Rich and Mia

january saturdays

2012-01-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

something i love about vegas is that you can drive just 30 minutes out of town to play in the snow...

... and then spend the next weekend riding bikes around town!

i also really love my adventure buddy. :)

december

2012-01-22T23:23:00.000-08:00

wow, i've really neglected the blog these past few months. other things i neglected from october to december include cooking, cleaning, exercising, and christmas shopping (rich did an amazing job taking over on the gifts this year which you can see here), just to name a few. i did feel good that i was able to help with our ward christmas party, but realized i probably cried about it more than helped. oops. but it's definitely all worth it for the cute little bean we get to meet at the beginning of july!! i'm feeling so much better now at 16 weeks, so i'll try to get back to blogging and other important duties like making sure rich doesn't try to live off of cheetos. ;)

here are some pics for a quick update of what i did do in december (besides go to work, lay around and eat goldfish crackers).

went climbing with the pros, jess and nick. the one climb i did was the only exercise i did in 3 months. jess was a climbing machine and left me in the dust. she had baby cedar just a week and a half after this picture was taken! amazing sister! also pictured below, i got my christmas wish- a really tall tree that took up way too much space in our living room.

my big brother maffoo came to vegas for a day before we took off to idaho for christmas. yay!

our weekend in idaho/utah was spent with our adorable nieces and nephews, visiting the nativity display at the museum that my mom is in charge of every year, video chatting with jape in london (google added a nice touch allowing us all to be reindeer on christmas), and the neeley christmas eve progressive dinner and program in logan (one of my favorite traditions)

then it was back to vegas for more festivities and to meet the newest member of the family, maisy!!

weston doesn't look too excited about the huge gift he just helped nana and pop open.

playing with crazy uncle rich (although andrew looks like the crazy one in this picture)

precious maisy

we also had a very entertaining new years eve party...

the best christmas present came a few days after christmas. welcome to the world cedar!

okay, that's the update. it was a really really great month.

pretty

2011-12-06T18:28:00.001-08:00

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

volcano time

2011-11-30T21:08:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-30T20:41:00.001-08:00

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...

2011-11-19T22:01:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-15T17:32:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

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

2011-10-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

i really like this video...

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

okay, that's all. bye. :)

last month

2011-09-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-14T19:50:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-09-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

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

yum.

2011-08-26T19:40:00.001-07:00

sweet potato curly fries are a favorite around here. rich has perfected the curliness. ;)

beach day

2011-08-23T21:08:00.000-07:00

the best way to get our nephew carson to hold still for a picture is to bury him in the sand. :)

i wasn't as successful with catching his little brother hunter.
brooke and lindy are pro jumpers as you can see. this is how excited i was to spend an entire day outside (111 degree temps in vegas right now don't really allow that). yep, really excited!

i loved everything about our weekend in L.A. the beach, seeing lots of dolphins, boogie boarding, playing with our adorable nephews, catching up with family, getting pedicures with the girls and of course picking more grapefruits from diane's tree!

travel bug

2011-08-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

my friend liz posted this video on her blog and i love it! i had to share. rich has 3 weeks off right now and i really wish i could take work off the entire time to travel the world with stops to visit our family and friends all over the country and my brother in london! someday...

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

it's a good thing rich is happiest working away on projects in the garage while i'm at work. also, i do get to take a bit of time off so we can travel to see family in california, idaho and utah. can't wait!!!

update time

2011-08-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

here's some other stuff we did in july...

turned 26 (yep, both of us!)

i loved planning rich's birthday since i had a bit more planning energy this year (no wedding planning for the 4 months before). we had a little surprise birthday breakfast with friends, then took a motorcycle ride through red rock on rich's old seminary teacher's bike. rich was really excited about this, but will probably never want to go again because i made him drive so slow. i'm okay with that. then we went to dinner with rich's parents and i gave him a coupon to buy whatever tool he wanted for his bday(i can't keep them all straight). rich spoiled me two weeks later with a pinata (presents and goodies inside), chalkboard paint on our wall(something i always talked about doing), flowers, and a trip to max brenner's. max brenner's is one of my favorite nyc restaurants and they just opened one here! they gave me a nice little piece of chocolate (pictured below) for my bday. loved the presentation. as a health coach i said good job on smaller portions, as the birthday girl i ordered the s'more sundae. yum!

earned cub scout badges.rich is the greatest to come and help me.. especially when there's a machete involved. :) this is a pretty fun job i have to say. stay tuned for our webelo band!

celebrated 1 year!our anniversary was on a sunday, so after a busy morning of meetings, a musical number and a primary lesson rich surprised me with a sweet video of our first year. the next friday we went to a ben folds concert at the cosmopolitan downtown. it was an awesome concert and amazing venue!

worked on projects.can you guess which project is mine and which is rich's..hehe. rich finished his two projects (thank you mark for the awesome buggy!!). my chair on the other hand still looks about like this. i'll head back to the garage when the temps get back down to the 90's!

