Dirty Dash to Vacation!

It's only the 17th of June and I feel like I have been so busy and have done so much. Unfortunately I feel like this summer is going to fly by. So we better enjoy it right?

**Disclaimer: If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you have most likely seen most of these pictures.**

June 2nd was a big day for me you guys....I ran (or should I say trudged? walked?) my first 5k! Kyle and I ran did the Dirty Dash! For those that don't know what that is, it's a 5k, but not your average 5k. There are obstacles such as rope ladders, walls to climb over and under, pipes to jump over, and tubes to shimmy through, but to complicate things a tad all of the obstacles are MUDDY!  It was a lot of fun! It wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be, besides the first 1/3 of a mile that was uphill (death).  There were so many people, that at all of the obstacles we ended up having to wait, so it gave us time to catch our breath.  Kyle was so great...he stayed at my pace and even helped me over some of the walls that were too tall for me to get over! 

So here is the before and after! We might have gotten a little dirty...

After the Dirty Dash I packed my bags and headed to the big apple!!!!

My great friend Amelia (one of my first roommates) invited me to go visit NYC, Boston, and Cape Cod with her.  Her mother's friend Claudia lives in Boston and also has a house in the Cape, so she agreed to be our amazing tour guide! It truly was such a dream come true! It has always been a dream of mine to go to NYC and it was everything I had hoped for! We did a lot of walking, picture taking, celeb searching, but mostly just soaking in all the NYC-ness! I cannot until I get to go back.

We only stayed one night...but lucky us we stayed in Times Square! This was our view from our room! 

Absolutely incredible.

I felt as if I was in a dream most of the time!

Amelia and I with Mickey. 

Who knew he would be in NYC?!

Getting on the subway! I felt like a true New Yorker for about 5 minutes! 

Getting gelato in SOHO.

If you know me, you know I loooooooove me some Betsey Johnson!! 

I am so sad she is going out of business... :(

I am so grateful for Claudia! She took such good care of us and treated Amelia and I to a Broadway show! 

WICKED!!!!

Although it was my third....yes third time seeing it...it was phenomenal!! Words cannot express how amazing it was. I got chills so many times, and I was almost brought to tears it was so good. I could see it a hundred times more and never get bored. It really is such a great show!

 After the show Amelia and I split a NYC hot dog! And boy was it good! 

Me in Times Square!

The next day we headed to the World Trade Center Memorial. It was truly breath-taking. It is so serene and peaceful. There is such a different feeling when you are there. My heart still aches for those who were lost, and those who lost loved ones on that horrible day. Being in NYC I had multiple moments where I thought about what it would have been like to be in the city on 9/11. To be apart of the chaos and sadness. I cannot even fathom what it would have been like.

My collage of the memorial.  Left: the soon to be memorial and Freedom tower. Top right: The North Tower Pool and names engraved around the pool.  Bottom right: Amelia and I.

The pools are so amazing. There are two symbolizing the two towers. Both have all of the names of people who died in the towers, and also who died at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. All of the names of those who were apart of fire departments, police squads, bomb squads, etc.  

After the 9/11 memorial we went and saw the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, 5 ave where all the ritzy shops and hotels are. While walking around the city, out of nowhere I saw this beauty! The Manhattan Temple! It was such a great feeling seeing a midst all of the hustle and bustle of the city, this beautiful house of the Lord! 

Well after only two day in the city we headed out to Cape Cod! After the craziness of the city it was nice to head out and relax for four days! We laid by the beach, went on bike rides, watched movies, and just relaxed! It was much needed and the best way to vacation.

Claudia's oh so cute house! 

Sunday we took the ferry over to Martha's Vineyard and enjoyed the day there! It is so cute there! The houses are adorable and the shops are so cute and quaint! 

Our last night in the Cape Claudia took us to Woods Hole for a nice farewell dinner! We then went to the cutest and nicest beach and enjoyed our last sunset in the Cape!  

I feel so lucky to have been able to take this trip. I am extremely grateful for my friendship with Amelia, and for Claudia's hospitality.  She was extremely generous for letting us come out and stay with her.  I cannot wait to go back hopefully sooner rather than later!

May Flowers and Family

May has been an exciting, busy, and fun filled month. It's been a great month and I'm excited to see what June brings!

Ethan played his last t-ball game! He was so excited to get his trophy!

Brynlee and Ethan wearing Papa's cowboy boots! So stinking cute!

