Tetons stood out bright white against the dark mountains. It was awesome!

I heard there were around 10,000 people there. We made our way through the crowd to the little side hill.

It was a very nice spot and I think we will plan to sit there again next year. Of course Ian will get to go "off-roading" with the stroller :)

We missed Brooke... but still had fun listening to The Beach Boys and eating treats waiting for it to get dark.

It's seriously a great firework show!

I love 4th of July! But I'm pretty sure I say whatever current holiday is my favorite...

Memorial Day Weekend in Yellowstone

We love going to Yellowstone. We went Memorial Day Weekend and actually bought the seasons pass this year!

Bored in the car already... had to take a picture of Ian!

Slowest moving line ever to get in to the park! If we only knew this was going to be the theme of our trip...

Gotta take the Firehole Falls drive everytime!

On our way to Old Faithful... we were pretty much stuck in traffic our whole Yellowstone trip. It took hours to get to Old Faithful.

The traffic jam culprit...

You would have thought people had never seen buffalo before...

We went to minimal geysers. We spent most our time sitting on the road being bored :)

Plus it was kind of cold and rainy.

At least it wasn't snowing like most Memorial Days in Yellowstone.

We had fun though. Yellowstone is one of our favorite places to go!

Zions National Park 2013

After we were done in Vegas, we came back to St. George to spend Spring Break with my family at Grandma's house. We took the usual trip to Zion's National Park. It was very cold and rainy! Oh well, it was still fun. It had only been 5 years since Ian and I had been there :)

Warning: Lots of pictures, not very many words. Honestly it was 6 months ago and I'm pregnant... 

I don't remember much!

Dad sporting his flashy borrowed jacket! Oh man...

The park was very misty. At least it wasn't super hot.

He is just cute! And I love him!

I love my family!

Kaylee had to climb the giant rock.

We met a nice little squirrel friend. He was a bit nutty.

I have the best husband ever. He proudly carries my ugly bag... that everyone enjoyed using for their water bottles.

Oh man... a picture from back when we were much younger and skinnier :) The bottom, right picture in the collage above was taken exactly 5 years later.

It started raining cats & dogs on the way back! Then hailing... Glad we found a big enough rock for all of us to stand under.

Another photo reenactment... Back then, we were newly engaged and happy as ever.

Here we are newly pregnant and still happy as ever :)

We had enough fun riding up to the top, doing the hike, and being done with it.

Our picnic was freezing! So we shoveled it in, and headed home!

Vegas Trip 2013

Well... I'm finally getting around to posting about a trip we took back in April. Whooo! I'm so on top of it. 

We were planning on going to Washington DC to visit Jordan when he was back there. Then... we found out I was pregnant and things changed a little (Or a lot... in so many ways :). We both had time off work and a little money, so we decided to go to Vegas! 

We stayed at our usual place... Palace Station. Way cheaper than hotels on the Strip. Plus we had our car, so that wasn't an issue.  

We started our first day out at the Mirage.

And stayed around the hotels in that area. 

I love vacationing with Ian. We still do stuff, but love to sleep in, hang out and watch tv, and eat! It's so nice when all you seem to do is work...

This is what you get when someone in a hawaiian shirt offers to take you picture... Makes me laugh!

I don't usually hand my camera over, but he was quite insistent. It made me feel a little better he was an employee though. He later talked us into going to a time share presentation for free show tickets. "Talked us into"... more like wouldn't take no for an answer. But in the end, I'm glad we wasted 4 hours of our time. The free food and show was totally worth it!

We ended up choosing to use our free show tickets to go to The Ultimate Variety Show. I wasn't expecting much because there was a picture of a mime on the poster... but I would totally recommend it! We had so much fun! And laughed more than ever. 

I was glad our food was free too. We chose to eat at Planet Hollywood's buffet because it was in the same place as the show. That has to be my least favorite hotel/casino. It is just too big. Anways, I was was glad our food was free because all I could eat was salad and about 6 mini cheesecakes! And lots of orange juice!

The gondolas were so awesome. I wanted to splurge and go on one, but they were completely booked the whole time we were in Vegas.

Our kid may come out a watermelon. I couldn't seem to get enough at the buffets. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

We wandered the Strip a lot. But being newly pregnant, I didn't feel great and it totally showed in the pictures of me :) So I kind of put away the camera and just enjoyed being with Ian.

We headed down to Fremont St. on our way out of town. I love it down there. That's where I played my first slot machine! (Not on this trip) 

I was rather disappointed in my phones directions to get there... We ended up in total ghetto-ville. Quickly ran out of tourists and couldn't wait to turn around and find our own way there.

I couldn't resist this quick picture of Ian... It's not every day you get Elvis & Pee-wee Herman in the background!

We had to go get our famous Shrimp Cocktail. It was still kind of morning-ish, but oh well. As we were waiting in line forever, I saw pancakes that I just had to have. In addition to my shrimp cocktail... the thought kind of turns my stomach now :)

We had lots of fun on our little trip before the baby. Fun and so relaxing!