Hubble Exhibit

Tonight was fun. We took the fam over to the Idaho Falls Temple Visitors Center. Right now they have an exhibit going on featuring Hubble Space Telescope photography. The images from space were enlarged up to 6-by-8 feet so people can see the images up close. The pictures are absolutely beautiful. It is hard to believe that they are photographs and not paintings.

Then we walked around the temple grounds and looked at all of the beautiful flowers.

Nate is feeling a little better every day. Hopefully he will be able to drive again later next week.

It was a nice way to end a LONG day of breaking up fights and picking up messes. :)

Memory Lane

A few weeks ago Nate had to go to Boise to do some work. While he was there my mom handed him a HUGE box full of STUFF from my youth.
We had a great laugh going through this box that contained all sorts of things from birth up through college. There were cards from my 1st birthday, my very fist wallet (Hello Kitty), lots of cheer stuff, and even some pictures from the college days.
Here are a few items to share:

1st off: A picture of my Great-Grandma and Grandpa Carlson. They were modern day pioneers. They were converted to the church by listening to some missionaries in Sweden and decided that they needed to pack up their few items and their 2 young children and head to Salt Lake to be near the saints. They boarded a ship for America and they never returned. They couldn't speak English and they never saw their parents again. They were amazing and very funny people and I miss them. I thought it was ironic I cam across this picture so close to pioneer day because whenever I think of pioneers...they are the first people that come to my mind.

Next is a picture of me with my dad at a girl scout daddy daughter dance. And YOU thought YOU had big bangs in the 80's. Why didn't anyone tell me I look like an absolute IDIOT!  My bangs are bigger then my face! Haha! YIKES! Of course...my dad looks about the same after all of these years. I hope I get some of those youthful genes.

Last is my FAVORITE thing. There was a time when I was a little undecided about Nathan and whether or not he was the man for me. I was in Hawaii with my dear friend Marcy and her family and I contemplated a lot about Nathan the whole time I was gone. Did I love him? Were we more then just good friends? Was I willing to give this relationship a fighting chance?

On my way back from Hawaii I had a layover in Salt Lake. When I walked off the airplane Nate was standing there holding THIS sign:

I took one look at this silly sign and the handsome young man holding it and I knew.....I KNEW that I loved him and that there was NO one else for me. All of the questions just disappeared and I never looked back.
This dumb poster was a major turning point and I am so happy that I didn't throw it away.

What goes fast....eventually comes down.

I've had a few days in my life that I wish I could just REWIND. Days I would do anything to just START OVER from the beginning. Saturday was one of those days. I was so excited to go to Boise...to cheer Nate on at his race and to see my friends this weekend. Nate and I drove separate cars over to Boise so that I could stay a few extra days. We had all sorts of fun things planned....Roaring Springs with friends, lunches, boating, swimming, a few days to just enjoy the things that I miss so much now that we are over here.

We headed downtown to the race. My friend Alison made me these adorable flags to cheer Nate on. She made some for her husband and another biking friend as well.  ABSOLUTELY DARLING!

I have such thoughtful and fun friends....I miss seeing them every day.

The race was 40 minutes in 100 degree temps. I just kept praying over and over again that Nate wouldn't get hurt. I don't care if he comes in DEAD LAST as long as he isn't hurt. Here is the start of the race:

He was doing SO well...feeling great with 8 laps to go:

Then IT happened.

A guy from Idaho Falls (go figure) who was very inexperienced cut right out in front of Nate's line on a straight away. It was like slow motion. Bikes flying...Nate dragging. All of this happened RIGHT smack in front of us. All I could do was scream. It was absolutely terrifying 75 guys in the race and 3 fell.

 Nate got the worst of it.

They hauled him off to the tent and checked him over.

He was covered in road rash and had pain in his hip and shoulder They scrubbed out all of his road rash until it bled. SO gross..They thought something may have happened to his ACL and they told us we needed to head over to the ER.

A couple of X-rays and 2 hours later we find out he broke his collarbone. Thankfully his shoulder is ok. I was bracing for surgery or something along those lines.

He is sore but he'll live.

I had to drive him back home because he can't drive his car especially since it has a stick shift. He had to be back at work on Monday morning.

Thankfully my dad will drive his car back over here for us.

I'm trying so hard to be forgiving. I'm so MAD. Mad that he fell, mad at the dumb guy who cut in front of him, mad we had to take ANOTHER trip to the ER, mad that I don't get to do all of the fun things I had planned.

Basically.....I'm thowing my own pity party.

I knew this day would happen eventually....EVERYONE who rides a bike seems to fall at one time or another. I just really wish it hadn't happend on this particular trip........

2-9 and feeling fine!

