I am SPARTAN

This past Saturday Aaron and I ran the Spartan Beast along with my co-workers up in Soldier Hollow. It was the worst 5 hours of my life. Literally, never again would I ever do this race. 

We look happy here cause we have no idea what's in store for us. 

The Beast was appropriately names- 12 mile course with 29 obstacles like climbing ropes, carrying 100 lb. rocks up and down hills, scaling 10 foot walls, crawling under barbed wire, jumping in mud puddles and other crazy feats. 

The Spartan is a little different than other races in that if you don't complete an obstacle, or can't do one, you have to do 30 burpees. Luckily Aaron and I only did 3-4 sets of burpees, but it was still killer. I am so proud to say that we both got the spear in the hay! See the pic in the bottom right corner. No burpees for us on that obstacle. 

 The worst part of it all was that we were literally scaling mountains. Up and down, up and down, up and down we went. The course was designed all around the mountains and it definitely got to our knees. We stayed ahead of our group the whole time, I'm proud that we finished first, although we were some of the youngest haha. I just had to keep going and just wanted to be done the second we started. I am so glad Aaron was there with me the whole time, he boosted me over walls, helped me out of the mud and helped me carry heavy things, definitely couldn't do it without him. We finished in 4 hours and 46 minutes.

After the finish we guzzled protein drinks, bars and bananas, watched the finish line for a bit and tried to rinse off. The water hoses for rinsing were freezing cold, and were ranked right up there with the hills on the worst part of the race. At that point I didn't care that we were still muddy and wet, just wanted to go home. By that time, my body had shut down, I could barely even walk and was taking the tiniest steps ever. It took us close to a half hour to walk to the car. Luckily I haven't been that sore since. 

We drove home and picked up some Cafe Rio on the way home, it was delicious! Definitely hit the spot. After we got all cleaned up, Jake and Mary came over and we watched Survivorman for 3 hours, most of which I fell asleep. 

Last night we barbecued hot dogs at 9, and it was still light outside, I love summer nights! 

 Aaand I finally finished painting these letters and hung them over our bed, loving how they look! 

So sooo soooo glad to have that weekend over! 

Take me out to the ball game

Have I mentioned before that I work for a great company? Working in advertising we get plenty of perks like free movie passes, Jazz tickets, restaurant certificates, treats and lunches galore and much more. 

Today one of the radio media groups gave us a suite at the Bees matinee game. Jason and Karen took us all out of the office to enjoy the beautiful weather, eat lots of food and watch the Bees play. Aaaand we got to dress down today!

Such a pretty backdrop with the mountains! Doesn't get much better.

We had so much food- corn dogs, chicken, watermelon, popcorn, Cracker Jacks and plenty of drinks. For those of us who didn't want beer, we got ice cream :) I didn't know Russel's ice cream was soooo good!

My co-workers Stevi, Kim and I. 

Perfect summer day for baseball, and the Bees won! 

Pugh Campout

Aaron and I spent this past weekend in Southern Utah up Kolob Canyon. We camped out with all the Pugh's around his parents cabin in the woods. It's an annual thing and almost everyone was there minus a few spouses and one brother and family who lives in Colorado. But 9 out of 10 kids (and their families) is a pretty good turnout!!!.... We didn't even have that many at our wedding, haha!

Aaron and I and Jake and Mary are the only ones without kids, so there was no shortage of kiddos running around. They were very cute though and loved following Mary and I around. 

It was a quick weekend but we played games, went hiking along a river(got caught and found out it was private property), took the kids on a razor ride on the bumpy dirt road, played games, played mafia, ate lots of s'mores, laid in the hammock, played with the kids and played games some more.

The weekend flew by too quickly and before knew it we were taking the tent down. As I was trying to help Aaron (unsuccessfully) he said to me, "this is like your first time really camping, isn't it?" I admit I'm not much of camper, actually not a camper at all. The last time I went camping was girls camp 6 or 7 years ago- we are babied at camp, and before that it was when I was little kid going with my family. 

