Another Sweet Nephew... Connor Odell

My darling nephew, Connor John Odell was born June 10th. He is so so cute, and I just can't get enough of this little guy. He has a little bit of red hair. Alyssa isn't too excited about that right now. She thinks her red hair makes her "unique and special". What a cutie. I think they're both pretty sweet. I love being an aunt.

Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day!!

(And hooray for a 4 day weekend for me!!) We've had a jam packed few days.

-Friday we invited some friends over from the ward and had our first BBQ of the year. Jordan & I just bought a grill and were super excited to "break it in". So we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, and played an intense game of croquet. We had a lot of fun, and are happy we have made such great friends in this new area.

-Saturday I went on my usual Saturday morning run with my Dad. We've been running every Saturday morning for the last few months. It's been so fun to just run and talk with my sweet Dad. He told me I'm getting to be a pretty good runner, and have improved a lot. That made me feel so good. The Ragnar Relay is on June 18th. I hope I'll be ready. Dad says I'll do great. I'm crazy nervous.

After our run Jordan & I went to Smithfield with my parents to visit the graves of our loved ones on the Memmott side. We stopped at Willow Park Zoo, had a picnic, played with the grandkids, helped around Grandma Memmott's old rental houses, and had an amazing ice cream cone on the way home.

-Sunday we had a relaxing day. No church meetings and no choir practice. This is worthy of documentation. I should also note that I'm really liking my Young Women's calling. It was hard at first because I didn't know anyone, and it's a very busy calling, but I'm really loving it now. Yeah!

-Monday I woke up to a not so happy Garden after a torrential rainstorm that practically flooded us. So much for salsa, or anything home grown this year. I hope my flowers will at least survive. They were under water Monday morning as well. Sad day. The picture on the bottom is what my garden "used" to look like.

I'm super worried that our house is going to flood. We don't have a basement thank goodness, but are surrounded by areas of standing water just waiting to flood us I'm sure. I pray every day our new little home will be safe from this insane amount of rain we've received lately.

I had a delicious breakfast with my friend Charlotte, and visited her sweet baby Brannick's grave Monday morning. Then I made Penuche with McKenzie, in honor of Grandma & Grandpa John, and we visited their graves in Kaysville. We ended up having another BBQ with my parents and watching a movie together. (I must be getting old, because I love hanging out with my parents).

-Tuesday we had to go back to work, but we came home and enjoyed the sunshine by going on a run together and then striking up the grill again. Jordan is LOVING having a grill!!! And I am loving sharing the "making dinner" duty. It's a win, win really.

(In other news, Jordan found out he didn't get accepted into Weber State's Master's program for the Fall. We were totally surprised, and he was quite frustrated. They said he didn't have enough career experience. I guess 4 years isn't enough. But, the good news is he can reapply for the Spring. So he'll do just that. In the mean time, we'll enjoy no homework & spending time together. Oh and I can't forget to mention that Jordan surprised me with tickets to WICKED!!! Never mind that they're not until July of 2012. Haha- Still sooo excited)

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!!

Cancun Paradise

Jordan & I took a trip of a lifetime for his graduation present to Cancun, Mexico May 6-12th. We had such a good time together. It was so relaxing, and nice to have a break from reality, and especially technology. No internet, no cell phones, no business, no stress. It was much needed. We stayed at a beautiful all-inclusive resort called, Barcelo Maya Palace, about an hour out of Cancun in Riviera Maya. It was absolutely gorgeous, and we loved every second.

This is the view from our balcony. I couldn't get enough of it. We sat out on the balcony everyday and just soaked in the beauty.

This is the bathroom. It was huge, and I LOVED it!

Such a nice room. King sized beds, and two couches. We were spoiled.

Here's a few pictures from around the resort. We could walk right out to the beach. We spent most of our time in the pools because they were huge, and didn't have that ocean taste in them. We couldn't get enough swimming in.

Jordan snorkeling at the resort. There were TONS of fish right here.

We finally got smart after MAJOR sunburns the first day, and spent a lot of time in the shade reading and sleeping. Get this though... we're on vacation and what book does Jordan take to read?... A book about the Declaration of Independence. Not my idea of a vacation book. Haha He kills me. I spent a lot of time in that comfy hammock sleeping.

"The sun & the sand, and a drink in my hand... with no bottom" I listened to Kenny Cheseny the whole week before this trip to get me in the Mexico mood. And boy did it work. The "virgin" Strawberry Daiquiri's and Pina Colada's were delicious. The food however was not. This was the only downside of the whole trip. We ate a hamburger at the airport on the way home, and I almost cried it tasted so good.

We only did one excursion the whole trip, because we loved staying at the resort so much. We took a tour called "Tulum Extreme". They drove us to some jungle area where we did repelling, zip lining, and snorkeling in a cenote (underground cave). It was so much fun! Here we are doing our "extreme" pose right before repelling.

Us at the Talum Mayan Ruins.

We had a wonderful trip. It was so fun to just be with my sweetheart in such a beautiful place. But I can't lie, there's just something about home. We're happy to be home, not so happy to go back to work and reality Monday though.

