Stinkin Utah Roads!!

So, Jared and I have not been in Utah more than three days and we already are being driven crazy by the roads! The WHOLE STATE of Utah is under road construction!!!! On friday (Aug 28) Jared and I had a full day of appointments to look at apartments, so full we were a little worried about making them all on time. So we leave my aunt Heather's house and head down to Salt Lake (a trip which previously took us a little less than 20 mins to make) We had been on the same freeway for an hour and a half and had not made it to Salt Lake yet!! Jared was not very happy about the traffic, in fact he was fed up with it. He said that traffic jams caused by something cool are ok but this "stupid roadwork jam" is unacceptable! Oh I was laughing quite hard. We finaly make it to an overpass, which is a couple exists from down town and all of a sudden a police car pulls in front of a car ahead of us and makes the whole line stop! We didn't know what was happening until Jared saw and told me to look.
This is what I saw, and I did not see anything out of the ordinary, until Jared told me that the 'support beam' behind the red truck is infact not a support beam, but a new fuel tank that the truck was carrying!When people started realizing what was going on they began to turn off their cars and walk around. We were going to be there for a while. There were even kids running around playing with toys and balls. Jared and I called our appointments and tols them we were not going to be able to make it. But it was fun to be walking around the freeway. =>
They unhitched the truck and he drvoe away. Believe you me, it was a good thing the north bound side of the freeway was empty, that trucker was raging mad! and who would blame him!?!? Can you imagine going 70mph down a freeway and all of a sudden being jerked back and have your cargo stuck on the overpass? That can not be a fun feeling => After he drove away two large forklifts came across the freeway and knocked the tank off the overpass. Jared was watching it but I wasn't paying attention, and all of a sudden this huge noise was being made. Now I had never heard a bomb go off in real life, but I would imagine it sounds a heck of a lot like that big boom we heard when that thing hit the ground! It was cool!
After the tank was down they began to let cars pass, so we got to pass right by it! That thing was enormous!! Look at that damage! I would not have believed it had I not seen it!! Could you imagine if a car had been behind that truck!?!? I don't think any were, and I do not think anyone got seriously injured, but there was a line o police cars and amblences like I had never seen before! Not to mention news crews up the wahzoo! Once we initially passed it the roads we open and clear. And Jared had decided that that was a cool traffic jam and was glad it was not a dumb construction one! =>
I don't have any pictures of this next one but the next day, coming back from Pleasant Grove we were in ANOTHER traffic stand still ont he freeway! But luckily again we were up pretty close to the front so we saw the action. A WalMart truck had tipped over and they had to bring another one to unload all the cargo into and then a machine to get the truck out of the road! We passed by as they were still unloading the truck but the take-off machine was there! And not to mention the coutless other times any day that we were stuck in dumb construction traffic!! So a caution to all, when in Utah avoid any sort of timed commitment because you never know how the Utah traffic fairy is going to strike! =>

Brett and Raini's Wedding!

Jared and I went up to daho this past weekend for two big events. One of them was his best friend Brett's wedding! He married a girl, Raini, that he had met up at BYU-I, and its fun because we knew her before their dating career took off! They got married on Friday July 31 in the Idaho Falls temple! It is my first wedding that I went to, and it made me realize how much of my cereomny I don't remember. What a bummer! But it was such a privilage to be able to be there for that!