Excuse the dazed and confused Brynlee....

Anyone enjoy the eclipse? 

Tony had the awesome idea to make this contraption so we could view the eclipse without burning our retinas! After poking various sizes of holes in the back of the box we were able to view the awesome eclipse on white paper we taped on the inside of the box.  I was a bit skeptical, but Tony is super smart and it worked like a charm! Such a cool thing our solar system!

I had my last date night with my girl Zandrea before she moves back to Idaho, and gets married in August.  We did our signature sushi date, and then watched the Bachelorette (anyone else obsessed with this show?! I can't help it.) I can't believe we have been friends for a little more than 3 years.  This girl has been with me through the best and worst! I sure do love her and am so stoked she is getting married, and I feel so lucky to be her maid of honor! Someone help me with my speech!!

I enjoyed some great food at Pei Wei with these cuties! 

And finally...

Memorial Day was a great end to a great month.

Tony and I started our day early by going to the Natural History Museum up by the U. It was really cool and there was a lot to see. We are thinking we want to take Ethan and Brynlee back, there is a lot for little kids to do and play with. 

My favorite part was the dinosaurs! I cannot even fathom these creatures roaming around. I can't decide if I'm lucky or if I missed out because they are extinct. 

We spend the rest of our day with my family.  We had a great BBQ.  Played some awesome (or pathetic) baseball. And then Tony and I played a little tennis...until our bodies decided they had had enough! And then Tony was lucky enough to watch tonight's episode of the Bachelorette with my parents and I! Isn't he so great!? 

I'm looking forward to this summer, and all the fun things it brings. 

Don't worry...I go to New York City and Boston in ONE WEEK! I cannot wait!!! It is going to be amazing! Truly a dream come true (I'm lame I know)!!

Huddle Up!

I'm a slacker I know!

But don't worry I have a lot to catch up on but I don't want to bore you, so I will break it up into a couple different posts! 

A couple weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to go to Orlando for "work".  Every year SportClips has a national convention/conference for management, owners, coaches, etc. and my owner decided to take me! It was such a great opportunity, and I really am grateful to have had the chance to go and learn what I did.

We decided ahead of time that we wanted to have a little fun while we were out there so we went out a couple days early to go to Universal Studios! It was so fun, and although I am not a Harry Potter fanatic, I was super stoked to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! 

I cannot lie, the Harry Potter part was SO SO cool! It was so well done and designed that I truly felt like I had gotten on the Hogwarts Express and headed to Hogwarts! SO COOL!   

This was best view of "Hogwarts" I could get without a billion other tourists in my picture.

Well after we enjoyed a little time to relax and catch up on my tan (pretty sure I got enough sun to last a while).  We had to get down to business.  The first night of "The Huddle", (fitting right?!) we had a vendor show.  It basically was a chance to talk to all the companies we work closely with...and a chance to buy stuff for work.

I bought myself a couple work shirts, and got to admire this beauty! Such a cool motorcycle and it was personalized for SportClips!

"Where it's good to be a guy!"

The next two days we had guest speakers who talked about being better managers and becoming more successful! The last day we had an amazing speaker, Robert Cromeans.  He works for Paul Mitchell, as their artistic director.  He is very eccentric, somewhat odd, but extremely inspiring.  It was really cool for him to speak to us because he is a stylist himself.  He knows about the business and he knows how to be successful (obvioiusly!!).  He came in knowing and had researched about SportClips.  He knew how we ran our business, what our business was all about, and how we work! It was so cool! He made me really proud to be a hairstylist! 

The last night we had a banquet with amazing food!! 

Steak and Chicken! 

There was also an awards ceremony for the stores that had the best #'s, brought in the most clients, made the most money, etc.  Unfortunately our Utah stores haven't reached award status yet...Soooo  EVERYONE TAKE YOUR HUSBANDS, BROTHERS, MALE COUSINS, NEIGHBORS, WHOEVER...TO YOUR NEAREST SPORTCLIPS! You will not regret it...I PROMISE!

Anyway.

We all got dressed up, (some more than others...you would have thought it was prom) and enjoyed a nice night. 

This was our little group by our awesome pool! My owner and I, the owner and manager of the Lindon store, and the manager of the Bountiful store!

You would have thought we planned out our outfits because we all matched. It was cute! 

Unfortunately this rose wasn't from Tony. Our area developer gave all of us roses at the banquet! 

