. new years olympics .

BE WARNED.. THIS POST IS LONG AND HAS A MILLION IMAGES IN IT..

alright before you judge me on this one.. let me give you a background. growing up we got very excited for new years, first cause it was the night the new years angel came {invented by the parentals to keep excitement up after christmas, she left a small gift but still it was a present} and it was a night to stay up late!

my parents when we were younger would move the clocks ahead and have our new years at like 8 and we went to bed around 8:30. tricky tricky. well as we got older, we figured out the tricks and it was a no go. so they started the 'olympics' to help keep us awake and aware but also to keep us out of trouble. my parents didn't think it would stick, just long enough a few years maybe. but it stuck. every year we look forward to the new years olympics and all the fun we have. this year cody and i decided to suggest minute to win it games to add to our usuals. it was a success. here are some photos from our glorious evening...

he had to blow off 20 cups using the air only from a balloon

she had to thread pasta on the stick using only the stick, it was tough..

she had a box with ping pong balls in it, she had to get all three out without her hands

he had to bounce pencils into the cups and get them to stay

balance pencils on the back of the hand and then catch them with the same hand..

keep 3 balloons in the air for 60 seconds

balance hangers on each other, but not in the corners

balance nails on a string

move cotton pads with only vaseline on your nose, how did mom get stuck with these hard ones?

bounce ping pong ball off the wall into a cup on his head, not using your hands

roll marbles across the table and get them to stick to a line of tape

balance 3 golf balls on each other

cup stacking.. need i say more?? tough and fast..

so we played boys vs girls in the minute to win it games. here is the total, pretty crazy.. sorry men folk, 2010 just wasn't your year..

after the minute to win it was swapped to the usual games.. this competition is on your own with prizes. here is what went down.

paper airplane races..

balloon races, these are tricky you can't control where it goes cause you just let go

wind up toy races.. some were better than others, we had to make it across the table. some peoples just made huge circles. who knew.

here was the scores.. yes i only got one.

mom and her spoils, a barnyard bender horse.

matson with his. a barnyard bender farmer complete with pitchfork.

jarett with his, a bender cow with magnetic udders

we finished the evening with fireworks, i didn't take pictures cause it was a whopping 6 degrees and yes, my hands stayed in gloves in pockets the whole time. no hands for picture taking.

so welcome 2011, i hope you are a superly stupendous year

.. jazzin' it up ..

this year for christmas cody got me tickets to the jazz game. he is trying to help me cross things off my " list ". one thing on my list was to be more adventurous. {and secretly i have always wanted to attend professional sports} the only information i got was that we were going on january 3rd and i had to be ready to leave by 4:30.

so i left work early and went home to get all ready for the night and we were off. when i was in the car and we were on my way my cute hubby allows me to see the tickets, finally.

the sneak found a great deal and got us tickets as VIP's. yep. our seats were on the first row and we got dinner at the stadium and unlimited snacks and drinks. WOW! i was so excited. we got to the stadium and found our way through all the hallways to the VIP lounge and we ate dinner. they had potatoes, pork roast, veggies, salad, bread, desserts and drinks. all you could eat. it was delicious. after dinner we walked through the arena and found our seats. we were on the first row, like 3 rows from the floor. so close we could hear the players curse and see the sweat. unreal. i was so excited!

the game was off and it was good, before i knew it half time was here. we ran off to the VIP lounge and grabbed refills and some snacks, and were back before the second half started. the second half was more intense than the first, i couldn't believe it!

to make it even better the jazz won over the detroit pistons. and it was intense all up until the last minute! you could feel the tension in the arena.

it was honestly one of the best night i had had in a long time. i loved it! we got home late and i was pooped all day but this was so worth it! thanks babe for the wonderful gift!

.. happy new year ..

it is tradition for us to take a picture every year on new years. we always take it around midnight, and so without further ado.. here is our picture.

.. taken on our instax mini around 12:15 am ..

happy 2011 everyone! i hope you have a grand year this year

.. travel list ..

as i start this new year i realize that i am about 8 months away from the end of my list goals. while sitting at work one day i decided to write down the places i would love to go some i have been to and others i haven't, seeing how it is #1 on my list to travel. so without further ado.. here is my to visit list..

obviously i have a lot more to see outside of the usa but still some i want to see here. i have been to the following..

italy

france

austria {just a corner}

so.. i just have to pick one and go!

where are your favorite places to visit? where is somewhere you have never been that you want to go? {warning: i might add it to my list..}

.. goodbye 2010 ..

so here is a recap of what we did in 2010..

january : tyke passed away, spent a lot of time re cooping

february : trip to maui for valentines

march : i went to san francisco with friends for spring break, i got accepted into the bfa program

april : i graduated from college, yikes!

may : we went on a trip to washington dc

june : i am trying to find a job, cody is working hard on his instrument license

july : we had our first game of the annual golfing tournament, celebrated the 4th of july

august : my brother m* and sister k* each got married a week apart, my brother j* had his 16th birthday, cody and i went to maui with his parents to celebrate my 26th birthday, i found a job at american crafts!

september : cody passed his instrument test!

october : i had my art show, we went to thriller, and i got a trainer

november : cody went to SEMA, had our 5th anniversary, cody's 27th birthday, and thanksgiving

december : i started "the list", cody started his multi-engine training, had christmas

great year don't you think? bring on 2011!