downed slurpees on 7/11.rich showed me his secret slurpee ingredient.

showed jape the town for the weekend!i guess you already saw that we rode bikes. we also showed him the strip, the new bridge and checked out the atomic testing museum. my favorite quote of the weekend from jape, "so this is really what it feels like to bake in an oven!" such a great weekend with my big brother!

so there you have it. july was pretty packed and really great. happy summer!

biking lessons

2011-08-02T20:40:00.001-07:00

my big brother j.paul came to visit this past weekend. we had to make sure he had a chance to try out all of rich's projects.
rich's projects are now approved by a royal college of art design graduate! :)

one year

2011-07-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

it's party weekend here in vegas! yesterday was rich's birthday and today is our 1 year anniversary! so i'm going to write a mushy post. okay? okay. :)

perfect day 7.10.10

i feel overwhelmed with gratitude to have rich as my husband! he's my own personal travel/adventure buddy, comedian, therapist, coach, back scratcher, builder, guitarist, dance partner and best friend!! we've had the best 1st year being married and i can't believe how fast it's gone by and how much my love for rich grows everyday. i'm so excited for our many adventures ahead and feel incredibly blessed and happy that i get to be with him forever!

i love you noni

the 4th at the ranch...

2011-07-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

hope you had a happy weekend!!!

backyard time

2011-06-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

we had a great weekend in L.A. for grandma hatch's birthday! diane fed us excellent food the entire weekend and we enjoyed hanging out with family in grandma's amazing backyard...

i feel so lucky to have married into such a wonderful family!

i also feel lucky that my fridge looked like this when we got home! we're down to one grapefruit so it's probably time to head back!

collecting hobbies

2011-06-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

many of you know that since i moved to vegas my allergies have gone crazy. i have to admit i've shed some tears as i've had to deal with this every single month. but i couldn't help but laugh on monday when i was at the excalibur show with my coworkers and i had a horrible allergy attack (we think it was the horses in the show). i can't go anywhere without being allergic to something! it reminded me of the movie "the brothers bloom." penelope collects hobbies. she tells them it's because she was allergic to everything growing up so she had to stay inside (they later found out she was actually allergic to the needles used during the test). ha. i wish that was the case for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7_f1zlkHwM

anyway, no more complaining about allergies. i'm off to learn how to juggle chainsaws and break dance. :) by the way, rich and i loved this movie and soundtrack!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05eArjS92oM

memorial day weekend

2011-06-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

rich gave me welding lessons. i was nervous but then really loved it and can't wait to work on some new projects. the possibilities are endless when you can sculpt metal!

we loved having aunt diane in town! we checked out the amazing new bridge and hoover dam, ate really yummy food, went to the movies and laughed lots.

we ate breakfast in our backyard. i couldn't wait to use our most recent thrift store finds- the white table and green rocking chair. also i should never buy nutella. it's all i've wanted to eat all week.

oh yeah, we watched some youtube 3-D videos with 3-D glasses. did you know you can do that? neat.

it was so fun to stick around vegas and just relax for the long weekend. we hope you had a great weekend too! it's almost friday again..wahoo!

home sweet home

2011-05-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

here are a few little projects we've finished around the house. many others are still in progress, so hopefully i can show you them before rich graduates in three years.

$5 chairs from the thrift store. i think they look pretty good after some sanding and a few coats of paint! new little table from ikea. thank you utah trip!

pot rack by rich. i love this and it frees up lots of space in our already limited cabinet space. i wanted something like this since we moved in and it was in place christmas morning! :)

this was also a christmas surprise for me. yep, i love twinkle lights.

nice sturdy $10 bookshelf for our little office. rich painted it black and it's as good as new!

our favorite thrift store find yet. we both love maps and wanted a map room, so this pull down school map was perfect! the only problem is that the state map it has is alaska and now rich wants to move there.

what i like most about these pics is that they each have things that remind me of friends and family (the 5 of you that read this blog). :) items you've given us over the years or your original artwork from our wedding reception. thanks for helping us make our first home so homey!

saturday night in vegas

2011-05-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

lone mountain hike.

exploration time

2011-05-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

we've tried to take full advantage of these weekends at the beginning of the semester when rich doesn't have to study too much. this weekend we took off to explore "little finland". rich discovered it while playing around on google earth one day (a favorite pastime for him). we were surprised we'd never heard of it since it's not too far away (southeast of mesquite)! i'm guessing because it's pretty remote and hard to get to, but polly pocket drove like a champ and what we found was well worth the 2 mph drive through the final wash and dirt road. i will be taking my dad here the next time he's in nevada so he can do these incredible and delicate rock formations justice. we didn't see a single person the entire time we were hiking around although we were surrounded by animals, muppets, and bug hotels...

sunset during our drive to camp

a little discovery at "whitney's pocket"
camped next to this sink hole, "devil's throat". luckily there was a fence around it and neither of us sleep walk!

