Camping With Friends

Our good friends Bret & Amberly invited us and another couple from the ward (Marc & Eliza) to go camping with them up to Strawberry over the weekend. Their grandma has a cute, old cabin up there so we didn't have to sleep in a tent (hooray!), but we still were able to have a camp fire, chase lizards & frogs, shoot guns, dutch oven, and get plenty dirty. We had a great time.

Jordan the Fisherman. When Jordan told my Dad we were going to go fishing, my Dad's whole face lit up. He got Jordan all hooked up with fishing gear, and started extending invitations for future fishing trips. Hopefully he'll have better luck fishing with a pro like my Dad then he had this weekend.

Here's Amberly not catching anything either. haha

Jordan was in heaven being somewhere that he could get his gun out and target shoot.

The trout fishing was awful, but the crawdad catching was excellent!

You just throw a raw chicken leg in the lake, and when you pull it up it's covered with crawdads.

We caught a whole cooler full of crawdad's and Bret insisted we take them back to the cabin and cook them up. Look at that sink completely filled.

Am & I with the boiled Crawdad presentation. They looked fancy, but I couldn't convince myself to eat one, and either could Jordan. I bet we cooked up over 100 and maybe 2 got eaten. Oh well, they provided much entertainment over the weekend.

It was so fun watching Jordan laugh & run around like a little boy chasing lizards, frogs, and crawdads with the guys. I love having friends that both Jordan & I get a long with. Thanks for a fun trip Bret & Am.

Megan's Baptism

My cute nieces and nephews are growing up!!!! Megan turned 8 earlier this month and was baptized on the 16th. She is absolutely darling, and I'm so proud of her. One of the cutest things at the baptism was watching my other 8 yr old niece Alyssa write Megan a letter on her special day. Her letter said something to the effect of, "Dear Megan, I am so proud of you for getting baptized. I know you made a good choice, and I know Heavenly Father is very happy." I couldn't help but smile at these cute girls. I just love them.

Megan with her Dad. She was so happy and said her face hurt from smiling so much.

I LOVE this picture. I think my mom looks so beautiful here. She's such a good Grandma.

All nine of the Grandkids together.

Cache Valley Sprint Triathlon

Julianne convinced me to do a Triathlon with her while she was up in Utah for the summer. I was hesitant at first, but figured, What the heck? You only live once right?

So... here it is, our First Triathlon Adventure.

Big Smiles before the race begins

500 Meter Swim

Transition Area

12.5 mile Bike Ride

(Jordan let me borrow his brand new road bike. It worked like a charm)

3.1 Mile Run

(alone: Very Easy... after a 12.5 mile bike ride: Very Hard)

WE DID IT!!! (1:44:13)

Thanks for pushing me to try new things Jules. You're awesome. I had so much fun, and was glad to have a buddy to do the race with.

*PS... me completing this race in one piece, and smiling is a complete miracle. 3 weeks ago, I crashed into a stupid metal pole on my bike with McKenzie as a witness (a LAUGHING witness mind you) and cracked my rib. It finally started feeling better the last few days, and it didn't give me any trouble on the race thank goodness. Then... 4 days ago I got a horrible cold. I haven't been able to train much this week because my throat has hurt so bad. I have been so worried I wouldn't be able to do the Tri. But... I woke up the morning of the race feeling great, and my throat didn't bother me the entire time.

Moral of the story... Miracles happen, prayers are answered, and I am one happy girl.

4th of July Festivities

We had a fabulous Fourth of July. Here are a few of the events that made is special.

4th of July isn't the same without Jordan singing in the bank choir Sunday night at the Layton Amphitheater . Haha this is always a comical scene.

Jordan & I ran the Layton 4th of July 5K early in the morning, and then headed off to Mom & Dad's to celebrate Julianne's birthday with a pancake breakfast. Julianne & I are doing a Triathlon this coming Saturday. We've been swimming, running, and biking together. Hopefully our hard work will pay off, and we'll have some fun.

