I aM so LuCkY!

This post goes out to all of my girlfriends! I was just thinking about how much I am blessed to have all of my girly friends in my life. I am overwhelmed with happiness of how much I love and adore all of my friends. Benton is great, but you know how husbands just aren't the same as your girlfriends? Well I just want to give a shout out to all of my girls! I seriously have the best friends, I have friends who I don't talk to for a while and then when we see each other we just click like no time has gone by at all. I have my friends that I keep in touch with from High School and love to hear all about what's been going on with them. I have all of my friends from America First-I cannot believe how many friendships I've established by working there, friendships that I'll have my whole life. I love my co-workers who aren't just my co-workers, they are my really good friends who I blabber to every day! I have my sisters who are my best girlfriends ever, nobody could ever replace them! Seriously, I just want to give a hug to each and everyone of you. I don't think I tell you all how much I love you and how much better my life is with you in it. I could start crying, that's how grateful I am. No, nothing has even happened for me to feel this way, I just do. So thank you all for being in my life and supporting me....I couldn't do it without you!

Roxy's 4!

Today is our little Roxy's birthday! Since I don't have kids, I'm going to brag about my dog, kinda silly-but go with it. Growing up, we always had a cat so when Benton told me he was going to get me a dog, I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of a dog. When I thought of dogs I thought of shedding, chewed up furniture, slobber, and fortunately Roxy doesn't do any of those things, just the dog for me. I had gotten surgery on my foot and was off of work for 2 weeks, so Benton decided it was the perfect time to get me a dog. He picked out a liter of dogs on KSL for us to go look at. When I held Roxy I knew she was the perfect dog for me. She cuddled right up to my neck, she was only 1.5 lbs. She still tries to lay up by my neck all the time, but now she's 5.5 lbs, so it's quite different, she must think she's littler than she is.

Here is a photo of what she loves to do, it's kinda weird. Every night before we go to bed she tries to jump on our bathroom counter because she loves to drink out of our sink. It's her nightly ritual, she doesn't do it with any other sink but this one. Maybe it's because of how the water comes out of the faucet? Who knows, but I think it's pretty funny.


Roxy is one of a kind, our house would be so different without her. She makes me laugh all the time, she's just so silly. As you can tell she's filled my need for kids, because she really is like my child. I talk to her all the time and wonder if I'm going crazy, because I'll have full out conversations with her (obviously I'm the only one talking). Anyhow, Happy Birthday Roxy, we love you!

Ben Lomand

Today I golfed for the first time this year! I had some good hits, and not so good hits. Benton and I went with a friend from his work and his wife. I'm always nervous to go with new friends, since I embarrass myself, but they were really nice and complimented my shots (even though they were really bad). So here are some photos from today, the first one is of the girls, Rachelle and I...

Benton and Mike...

Golf is actually a relaxing sport, I just wish I was better at it.

Moonlight Bike Ride

On Friday night me and my good friend Missy Smithing, rode the 22 mile bike ride at Antelope Island. It was my first time riding at night. The ride started at 10pm, we actually were running a bit late, so we didn't start riding til about 11pm. Here is us before the ride....

We were really nervous at first, because of how many bugs we hit on the way into the Marina. I don't think I've ever seen so many bugs, but once we started riding weirdly enough we hardly saw any bugs. Antelope Island is really dark at night, it was really pretty looking at the stars and the reflection of of the Great Salt Lake. I haven't ever ridden on Antelope Island so I was surprised at how many hills there were. It's challenging riding in the dark, but a fun experience. At the half way point they had refreshments, I tried taking pictures but since it was so dark they didn't turn out so well. Here are some of us eating fruit, and an attempt at the barn at night....



We didn't get home till about 1:45am, I was exhausted, but so glad I did it! I love trying new things. So if anyone is interested in coming next year, I'd love to do it again!

Happy 4th of July!

I love the 4th of July, it always is so much fun! I'm so glad we ended up having good weather. We hung out with the Hansen's all day and had so much fun.
We ate at the Pizza Factory for lunch...


We went to the Syracuse Fun Center and played some arcades...


Chelsie, Spencer and I went to the Roy Aquatic Center, while the boys went golfing...


To end the day we did fireworks at my house, after we went to Clearfield City's fireworks, they were great this year!




It was a great 4th of July, couldn't ask for anything better!

Adams Canyon

Today we went on our first hike of the year to Adams Canyon. I was a little nervous to go on this hike with Benton's knee, but he did a great job. We went around 3:30pm so it was really hot, but I was just so happy Benton agreed to go that I didn't care how hot it was. Here we are at the top, by the waterfall.


If you haven't been up to Adams Canyon, I'd defiantly suggest you try it. The hike up is pretty hard, but the way down is easy, and it's really pretty.

