Wild, Wild West and Josh Groban *sigh*

Last Friday, Steve and I went on a double-date with our good friends, Tim and Tiffany. We started out by going to the county fair where we got in for free with our military IDs. After purchasing $5 worth of 50-cent tickets, we wandered around looking at all the booths and trying to decide what games to play with our tickets. Eventually we tried our arms at the baseball throwing booth. I didn't do very well - only knocked 4 of the 6 bottles off the table - but still got a piece of candy! Yay!

As we wandered around, we came to a western photography trailer. For a pretty fair fee, we got to dress up as westerners and have a photo shoot. I've always wanted to do something like this but never did it because I was so overweight and figured they wouldn't have clothes my size. Since Tiffany and I wanted to do it, the guys reluctantly agreed. I thought they would just drape costumes over our regular clothes and take a few pictures. I was wrong. Well, that's pretty much what they did with the guys, but Tiffany and I stripped down to our unmentionables and got decked out! The dressing lady asked if we wanted to be modest or sexy. Tiffany answered sexy, so we got to be "saloon ladies". It was so much fun to play dress up as an adult! Here are the pictures:



See what I mean about decked out? The lady kept putting things on me...choker, garter, hat, gloves, boa, etc. I loved it! And, to top it off, the corset was actually too big for me. Yay! There was a smaller one in red but I liked the purple hat, so we went with the purple. And doesn't my husband look sexy as a cowboy? Woot woot!

Afterward, we got something to snack on - Steve got corn on the cob and I got a fried snickers - then we went to look at the rides. They were way too expensive, so we didn't ride any of them. Instead, we played a few more games at booths. Tiffany and I decided to use a couple tickets to get tattoos at the face painting booth. Here we are...aren't we wild women?


For 50 cents, my strawberry tat sure lasted a long time. I finally had to scrub it off Monday afternoon.

After the fair, we went to the movies. We saw Cowboys Vs Aliens, which I liked more than I thought I would. For such a weird sounding movie, it had a good plot and was decently acted. They handled the whole cowboys and aliens scenario a lot better than I expected. Oh, and it really scared me in parts. I love being able to cuddle up to Steve and hide my head in his chest when I get scared. I admit that I'm a total wimp sometimes.

It was a really fun evening with wonderful people!

The next day, Saturday, I went to Salt Lake and met up with my SIL Rachel for the Josh Groban concert. I've always liked his voice and it was just as great in person as recorded. I loved how funny and quirky he was on stage, it really surprised me, but it was awesome. We didn't have very close seats, but we were able to hear him perfectly, which is what mattered most. It was great to be there with Rachel, too. We had a great talk before the concert started and we both loved the music. He has a new album out that I wouldn't mind getting based off the songs from that album that he sang. And it was great to hear some of his older songs in person.

There was a little mini stage that was directly in front of us, so I hurried and took a couple pictures before he moved to the main stage.



It was a wonderful concert and I really appreciate Rachel inviting me to go with her!

Oregon Vacation

At the end of July, Steve and I took a road trip to Oregon. We drove through Nevada (a long somewhat boring drive), stopped the first night in Susanville, CA, and then headed west to the California coast. Through Nevada we listened to the worst audio book, but at least it was something to listen to.




The drive through California was beautiful - gorgeous forests and lakes - but after a few hours, I was ready to be done with mountain driving. My car sickness was peaking when we finally hit the coast. The ocean was a beautiful sight! As we drove along the coast, clouds gathered and the wind picked up...in short, it got COLD. Our cute little dog was a trooper; she loved roaming the beach and wetting her toes in the ocean water.





We spent the night in Gold Beach, OR. That evening, we took Sadie for a walk up a hilly, dirt road behind our hotel. After a few bends, we ran smack into a herd of elk! Sadie had been pulling on the lead, which should have alerted us to something because she normally walks right at our side. Boy were we surprised to see the elk but not nearly as surprised as the elk! They ran away f.a.s.t! Sadie wanted to chase after them, of course. It was very exciting. We continued walking up the trail, wondering if we'd run into them again, but we didn't see them.

The next day, we drove to Bandon; it has a cute pier area that we walked along, buying sweatshirts because we were soooo cold! Sadie found a friend who didn't really feel like playing. And we saw a seal or two playing in the water off the pier.




We then found an old lighthouse that has been turned into a historical site. It was neat to go inside and read about the history of the lighthouse and surrounding area. We weren't able to go up to the top because we wore open toe sandals, which was a bummer. Oh well. I thought of my mom when we were at the lighthouse because I know she loves them. I thought how nice it would have been to have her there to explore the place with.

Kissy-kissy on the beach

When we finally got to Steve's parents' house a few hours away from the coast, we discovered that we didn't need our sweatshirts any more - it was hot! Steve's parents are super nice and welcomed us with open arms. People have asked me if I was nervous meeting them for the first time, but I wasn't. We had spoken on the phone a few times and I'm facebook friends with his dad, so it was almost like we had met. We had a good time. One day we drove to Crater Lake, stopping at a couple waterfalls along the way.

Steve and his dad, Ron

Crater Lake - look at that gorgeous blue water!

The next day we went to this awesome drive-thru wildlife safari. You stay in your car and drive around looking at the animals. A couple years ago, they put the dangerous animals behind cages because people were dumb and wouldn't stay in their cars AND because a couple cars got sat on by elephants and rhinos. It was really fun to see the animals roaming around.









On our way back to Utah, we stopped in Portland and spent a few hours with my dear friend and former mission companion, Anna and her two daughters. It was so wonderful catching up with her but I could have used about 2 more days or more to really get caught up completely. We continued on our way, stopping in Baker, OR for our last night on the road. When we got home Friday afternoon, almost a complete week after leaving, we were so happy to be home! We had a few hours to relax before my mom, older brother Corey, and Corey's family came to spend the night.


Sadie loves my nephew and niece and wanted to sleep with Porter instead of on her bed in our room.

We had a wonderful trip to Oregon. It was a lot of time in the car, but between listening to audio books and playing car games and just talking to each other, we managed to enjoy ourselves. Sadie was really good in the car, she just slept. Before we left on our trip, she would get so excited to go for a car ride, and I wondered if spending so much time in the car would dampen her enthusiasm for a bit. Nope, she still loves getting into the car. She loves an adventure, and so do Steve and I, so we're a happy family. I can't wait to go back to Oregon again. It was a blast!