I had a great time in Florida and was excited to get back to work and implement some of the amazing things I learned while at "The Huddle".

Stay tuned....more to come!

Face Time and Game Time!

Good news all, Tony is back! Those two weeks were the longest two weeks of my life I think, but don't worry, I made it! We got to talk two times a day while he was in Armenia and we talked at least once a day while he was in London and Paris. Every time I got a text from him I was so excited, and being able to Face Time with him made it more bearable to have him gone for two weeks. So while Tony was away this is how I got my Tony fix...

Don't we both look so happy!? :)

Well tonight was such a fun night! My nephew has started playing t-ball! Mind you he is 3 1/2 haha. And tonight he had his first official game! Watching 3 1/2 year old kids play t-ball is the cheapest form of entertainment. Seriously! They were so funny! They had no idea what was going on, and half the time they had no idea where to run. It was AWESOME! And apparently Ethan really likes Tony, because he asked my sister multiple times yesterday if Tony was going to be coming to his game.  So Tony being the good sport he is, came to the game with us. Ethan did such a good job for never playing t-ball in his life! It was so fun to watch him! He is growing up so fast! 

I just love that boy! 

And I love this boy! 

Happy Birthday!

Tony celebrated his birthday on the 18th so we decided, since it was spring break, we would head down to Viva Las Vegas to celebrate his birthday and spend some time with his brother! 

For some reason the drive down seemed longer than it usually does so by the time we got to Ryan's (Tony's Brother) house we were pretty tired...and it was about 12:30am.  

The next morning his niece April who is in first grade was getting an award at their honors assemble so Tony and I decided we would go see her! Ryan and his wife Monica both had to work so we thought we should go and cheer April on! Tony is so cute, when April walked in he lit up and was waving and trying to get her attention and then when she was given her award he cheered so loud and waved again! She looked so cute up there and I think she thought it was really cool that her uncle Tony had come to see her! 

That night Tony and I decided instead of going out to dinner we would make dinner for everyone! It was fun to go shopping for all the ingredients at Tony's new found love Winco! So we made spaghetti and garlic bread! It was a lot of fun and I think (or I hope) everyone enjoyed it!

We didn't spend really any time on the "strip" this time, except Saturday Tony took me to the Rain Forest Cafe at the MGM! That place is always so fun, there is so much to look at! I wanted so badly to have them sing "Happy Birthday" to Tony so we could get their "Volcano Sundae" but he did NOT want anything to do with that! So I refrained from embarrassing him! 

And I can't go to Rain Forest Cafe without taking some fun pictures with the fun hats! 

After our lunch we decided to head to Town Square (a shopping center, down past the strip).  They have an Apple store there and Tony so desperately wanted to go look at the new iPad.  So we parked the car and began to shop around! Tony had been wanting to get some new sunglasses so we started at the Sunglass Hut where he bought himself some great looking Ray Bans! We then went to Apple so he could admire the new iPad...where eventually he decided we should leave the store before he broke the bank and bought one! :) We then went to H&M <3 where I bought these cute shoes, a skirt, and a couple shirts! Oh and I can't forget socks I bought for Tony! 

We then headed to the candy shop to buy us some sweet treats!

After shopping we headed back to the house and had a birthday dinner, tres leches cake, and played cards with the family!  It was a lot of fun spending some time with them, and getting to know them a little bit better! 

Sunday we all went out for our last meal together at IHOP, and said our goodbyes! It really was so fun spending time with Tony's family! They are so fun and so generous for letting us stay! I look forward to hopefully seeing them sometime soon! 

The weekend was so nice! It was fairly good weather minus Saturday.  And sadly we ventured back to Utah only to find this....

Luckily we didn't get stuck in bad weather until we got to Orem.  

Well sad news guys....Tony has left me to go to Europe for TWO WEEKS!  His work has a design team in Armenia so he is spending a week there.  His flight has a stop in Paris on the way back, so he decided to take a week off of work take a train to London for a couple days and then spend a couple days in Paris as well.  He left Friday afternoon, so Thursday we spent our night just hanging out.  We had dinner with my family, went for a walk, got frozen yogurt, and then said our goodbyes! In between dinner and our walk Brynlee insisted on having Tony read a book with her.  So the two of them plopped on the floor and read a book! How cute are they?! I couldn't help but take a picture! 

