Update:

For those that have been wondering about my dad's surgery, it went well. I talked to my dad on the phone yesterday and (one day after surgery) he sounded so great! He is still on painkillers right now though, so I am sure that later will be harder. I got a flight to Salt Lake tomorrow, I can't wait to be with everyone tomorrow night and see my dad!!

Winter in Houston

Ok, so I know what you are all thinking. There really isn't a winter in Houston. Right? That is exactly what I thought!!! I would have stood by that as well, even after a weekend of ice skating on the OUTDOORS rink downtown. It has been in the 70 degree range since it cooled down in Septmember. But yesterday, to my utter amazement, IT WAS FREEZING!!! Literally, it was freezing. I went out in a hurry to get into my car to meet an appointment, hair still wet pulled up into a bun, light jacket, and of course my flip flops. I thought I had stepped out out into Utah! As I drove passed the sign that has the time and temperature I couldn't believe my eyes! 34 degrees!!! What!! It was 79 degrees the day before!!! After meeting my appointment for lunch I then rushed home to change into something warmer before I went to work. On my way to work it was raining slightly, or was it? Were those little snowflakes? Couldn't be. And then it happened. I got to work and the flurries of BIG snowflakes started! I could not believe it! All of the kids at gymnastics were going crazy! Trying to run outside, in leotards and nothing else!! They were hilarious! I don't think that most of them had seen snow like that! It was very exciting, not only for them, but for me as well. It snowed like that the whole time I was at work, I was even excited to have my car in a small blanket of snow when I got off. Then last night Chris and I bundled up and went to the Sam Houston Park to walk around in the big fluffy snowflakes that were still falling. It was very beautiful to be standing in the middle of the deserted park, the silence of the snow falling around us and the trees. Looking at the steam coming off of the small duck lake by the zoo. Very peaceful. And to see it falling on all of the high rises in the distance was also very cool. I even got to throw some snowballs at Chris! Unfortunately, I did not have a camera with me because I left mine at my in laws over Thanksgiving, but I got a couple of pictures from my friend Nicole that we went ice skating with the other day. The snow was short lived, almost like a dream. I woke up this morning to sun shining through my window----and it is 70 degrees again today. Crazy. But the snow thought lingers like an early Christmas Present! Merry Christmas to me!!!

Not a great picture, but you get the idea----It is snowing.

My friend Nicole and I standing in line getting ready to ice skate outdoors in Houston.Chris is much faster than me. It took me awhile to get my ice skates on.

You can't see it in this picture, but we thought it was hilarious that we were ice skating past a standing marsh every lap. Funny.

Since my back surgery I have lost a lot of my balancing capabilities, so Chris is trying to re teach me how to ice skate. I was just worried the whole time I was going to fall and hurt my back or fall and hurt my shoulder. Either way it would have been bad. Luckily, I kept balance enough not to do either!!!

A Picture Tag

So, I was tagged once again....But it is not too bad, even I can do this one. I am supposed to go to my pictures and get the 4th picture in my 4th folder. Hopefully it is not too embarrassing............

So....This is back in 2006. I was in Utah just at the right time to go to the Cache County Fair! I don't really know what I am doing in this picture, maybe trying to kiss the pig......not sure.......

Anywho, I tag:

Marcie

Jesse

Sandy

Carli

and Melese

Mostly because I am hoping to see more pictures of their new babies!!!!!

One Month!!!!

Just starting the Countdown! In one month Chris and I will be leaving on a jetplane to Asia! While there we will be indulging in Hong Kong's national pastime of:

SHOPPING!!!!!

(This is an actual picture Chirs took while in Hong Kong 2 years ago! There are so many people shopping!!!)


Then we are off to Tokyo for some fun time with Chris's friend Greg and his family. We are hoping to have a great time there as well!!

The Weekend

We had a busy weekend! I threw a baby shower for my friend Tiffany. Which was fun, but I was nervous since I don't really have any experience in that area. But it turned out well, and I of course bought too much food!! I always do that. I think I get that from my mom!

