Utah Trip

We had so much fun visiting our family and friends in Utah. Each day was fun filled and wonderful. Here I am with my mom and sister Jentry. They work at Borders along with my older sister Summer.
My dad is the greatest!!!
My nephew Hunter has grown up so fast, he is such a talker now and his personality is so funny.
Some of our great friends the Knapp's!!
We got plenty of laying out which made me extremely happy. Here we are laying out at one of our friends condo pool. It was a sweet set up, they had cabana's like this one that you could just chill under. We felt like we were living like royalty there.
My little sis Kelsey. She loves being a newly wed and being a wife to her hubby. She is becoming quite the cook and works really hard in school.
My nephew Brayden didn't' want to take this picture with me but managed to look at the camera still.
Cute niece McKinley wearing Aunt Ashley's sun glasses. She also has become quite a little talker and makes everyone laugh with all her questions.
These are my older sister Summer's kids. They have SO much energy it's nuts. Abbie loved that Uncle Todd played Mario Cart with her on the X Box while I got my hair done. We can't believe how fast our nieces and nephews have grown.
Todd and his sweet Grandma Christensen. We had some lunch with her and a nice visit.
We went to Sundance with Todd's family for the play "The Fantastic's." It was a fun atmosphere watching on the grass on blankets.
Todd's sister Shelly and I. She is the sweetest person you will ever meet.
This sweet thing is Sienna who belongs to Shelly (Todd's sister)
On to our wonderful lake Powell pictures. Here is the whole gang who met from all over the country to play and make memories at Powell. We love our friends and how close we all have stayed over the years.


Some of the girls getting some shade from the extreme heat.
I know this looks like a gay picture but it's funny. The guys were playing a game called "flys up" with a Frisbee and I made them get together for a picture and this is the end result.
Todd got excited with the sunscreen here. We all made sure we layered on the sunscreen almost hourly. The heat was in the 100's and we didn't' want to get burned.
On the boat going for a ride
We went to a fun sandy hill that we try to go to every time we are in Powell. The sand was extremely hot so I didn't make it to the top.
Doing what I love most at Powell.......wake boarding!!!!
Todd has become quite the wake boarder. He gets more air on his jumps than I do......I am a little chicken sometimes.

4th of July and More Fun!!

We had a nice 4th of July this year. We went to a BBQ with a few couples in our ward and then did some fireworks afterwards. We also watched some fireworks that were put on in our city.
Taunya, Me, and Sarah
We went to our first MLS professional soccer game. Columbus Crew blew the Salt Lake REAL team out of the stadium. It was fun to see all the intense fans and to hear some of their most original chants. It was a pretty cheap date for students. Two tickets and two $5.00 vouchers for only $20.00. The guys got themselves one dollar "brat" hot dogs and the rest of us picked up subways, nachos, pizza or whatever else looked good. Luckily we weren't rained on because an hour before the game started it was a down pour. It was a little chilly for a Columbus night so we all wore jackets.
Kind of a blurry picture. The final score was 3 to 1 with Columbus hitting some sweet goals.

Warning: A Lot of Pictures

This weekend we had Todd's mom in town so we made the most of it and did some church site seeing. (the pictures got put in backwards of the order we did the trip so bare with me)

Here we are at the Hill Cumorah the last day of our trip. What a neat feeling to be there, we want to go back again and see the Palmyra Pageant sine it's only out in July.

Beautiful Sacred Grove, the spirit was so AMAZING. How grateful we are for Joseph Smith being at the young age he was kneeling down in prayer in these beautiful woods.
This is the house where Joseph Smith grew up in. It's so cute inside and very cozy.
This is the kitchen in the house, isn't it so precious??
We also had the opportunity to do an endowment session in the Palmyra Temple which was AMAZING!!! The temple was so unique with all the stain glass windows of trees representing the Sacred Grove. One window looking out from inside the temple is just clear glass that looks straight at the Sacred Grove. It was so neat. The temple is sitting in a very unique location. There is nothing around for miles to see except beautiful trees and green grass. The spirit was so strong testifying of all the events that happened here. If you have never been there, you MUST put it on your list. We will go back again for sure!!

I LOVE this picture. Here we are looking off outside of the temple at the miles and miles of beauty surrounding the temple and Sacred Grove
Todd loved this area of the temple, it was so pretty and plush.
On to other sites, we made it to Niagara Falls for our second destination. This was TOO amazing and we are so glad we got to see the famous falls. Here is Todd standing on the look out above the falls. That is Canada behind him.
This was called the Rainbow Bridge. Not to be confused with the Southern Utah Rainbow bridge. Both very unique and pretty.
We went on the famous "Maid of the Mist" boat to see the Falls up close and to feel of the "Mist" or showers of water that came from them.
Gorgeous!!
Todd and his mom. We walked up the side of the Falls to get some more pictures.
This is my new favorite picture of us. The falls are huge!!!
The beginning of our trip was to see the sites of Kirtland. We were glad we had the chance to hear some history and see inside.

This trip was a lot of fun and we couldn't believe that we did it all in TWO days. The drive wasn't that bad either. Total hours one way was about 6 1/2 to 7. We would do it again for sure!!!

If anyone is interested in coming out to visit then let us know!! We would love to have you.

One year down, Three to Go!!

What a great accomplishment!!! Todd graduated from his first year of Optometry school with the traditional "White Coat" ceremony on Thursday the 11th of June. They had a nice program which entitled some speakers and then they had each member of Todd's class walk up on stage to receive their white coats in advancement onto their second year. I am a proud wife!!!
Todd getting his white coat on stage.
Todd's graduating class of 2012.
(that seems so far away yet so close at the same time)
Here's the quick clip I got of him announcing his name and where he is from.

Let the practicing begin...

My husband was really excited to get his very own brand new instruments for school this last week. And NO it wasn't a part of his tuition that are are taking loans out for. This was totally separate. We knew it would have to happen eventually and they of course will be used for many many years to come.

Needless to say, he has felt that me and our poor cat Scout are now his guinea pigs to practice on. The great part about it was he let me look into his eye and it was the coolest thing ever. I got to see all the blood vessels behind the back of his eye. I didn't have the slightest clue what I was even looking at but it was still interesting. I am into those kinds of things, that is why I chose to be in the medical field.

Todd can't wait to become more familiar with his new instruments and to be able to be in the clinical aspect of school. We can't believe that he is already in the last quarter of his first year. His finals are only 3 weeks away, then he will get a nice summer break. I am very proud of my husband, he works so dang hard and it has shown through is grades and efforts.

Captial City Half Marathon!!

Today was such an amazing day!! I ran my third half marathon with some of my amazing friends here in Ohio. There were about 5 girls from my ward who signed up and finished the Capital City Columbus half marathon. This was the biggest half marathon I have ran in. Luckily the weather was good to us. It had rained the entire day yesterday so we were all nervous. With the great weather, good friends, and the amazing scenery of running through downtown Columbus I was happy I signed up and finished in a little over 2 hours. Thanks girls for training and running so hard today!!! You were all so awesome!!
Here we all are spelling out the famous O-H-I-O sign they do here for the football games and other sports. (this was pre-race)
Here we are (Allyson, Sherri, Me, and Taunya) finishing as WINNERS!!! We loved our new medals we got at the finish line, way to go for us!!
We had a yummy "carb loading" pasta dinner the night before the race with other couples in our ward who were running the half marathon or the full marathon that will go on tomorrow. The food was great, thanks everyone for putting it together.