our introduction to little finland

surfing

my nice table and chair

rich says it's a horse, i say it's a dragon

grouchy old muppet man?

bug hotels (my mom loves these)

sorry for the overload of pictures... we went a bit snap happy!

happy mother's day

2011-05-07T23:00:00.000-07:00

to our amazing mothers! We love you!!!

utah

2011-05-07T15:27:00.001-07:00

we took a road trip to utah last weekend to see friends and family, pick up our tandem bike (it's too beautiful in vegas right now to not be riding it around), make a run to ikea and eat some of our favorite food. we thought we would camp and do some hiking, but then realized it's still a bit snowy and cold there. thankfully we have generous friends and fam that let us crash on their floors each night. here are some pics.

with brooke at the byu MOA and a nice stack of books! we were also able to see the incredible Carl Bloch exhibt which was well worth the wait!

had lunch with annette and brooke at guru's in provo (forgot to get a pic with annette... we were too busy eating the yummiest sweet potato fries ever!).

citrus grill dinner with jackie, ryan, greg and bianca (and twin girls coming this summer)!! followed jackie and ryan home and slept on their awesome air mattress with jackie's amazing quilts.
saturday morning we had the best belgian waffles at bruges with the SLC girls. they were so nice to eat there with me even though there's only seating outside (it was freezing!). those waffles are so worth it.
next we took off to the ranch...

I took pictures,

while rich dug our bike out of the snow/ice.

drove back to provo through these beauties...

we met up with brett, beth, joe and jake for a fun day at the park.

performed some tricks. the tandem seems to be doing pretty well after a long winter...

this is rich's friend Joe. he just got back from his mission in italy. he still likes to have a companion...

saturday night we stayed with mandy, brian, jenny and mark. mandy made us the best cookies ever and mark showed rich his cool toys. we also got to see little brian and timmy. they are the cutest! sunday we drove home with tandem and new ikea furniture in tow. it was such a great weekend! how did we get so lucky to have such amazing friends and family?! we miss and love you all!

aloha

2011-04-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

okay, i think this is the final hawaii post. sorry for dragging it out, i just didn't want it to ever end. so besides cliff jumping, hanging out on sunset beach, chilling in hammocks and trying to take cool black and white pictures, here's what we did:

explored pearl harbor

showed the boys how to use these guns...

found pretty flowers

hiked really fast through these amazing trees (i could barely keep up because of my short legs compared to the rest of the group.. yep, that's my excuse).

spent a dollar on fish food to get some go-pro footage for our next documentary

hiked to the famous treehouse rich and nate built back in 2007 in the hills behind byu-hawaii. this was definitely a highlight of the trip for me- i've wanted to come here since rich told me about it when we first started dating.

thanked rich for being so crazy and hauling all the equipment up the mountain and begged him to be a dentist in hawaii so we can live here.

read lots and made lovely faces for the camera

drove all over the island with our awesome tour guide nate and d.j. ang

swam through and jumped off pretty little waterfalls

spent the day at my former workplace.. the polynesian cultural center

wore cool hats

found our dream dinner bell

still enjoyed the last day of rain and wind thanks to this pretty site

cried a little when we had to go back to real life

did some fun snorkeling that rich took videos of that i'll have to post at some point- so i guess i'm not done. haha. we also ate really great food- pb and j sandwiches by day and thai food, mexican in haliewa, shrimp at romie's shack on the side of the road (yummy but i don't want to see their eyeballs next time), delicious crepe place in kailua, duke's on waikiki, and vietnamese in a grocery store by night. well i think that's it. it was an amazing trip and we loved hanging out with nate and angie all week. thanks guys!

okay, back to real life. :)

my favorites

2011-04-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

rich and red mango. :)

break time

2011-04-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

rich finished finals on friday! wahoo! i'm so proud of him and all his hard work! he has a two week break before he starts summer semester. of course he has a long list of projects that he's really excited about, but instead he spent his first day off helping a friend with some major re-roofing and took a break to help me at cub scout day camp. i love him.

yep, he's pretty happy about being done with finals (and eating burritos)...
i'm happy we can spend our evenings like last night for the next two weeks... every night please!

saturday morning

2011-04-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

pictures found here

my saturday mornings have changed over the years. in junior high and high school they were spent dancing, college they were often spent doing long runs for half marathons or yoga if I wasn't training for a race. today i have a whole house to clean, so that's what i'll be doing and i'm good with that. :) every time i see pictures like this i'm blown away by what our bodies can do and the beauty they can create! i'm grateful to have a body that can dance, run and clean. i love that i have a job where i can help people take care of their bodies so they can feel healthy, strong and happy. okay that's all. i was just going to post these pretty pictures, but then i started rambling. have a happy saturday morning!

i like the desert

2011-04-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

we have lots of aloe plants in our front yard and they surprised us a few weeks ago with these beautiful orange blossoms. so after a little research, we now know they are actually aloe blue elf plants.