.. lion king ..

this year for my birthday with my family, my mom bought my brother and i {who both have birthdays in august} tickets to see the lion king at capitol theater. if you haven't seen it i highly recommend it. it was one of the most beautiful things i have seen. the props are wonderfully amazing and the performers are so skilled! make sure and check it out!

.. mAuI ..

With all the wedding madness and stress of living in a house with two consecutive weddings, Cody decided that we should travel to Maui to celebrate my birthday this year. I didn't really mind it either way and just thought it would be fun. Cody mentioned it to his parents, and they decided to join in and count it as my birthday celebration weekend.

We left Provo on Friday morning at 4:30 am. Yes I was pooped and didn't really want to do it. We arrived at the airport just before 6 and hustled through the lines and made it to our gate. We even had time to pick up some breakfast there. We then flew to LAX to connect to Maui. We waited until the whole plane loaded and got lucky and claimed the last 4 open seats on the flight. It is a nice 5 hour flight out there and we got seated to a few teens going there with their parents, one of which was terrified of turbulence. *fun*. We watched the 'Joneses' which turned out to be very interesting, took a few naps and I read and Cody watched Family Guy. We arrived in Maui at 11:30am their time. We hustled and got to the rental car shuttle and were off. It was a nice 85 degrees with 80% humidity. Talk about a change in the weather {since it was raining hard when we left Utah}. Since by this point we were all starving we promptly found food, at McDonald's.

After we ate a snack we took off for our home for the next 3 days. Lahaina. Cody and I had visited there in February when we went for Valentines. We stayed in the same hotel, which was great and even got the airbrush decorated room complete with a Murphy bed. We walked around downtown while our rooms were being prepared and I am pretty sure all lost like 10 pounds to sweat!! At 3 we hustled back to the hotel, and changed immediately into swim gear. We hit the ocean and hung out for a while. We had dinner at a fun cafe next door called Betty's Cafe. I would highly recommend the chicken quesadilla. {yum} After dinner, Cody and I went for a walk on the beach and enjoyed the sound of waves. At 8:00 we were both so pooped we decided to call it a night.

.. betty's cafe ..

.. gecko we found by betty's cafe ..

The next morning, my birthday, Cody got up and left the hotel with his parents, sneaky sneaky, and went and got me breakfast. He brought it back to our room and surprised me with breakfast on our balcony at like 6:30 that morning. It was great! I had french toast and fresh squeezed lemonade. {delicious} After breakfast, Cody and I went exploring. Cody was determined to find Big Beach which was on the other half of the island. We took off in the rental and did some searching. We found it around 8 that morning. It was a beautiful beach. The water was crystal clear, the sand was super soft and the view was great. Big Beach is known for its waves breaking on the shore, which made for an interesting time for me. I tried to wade out with Cody and every time a wave crested I about got knocked over. A few times I did and drank some yummy salt water. Cody loved doing the whole body surfing thing. We stayed there for about an hour and then decided to go back. My gift from Cody was shopping. What more can a girl ask for right? So we headed into town to do some shopping. We ate lunch at Lahaina Pizza Co, which is another must if you are there. It was so good. I had a pepperoni and cilantro deep dish pizza, talk about good. We finished up and continued shopping. I decided that I wanted to get a henna tattoo of squirt off of finding nemo. We found a guy who could do it, and it was on. I loved it! I even had my younger brother convinced that I had gotten a real tattoo!

.. view of kihei ..

.. me on the beach ..

.. big beach waves {not sure why it is sideways.. sorry!} and cody playing ..

.. my sweet henna tattoo ..

After a nice time in downtown, Cody's parents called us and asked us if we wanted to swim with them in the ocean. So we joined them on the beach outside our hotel. We swam for about 2 hours and finished off our beach experience with burying Cody's mom in the sand. She was covered with it when we were done! After all the water and sand, it was time to shower and get ready for dinner. We got ready and his parents took me to dinner to celebrate. We ate at the Hard Rock on front street. I had the twisted mac and cheese, so great! The night ended with me standing up in front of all the Hard Rock and having the whole restaurant wish me a Happy Birthday which was loud enough I am sure the whole town heard it. We walked around downtown took a few pictures and called it a night.

.. cody and the bubba gump shrimp ..

.. forrest, forrest gump ..

.. is that you forrest ? ..

.. that has to be you right ? ..

.. it is for sure you, you are telling that lady the story about your life ..

.. cody and me at dinner ..

.. cody's parents ..

.. happy birthday sundae from hard rock ..

The next morning we packed up and headed back to the airport. We got there 2 hours early and that airport doesn't have much to do. We just sat. We waited for the first flight, and wouldn't you know it, it was oversold and we couldn't get on. We had one more shot that night at 9 but we had to blow 8 hours there. We spent it taking naps, long walks reading books and magazines, playing games and just being bored. Finally the night flight came and things weren't looking good. They said there was 3 open seats. Not all of us were going to make it. We started making plans for Cody and I to stay behind and wait for the next day to catch a flight. Right before they closed the flight one person didn't show and we got the last 4 seats. We didn't sit next to each other, which sucked but we made it. We landed in LAX at 5am and were all tired and done. We made the next flight to Salt Lake and made it home by 10. Cody at the airport had developed a nice cold due to walking in between air conditioning and the heat outside and was so sick. I put him to bed after a shower and took to doing the laundry. Also, while I was in Maui, my drivers license expired. So I got ready and headed to the DMV. I waited for 2 hours and finally got through.

It was fun trip and definitely made the birthday one of the best to date.