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 :)

Happy Birthday to Julie!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST SISTER EVER!

I hope you have a fabulous day Jules. You deserve it!

Jules, you've accomplished a lot and touched so many lives in these last 27 years. Keep up the great work and don't forget that your little sister thinks that you're awesome and wants to be just like you:) I feel blessed to have a sister like you. Your fun, spontaneous, caring, selfless, charitable, beautiful, stylin', hard-working, friendly, energetic...the list could go on and on. I hope you enjoy this special day! I love you!