THANKSGIVING WEEK:
Oct. 19-27

I forgot how much I love holidays until they end. Dan and I were lucky enough to get work and school off so we had the whole week off for Thanksgiving. We drove to Farmington Friday night and then we drove to St. George on Saturday. We were able to get a lot of much needed rest before we started the real party.

Hector took us hiking in Snow canyon on Monday. It had rained and the weather was perfect. Hector takes people that want to lose weight on hikes so we asked him to show us one of the hikes. It was a lot of fun but I realized just how out of shape I really am, perhaps Dan and I should join the program. It took us about two hours and we hiked up, down and all around. I knew I'd be sore the next day.

Tuesday we decided to finally do the big climb that Dan had told me he would take me on. It is called Leopard Skin and it's about 350 feet high. After the first pitch we had to wait because we needed to untangle the ropes and fix a few things. Another climber had gotten stuck and so Dan had to climb over and help him out. By that point I was starting to talk myself out of climbing. We were about 200 feet up and I psyched myself out...in essence, I failed. I ended up repelling back down and they continued up the rest of the way. When I touched down I realized that I would be haunted by this until I actually conquer Leopard Skin, so I hereby vow that I will by this time next year have climbed the full thing. I still had a blast and got excited that I married a hot rock climber because then he could teach me all of his vast knowledge. I shall be the young grasshopper. I have really come to enjoy rock climbing.

Hector is contemplating the climb:


We tried many things over the Thanksgiving break, we tried going to a spinning class and we tried going 4-wheeling but our attempts were in vain, luckily for us we have lot's of time to get all the fun in we want. Thursday the whole family got together and I was able to experience a Flores Thanksgiving for the first time. It reminded me of the Bishop side. We both come from big rowdy families so I loved it. For the first time we decided to go out for Black Friday, at midnight, not at 4 a.m. Bbbbbiiiiigggg mistake. I have never seen so many people in my life. We gave up after about an hour of driving around. The next morning we ran to Best Buy (Dan's brother Louise was there) we grabbed our video camera that we've been wanting for months along with Dan's video game he's been really wanting and we were outta there....that, folks, is how shopping is done. We ran to Target as well then we headed back to Farmington. We forgot to take pictures except for a few, we have been getting worse and worse but hopefully we can get back to taking good pictures.

We headed straight to the Cabin which I was very excited about since it has been such a long time since we've been there. There wasn't enough snow to snow mobile but we were still able to hot tub and had a blast hanging out with the family. Saturday we had our big Hockey game we have every other year over Thanksgiving. It was so much fun. This year we were actually able to play hockey instead of weaving in and out of children. I love this tradition.

Saturday night we were going to go to Temple Square to see the lights but it was so crowded we decided to try again another time. It was so fun to be able to spend so much time with both families.

David was trying to suck up flies

Girls (and Dan) Weekend:
Oct. 11-13

So Aubrey decided to come up and partay with us this weekend. She also brought her cute friend Mary Jensen with her. I have been teasing them both for months now about coming to play with us in Logan so it finally happened. Our great friend and neighbor Kenzie Smith brought them up for us and that night we all just hung out. Dan and I were thoroughly entertained watching the youngins' wrestle around with so much energy. It reminded me of when Danielle (Mary's older sister) and I were that age...they were just mini us'. Finally we all went to bed and gratefully we all slept in which felt so good!

Dan was great and made us all chocolate chip waffles and eggs and then the girls decided they wanted to finally conquer their fear of watching the movie Insidious. Even though it was midday it was dark outside due to the rain and sleet, they were still terrified but in the end they conquered their fear. Afterward we went to get facials and Dan went climbing. The girls loved getting pampered and it was only six bucks. We decided we needed to finally be active so we went bowling....Dan and I were certain we would beat them so we made a wager. Losers had to buys dessert. Well after carrying Dan through the entire game we still lost... Afterwards I had to go to work for a few hours so Dan, being as great as he is took them shopping (even though he did stay in the car because he felt weird ha ha)

They had really wanted to go sledding so while I was at work and after the girls went shopping Dan was going to get the tubes filled with air while the girls gathered all the snow stuff. well... Dan left the apartment and got to that gas station across town and realized that he had forgotten the tubes. He had to return to the apartment to pick them up and while driving back decided to play a little prank on them. He opened our front door without them knowing and rang the doorbell. They saw the door and they freaked out so they called Dan scared out of their mind. So Dan told them to lock the door and to hang tight because he was on his way home. So after closing it once it somehow opened again ;) They freaked out and they ran into the main bedroom upstairs and locked the door. They then proceeded to climb into our closet and I got a phone call at work with Aubrey terrified saying there was a man in the house. I got worried until I heard them scream when they saw Dan. They are still freaked out but it has to be one of the best pranks ever. After they were able to gather their wits they picked me up and we headed to Old Main Hill. It was a blast but boy did it make me realize just how out of shape I really am! We had so much fun and after a while we decided to go to Angie's before it closed to clean the sink. Well, Mary and Aubrey were determined to do it on their own, I didn't think they could do it so I challenged them. If they could do it they wouldn't have to pay me back for some of the clothes they bought. Well needless to say.....they did it. they ate the whole thing and I don't think they'll want ice-cream for a very long time. We lounged around at home while they continued to get their extra energy out and finally at 2 a.m they were asleep.

