Maui Baby!

Here are a few pictures of us in Hawaii, on Maui, the rest I put into the slide show.

We finally made it to Hawaii!! I guess it was my birthday present and it was great. We almost didn't make it though. Our flight from SLC to LAX was 30 min late and when we got to LA we were pretty bummed. But it turns out there were other (paying) customers going to Maui as well and so they had a van waiting to take us across the terminal to our connection to Maui--it was amazing that we made it.
We got in about 7:30 pm got our rental car and drove to the beach and pitched our little tent. That is right we camped on the beach in Maui for 2 nights! The weather really was perfect not too hot or too humid and the water was nice. Sunday we went to the beach and got fried! my thighs burned and Ryan's back burned. Oh ya we did not go to Hawaii prepared to bare all we were so white, it was a little embarrassing! Oh well. After the beach we showered in our swimsuits at the beach showers, we were not the only beach-goers with that idea. We drove around a little bit then went to dinner at an amazing seafood restaurant! It was a little pricey but after all it was my birthday. But the food was sooo good I had fresh Opa, never had it before... and for dessert we had mango cobbler-it was amazing! If you ever go to Maui you should eat at Buzz's Wharf. Monday we did a little more exploring after breakfast, as we drove up this really narrow winding mountain road we saw some tour vans pulled over close to where we saw a waterfall so we decided to follow their trail. After putting our swimsuits on and a lot of sunscreen we walked down the path and found these beautiful waterfalls and ponds and people swimming in them! They were a bit cold but it was amazing!
Later that day I went on a helicopter tour it was pretty cool and my first time being in a helicopter. We get deals with one of the helicopter companies through Skywest but we once again fly standby and they only had one seat open, since Ryan had been on a few tours in Alaska he let me go. He is so sweet! We were supposed to fly up to a big crater, but it was covered in clouds so we didn't get to see it. We did see lots of waterfalls and an ancient Hawaiian temple where they used to make human sacrifices!
After the helicopter tour since we still had time on our hands, our flight didn't leave until 10:00 pm we decided what the heck we are in Hawaii we have to go to the beach even though we are still quite red. So we did and it was fun! So we had a great trip! On our way back to the airport the guy driving the shuttle asked us about our trip and we told him we camped on the beach and he was surprised and asked us if we had any trouble, apparently people occasionally get robbed out there. But we didn't have any problems and I am glad he told us that after we camped and not before because I would not have done it! It was also nice to have things be so familiar and in english so we could find our way around and askn people questions if we needed to. I slept the whole way home on the airplane I never do that, but it was much needed since we got into SL at 8:00 am and I had to be to work at 11:30 am! And the girl who sat next to us just thought Ryan was so good looking and she was flirting with him and making sure his plans for the future were solid, maybe she hoped he would make lots of money and come sweep her off her feet. Apparently she didn't take much notice of me and the fact that I am his wife. When we were waiting to deplane she asked if we were married and I smiled and said yes very nicely! It was kind of funny!

Vampire

My sister Leslie has turned into a Vampire!! The first picture is the transformation and the second the deal is done, hopefully she won't eat humans!!



We thought this was pretty darn funny!! I brought home some Nike contacts for Leslie to try and first of all she was spazing out trying to get them on! Once she got them on it was hilarious! We set one of the pictures as a background on their computer and I think it scared my dad when he turned on the computer! I think Leslie should wear those contacts when she camps out to see the movie!

Other than that our lives have been pretty boring! Ryan works 7 days a week and I have been working 6 days a week for the past 2 months! We are constantly living in a state of sleep deprivation! But we did hire someone at work and I hope she will work out because I am really looking forward to not working on saturdays! I just have to tell you how proud of myself I am. I have been going to the gym even though my gym partner took off to Spain for a month I went to Abs class and Cardio jam all by myself! And if your wondering Cardio Jam is an hour of intense jumping around and waving your arms and I am starting to feel old because I just don't have enough energy to do everything all out! But I am determined to tone up so I look half decent in a swimsuite by the end of July, that is my motivation, that and Ryan pushing me out the door! Other than that we have not been up to much, we watch a lot of movies...anyway I will hopefully come up with something fun to post about soon!

