The Washington Monument

The view of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.



Don't you just love photo opportunities like these?

The White House

Here's Codey (standing) and Chris (sitting) in front of The White House. It was so cold that day.

Vietnam Memorial

Here's Codey and Chris in front of the Vietnam Memorial. We'd previously seen the traveling version of the memorial, but that is only 1/3 the size of the real one. It has a real impact when you see how big it is and just how many names are listed on it.

The Metro

Here we are, waiting for the Metro to take us to the airport from our hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. It's such a different culture than what we're used to, using public transportation for everything. This was Codey's first experience with a big-city subway system.

Lincoln Memorial

It was so much fun to show Codey all of the monuments and memorials around Washington D.C. Here he is with Chris at the Lincoln Memorial.



And here they are reading the text of Lincoln's famous speech.

Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes

While we were visiting one of the Smithsonian Museums we bumped into Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes signing autographs for his new book. As a fan of Ace of Cakes, I gladly handed over my credit card to purchase a $35 book to have Duff sign. It was a great, unexpected surprise!



Duff was really friendly, and I actually got him to laugh. And if you're a fan of the show, you know that deep laugh that he is famous for.

Ben's Chili Bowl

Chris and I had seen Adam Richman visit Ben's Chili Bowl on one of our favorite T.V. shows: Man V. Food. So, we when found out we were going to be visiting D.C., we decided we needed to make a trek to Ben's Chili Bowl. The lines were long and there were no open seats so clearly, it's a popular place!



Ben's Chili Bowl also made national news when Barack Obama visited. They have marked the booth where Obama sat with a VERY LARGE photo of him. And that little framed photo below the one of Obama? That's Hilary Clinton. I wonder if they meant to make a political statement with the sizes of the two photos?



Codey tried really hard to avoid having his picture taken, but no such luck!



Chris and Codey ordered the half smoke, also known as Bill Cosby's personal favorite.

National Christmas Tree 2009

Codey, Shawna, and Chris in front of the National Christmas Tree (taken with an iPhone, forgive the photo quality).



The tree all lit up at night. Last year, it didn't have the red ornaments, so that was a nice, colorful addition to the tree.

In 'n Out Burger

I know I'm not the only one who's excited that there are now two In 'n Out Burgers in Northern Utah, right?

We Tried to Prank the Mom

This is a picture of Tyler that I took with my camera phone and sent to his mom. Apparently some girl drew a tattoo on his leg at a party and we were trying to get Colette to think he'd really gotten a tattoo. It would have worked if only the quality of the picture being sent from one phone to another had been better. She couldn't really see what it was. Oh well, we tried.....and had fun trying.

Tyler as a Soccer Coach

This year, Tyler served as an assistant coach for a youth soccer team in St. George. This is their group photo after they won the championship game.



And this young man (the one standing up and gesturing toward Tyler) just cracked me up. This photo was taken during halftime and Tyler had been talking to the boys and drawing little diagrams on his green dry-erase board when this kid stood up and excitedly announced he had a great idea. I can't remember his exact words, but it was something like, "I've got an idea, let's kick the ball in the goal!" It was so cute and Tyler responded perfectly by saying, "What a great idea!" I'm sure he was thinking the same thing I was about the comment but he didn't let on.

Birthday Trip to Lake Las Vegas

For my birthday this year, we took a trip to Lake Las Vegas. It is between Las Vegas and Hoover Dam and it was so beautiful.

These first two photos are of the view from my balcony.





This is a picture of the room we stayed in. It was such a beautiful hotel and I'd recommend it to anyone. Everywhere we went at the resort smelled good (I really prefer that to the smell of cigarette smoke in the Vegas hotel/casinos). And it's so close to Vegas, you can easily just drive there for some fun.

My Favorite Photo from Yellowstone

We were walking down this sidewalk to go get breakfast one morning when we saw a bison walk right in front of us. We thought it was so cool that he (or she?) was right in front of the bison crossing sign. That's me in the black shirt, behind the bison, standing with my cousins Geoff, Carson and Jackson. Chris and my cousin Vanessa were on the other side, catching the action on film.

I later learned from Vanessa that Chris told her to just get the picture and he'd tell her if she needed to run. We caused such a scene squealing with delight that we scared a lady and she ran away. We were only making so much noise and yelling to each other because we didn't want to miss the photo but she must have thought there was real danger. Good times.

