"it looks like you have the reflexes of a dead cow!"

in my six years of being at Utah State, only once have they closed the university due to weather. i was working in the soil testing lab and my boss told us that we all had to be off campus before 3 pm. so, we obediently left.
today, a blizzard warning has been announced in our area and, in approximately one hour, the university will be closed.
what a happy thanksgiving surprise!
now we only hope that the storm is as magnificent as has been predicted!

*extra credit to those who can name what movie my title is from

wilkins state fair

i pretty much have one of the coolest families around!
this is what we did this labor day weekend. check it here too.

also, we've now been married two whole years! can't believe it!
august came and went. i'll have to update soon.

oh, what do you do in the summertime

we started off our pioneer day bright and early (7 am) with a little water skiing at hyrum dam - that was an adventure!
we then had a bbq and watched our adorable little nephew.

the two of us, up and at em, ready to hit the water!

on sunday, we attended the free usu alumni band concert on the quad. it was a fabulous time enjoying the nice weather and the beautiful campus! we were really surprised at how many people were there when we got there -- i think all the summer citizens that move to logan in the summer go to these concerst! i loved watching them bounce their feet to the beat of the marches played (i even tapped my foot along with the music) and especially enjoyed watching a cute little boy dance for everyone that would watch (he's the blonde one in the picture).

i love old main!

happy father's day

before i get to our activities for pioneer day, i wanted to share our adventure from a couple weekends ago.

my father-in-law has talked about riding the front runner for quite a while. any time someone said they we're heading down to salt lake, he would ask if they had taken the front runner. much to his dismay, hardly anyone ever had.

so, for father's day (about a month late), we took papa craig and dojo on a ride on the front runner -- complete with lunch at the little america cafe.





we actually missed the train back to ogden (they only run every hour) by a few minutes, so we strolled through the gateway (dojo and i stayed at anthropologie) while we waited for the next train. we left the gateway a little later than anticipated and ended up running to catch trax back to the train station to avoid having to wait another hour!

after about seven hours we made it back home, but it was well worth the trip!

my butt is big...

i have some things to post, but they'll have to wait for a minute.

thanks to nikeblog for this great add.

fourth of july in boston

we spent an awesome fourth of july with my family in boston (one of our very favorite places)!
we got to tour fenway park and watch the red sox beat the baltimore orioles and sang sweet caroline.
we were sore and sweaty after climbing to the top of the bunker hill monument.
we enjoyed waking up the other room with our fancy-shmancy doorbells.
we rubbed john harvard's shoe for good luck.
we had a hard time finding any dr. pepper, much to the dismay of many of my family members.
we ate many, many cookies and canolies from mike's pastry.
we watched the fireworks from the grass along the river near harvard.
we squished onto the T with too many people.
we walked the freedom trail.
we attempted to go to church. (didn't work out. apparently they got a new building.)
we saw the old harvard stadium.
we walked down acorn street.
we shopped on newbury street.
we survived the heat and "no" humidity and lots and lots of people.
we really enjoyed our trip to boston!

wilkins wonders: rockin' the ragnar

our team in front of van 1 ("white bread") and van 2 ("wheat bread")

well, we did it! we survived running the back of the rugged wasatch mountains, from logan all the way to park city. i don't know how to explain the great bonding, pain and also triumph you feel when you complete something like this. you'll just have to do it yourself to experience and know. our team was wonderfully supportive and i think that's what got me through.

go team!the RAGNAR!beautiful, blessed mountains coming into PC and, of course, the honey bucketsfinished! on our way up to the finish line

it really was a great experience and i think we all accomplished more than we thought we could. you can read more about it here, here, here and here.

i think i'm going to boston

just thought i'd write a quick update -- seeing the last time i wrote a post was approximately two months ago.

brian and i have just been working at our wonderful alma mater, utah state.
we have also been prepping (one of us a little more than the other) for the grueling wasatch back, which will take place not this weekend, but the next (june 18-19). we will be running with the wilkins wonders -- a team made up mostly of my mom's side of the family, plus a few. we all think we're crazy. please pray for us!
we are also looking forward to a family trip to boston the first part of july. we'll be celebrating an all-american fourth of july by eating hot dogs at fenway and watching fireworks over the harbor! we are really excited -- to say the least!

besides that, our summer will be filled with softball games, eating food from our first garden, family get-togethers, friend's weddings and hopefully some sunshine.

Vacay to Paris: Part XII

at this point in the trip, it's almost time for brian and me to go home.
this is one of the last things we did while in paris.
read here.

Vacay to Paris: Part XI

on our last day in Paris we visited Sacre Coure and walked around Montmarte.
you may read about it here.
i saw real gypsies and where Picasso and Monet lived and hung out.
i saw nuns preparing to take Communion and walked down some of the cutest, Parisian streets i'd seen.

a & g photography

my friend, ashley, who i talked about a few posts ago, just finished her official photography site!
it's up and running here. you should check it out.
she's also having some good deals right now. so if you're looking for a photo session, enter her giveaway!

also, happy march! i am so happy it's finally here!

Vacay to Paris: Part X

You can now read about our journey down Champs-Elysees, the ritziest part of Paris (and world, i guess), featuring our delicious, most expensive pastries.
Click here.

great photos

if you're lookin for a good photographer, i've got one for you!
my dear friend, ashley, is an amazing photographer and has a great knack for what is hip.
she recently took some photos of my husband and i and they are fabulous! we had a great time.
to see those photos, as well as her other great work, click here.

Vacay to Paris: Part IX

Here's another one of my favorite parts of our trip to Paris.
What can I say, all favorites!

Vacay to Paris: Part VIII

And now we visit Notre Dame. This was probably one of my favorites!
Read more here.

Vacay to Paris: Part VII

And now we visit the Pompidou.
Read about it here.

Vacay to Paris: Part VI

Chris has written about another great part of our trip.
You can go here to read about church in Paris.

Vacay to Paris: Parts IV and V

and, here are two more installments on our wonderful trip to Paris:
part IV and part V.

the hanging of el bandito: a must-see

If anyone is looking for something fun to do over Valentine's weekend, and you're going to be in Logan, Utah, you should most definitely consider getting tickets to "The Hanging of El Bandito."

A great little playhouse -- Pickleville Playhouse -- is doing three encore shows of this soon-to-be classic at the Eccles Conference Center on the campus of Utah State University February 13 and 15. You can also take care of dinner by attending their dinner before the performance.

I saw this play this past summer at the Pickleville Playhouse in Bear Lake, and let me tell you, you really want to see this! My husband and I told everyone we knew to go see it -- really, it's that funny! It was so popular, their performances this summer were sold out by the time most people found out how good it was, thus they are doing a few performances this coming month.

Go to picklevilleplayhouse.com for more details and to buy tickets.

Vacay to Paris: Part III

The third installment of our trip to Paris (words from Chris) can be found here.

sneak peek

this is just glimpse of what my weekend was like... and this...

what you'd expect to see in Paree

here are just a few of the many photos we took while joyously scampering about Paris:Tour Eiffel

Hall of MirrorsThe beautiful (snowy) gardens at VersaillesI.M Pei's pyramid at the LouvreNotre DameArc de Triomphe

all of the most famous things you expect to see while in Paris.

Vacay to Paris (Parts I and II)

I'm guessing some of you (the few who read this blog every once in a blue moon -- which we just had one of these on New Year's!) are wondering how our trip to Paris went.
I do hope to post some of my own pictures soon, but in the meantime, you can get a lot of the story here and here.
Thanks, Chris, for writing the details!