Quick Update

The holidays are generally a busy time of year. This year feels a bit busier than usual and a bit busier than I like. So that is my excuse for slacking off on the blogging. So much to blog about, no time or energy left to do it:).

We had the chance to visit my family the weekend before Thanksgiving and then we visited Brad's family over Thanksgiving. We had a great time at both places. Lots of good food and great company. And we got to see a movie at each place: in I.F. we saw New Moon (I thought it was great) and in Logan we saw Blind Side (this is a good show, I recommend it).

Brad's been busy finishing up the semester, preparing for the GRE, working, and getting ready for the ward Christmas party. And I've been busy with various church, work, friend, wife obligations. I won't bore you with all the details:). Just a few. We had fun going to another Jazz game last week. I love sitting up in the suite and eating and talking with co-workers, etc. It's a definite perk of this job. Otherwise I don't think we'd make it to any Jazz games. Plus our future boss was there so it was good to meet him (he'll be joining us next week and we're looking forward to the extra support and help). Another highlight last week was singing in the chorus in a program for the Relief Society Christmas dinner. I also helped throw a baby shower, despite the fact that the mother had the baby the previous evening. It worked out alright. Last but not least we had Stake Conference last weekend which is always inspiring. I got to sing with the Stake Choir during the Sunday session.

This weekend is the ward Christmas party so hopefully all goes well with that. Then for me, dress rehearsal and a couple of performances this weekend with the Stake choir of "Sing Noel". The conductor is great and she has us singing some really nice songs so this should be a good experience.


Here's a couple of pictures from our trip to Idaho (sorry, none of Brad...he wasn't around during the photo shoot)...

Dad and me

Jules and me

I'll try to be more motivated and keep up with the blog better so that my posts aren't so boring:) Hope you are all having a nice holiday season!!!

Halloween Fun!!!

We had some fun for Halloween at work. We always look for excuses to party:) On Thursday we all wore orange and black and had treats and played games. Of course we had a great time. Elise and Heather were gone on Friday, so it was just me, Meegan, and Betsy left for the call center. There are other people that work in our office and last year we all got dressed up and took a bunch of pictures on Halloween. Well, I missed the memo that they weren't dressing up this year. At least Betsy missed the memo also and she dressed up a bit too. I didn't care too much because I had to dress up for our ward trunk or treat that evening anyway. So I was all ready to go!

Meegan: a call center employee

Me: a stylish witch

Betsy: a dinosaur trainer (her dinosaur does some cool things, I'm not kidding!)

Sassy pose!!!

After cleaning up from the ward party. Brad used his coveralls from work and was a mechanic. Not quite as festive as me, but I was just glad he dressed up:)

Brad is the ward Activities Chairman and I'm on the committee. We had an awesome turnout for the Halloween party. Way more people than we were expecting. It was a chili cookoff, trunk or treat, and costume contest. Thankfully we had more than enough chili and people seemed to be having a good time. It was a relief when it was over, though! Now onto the ward Christmas party...

Jazz Game

It's that time of year again...basketball time! My company has a suite for the Jazz games. My department was invited to go to a pre-season game this week. It was Jazz vs. Trailblazers. It was a good game, but the Jazz were ahead the whole time and of course, they won. I always enjoy going to these games and hanging out with my co-workers, eating good food, oh, and watching the game. Brad loves this perk about my job:) We're both hoping they invite us to one more game this season. Here's some pics from the event.

The Jazz player by the 3-point line is Wesley Matthews. Brad went to high school with him!

Soaking up all the fun and excitement!!!

Baby Shower

Yes, yes...I know I'm way past due for another post. So I'll tell you about what we did today at work, in addition to working of course:). My co-worker, Elise, is going to have a baby boy in a few weeks, so we threw her a little baby shower today. We had a brunch, which was delicious by the way, and played some fun games. I won some yummy lotion (don't worry, I didn't eat it) . Thanks Betsy! I can hardly believe that our little group is about to change again (Paula left us a month ago...I miss her, too!). I will miss Elise, but I'm excited for her to get to stay home with her new babe. She's going to be a great mom! I can't wait to see what the cute little fella will look like. Elise, you better come back and visit us!

Birthday Fun!!