saw a little hummingbird outside our window enjoying the orange blossoms too. i'd like to thank whoever did the landscaping on our home. rocks, turf, aloe plants and palm trees.. turns out i think it looks pretty and is pretty easy to take care of too!

b & w hawaii

2011-04-07T21:40:00.001-07:00

hammock time

2011-04-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

after a busy day at work and a trip to the grocery store, i came home feeling overwhelmed and worn out. i wondered how i would possibly get everything accomplished that i needed to. luckily i have a husband that's really good at cheering me up. he set up the hammock in our backyard and it felt like we were back in hawaii! 20 minutes of reading and staring at the palm tree above me and i was rejuvenated and ready to attack every item on my to-do list. i always tell my clients to take time for themselves to relax and de-stress, but sometimes i forget to do those things myself. so i've hired rich as my health coach. i'm guessing his advice will usually involve hammocks, icecream and bike rides. i'll take it!

the backyard today...

hawaii a few weeks ago...

p.s. thank you nate and angie for the hammock!! it's our favorite piece of furniture!
UPDATE: rich just read this and said it sounds like he put me in time out in the backyard because i was grumpy. haha! he actually hung out in the hammock with me part of the time until he had to go back to studying. :) i probably did need a time out!

2011-04-01T21:06:00.001-07:00

my friends were in this horrible accident last saturday. my heart aches for them and their families.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=14935475

i'm so grateful for the gospel and the knowledge we have of the plan of salvation. i'm thankful that we have the opportunity to receive guidance and comfort this weekend from our inspired church leaders.

cliff jumping

2011-03-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

excellent form Nate!

best diving face ever

yes, i plug my nose the second i jumpnext step with this flip is the olympics ;) Waimea Bay.

lists...

2011-03-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

i love making lists. i make them often for just about everything. during college i made a list of 100 things i want to do in my life.

#35. kiss the love of my life during sunset at sunset beach in hawaii check! i felt pretty lucky to be back at my favorite beach last week with my favorite boy!

also, this guy joined us. :)this goal seemed impossible at the time i set it about 4 years ago. finding the love of my life wasn't working out so well at byu and i had just returned from byu hawaii and only dreamed of going back. here's to hoping some of my other seemingly impossible and silly goals happen someday! #66: do 10 pull ups by myself (i can't even do one at the moment), #24: beat my brother Matthew at Boggle #77 take a yoga class in India

parent's (party) weekend

2011-03-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

We had a great weekend with my parents and packed as much of Vegas in as we could! Friday night we ate at the Mirage buffet and then saw Cirque du Soleil's "Love" show... it was amazing! My first circus did not disappoint. Saturday we took off to Red Rock to enjoy the beautiful weather (I'm glad my parent's got to experience a few days of warmth since they've had a nasty winter since November in Idaho). We did the "cake lake" hike that has an awesome view of the city at the top. After the hike we met up for a yummy lunch with Rich's parents. Then we headed all the way to the other side of town to attend the Temple. We ended the night with a stop at the famous Las Vegas sign for a fun little photo shoot with my dad. I should have worn my wedding dress to fit in with all the other couples there taking pictures..haha. It was a fabulous weekend in fabulous Las Vegas! Thanks Mom and Dad!!

wintertime

2011-02-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

this year... last year...
very different, both very fun! :)

thank you valentine

2011-02-20T22:00:00.000-08:00

for my electric blanket. i'm so warm. :)

girl's weekend

2011-02-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

a few weekends ago Stef left the beautiful huntington beach to join me here in the vegas desert. it was such a fun weekend and I was so happy to have someone to hang out with while rich pulled an "all weekend-er" study session. our time was filled with lots of my favorite things: stef of course, dinner at Cardena's (the neighborhood mexican market), thrift store and outlet shopping, volleyball and a picnic with family, exploring red rock, sushi dinner, and lots of girl talk.
p.s. we maybe found some pretty awesome shoes at the salvation army and will now be switching them every time we see each other. yes, we are the sisterhood of the traveling shoes. wow, this was definitely a girl's weekend. hehe!

white coat time

2011-02-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

So I've always heard about the white coat ceremony, but never really knew what it was all about. It's a tradition in some medical professions for students to receive their white coats prior to working with patients. At UNLV, dental students start working in the clinic early in their studies, so that's why they had this ceremony so soon. Along with receiving their white coat, they sign and repeat a professional pledge that basically says they will have honesty and integrity in their profession and do everything in their knowledge and ability to serve their patients. It was extra special to have Dr. Raymond D. Rawson read the pledge. He's a Dentist, former State Senator, Stake President and Patriarch. Rich received his Patriarchal blessing from Dr. Rawson when he was first called as the Patriarch. Rich also worked as a gate guard in his neighborhood the summer before he left on his mission. They would often chat and one day Rich told him that he was going to buy a nice digital camera to take to Tonga. The next day Dr. Rawson showed up with a new camera, memory cards and a gift certificate to Best Buy, all for Rich. It was an honor to meet such an accomplished, generous and humble man. He's in the last picture with us.Way to go Rich!!! :)

saturday architecture exploring...