BRUXELLES

since we had such a long weekend over memorial day we decided to fly to Brussels Belgium! Actually we didn't have that long, but we are kind of crazy!! We were trying to find someplace to go and were thinking Mexico but all the flights were full so for fun Ryan looked up Europe and what do you know it was pretty open! Sunday morning we flew to Atlanta then on to Belgium. From Atlanta we flew business class!! I couldn't help just laughing as we took our recliner seats and the stewardess handed us menu's! It was amazing!! Ryan had to keep telling me to be quiet so people didn't think it was our first time, but pretty much everyone else in business class was older I am sure they didn't think we always flew business class. The flight was 9 hours so we definitely appreciated the nice seats! We ate lots of good food got to watch tv or movies or listen to music on our own little screens. They even gave us a little pack with socks and an eye mask, lotion, earplugs, toothbruth, toothpaste. I felt spoiled, but I liked it a lot. we got to Brussels at 8 am Monday morning and spent the day walking around looking at cathedrals and other buildings. It is a very dirty city and really you could do it in a few hours it is not a big city for touristy things. We even checked into our hostel at 1 and took a 6 hour nap, we were exhausted and then got up and went out again!! We really lucked out in the hostel there were only 2 other people in our room and guy from Ireland who was nice and could not get over the fact that we went to Europe for a day; and then a girl from France who didn't speak english. They weren't partiers like the other people in the hostel we could hear drinking and laughing. So it was nice. The weather was perfect not hot or cold and it didn't even raid, although it was humid and my hair doesn't do too well in humidity, oh well. Now I will show you some pics.




Here are some pictures of the Cathedral we went into, I don't know what it is called.







I thought the organ was pretty cool and the stained glass windows, very beautiful!
The next pictures are of the Grand' Place-Grote Markt,







I know you have all been waiting for these pictures: the famous Manneken Pis Yes they even dress him up for holidays and things. One story goes that a father was missing his child and made a declaration to the city that when he found him he would build a statue of him, doing whatever it was that he was doing. Thus, a statue of a litle boy peeing was created. The statue is also thought to represent the "irreverent spirit" of Brussels




we also found a statue of a little girl peeing. I am not sure of the significance of this statue. But is was down a remote alley the only reason we found it was because a tour group was there looking at it. But they spoke a different language and the the signs were in either french or dutch
Belgium is famous for its chocolate and you can find shops ALL over the place the other pics are of another old church I thought looked cool, but I like that kind of stuff, and us out on the town.




The way home is always an adventure in itself! We flew out of Belgium at 10 am on Tues morning. So we showed up to the airport and hour early and go to check in and they are all stern with us and tell us we are so late, they are already boarding!! So we checked in fast, ran to security, ran to customs, and had to run down the airport to get on the plane! I was dying! Luckily they didn't give our sweet seats away. The flight was good the way back took 9 1/2 hours. We got into atlanta and were going to fly to cincinnati then to salt lake since atlanta to slc is impossible! When we checked the flight before we left Belgium it looked great. But when we got to the airport in atl. the flight had 100 people on standby! so we had to pay to get on the internet and find an alternate route home, Ryan and to work at UPS at 10 that night!! we found 2 possibilities one of which the gate agent wouldn't even book us on, the other to Albuquerque NM looked good and there was a flight that left for SLC 15 minutes after we landed. Luckily alb is a small airport and the next gate was right next to the one we came in on! and we made it home!! We got home stopped and ate and Ryan changed and went to work. So that concludes our spontaneous day trip to Belgium!