Our First Garden

Wow!! I had a busy, exhausting day today. It started off bright and early when Jordan & I went to Layton park to plant flowers with Jordan's work. (It wasn't mandatory for bank employees, but it's always good to go the extra mile, and kiss a little butt when you're playing the political bank game). -Then I went on a run with my Dad that turned into a hike/"let's see if I can kill Shalyce" run. He wanted to take me on some hills to help with my training for the Ragnar that's coming up, and we did just that. 5.5 miles of hard trail and WOW just taking one week off of training really does you in. -Then my Dad came over to our house and helped us create a garden. The house we moved into was basically just grass in the back, and I REALLY wanted a garden, so we started digging up grass, tilled all the soil in, and wa-laa... I have a garden!!!! (That is, after a TON of work. Wow!!! Pulling up sod is HARD, EXHAUSTING work. Thank you Dad, and Jordan for your patience and muscles)

(PS... next summer we're going to work on putting up a fence. Our yard ends behind the garden, that's just a weed patch/commons area in the back)

-THEN... Jordan and I went to a few nursery's and bought a bunch a pretty flowers, and stuff to put in the garden. Since it was such nice weather we ended up planting it all. Now we have a nice garden complete with onions, cilantro, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and strawberries. The whole time I was planting it I kept singing in my head, "The Prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do..." It feels good to be doing what the Prophet wants us to do, and I couldn't help but think that my Grandma John was looking down on me smiling as I planted my first garden. Like she always said, "it is therapeutic to get your hands in the dirt." Now I hope it just grows.

Life is Good...

Yes, life is good because I just came across this amazing picture of McKenzie today, and I've been in a major Harry Potter mood, so it made my life a little better.

But mainly because I love this boy.

I woke up this morning next to my sweetheart, and the first thing he says is, "I'm so happy." I asked him why, and he responded with, "I just am." And then he kissed me, in all my morning breath glory. He's cute. Here's a few reasons I think he might be happy.

#1... His boss at work FINALLY got around to talking to him about a raise and a promotion at the bank since he's a big graduate now. He told him that he needs Jordan at the bank, and would do anything to keep him there. He got a nice raise and promoted to Commercial Loan Officer. (Jordan didn't officially accept, he has a few other resumes out, and is waiting to see if anything else is in the works, but this is good news.)

#2... He gets to go clean out the creek in our neighborhood this morning, so we don't flood since all we get is rain here in Utah this Spring. Seriously, I live in a SWAMP!!! (Okay, I have a feeling this is not why he is happy. But I needed to document the insane rain and cold weather, hello it's almost May Mother Nature!! Give me some Sunshine!!!)

#3... We have an insane bird that LOVES our front porch, and tries to build a nest on our front porch light every morning. Jordan has been having dreams of buying a pellet gun so he can sit outside and pelt the bird each time it brings sticks for the nest each day. He's been smiling a lot lately thinking about this. (No worries, I won't let him do this)

#4... I'm not pregnant. Jordan informed me this week that he doesn't want us to have a baby because QUOTE, "HE WANTS TO ENJOY HIS LIFE!!" Hahaha (I can laugh at this right now because I'm not ready for a baby yet either, so for now this might be why he's so happy)

#5... Because I let Jordan choose where to eat last night and he chose FIVE GUYS hamburgers.

Well for whatever reason... I'm glad he's happy, and I'm happy too. We have a wonderful life, and are blessed beyond measure.

He's a Graduate!!

Jordan graduated from Weber State University with his Bachelors in Economics on April 22nd. I'm so proud of him. He worked so hard to get here.

Here's the announcements I sent out. We invited both of our families to our house afterward for a big graduation dinner. We were hoping the weather would be nice to be outside, but since it was a little cold, we had to have everyone indoors. It was the true test of our house to see if we could hold everyone. There was a ton of people there, everyone fit, the food was delicious, and we had a great time all together. It's nice to have a home where we can have family and friends over comfortably.

The Handsome Graduate. He's still working at the bank, hoping to move up, and has also sent out a few other job applications. So now, we'll just see what happens job wise.

I'm sooooo proud of him

Lots of supportive family

On Jordan's last day of class I came home to a beautiful bouquet of flowers. He said it was to celebrate that he could be a "normal husband" now that school is over. (He's always been more than normal, he's wonderful.)

My parents gave him a weed eater. He was ecstatic about this gift, and ran straight home and edged the whole lawn.

And now we're off to celebrate in Cancun. He's definitely due for some relaxation.

(PS... the relaxation won't last long, he's starting his Master's program in the Fall.)

San Diego

My office took this week off for Spring Break so I had no choice but to take advantage of time off work, and VACATION!!! Sadly, Jordan still had work and school, so I bummed along with my family and we headed off to sunny San Diego, while Jordan stayed at home and studied and wrote research papers. (I promise one day we'll take a trip together Jordan. Promise) I drove down with Kim, Adam, Ethan, Alyssa, Mom, Dad, and McKenzie, and we met up with Julianne and her family once we got to the hotel. It was so fun to be together, and not so fun coming home to snow, rain, and cold weather.

La Jolla Cove- This beach was amazing!!! We could walk right up to the seals that are in the background. And there were really neat tide pools full of crabs and fish in this tunnel Paul is walking through.

Everything here was just beautiful!

A neat statue at Fisherman's Wharf- We also saw some cool pirate ships here.

Brooklynn posing in front of the beautiful San Diego Temple.

I love my sisters. We missed you Camille!

My absolute favorite part of the trip... playing with my nieces and nephews. I love them all so much. I wish I had a picture of Paxton laughing in the swimming pool with me. We had so much together. Here we are having fun playing in the sand together. We made a killer sandcastle and buried all the kids in the sand. I promise they liked it.

I love my family, and had so much fun spending the week with them. But I did miss my husband. When I came home he told me that if I'm going to keep leaving him behind like I have been, he's going to have to get a dog to keep him company. So.... I guess no more vacations alone :)