Winter Adventures in Idaho

On Thursday of last week, I got home from work at about 7:30 and was just sitting down to watch T.V. while I waited for Brad to get done with his last final at 8:30 and the lights dimmed and then all the power went out. I thought it was just in my house but I opened the door and the whole street was out. So Luckily I have a lot of candles, I think I ended up lighting about 30 candles. This is the coffee table I had about 7 or 8 candles on it, all the big ones and one that had 3 wicks. This is the room with the flash. It started getting cold so I had to pull out the big blankets!

This is my favorite part of my holiday decoration, it looks so cute but this is what it looked like when all the lights were out. I had the house so lit up from all the candles when Brad pulled up he thought we had power back.
Here it is all lit up. The stockings were made by Linda and the cute JOY blocks were made by Ashley for our sister presents! But I put the candles up and it looks pretty cute, just minus the mess! It's all of our games and movies!

This is the dining room! It's my wall art that had candles already on it! It was kind of fun to light all my candles but I had to light them all because I was kind of freaked out being by myself. Brad was in him last final and they were doing presentations, Brad ended up having to do his groups on a laptop and in the dark but he did well and his teacher was very understanding, he even gave them the option to not do it! He got home and we decided to go to Idaho Falls for dinner since power was out from Rigby all the way up to Teton. Which if you were driving is like a 2 hour stretch! When we got home at 11:15 the power was on. It was slightly scary but once Brad got home it was fun to go out and spend some away time together!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I really wanted to Blog like a week ago but I couldn't get my computer to upload my pictures but thanks to my amazing sister Shannon who told me to put one picture up at a time. So here it is! First off, I love Christmas! I love the colors, the smells, the food, and all the lights and decorations! I didn't realize how many decoration I had until I unloaded them all! But so much fun! Here's our Christmas tree all decorated and lit up, it's my favorite thing!! While in Washington for thanksgiving Lindsay gave me a paper to make an advent calander! It was so much fun to make and it was really crafty!! And we put 2 of our favorite things in it, York patties and cadbury eggs!

When we first moved down to Rexburg after getting married Linda sent a lot of extra things with us to have. So say hello to one of my villages! This is the first year I get to put it up since last year we were packing and getting ready to move! It's super cute and I love having it lit up!

One of my christmas presents from my mom this year (that I opened early) was this cross stitch that says Holly all framed and ready for a wall! It's super cute and looked so festive on my wall!
Last but not least I have started to make chocolate bread!! I only have 5 loaf pans so I've had to do a little more batches. I've done 3 but only have 12 loafs, Brad and I have had to test one from each batch, you know, to see if they are good or not! But I finished all my Christmas shopping today and wrapped them all! Now all we have to do is wait tile the big day!!!

Thanksgiving!

We got to Portland at about lunch time so we started off the trip with some wonderful Buffalo Wild Wings (Brad's favorite place to eat!). Then we got ourselves home to relax and get ready for the Blazers game. We all sat in different sections but after the half we went and sat with scott and ashley b/c there were open seats! The Blazers won... of course! We got chalupas because they scored over 100 points. What a good deal! Lindsay and Jeremy showed up on sunday morning which was the day we did Thanksgiving. Everything turned out perfect and tasted amazing. Linda made sure we all had our favorite thanksgiving food so everyone was happy! Brad and Scott went down to the Verizon store and got to meet Rudy Fernandez!! This is Brad when we first got the game on Saturday night!!

Some of the player hand prints on Basketballs.... I don't compare at all!! ha

Brad's compare a little better, but still holy smokes these guys hands are monsterous!!

Monday and Tuesday we just enjoyed being all together. The boys went to another Blazer game, while we did crafts and exchanged sister presents! We picked out favorite fabric, and Linda and Ashley made me an apron that is super adorable and I used it Thanksgiving at my house! We also made candy shakers for V-Day! Super cute. We went bowling as a family which was fun, even if Jeremy wasted us! The last thing we did was take family pictures together! It was a really fun trip that went by way too fast! We had a really good time and can't wait to go back! It was nice to finally see everyone all together.

Day to Montana!!

A while ago I was trying to find something fun that I could suprise Brad with. I went online to find Brad's favorite place to eat...Buffalo Wild Wings. But of course I can't keep it a suprise so we picked a day and spent the entire day is Bozman Montana. The drive up there was so pretty, the leaves are starting to turn so it was fun to see the patches all around West Yellowstone. We finally made it to Buffalo after getting lost and going through tons of construction. Brad and I were starving by this point so he got his wings and I got some wings and fried mushrooms (totally worth the drive). It was super good and so glad we went. After lunch/dinner we went and did some shopping. There were some fun shops but the best part was the whole day just me and Brad!

This was the face I wanted to see! It's amazing what a favorite food can do to a person!