Tony has only been gone for three days and it feels like forever! These two weeks are going to take FOREVER!!! Luckily I do get to talk to him twice a day...in the afternoon (when he's headed to bed), and before I go to bed (when he is headed to work).  Its so weird being on opposite schedules.  He tells me goodnight when I am wide awake and only halfway through my day! I cannot wait until he gets home April 6th! That will be such a great day! 

11 DAYS AND COUNTING!

Wish me luck!

Adventures at the Carwash

I know it has been a while since I last posted...but life is just busy, ya know!? Well tonight I had a really great night and though I would share it! (Don't get too excited...it may not be as cool as I thought it was!)

For about the last week or so Tony has been craving nachos.  Random, I know! (And it's not like we couldn't make nachos ourselves.) So we decided that tonight we would find somewhere and go get nachos! All day I had been looking up different mexican restaurant in search of the perfect nacho.  No luck really. So I asked my all knowing mother if she knew of any good places to get nachos....she suggested "Salsa Leedos" in Riverton/Herriman (not sure where it technically is).  So Tony and I decided to go there.  

Well when we got there it was packed.  Which I take as a good sign! So we waited about twenty minutes, and it was probably worth the wait, but I still haven't decided.  The nachos were pretty good.  Were they better than nachos we could have made at home? Eh, probably not, but they were still really good! 

So after indulging in a giant plate of nachos we decided to finally take my car to get washed.  Since the last couple snow storms my poor "Blue Streaker" has no longer been blue...it has been more of a dirty blue/white/grey because of the nasty-ness the water/sand/salt created.  I've been putting it off because I didn't want to spend the money on a wash if it was just going to snow again. And since it has been fabulous weather these last couple days I figured it was time.  "Isn't it about time?" Name the commercial!? 

I decided to just go to the local "Shell" gas station because that's where I had been before. We pull up and there is the smallest sign that says "Cash and Card machine out of service.  Please see attendant for assistance." Well clearly we were too lazy to go inside so we decided we would just go across the street. Thinking it would be faster. But apparently everyone and their dog and the same idea as we did because we were about 5th in line for the car wash.  So after about twenty minutes we finally get up to the car wash, I'm pulling up and there is a sign saying "Doesn't accept cash" Serious!? And there is no credit card machine, so what were we suppose to do? It just kept asking for a code. So at this point I am just laughing and Tony suggests "just back up"....well there was someone behind us...so I couldn't just back up.  So feeling like an idiot Tony gets out and waves to the girl behind us to back up to let us out.  So we filled my car up with gas so we could pay for a car wash and get a "code".  Well, we once again pull up to the car wash behind this man in a blue car, and I notice him get out of his car when he gets up to the machine...(realizing he was probably going to experience the same sort or madness that we had.)  So I'm just watching as he pushed the "push for assistance" button...and then proceeds to get out of his car and walk into the actual car wash where another car is preparing for a nice wash.  

At this moment I'm like "What is this man doing? You can't just walk into the car wash...." as this is happening we see an attendant from the gas station running toward the car wash like something horrible was going on...which was no surprise seeing that a man had just strolled into the car wash.  As the attendant walks up, the man inside the car wash starts walking out, and the car wash door starts to come down.  You know that moment in titanic when the boat is starting to fill up with water and you see the men in the boiler room running around trying to get to the water tight doors...and there is the one man who (as it goes into slow motion) barely makes it under the door before it crushes him? You know that feeling in your stomach you get every single time you see that? As I'm watching this man run towards the closing car wash door I had that same feeling in my stomach. I felt like I was watching some action film....but at a car wash...in Riverton...on a Friday night. Fortunately for the man he made it out alive...barely...the door did hit him on its way down....sadly. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing! Tony and I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness that was going on at the car wash of all places.  I just kept saying "what is happening?"...it was unreal.  

Well after attempting twice to get my car wash, getting gasoline, watching the man escape the car wash, and waiting some more, it was finally our turn to enter the car wash.  From that point on it was a typical car wash experience, with the colorful soap and the slight anxiety that one of my windows isn't all the way rolled up and the inside of my car is also going to get washed.  I forced Tony to take some pictures while we were waiting....as you will see he wasn't quite thrilled with the idea...it took a couple tries.  But in the end I did get  proof that we can be cute and normal...kinda! 

It may seem quite lame...but tonight was a really good night! Lots of laughs and good memories.  Who knew getting your car washed with your boyfriend on a Friday night could be so fun!?