First Camping Trip of the Season!

This last weekend we went camping with Sonnett and Levi at Yankee Meadows. I love it up there because it is not too far away, it is clean, quiet and has everything I like while camping. I found out that Levi is a firewood cutting fool. I was reminded that boys get crazy when you get them together, everything tastes better cooked over the fire, smores are AWESOME, bug spray tastes AWFUL, Yankee Meadows has the cleanest latrines EVER (which I really appreciate), woods can get creepy after ghost stories (even silly ones like Kyle's golden arm story), I like looking at the stars, and remembering layers is a good thing! It was a great trip, at a great site, with great food and GREAT company! Here are some photos of the trip:

Kyle and I :)This was my "En Guard, I will skewer you with my roasting stick if you attempt to take my mallows!" look...
Me and my smore...and yes, it was AWESOME!Sonnett roasting her mallows...and Levi doing what he did best...chopping wood!Kyle enjoying his hot cocoa in the morning...
The beautiful Sonnett working on breakfastOn our hike...I love Kyle in the background on this one! At the reservoir on our hike!
Yes, we are all wearing the same sweatshirt just in different colors...Thank you SUU athletics's dept.

UACRAO 2011

I was able to attend another conference this year...this time in the booming metropolis of Ephriam, UT at Snow College! I went with Kristin, Sheila and Valeena from my office. We had a great time! We got there on Monday afternoon and got somewhat settled into our motel room. Speaking of the motel, wow what a place! Not! We had brown water the first day and no water the second! Anyways...back to the fun stuff! The first day they had service projects to do, my group tied quilts and sewed bags. Then they had dinner groups and a movie night! So much fun! The next two days were the actual conference...we attended different sessions, ate loads of good food, were entertained, won prizes and I even did line dancing. I got a BYU shirt, which I traded with Kristen who had an USU one! And then I won one of the grand prizes...a small video camera! Honestly, it was nice to get away, be paid for it and come back energized!

Shannon's Wedding

Welcome wedding number 2! Shannon got married last weekend in the Manti temple...oh what memories! Kyle and I headed out at 6:30 to make it to Manti in time. We actually got there super early and had time just to walk around the temple and take a few pictures. We then headed in and got dressed (It was a white sealing). Walking by the dressing rooms the temple smelled like baking bread...that will always be the thing I remember about Shan's wedding! I also love the celestial room because they have rocking chairs :) The sealer gave some great advice...he said to have at least one meaningful kiss each day that you think about the kiss over the alter! Love it. After the temple we headed to the local park for a BBQ. BJ's dad set it all up and it was AWESOME! Afterwards we headed north to get ready for the reception. She decorated with sunflowers, cowboy stuff and john deer tractors. I wasn't so sure at first, but it turned out really cute! Here are some photos!

What a beautiful morning it was!The whole clan at the temple!

The reception....

Where the line was:

The cake!The food table! She did chips and salsa, so cute!The Cottam clan all dressed up!Me and Shan!
Shannon and BJCheyenne

Sonnett and Levi at the temple

Sonnett's Wedding

The first of the niece's/nephew's got married on March 15th! It is crazy that Sonnett is now married, but she and Levi are perfect for each other! They were sealed in the Salt Lake temple and had their luncheon at Texas Roadhouse. After lunch I was the official hairdresser and then headed to the reception center to set up! The reception was so cute...they had a candy bar as a thank you...and I particularly liked the root beer floats! Here are some photos of the day!

Me and Kyle while waiting for Sonnett and Levi!

Me and Sonnett!
Her immediate family.
The whole clan!
This is Sonnett and Levi in their natural habitat...when they look like normal people that is when they are really acting! The thing that I love about this photo is that I randomly called out "hey look at me for a photo!" and this is what they came up with without even talking to each other! At the reception...Kyle is looking good in his new suit!
Me, Na and Court! I love these girls!
Sonnett and Karen...don't they look lovely!
The cake!
The candy table. I loved this idea!

Hawaii 2011

Kyle and I were lucky enough to get to travel with the softball team to HAWAII!! At first we thought that Kyle was going to be going without me because the team was originally renting houses and they did not have space for me...but their plans changed and Kyle would have his own hotel room! So all we had to pay for was my plane ticket...and we figured when would we ever get to go to Hawaii for that cheep?! So immediately I called my Uncle Tom (who lived in Hawaii for many years). He was AMAZING! He gave us all sorts of advice and set up a wonderful evening on the town (more to come) and had his friends watching out for us once we got there. (I had 4 different people call just to check up on us!)

So we started out on a bus leaving Cedar at about 2:00 a.m.!! (Please note that I went to bed at like 11 the night before because I was so excited I couldn't sleep!) I wasn't able to sleep on the bus sadly enough...and when we reached CA our flight had a 5 hour delay!! So we got there much later than we thought. I have come to conclude that I don't like traveling much. I love the excitement before and the fun once you get there but not the process in between!

Fun things we did: The first night Kyle and I just wandered around Waikiki, we found a good Korean restaurant and people watched.We visited the Zoo after a long walk down the beach...the best part was the apes and the hippos!
We watched a lot of softball...I didn't think that I would go to so many of the games but I felt like I needed to support the girls.

I did take one day off from the games and did nothing but lay on the beach! I LOVED IT! I took a Mary Higgins Clark book (which I finished), played in the ocean, napped a bit and people watched. The only bad thing about me going to the beach by myself was that I couldn't quite reach all of my back to put sunscreen on, so I ended up with a bright red sunburn on my back!! It really hurt...but I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask a stranger. Kyle said I should have found myself a cute beach boy...
We took a night-time stroll along the beach... I got in a fight with the ocean (again) and got pretty wet. We then stopped at cheesecake factory to get a slice to go.Uncle Tom surprised us with dinner at the Pacific Club. We got all gussied up and headed to the club...they were expecting us and gave us the royal treatment because of Uncle Tom! The food was DELICIOUS! I had fresh mahi-mahi, caught that morning, with mushrooms, beans and a pastry. Kyle had steak. I am hungry just remembering it. And then Jimmy made us banana fosters...and did the whole light them on fire right next to our table! They were so good. I really wanted to take more pictures of the club, but didn't feel it was appropriate. Thankfully Jimmy brought out his camera and asked for a picture...I then felt like it was ok to ask him to take a few of us.
We visited Hanauma bay on our last day there and went to the beach and snorkeling...Kyle finally had a day off and we had a car! Snorkeling was so much fun! It was so beautiful! Kyle had a little malfunction with his snorkel but after that we were good to go! It was funny trying to signal each other to see something cool...We visited Pearl Harbor...


I shopped a bit at the swap meet, (so much stuff there for so cheep!) and took a drive to north shore.

All-in-all it was a great trip! We now know that you have to have a car when you go, and Kyle wanted more time to play. We are planning to go back for our 10 year anniversary so we get to see the things that we didn't get to this time (like the temple and the PCC). Everytime the weather gets cold Kyle says that he just wants to live in Hawaii...I keep telling him sure, but we would have to live in a tent on the beach because that is all we can afford! :)