Softball League

Benton joined a softball team and had his 1st game on Thursday night. I decided to go to see how he did, I had never seen him play softball, ever. He started off as the catcher, but his knee started bothering him. He started limping, so I knew he was hurting from crouching down. They ended up having him pitch for the benefit of his knee, but it ended up benefiting his team. At the end of the night they won their 1st game by 1 point! I was really impressed, especially since last year the team they played never lost, so they started the season off on the right foot! Great job team DLA!
Here he is pitching...

Hitting...


Who knew Benton was good at softball? I should have known!

Trip to Dixie

This past weekend I had the opportunity for work to go down and train in St. George. I volunteered so that I could visit with my family. On Sunday my sister Chelsie was heading back up to their house, so I got to visit with them for a couple hours before they left. Spencer and I snuck off into the backyard, my parents have a pool~I didn't want to tell Spencer that he couldn't get in the pool, so we did. Yes, in his clothes, that's what aunt's are for. Here is a picture of us...

Chelsie found out, and joined the fun. She wasn't upset because she knew he'd fall sleep in the car, so I was actually helping, I was able to get all of his energy out before his long car ride home. He loves to go under water, which really surprised me, here's Chelsie dunking him in the water...

My mom and I were able to go on a hike in Zions, it's so pretty. I love to spend time in nature, next time I'd like to go all day, but I'll take what I can get.




On the last day I met my mom and brother at Great Harvest for lunch. Here is a cheesy picture of Thomas and I...

I love spending time with them, just wished they lived closer!

1 Year, No Sweets!

I did it! Yay, I can't believe it's been a year since I've had a piece of cake, a cookie or my favorite, a bowl of ice cream (Cold Stones-cake batter with brownie mixed in is the best!). It's a lot easier for me now than 6 months ago. I don't really struggle like I did before. I don't crave those foods since I haven't had them in so long, not saying I don't miss them. Over the past year my no sweets went a little bit too crazy. At first I said, no sweets as in obvious sweets like candy, cake, ice cream, the usual. Well after time went by I was like well I can't eat a cinnamon roll because of the frosting, or fiber one bars/granola bars with chocolate in it, hot chocolate (even the 0 calorie kind, because it still has chocolate in the title) and even frosted mini wheats cereal-since it has frosting. Oh gees, that's a little crazy, who thinks of frosted mini wheats as a sweet, no one...except those who are around me, "Are you going to really eat that?" as in a frosted mini wheat that I bought last week since they were on sale, I asked, "Why not?" their reply, "It has dried frosting." So here's the deal, I am still not eating "normal" sweets, but I will indulge myself with a frosted mini wheat-so for those of you who see me all the time, don't be surprised ;)

Yay!!! I rode 104 miles on my road bike!

Yesterday started at 5AM. I picked up my good friend Mandee and headed off to Wellsville, Utah for our annual Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride. The ride consists of 2600 girls. You can choose from 6 different routes (15, 35, 45, 62, 80 & 104) we of course chose the 104 mile ride. Last year we did 80 so it was our goal to do the longest ride they had this year. Here is a picture of Mandee and I before the ride started (we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into)...

The weather was terrible again, it was really windy, rainy, and it was freezing cold. We had a lot of fun, there were some points in the ride I almost gave up from the pain in my lower back, you may have seen my post about how my vertebrae has slipped. The pain was excruciating. At times I was on the verge of having a break down. I kept telling myself that I could do it and would finish the ride. We rode all the way to Preston, Idaho which was our half way point. To get into Preston we had to go up this huge hill, I wasn't quite sure when I saw it if I could even make it up, but here we are in Preston, we made it up the hill...

I took a picture of the sky at lunch, you can see how cold it is just by how the clouds looked...

During the last 20 miles we finally saw the sun and I was able to take my sleeves off. It was still windy, but the warmth of the sun felt great...it was such a beautiful ride. That is the one thing I love about biking, how much I enjoy the earth, I appreciate it more every time I ride. We live by such beauty.


We finally finished the ride, it took us about 6 hours and 45 minutes of just biking...that doesn't include time that it took for us to stop to rest or eat lunch. It really was a long day, but well worth the pain. Along the road near the end there were families cheering all of us on, yelling words of encouragement...I had tears in my eyes because I was so greatful that even with a bad back I was able to accomplish something so great, I never would have dreamed a couple years ago that I would be able to do something like this. Thank you all for your words of encouragement before my ride, you had faith that I could do it, and I know that helped motivate me throughout the ride. I was thrilled to finally cross the finish line, they gave us lays and had a celebration of completion with music and food. Thanks Mandee for such a great ride!