May Days

Well school is over for the semester which is wonderful! Ryan did really well. He took a wheel pottery class and finally brought home all his finished products. I feel like a proud mom
Ryan also started working for UPS...good and bad. We will be getting health benefits in July yea!! and more money is always a plus but he works the graveyard shift, 10 pm until 3 am!! I really dislike going to bed by myself it is so lonely and cold! Sometimes he gets home between 2-2:30, whenever he comes home I always wake up. If you have seen our apt. you would probably know why it is amazingly small and squeaky! So needless to say we have both been pretty tired of late. But in June Ryan's Sky West shift will be later in the day which will be nice for him, then he can actually get some sleep. Right now he works M-F at UPS 10-3 and W-S 8-12! He is pretty amazing! And getting really nice tan arms that is more then I can say for myself! However I have been going to the gym the last week...after months of inactivity!
I got these shoes and I think they are so much fun I had to show Kelltie!!

Also we went and saw Leatherheads, which I saw with Kelltie in MN and I told Ryan how I thought it was cute and that we should go see it but he didn't want to see a "cute" show. But it was at the dollar theater so we went and he was laughing out loud! It reminded me of being with Kelltie we had a great time! Lots of things are reminding me of you lately Kelltie. Last Saturday I got to get my copy of the Host signed by Stephanie Meyer!! One of the girls at work had an extra ticket and invited me. I got a copy for me and my sister signed and my Twilight book signed. We were even in group 4 which was nice. It was pretty fun to see all the crazy people there! I have to admit I still haven't finished the book yet. But I am working on it. Hopefully we will be going someplace fun this weekend and I can read on the plane. I will update you next week (hopefully) on our exciting adventure but I can't spoil the surprise now. Just realize that we are pretty crazy! Well it is late and I have to work tomorrow :(

Our newest splurge!

So about 2-3 weeks ago Ryan and I went out to dinner and after since we just happened to be close to the Mac store we just had to go in! Ryan wanted to ask someone a question and I saw some sweet 24 in computers. Of course they put them on display next the tiny 20" computers! I thought they looked pretty cool. Next thing I know Ryan is suggesting we put our computer up for sale on KSL and just see how much we could sell it for. Less than 24 hours later we sold it! And a few days after that we walked out of the Mac store with a brand new 24" IMac and a printer. It is pretty sweet and I also have to say we do use it as our TV as well so it can definitely be justified! It was like Christmas day for Ryan opening the box!
The nice thing about Mac's is set up is super easy, just plug it in and you are ready to go!

So while everyone else is updating us on the milestones of their children's lives I will continue to update you on our random lives. And speaking of your children since most of you have darling little girls. We were at Alice's birthday party and one of the girls got her some really cute clips and said her sister makes them and she makes flowers and animals and she will even custom make whatever you want so I thought I would include the web address if you want to check it out. www.lilcritters.blogspot.com

I guess it you have already read Kelltie's blog you know I went out for a visit! It was so good and so much fun to hang out with Kelt and Camryn we had a blast and yes there are some things that are never going to change!

We still love going to the store to get treats! And seeing Kelltie with her cute hair cut and Caroline with hers inspired me to cut mine too. I don't really have a before pic. but here is what is looks like now.
So I don't really love pictures of me just standing there, but here it is anyway. It might not seem too short but I cut off quite a bit!
Ryan is done with his finals on Wednesday! I am so excited. To celebrate we are going to Ephrata (that is where he wanted to go) We are teaching primary, the 5-7 year olds, and we love it. Today was 80 degrees! and we got to drive the scooter around and didn't even need a coat--it was glorious!!!

Library...and other random updates

I know i don't post much or often. Our internet at home is quite unreliable and I end up getting very frustrated after attempting to post the same blog 3 times!! Now I am at the library with Ryan he is studying chemistry and I am just filling the time. And the site is not letting me change the background of my blog and it is really bothering me because I am definitely done with winter and the snow! Anyway...Here is a pic of Ryan studying at our little apt. I got him in for an eye exam and with my sweet perks got him a $15 pair of glasses, he looks so smart and cute in them, but he doesn't like his picture taken!

