This one goes out . . .

. . . to all the people suffering from "End of Spring Break" like we are! Granted, we had a great last week (Collin basically had the last TWO weeks off), but it still SUCKED getting up this morning! What, we couldn't sleep in until at least 8:00 like we have been doing the past 10 days or more? When that alarm clock went off at 6:00 I thought I was going to die. It might have had to do with the fact that we got in from Portland at midnight last night, but I really think that the majority of my difficulties came from facing the fact that I had to go back to working today. Not just working, but working a LOT to catch up on everything I totally put off last week, because it was "Spring Break!" Who does work on spring break? Not us, apparently. And we will suffer all week catching up. But was it worth it? Yes.
And for all of you who feel the same way, I feel for you. And for all of you who didn't get a "Spring Break".. then I REALLY feel for you!

Fun in Sun

. . . Sun Valley, that is. We had a super fun little getaway to Sun Valley for part of Spring Break (part 2-Portland will be coming soon!).

Collin's parents were so awesome and let us use some of their WorldMark points to get a cute little condo to stay in! We were there for 2 nights. (the outside of our condo)

It was so cute! Perfect for us. It had a kitchen, which was awesome because Collin loves to cook me breakfast! :) And we were able to just take up some groceries and make sandwiches and things so we didn't have to eat out every single meal. Something about preparing meals in a place makes it feel like home anyway!

The condo was in Elkhorn Springs, a resort in Ketchum. (5 minutes outside of Sun Valley) It had a fabulous hot tub and sauna which we spent a lot of time in. (me in the hot tub, Collin in the sauna--I think it was just a reminder of his old wrestling days because sauna is really no fun in my opinion!)


We had such a great view from where we stayed. It was beautiful up there! I felt like we were in a time warp though, because it snowed and was very cold! It was like going back to winter!

The view from the top of Dollar Mountain (taken on my snowboard!)

Collin got these free headband things at Nationals--so freaking dorky but just because it says "NCAA Wrestling" on the back he wore it like the whole trip! You can't see his hair very well in this picture but it was hilarious after he took off his snowboarding beanie. And the headband added such a nice touch. (not to mention the cool pose)

Of course we had to snowboard! It is like $80 for a day on Mt. Baldy so we opted for Dollar Mountain, which was still fabulous seeing as I am not a very good snowboarder! Collin I was so excited because I finally got down some carving! (on the easiest run of course.) Collin had some fun on the harder runs, so it was great. I love the view of Mt. Baldy you can see in the background of this picture! This is at the very top of Dollar. (notice Collin used the headband for more than one thing--here it is functioning as a scarf. (eye roll))

We ate out at some great places. This was fun--a Peruvian Restaurant! My first time eating Peruvian food, that is for sure. It was so freaking spicy. Luckily what I ordered wasn't bad, but Collin got some something for us to share (totally forgot the name) and my mouth burned for like half an hour. It was so cool though because the restaurant is just an old train boxcar! It is surprisingly nice inside!

And I had to take a picture of this--their whole house was surrounded by a fence of skiis! Crazy! And well, not my style of decor but I'm sure they attract a lot of attention. Even their shed was lined with skiis. I guess that is what your life is about if you live up there.

Tara's Visit

First of all, I'm mad at Tara for not putting up her pictures yet because her's are better! And she looks like a tard in all mine because we argued about whose camera to use! (I hate when there are like 20 cameras and everyone wants a picture of the same thing, so this was like that to me! I said we should take all the pictures with either her's or mine . . . and this is boring just typing it so I'll stop.)

ANYWAY . . . we had so much fun! I'm so glad Tara came to visit while Collin was in St. Louis. The only flight from SLC to here after she gets off work doesn't get in until like 10:30, so we always have a late start on the weekend but that didn't stop us!

We went straight over to Hastings to enjoy the Twilight festivities... I am now a proud owner. It's my revenge to myself for not seeing the movie until it had been out like a month.

Then we headed right over to Merritt's! It was PACKED more than I have ever seen it before! We waited like an hour just for 2 scones. But it was fun anyways, I love that place and Tara thinks it should be our late-flight-coming-in tradition, which I agree with!

Then I didn't take pictures much for the rest of the weekend, but Saturday we enjoyed some nice sleeping in and some delicious omelets! We shopped all afternoon at the mall, several craft stores, downtown... We finally went and found our Anthropologie store, which I just recently found out Boise has! It is such a fun store, Tara has been in love with it for years but I didn't think Boise had one. I could never buy anything there except for the clearance rack, but the store is freaking awesome! The clothes are too!

Then we went to Shiige's Express, Collin and my favorite sushi place! We have never found one we like better. We totally lucked out because they have a new Happy Hour there--where it is $! sushi plates! Holy cow, it was awesome! We stuffed ourselves and had some goood stuff!

