TOO MUCH FUN!! (no such thing...)

The last 3 weeks have been nothing short of amazing! Full of new memories, travels, friends, family and ADVENTURES!!!!

Where to start...
6.10.2011- We drove through Reno on our way to our Northern Cali adventure.  We got to spend a short but amazing evening hosted by Mal and Josh in their brand new home in Reno. So many beautiful loving friends and family came. Little lily beans was as cute as EVER and it was just so great to see their new home and the happiness and love that fills it.  Thank you Mal and Josh for hosting all of us, you guys are wonderful!!!

The GIRLS

Love these people

The BRO!!!!!

6.11-14.2011- We left early morning and headed to Sonoma for an early 2nd year anniversary celebration and wine drinking! This has been on our "crib list" for a few years, so it was so great to finally be in Sonoma.  We stayed at the Fairmont, courtesy of my Uncle Tom which was heaven on Earth.  We ate lots of delicious food, drank wine, went for a beautiful hike, drank wine, went for a run around Sonoma, drank wine, did a driving tour of Dry Creek Road, drank wine, visited Russian River Brewing Company, drank beer, then drank wine, laid by the pool, drank wine and drank MORE wine! We will definitely be returning to wine country annually! We went to Benziger, Imagery (my favorite), BRCohn, Seghesio, Simi, Ridge (joined their wine club), Hawkes (Josh's favorite), Kenwood, and St.Francis.  100's more still to explore...

Our patio at Fairmont Mission Inn

Josh's heaven...enjoying a Lagunitas poolside

<3

Josh getting pumped up for our hike

Delicacy lunch...we didn't have a knife, so we used the wine key

Heaven on Earth AKA: Ridge winery

Soooooo many choices

Kenwood

Posing with the great St. Francis

AKA: Bolinas

6.14-19.2011- We headed to SanFrancisco to visit the family and see my Uncle Michael who has been diagnosed with large B cell lymphoma and was in between round 3 and 4 of his chemo treatments. My 80 year old Grandmother flew out from Florida (we haven't seen her since our wedding).  We spent two nights at the Fairmont atop Nob Hill. We had to check out because Eric Dane (McSteamy) was checking into our room.  I thought about hiding in the room ;) These days were spent full of family and all its beautiful chaos that comes along with it. My brother and Lauren came down for a few days too. We got to meet my cousin Jenny and Rob's new babe, Tyler, see Amy, watch Zo Zo play some b-ball (which unfortunately was cut short due to a mild concussion), experience Austin's California acquired driving skills (love you cuz), watch my Uncle Michael come to life after getting off a Harley, and ponder the meaning of life...  I LOVE my CRAZY BEAUTIFUL family more than I could ever put into words. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

The brother

cousins!!!

GRANDMA!

Walking the streets of San Fran

Zoe providing the entertainment! She is amazing!

The siblings (minus Uncle Nick)

Lauren and Me

My beautiful Cousin

Loving on Uncle Michael

Pool time

Alcatraz with an amazing sunset

Jenny, Amy, Tyler and Me (Cousins!)

All the California Cousins (we are missing a few)

My soul sister

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!

My beautiful cousin and an amazing b-ball player

Taking the Harley for a spin

Uncle Michael healing Harley Style

I LOVE HIM!

LOVE the Look!

6.20.2011-We drove back from Reno to SLC

6.23-26.2011-I headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for Roby's bachelorette party.  It was such an amazing girls weekend. We started it off by rafting the intermediate portion of the Snake River, laid by the pool, had a house party with lots of lingerie and debauchery. The next day we did a de-tox hike around Jenny Lake (which is absolutely breathtaking), laid by the pool again and went out in downtown Jackson (the Cowboy Bar will never be the same) There were 11 girls and 3 mom's who joined in the celebration.  We all had a blast and I met some wonderful women and made some stunning new friends!

Our put in spot

Learning how to rig the boats

Joselyn and Me

The bride to be and her Mommy

AMAZING rafting scenery

Megan and me

Let the fun begin...

The girls

Our lunch view from Jenny Lake

The cowboy bar

Jos and me

Sisters

Jackson will never be the same :)

SUN!

Work has been good as usual for both Josh and me.  We both had to work over the memorial day holiday, but it's ok, because we have a great chunk of time off coming up very soon!

We took last weekend and finished our final big yard project.  We weeded like crazy, went to home depot 3 times, and used 22 bags of mulch to get our front yard boxes in presentable order.  Here is the final project below...

The weather has just been wet, wet wet...however, this weekend we FINALLY got some sunshine which was much welcomed. We took our first hike of the season up Millcreek Canyon today with the pups and the neighbors. It's great to be outside again and feel the warm sun.

The Turner Family

Robyn and Me

Awwww

Our garden is growing beautifully, despite a fence and tape weaved through the fence to keep the pups out.  They have only been able to dig up one lemon cucumber plant (so far...)

Mimi (mother-in-law) found an apartment and is getting ready to move as soon as the moving company can ship her stuff from Houston.  She is ready to move into her own space (I don't blame her)

Josh and I are setting out for a Sonoma/visit my Uncle Michael, Tom, Barb, Zoe, Austin, Grandma and Mom, we can't wait!

We are also going to make a brief stop in Reno which we are looking forward to as well.

Updates and photos to come from the vacation adventures soon...

