Midway Ice Castles...

January 19, 2013...Midway, Utah, has these AMAZING ice castles.  This man makes them with rods and running water in the middle of the freezing cold winter.  Everything freezes and turns beautiful!  

We decided to take Josh Caraccio and Kelly Holcomb with us and then we would go out to dinner!  We got up there and found out that the man who makes them has moved!  I was sooooo sad!  I have been three years in a row to see these ice castles and look forward to it every year!  It was so depressing for me, because they seriously are just huge and

gorgeous!  We were driving around and found a very small ice castle that was in the front yard of the Homestead Resort.  We had to at least stop and take a few pictures before we went to dinner!  It was beautiful, but just not the same as the huge castles from the past years.  We laughed a lot and fell on the ice a lot and then we went to Tarahumara!  It is such a yummy place!  I have been several times and thought that Josh and Kelly would enjoy it as well.  They have a very yummy salsa bar there.  You get chips and salsa with your meal.  They bring out

the chips and you go to the salsa bar and help yourself to any salsa that you would like.  It really is a brilliant little place.  Their carne asada is really yummy, and their carne asada quesadilla is really yummy as well!  Anyway...it was just a really fun night out with Kelly and Josh!  We enjoy spending time with them.

Ski Trip at Brighton Ski Resort...

January 5, 2013...We went skiing with Ted, Josh Caraccio and Kelly Holcomb up at Brighton Ski

Resort!  We had soooo much fun!  It was Josh and Kelly’s first time going skiing and I was new at it too.  Josh did ok down the bunny hill.  You and Ted were so much more experienced, so you guys went off and did some skiing on your own.  Josh felt like he was getting the hang of things, so he asked to go to the top of a long “green” run.  We got to the top and he freaked out just a couple hundred yards down the hill.  He decided that he was done skiing because he was scared of messing up his knees again.  I called you to see if you could come help Josh get down the hill, by coaching him down someway.  While we were waiting for you sat down in the snow and watched everyone pass us.  I accidentally told you the wrong slope we were on, so you never showed up.  Kelly and I ended up skiing down, and Josh took his skis off and just walked all the way down.  About half way down the hill Kelly fell and I was trying to get to her and I

crashed as well and everything in my pockets fell into the snow.  My skis were so under me that I couldn't get up.  I couldn't even move.  Kelly was laughing so hard that she couldn't get up either.  She finally got up and helped me unclip my skis so I could get up.  We started skiing again and we came to a steep hill.  Kelly and I both fell and she was trying to get to me to help me and she kept sliding down the hill because it was so steep.  We then knew that by this time Josh should be somewhere close.  We started yelling for him.  We were laughing so hard, and yelling so loud that he actually heard us and got to us and saved us.  It was hysterical.  We had soooo much fun!  We finally hooked back up with you and Ted and ate lunch together.  You and Ted then stayed with us for the sheer enjoyment of laughing at us.  Ted had Josh's GoPro on his

helmet and we skiied down the hill with Ted filming us all the way down.  It was pretty fun!  It was such a perfect day to ski.  It was sunny, bright, clear and just gorgeous!  What a fun experience for all of us!  

Murder Mystery...

December 29, 2012...We are so playful with one another, and that is my most favorite thing about us.  Tonight we laughed so much and I told you that I always want this in our life.  You said there is no reason why it can’t be there all the time.  My friends Brian and Maile Johnson put on a midevil Murder Mystery. 

You were Lord Henry (the host of the evening) and I was your daughter, Lady Felicity.  We had so much fun at this Murder Mystery!  We went out and rented outfits and they sent us these leather bound invitations that had all kinds of information in it.  It had a picture of each person that would be at the event and what your personal character's relationship was with each individual.  There was so much thought and detail that was put into the evening!  It was AMAZING!!!  At first it was a little uncomfortable because it took a little bit to get to know the others in the murder mystery and to get into character.  Once we got more into