A couple of days ago was my birthday. I am the ripe old age of 25. Do I feel 25? No, not really. I still have a lot of growing up to do:) I had a very nice day. My awesome co-workers decorated my desk so cute, gave me a card, and made me the most delicious brownies. How did they know brownies are my favorite? Okay, I might have given them a couple of clues:)

Betsy, me, Heather, and Elise
You can't really see all of the decorations in this picture but it was really cute! Thanks for making it a special day, girls!

Betsy, me, Lorene

I just thought it was so funny that all three of us had orange shirts on with cream shirts under them. I had to get a picture of it:) Our shirts looked closer in color in real life.

The evening was fun, too. Brad took me to Bajio's and we each got our favorite: I love the chicken green chile salad and he loves the chicken green chile quesadilla. YUM!!! Then we headed back home to open presents. Brad surprised me with a new tennis racket! I love it and I am so excited to get out on a court and try it out. We are going to play tonight. Ready to get schooled, Brad? Just teasing, of course:) Oh, and I also got my very own Nalgene bottle so now I don't have to steal Brad's everyday. Thanks for the great gifts honey! Very thoughtful, practical, and fun.

Getting a feel for the new racket. She's a beauty, isn't she? The racket, I mean.

I appreciate all the gifts from family, as well. You are all so very generous. Thanks for making it a special day everyone! I guess you only turn a quarter of a century once, right?!

The Last Couple of Weeks

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy between family, church, work, school, etc. But we've been having a lot of fun! So, two weeks ago today we headed for Smithfield after I got home from work. We got to be there when Alan was set apart as a missionary that night. It was fun to be a part of that. Then we visited and stayed the night there, at Brad's parents' home. On Wednesday morning we were able to sing happy birthday to each of the triplets (Alan, Colin, and Megan) and have a special birthday breakfast with them. Then we said our goodbyes to Alan and headed for Idaho. He entered the MTC that afternoon. I'm sure he's a great missionary!

Our last few minutes with Alan

Next on our list was a Call Family Reunion in Salmon, Idaho. This was just with my immediate family. Brad and I met up with my family in Salmon Wednesday afternoon and then we caravaned up to William's Lake. We only had a couple of mishaps on our way there...a flat tire on Ryan's (my bro-in-law) truck and my parents' motorhome overheated. We got it all taken care of and eventually made it to the cabin safe and sound. We stayed in Ryan's uncle's cabin, right next to the lake. The view was beautiful and it was so convenient to have the boat docked right behind the cabin.

Some highlights from our time at William's Lake:

• We spent lots of time boating, wake-boarding, skiing, knee-boarding, and tubing
• Jumped off of a super tall rock into the lake (took me a little bit to work up the courage but I did it--twice!! I'll have to get some pics from my mom)
  
• Floated around in the paddle boat and kayak
• The guys did a little fishing
• Went on a really fun hike up to some natural hot springs. I loved this hike! I've done it before but it's something I would do every year if I could. Basically some of the little pools of water were hot, some were cold, some were in between. And there were several waterfalls which made for some cool pictures. Unfortunately I was in my swimsuit for most of these pics, so I'll spare you:)
• Watched a couple of movies and played Guitar Hero
• The guys went on a really intense but fun 4-wheeler ride (Brad's favorite part!)
• Ate lots of really good food
• Learned how to make neckerchief holder-thingies (I can't think of what they're called) thanks to my dad who was practicing his scouting skills
• Had a fun devotional where we talked about our theme, "True Blue Calls". We each participated and shared our ideas using scriptures and stories that illustrated our theme.
• Did a little shopping at Arfmann's Four Seasons (Ryan's parents' store). Yea for upcoming birthdays!

So after doing all this fun stuff, we were all pretty tired and ready to head to I.F. on Saturday afternoon. So we grabbed some dinner and got on the road. Unfortunately, the motor home wasn't in as big of a hurry to get home as we were. About 10 minutes into the drive, we started seeing smoke billowing from the sides and then from the front and we knew something was definitely wrong. We had it towed and we ended up staying another night in Salmon. Thankfully Ryan's parents were very welcoming and let us all stay there. My dad came with his truck the next day (he had already gone home for a scouting thing) and rescued us. To my knowledge the motor home needed a new transmission and it is still in Salmon getting fixed. Anyway, we got to I.F. just in time for Brad and I to jump into our car and get back to Orem before it got too late. Looking back, it all turned out just fine and it was a good bonding experience for our family. Sorry about the motor home, Mom and Dad!