Hairstyles, part 2

Another hairstyle by my cousin Jackson. He does a pretty good job.



This is Jackson using my hair to make a mustache. Very creative! We had a fun weekend in Yellowstone with the Liesiks.

Award for Most Creative Vehicle

We followed this homemade vehicle for miles through Yellowstone park. We especially enjoyed watching all the construction workers and drivers of oncoming vehicles do double takes as it passed them. It certainly kept us entertained as we drove through all that construction.

Old Faithful

So I guess I thought Old Faithful would be more spectacular than it was, maybe something like the Bellagio fountains, I guess. Oh well, I guess I can mark it off my to-do list.

Old Faithful Inn

We stayed at Old Faithful Inn for one night in September 2009. This was my first "official" visit to Old Faithful and Yellowstone. My parents took me there when I was a baby (I think about 9 months old) but I don't remember it so I don't count it! The Inn is an amazing piece of architecture and I really enjoyed exploring it.



This is a picture of our room. We stayed in the historic portion of the Inn.


This is the radiator in our room. If you look closely, it has a bear motif across the top. Such amazing attention to detail!



This is the view from our window. If we crouched a little and looked between the roof and the deck, we could see Old Faithful from our room, and we didn't even have to pay any extra for that view. ;-)



I made Chris stand in our window while I went outside to get a photo so I could tell which room was ours from outside. It was such a good sport to play along.

Baby Bears

We spent quite a bit of time watching the precious little baby bears at Bear World. They were just so cute you almost wanted to take one home.



They liked to play and wrestle with each other.


Just like any young siblings do.



For an extra $50 per person, you could pay to help the trainers bottle feed the cubs. We didn't think that was worth the price, but we did enjoy watching from the sidelines. I think each baby bear eats six bottles at each of its feedings.

A Rare White Elk

This is a rare white elk that we saw at Bear World.

The Curator Tour at Bear World

I've been wanting to go to Bear World in Rexburg, Idaho for a few years and we finally made it. We stopped there after our trip to Yellowstone in September 2009. We paid a few extra dollars and took the Curator's Tour through the park rather than driving through it in our own car. I definitely think it was worth the extra money because we got to feed the bears. The bears are very much conditioned to know that when the Curator's Tour Vehicle comes through the park, they will get fed. This resulted in all the bears trotting over to see us. If you don't pay for the tour, the second best option is to follow one through the park, like the white car in my photo did. I'm sure we put on quite a show for them. Another bonus of taking the tour is you get to be in an open vehicle. If you go through in your own car, you have to keep your windows rolled up. The open vehicle is definitely better for taking photos.



This cute bear was floating on a log in a little pond. I wish I could have gotten a better photo of him but that was hard to do from a moving vehicle.




Looking over the side of the truck at a bear just waiting for a treat.


It turns out that the bears really like powdered donuts. They would come over to our stopped vehicle and sit up and beg like a dog for a treat. One of them would even clap to get you to throw him a treat. This bear is getting ready to catch a white powdered donut that one of us threw from the truck. His eyes are on the prize!



The other treat we threw to them was slices of bread. Although some of them would wait for a donut and leave the bread on the ground (they knew what they wanted) this one happily caught a slice of bread.

Dixie Red Storm

I finally made it to my first Dixie Red Storm game and got to see Tyler play for his college team. He and his team played a great game and it was a lot of fun to watch.

Sproost!

I read about a website (sproost.com) in one of my magazines. It's a site that helps you determine your design style. They show you photos of rooms and you vote on whether you like the photo or not. Then, it tells you your style. I thought it was a fun website.

I'm 100% Classic and here's what the site says about that:

Classic

What's old is new again! The beauty of Classic Style is how well it takes all of the beautiful forms, colors and textures of the past and reinvents them in a way that feels both fresh and inspired. The style itself is a mix of European influences and French, English and Italian antiques and replicas are often used together. Furniture is well proportioned and comfortable and the rooms give off an air of sophistication and grace. Oil paintings depicting a still life or nature scenes and emphasizing symmetry of pairs helps maintain the Classic nature of the room. Windows are often covered with opulent fabric shades and/or drapery. Classic rooms give off an air of history that seems to say: "I was here long before you, and will remain long after you've gone." And yet, even with this level of sophistication, the rooms are soft and inviting.