character, it became a lot easier.  They would bring out a different course to our meal along with a note describing what we were to do during that round.  Sometimes there were a lot of facts, and you were supposed to tell the truth, but you could deceive and mislead all you wanted to.  I didn't like the deceiving part, but I thought it was just fun to be in character.  You did so well!!!  The food was really good and so professional.  This murder mystery was such a fun experience for both of us.  It was the first one that you and I had ever done before.  I absolutely love that you were willing to come with me.  I had hoped that you would, and when I asked you, you were actually kind of excited about it.  After the fun night tonight, you were so interested in knowing the rest of the plot, and what everyone’s packets said, so you could put all the pieces together.  I love that about you!  We really did have a good time together, and I think it is so cute that we do so many different things together.  Anyway…one of my favorite things about tonight is that I deceived you into thinking that I was the murderer.  You totally thought I did it, and when I said, “You fell into my trap!”  You said, “That is the second time I’ve fallen into your trap!”  I asked when the first time you fell into my trap

was, and you said, “When I started dating you!”  You are such a punk!  I don’t know how you do that…you are so quick at thinking and coming up with things to say like that right in the moment.  It is very impressive!  You are just super smart Babe!  We got home from the Murder Mystery and I was in the entry way of my downstairs.  You were closing the door and you turned around and looked at me and said in a very playful way with a cute little playful look on your face, “You better run!”  I instinctively panicked and started running up the stairs to realize there was NO WAY I could outrun you, so I stopped really quickly, turned around and sat on the stairs in a fetal position.  You started laughing sooooo hard!  You said that is what Helena used to do.  The funny thing is that it was just instinctive, it wasn’t something I thought through!  I just knew I would be caught and I would have rather been caught head on instead of surprised!  We have so much fun together!  Thank you for being so playful with me!!!

Christmas, New Years, Shooting...

Christmas Season...I still can't believe how much stuff we do together.  It's AMAZING to me!  We are always doing something with someone.  We did gingerbread houses with Mel Christensen and her kids, Robin Adams' family and Sarah Larsen's family.  We didn't take great pictures, so we didn't have much

to show.  We had a lot of fun though.  We also spent our first Christmas together…kind of!!!  You came over on Christmas Eve and we made tacos and watched a movie and just talked!  You got us matching pink slippers.  It made me laugh, and just love you that much more!  It was so nice to just be with you!  I love being with you, talking to you, having you hold me, and just connecting to you!  It was our first Christmas together and  you wanted to set some traditions that we will do with our future family.  We talked about a lot of stuff and then decided that we

will just start traditions as we start our family and each year will bring something new.  These are some of the traditions we did talk about that we may or may not do:

-          Stockings
-          Advent calendar – you suggested that every other day we do an act of service for someone
-          Watching White Christmas together
-          Do eggs, grits and bacon for dinner for Christmas Eve
-          Find a new recipe and do something new each year for dinner (from a different culture)
-          Do a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas Day
-          Celebrate Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve since Adam came first).  We would always celebrate Christmas Adam with just you and me (or our family) no matter where we are.  That way we know that we would always get at least one night with our family if we are with in-laws.  I think there were a lot more that we talked about, but I can’t remember all of them.  Babe, you made my Christmas Eve so wonderful!  My mom sent us presents, so we opened them on Christmas Eve together.

You got a lot of Royal stuff...it was quite funny!  :)  We didn’t really get to spend Christmas together.  We went to Mandy Woodhouse’s and spent time with her and her kids in the morning for French toast and then you took off to your mom’s place.  I was going to meet up with you, but Mandy’s kids got sick and were throwing up and I was bathing them and putting them to bed and Mandy was running around trying to find an Instacare!  So, I am glad we at least got to spend some time together for Christmas Eve.  I did enjoy every minute I got to spend with you. 

Your brother, Jim, came in to town to visit your family.  He came alone, and you got to spend a lot of time

with him.  Your whole family got invited to come up to Steph's parent's place in Park City.  We all drove up there and spent a good weekend up there.  It was fun watching you interact with your brothers.  Rob even came up.  We ate lots of yummy food, you played video games with your brothers and the girls cooked and watched movies.  It was nice and snowy up there.  The home is big and beautiful!  Ron Smart took us all

to the private shooting range up there.  It was so much fun.  I got to shoot a lot of new guns that I had never shot before.  I really enjoyed shooting.  It was nice spending time with your family and getting to know Steph's family a little bit better!  We also got to go to the horse stalls where there were really beautiful horses.  It was just nice to relax and

just do lots of fun things with your family!  You have a wonderful family and I love spending time with them.  

We also went down to Temple Square.  Your Mom and JT performed in a concert that we went to. Rob and Ted came as well and then we all went out to dinner after.  We met up with my friends, Darren and Ericka Cooper at Temple Square and walked around.  