2011-02-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

we thought we'd check out these three cool buildings near the dental school. world market center, the cleveland clinic, and the county building. they are pretty amazing buildings with such unique architecture. it was a great way to enjoy the weather and play with the camera. :)

happy day

2011-02-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

7 months ago today I married the man of my dreams. time flies. love him more everyday.
p.s. i think that's the biggest smile i've ever had in my life. :)

car talk

2011-02-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

have you ever tried to sell a car that doesn't run? well, it's pretty tough! after many months of rich's hard work and negotiations, we finally said goodbye to the land rover.as much of a headache as this car has been, we were still sad to see it go. it took us on our first camping trip as newlyweds and a fun little off-roading excursion the day of our las vegas open house. inside there were dance parties in the back jump seats with niece emma and numerous rugs hauled back and forth as i tried to decorate our little home. rich even surprised me with an elliptical (cheap craig's list find) one day that he brought home in the land rover. he was learning lots as he kept up with the repairs pretty well and even put new tires and a lift on it. it was down hill from there and stopped running for good on rich's drive to school one day. if having a car that stopped working wasn't bad enough, our door was torn off in the process of getting it into the garage (my fault for distracting rich so he forgot to take the parking break off while winching it in. eek! have you ever seen a door fly though the air? it's really funny after you realize it didn't land on anyone).so since then we've been trying to sell it (and playing house in it of course).rich will miss it for all the off roading possibilities and yes, i will miss it for it's furniture hauling ability. all sentiments aside, it's a huge relief to have it out of the garage. it was definitely a love/hate relationship with rover. our sister-in-law angie said it best when she described it as the crazy girlfriend that looks good and is kinda fun, but you know the relationship just can't last! luckily we have 5 bikes to fill the void. :)

grapefruit

2011-01-30T13:52:00.000-08:00

today we ate the yummiest grapefruit! thanks rochelle! i told rich we didn't have a grapefruit spoon.. don't worry, he took care of it. ha.eat at your own risk...

took this pic for aubs and b, yes i'm wearing the 5 dollar hot pink fish sweatshirt from the vineyard. :)

chopped

2011-01-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

having some fun with the gopro camera and my long lost locks... yes, this is what we do on friday nights :)

goodbye hair down my back

hello ponytail not attached to my head! eek! had a good 10 inches so i'm sending it off to
locks of love.

i've spent the last two months working up the courage to do this...haha. funny how traumatic a silly little haircut can be, but i love how it turned out and so does rich, so we're all good. :)

a little advertisement

2011-01-24T22:02:00.000-08:00

please consider hotel richaria for your next vegas stay. services include (but are not limited to)...

hammock rides many forms of transportation...broken down car fort to play house in...field trips...

and concerts/dance parties...we've had so many people stay with us since we moved to Vegas and we've loved it! this weekend wasn't any different and we had a blast with our precious fam. come visit anytime!

this made me happy... happy weekend!

2011-01-21T20:04:00.000-08:00

recumbent

2011-01-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

project time

2011-01-09T20:25:00.001-08:00

since rich's school isn't too crazy the first week back he had some time this weekend to work on a little project. he's wanted to pursue this one for awhile now and when the thrift store down the street had tons of bikes come in during the holidays, he knew it was time. :) so these are the pictures of his 3rd homemade bike- the recumbent! it rides great and gets plenty of stares (just like the ellipti-bike). videos to come. :)

camp fire time

2011-01-06T21:17:00.001-08:00

wednesday night in the backyard. :)

hello 2011

2011-01-03T21:43:00.000-08:00

it snowed in Vegas today!! big, fluffy, beautiful white flakes!

pic from here

also, i found the perfect modern chairs for our kitchen for $5 at the thrift store down the street. i'll show you after i get them painted and fixed up.

then rich and i went to the art store to get my favorite moleskin planner. we watched this for family night, had trader joes pudding and flew his new remote control helicopter. now i'm planning meals for the week, writing down new year's goals, and listening to rich memorize head and neck anatomy.

i loved everything about today. happy new year!

staycation

2010-12-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

such a fun night out on the town! it really does feel like we're in a different city when we head downtown.

checking out the new City Center- i love the modern architecture

Rich trying out a marble bench (next project??)...

the largest chocolate fountain in the world... too bad it's behind glass!
all of us trying to look chic at The Cosmopolitan
pretty waterfall
(this is the first line of a haiku)

my favorite
i like

the giant chandelier at The Cosmopolitan (Angie and I like to hug our husbands..hehe)

after walking all over the strip, the walk to our room looked really long!

amazing view from our room!

thank you Shelley and Russ for such a fun Christmas gift!!

lately...