May Showers bring the Mother-in-law

Josh and Me

The last couple of weeks I have been working like crazy.  I have to work one Saturday per month and one Sunday every 3-4 months.  My Saturday and Sunday fell within two weeks, so I worked 2 weeks with one day weekends in between.  Needless to say I was READY for the four days off I had coming to me, this weekend!  My new job is still treating me well and I am so happy. It was the best decision I could have made!!

Josh's mom, Mimi moved here last Saturday. After a few years of giving her the pros and cons of SLC vs. Houston, she finally decided to head out and settle in SLC again.  She has been staying with us this last week. She found an apartment and is set to move out beginning of June. We are excited to have her around and look forward to more family memories in the future.

Josh's brother, Zach also came in to keep Mimi company, see his best friend get married and visit us. He has been here this last week and we have had a great time hanging out.

On Saturday, Josh, Zach, LeeAnn, 2 of my co-workers and my in-laws (Charles and Diane) ran the Brain Injury of Utah 5K.  It was a great time!!  So inspiring to see all kinds of people out and about.  LeeAnn got second place and Josh got 7th overall (with ONLY 2 days of training!)

It has been raining non-stop, I mean Oregon like non-stop for the last week.  So Josh and I took advantage of our one break in the rain on Saturday and planted our garden.  We planted bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, chard, cucumbers, onions, corn, lettuce, potatoes and of course hops (for Josh's homebrewed beer).  We also decided to go green and purchased an electric lawn mower. We have been using our neighbors push mower for the last year, so something with a little juice behind it was much welcomed.

The puppies have been good as ever and up to their same old crazy antics.

We have a trip to Sonoma coming up and would LOVE any suggestions from people about wineries and places to visit...

Brothers

Libby and Me

Turner Family

LeeAnn and me

Garden Planted

My green thumbed husband

The new Forester

Homebrew

Shenanigans 

Yin in all her glory

Concrete Beach

Mimi

Andrew and his new bride

Brothers

Mimi with her boys

<3

Best Buds

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS AND A LONG OVERDUE BLOG

Wallace/Fox Christmas Party

The girls

Happy 2011!!

Robyn and Me cross-country ski day

Alta Ski Weekend

The holiday season came and went with a trip to Reno to visit friends and family and a visit from Josh's family in Salt Lake City.  We had a great time celebrating with everyone.

January and February were full of skiing and playing in the winter!  I taught a two month course, PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) at the Physical Therapy school.  This was my first experience teaching.  I learned a lot and this was a great experience personally and professionally.

March was fun filled: 

Josh had an amazing 12 day trip to Canada to go backcountry skiing with a group of people he met when he lived in Reno.  I was a bachelorette for the week!  Josh was kind enough to infect me with his cold before he left so I spent the majority of the week on the couch sick!

I also changed jobs in March. I was previously working outpatient neuro rehab at the University Hospital with an emphasis in amputee care.  I was also the clinical coordinator (micro-managing) the clinic. I thought I had my dream job, but could not for some reason figure out why I was so un-happy.  After many realizations I was fortunate enough to come upon an opening working on the inpatient rehab unit, still at the University of Utah Hospital and still in the same gym as my old job.  I am a part of the traumatic brain injury team (aka: young impulsive males). I work with 8 other PT's, 6-7 OT's, and 4-5 Speech Therapists. I see a wide variety of patient's which I really enjoy: post-stroke, brain tumors, amputations and any other weird neurological diagnosis you can think of.  This population is very rewarding and humbling to work with.  They are fighting for their lives. It is a daily reminder to value the simple things we may take for granted.  It's highly physical and very rewarding. I couldn't be happier with the change.

Josh and I recently took the plunge a bought a new car.  We got a Subaru Forester!! We decided we needed a car with more utility for all our camping, skiing, biking and dog activities we do.  We are selling Josh's car, so he gets to drive the new one.  It has been so much fun!

April:

My mom came for a visit. We had a blast!  We treated her to a weekend at the Canyon's skiing and playing in Park City.  We took a beautiful hike up Millcreek Canyon with the girls, myself, Diane (mom-in-law) and my mom.  There is still TONS of snow but we had a blast!  It was great to see my mom and hopefully one day she will take the plunge and move on out here.

Josh went through PRK on Thursday (a form of LASIK) surgery for his eye's. He was legally blind = ) and is on his way to perfect sight!

The puppies are good as ever! We love them to pieces and enjoy their company so much. They are becoming better listeners and more obedient everyday.

In sad news, my Uncle Michael was recently diagnosed with Stage III Large B Cell Lymphoma with multiple points of infection. The most dangerous being along his spine.  He recently finished his first of potentially eight rounds of chemotherapy.  He tolerated the first round fair and is going to keep fighting until he decides the fight outweighs the benefits. We all LOVE him very much and are sending good healing thoughts his way all the time.

Finally, babies are EVERYWHERE it seems like...CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin Jenny and her husband Rob who just gave birth to Tyler James. Also, Summer and Julie, congrats for the little ones on the way.  And it seems like Mal's little Lilly is going to be driving in the next week or so, she is growing up so fast!

We are looking forward to a summer full of camping, vacations, gardening and WARM SUN!!

LOVE to everyone!

Josh in Canada

OH CANADA OH CANADA

Celebrating the Christmas Holiday with my Brenda Friend

Ski Day with the brother and my Dad

12th annual Thong X-change!!

Turner Fam

Brothers

Cross-Country skiing with the girls

Ski DAY

Park City

Ski DAY with MOM

Ski DAY with HUBBY

Hiking up MillCreek

Uncle Michael making the laps like a good patient

Ebony Princess