It was so much fun to see them.  We only saw them for about an hour and then they had to leave.  We went and walked around ourselves and took some fun pictures.  That is when you started the squishy face.  You make me laugh and I love you so much!!!

Donut Falls...

November 23, 2012...I had never heard of Donut Falls until John told me about this hike.  It is such a beautiful hike!  We invited Ted and Steph to come with us.  All of them had done the hike before.  I was the only one that was a newbie at it.  It was AMAZING!  There was so much snow, they had you park at one location and walk to the trail head.  The snow was pretty packed, so it wasn't hard to walk on.  It isn't a long hike once you get to the trail head.  It is a very beautiful waterfall!  It was fun having Ted and Steph there to chat with.  On the way up we stopped at the creek crossing and took some fun pictures.  When we got going again, John came up to me and showed me a rock.  He found a heart-shaped rock for "adventure."

It was so cute that he was thinking about that as we were hiking.  There was snow everywhere, so I didn't even think about it.  The creek would have been the only place that we could have found one...and John did find one very easily.  I thought that was so sweet!  Once we got to the falls, the ground was super slippery.  John, Ted and I started up the falls to see the upper falls, where they have a little cave.  I chickened out because they shoes were just running shoes and had no traction at all.  I kept slipping and I we were climbing the side of the waterfall.  I didn't want to fall into the waterfall.  Ted and John kept climbing and they went to the top and then came down.  I got scared, so Ted went in front of me and John went behind me coming down.  Ted got a little crazy and decided to "slide" down.

He started sliding, lost control and fell into the waterfall.  He fell all the way on his bum and his gun on his hip got wet.  Ted is very tall, so his fall wasn't as bad as it could have been.  With him being in front of me, it freaked me out.  I didn't want to fall into the waterfall as well.  It was too cold outside to be wet up all the way down the hike.  John went across to the other side and came back up and him and Ted helped me down.  I didn't fall, but I was very nervous all the way down.  It really was such a beautiful waterfall and beautiful hike in all the white snow with the amazing ice that had formed from the waterfall.

On the way back down I was walking in front of John and there was one spot where I literally fell completely backwards.  John jumped forward, and held out his arms and caught me.  It was like one of those fairytale catches.  We were all laughing so hard.  I called him my hero the rest of the hike.

BYU Football Game...

November 10, 2012...I went to my first BYU football game ever!  Stephanie Campbell (Ted's wife) and her family have season passes to the BYU football games.  Steph's dad, Ron Smart, has extra seats that they invite different people to during the home games.  They invited John and I to come to this game with them.  I have to say, it was really fun!  It was absolutely freezing.  We got there and we went into this tent where they had all this food.  It was a huge buffet line with food everywhere.  It was really good and just a very fun atmosphere.

We enjoyed all the food we could eat and then we went to our seats and watched the game.  We could go back into the tent at any time to get food or drinks and then come back.  We went in there during half time to warm up.  It was so much fun to spend time with Ted and Steph.  It was also very nice to meet Steph's parents, Ron and Jodi Smart.  We had a great time with everyone we went with!  It was definitely a great first BYU football experience!

Zion National Park (first trip)...

November 2, 2012...John had never been do Zion before, so this was such a fun trip for me to see how much he was enjoying himself.  This was our first real trip together.  We went to Zion National Park.  We left on Friday around 2:00ish and got back on Sunday night.  It was so nice to be with John all weekend.  It is hard to not be with John after being with him all weekend long.  We just laugh and have so much fun together.  I feel like we’ve been married for years already.  We talk about the fun things we are going to do with our family someday.

It is fun to think of the traditions we will have.  One tradition that I have done with my friends is stop by the gas station in Bever, Utah that has the very big rocking chair.  I introduced you to that chair, and we took a picture (I do that as I pass through...take a picture in that rocking chair with the people I am traveling wtih).  I had some VERY special memories from this trip, and they all included John.  One of them was that we saw our first shooting star together.  We were at our campsite (Watchman Campsite, just inside the south entrance to the park) and we were standing next to the campfire. 