Here are some pictures from our reunion:

Brad on the knee-board

Showing us all how it's done...Good job Brad!!!

Having some fun in the paddle-boat and kayak

We just finished hiking up to the hot springs and were ready to jump into something nice and cool. Thank goodness there were so many different temperatures to choose from!!

Ryan and Julie...still looking good after an intense hike up the mountain:)

Aawww...the couple pose...yeah, we know we're white:)

The True Blue Calls in our matching shirts that Mom dyed for us. Thanks mom, we love the shirts and the neckerchiefs!

Standing True and Blue :)

Wow, we look young in this picture. I'm in need of some make-up or a shower or something:)

The lake that Brad and Ryan went 4-wheeling to. I thought this was a great picture.

Bro-in-laws just chillin' at the lake

Brad being all manly and loving every minute of this intense 4-wheeler ride

Looks a little rocky...oh, ee, ow...careful:)

Brad said that this part was a lot steeper than it looks...still being all manly;)

Looking good you manly-man!

Footage of the super steep part

So now we are back and busy as ever. We had a ward activity last Saturday, and Brad is the Ward Activities Chairman and I am on the committee. We spent some time over the weekend preparing for that and other church callings. I think the Ward BBQ went well and everyone seemed to have a good time. Since this was the first activity we were in charge of, it was a learning experience and of course there are a few things that we would have done differently, but it all turned out pretty well. Brad did an awesome job grilling up 40 lbs. of chicken tenderloins. It was so funny. When he was finally done, he had black specks and smears all over his face and shirt from the BBQ. And he smelled so strongly of BBQ he was definitely in need of a shower:)

Brad's back into school and we are so glad that this is his second to last semester until he gets his Bachelor's. He just keeps plowing through the classes. Keep it up, honey!!

Fun Weekend & Good Luck Alan!!

This past weekend we had the chance to visit Brad's family in Smithfield. On Saturday we headed to Bear Lake to spend some time with Tammy's family. We were planning to spend the whole day basking in the sun, jet-skiing, and boating. Well the weather didn't want to cooperate. Thankfully it stopped raining in the afternoon so we could get some jet-skiing in:) It was not the greatest weather. I think the temperature was in the low 60's and it was a little windy. We mostly sat up on the beach and chatted and munched. Tammy and Teryl had rented a jet-ski so we took turns riding it out on the lake. I love jet-skiing, but I don't love being cold so it took me a little while to build up the courage to take my turn. I'm glad I did. I got Brad to come with me and we had a nice ride. The water felt surprisingly good when we hopped off of the jet-ski after being wind-blown. So then we headed back to Tammy's sisters' campsites and had a fun dinner. The best part was taking turns on a pogo-stick. I never knew what good entertainment a pogo-stick could be. I wish I had remembered my camera. That would make this much more interesting. Oh, well.

So Sunday was exciting because Alan gave his farewell talk in church. A lot of family and friends came to listen and wish him well. He did such a great job and I can tell that he will be a fantastic missionary. He has prepared well and he is ready to get out there. He will be serving in the New Hampshire, Manchester Mission and he leaves tomorrow. Good luck, Alan! We'll be praying for you!

Colin surprised us and got ordained an Elder right after Sacrament meeting. Even his parents didn't know. It worked out great because we all got to be a part of it. Sneaky, sneaky!

It ended up being a really fun weekend and we had a great time visiting and catching up with family. Now I've got to work on my packing list for our next excursion. Tomorrow we leave for a family reunion with my immediate family. We're heading up to Salmon, ID. We'll be staying at a cabin there and doing all kinds of out-doorsy things. We're both looking forward to the break. I'll let you know how it goes:)

Alan and Brad after church

(funny story--someone told Brad good luck at church thinking he was Alan!! I thought it was funny because Brad's been home from his mission for almost 4 years:) That's okay, I look young too!)

