Obsession of the Day

Today... I wish I had an iPad so I could then somehow acquire this fab case by Michael Kors.

That is all.

Now I will go back to watching Mrs. Doubtfire on ABC Family.

Bubbles + Giggles

So about every Monday and Friday this summer I have gone over to Jordan and Brooke's house (Chase's bro and his wife) to watch their CUTIE little daughter Ellie while Brooke has some mommy time to go to the gym. This little girl is just adorable and it's been so fun to play with her for several hours each week.

A few Fridays ago, Chase came over too and we busted out some bubbles while playing in the front yard. We didn't expect Ellie to get THIS excited over them... but we sure loved her reaction.

Just thought this little video would bring a smile to your face too.

And make you wanna go play with some bubbles.

Happy Tuesday!

The Manti Pageant

This past weekend we headed down South about an hour and a half for the Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant. Chase and I had actually decided sometime last year that we would try and go to it this summer, but then in March we were called as the Youth Conference Committee Chairs for our ward's Youth Conference. They had planned to take all of the youth down to Manti for the pageant and do baptisms in the temple, staying at a campsite nearby... so it ended up working out even better than we had thought. We left early Thursday morning and got back Saturday afternoon. The kids in our ward are super cool and it was awesome getting to know them all a lot more.We did a ton of fun things while there, but I only had the chance to take a few pictures on Friday of some of the stuff we did around the little town.

So we had some time scheduled for us to all split into groups and walk around to see some of the historic Manti sites. Chase and I took our small group of a few boys to the Manti City Cemetery. I was really excited because my ancestors who first came to America and then Utah were sent by Brigham Young to settle Sanpete County - Manti, specifically.

Conrad Frischknecht and Anna Elizabeth Reusch were just young kids when their families sailed from Switzerland to America. They met in Manti and were married in the St. George Temple (the Manti Temple wasn't finished yet) and lived there the rest of their lives.

This is the grave of Conrad's father John. (Probably Johann originally... or something else German sounding hah)

Conrad's sister Mary who died at only age two.

We had to run into the City Hall to grab a few more of the pamphlets and maps for the walking tour. Inside, I saw a bunch of pictures behind a glass display case and stopped to take a look, because I figured they were the city's mayors. I found my great-grandpa Wilford Frischknecht who was mayor from 1932-1938. It was so beyond cool. What a stud! I guess that's where my political love comes from, maybe?

The pageant is held on the side of the Temple Hill. There are over 100 cast members! It actually was pretty dang good. I went into it with low expectations; I had heard that it was a bit old and corny... but I ended up really enjoying it.

The entire trip was just plain awesome. I am so happy we had the chance to head down for the play and also hang with the youth in our ward. ANND... we are one item closer to checking off everything on the Utah Summer List! Lots more to go, however. I'll keep 'em coming!

This is the Place Monument at Heritage Park

Our first Utah Summer List accomplishment: we drove up to the "This is the Place" monument about a week ago. Both of us thought it was just a drive right up to the monument and take a picture type of thing. Nope! Heritage Park has re-created some of the historic Utah sites when the Mormon Pioneers came into the Salt Lake Valley. We bought tickets to take a little train ride throughout the park, visiting all the sites and doing some of the fun activities and demonstrations.

This is one of Brigham Young's three homes... it originally was in Sugarhouse, UT, but the park cut it in half between the two floors, trucked it up to the monument site, and put it back together again.

This is a printing press similar to the one used by the Deseret News... Utah's first newspaper

Chasen panning for gold. Just cause.

The Huntsman Hotel. Pretty sure the early pioneers didn't buy a cool, refreshing Diet Coke from in here like I did. Modern luxuries, I guess?

And what we really drove all the way up here for: This is the Place Monument.

A tribute to the Mormon pioneers who had fled persecution and crossed the plains and Rocky Mountains to start a new life in Salt Lake Valley.

Brigham Young had been sick with mountain fever, but knew immediately upon seeing the valley that this is where their journey would end, saying: "This is the Place!"

Utah Summer List

For the last year, Chase and I have had our ongoing (& unofficial) list of things that we want to do while we are in Utah. We've accomplished some of them here and there, but we never actually wrote them down and really tried to check them off. On a drive back from Vegas a few weekends ago, we started to make the actual list on my phone.

Well... minor problem occurred Friday night: my phone screen decided to quit working. So I am going to attempt to re-create our Utah Summer list on here. I figured that if I posted the list and blogged about our adventures, we'd have more incentive to actually follow through!

(And it'd sorta be like I'm a good journal-er... right?)

THE LIST:

Hogle Zoo

Silver Lake Hike

Mt. Timpanogas Caves

This is the Place Monument

Zion National Park

Outdoor Play at Tuacahn

Salt Lake Temple Session

Black Rock at Great Salt Lake

Sandy Aquarium

Cowabunga Bay

Camping

(Fly?) Fishing (and then watch A River Runs Through It.. of course)

Visit Daryn in Logan

Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant

The Frontrunner Train & Museums

Real Salt Lake Game

Lindon Pool

Ride the Paiute Trail

Lake Powell

Dinosaur Exhibit at Thanksgiving Point

Day in Park City (Alpine Slides!)

Eat at Porter's Place in Lehi

*I'm probably forgetting something... so I guess I'll just add to it when I remember them.

**I'd love suggestions... please comment if you have any!

year uno

Chase and I celebrated the big one year anniversary a few weekends ago up at The Grand America in Salt Lake.

We knew it was nice... maybe even reallyyy nice...

but I don't think we were prepared for how fancy schmancy the place actually was.

Walking through the halls, Chase kept saying how we were like walking on the Titanic.

(before the whole iceberg run-in and sinking thing, of course)

For real though. There were ladies everyday in the area that overlooks the lobby with big hats all chatting over afternoon tea. We tried hard to suppress the giggles as we walked past them.

{Fancy schmancy bathroom}

{Fancy schmancy tub AND shower... in said bathroom}

{Fancy schmancy bedroom}

{Fancy schmancy sitting room}

{With red plastic cups and sparkling cider... yeah... classy we know}

It really was a great weekend though with lots of relaxing, playing in both the indoor and outdoor pools, watching a few redboxes, and EATING for sure.

{us at the GA's famous Sunday brunch... Chase was in heaven with all of the pre-cracked crab legs}

{both pics taken at the Dodo Cafe... thanks Suz for the tip! Soo good!}

So... the traditional first anniversary gift is something "paper," apparently.

I spent forever trying to come up with something, but ended up getting Chase (well, the both of us really) this awesome Drives of a Lifetime book. It has the COOLEST drives to go on all around the world. We've always been a big fan of jumping in the truck and going for a drive.

Love, I can't wait for all of the roads still ahead of us. Happy one year anniversary!

(although it's about three weeks late on the blog post... ahem)

Continuing with all of the first year traditions... we got the top of our wedding cake from my mom who had stored it in a freezer this past year. I dunno who came up with this one, but they obviously didn't have a strawberry-shortcake wedding cake. Yuck!! The strawberries had like fermented... so gross. We both had one small bite each and called it good. Hopefully there's nothing in this tradition about eating the whole top layer. Just couldn't do it.

Overall, it was such a fun anniversary... and I'm excited for many, many more to come.

So happy to be with this guy forever. Love you Chasen Tyler.