We were dancing to the music you brought, and kissing and then we looked up at the stars.  They were so bright, and there was a shooting star.  It was so bright, and it shot across the sky.  It was amazing!  Another fun memory we have is at the top of Angel's Landing, we were looking for a heart shaped rock.  You found a rock that was heart shaped, but not perfect.  It was sand stone, so you could form it into whatever you wanted. 

You made it into a heart and then on our way down, you put that heart in a place between two rocks, standing up so that others could see the rock as they were climbing up the steep part.  So cute!  You also started referring to me as “Chelicious.”  It stemmed from “Chelsea” and “delicious.”  It was so cute.  You used a rock and wrote, “L + C = Chelicious” at the top of Angel’s Landing.  You are so dang adorable. 

Then…while we were on another hike, you started calling me “Cheli.”  It is so cute, because over in Germany, when you put an “I” on the end of something, it means “my little” and then whatever.  So, this means, My little Chel.”  You also were calling me Chel for a while, but you liked Cheli, because you made it up. 

You didn’t know about the “my little” part, I told you that, because I learned that from Nora.  Anyway…I just love you my little Johni!  I think the world of you, and I can’t imagine the world without you! 

We have so much fun together, and we talk about EVERYTHING so comfortably.  You are my best friend, and I love you!  We had so many memories from this trip.  Here are some of them:

o   We played the skittle game on the way down

o   We hiked Angels Landing, Weeping Rock and Overlook Canyon

o   You found the initials J + C on the ground etched into the rock, and we got a picture with them

o   You are amazing at knowing where people are from by hearing their accents.  You knew right away from saying hello to a man that he had an Aussie accent that was a little off, because it sounded a little like he was from the UK.  I asked him later where he was from and he said he was born and raised in Australia until he was 28 and then he moved to England.  You are AMAZING!!!

o   We skipped down Angels Landing and laughed so hard while doing so…we are two little kids

o   A man stopped and let us by because we were going faster than he was and he said let these younger kids by us.  His daughter (about 7 years old) said, “I’m young.  I’m younger than them.  I’m not an adult yet.”

o   You created a really good heart shaped rock out of the sand stone and then you placed it between two rocks so that people would see it on their way up the steep part of the hike.  It was a perfect heart

o   The guy that “bounced” up Angel’s Landing

o   You hid our heart-shaped rock under a flat rock and we are going to see if we can find it next time we go there (we did find it there about 6 months later when we went back)

o   You kissed me in the rain…ok, it was in the rain drops falling from Weeping Rock

o   We saw a shooting star while dancing/camping

o   We had to move campsites because the one we were in was reserved for the next night…and then no one showed up

o   We danced under the stars next to the campfire and kissed

o   You taught me how to play the “GAME”

o   You made up the word, “Chelicious”

o   You started calling me “Cheli”…I absolutely LOVE it…

o   We saw the petroglyphs in Zion on that little hike

o   You made up the word, “Cheluscious.”

What a fun time we had.  I look forward to many more memories at Zion National Park with you!

First Halloween...

October 31, 2012...It is so much fun to have all of our "firsts" together.  Dawn and Dave Robison (Robin's sister) invited us over to hang out with them for Halloween!  It was so much fun!!!  At work, I did the Thriller Dance from the Michael Jackson video, so I dressed up as a zombie.  It was so much fun to have a reason to dress up this year.  We went to Dawn's and she put you to work.  You were the big scary tree.  You would scare all the kids that came around.  Some of them were so creeped out, they wouldn't come up to get candy.  You did such a great job, and it was just fun to spend a Halloween with someone I love so much!

The Dinosaur Museum...

October 27, 2012...We have both lived in Utah for a while now and neither of us had been to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  I had heard a lot about it, but had never been before.  I was very excited when John suggested that we go one night for date night.  We went and we only had about an hour.  There was so much in there to look at.  It was very cool and very fun!  We actually enjoyed just being there and seeing so many cool dinosaurs.  We got kicked out because it was closing and we weren't done looking at everything.  We will for sure go back!  John and I love taking pictures together.  We've gotten quite good at taking pictures of ourselves.  You will often see one of our hands outstretched in the picture.  It's fun because we can always take good pictures.

 

Camping and Heart-Shaped Rocks...

Friday, October 12, 2012...John and I went camping with Robin and Brady on Friday night to Saturday morning.  We met them up there after work on Friday.  We went out towards Delta, by the sand dunes.  It was so rainy and cold.  John is the cutest!  We just have the easiest conversations.  It isn’t hard to communicate with him at all.  I don’t know how to explain the depth we have so quickly.  We got out there and Brady made us pizza and then we had cobbler.  The girls were so excited for us to get there. 