We also had company for the weekend. Chris's friend JP came to visit, we saw the James Bond movie (VERY GOOD!) and ate Tex Mex. Then Chris's other friend Nate came into town as well so Chris, Jp, Nate, Dave and Adam (all friends growing up in Michigan) had a City Slickers day while Adams wife and I went to the baby Shower. They went to a shooting range to shoot guns, and then they all went horse riding. I wanted to post some of the pictures of them shooting guns, but Chris didn't send me any pictures from his phone. I was also mad he didn't get any horse riding pictures. None of them have ever rode horses so they found a little farm where they were taken on a two hour horse ride. They were all embarassed because the owners made them wear little helmets and made them WALK ONLY in figure eights for two hours!!! Ha ha ha!! Looks like they will all have to go on a real horse ride some time!!

Then after all of that we went to Daves house for some good Texas brisket and Ribs. Then the boys played Guitar hero World Tour while we girls gave ourselves pedicures. Not a bad Saturday night!!! Too bad our friends had to leave today. Now it is back to business! Chris leaves tonight for a business trip (again!!) and I have to work all week! Bummer!!

I was Tagged

Kristina Tagged me quite awhile ago, and I just haven't had the time to to it, but tonight I do so here goes!

Eight tv shows I like to watch

1- Dancing with the stars

2- Amazing Race

3- The Office

4- 30 Rock

5- The Colbert Report

6- The Daily Show with Jon Stewert

7- Samantah Who?

8 - The Simpsons

Eight things that happened yesterday

1- I slept in because I wasn't feeling well

2- Chris brought me breakfast (thus more laying in bed)

3- Took my book, The Host (much better than people led me to believe), back to the library

4- Walked around REI while Chris bought a present for his friend Dave's birthday

5- Went to Best Buy to see if they had Guitar Hero World Tour by some miracle, they didn't

6- Met our Friends Dave and Jasmin for dinner at Colina's Restaurant for Daves Birthday.  

7- Ate yummy Ravioli and some delicious homemade Texas Sheetcake

8- Played wii golf with Chris, Dave and Jasmin.  Just so you all know I golfed -3.  I rock.

Eight places I love to eat

1- All time favorite place is back in Logan, Juniper Take Out.  What I wouldn't give for that right now.

2- Pizza Port in Carlsbad.  I miss hanging out there after work with all my friends!

3- Fredericos (another Logan favorite)

4- Pappasito's

5- LuLing BBQ

6- Central Market.  Nothing like a Black Forest Ham and Blue Cheese Sandwich on Rye with sun dried tomato pesto and carmelized onions!  YUM!

7- Up Franklin Basin munching on my dads dutch oven cooking!!

8- Teri's Cafe in Oceanside

Eight things I look forward too

1- Going to Asia in less than two months!

2- Getting my non Profit Busines "The Discover Fitness Foundation" going more than just a name!  I am still writing all the By laws and getting the Board of Directors.

3- Buying a house in the near future

4- Getting out of debt 

5- Thanksgiving in Missouri with Chris's parents

6- Seeing my family again!  I hope it is soon!

7- Having kids someday

8- Taking Chris to visit Erin and Snug in Jackson Hole.  Hopefully we will get to do this sometime soon, even though we don't have plans to at the moment.

Eight people I have tagged

1- Tasha

2- Carly

3- Kirsten

4- Trisha

5- Liberty

6- Jenny

7- Shelly

8- Anyone else that is bored and wants to do this!!!  ;)

Fun Concerts

We were able to go to two fun concerts right in a row. If you have a chance to see either of them....GO!!!

The first one was Ray LaMontagne. Chris and I both Love Ray's music, and actually consider his song "Shelter" to be "our song". We were going to dance to it at our wedding, but alas, we talk too much and it was too late when we realized we had forgotten all the dancing stuff! Whoops! Here is the song if you would like to hear it. We also really liked the girl who opened for him as well. Her name is Leona Naess, and she also sings with him on a couple of his songs on his new album.

