pretty

backstage pic of nyc ballet rehearsing the nutcracker.  i miss my dancing days.    

volcano time

carson working on his duck calls

i spy a volcano

chris is really strong

we were able to spend all day friday outside thanks to the beautiful weather.  we saw mount st. helens, took a little hike through the woods, and played at a park in kelso, washington.  this was brooke's third time to mount st. helens and the first time there were no clouds covering it, so i guess we were pretty lucky to get such an amazing view.  it was a great day of hiking and playing to work off that delicious thanksgiving dinner!

thanksgiving

we had an awesome thanksgiving break in washington at chris (rich's brother) and lindy's home.  thanks so much chris and lindy for letting us take over your place for the weekend!  i have tons of great pictures thanks to some gorgeous weather, a fun day trip to seattle and really adorable nephews.  i'll start with a photo shoot of our nephew hunter... 

precious boy

"happy thanksgiving!!!"

hunter and rich concentrating hard
more pics to come...

check out rich's latest bike project on his new blog!  www.orangegarage.blogspot.com  he goes into more detail than i usually describe on this blog, so it may be interesting for those who use more technical terms than just "doodlebug".  :)  the video at the end is my favorite.  our neighbors have become the biggest fans of rich's projects and can also be found hanging out in our orange garage about as often as rich is there.  enjoy!

halloween a little late

i really love the x-men movies so when our nephew had a superhero birthday party earlier this year, there was no question who we would be! we maybe recycled our costumes for halloween a few weeks ago. it did still take some preparation- rich had to grow a beard and i had to find red hair. my halloween costumes from now on will be based around this red wig. ;) happy late halloween!

exploring time

we checked out the wetlands in vegas yesterday. yep, there are wetlands in vegas! we basically had the whole place to ourselves which was pretty awesome. it was beautiful! thank you google earth app for helping us to not get too lost... it was quite the maze of trails!

our very own delicate arch
i don't know why but i really wanted to hug this giant beaver. so sunny

conference time

i keep starting a post about everything i learned at the two conferences i attended for work during the past few weeks, but it's jumbled with random thoughts and has turned into a lengthy essay that i'm not ready to publish on the world wide web. :) maybe i'll start a health blog or something. anyway, i learned so much and was extremely motivated and excited for everything that i can apply to my work and personal life. i was also excited to meet and chat with some very influential people in the wellness world. the most rewarding and educational day was a workshop put on by the ceo of wellcoaches (where i did my wellness coach certification)! with general conference thrown in on the weekend, it was a pretty amazing two weeks! so while i try to sort through my notes and thoughts these next few weeks i'll leave you with what i do best on this blog- random pictures. :)

with joy bauer, nutritionist for the Today Show

billy blanks, inventor of tae bo,
told us he's stays motivated by reading his bible everyday. cool!
he's really nice too.
4 way video chat between general conference sessions.
if you haven't tried google plus "hangout", you should. it's pretty awesome!

my flight to SLC for the utah worksite health promotion conference.
oh boy i really like clouds.

my new friends that I was able to hang out with after work in utah.
bianca and greg's precious twins- hazel and penelope (hazel is the one waving).
i'm in love.

my other new friend- hugh jerry christensen.
this is kate and becca's bird with all his cool toys.

k, that's all. love you, bye.

garden time

my sister jess is the head gardener at the youth garden project,
so i was really excited to have her help me plant our first
little garden last weekend!

we planted rosemary, basil, cilantro, spinach, lettuce, and broccoli..yum!
oh and snapdragons too!

jess is a really strong little pregnant lady and broke the shovel..hehe!
that girl knows how to dig!

walking around plant world always makes me happy- so beautiful!

i really miss the fall in utah, idaho and nyc, but planting a garden in october made up for it! thanks sista!

neighbor time

we found some friends that like playing with our toys as much as we do (yes, that little truck is ours)! i especially like having someone around to race down the street!

happy saturday! :)

dancing and a documentary

i really like this video...



and i'm so excited to see this...


okay, that's all. bye. :)

last month

mandy and brian were in town for the weekend! we want them to move here so we tried to show them all that vegas has to offer...

giant necklaces.

and great transportation.

what more could you ask for?

weekend camping

we had a fun little camping trip with our friends jared and kristine this past weekend. the dune buggy looked more at home cruising through the dirt and sand dunes than down our street. it was a blast!
the real highlights of the trip for me were almost stepping on a rattlesnake in the dark, getting a painful bug bite in the middle of the night, watching a creepy movie before we went to bed (not a good idea for me), hiking through bushes with swarming bees, and listening to howling coyotes as we set up our campsite. yikes, and i thought sleeping on top of the houseboat at lake powell all those years was camping! rich is really giving me a taste of this wilderness therapy. i will say i loved seeing the beautiful night sky, waking up with the sun and hanging out in camping chairs all morning. just please hold the snake next time. thanks. oh and i'll be watching a disney movie before i go to bed. ;)

play time

check out rich's new ride...we are now the proud owners of two mini scooters made by rich. we call them doodlebugs. we had a pretty awesome doodlebug date cruising around our neighborhood last friday night. yep, we are the crazy neighbors.

also, i like our backyard.thanks shelley and russ for letting us steal the ping pong table!

shoveling rocks...

was our waterski staff's secret code for personal ski time when lyndsey and i worked at camp vega in maine 7 years ago (oh and my claim to reality show fame is that ashley from the bachelorette was a dance instructor there that year..hehe).anyway, i was pretty excited when i got to "shovel rocks" with lyndsey while we were in idaho last week! lyndsey has been one of my best friends since age 3 and now she's married and has two adorable kids and a boat with a heater. what?! when we worked at vega we would race to the cabins after training and turn our hair dryers on to warm up. what a hard life..ha! so now that i've told you some really important information about our secret code, the bachelorette and hair dryers, here are some pictures from our beautiful day in island park!

rich

sweet lucy me

lynds: pro driver and mom

vacation time

we had an awesome week in idaho, wyoming, montana and utah with family and friends! i have lots of pictures to go through but i thought i'd start off by showing you some of the amazing scenery. i loved growing up in such a beautiful area!

view of the tetons from the top of my favorite ski resort, grand targhee

the idaho falls temple

my parents riding our four wheel bike "angus" just outside jackson hole, wy

hiking around targhee with my mom

driggs, idaho

view from our backyard in driggs

rich skipping rocks on jenny lake in wyoming

and one more from targhee