This is us just after the ceremony, waiting for the lovely couple!
And the three amios, waiting for their fourth amigo. => Don't they all look so handsome in their pink ties!?!?! hahahaIt takes a while for them to come out, so Jared and I snuck in the time to take a picture in front of the temple sign!Horray I am getting more pictures with Jared!! hehehe
The gang, all together again! I thought it was pretty funny when Brett walked out and he was wearing blue, and all at once the boys were like "What!?!?! You get blue and we are stuck with pink" Oh that was so funny! But they all look so sharp!
The bride and groom were taking pictures around temple grounds with their families, but they wanted the boys to stick around for pictures later, so of course we took some of our own! =>
The flowers were just absolutely beautiful! And look, another picture of me and Jared!! Woot woot. Its not just going to be two pictures to represent a whole year! =>
This is one of the cutest wedding pictures of the day, in my opinion! It speaks so much about their personalities!! =>
Our table at the lunch-in! They held it at the Shilo Inn just across the river from the temple! It was delicious food and very yummy!
And then, of course, was early to the reception where upon thousands and thousands of pictures were taken! I forgot what a tiring day wedding days are! And I am so grateful I don't have to do that again!! =>
After loads of pictures were taken and guests started arriving, we went out to destroy, I mean decorate Brett's truck! Jared has been anxiously awaiting payback for almost a year! This is the truck before. Can you tell Jared is excited for what he is about to do? =>
He was entirely too excited for this! It was the best part of his day, which is why most of the rest of this post is devoted to his masterpiece! hahaha
People in action... it started out just the five of us, and we started so early because Jed and Marcy still had to make a couple hour drive back to Jerome and get to sleep early because they were working early in the morning. But as we got going, some of Bretts young cousins saw what we were doing, so they joined in the fun. Yes, we were inialating this truck!!
Some of the decorating team!! THey were so proud of it!! I wrote on the windows some things, while most of them wrapped the car. Then I even wrote random things in layers around the syran wrap, so the car would look slightly more colorful! =>
One of Brett's many nicknames is Croc, don't ask why, I don't truely know, it must be a guy thing. But one of Jared's shining moments is when he drew something that actually resembled a crocodile! Good job Handsome!!
And of course, there had to be some iffy sayings, but not too iffy. => So we only did part of some. hahaha
And a prominent "Just Married" is a must. I was appointed on writing duty since I have "cheerleader" handwriting. I find that pretty funny because I don't have the girliest writing, but compared to all these boys, I guess I do =>
Oh just look at this thing!!
It looks like a spider threw up on it! No, like millions of spiders threw up on it!!
I dare you to try and guess how much syran wrap is on that truck, go on, take a guess.........
2400 SQUARE FEET OF SYRAN WRAP!!!!!!! Thats right!! Like the size of a small house!!! This thing was COVERED!!!! And it was the boy's pride and joy! They were soooo pleased with themselves!! => And this took them close to 2 hours to do!!
And when we went inside we had enough timee to eat some food, go thru the line, and then they cut the cake! We couldn't have planned better timing!! But her cake was gorgeous!!
They were so cute in cutting the cake! And they were nice and didn't shove things in eachothers faces, which I think is very nice.
And now for the best part... hahaha although Brett did cheat and he snuck a knife so he just cut through it, but it still too him a good 15-20 minutes to get it all cleaned off!!
And once Brett got his side clear enough to open the door, he went over to help Raini, who was trying to tear thru it by hand! She was such a trooper! And she did get impressively far without Bretts knife! =>
Oh it was so fun to watch them take it all off!! So worth all the time and effort!! And Jared is fully satisfied that he got his revenge! And the funny thing is, this car is leagues more covered than ours was!
This is a picture of our car, almsot a year ago. Holy cow, I can't believe it has been almost a year!!! There was writing on the windows, which took forever to come off, and they were able to get in our car, so confetti was ALL over, but I still think the truck beats this 10,000 to 1! If this trend continues, I pitty the next friend that gets married! I can only imagine how bad his car is going to be! =>

Fixing the Car

I know many people have done this, but today was my first time and I am very proud of myself! Our car had passed the number of miles that were on the windshield sticker (yes very technical I know) so we needed to take it in for an oil change and a couple other things. Now I have taken the car to a shop before, but Jared had done everything. All I had to do was drive it in, give them the keys, then pick it up again. Jared took care of everything else. But this time, I did everything. I called the place this morning, set up an appointment, told them what needed to be done (I tried to be as technical as I could, i think I pulled off my facsade of knowing what I was talking about!) take the car in, answer the like 10 calls I got from them asking if they could do all these different things, pay for it, and pick it up! I know its probably not as big of a deal as I think it is, but give me a break here, its my first adventure into the "big grown up car world" without Jared! Although I must be honest here, I did cheat once. One of the times they called me I had no clue what they were talking about or why they wanted to do some stuff, so I tried to call Jared, but he was working and couldnt answer, so I asked some of the wives, and they didnt really know, so I made the best decision I could. Later Jared called me back & then called the service people to find out what was going on. But it turns out, my decision wasnt that bad! Yay!! So thats my little car story for the day. I feel so grown up taking car of my own car and talking about it! =>My friend Danae was nice enough to come with me to drop my car off. The shop is just right on the corner from my apartment, probably a 10 minute walk, so I figured I could just drop off my car then walk home while its being worked on.
Yay we did it! I dropped off my car & explained things!! Woot Woot!!!
We dropped off my car at 10:30am, and I got a call at 2:30 saying my car was finished (mind you they said it was only going to be there until 12:30). The other wives were swimming at the pool so I embarked on the journey to pick up my car on my own! But don't worry, I came equipt with a popsicle!! =>
There is my precious little car, all fixed and ready to be driven!! =>
I made it through the car ordeal alive and kickin!! Yay!!! (can you tell I am a little excited?) Yay for fixed cars and adventures!!

