Olympic Trials 2010

Last Saturday night I headed up to Park City with Lisa and Nick for a night out on the town. We first had dinner at Davanza's. The best pizza place in Park City, it's basically tradition to eat there whenever we are in PC. After the delicious student special, which consists of a HUGE slice of pizza some fries and unlimited soda, we were ready to hit up the main event.

The main event being ... the 2010 Olympic trials for mens and womens boarding half pipe, it was soooo cool. There was a ginormous crowd which made for a fun atmosphere, pretty sure there was an ongoing snowball fight throughout the entire night, I thought it was hilarious. Also we were all standing on the most slippery snow that ever was, it was funny to watch people try and make it up and down without falling, a lot of people just gave in and slid all the way down. Watching these boarders tear it up in the half pipe was amazing they flew so high above the pipe it was mind boggling. They were all so good and busted out some nice moves. I will admit it was hard to take pictures of them, we had to stand pretty far away and they were moving so fast! but as always I did attempt to document in a way its kinda cool cause from the angle I was shooting from you can kinda see how high they get, but of course it doesn't do them any real justice.

Sean White was the last rider, his last run was just a victory lap because, of course, he had already won first place. He was amazing to see in person, he got twice as high as any other rider on his first trick. He did spend half of his run giving high fives to the lucky front row spectators, so it would have been fun to see his first two rides that earned him first place, but I will take whatever I can get. If you click on the pictures and make them big you can see his nappy red hair, proof that it is honestly, really him.

The fun doesn't stop there, after the competition, 30 Seconds to Mars put on a free concert! It was awesome. Of course it was still snowing and freezing, but when you are jumping up and down with hundreds of fellow concert goers you don't get as frozen as when you are just standing still watching people snowboard ... They put on a really good concert and sounded fabulous live. I loved the main singers outfit, his little knitted beanie with skulls and cross bones ... so hard core ...

A Surprise Carnival

This year for Reece's birthday Bethy threw him a surprise party, 4th surprise party in a row, she throws him one every year I find it kind of funny. This years theme was a fun filled and fancy free carnival. We had fried chicken with rolls combined with fruit and vegetable platters. There were lots of fun drinks to choose from such as refreshing lemonaid or a classic coke, which is one of Reece's favorite beverages.

For dessert we had hamburgers and fries, well it at least LOOKED like hamburgers and fries. They were cupcake buns, with brownie patties and condiments made out of colored frosting. The fries were made out of sugar cookies cut into strips. Constructing these were my project, I spent the entire day before making these, as well as the containers they are in (we got the pattern off the internet) they sure turned out cute and were a total hit with the guests.

Since the whole party couldn't be an absolute surprise since it was being held at Reece's house and preparations needed to be made Bethy wanted there to be at least one thing that was a total surprise. Being the super creative and imaginative person that she is she came up with this idea, construct a family band and sing him one of his favorite songs. So she recuited Jenny to be the pianist, dad to be the violinist, me to be on the keyboard and Mike to be on the drums, she figured since he was so good at rock band that he would be able to figure out a good beat on a real set of drums, Bethy and her next door neighbor were on vocals. We had two band practices before the big day, Jenny did a great job at picking out everyone's parts just by listening to the song over and over. On the night of the party Bethy rented out lots of special sound and band equipment to make us sound awesome. The song the we performed was My Only Offer by Mates of State. It turned out pretty well, definitely sounded like a family band that had only practiced twice ... but it was still fun, Reece was definitely surprised!

One of the activties that Bethy had set up for the guests was a photo booth that she had created on her computer. It was sooo much fun, and it was connected to the printer so you got your pictures instantly, just like a real photo booth! Everyone had so much fun coming up with fun and creative photos to take.

Mike refused to actually sit down and take pictures with us, but at the last minute he would jump in the back and do something amusing.

Once in a Life Time

This past year my family had the wonderful privilege of attending the open houses for the two brand new temples that were built in Utah, the Draper and Oquirrh Mountain temples. What a wonderful experience! Temple open houses are such a special and uplifting experience it was such a blessing to be able to attend two in one year

The Draper temple open house was from January to March 2009, the day we went there happened to be a ginormous snowstorm and it was absolutely freezing! In a way it made the whole experience somewhat more meaningful. It was truly a wonderful feeling to see the temple, steadfast and immovable amidst the encircling winds of the storm. And the transition from the unruly, wild whirlwind we trudged through to get to the warm, quiet and peaceful interior of the temple really emphasized the true purpose and character of the temple. A place to escape the temptations and hardships of the world, a place to feel the Savior's love for each of us, the holy house of the Lord.

Bethy, being the determined photographer that she is, was the only one willing to pose for pictures in the snow.

The Oquirrh Mountain temple was dedicated in August. The day we attended it's open house the weather was absolutely perfect. It was warm, the sun was shining brightly and the sky was a splendid azure blue, the perfect backdrop for the brilliant and stunning temple. They had white tents set up in the parking lot where we would view a video about temples before walking through the gorgeous rooms of the temple. Afterward, both temple open houses had a visitors center where you could find more information about all the temples around the world, as well as some delightful, light refreshments.

I am thankful that I had the incredible experience of attending these temple open houses with my family who I love dearly and who, through the temple, will forever be my family and will always be with me even after we pass through the veil. I am so grateful for temples and their wonderful purpose and the peace that comes through temple attendance. After seeing the beauty and feeling the serenity of the sealing rooms, I am even more excited to be married and sealed in the temple to my future husband and family. I feel greatly blessed to live in an area that has so many temples just minutes away from my home. They are beautiful buildings as well as inspiring beacons.