What we've been up to

It's now been a month since I last posted, so I thought it was about time to give a little update. I keep coming up with things to write about in my head, but then I put off writing about these events so long that it becomes old news and feels irrelevant to post about. Improvement is needed.

Summer seems to have flown by, and despite Brad being busy with school and me being busy with work, we've managed to squeeze in some fun.

Last weekend:

On Friday night Brad and I walked over to the Scera Outdoor Theater and enjoyed watching a performance of West Side Story. We had great seats and the weather cooperated. I have loved this musical since I was a little girl, so it was very nostalgic for me. They did a good job and we both left feeling like it was well worth the money spent for the tickets. Maria was my favorite. She was a perfect fit for the part. It was a great night out. We might try to catch the next musical they are performing, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We'll probably opt for the cheaper tickets and sit on the lawn. Anyone want to come?

Saturday evening we headed up to some land in Provo Canyon for an Redneck Elder's Quorum party. There was food, a potato gun (Brad got to be in charge of this and was loving it), a fire for roasting marshmallows, and......horses. I didn't want to get on a horse, but I was eventually talked into it. Well, somewhere along the way, the horse freaked out and started bucking. I held on for dear life, but after a few good bucks, I got bucked off. Let me just tell you, it hurts. Bad. I got whiplash, and felt pretty beat up for a few days afterward. This was my first time on a horse, so it was kind of traumatic for me. Hopefully the next horse I ride is a bit calmer. We ended the night by watching favorite movie clips (on a gigantic blow-up screen) that each family had submitted, and trying to guess who's favorite clip it was. Brad submitted a clip from Dan in Real Life because we love that movie.

This weekend:
Saturday afternoon Brad and I went and saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We both thought it was entertaining. Brad had listened to the book on CD while driving so he knew more of the details that were left out. He came away slightly disappointed because he thought they left out some important things. I didn't know any different, so I thought it was good. All the Harry Potter movies are little long for my attention span, so I wouldn't want it to be any longer. I always am impressed by the creativity of this series. I will remain a fan. I might even try to read the books one of these days:) After the movie, Brad and I walked over to Tucano's Brazilian Grill for dinner. We had a buy one get one free coupon that needed to be used up (thanks to Betsy!), and we had been wanting to eat there for a while. The coupon made it more reasonably priced so we decided it was a good time for us to try it out. We both really liked it. They had a great salad bar with everything from pasta to sushi to fried bananas. So we loaded up our plates and then servers would come to our table with skewers of meat and ask if we wanted any. We got to try small pieces of many different types of meat and grilled pineapple and veggies. It was delicious! Needless to say we both left stuffed and fully satisfied. We will be back the next time we get our hands on a coupon. I don't think we'd ever pay full price for it, though. Neither of us can eat enough in one sitting to want to pay $20 per person. So we'd recommend it if you have a coupon:)

So there you have it. The fun, exciting, adventurous weekends of Brad and Shanna:) In addition to all this excitement, we decided to tackle one room each Saturday and clean and organize it. We felt it was a good time to do this since we have been in this apartment for a year now and we will be here for at least another year. It's been so nice to have a summer where we aren't moving. No figuring out how to box things up. No figuring out how to get things from here to there. Just a little cleaning and organizing, which is sooo much better than moving.

Sorry no pictures. Improvement is needed in that department also:) I hope you are all having a great summer, too!!

Fun Pictures

Here's a couple more fun pictures from our latest trip to Idaho.

Julie, Shanna, Kim.

It had been sooo long since I had seen Kim because she has been living in Hawaii. Thankfully she was in town so I could see her last weekend. It was great to spend some time with her and her two cute sons, Branson and Eli. She's got a third son on the way. Good luck, Kimmy!

Brad in the banana man suit after our race. He's gonna hate me for putting this picture on here. But it's just too funny and cute not to share! He was totally rockin' it up!

Fun Getaway

We spent the past weekend in Idaho. Brad had finished up the spring term and had a bit of a break. So I took some time off of work, and we took a trip. It was so much fun!! Here are some highlights from our trip:

• We stopped in Smithfield on our way to Idaho to visit with Brad's family for a bit.


• Brad, Ryan, and my Dad went golfing.


