Snowmobiling in Yellowstone

We were totally blessed to be able to have Jared's parents come out this past weekend. We haven't really seen them since last Christmas, so we were so excited! We worked hard all week to get ahead on school and work, and they got in early Friday morning. That afternoon we took of for a weekend of adventure!
We headed over to West Yellowstone, and stayed in the Windham resort. That night we had an awesome dinner and played games and relaxed.
Saturday we got up early, got all bundled up and headed around the corner to a Yellowstone tour company and rented snowmobiles! Holy cow it was so fun. We had all these special snow clothes to make sure we didn't get cold, and we rode with our significant others (Dwayne with Sarah, Ethan with Kaytlin, and of course me with Jared.)
Then we were off! Basically we went all the way to old faithful( about 32 miles), making a lot of stops to see animals and cool features, then ate at old faithful, then headed back. It was totally exhausting, and we were gone all day, but I loved it! I really preferred Jared to drive. I drove probably 1/3 of the time, but for those of you who have never driven a snowmobile, sometimes they don't go the way you steer them to go, and that was not my favorite, I had fun, but I had way more fun when Jared drove and I sat on the back seeing everything and taking pictures and just relaxing!
We saw a few coyotes, bald eagles, trumpet swans, elk, and buffalo. Oh it was just so gorgeous!
When we finally all got back at like 7, we ate dinner, and Jared and I took a two hour nap! Then, rejuvenated, we all played games and watched movied until about 2 in the morning, it was so great.
Sunday morning we woke up and headed back home, then the boys took off to the gun show in Idaho Falls, and Sarah and I hung out at home (Vampire Diaries may or may not have been discussed...Vanessa we missed you!!) Then that night we headed to Aunt Jean's in Rigby for dinner.
It was so great to have them here and we were sad to see them go, but it was so nice of them to take us on this awesome trip, and hopefully we will see much more of them later this year when we get out or Rexburg!
Here are the pictures from this awesome trip we will remember forever!

Jared turns 24!

What a fun weekend we've had! I am really into birthdays, and making them as special as I can, especially because my sweet husband's birthday is right after Christmas, it's easy for him to be forgotten. So I planned a little getaway for us! We always go to Red Robin for our birthdays, which is in Idaho falls. So Saturday afternoon we headed down to "Red Robin" but took a couple different turns and shocked Jared when we pulled into a very nice hotel called "Le Ritz". He had no idea! I even had a bag stuffed into the back of the car with our clothes and stuff in it. I even upgraded to room to a 2-bedroom suite, complete with a fireplace, 2 bathrooms, and a walk out balcony with a gorgeous view of the Idaho Falls temple! Not that we needed it...we just love living in luxury =]

Then, instead of going to Red Robin we went to a fancy restaurant called the Whitewater Grill and got sushi, and kobe beef and salmon, and the best darn Tuxedo cake I've ever eaten. It was so much fun, I wish we could have stayed there all week!
Then yesterday, Jared's actual birthday we had just a couple people over for dinner and games and dessert. We played this fun game called Ripple that Ethan and his girlfriend Kaytlin introduced us to, then a few introductory games of Texas hold 'em, which we played with "Ticket to Ride" pieces instead of chips...haha.

We had my famous homemade cafe rio sweet pork burritos for dinner, and for dessert Jared picked donuts and chocolate milk over a cake, so that made my life way easier...though I was totally flattered when Kaytlin asked "Shannon did you make those!?" haha

It's crazy to think this is the 3rd set of birthdays we have shared together. Life is so wonderful and we are so happy. Jared got his first "interview" over the phone last week for a job in Miami, we are still waiting to hear back from that, and the seemingly hundreds of jobs Jared has applied for and will continue to apply for!
I am loving my job, and school, I just could not have imagined senioritis being this bad. I cannot wait to be done and out of Rexburg!

Christmas/New Years 2011

It seems like it has been forever since I've last posted! What a great month it's been!
We finished last semester with a bang. Jared FINALLY finished his internship (ugh...that just sucked) and did great on all of his finals. I finished my classes and was happy with how I did. My favorite though was my pastry final. For this practical exam we had to create a dessert that contained five elements that we had to learn through the semester, and I came up with this.
This is a chocolate panna cotta (gelatin dessert), wrapped in a white and dark chocolate bark, decorated with chocolate mousse, sprinkled with crushed chocolate meringue, and drizzled with a blackberry sauce. I am so proud of it! and I guess getting an A made me happy too =]

Before we left to go to Colorado my sweet friend Hannah Pobar contacted me and said she is trying to get a blog design business up and running, and she was wondering if she could make over my cooking blog, of course I said yes, and she transformed it! It looks so awesome, so if you haven't seen it, just head over and take a peek, (click on the picture) I love it!

Alright, so school ended, hallelujah, and we headed down to Utah to fly out to Colorado for the holidays.While we were in Utah we stopped at the Salt Lake Temple and got to go through it. We had been to a wedding there before, but never gone through it. It was so gorgeous and I'm so glad we were able to do it. That is probably the last time we would have that opportunity. So then the next day we flew out to Colorado. This was so exciting, it had been 2 years since I had been home for Christmas, and we got to be there for a full 2 weeks!
We saw Mission Impossible 4 (awesome), and Sherlock Holmes 2 (awesome), we went to Chuck-E-Cheese with Damon (relatively awesome...) went to the Denver Museum, and ate a ton of fantastic food. We also got new family pictures taken, which we are excited to see, and had a great Christmas!
Jared got a big gift card to JC Penny, he is desperate for new clothes! We also got money to Target (where I got new running clothes) and other cash. I got a GORGEOUS new sewing machine, this thing is awesome. It is all digital, so if you want a new stitch you just press a button and everything is already preset so you are instantly ready to sew. It also had an automatic needle threader, which is so cool! I love it! So I made two scarves to try it out, and I really like them!

From Jared's parents we got some money (which I am going to spend on new running shoes), and we got the game Ticket To Ride, which we love, and a few other fun things. We are so spoiled!

Then for New Years Eve, our family friends the Cooks had a party. Both of them turned 50 around New Years Eve, so they threw a huge shindig called "Thom and Denise turn 100". They rented out a big ballroom in this new arts center in Parker, and set up blackjack, texas hold 'em, and craps tables (all fake money of course). You could sit down and be dealt in for 500 chips, and if you lost them all, the dealer would give you another 500. That is the best way to gamble! At 11:30 every 1000 chips you had would give you a raffle ticket, into a raffle where there were prizes like a Kindle, and Camera, a Blu-Ray player, a 32 inch flatscreen, fun things like that! But even though Jared and I had 4 tickets, we didn't win anything. We still had a blast though! We played Texas Hold 'em all night, and I totally won!

So we are back in Rexburg now, enjoying our two days before school starts. I start my TA job today and I am excited! Also, Jared's brother Ethan is going to be living with us this semester, and he comes today, and my brother Skyler, now moved out of our place, lives just a block up the street, and he starts school on Wednesday with us!
One last semester....3 months and we are golden!