Mini Vacation!

Yay! I love mini vacations!! Jared and I went to Utah this last weekend (Feb 28- Mar 1st)! It was short but it was well worth it, and so much fun! The point of going down was to get a bed from my aunt and uncle Camille and Matt. They were so nice to let us have their old bed, ours was killing my back!! => We drove down Saturday late morning/afternoon and went to Salt Lake to play around some! Jared had never been to Temple Square (other than when he was 5) and I just love it! WARNING: this is going to be a long post, we have many pictures, and I have even more things to say! =>

Our first stop in Temple Square was the Conference Center! We took a guided tour, and it was so fun! This is in the conference room, that seats like fifty billion people! (ok not that much, but a lot!)

On our tour we got to go on the roof! It was the first day it was opened this season! That was way fun! We lost our tour guide somewhere up there, so Jared and I went and looked around our selves and took pictures! I really am in this one! I am the tiny little speck dancing! =>

Little did we know you are not allowed to be on the roof without an escort of a tour guide. A security gaurd came and told us we had to leave the building. Can you believe it! We were kicked out of the conference center!!! => What a fun story! But me, being the little nerd that I am, asked the security guy to take a picture of me and Jared, WHILE he was escorting us off the premisise! => Arent I just a nut! => And how could the security gaurd say no to cute little ole me?!?!?! hehehe so this is the picture the security gaurd took of us! => I am so proud of it! =>

After being kicked out of the Conference Center, Jared and I decided to go terrorize the Salt Lake temple! We walked around and saw these cute doors, and just HAD to get a picture by them! => So we asked another security gaurd to take one of us (and NO we didnt get in trouble by him)!

Then as we continued our walk around the temple, I saw the statue places, and of course, the poser in my blood couldnt resist. hehehe This is one of my many poses on the temple! =>

We were also able to go in the tabernacle! That building is beautiful! I cant even imagine building that thing now days, let alone in the pioneer days!!
Jard and I in the Assembly Hall! They have the original benched in this building, and Jared could not sit straight in them because they are incredibly close together! It was so funny to watch him try! Too bad I didnt get a picture of it!
I love this picture! You can see the Tabernacle, Salt Lake Temple, and the Conference center! I think it is way cool!

Ok, I know I talk about Jared a lot, but how can I help it?!?! He is just so amazing! Well Another thing he is incredibly good at is taking pictures! He took these two pictures, I watched him! I love the pictures, so I just wanted to share them with you all! =>

After our little escapade in Temple Square, we headed down to Provo to play with Jess! And as a little treat we stayed with Nik and Dusty (who had never met Jared before)! It was so fun to see them again!! And Nikki has just the cutest kids! Too bad they dont know who I am! =<>

This is me and my cute cousin Raygan in her pretty church dress! =>
Raygan just HAD to show us her tricks on her trampoline! (jumping high) and look at this little cutie jump! (again, Jared is a great photographer! =>)
Me and my cousin Jess!!! Oh I love her!!! =>
After saying our regretful good-byes to our lovely Provo family, we went up to Mt Green to get our bed. It was stored at Todd and Corianns house. These are the two studly men trying to fit a mattress and boxspring on our truck!
The boys ended up taking the toolbox off and setting the bed on the bed of the truck. Todd was brave enough to go below and hook the hooks and tuck in the tarp! Way to go Todd! =>
And of course, it was a funny sight! =>
So, Todd might have needed a little help out => It was a tight squeeze! =>

Thanks so much for the fun mini vacation fam!! And thanks for sticking through this whole post readers! I promise, when we go on a real big vacation, I will do a slide show! => Have a wonderful day!!