Sunday we went to church and then went over to Mike and Michelle's apartment to make pizzas. Soon enough it was time to take them home. A great weekend with the kids and well worth every moment. I wish I had more pictures but we have became lazy once again, don't worry we'll get back into it sometime soon....especially since Thanksgiving is coming up.

HALLOWEEN WEEKEND:
Oct. 28-31

Well we've hit that stage....Where we can't have a college Halloween but we also can't go trick-or-treating on the account that we don't have kids and to go just the two of us is frowned upon by society. So instead we made the best out of the weekend, knowing we wouldn't do anything crazy for Halloween itself. We don't have any pictures but at least we have the memories.

Friday night I finally got to meet Eric, Kami's boy toy. We have been trying to get together for so long now. So we all went to Coldstone. Eric was blown away by my talents and wit, ok not really, but he put up with me long enough so that I could make a solid evaluation. I have to say I am impressed and wish those two best of luck (marriage bells were ringing...they just liked to ignore them...for now)

Saturday we helped David and Mandi move into their new house in Pleasant Grove. It went relatively quick and it was exciting to see them finally get their very own place, though they will be missed. They lived at the cottage for a few months once Dan and I left for Logan. All I can say is I am and I am not looking forward to one day being in a house....permanence would be great...but moving is dreadful. We would have stayed later but we had to hurry since Dan's good friend Cody was getting married that night. It was a fun wedding and we took pictures in their photo-booth and had delicious ice-cream. Bryan and Lacey were there so we decided to go to a haunted house. We chose Fear Factory. I knew it would be crowded because it was Halloween weekend but o man....it was expensive and the line took so long....and it wasn't even that cool of a haunted house...granted I am very brave and don't get scared easily so the blame wasn't totally on them ;) After the Fear Factory we went back to Bryan and Lacey's and watched "Carriers." it was a good movie, nothing great but good.

Sunday we went to church and were able to see Bobby and Danielle, they were visiting from the great Washington D.C. for the weekend.

All in all, it was a great weekend.

FHE Nights:
Oct. 21

First off I have to say thank you to Michelle, I check her blog on occasion to see what I have missed. I then cut and paste her stuff and put in on our blog, bad? yes? no? ha ha don't worry it's only on occasion. It is so fun having them live near by, and I think I would go crazy without them because all of my friends are no longer in Logan. Every Monday night we get together and have FHE; rotating through the 4 of us for the lesson. This past week we carved pumpkins and then watched a movie. I am quite impressed with our carving skills. Usually I just take a knife to the pumpkin and see what comes of it.

Ours: evil soul. Theirs: Charlie Brown

Mt. Rushmore/Bear Country:
Oct. 19-23

At first Dan and I hadn't planned on going to Mt. Rushmore with the family but once we learned that I had work off and he had fall break we decided to go and I am so glad we did! We left Logan Wednesday around 2pm and headed to Farmington. From there we all jumped in our cars around six for the long drive to Laramie. Dan and I were in David and Mandi's car with Madi, Logan and Kaitlynn. In the other car was Mom, Dad and Kelsi. The drive wasn't too bad especially since we had adorable kids to keep us entertained and we arrived in Laramie around 11pm. It was fun because all the kids were asleep so we got to all spend time with Betsy and Josh at their house.

Thurs:
Since Dan and I slept on the couch we were woken up bright and early and ready to go on another 7 hour drive to Keystone South Dakota. Once again the drive wasn't that bad and it was a beautiful scenic view! We arrived around 2:30 and checked in to the ghetto super 8 where we all thought we were bound to get murdered...ok it wasn't that bad. Brent and Josh decided to go see Bear country while everyone got settled in, then we all went to the park to eat lunch and wait for the others. Bryan, Lindsay, and their kids, along with Jamie and Ty decided to fly because they just can't handle the road like Dan and I ;). After the park we decided to take a swim. That night we all went to Mt. Rushmore to see it at night. It was actually pretty cool. Afterward we all ordered pizza from the only place open in all of Keystone. Dan and I shared a room with Jamie and Ty and after some interesting conversations we were all rolling laughing, Jamie the most...with her crazy laugh that couldn't be stopped.