Last week we stayed in Park City with Ryan's family in a condo. Actually we had 2 condo's that was pretty fun, except when it snowed and I had to drive down parleys canyon to go to work 2 days!! I took Tuesday off and the girls (Ryan's mom, 2 sisters and my sister-in-law michelle) got manicures and pedicures. That was pretty fun, i even got some cute flowers on my toes! That is one of my new favorite things, getting pedicures, if you haven't had one I highly recommend it. The rest of the week Ryan and I commuted up and down the canyon for work and school then hung out with Ryan's family in the evenings. Of course we had to take them to Cafe Rio for lunch (that is one of our favorite places!) we swam, ate, played with Bryce and Liliya's kids. Friday night my family came up to meet Ryan's family that was nice we had a great turkey dinner. I have to admit I didn't get much conference watching done. Sat am I had Bellen who is i believe just over a year and a half with me. Sat pm after swimming with Mari and Shad, Ryan and I laid on the upstairs bed (first mistake) and both fell right to sleep, Mari even came and took a nap with us! When the men went to priesthood at the conf. center we took the kids and watched Horton Hears A Who. It was very cute. I recognize the name of the book, but don't ever remember reading it? We went home exhausted saturday night. and sunday morning pretty much slept through the am session. Ryan claims we saw the first half but I only remember up to the first half of the second speaker! and Sat. pm well we were doing well before the people upstairs turned off the internet! We pay them half of the bill every month and just use their wireless, apparently we forgot to pay last month (if you even understood our utilities situation you might understand!) so instead of maybe coming down to ask, he just turned it off! Needless to say Ryan was not too happy! We did get if fixed, though a little late, we watched the end of Pres. Monson's talk. Needless to say I am looking forward to the conf. ensign. Sorry no pic's just a boring read Brittney's babbeling blog! I will work on that!

I guess I do have some pictures to put on. Jan or Feb we flew to Denver and stayed with Friends Scott and Joyce. We skied Copper Mountain. It was my first time skiing! I thought I did pretty darn good! A lot better than my second time at Brighton in UT. Here is Ryan I did take a pic of both of us, but I look like a man in a pink hat--not attractive, even though I usually don't care and I know I am not photogenic I was a little too vain to put that pic up.

It was a beautiful day to Ski ( i don't like cold snowy days!)


Now I promise to end my sting of painfully long updates and next time make it short and sweet and include more pictures! Hope your all doing well, we sure are!

Whistler

A couple weeks ago we went to Whistler (Canada). We flew into Vancouver and Ryan's brother Greg and his wife picked us up and we drove about an hour and a half along the coast on one side and the mountains on the other, it was such a pretty drive. I didn't take any pictures this time. We went to Whistler for our honeymoon last May. We stayed in a condo right by the lifts, I think they had to walk past one other condo to get there! That was pretty sweet for them. Ryan, his brother Greg and their friend Brent skied. I would have if i was better and it wasn't so expensive maybe another year when I am better!
While they skied Michele and I walked around the shops with her baby Deagan. The rest of they guys (Greg, Alex, and Toby) just hung out. We ate japanese the first night and cooked the rest of the time.



Our condo was pretty sweet, great location, not the newest but that is ok. It had a large living room and kitchen upstairs were 2 bedrooms a bathroom and a sauna! Then there was a loft with 2 twin beds and a door to the hot tub on the roof. It was the hot tub for the entire condo but we were the only ones with private access. And we had a great view of the mountains (blackcombe and whistler) and the little village.


Sunday we drove to Bellingham, WA. and stayed the night at Toby and Greg's and had Thai food for Easter. It was a great weekend! Hopefully we can make it a tradition. That was our spring break, I took the whole week off, we tried to go to Hawaii, but we couldn't make it the flights all over the country the whole week were booked, we couldn't even go to NM! Ok so we did go to Rexburg and our pland to fly into Vancouver worked so I guess we were still pretty lucky!