Then we of course had to stop by the Cheesecake Factory, which is another of our traditions. We went a little overboard and bought well, I don't want to say how many slices. But then we headed home after not finding the movie we wanted to see in any theaters close by or anything good to rent. We watched my new season of Friends and ate ourselves sick with cheesecake! Totally worth it!

Well I guess this picture gives away how much cheesecake we bought. There were leftovers, just so you know. I even saved one for Collin when he got home, that was a good exercise in self-control!

Sadly Tara left Sunday right after church, but we had fun! Thanks for coming, sis! I miss you already! :)

Sweetie

My husband is so cute. Well first of all, I have to say I scored big points in the wife department when I set up a trip for him and 2 of his bros to St. Louis for the NCAA Div. I Wrestling Championships . . . He has been like a freaking kid in a candy store all week looking forward to this trip. (He's there right now) And when he called me a couple of hours ago, he had lost his voice!! Are you kidding me. I thought he only yelled like that at his own wrestlers, but apparently not. So, he has been having a blast. BUT.. before he left he planned a fun little date night for us. Every time we drive or walk by P.F. Chang's I always say "I really want to eat there again," because we've only eaten there once like 3 years ago. And I also say that about pretty much every place that we've ever eaten that I like. But, he told me to plan for a date night Monday and surprised me and took me to P.F. Chang's, which was so fun! I really like that place and I will continue to say "I want to eat there again" when we drive by! He's cute to notice things like that and plan fun little things. And it was so cute that he planned a little together night for us before he left for the weekend! (and half the week!)

... But never fear, Tara flies in in like 2 hours! let the fun begin!

Those leprechauns!

Look what they did to our milk! (suspiciously, they always did that to my milk when I was growing up as well . . . )
AND they made Collin green pancakes, and green eggs and ham for breakfast! Whoever they are, they're nice anyways! (6:30 am!)

The Update You've Been Waiting For!

I know you have been holding your breath waiting for me to get my bum in gear and actually start blogging again (as in, not just putting up crap because I'm too lazy to actually put up any decent posts). So from now on I solemnly swear to .... try harder to blog more often!

The main problem is that I have a serious picture deficiency right now. I just haven't been taking pictures! That leads to me not having any good pictures to post on my blog... which leads me to this horrible state my blog has come to. So I dug and salvaged some pictures that can hopefully summarize our lives as of late. . .

This is how I found Collin after I got done cleaning up the kitchen last Sunday. I know most of you take pictures of your babies that you find sleeping in funny positions. This is what I take pictures of sleeping in funny positions. I consider it the same. And this is what I just turned around and took a picture of from my chair about 10 minutes ago. (apparently it's a new Sunday ritual)

Mom and Jodee came to visit a few weeks ago and this is the only picture I got from that trip. It was so fun, too, I'm ashamed I didn't capture more on camera! Oh well. They came to hear me play in my possibly last BSU Duo Recital, in which Breanna and I had the audience in stitches with our silly "C.S. Theme and Variations" (piano comedy, if you didn't know it existed.) Jodee did great in her swim meet, and of course that was the same weekend Collin had districts, which had their good and bad points. We finished out the weekend with a trip to Red Robin, which I am always in favor of.



I got this in the mail!! A freaking warning letter about how many tickets I have. If you didn't know I got three, count them THREE, tickets all within like 4 months in 2008. This coming from someone who has never gotten so much as pulled over in my entire life. I was not happy. And now I have to drive like, 5 under just because I really, really don't want to have to go to driver's school or whatever that garbage is they make you do if you get 4 tickets.

I finally got Collin to see Twilight with me. I know it is out on dvd next week but I had good reason: He never stays awake during a movie we rent that I pick out. never! So I knew I had to get him to the dollar theater because if he paid $2 to get in, he would definitely watch. It was true! And he denies this, but I know he enjoyed it. He was fascinated! I'm sure what he enjoyed even more than the movie was me basically telling him the entire story line of all 4 books the entire way home. He was fascinated, I tell you. (eye roll)


Us in the theater waiting for Twilight! I had to get proof, you know.

The next night we went to yet another movie-- this time we met up with Joe (Collin's old roomie). Poor Joe. We were 5 minutes late so he was waiting in the lobby tapping his toe! Then we rushed in and it was PACKED! The only 3 seats together were in the 3rd row! Have you ever sat there? Because there should not even be seats that close, it is ridiculous. We sat there for like 5 minutes before Joe was like, "I have to go sit farther back, I can't stand this." We knew there weren't seats for all of us, so we let him go and watched the whole move up close and personal, if you know what I mean!! Then Joe had to get home to bed (early church meetings) right after the movie, so we went to the movie with Joe, but not really.