Friday:
We all got ready and headed to Bear country. I didn't have much expectations for the place but it turned out to be really fun. We were able to drive through twice. Bears and wolves would come right up to your window....Betsy's car got bit last time they were there. Then we did the walk through and all the baby cubs were wrestling each other. It was really entertaining. After Bear Country we stopped at Christmas Village where we bought ourselves a Halloween ornament and played with Bryan's i-phone4s. We quickly ate lunch and headed back to Rushmore so we could see it in the day. We were able to walk the trail and to go through the museum which was really cool to see how they built it. Man, Wyoming and South Dakota are definitely cowboy country! At Mt. Rushmore we saw a couple at least 90 years old getting married right there, in front of the big president's heads. They were dressed to the nines in their cowboy gear and had a few family members with them. We didn't notice until a bit into their ceremony so we had been kind of loud. Little Emily had lost her Hello Kitty glove and was so upset she just sat there crying over and over, "Hello Kitty glove....Hello Kitty glove" so hopefully they don't have the demonic chanting of a child in the background of their marriage ceremony :) Then all of us....which is a lot of us, went to Perkins (which is like a Denny's). Some went for a quick swim after returning to the hotel. All in all it was a great fun filled day.


Saturday:
Those who flew had to leave around noon so we left early to go see Reptile Gardens. I am not the biggest fan of reptiles but it turned out to be pretty fun. We were able to play with massive turtles, pet a baby alligator and see a snake show so I was glad we went. We had to decide if it would be worth an extra 2 hour drive to see Devils Tower and so we ended up going. It was really fun to see. It was the first national monument and people were rock climbing the massive mountain. After Devils Tower we kept on driving back to Laramie and arrived around 10:30 pm.



Sunday:
We went to church, stopped back at the Bakes house and headed back out on the road. We got back to Farmington around 5:30 and Dan and I got back to Logan around 7:30.

It was a great weekend with the family and so much fun to go on a big road trip.

St. George
Oct. 13-16

Originally we had planned on going to St. George over conference weekend since we hadn't been there in so long and we don't get to see Dan's family a lot. Once we heard that his mom would be visiting over the 16th we decided to go then. It turned out to be perfect timing since Enrique (Dan's brother) and his wife Jamie had just had a baby boy McCoy Flores, and their daughter Taislee had just turned one so they were throwing a birthday bash for her.

We left Logan Thursday night after work. It was me, Dan, Richard and his friend. The drive was good and it didn't feel long. Once we got to St. George it was about 10:00 and we hung out with his mom and sister til about one. By the time we went to bed I was so tired and thankfully we slept in the next day.

Friday:
We had decided that we wanted to do a good hike in Zion's especially since the weather had been so nice. We hiked down the start of Pine Creek and Dan gave 'Rique (his nephew) a quick lesson on repelling. We hadn't realized how much water there would be and so we jumped in the first section and it was above our heads and freezing....I went first and Dan had to lower me in the frigid water....everyone finally made it across except Richard. They all started debating on whether or not we should continue on in freezing water for over 3 hours...Dan and I were still up for it but in the end we decided to veto it which is probably good since we had Rique with us, but I'd still like to do it again someday. We did however do a small hike while we were there and that was surprisingly really fun. The scenery was beautiful. After getting back and cleaning up a little we went and played on the trampoline with Dan's nieces and nephew, Ashlyn, Xavier and Sadie. It was really fun to play with them and their stories were hilarious. Later we all went over to Bruce (Dan's brother) and Tiffany's house and watched Mega-mind which was hilarious.


Saturday:
Once again we were able to sleep in and then we got ready for Taislee's birthday party. Laura had made a super cute lady bug cake and little lady bug cup cakes for the party. It was really fun and the weather was perfect. We were able to just hang out all day with all of his family which was great since we hardly ever get to do that. Later that night Dan and I went to finally get a cup cake from the famous cup cake place in St. George (ha ha I can't even remember the name) We were by the tabernacle when we saw there was a Merry-go-round. Dan then revealed to me that he had never actually been on one before so of course we decided to give it a go. Dan got a great looking horse but not as beautiful and mine with it's flowing mane! Richard then called Dan and asked if we wanted to go repelling down the Dixie rock. I had done it before but forgot that going over the edge is the scariest part and since I am getting old and wussier by the day I was a little nervous but gladly once I went over it was a breeze. It was a lot of fun. Once we got back to Dan's house we hung out with this mom and Enrique before finally going to bed.

























































Sunday:
We went to church. We were able to see 'Rique pass the sacrament. Then we went home and everyone ate a great meal before we headed back to Logan.