2010-12-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

we've been having way too much fun playing with our adorable nieces and nephews!!

december

2010-12-16T21:47:00.000-08:00

So, I want to tell you about my December. It's been different than most December's. Usually I'm doing something festive every other night (ugly sweater parties, driving around looking at lights, cookie eating, playing in the snow, etc). Probably doing more of those festive things than thinking about the true meaning of Christmas. Instead of having Christmas cheer every moment this month I found myself home sick for two weeks with a horrible cold, had my feelings hurt at my office and missed my husband since he's been studying day and night for finals. Because of this I've truly experienced what Christmas is all about- our Savior! Being sick I was overwhelmed by the selfless and meaningful acts of service from my sister Jess and Rich. Through my work situation I was able to feel the Atonement work (after Temple attendance and a lot of prayer) to take away feelings of anger and hurt and have them replaced with love. Well, and with Rich studying all the time I just felt so grateful to be blessed with such a hard working and amazing husband.

Of course I don't want to complain or have a pity party for myself. I know my tiny issues are nothing compared to what others are going through, but in their own small way they have taught me more about the Savior. I'm so grateful for His birth, life and atonement for each of us. He knows our joy and pain, no matter how big or small. He will take away our hurt as we go through hard times and make mistakes. I learn this more and more each day.

So with all that, don't you worry, there's still been plenty of Christmas cheer around here... decorating our tree and making random ornaments from things around our house, decorating the mantel, watching the Christmas devotional, reading Christmas stories, wrapping presents, and drinking hot chocolate with giant marshmallows (thank you Cardenas- our favorite Mexican grocery store).I'm looking forward to Rich taking his last final tomorrow, lots of holiday activities next week with the Cannons and then a week in Idaho with my fam!
I hope we can all remember our Savior and see His hand in our lives during this wonderful time of year!

tree time

2010-12-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

meet "the most perfect Christmas tree!"- sister jess (p.s. Jess has a new blog here- yessss!)

this is how happy i am...

2010-12-01T18:27:00.001-08:00

that my little sis and her husband are staying with us this week! :)

I'm thankful

2010-11-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend that included...

hitching a ride to Logan with Jackie and Ryan
eating mashed Idaho potatoes
being with family
laughing lots
video chatting with Jape in London
playing princess with my adorable nieces
seeing the pretty snow and driving safely through it
staying warm with an electric blanket
watching family and ballet recital home videos along with some other silly ones, see here and here
playing pool with my parents
watching Star Trek with Dad
Christmas stocking shopping with Mom
eating pumpkin squares
attending the musical "White Christmas" put on by the Playmill theatre in IF
running into Lynds, Cole and Lucy
staying in my pjs all day
feeling incredibly blessed to share all of this with my amazing husband! :)

*picture by my dad

cozy time

2010-11-20T21:36:00.000-08:00

i know this chair looks really silly, but i kind of still want it. i mean, it is the "most cozy lounge chair in the world".yes, i'm already cold in Vegas and i don't think it's gone below 45 degrees. uh oh. i guess that means i've adjusted to the heat, but i don't know if i'll survive utah and idaho next week. as long as i have this chair to nap in after my thanksgiving dinner i think i'll be good. hehe.

chair found here.

anyone want a ride?

2010-11-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

*please excuse my extremely amateur video editing, along with my uncontrollable laughter in the background (i always forget that i'm the closest to the mic!)

*dog sled built by rich

decorating time

2010-11-09T20:07:00.000-08:00

rich has been helping me decorate. his decorations are usually a surprise, like this one that I found during dinner tonight...
hehe. silly.

pumpkin time

2010-11-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

During October I enjoyed anything pumpkin I could get my hands on... great harvest pumpkin spice bread, dairy queen pumpkin pie blizzard, costco pumpkin pie, trader joe's pumpkin butter and if that wasn't enough I made my favorite pumpkin chocolate chip bread (recipe from Annette)... yum!
I also did a lot of decorating with pumpkins. Rich thought it was pretty funny (a little crazy) that I couldn't stop buying them (there were too many fun colors and varieties!)..haha.
So it was only fitting that we finish the month of October off with the "Pumpkin Chuckin'" festival in Moab. Yes, that's exactly what they do- chuck pumpkins! Jess works for the Youth Garden Project which puts on the festival every year. It was fun to see Jess in action (even with a sprained ankle) and meet many of her coworkers. We had a great time hanging out with Jess and Nick and of course who doesn't love watching pumpkins fly through the air?

the world record holder in pumpkin chuckin'!the food...mmm!
the belt buckle and cowboy attire...
the petting zoo...

today

2010-10-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

We headed to Red Rock for a little hike since the weather was perfect (I could get used to 75 everyday!). I was so excited to see some pretty fall colors since that's been something I've missed with moving to Vegas. We found lots of ponds and little waterfalls thanks to the past week of storms. There's even a foundation of a home called the Wilson Homestead at the mouth of the canyon along the trail. I wouldn't mind having this as my backyard, although I guess we are pretty spoiled to only be 20 minutes away! It was a fun hike and a great break from a busy week of school and work!

speaking of tarantulas...