Our drive home was a little later than we planned but it was wonderful to be able to watch the sunset and the colors in the clouds! It was so nice!

I love sunsets and was feeling so blessed to have some good quality time with Brad. With school and work we've learned to enjoy every second together, and love the whole days we can spend together! So in response to Shannon's blog. I'm blessed and thankful for Brad and for the effort he makes to spend time with me, even though he has so much going on, and I love him for that.

Something Old, Something New, Something... Gray?

I love my car, it just sometimes doesn't like me. Last Winter when it first started getting cold, the Breeze woulnd't want to start, so we gave it a new battery. It was good all summer but winter has decided to come a little earlier and my car just straight wouldn't start and when it did start was struggling to stay on. So, Brad and I started doing some car shopping. We then sped things up just a bit when the breeze caught on to what we were doing... trying to replace it. The Breeze started shuddering and not starting at all making me very late to work, and making Brad come get me. So we finally had to say our good-byes and say hello to our new car!! On the way to pick up the new car and trade in the Breeze I called the previous driver of the Breeze so she could say her good-byes as well. Jules and I have had many many memories in that car! She was so fun with the funniest name!

Say Hello to our 2005 Dodge Durango Hemi. Brad and I wanted a little newer car, and something bigger that could someday carry children. It's so fun to drive it's my fun...dare I say it Mom...."Zippy Car"! It's fully loaded and we got a great deal because apparently people aren't buying cars!

This is the front of the car... when Brad was driving behind me it looked like a truck! Crazy!

This is the start of our road trip to montanta!!! More to come......

Spud Day!!!!

As most everyone knows I've lived on and off in Idaho for about 3 years now. In my very first apartment I have 5 roommates.. 4 out of the 5 were from somewhere in Idaho. The one I became closest to was from Shelly, Idaho about 30 to 40 mins from Rexburg. After a week of knowing Crissa Rae she invited me to Shelly's main event... Spud Day! It was so much fun. You go to the parade first and then after in the park you get a free baked potato with the works and there's a big carnival. I now love going to Spud Day I try to go every year. This year we got down there and didn't even have to wait long for the parade! And got great seats. The years before it's always been freezing down there, my first year it was 40 degrees at the parade, this year it was more like 70 or 80... super hot! One of Brad's friends from the Pharmacy came with us and brought his daughter! She was a lot of fun to have around!

This is the "Biggest Potato" I have no idea if it's real or not, I doubt it, but mashed potatoes would be cover in our house for life.

Brad and I have been very into doing things around Idaho, We're trying to take advatage of what we have around us. (This weekend we are hoping to go to Yellowstone and then up to Montana for the day.. There's a Buffalo Wild Wings there!!)

I have the worlds tiniest blatter so while there was a gap in the parade I ran to the bathroom. Brad thinking he's funny playing "paparazzi" I was slightly embarrassed but it was kinda fun he sat and waited until I came out...Boys.One thing I totally miss about Orange County is OCTFCU....Doesn't this totally look like the debit card picture!! It totally made me laugh when while it drove by. Anyways, it was really hot and Brad's friend didn't want to stay long so we walked about the booths and headed home! But next year I would like to stay from the tug-of-war game... (the middle is full of mashed potatoes that get dumped by a giant cement truck! Super cool!) But now you all know, Idahoans(?) have great pride in their potatoes!!

Something New and Something to Confess.....

It's been ages since I have blogged and I am sorry for that, especially because I'm slightly embarrassed that this is what I have been up too... Entertaining myself with pictures of me!! I start getting bored when I'm home alone while Brad is at work so out comes the camera, most get deleted and never spoken about... (not even Brad knows I sit home and do this) But I'm coming clean and giving you a peek! I really liked my hair this day... that was the last day I have.. I really miss my long hair and hope I can be back to that by next summer! So enjoy me...enjoying me!

I love the fishy face... It's one of my favorites to make. Little kids at work like this one too!

I was confessing my picture taking to Brad and decided he needed to join in the guilty pleasure! Luckily he just thought it was funny that I didn't tell him about these pictures for weeks, I liked them but I felt so shallow! ha.. But I've accepted it now, I looked good that day!

My new project is making my room my luxurious jungle themed room! I have a fun rug that is fancy and jungly? Anyways, mom helped me make my head board but we discovered my sewing machine doesn't work so I'm in the process of finding a place to get me a new one! So he is the first part of the project. I still have a lot of ideas and if you have any suggestions please let me know... but remember.. I'm on a budget.. a very cheap one! ha

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!!!

