Re Post

Just reposting this because it's gotten lost on the second page:

Jessica mentioned that she was having trouble leaving comments. It seems to be working for us. Try writing the comment and then choosing the ID "Name/Url" Write your name and leave the URL part blank. It should work.

Mesquite!

The day after Ben's (wonderful) wedding on August 8, Joe and I left for our Mesquite road trip. The trip didn't exactly run smoothly at first. We needed to drop Bomani at Grandma Connie's house and Kody in Heber before we could even get started. The drive was pleasant and, actually, not very long. When we got there, however, we couldn't get a room at the hotel we wanted to stay at (Casablanca Resort). They had given the last room to the girl just ahead of us. So we headed over to the Virgin River hotel instead. We booked a room for one night, hoping that Casablanca would have a room the next day. Even thinking we might just drive the extra hour to Vegas.

I was grouchy so Joe made me change into my swimming suit to go swimming; what I had been looking forward to all day. It turned out that Virgin River had a pretty nice pool and after a few minutes swimming, I cheered up. After, we went to the restaurant in the Virgin River...the Wagon Wheel or something. We ended up eating there for most of the trip. They had really yummy and really cheap food.

First thing Monday morning, we called Casablanca and they had some rooms available! We made reservations for two nights. However, we couldn't check in right away. We decided to go bowling. The Virgin River Bowling Alley was awesome. Really nice lanes and the cheapest bowling ever. We bowled a couple of games and had some ice cream.

After, we went to the Casablanca to see if they has any rooms yet. The only one available was on the ground floor at the very end of the hotel. It was a really long walk, but I loved it. The room was clean and comfy and our window looked out onto a garden.

We had dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant ever. It's called Los Cazadores and it's worth the drive to Mesquite just to eat there. Their special is an extra yummy enchilada with green sauce.

We spent most of our Casablanca time at the pool. It was huge and freezing and had a waterfall and a slide. We took books and read on chairs under the palm cabanas. Casablanca was great. I would highly recommend it.

We didn't want to leave right away on Wednesday so we hit the bowling alley again. Joe kept getting really high scores and after my first score of 99 (I had gotten 114 the time before) I vowed not to leave intil I broke 100. 7 games later, I finally got a 109 or something. Joe got a taste of the seriously stubborn part of my personality.

As for the gambling: the first slot machine I saw was called Dolphin Treasure. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to play. I didn't actually get a chance to for the first couple days, but when I finally got to play, I won $13! It was the big win of thr trip, but Joe and I did manage to come away with about $15 more than we played. (which wasn't much)

These pictures are all from the lovely Casablanca pool,where we spent most of our time.

Pool chairs all lined up

The hot tub

Pool in the morning. Before the waterfall was on.

Pool with waterfall

The waterslide

Cute cabanas

Us!

Hot July weekend

Since the weather looked nice and we haven't had a good summer weekend at the farmhouse (stupid rainy June) we decided to head down for a weekend in the country.

On Saturday, we mostly hung around the house reading and working on a puzzle. My mom came down on Saturday afternoon and we all had a lovely dinner of grilled salmon, farm fresh corn on the cob, and sweet potatoes.

On Sunday, I really wanted to drive up to a reservoir that my sibs and I found a couple of years ago. I don't know what it's called, but it's beautiful and not crowded. Joe and I headed up after breakfast and I was disappointed to see that there was still some snow on the mountain tops. I thought it would be too cold to play in the water.

When we got there though, it was warm enough for me to change into my swimming suit and swim around a bit. Though, it was a bit unnerving with all the fish!

The lake

Joe only wanted to wade

I wanted to swim out to a rock that I could see from the shore

Pretty wildfowers

Fluffy white clouds

Wedding Updates

I've been busy with wedding related things and wanted to make a list of the things we have done so far.

*We have booked our ceremony/reception location

*We have chosen our colors (I'm pretty sure) light purple, dark purple,and light green

*We have mailed the contract to our first choice photographer

*We have met with our cake lady (though nothing has been signed)

*We have decided on favors for the guests

*We have a good idea of what we'd like for centerpieces

*I have paid the first payment on my wedding dress!

I think that's it for now. I still have a lot of time, but I'm having fun with the planning. 359 days!

finally, -1!

June 26, 2009 marked our -1 wedding anniversary. We wanted to have a special evening so we planned a picnic in the mountains, complete with a campfire and s'mores. However, the weather was dreadful. It poured rain and thundered like crazy. (Hoping for better weather June 26, 2010!) So we went with plan B, dinner and drinks at our favorite bar: The Red Door.

The rain wasn't all bad- beautiful double rainbow

Dinner at Su Casa

The Red Door (haha. I swear we weren't drunk. Just tired.)

April 25 pictures

I got tired of fighting with blogger in the engagement post soI decided to do a separate post for pictures from the day we got engaged.

In the car (does he look a little nervous?)

Lots of traffic

The fog in the canyon

Snowing!

The roof of the cliff spa

Joe relaxing in the Solarium

Engaged!

Looking much prettier at dinner

Yay!