Memorial Day Weekend

Well, aside from the horrible weather we had here on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, our long holiday weekend was pretty good. We were at Bear Lake with both of our families actually. The Stouts had planned this trip as their last big family vacation with everybody before Paul’s youngest brother, Mason, leaves for his mission for two years. They rented a cabin with 6 bedrooms plus several extra couches and beds to sleep on to fit us all. Once we found out that dogs weren’t allowed in the cabin, or even on the premises, I had asked my parents if they could watch Maui for us for that weekend. With it being Memorial Day weekend, they had to politely decline since they wanted to go out of town themselves. Watching Maui for us while we’re gone would have been bad enough, but also having to travel with her without us there would just be out of the question. Since they hadn’t decided yet where they wanted to go, my dad thought that they could just go up camping at Bear Lake as well so that way we can still have Maui with us. That decided, we realized we’d need to stay with my parents at their campsite, and just drive over to see the Stouts each day for a few hours at their cabin without Maui. It worked out pretty well. It was raining and cold almost every night, but it was still fun to stay outside. We spent most of our times visiting and playing games with both of the families; Maui enjoyed spending the entire trip off her leash since my family was the only group at that campsite.

Saturday, my dad, sister, and sister’s boyfriend, took the boat out to go fishing while Paul, my mom, Maui, and myself sat out on the beach area. Since it obviously was too cold to get in the water, we just spent the entire time throwing Maui’s ball for her into the lake… she’s swam in colder water. She got pretty dirty after she rolled around in the sand,

but luckily cleaned up easily before we headed back to camp. Sunday night, after we had already left since my parents needed to be home then, Paul’s family lit up lanterns (much like the ones from the Disney/Pixar movie Tangled) and released them over the lake… from the pictures I saw it looked pretty cool! Shawna was nice enough to save us two of them so Paul and I can release our own lanterns another time; maybe we’ll do it at a park or something at night.

Let My Love Open The Door

Paul surprised me with this lovely piece of art yesterday...

By the time I had gotten home from work he had already put it up on the wall.

I was so happy and excited to see it because Paul surprised me on our wedding day by singing that song, so it reminds me of that amazing day, almost 3 years ago! Here's a short video of that awesome moment. (Click Here!)

Jess and Ammon

Last night we had my best friend Jess and her son Ammon over for dinner. Right away, Ammon wasn’t exactly thrilled to be here, so I threw in the Emperor’s New Groove and that calmed him right down. My friend Jess is just as obsessed with anything Disney, especially Disneyland/World, just like I am… so naturally she’s passing it on to her kid too. :) After dinner we hung out and visited for a while, it was a lot of fun. Ammon, 3 years old by the way, picked up Maui’s chuck-it and ball and tried throwing her ball for her.

He somehow knew that you were supposed to throw the tennis ball with the chuck-it, he just didn’t quite know how. :) I promise Ammon climbed in Maui's kennel voluntarily...

And shut the door. Not quite sure what Maui thought of that. She also seemed slightly concerned when Ammon started rummaging through her toy crate,

naturally he assumed that they were kid toys I think. Maui wanted to double check her stuff to make sure he didn't take anything...

, before they resumed playing. Around 8:00pm or so, Ammon started telling Jess that he wanted to leave. He went over to the couch, picked up her purse, and brought it to her all while tugging on her hand leading her towards the door. It was really cute actually. Jess, not really wanting to go so soon, was asking Ammon why he wanted to leave already. Paul started asking Ammon if he wanted to watch another Disney movie, so I pulled down my entire collection to let him sort through. After shoving the UP dvd into my hands, I set Ammon up on our bed with my portable DVD player where he sat for another 1.5 hours pretty contently, so we could visit more with Jess. We introduced her to How I Met Your Mother and she introduced us to another funny show on Netflix called Raising Hope. It was a lovely evening, and I was glad that Ammon was so easy to please by just popping in a Disney movie for him.

The Avengers

Saturday, after helping my parents out with their RV, my parents said they were going to go to a movie, and we decided to tag along with. Normally we’re not one for spending money at the theaters, especially the full-priced ones. We’re completely content to just wait around till we can rent it on Netflix, since we pay the monthly price to rent one DVD a month. But, Paul had wanted to see The Avengers, what my parents were going to see, and I had a bit of cash from selling my camera. Oh my gosh! It was SO worth the money!!

Heck, I’d even pay the $12.50 it cost us to see it again right away! We both loved it; it was such a good movie! I think we’ll be buying that one for sure when it comes to DVD.

Paul and I had a great weekend, it went by way too fast though. Friday, Paul and I drove down to the Timpanogos temple with Amanda to do a session with several other members of Paul’s family; Dad, Mom, Alan, Jenny, and Mason. It was a lot of fun, the first time I’ve ever been in that temple, it’s so pretty!

Saturday morning, while walking Maui, Paul and I met up with the person from KSL that was buying my old digital camera. I put it up for sale on KSL after I bought my new one, since I didn’t really need two. After that, we cleaned up our house a bit, and then decided to walk over to my parents. While we were there, we helped clean the inside of their RV, in preparation for our Bear Lake trip we’re going on this coming weekend with both of our families. The Stouts had planned this Bear Lake trip for their last big vacation together as a family before Paul’s youngest brother, Mason, leaves on his mission next month. They rented a large cabin for everybody to stay in, but dogs are not allowed there. My parents said they couldn’t really watch Maui for us for that weekend, since they wanted to go out of town for Memorial Weekend too. So I talked them into going to Bear Lake for their trip, and found them a campground to stay at just around the corner from the cabin Paul’s family will be staying at. This way, we’ll leave Maui with my family for a few hours (depending on how she behaves without us) so we can still hang out with Paul’s family. However, after hearing how Maui was when we left her at my parents house for Sunday dinner (Paul and I had dinner with his family down in Utah County), I’m not so sure she’ll be very good. We dropped Maui off at my parents’ house before we left for dinner, so she didn’t have to be kenneled for Sunday night at our house while we were gone. Paul and I try to avoid kenneling her the night before we have to go to work; it’s just a lot of time spent in a cramped place. When we came to pick her up late Sunday evening, my dad had told us that she had been howling. We have never heard her howl before… ever. Crazy dog. Good thing we weren’t leaving her overnight, they probably wouldn’t have gotten any sleep. Luckily, Paul and I don’t have a big desire to travel, so not being able to leave Maui alone isn’t usually a problem. Our Disneyland/California trips work out great to bring her along and those are really the only destinations we like to travel too. We’ve been to Mexico, and on a cruise, but… I really didn’t think either of those trips were worth repeating. We’re both quite simple when it comes to traveling I guess. Sunday dinner was great though. Alan grilled up some hamburgers and hot dogs that tasted pretty dang good, considering it was his first time grilling. I was so surprised when he said they had never used their grill before, after how long they’ve been in their new home. I’d LOVE to have a grill to use at our place, we’d be grilling up dinners on it at least once a week. But that’s just how I was raised, the Andrews LOVE to grill. :) Alan and Jenny’s daughter, Maggie, just turned two ,so that’s why we all gathered together… to celebrate her birthday. The cake was delicious, Maggie was so adorable when she started singing to herself, and the neighbors complimented our singing (they heard us since we were outside) when we sang “Happy Birthday”, a few of those talented Stouts nailed those harmonies. :)