2010-10-19T17:22:00.001-07:00

rich made friends with one back when he worked at outback.

weekend time.

2010-10-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

our friend's Beth and Brett came to visit from P-town for the weekend. we had lots of adventures with them.. but not exactly the adventures we had planned for.. our broken down car, flat tire on the borrowed car we took off roading, Beth and Brett's lost bag and car keys, early morning sunday drive back to valley of fire to retrieve recovered bag and keys... phew! anyway, we still had a blast and can't wait for their next visit!

flat tire on the Logandale trails to start off the day

so we took off to paved roads at Valley of Fire for some hiking... playing with sand my first encounter with a desert tarantulamore sand..haha cool mud and cool holes...B and B and petroglyphs

this little guy made my day (we made sure he made it across safely)

elephant rockpretty drive home

10.10.10...

2010-10-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

it's been the best 3 months!!!

hi and highs

2010-10-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

when I worked as a water ski instructor in Maine, we would finish our day off with highs and lows of the day. i loved doing this and rich and I have continued the tradition. so here are some random highs from the past week and weekend...

-reading The Art of Manliness blog to rich in the garage while he worked on the car (doesn't get much more manly than that!)
-going to bed the earliest we ever have in the past year (we were exhausted thanks to that cute party from my last post going until 2 am. thank you to the officer that showed up after numerous calls from us and other neighbors).

-putting these on and dancing around for my exercise one night.. hehe

-playing my violin along to the band Broken Bells and with Rich on the piano

-watching our Webelo compete in the rain gutter regatta

-meeting a neighbor (finally!)

-hitching a ride with Rich's parents to L.A to visit family and friends
-listening to conference and spending time with grandma hatch, aunt diane, kent, kristine, rick, shelley, russ and rich

-napping

-meeting up with Jenny and Ryan

-meeting up with Stef to walk along the beach, eat thai food, dip 'n dots and enjoy her awesome rooftop.
-walking to the L.A. river (i enjoyed the very different scenery than most rivers i've been to... graffiti, concrete and the knife (discarded piece of evidence?) rich found in the water)
-picking oranges from grandma's tree

-eating the delicious oranges and enjoying diane's wonderful cooking for numerous meals

-napping, reading, snacking, talking and back scratching all the way home to vegas

party time (next door)

2010-09-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

we haven't met any of our neighbors, maybe because it's been so hot and no one really goes outside. anyway, we're pretty sure our neighbors were out tonight.

we weren't invited but are able to still enjoy the music and lights. yes, the party is still going full blast as I'm typing this... we'll see if we get to sleep tonight. sweet dreams!

thank you lake powell..

2010-09-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

for the best clouds...

the best early morning ski runs...

go mom!

rich mastered the knee board!

wish I could do this every morning!

the best boat rides...

the best rock formations!

the best sail boat competitions...

and the best time with family and friends!

We had a great trip to lake powell to finish off the summer. I look forward to this trip every year and was so excited to bring Rich along! I think he maybe married me so he could come on this trip! ;) Anyway, it was amazing as always!

trampoline time

2010-09-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

speaking of the Vegas open house.. it was a lot of fun! fun to wear my dress again, fun to eat yummy food, fun to meet rich's Vegas people and fun to spend a beautiful evening outside. the best part was having my parents in town and a surprise appearance from these ladies! they even wore their purple dresses.. bridesmaid's until the end! love you B and Al!

pretty flower time

2010-09-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

I put together some little flower arrangements from a giant arrangement leftover from our Vegas open house. Flowers make me happy so hopefully some pics make you happy too. happy monday. ok bye.

1 year ago today..

2010-09-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

this guy took me on my best first date ever.. kayaking, painting the sunset and watching "jaws" out on the lake. i maybe had a big crush on him... still do. :)

metal time

2010-09-07T21:53:00.000-07:00

this summer Rich was a welder and built up a pretty good collection! road dog sled (above) for Jess and Nick's huskies, Haas and Rufus

ellipti-bike!
spoon man jewelry holder
tandem bike, which we rode all over this summer!
anyway, he had a lot of fun but decided to still become a dentist.3rd day of dental school picture..oops, I didn't get the 1st day..haha. 1st week counts, right? oh and do you like our palm tree? I do!

best birthday present ever..

2010-07-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

wedding day 7/10/10
Coronado honeymoon

..a husband!!! :)

lately...

2010-06-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

we've been playing rockband
biking, walking and rollerblading the Jordan River Trail
playing in Vegas
oh yeah, and planning a wedding!! :)

engagement pics?

2010-05-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

hmm.. maybe we don't need an engagement picture photo shoot? I think one of these might work. ;)

3 months from today...

