My attempt of photographing Rio

We don't have a very good camera so his colors look washed out...I tried both with and without flash. But here he is being cute and climbing in our centerpiece. :)

Notice the bright royal blue just above his tail in this next one. He is that color all underneath and in his wings!

He loves hanging upside down

4 Things I love right now...

1. The Utah Arts Festival...and these fun hats Jenn and I got there!

2.Fourth of July Festivities! Poolside time, barbeque, and fireworks!

3.Quality time with Mitch and quality couple pictures...

4. Rio playing in my hair (he loves it!)

Recently we had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas for Nathan's Graduation. It was great to see my family and great to spend lots of time in the hot weather by the pool.

I am so proud of Nathan. He is the youngest of the siblings and I can't believe he has already graduated high school. He also just received his mission call and will be going to the Tallahassee Florida mission on Nov. 2nd.

What better way to celebrate this event and change in his life than to jump off a building???

Mitch and Nathan jumped off the Stratosphere while we were there and they had a blast! Mitch had a camera attached to his wrist so it recorded the whole thing.

Here are some pics of the trip:

All geared up for the jump!

The camera

Nathan getting strapped into the harness

108 stories...855 feet

The tallest Sky jump in the world!

So proud of him!

This is how we found "Nahan" in the crowd...its his nickname

Happy Graduation Nathan!

Rio

Our new "baby boy" is almost weaned and eating his solid foods well. He will most likely be ready to come home with us this Saturday! We decided on "Rio" for the name, it sounds cute and bird-like, and it is meaningful to us because Mitch served his mission in Brazil.
Also, I found out his HatchDay was about 10 weeks ago on St. Patrick's day! Totally awesome, since that is Mitch's favorite holiday, and meaningful to us and our relationship. If you are curious why, read this post.

Here is an updated picture they sent me...He is just the cutest little thing! I have been so excited for him to come home!

Happy Birthday Mitch!

This post is a little late, but Mitch turned 25 on May 11th!
We celebrated the Saturday after his Birthday by spending the whole day together and having tons of fun. First we slept in and laid in bed as long as we wanted, because that doesn't get to happen that often! Then that afternoon we drove all the way to Ogden because Mitch wanted to check out the funcenter there, called Toads. He had heard great things about their mini golf!

It was lots of fun! We played arcade games, Played Laser tag (it was my first time!), and also mini golfed. Their mini golfing was great. They had 2 different courses outside and one course inside. We golfed a total of 54 holes!

Indoor Golf course

Outdoor golf course

That night, we met up with his family at Trolley Square and ate at Rodizio. (Mitch's choice!) It was delicious!

Mitch was stoked to get Guarana...

That Sunday, we had cake, icecream, and present's at Mitch's parents house. I had the idea this year of a "Reeses" cake. It ended up being a big hit! Mitch named it the "Oh my gosh!" cake, because everyone who sees it says "Oh my gosh!" It was chocolate cake with Peanut Butter cream filling, chocolate and peanut butter frosting over the top, and then it had Reeses peanut butter chunks on top. My mouth waters just thinking about it...it was divine!

All in all, it was a great week! I am so blessed to have Mitch as my Hubby. Not only is he a Hunk on the outside, but he is even more wonderful on the inside! He is completely selfless and is always so positive! He is tons of fun and he is always such a sweetheart to me. I really don't deserve the perfect guy, but for some reason I have him! :-)

I have learned to cherish every little moment we get to spend together, because with work and school we don't have a lot of time. I am so thankful we have chosen to wait longer to have kids, because I still don't feel like I get enough alone time with him. We are enjoying eachother while we can in this stage of our lives. I love you Mitch!






On a random side note...

These are the Yellow shoes I wore for Kimmy's wedding...and I absolutly love them! (The pic looks weird becasue I had my legs crossed)

I have found that these are similar to red shoes...because I can wear them with almost anything!! This particular brand I got is super comfy...they don't make my feet hurt like most heels do after all day! I could run in them! (I won't attempt this, but that is just how comfy they are! They were worth every penny!)