More >

Materials

Classic rooms are filled with texture and deep color. Walls are often saturated in color and many times have an old-world faux finish to hint of days gone by. Dark stained wood is very common and is often distressed. Additionally, gold, bronze and silvers have a natural-looking patina to them that softens their shine. Maps and animal prints are common, and fringe and tassels are often used to trim pillows, drapery and cushions. Genuine antiques are mixed with replicas and found objects become sculptural elements in the room. Wallpaper is a very popular way to bring additional color and texture to the room, and the patterns are usually reminiscent of traditional European styling.

Colors

Common colors are creams, and rich versions of traditional colors such as burgundy, dark green and navy blue. Golds and yellows are also popular as many Classic rooms have a very warm tone to them. That being said, greens and blues can also be tailored to take on the Classic feel. The color, whatever it may be, almost always has a regal air to it and many times you will see faux finishing to highlight the aged feel of the color.



I'd say for the most part, it's a pretty accurate description of my style. Give it a try, it was quick and fun.

Feelin' Pretty Good

I'm very grateful that my work provides us with free wellness assessments each year. Today, I did my annual assessment and I'm very proud of the following improvements I've made in the last year:

• Lowered cholesterol 11 points
• Raised HDL 6 points
• Lowered LDL 14 points
• Lowered Risk Ratio from 3.3 to 2.8
• Did 19 more sit-ups than last year (10 more than what's recommended for my age)
• Did 6 more push-ups than last year (5 more than what's recommended for my age)

Yep, feelin' pretty proud.

One Month Later and it Still Hurts

This is a sad and painful story, but there are some funny parts to it.

I was at the Albretsens house and we decided to sit in the hot tub for a bit. Chris and Codey were teasing the Mia (a cute black lab), splashing water from the hot tub on her and chasing her around the yard with a towel. After awhile, I decided I was done with the hot tub and went in the house to get my towel. I was standing just inside the door, on a tile floor, dripping wet, reaching for my towel when Mia came charging past me, sweeping my feet right out from under me, and sending me flying through the air. The first thing that hit was the back of head......on the wall about six inches above the floor. I hit so hard I put this nice little hole in the wall. Thank goodness I hit the *soft* sheetrock instead of the tile, granite countertops, glass door, or door casing! I remember hitting the wall (and hitting it hard) and then nothing else for a few seconds.



So, I'm sure it was a sight to see: me flying through the air, dripping wet, in my swimsuit. I was crying so hard, I think there might have been stuff coming out my nose. Chris and Codey got me up off the floor and on the couch and gave me some ice.

After a few minutes, I started feeling nauseated and the bump on the back of my head was huge. It had swollen up so much that I couldn't even put my head back all the way because the bump got in the way. So, off to the Emergency Room we go. Two cat scans later, I was diagnosesd with a concussion and some swelling in my neck and sent home.

Mia was so cute. She knew she had hurt me and she sat by my side for the longest time, just whimpering. It's cute how much dogs really know what's going on.

So, this happened on August 8th and it's been a whole month and I still have the bump (although it's significantly smaller) on the back of my head, my neck still has swelling, and I still have constant headaches. I've started physical therapy and I hope that makes a difference. My doctor said it would take about six weeks to heal. It is getting kind of old.

P.S. I feel really bad that Shawn had to patch this hole in the wall. Sorry.

Vancouver July 2009

In July 2009, we traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for a work-related conference. This is the view outside my hotel room window. It's called Coal Harbour and it was gorgeous. This was taken through the glass of my room, so the colors aren't as bright as they should be.



Right in the middle of the harbour was a place where float planes would take off and land. We really enjoyed watching them.



This is on a huge suspension bridge (I think it was about 200 feet up). It's called Capilano and it's on North Vancouver Island (or North Van, as the locals call it). I did not think I'd have the nerve to cross it, but it ended up being not that scary at all. The views were gorgeous.



While at the conference, I was given an award that came with a $4000 check. Who doesn't want a big check? I was so excited about the check, I brought it home and it's in my office.


We actually flew into Seattle and took the train to Vancouver. It was significantly cheaper and I had heard that this is one of the most scenic train rides in the country. The track hugged the coast line for most of the way.