If you want to hear some new music from her click here.

The next night we went to a show called "African Footprint."

It was an amazing show of the history of Africa, complete with Dancing and singing. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen, and to make it better....It was free!!! The park by our house where the Houston Zoo is has an outdoor amphitheatre where they have free shows at night. It is one of our favoirte things about living in the city. We have seen a Peter Pan play there, numerous musical numbers, last week a show about Asia (it had martial arts, music, dancing, etc.) But this last one was just amazing. Here is a link so you can see a bit of what it is all about! My favorite part was when they were having a step show/tap dance off! War of the dancing. Awesome!!

I'm addicted..................

So I Guess it is Time....

I Broke down and did it, after 9 months of no car I finally got one. What made me do this you ask? Well, I fully enjoy my scooter, but with how much it rains here (especially during hurricane season) I get drenched!! There have been numerous times that I have had to buy new clothes when I got to work becuase it started raining without warning and I didn't have time to put my rainpants on. Well, that was reason Number one that I have been dealing with willingly all year. The thing that made me make a decision was on Monday, two cars got in a wreck and a bumper flew at me on my little scooter. I must say it was VERY scary! I was so scared that as soon as I got home I told Chris we were going to the Honda dealership and getting me an Element! (I already knew that is what I wanted, and because I had one before I knew what I was looking for). We came home monday night with this beauty. It is nicer than my last one, mostly because it is a few years newer. I was so excited to drive it to work Tuesday Morning when I got because it was POURING rain! Yay! I got to work dry!

I am not, however, willing to give up the scooter though, and will still probably drive it on nice days or when I am making a quick run somewhere. I love that scooter, we have had some good times!

We Made it Two Years!!

Yesterday was Chris and I's 2nd Anniversary. Boy does time fly! I can't believe that it has already been two years! I am thankful every day that I have him, even though we have gone through our rough spots....I admit that I was not the most pleasant person to be around our first year of marriage while I was always on bedrest, but we learned a lot from it and this second year has been a great one! We moved to a whole new place and have been figuring things out together on our own which has been great for us. I know there will be many great times to come!

*Our wedding pictures were taken by Casey Hyer who is a great photographer in SLC, so if you need pictures taken get a hold of him!!! Thanks Casey for taking them for us, and thank you Alisa for letting us borrow him those few days!!!!

Back to Normal.......Almost

As Promised I have some pictures from Hurricane Ike. I thought I didn't have too many because when I was walking around outside a cop stopped me and made me go home because he said it wasn't safe enough, but after uploading them I do have quite a few good ones. The hurricane itself was pretty amazing. I have never been in such a storm. We actually were able to stand on our balcony because we are enclosed in our cement building and the wind was blowing parallel to us. everything was blowing so hard that it was horizontal, and there was so much rain that it was just a rushing river below us instead of a road. Our power went out at about midnight, but the actual hurricane did not hit us until 5:00 in the morning. As good as we fared, we only lost power and water for 6 days, there are many many people that are going to have a hard time getting back to normal. Many gymnasts that go to our gym have trees in their houses, and many people that evacuated cannot go back to their homes for quite awhile. Many people losts their lives, many more than they are reporting because they have not been able to go through a lot of the wreckage. I hope that they don't find as many bodies as they think they will. We were very blessed that we fared as well as we did. Anyway, the pictures here were just taken around my house the morning after the storm.

The Storm rolling in Friday night.

Sky lighting up with electric transformers

Looks Alright at first glance, the trees are a bit bare

The calm of the city after it was ravaged. Downtown got the brunt of the storm. This is the view from our apartment

Chris on the roof of our building

Poor little street sign by my house

This is the front of a church next to our building. Lots of debris everywhere

Another poor street sign. This was basically the norm. Whole billboards were twisted in knots by the freeways so I guess these little signs were lucky.