So all the girls met down in St. George for some shopping, eating and a lot of talking!! It was so fun to have just the girls all together in one hotel room!! We did a lot of shopping, I was proud of myself for doing mostly window shopping...(well Brad was, I just couldn't find anything I really wanted! ha) Here's all the sisters doing some shopping outside of Zion, it was a lot of fun! Mom has a some pretty stone dishes but some of them have a few chips so we went up to the shop she got them at and picked up some more. This was the waiting process during that little shopping time! ha

Mom needed a few things from the Walgreen's so we popped in.... and get what we found?!?!?......BUBBLE TEE SHIRTS!!!! Wow... I hadn't seen one of those since like middle school and don't understand why they are still being sold!! haha But they do make for a good laugh!! haha

Shannon is the best sister, and let me tell you why... 2 words... BANANA GRAMS!!! I could not get enough of this game!! I never won, and I don't even care because it was so much fun!! Never ever got old!

Luckily St. George is the last stop for an IN N' OUT!!!!! I love in n' out, growing up in California it just becomes a norm, but being away has made it a treat! And it definately was! And we were lucky enough to get a table! haha

Ha Ha Ha I love this... Some stores just have the most random things! I sent a picture of this card to brad and told him it was going to be his anniversary card this next year! haha Really who would see that card and say, "Wow, this is so romantic, I have to have it! haha" So funny!

All and all this was such a fun trip! It was so nice to see all of my sisters and my mom. We got to swim together and hang out! I was definately not ready to go home but Shannon's car took care of that wish. On the morning we went to leave we got 15 mins out and the car's radiator cracked... So we got towed at about 1030, and didn't leave St. George til about 630 that night... I guess in a round about way my wish! Ha It was such an adventure and I'm glad we were all together!! ps. My new e-mail address is bradandmel2008@yahoo.com make the change friends!

Lions and Tigers and Sloth Bears!

The other day someone Brad works with told him that there was a fun new exhibit of Sloth Bears at the zoo in Idaho Falls. So since we had the day off together we decided it would be fun to go check it out. It's just a small local zoo and it was only $5 to get in! Who can pass that up? Not us! This is me in front of the flamingos. There was one in there that was gray instead of pink and the other pink flamingos were not too happy he was in there with them. It looked a little discriminatory. Who knew the story of the ugly duckling would come to pass in the flamingo pen.

This is one of the two very entertaining sloth bears. When we got to the zoo they said it would be closed, and we were bummed we probably wouldn't be able to see them since that was the reason we went. But low and behold, they were back in their pen when we got there! They were a lot of fun to watch because they played in the water, climbed on their tree, and just ran around being active. They look kind of funny too because they have really long, skinny arms and legs compared to normal bears and also have wild hair around their faces.

It was exciting for us to see the lion because we both haven't seen one since we were little since the Portland Zoo doesn't have lions and I haven't been to the zoo since the San Diego Zoo years ago.

This is a kucaburra. They are from Australia and Brad was very excited to see one for some reason. I think because he has never seen one before. But hey, it looks cool! When Brad went to take a picture of it, it struck this pose from it's normal sitting position. It's almost as if he knew....

Here's the peacock. I was really excited to see this because I had never seen one with it's feathers up in real life. It was fun watching it turn around in circles every once in awhile and strut around. Brad had seen this before because he got too close to one on a zoo field trip in high school, haha!

This baby camel is only 6 weeks old. They were training it walk around with its leash so we got to watch it stumble around. It was the cutest thing!

This one is a red panda. It's not nearly as big as the panda you would normally think of. We loved this close up picture because you can see its cute face. Further away you can tell it's in the panda family by its body shape.

The penguins were one of the first exhibits we saw. It was a lot of fun because they just keep them outside next to their pool and they can come right up next to the fence. Brad got a picture of one that was pretty close to us, but the bushes covered most of its body. We stood around and watched for awhile because we thought this one would jump into the water any moment, but alas, it did not.

This was one of Brad's favorite spots. He loved seeing the pelicans and all the different diving ducks.

We did get to see the monkeys and they were a lot of fun and very interactive, but our camera was dead by the time we got to them. It was fun seeing their human-like mannerisms like relaxing on the grass, window gazing, and nervous nail-biting.

All in all it was a really fun time at the zoo. We can't wait to go back again.....

Maybe with Shannon and the boys.... Hmmmm???

I'm A True Olson Now!!!

I have finally made my own Grandma Olson Sour Cream Sugar Cookies!!! They were so much fun, but me being silly made a double batch because I thought there wouldn't been enough...oh boy was I wrong. It took me two days to do!! The first half of the double batch was for the 4 of us to decorate and eat for fun!
Then the next day I made the second batch and made them fun and cute and gave out a bunch to a bunch of friends! It was so fun to go and deliver the cookies... It brought back memories from delivering A LOT of chocolate bread! But it was fun to visit with friends since we haven't really had anyone over in the last well.. month and a half. We did big and small hearts and small stars! Since it was the day after Memorial Day... it works!

Here is some of the done ones, we did yellow, blue and red!

This is me decorating! It was a lot of fun. Josh and Kristal had never done it before so I think they enjoyed it as well.