Kennedi asked Robin when John was getting there, and asked if he was at work.  I asked Kennedi if she likes John or me better.  She said she liked John better.  I can’t believe that after 4 years of building a relationship with her, in two weeks it can be trumped by a guy I am dating. I LOVE it actually.  I feel like if anyone is going to trump me with Kennedi, I am ok that it is John.  I actually LOVE that it is John.  He is so good with kids, and Kennedi is a hard one to win over.  Anyway, that night, John and I slept in the camper with Robin and Brady.

It was the cutest and funniest thing.  I had taken some lunesta and John and I were talking with our faces close together.  In the morning he told me what happened that night.  He said that I was talking to him really close and I told him that I get a little crazy with my lunesta sometimes and that I sometimes do weird things and don’t remember them in the morning.  He said I leaned over and kissed him a few times and then I fell asleep with my face right in his face.

He said it was the cutest thing ever.  He just sat and giggled at me because I was so cute asleep in his face.  That night Hadlee woke up screaming a couple times and wouldn't calm down.  I took Hadlee outside with her blanket and calmed her down.  John got up with me and came outside and gave me his coat and kissed me on the head.  I calmed her down and then came back in the camper. 
I didn’t want to wake up Robin, so I just put Hadlee between John and I.  Hadlee just snuggled her head right into John’s neck and fell asleep.  John said it was so precious, and he loved it.  He was so good with Hadlee.  She struggled several times at night, and John just helped her not struggle, and was just so good with her.  In the morning, after Hadlee got up, Robin took her and John and I just stayed in bed.  Abbie and Kennedi wanted to come snuggle, so they hopped in my sleeping bag with me and John put his arms around all three of us. 

It was adorable!  The girls ADORE John, and they don’t warm up that quickly to most people.  I feel so blessed that they are taking on to him so well.  He is “in” for sure!  In the morning he said, “Dang, you are even hot when you wake up.  If this is the worst you look, I am the luckiest man ever!”  He is so cute!!!  After we got up and going for the day, John invited the girls to go on a walk with him to find heart-shaped rocks.  He took them on some adventures, and they just had so much fun with him.  He would run off and hide and they would go find him.  They would stop and collect rocks, and they would be laughing and playing.  It was really cute!  He brought back this big heart shaped rock that was amazing!  I told him it was perfect.  We had such a fun time.  We played with the girls a lot and just talked.  We also got to shoot Brady's gun.  It was a really fun trip!

That afternoon, we took off and on our way back, he wanted to stop in a few places.  John wanted to stop in Eureka to see the abandoned town. 

He is so intrigued by ghost towns, and places that have been abandoned.  It used to be a mining town, and when the mine closed, the town kind of closed down as well.  There are some people that stayed there, but most of the places are abandoned and deserted.  We didn’t stop for long, but it was fun to just see the town as it was.  I  love that John likes to stop and see everything.  it is something my dad does a lot.  It is just nice to not be on a schedule and just go on an adventure.  We did that after we left Eureka.  We saw this place on the side of the mountain and decided to stop and see what it was.  John thought it was a “smelter” but it ended up being an abandoned refinery.  It is near Goshen, Utah. 

It is on the side of mountain and made of concrete.  We stopped, and weren’t sure we were allowed to go through the gates, but we went in anyway.  He was holding my hand as we were walking and he found a heart shaped rock.  He told me that he is going to take me on a lot of adventures in our lifetime.  He said that he thought it would be neat if we collected a heart shaped rock for every adventure we went on.  My heart just melted.  Who is this guy that is sensitive and so loving?  I just can’t believe how amazing he is.  He seriously is soooo awesome!  We found a couple heart shaped rocks and chose one for that adventure.  I came home and washed it and marked the back with a date and the word, “smelter.”  While we were up at the top, he would take pictures of us together, and he would pull me close and kiss me.  At one spot, I was sitting on a rock.  He went to help me up and my jeans ripped.

I was so sad.  He just laughed and held me.  It was pretty funny actually.  We drove home, smiling, laughing and talking about everything, like usual.  We just have so much fun together and it is always hard to leave one another at the end of the day!