There were/still are trees down everywhere. They still have to cut most of them up so cars can get down the street.

This was a brand new gas station that had just opened by our house. Poor thing didn't get much time here in Houston.

This is what most of the power lines around our apartment looked like. Gee, I wonder why we didn't have any power. That is our apartment building in the background. this is the side we live on, and it was fine. The other sides had a lot of damage from debris and wind.

This is a tree that is blocking the whole road. I was trying to get back to my house, but had to go around. Yep, that is still my apartment behind that tree.

This is the Chase Building downtown. I looked like a bomb went off in it. Those are all blown out windows.

This is some of the flooding that happened right after. Those are the TOPS of the trees

More flooding

More flooding right up to the overpass

This is a building by me that has its whole roof blown off to its side

More trees downtown blocking the roads

Another building by me. Trees snapped like twigs.....

That is all the pictures I have, but they show a pretty good picture. This is the 3rd most expensive hurricane after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Now to get back to Normal.....

Getting Ready for Ike!

So, people have been trying to get ahold of me about hurricane Ike, so I thought I would do a quick post so that everyone knows. Yes, Hurricane Ike is supposedly coming this way, and no we have not evacuated. Chris and I are right in downtown Houston, and we have all been told to stay where we are to prepare for the storm instead of getting on the roads and clogging them up. I am a little nervous because I have never been in a storm like this, but Chris and I are prepared so we should be fine. We are in a concrete building on the 5th floor so we are not too worried about the actual storm. It is supposed to be a category 3 hurricane when it hits land, but that is when it hits Galveston, so hopefully it will be a Cat. 2 when it gets to us. They say we could be without power for a week or so, but we have a lot of dried food and batteries, etc. It will be like we are camping in our apartment :) So....I guess I will post again after the storm sometime and let you all know how it went!

Cool Weekend

This weekend some of my co workers and I were able to go to Austin to a Gymnastics Association Banquet. It was very cool, and we were able to hear the Mens Olympic Gymnastics Coach talk about how the Mens team won Bronze even though they were underdogs and were not supposed to even make it into the finals! It gave me goosebumps!! It was a very cool weekend. The picture is not that great because it is from my phone, sorry.

I also need to put a few pictures from my first football game! Chris got me and my friend Julie Titus Martin (she just moved here from Utah! YAY!!) tickets to the Houston Texans vs Tampa Bay Bucaneers. The tickets were very close, and so even though neither of us knew very much about football we had a lot of fun! Sorry, pics are from my phone again.

And of course the cheerleaders for all you men out there ;)

Ahhhh.....Relief from the heat....Thank you Colorado!

I know that I have not blogged for awhile, but I was in Colorado for a week, and then of course the Olympics has been on (and who has time to do anything when you could be watching Olympics!!!). So to catch up I am posting some of my pictures from Colorado. I go to Breckenridge every year to cach a camp there for the last 12 years (minus last year after I had back surgery). This year I was not able to spot the gymnasts so my official job title was dance teacher. I know, I know. Those of you that know better realize that I am not much of a dancer myself, but I was working with non dancers so it all worked out. It actuall went better than I thought. There were six groups and I did three short dances and they looked very cute doing them! I am so proud of myself!! Of course the week was made even more special by my mom and dad coming to Breckenridge for the week as well. They stayed in a condo next to our staff condo. Unfortunately the reason my mom was able to get off work is because she broke her foot :( She was a trooper though and hobbled around on her crutches with my dad and I for a bit every night when I was done. I didn't get too many pictures other than my camp gymnasts (my other job was camp photographer), but here are a couple fun ones plus a couple of my cute gymnasts!!!

The beautiful houses around Brekenridge built right on the edge of the mountain. Scary, but beautiful.

A camp photo of most of our gymnasts on the main floor

Me at a restaurant clowning around :)

One of our gymnasts, Peyton, showing off for the camera.