The Boys of Fall

John started coaching high school football this year. He has done it one other time in the past, and really missed it, so this year he decided to get involved again. He coaches the freshmen team at Juan Diego High School and LOVES it! I got to go watch him in action at his first game last week -- and his team won 41-6 against Manti. I'm so glad he's found something he loves to do, and even though he's super busy with coaching, plus work and school, he is having a lot of fun. Here's some pics from the team's first game!

Telling the boys to "huddle up"

John watching from the side as the boys get ready for a play.

This is John in his dorky coaching hat...haha

Oktoberfest!

Last weekend John and I decided to check out Oktoberfest up at Snowbird. It was a lot of fun. We got to see some cool performances from some German-inspired bands, etc. and enjoy the perfect weather up in the canyon!

Oktoberfest! Yay!

Hanging out in the tent listening to the band!

 

The band that was performing...they had two accordions. Very cool!

This guy was the world yo-yo champ in the 90s. He was way fun to watch.

This is one of those horn things they take to the top of the mountain and yodel into.

These two cute old people were the best dancers! They were so much fun
to watch and I loved their cute German-inspired outfits.

John also entered a nail hammering contest while we were there. It's a German
game they play to see who's the strongest and fastest. John's team won! I tried to upload the
video but it won't work for some reason so maybe some other time I'll get it posted up.

100 Cupcakes

Can you guess what this blog post is about?? That's right...I baked 100 cupcakes!

I didn't do it just because though, I did it for one of my good friends/co-worker's weddings. At first I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but it was actually a lot of fun. My kitchen was a disaster zone for a couple of days, but other than that it was a successful venture!

This is me and Becky! So excited for her to be a newlywed!

One of the types of cupcakes I did for their wedding - we thought this fun
design would go perfect with her luau theme. These are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting!

This is another type I did for the wedding...pina colada cupcakes with coconut
cream frosting. They were one of my favorite flavors I've tried so far.
They also worked great for her luau theme.

Here are the cupcakes in all their glory at Becky & Charlie's wedding. I did not make the
cute beach scene with Mickey & Minnie, but all the surrounding cupcakes are mine.

 I was so flattered that Becky & Charlie asked me to be the baker for their wedding because baking is something I've really gotten into the last few years and I was excited to have lots of people try my cupcakes. Who knows...this may turn into a future business venture! Haha - but for now, it's just a fun hobby and an excuse to experiment with some new cupcake flavors. :)

Duck Creek 2011

Duck Creek is a place my family and I go camping at every few years, and it's always a great time. This year was no exception...although it did rain a lot more than I would have liked! We spent five days in the great outdoors doing lots of fun stuff. We went hiking, fishing, played games, hung out around the fire, etc.

The following is a sampling of our trip. Between me, my sister and my aunt we took a million photos. I don't want to bore everyone with all of them, so check out the rest on Facebook if you're interested!

Sweet baby Olivia!

Grandma & Grandpa sitting by the fire

Navajo Lake

Fishing at Aspen Mirror Lake

John with one of his many fish that he caught!

Sheldon with one of his many fish!

Haha...I had to put up this pic of Alexander digging for gold.
And Tremayne is just sitting there watching him! So funny.

Some of us hanging out by the fire!

 

Me and John at Aspen Mirror Lake

Standing on a bridge over a pretty stream...full of fish!

Adriana with Pandora & Socrates...our guard dogs!

John and I before we hiked up to Cascade Falls

The falls! It was a beautiful hike!

All of us on our way up the mountain to the falls...we had to stop for a breather!

Mammoth Cave

The inch worm that entertained the kids for hours...haha

Some of us exploring the Ice Cave...yes, that is snow they are standing on!

Kara & Sheldon making us breakfast

John playing with the bat Sheldon carved out of a branch. It worked pretty good!

Family Par-tay!

In July it was my cousin Loghan's birthday....along with John's, my Grandpa's, and my aunt's birthdays. Because we have so many birthdays in July we decided to get together to have a party for Loghan and celebrate with everyone. We had a TON of fun. After we had dinner, everyone opened gifts and then we played some fun games. The photos speak for themselves...so I don't need to write much more! :)

Loghan opening her gifts! She was the perfect little hostess throughout the night.
She made sure everyone was having a good time and that they had everything they
needed (drinks, napkins, etc.). So cute!

One of the games we played - we had to put vaseline on our noses and use our
noses only to pick up cotton balls and put them into a cup. A lot harder than you think!
John was the champ of this game.

Another one of the fun games - we had to put a quarter between our knees and
walk it over to a cup and drop it in. Also very hard! My Grandpa was the best at it -
he looked like a penguin because of the way he was walking!

Cute Alexander and Loghan getting ready to light the candles on the cake!

Tremayne, Gage, Adriana and Breiton. Gage is Adriana's boyfriend....I still think she's
too young for one of those, haha. Also, Breition has to be the best photo bomber ever!

Me, my Grandma and baby Olivia. This is my Grandma with her
oldest and youngest grandchildren. What a gap! Haha.

Playing Catch Up

Wow, it's been like two months since I last blogged...oops! We have had a super busy summer so it's been hard to find the time/motivation to blog, but my goal is to get all caught up tonight since I have some free time!

This summer has flown by, but we have had SO much fun! I already blogged about some of our fun trips earlier this summer, but since then we've had a couple more fun adventures and have been keeping busy with friends, work, school, and lately football coaching for John. Anyway, I'll discuss each of those in their own blog posts.

On a more general note, we have started looking at homes. We aren't getting serious yet, but I think within the next six months we will be ready to really start looking and maybe even buy a home! It's crazy to think about, but we are really excited for the next chapter of our lives together. I love our apartment though...it's so cozy and cute and when we do eventually move out, it's going to be a sad day. We have so many good memories here!

I realized I haven't mentioned anything about our working out/eating healthy routine for a few months. We were super gung-ho about it for the first few months of the year, but now that we're both around where we want to be, we've slacked a little - not good! I still have about 2-3 pounds I'd like to lose, and John says he'd like to lose 7 more (which is crazy I think!). We'll have to get back on the wagon here and keep up the hard work especially because the holidays will be here before we know it! We have really enjoyed being able to be outside and be active by hiking and swimming. I'll miss that when winter rolls around.

Let's see...not a whole lot else to talk about since I'm going to post about everything else in other blogs....but, we are going to Las Vegas next weekend!! YESSS! I'm so excited. We have a lot of great things planned, like visiting with some good friends, going to see my Dad's memorial at Nellis AFB, seeing Beatles LOVE, golfing, and hanging out on the Strip. More on that in a couple of weeks after we return! :)

P.S.  I know I still haven't updated our recipe or restaurant review sections...I'll get around to it soon...I swear!!