After Benjamin Button, Collin and I still hadn't eaten dinner. . . even though it was like 11:30 and most sensible people would just skip a meal and go home to bed, we decided to go hit our old favorite, Merritt's!! We love this place! (I know Dakin is making puking sounds right now!) Merritt's has been a tradition in our marriage since we started dating, and maybe even before that! And at 11:30 pm on Saturday it is hopping! So we had ourselves some tasty breakfast there, and guess who popped in!

Trever! (another of Collin's old roomies) And his girlfriend. It was so great, we had a lot of fun catching up with them. So we were really glad we decided on Merritt's!

The wrestling banquet.... these are both stolen pictures so hope you guys I stole them from don't mind!

If you want to know, the wrestling season went very well. The team was something like 16-4 which is great, and sadly, ahem, they sort of crashed and burned at state. Okay, not really. But it definitely didn't turn out as Collin had thought it would back when he was dreaming about it at the beginning of the season. But he is just a competitive, intense perfectionist who isn't truly happy with the outcome unless it is the best ever possible, so let's just ignore his opinion for now. :) I keep reminding him that even if the scoreboard/team record isn't the highest it could be, he still built so many great memories and taught so many life lessons, etc. throughout the season that it was worth it anyway. I think they did fabulous, and his wrestlers are stinkin' cute. (most of them!!) It was great to see them get recognition for what they've accomplished at the banquet.

Collin, Jason, Cam, and Kacen--3 great coaches and one adorable baby!

I know that Lyss will k-i-l-l me for posting this picture...

But for some reason my email doesn't work on her newly "private" blog so this was the best I could find of their family off our family website! Lyssa, Chris and their sweet little Kardynn came to stay with us this past week for a couple of days. Chris had an architecture field trip here in Boise so Lyss, Kardynn, and I got to hang out and have some fun while our husbands were hard at work. We did some shopping and had lots of fun talking and spending some good old "cousin time!" They were good sports to put up with sleeping on our hide-a-bed too! And of course this trip also ended with a trip to Red Robin, yahoo!

Last night we met up with Cam and Chaly at BSU Gymnastics' final meet for the season. I love, love watching gymnastics and even though we had friends there to visit (if you know me I sometimes go to those by myself if I don't have anyone to go with, I am cool just watching and not socializing whatsoever!) I still got my fill of gymnastics and also had a great time holding little Kacen!

Cam, Chaly, and Kacen. Cute family!

Collin all of a sudden really wanted to use these little ice cream bowls that I bought like 3 years ago that we have used probably once. I didn't even know if we still had them but he searched around and found them and was so proud. But once he filled his bowl up he realized the problem: He is the kind of person who eats like 10 billion scoops of ice cream in each bowl, so the serving size was way too small! He got like 3 refills. So, I was glad that that little fascination with the ice cream bowls was over quick.

Taking Steps

You may or may not know that at the age of 15 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I was in and out of the hospital for my sophomore and junior years of high school. I also developed a life-threatening blood clot the entire length of my left leg and had two emergency surgeries on it, as well as several more surgeries, including skin grafts and scar revisions. I suffered with colitis for about 14 months, and in December of 2000 I found myself in Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, UT, with the choice to either stay on a clear liquid diet the rest of my life, or have my colon removed through major surgery. Obviously I had the surgery, which resulted in me being instantly cured of colitis, and also having an ostomy bag. After having the bag for three months I had it reversed and have since gone on to live a full, happy life! (so far!)

I still deal with the repurcussions of not having a colon every day, and also still deal with the effects of all the complications with my leg every day. (If you've ever seen me as "one sock Tonya" you know what I'm talking about!:) Colitis had a huge impact on not only me, but my family and all our dear friends and relatives as well.

I have since become very involved in the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. I really feel like I have been blessed with a second chance to do lots of good things with my life, and helping others with Crohn's and colitis to have an improved lifestyle and also raising funds for research to hopefully find a cure for these devastating diseases are both very important to me, for obvious reasons.

So . . . I'm so excited that Boise is having its first ever Take Steps for Crohn's and Colitis 5K Walk this June! I have been on the planning committee for this event since September and we have been working hard to get the event all ready and get the word out. If you live in Boise or will be able to come over for the walk that would be AWESOME!

This is Collin and I as counselors at Camp Oasis--Summer Camp for kids with Crohn's and colitis.

Please at least check out my page. If you can't walk but would like to donate, even $5 would be awesome! My team goal is to raise $500 and so far we haven't made much progress!

If you'd like to walk with us that would also be awesome! You can find out more at both of these links:

Click here for our team page

Click here for my personal page

The Secret

Today I discovered the secret of how to make time stand still: Stuff cold, slimy turkey into cans at the cannery for 4 hours!

(try it, it works!!)