2010-04-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

I get to marry this guy!!!That'll be a really really really good day! :)

new favorite cabin activities

2010-02-21T17:25:00.001-08:00

rewind

2010-02-06T16:40:00.000-08:00

well it's somehow already February, but I still wanted to tell you about January. i really liked it.
- accomplished goal of cooking one sit down meal per week
-learned to shoot a gun-went to a ballet class at Ballet West (it's been 3 years!!)
-watched Olympic ski jumpers in Park City-ate really really good chinese food
-went climbing and snowshoeing -taught yoga to a teen substance abuse group
-worked
-trained for the circus (in case our band doesn't work out)-made a list of 25 things i want to do before I turn 25 (july!!)

saturday in salt lake..

2010-01-31T00:40:00.001-08:00

cool cars in sosala
books
at the library
Dale Chihuly sculpture at the Symphony

... good day

new camera + worst air in the country = fun pics

2010-01-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

Cabin 2009 Photo Shoot

2009-12-31T22:08:00.000-08:00

thank you Stef and DI for these awesome snowsuits!

winter wonderland

2009-12-31T17:02:00.000-08:00

hope you're enjoying the snow!

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

2009-12-20T19:23:00.000-08:00

happy holidays!!

2009-12-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season so far! I'm enjoying our pretty tree! :)

I kicked off the holidays in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving with Rich and his fam. My first time in Vegas- it was a party!
out on the town enjoying the fountains!earlier that day we did some climbing in a very different part of Vegas- Red Rock.
Met my roommate Stef and Gretchen for lunch on their way moving Stef to Cali. Miss you Stef!

More downtown Hiking at Red Rock.. if you tell Rich to climb something.. he will, I need to keep that in mind next time I see a huge dead tree and joke about climbing it!Cool glass ceiling sculpture

Ice box hike
More Red Rock.. soo pretty!

2nd annual sub 4 santa 5k: pre-race photo shoot

2009-11-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

i heart nyc

2009-10-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

last weekend I got to catch up with my best friends and old coworkers, play tour guide for Rich and experience this amazing city all over again! it was sooo fun to be back!

i like..

2009-10-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

sunday afternoons with McCall and Mark!
click here to see why!

beautiful morning...

2009-09-17T07:48:00.001-07:00

More Moab

2009-08-07T17:54:00.001-07:00

It was a blast showing Krishna all over Utah, starting with Moab! We did it all- sunset hummer tour (thanks Nick!), delicate arch, climbing (thanks Jess!), river raft and kayak trip and Krishna's first camping experience. Our quote from the trip was "life is eazy" (in a french accent) which one of the french men on our river trip yelled as he floated down the river. That's the life in Moab! :) I'm headed down south again tomorrow, this time to Lake Powell with the fam- wahoo! Laters!

okay, let's start with the past week and a half...

2009-08-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

went boating with friends on Utah Lake

ran the Pioneer day 10k with Bianca (6am before work..fun fun!)

celebrated Jackie and Ryan's beautiful marriage with a dinner at Sundance

turned 24 and ate lots of carrot cake

took Krishna to have the Moab experience

wandered around the farmer's market downtown SLC this morning and enjoyed a gorgeous afternoon in Park City!

somewhere in between all of that I went to work and got bronchitis.. ugh! Besides that it's been amazing spending time with close friends and family!!

adventures..

2009-07-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

lots have been happening with family and friends during the past two months! i'll be back to blog about them soon. for now i'm headed to Moab with one of my fav east coaster's, Krishna. See ya!

rainy saturday

2009-06-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

early morning run at sugarhouse park with Stef

amazing beljian waffles downtown at Bruges for breakfast (thanks for the tip Jackie!)

great purchases at the farmers market at Pioneer park while wandering for hours

long nap

huge storm shaking the house while reading, snuggled up on the couch

blog

plans for the rest of the weekend... bake banana bread, fold laundry, plan a yummy dinner for tomorrow, talk to my family, make programs for church, enjoy, all while wishing i could hold this little guy and play with these little ladies again like last weekend!

great Saturday!

hello. this is a long post. here goes.

2009-05-13T22:05:00.001-07:00

here are some things that have made me very very happy the past few months...

talking to my mom on the phone. (picture taken of the sky over Coronado, CA)

making the finishing touches to my little space.

trying out the local diners.

getting the tour of Jess and Nick's new trailer.

making love sac sandwiches.

enjoying lunch with grandma fran.

and laughs with grandpa gary.

shopping for pretty white dresses for Jack w/ B.

sleeping over in Logan w/ Jess, Nick, Haas and Rufus.

our new version of freestyle walking.. freestyle sitting!

wearing 80's prom dresses and performing an snl skit at stef's golden birthday party

wearing sunglasses and playing with dolls

riding beach cruisers around Coronado

drinking an izze pomegranate soda at the burger lounge on Orange Avenue

hanging out with the ladies in the sun.

yep, very happy! :)