Family Fun in St. George

 Two weekends in a row with the family! This time my family had to drive across the state down to St. George. They were able to stay in this awesome house that a member of my bishopric hooked us up with. First item that friday was the Thompson's and the Burton's met. Lori and Kent came to Nielsen's Frozen Custard and met my family. I'm glad that nerve racking thing was over! Sheesh! Next day was the Cedar City Half Marathon. Zac, Steph and Nickey all ran it. And then we just hung out at the pool for the afternoon and had delicious Carne Asada. 

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LoToJa, Yellowstone, Brigham City Temple

LOTOJA--Logan to Jackson Hole
Zac and I made the long journey across the state from St. George to Logan in one day. Then the next morning we left to head to Jackson Hole, but it wasn't just a straight shot to JH. My brother and brother-in-law rode in the bike race and so we followed them and took all the detours that was needed. So just a 3-4 hour drive took 10 hours. We had a few pit stops or better known as feed zones along the way. My nephew Sam wanted to hang with the "cool kids"..a.k.a. Zac and Me. In the car we quizzed him on his capitols and states. After the finish we made it to the hotel dropped all our stuff then Zac and I went and found somewhere to eat. We went to a Mexican Restaurant called "the 3 Merry Piglets" It was almost closing time and the restaurant was pretty crowded considering they just had thousands of people come into their small little town. So we only had one thing of chips and salsa and our rice wasn't cooked all the way.. but still tasty!

 

 Luke and I..he was being a little terror so the only way to control him was to put him on my shoulders!

 

Tim & Jared.

This stop was the last stop until the finish. Zac and I found this fun little park and played to let out some energy.

Hanging out at the finish.

Yellowstone
My parents and us left JH in the morning and headed to Yellowstone. Zac and never been to Yellowstone and we hadn't been there in 10 years or more. We had our eyes peels for wild life the whole time we were in the car..and we didn't see any!! I remember Yellowstone always have wildlife everywhere, but maybe it was the wrong time of year. After winding through the national parks we made it to Old Faithful.We worried we would miss it so we hung out for awhile..then it kept "teasing" us by spurting out a little bit of stuff but then die down. But once it starts its hard to miss, it goes for about 60 seconds or more. It's kind of funny because everyone there is holding their camera in ready mode just in case they will miss the whole thing. After old faithful we ate some lunch in the cafeteria there then got back in the car to see some more. We saw hot pots. waterfalls, buffalo, elk and who knows what else.

Old Faithful.

How many butterflies to yous see?

 This has delicious pizza. (JH)

Brigham City Temple Open House
On the way back from Yellowstone/Jackson Hole we saw 18 deer, 1 fox, 1 mouse, 1 owl, 1 skunk...and I think thats it. But we saw all that in the small drive from Jackson Hole to Logan. It was crazy..and we thought we would see wildlife in Yellowstone, but little did we know we would see it in the canyon that goes into Logan. But we were able to go to the Brigham City Temple Open House that Monday. I loved going to see the temple, it was so pretty.

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City Creek.

After the temple open house we stopped at City Creek for a minute, went into Tiffany & Co. and tried on a $135,000 ring!!! Since we had been driving all weekend we decided we would break up the drive with a few stops. First Brigham City, then SLC, then Provo, then STG. It made the drive not so awful. Also, we really enjoy the restaurant Noodles & Co. We went there friday night and again on monday night! Yum Yum Yum!

• Things to remember that are important about this trip besides family time are Zac asked permission for my hand in marriage at Mountain High Pizza Pie, then the following day we went ring shopping in Provo.

The past little while..

I've been really bad at keeping up on my life.. but a little bit of catch up. Camping up at Pine View with the fam, 4th of July with the Burtons, and a little weekend trip up to Pine Valley. :)

Camping..and using the hammock for the first time from Mexico!

4th of July. Burton Firework Show

The finale.

We love Pine Valley. Getting to ride the tandem.

Shooting the Zombie.

Destroyed the Zombie. Well Zac did..

DISNEYLAND.

We are sooo excited!

Spontaneous trip to Disneyland, one of my favorite trips. Mom and Dad Burton were there all week because D had a podiatry conference. So Zac, Me, Natalie, & Cameron all drove down together Thursday night to hit up Disneyland all day! (On the plus side It was way fun to get to know Zac's family a little bit better.) The 4 of us went around Disneyland all day and met up with M & D Burton in the evening. Too many to details to try and catch up on.

Look at my man carrying my purse.. hehe

Mom and Dad Burton (a.k.a. Lori & Kent), Natalie & Cameron, Me & Zac

Waiting for the fireworks to start. We had such a good spot, right in front of the castle.

 Saturday Zac and I snuck back off to Disneyland (thanks to his parents letting us use their tickets for the morning) and we went on a few more rides and then spent the rest of the day with the fam! Walked around Downtown Disney where this a quartet singing, shared some ice cream from Haagen Daas and ate it inside the California Adventure Hotel, went shopping at a mall, Dinner at Cheesecake Factory, then Firework show in M & D hotel room. 

BEST RIDE EVER in California Adventures. Toy Story Mania.

Thanks Mom & Dad Burton for buying us dinner. What a surprise!

Thank you for such a fun trip!

Little Red & Wasatch Back Ragnar

Little Red Bike Ride : Steph, Nickey, and I rode 50 miles in all girls bike ride. I had to drive up to St. George, then pick up Steph and then drive up to Lewiston, UT. Talk about a long day in the car! The morning of we all got ready and drove on down the the start. It was such a fun, relaxed ride. About every 15 miles there were rest stops with food. New favorite snack is now Oreos dipped in Peanut Butter. It was so good!

 

 

Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay:  What an adventure this was. The question is: Would I do it again? Answer: Yes! But not for another year. It was an experience to finally get to do this and understand how hard it is, but I don't think I got the full idea of how hard it is on my body. Our car was full of gimps because my brother and I both hurt our knees. I switched legs with my sister, that shows to true love for her to run my way hard leg that was up a huge hill!

Van 1: The best van their was.

Park City-Finish Line-Team V.E.N.G.E.A.N.C.E.

Beatles Love. Cirque De Soleil.

 I decided to surprise Zac with a fun night in Vegas! But I couldn't keep the surprise in because I wanted him to know about it so as soon as I bought the tickets the morning of I told him! He was so excited (well that is what he told me, I was at work when I told him). I got off work at 5, went home and changed and off to Vegas we went. We didn't have a whole lot of time to do stuff, so we first ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory, which so delicious. Then headed over to the show. They didn't sell out this show so instead of being where we bought the tickets for, we were on the lower level and way close! It was awesome!

      

Abby Lane. :)

We snuck a picture of the show with an iphone. Looks way cool, right?

                                           

After the show! The only way we could describe the show to anyone is, "it was way cool." Everyone we talked to described it the same way. The show was so unique we just quite figure out how we would describe to anyone.