I woke up this morning with 3 boys in my bed. As Nate kissed me goodbye the boys were ready to plan out what we were going to do for my 29th birthday. I asked them if they thought I was old. They laughed and said, "NO WAY Mom!" Very good answer my sons.
We brainstormed. A movie. The zoo. A picnic at the park. Go out for lunch. The amusement park. Cake....definitely cake. Jump on the trampoline. (Landon's idea)
Then I suggested that we pack up a lunch and venture up to see the Mesa Falls I have heard about. They thought it was an okay idea. They weren't thrilled about having to drive an hour away. They only agreed to it because I wanted to do it. And it is MY birthday after all.
As soon as we got there though, they were VERY pleased with our idea. Mesa Falls is absolutely spectacular!
What a perfect birthday spent with my little men.

I received so many phone calls, texts, emails and even had a couple of visitors. I have felt very loved and appreciated today. It was a low key day but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It is funny how the older I get the less I care about my birthday. I guess I'm ACTUALLY growing up. Making a special memory with my boys today was the best birthday present I could want. None of my gifts were wrapped this year but the truth is....the best gifts in life aren't THINGS.

Allan Butler Race

Saturday was the Allan Butler Criterium Race in downtown Idaho Falls. Nate took 2nd place in it last year and was all geared up to take it all this year.
The race started with a kids race. SO fun! Landon and the twins (our cousins) raced first and then Dallin, Parker and Makayla raced next. It was fun to see the kids in their shirts and they LOVED their medals!

Nate did GREAT. He had 20 family members there cheering him on with every lap. No one had a louder cheering section! These races always scare me a little bit as the guys come ripping around the corners at crazy speeds. Nate was leading with 2 laps to go on a solo break when he realized he was going to get caught.  He waited for the 4 chasers and got in line for the final bunch sprint.  Coming around the last corner he had to tap his brakes just a bit. This slowed him down enough that he couldn't close the gap and caused him to get 4th place. He was disappointed but happy overall with how everything went. I was just thrilled that he didn't get hurt. (Such a mom thing to say!)

The proud wife:

Looking forward to the Twilight race this weekend in Boise! YAY! I'm ready to go "home" and see my fam and friends and cheer my sexy spandex wearing man ON!

Business is BOOMING at Hotel Starnes!

I love that people keep stopping by to see us over here in the EAST. Our friends the Dallings came by to say hi. We love seeing our Boise friends and were thrilled they haven't forgotten us yet!

We've had non stop family visitors the past 10 days and it has been WONDERFUL! I'm going through visitor withdrawl already. My brother stayed a couple of days after the 4th and we had a fun time with him at the zoo.

The Jones fam and the Pitcher fam came the day after my parents left and it has been a non stop party ever since!
We had birthday BBQ's, date nights, crazy ipod idol games, hot days boating up at the lake, and we even had time for a bike race. (That post for tomorrow)
Kels and Logan and Nate and I went to Famous Dave's for Logan's birthday. SOOOOO good! A new favorite for sure! We went to the BEST ice cream place for dessert. It's called Reed's Dairy. It has been ranked best in the nation and I can see why! AMAZING.

Ashley and Justin and all of the cousins came the next day. We went up to Ririe/Blacktail Lake and had a blast boating. The lake is so close to our house it is wonderful. It looks a little bit like Lucky Peak too which was fun. The kids loved tubing and we enjoyed some wakeboarding and kneeboarding. Kneeboarding....my brothers got a kick out of that. They wouldn't be caught dead kneeboarding.

We had a BBQ with all of the "extended" cousins as well. It was fun getting all of the kids together.

 We attempted to have the kids camp out on the trampoline one night but it only lasted until about 10pm. No one could quiet down...imagine that?

I absolutely LOVE the summer....it is zipping by so stinkin fast. I wish it would just SLOW down a little! :)

4th of July Weekend

My family came over from Boise to enjoy the festivities! We had a BBQ and headed over to Leatherby's! (Of course!)

Then we came home and did some fireworks in front of the house. We pulled out the ladder like we always do to make the fireworks even bigger! It's a silly tradition but we love it! We had a few neighbors over and it was tons of fun. Nothing like watching your money go up in flames!

On Saturday the guys played some golf while the girls went shopping. Then we headed over to Idaho Falls downtown to stake out our spot for the fireworks show. We were there 5 full hours early but people were already EVERYWHERE. We played cards and farkle and enjoyed a picnic on the banks of the Snake River. It was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect.

We only had one major meltdown which I thought was pretty good since we were there for such a long time:

The show didn't disappoint. It is rumored to be the best fireworks show east of the Mississippi. I love the 4th! Always have, always will!

Lots more fun to come this week!

Ross Park

Yesterday we went over to Pokey to check out Ross Park. It was a great way to stay cool on a very hot day. We're glad we went right when it opened....by 3:00 we were done and there was still a  HUGE line (probably 100 people) still trying to get in. Idaho Falls NEEDS a waterpark! Maybe I'll open one....it would be a gold mine!

I can't wait for the weekend! As always....I'm LOVING the 4th of July! Squeeeeeeeee! Family and more family coming up to see us....can't wait!