Responsibility......What's that?
January 30-Feb 2

My first concert was when I was 14 and it was MXPX. My first experience with an old venue, sweaty people, smoke clouds, mosh pits and a range of language I wasn't used to, though I had a blast. In fact, I got into a fight with a girl who probably woulda killed me but I was there with my brothers so they were able to save me, while still allowing me to feel tough with at least one punch to the girl.

I went to a few more MXPX concerts which I loved and was sad when I heard they weren't going to play anymore. So I was so excited when my cousin Tyler said they were doing a reunion tour and were stopping in Colorado. Well I'm not a groupie but any reason to travel is good for me! So Mike, Michelle and I flew out to visit Tyler and see Denver Colorado. Sadly Dan couldn't go, he had to study hard for his CPA exams and his test was right around the corner.

We flew in on Thursday night, ate at a local Mexican dive and headed to the concert. It started out slow and I wondered if I was too old for this stuff but once they played and we hit the mosh pit I had a blast, though my body feels it a lot more than when I was 14.

Us with the lead singer of the band (Mike)

 

Michelle's first MXPX concert!

The next day we drove through the Rocky Mountains exploring, seeing wildlife and stopping at the famous Stanley Hotel. It is where Steven King got his inspiration for the Shining and also where Dumb and Dumber was filmed.  It's old and a little creepy but has always been on my bucket list, now to only stay the night!

Cool ice sculpture from our drive!

 

The Shining Hotel!

  

 

It was fun to see all the wildlife  

 

 

It was supposed to be an amazing view but there was crazy fog....still looked cool though

 

Saturday we went to a natural history museum which was actually a lot of fun and it was so cool to explore. We spent a few hours there then headed to see the Denver Avalanche Hockey team, part of the NHL. After that we walked all around Denver taking it all in. Sadly we had to leave on Sunday but it was an awesome weekend getaway to see our cousin...and act like a 14 year old again.

Thanks for a great weekend Tyler!

Having fun at the Museum of Nature and Science 

Tyler the only one successful at docking the space shuttle

 

Mike and Michelle

 

Michelle and LJ

Pepsi Center NHL game:

Denver Avalanche vs Buffalo Sabres

Birthday Extravaganza
January 19, 2014

Lucky for us, Dan's birthday always falls on the long weekend in January. This time the whole family was able to make it up to the cabin to celebrate. It was the perfect way to start out the New Year and for Dan to make his big 2-9 debut! That's right...Dan is officially an old man at 29, one more year left and I might have to start looking for a younger model ;), kidding of course ha ha.

We had so much fun with everyone there, the weather was beautiful and perfect and I felt as if no time was wasted. We made an awesome sledding hill with a jump at the bottom that made more than one person cry. Dan also made a really cool ice igloo. I started to help but gave up and watched from the hot tub. We even made it snowmobiling. Except for the part where our little niece decided to try swinging from the kids rope with her teeth (she lost two of them), it was an amazing weekend and a perfect way to celebrate Dan's birthday. Love that guy!

Cute Olivia ready to play in the snow!

 

Taislee is so adorable!

 

Our sweet jump we made! 

 

 

Noah fell asleep while everyone went snow mobiling

Dan cooking up some Carne Asada

 

The kids loved the play room

 

Ciana decided to use her teeth to swing from the rope.....she didn't like it

 

Noah is getting so big!

 

La Familia de Flores

Happy Birthday Ciana and Dan!

 

Mexican tradition to smash their face into the cake

 

Jamee, McCoy, Rique, Taislee and Enrique...such a cute family! 

 

Viejo y su mujer ;)

Christmas Break 2013

Holidays! I love them! The best two weeks of the year are over Christmas. I always get so excited about the Christmas break. The time is coming where we will not be able to have so much time off but this year Dan and I were able to finagle our leave time to work out so we had a little over a week off. We started out on Friday December 20, 2013 for the Bishop gift exchange then afterwards we headed straight to St.George where we spent the rest of the time. I love being with our families whether in St. George or Farmington. We usually only get a short weekend together so it was so much fun to be able to spend all that time with the family.

We went hiking, slacklining, biking and more. We stayed up way too late every night laughing, watching movies, and playing games. We ate way too much food for any human, I think I am still in a sugar daze. 

Nativity show at Tuacahn

 

La Familia

 

Taislee and LJ at the park

 Dan Teaching Taislee how to ride her new bike

 

I mustache you a question

 

Dan Starting out on the highline...

 

The fall...

 Hectors turn

 LJ's attempt

 Failed

 

Family Hike

THANKSGIVING
 November 27-30

Who doesn't love Thanksgiving? I was so excited to get the party started. It was a crazy week at work so I counted down the minutes! Dan was taking his first of a series of terribly hard tests in order to get his CPA. 7PM on Wednesday we were ready to get the party started!

Thursday, day of thanks! Kelsi, Dan and I had to get up early so that we could run the 5k Turkey trot for Kelsi's school. It was not our fastest time by far but it was a good way to get the day started! Afterward we had an impromptu family Turkey bowl football game. I'm terrible but I do enjoy a good game. Afterward we of course ate, and ate, and partied and ate and played some more.

Friday we did some shopping and played with the kids and that night we had our bi annual Thanksgiving family hockey game! Every other year the family rents out the ice and plays a game of hockey, even the kids have their own little goals. We had dessert with our extended family.

The rest of the week we just hung out and had good quality family time! It went by far too fast but Christmas is right around the corner. The tree is up and cookies have been made!

Gun Show & Half Marathon
November 15-16

Friday night we went to a fundraiser for AMAR, it is to help Iraqi children. It was a unique fundraiser but I thought it was really cool. We were able to shoot some amazing guns and see a 500 pound pumpkin explode. I enjoy shooting but am not a master gunman so it was really fun to see my dad, Bryan and Dan get excited about them.

The Grandmaster shot the gun first...it was a lot louder than we anticipated

 Brent getting ready to shoot the big gun!

 It is always fun trying out new things!

 Kelsi found the camera

 Dan Shooting another gun, I shot it as well, it's so accurate I finally hit a target ha ha

 

We were able to get a tour of the convoy

 This gun was HUGE!

 Dan was a perfect shot with the machine gun, Bryan got a big kick back ha ha

The Great Pumpkin meets its demise!

 

We spotted a train and had to climb aboard. Kelsi was scared we would get caught

Saturday we finished our first ever half marathon. Honestly I never thought we would do one or that I could possibly run that much since I have always hated running. I dreaded it, but we got there and once it started I started to feel better about it. Around miles 7-9 our knees were hurting but we pushed on and we finished! The last two miles seemed endless since we pushed ourselves. Dan finished far ahead of me at 1 hour and 54 minutes, I came in at 2 hours and 12 minutes for a total of 13.2 miles! It was a blast and we have decided we will be doing more! We are accomplishing things we never thought we would do so I am excited to see how far we can push ourselves!

We did it! We were cold, wet and sore but it was so worth it!

 

Boys Trip/Xavier Baptism
November 1-3

Dan had a boys trip planned with all the boys in my family to go to St. George for a weekend and last minute we found out our nephew Xavier was getting baptized and Dan was requested to baptize him. So Dan drove with the boys and I drove by myself to St. George where we made both events happen. He had a good time with the boys, they went shooting, golfing, to Enders Game and ate a lot. I spent the weekend with the Flores family helping with the baptism. It was a great weekend and we are so proud of cute little Xavier! They were able to bless their little boy Noah as well that same weekend so we got a lot accomplished!

The boys out to eat

 Blowing stuff up....such boys

 

Cute Xavier...couldn't find one from the baptism