Kimmy's Wedding

Saturday was the big day, Kimmy's wedding! It was a very great day...75 degrees and sunny! The next day it was cold and rainy and it has been so ever since! She got lucky!

The night before our family and Eric's family met at Olive Garden and had dinner together.

She got married at the Timpanogous Temple and that of course was a really great experience. Her luncheon was at The Gathering Place in Gardener Village and it was amazing. It was very elegant and the food was good. I had to give a speech (toast) and I was crazy nervous but ended up doing ok. Eric also sang to her there and played the piano. It was very romantic. Her reception was at the Old Meeting House in Holladay. The decorations were so pretty and there was an endless buffet of different kinds of cheese cake and fruit! (What more could you ask for?) Her colors were Yellow and Grey. So, that means I got to wear yellow shoes!

I didn't take many pictures, I just let the photographer get them and I may post some once Kimmy gets them. For now, here is a picture of the Bride and Groom at their luncheon, with her beautiful bouquet on display.

Mitch and I just went through this a year and a half ago, but it was nice to experience it from a different perspective. Romance was in the air and Mitch and I reminisced about our own wedding experience.

It was also amazing how much of a bonding experience it was for our whole family. Even with Jeremy gone, big family events like this just tie the whole family together. I am so thankful to be a part of such a wonderful family.

Sunday on Mother's day, we got to talk to Jeremy! He is doing great, and it was good to physically talk to him. It makes me miss him more but makes me so proud of him at the same time.

Nathan submits his own mission papers in less than a month! I am so proud of Nathan as well and what a great young man he has become!

My family rocks!!

Announcing a new addition to our family...

For the past little while, Mitch and I have been wanting a dog (especially me, since I get lonely while he is at work so much and so late). It has been especially more tempting lately since summer is coming and I will not be in school. This means more time to train and take care of the puppy! After spending multiple days on KSL for hours looking at puppies, reality set in and we realized there are multiple problems and complications with getting a puppy right now.
The first one: Having to pay a pet deposit and pet rent every month to our apartment complex. Second: If we ever have to move into a different apartment due to school, it's more complicated to find a place that allows pets.
And lastly: Fall semester will inevitably come, and I will be back to hard core school and less hours at home. Next comes nursing school, which will be even worse. We live in a 2 bedroom apartment and I can't bare the idea of leaving a dog couped up all day long while we are both not home. We don't even have a yard that he can run around in while we are gone. It just seems too cruel.

Then, the idea hit me! What about getting a bird? I have always been a bird lover. I had 3 cockatiels in high school (which is a great bird for first time bird owners) and I loved them. I decided I wanted a more advanced and exotic bird. I started searching different types of bird, and found the perfect one for my situation...drum roll please....

A parrotlet! (means "little parrot")

These guys are the worlds smallest parrots, (about 4 to 5 inches long) but they are incredibly brilliant, playful, energetic, and capable of learning to say a few phrases! They are great companions and want attention while you are home, but while you are gone they are content to play with their toys in their cage. (as long as you let them out and give them attention when you return). They are also perfect for apartment life, because unlike most other tame birds they have a very quiet chirp and they are unable to "scream". (other birds screech really loud when they want attention or when they are left alone). So after talking about it we decided it would be fun to get a little baby parrotlet of our own.

The breeder we bought our baby boy from hand feeds them and handles them daily, so the birds are really tame and like people. Our little baby is being weaned right now, and will be old enough for me to take him home in 4 weeks! I am so excited and we have already started buying his toys and cage supplies.

Here is how little parrotlets are:

Here is how tame the breeders have made them:

And here is my exact little baby bird! He is a turquoise pacific parrotlet. Beautiful, isn't he?

I was going to wait until I officially brought him home to post about it, but I just couldn't wait! We are still contemplating about what to name him and have narrowed it down to a handful of names: Frodo, Jerry (after J. sloan), Tiki, Rio, or chewie. What do you think??