Then off to the Kaysville parade. Classic. We sat on Grandma John's lawn, because one of Paul's friends lives there now. He let us walk around the house and yard, and it brought back so many memories of Grandma. Oh how I miss her. I can't think of 4th of July without thinking of her.

After the parade me and McKenzie threw a little Birthday party for all our cute nieces. Brooklynn, Alyssa, Megan, Paige, and Ashlie all have birthdays from June 29th- July 11th. So we had a water/birthday party for them all. We did the slip 'n slide, ran through the sprinklers, jumped on the tramp, tossed water balloons, swam in the the hot tub, and had cupcakes and popsicles. Fun, Fun.

Then we headed off to Jordan's sister, Natalie's house for a yummy BBQ, and then ended the night off at Adam's house for our own personal firework show. This year aerial fireworks became legal, so Adam took advantage. I've never seen Adam so excited, as he was to show off his firework display. He was like a kid on Christmas morning.

Good news... the firework show did not disappoint. It was AWESOME!! Good work Adam.

What a fun 4th of July we had. Lots of family, lots of food, and lots of fun. Too bad this all came with lots of allergies that turned into a nasty cold for me. Boo. So now I'm soaking off my Holiday Hangover in bed drinking wassail, and popping Claritin and cough drops like candy.

Even though my celebrating left me under the weather, I'm still proud to be an American.

God Bless America!!

Birthdays, Baptisms, Blessings.

July 2nd was a whirlwind of a day. Julianne & Paul's family came up from Arizona to celebrate this busy time of year with the family, and it's always fun to be with them. We started the morning off by celebrating Mom's 60th Birthday. We had a delicious breakfast cooked by Dad in the backyard, and then had our little party. All of the gifts were so thoughtful. I made Mom a book that had pictures and letters to her from every person in the family. It made her cry, I guess the gift was a success. We love you Mom. You're the best, and make everyone around you so happy. Thanks for raising a family that loves to be together.

Then the day turned from Birthdays to Blessings & Baptisms. My oldest niece Alyssa got baptized that afternoon, followed by her little brother Connor getting blessed.

It was a special day for the Odell family. We came back to my parent's house and had a big BBQ with the whole extended family. It was a perfect day, and nice to have everyone together. I think it was the perfect way to celebrate Mom's birthday. She was so happy to celebrate this way instead of with a dumb reception with coffins and black balloons.

Cute cousins. Megan's getting baptized in 2 weeks.

Speaking of blessings, Emily & Simon's little girl, Olivia was blessed Sunday. She is so beautiful, and we were happy to be a part of this special day with them. This weekend made me realize how blessed I am to be married to such a wonderful man. I'm so grateful that Jordan honors and is able to use his Priesthood to bless lives. I love him.

Happy 25th Birthday Jordan!

Jordan turned 25 (finally) on June 26th. He requested a "low-key" birthday. But... I have a strong belief that birthdays should be anything but low-key so.... we celebrated in style.

We had both sides of the family over for cake and ice cream Sunday. We also spent time with our friends Casey & Nick, Bret & Amberly.

We've had fun going to the Davis County Parade of Homes together. The homes were beautiful, but every night that we came home, we both agreed that our home is perfect for us. We're so happy here, but would possibly like to do some wainscoting to our walls to spice things up a bit.

Jordan's big birthday present... a new road bike!!! We're excited to go out biking together.

He then spent his birthday money on a pair of sweet new running shoes. (don't be shocked if you see this birthday boy doing a triathlon soon)

These Nerf guns might just be the best present Jordan got. His eyes lit up when he opened them and insisted we play "steal the flag" right that second. Picture this... Two 25 year olds dressed for church, running up and down the stairs shooting Nerf guns at each other in a mad game of steal the flag. It was classic.

I guess age is all relative.

Happy Birthday Jordan, I love you so much!

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In other news... Jordan has officially been accepted into Westminster's Masters Program!! He'll start his MBA there in August. He is so excited. It's a 21 month program, with classes 2 nights a week. He'll be crazy busy, but it'll be worth it. I'm so proud of him. Good luck Jordan!