• We had a couple of fun BBQ's.


• We played some tennis.


• We got to see my cousin Kim who was visiting from Hawaii with her cute little boys.


• We ate at Johnny Carino's...YUM!!!


• We ran in the Scenic River Classic. Jule's and I ran the 10k and Brad ran the 5k. We had a blast! Jule's finished a few minutes before I did, but I expected that. She rocked it up! I was excited because I ran it a couple of minutes faster than my last/first 10k, which was my goal. Brad did awesome and felt great during his race. He forgot to look at the clock at the end, but I think he made good time. This was his first long distance race so I'm very proud of him for training and finishing the race without walking. Good job honey!


• We ate Jamba oatmeal (YUM!!) and fresh squeezed O.J. and Brad ran around in the banana man suit to encourage customers to come to an event they were having at Jamba. Put a costume on that boy and he becomes someone else! It was fun to see him running up and down 17th and Hitt, being all crazy. What a good sport!


• Brad and Ryan went 4-wheeling on Ryan and Julie's land. This was Brad's favorite part of the trip.


• Of course we found some time to do some fun shopping ;)


• We went and saw Angels and Demons, and we liked it!


• We enjoyed just hanging out and spending time with family and teasing our neices.


• We went to church with my parents.


• We had fun celebrating Father's Day.


• We drove home during a nasty storm, but lived to tell about it :)

Thanks for treating us to a fun weekend, Mom and Dad! And thanks to Julie, Ryan, and the girls for hanging out with us all weekend. Ya'll are so much fun and we loved every second!

Playing tennis after the BBQ. Girls vs. boys...mwah ha ha!

Not sure what's going on with my face, but Jule's looks cute:)

Brad took this fabulous pic of Ashlie. Isn't she a doll?!

Maylie, Brianna, Ashlie, Branson, and Eli splish-splashin' in the fun new kiddie pool. They loved it!
Jule's finishing up the race. She's my inspiration!

Just a couple of miles left. At least I'm still smiling:) That jacket was so hot! I'm not going to pin the bib on the jacket ever again. Oh well, another lesson learned.

Yeah...almost finished!

Sister shot. It was so fun running this race together.

Finally a pic of Brad. His race was at the same time as ours so we didn't get any action shots of him. Sorry Brad! This is after the race. Legs are feeling like jello.

We are so tough! No?

My Big Brother

My brother Brian is an attorney for the U.S. Air Force. He's currently in Iraq for a six month deployment. He's been gone for almost a month and, from what I hear, he's holding up alright. I know it's been hard for him to be away from his family. Thank goodness for technology that has allowed them to keep in touch. I just want to say that I'm proud to have a brother serving our country. I can't think of anyone better for the job. I'm in awe of the bravery, determination, and faith that he possesses, all of which will help him make it through this deployment. We all miss him, but we are comforted in knowing that he is doing the Lord's work in serving our country to his full capacity. He is a great example of strength and courage to all of us. Brian, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Know that we love you and we couldn't be more proud of you. Thanks for you service!

Here are some pictures that show part of his journey in the Air Force.

I should also acknowledge that this has been a sacrifice for his wife, Natalie, and his kids, Kennedy and Nathan. I'm proud of them for being strong and supporting their dad/husband in this endeavor. Aren't they such a cute little family?

Congratulations Alan, Colin, and Megan!!!

Brad and I want to give a shout out to Alan, Colin, and Megan because they are graduating from high school tonight (that's right, Brad's younger siblings are triplets!). Congratulations you guys! You made it! We are proud of all that you have accomplished and look forward to seeing great things from all three of you. Good luck with all of your future adventures. And enjoy your graduation tonight...don't trip:)

We got to go to Smithfield on Sunday to have a little family celebration for this event. We had dinner together and went to the triplets' seminary graduation. It was great to be there for that because Alan spoke and did a really great job. Then we went back to the house, took pictures, had dessert, watched some home videos from their younger years, and they opened gifts. It was a fun little get together. It's so nice that they now live close enough for us to come and be a part of these special occasions. It's been fun getting to know them better.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

Alan, Colin, and Megan

After seminary graduation

The Roper Family

(just missing Allison, Scott, and Madeline)

SHAD :)