I haven't really grown up camping, we went a few times when I was younger as a family, but that's about it. So this is definitely new to me. Aaron was in full mountain mode and didn't change his clothes once, didn't shave and I think only brushed his teeth once.... yikes! So I think we will have to help each other adjust a little bit, also I don't want to pay dental bills for him. Hopefully every year this goes by, I will get the hang of it more and more. 

Office kava

My boss just got back from a trip to Fiji this past week and brought our office a treat- kava! Kava is a Fijian ceremonial drink, it's made out of a tree root and is all ground up and mixed into water... it basically tastes like dirt, it's yuck! But, it's supposed to be good for anti anxiety and brings good vibes, luck and fortune. 

My bosses are super laid back and easy going. I walked in to the conference room and there was Jason mixing it together with his hands, he looked at me and said "don't worry about it". Haha so I moved on to regular business until they gathered us all up. 

We all gathered to try this drink. You dip a cup in the drink and pass it around the circle, clapping and saying "Bula!" as part of the ceremony. They turned on some island music to heighten the experience. 

Here we are passing the cup around the table. 

Probably not the best thing to drink after throwing up over the weekend. I'm glad I tried it, but don't plan on doing so in the future. Bring on the good luck though! 

Just Monday

Monday was spent just relaxing. Because this weekend was no good. I have been worrying about being the only income provider with Aaron still looking for his dream job. Worried about having to pay $400 a month for him to be on my insurance. Worried about not putting enough money in my IRA right now. 

And then I got a flat tire Friday night.

A bad one too! So that was a $270 job because of course they found something else wrong with the air filter and I needed an oil change. 

Saturday night I was sick and miserable, throwing up for 4 hours instead of barbecueing with friends.

So Monday night Aaron and I relaxed after my long day at work. 

I made dinner.

Ate some leftover wedding cake... still delicious!

And we watched the Bachelorette together. 

Wish we could do it all over again. 

One year

One year ago this weekend (June 7th) Aaron and I met and went on our first date(link to first date story). We went to Bruge's Belgium Waffles & Frites on that first date, so I convinced him to take me there again. 

Yummy waffle monster- two sweet waffles with ice cream, cookie butter and strawberries sandwiched in. We both left wanting more. 

Aaron was such a helper this past weekend, we were very productive! He spray painted our tv stand, (I didn't know spray paint could look so good!) washed out our garbage can, helped me with laundry, cleaning and made the bed. 

Other weekend activities included eating pizza, jumping at the Airborne trampoline park, napping, watching movies, and watching basketball. 

Grad party '14

For the past couple of years my best friend Madi's mom has been in charge of the Riverton High School graduation party at Boondocks. So naturally for the past couple years Madi and I and friends have "chaperoned", and by chaperone we mean catching a few kids trying to sneak in, but mostly playing mini golf, eating pizza, and going crazy on the go-carts. 

Last night was no exception for the class of '14. I dragged Aaron along, but I know he secretly loved it and wanted to stay and play all night.

Spence came along too and they got competitive playing mini golf and are still reminiscing about the go carts. 

The classic chaperone badge picture.

 
Madi and I have a tradish where we drive together and scream and yell cRaZy while driving around the track. We also have a tradish of always winning. After a few times on the go carts Madi, who's pregnant said "I hope all that moving around didn't hurt the baby!" Haha.

Gavin, Madi, me and Aaron at the end of the night, getting a little tired, we're not as young as we used to me. 

See you next year Boondocks! 

Snow Cones

Aaron surprised me and said he would take me to get a snow cone last night! That boy knows my weakness. Last year I discovered ice cream on the bottom and cream on top snow cones and it has changed my life! 

A little reward after Spartan training.

But really he wanted to take me out because he quit his job. He was involved in finances, hiring, firing etc and he knew the company was not doing well, let alone would be around for much longer, so he quit. I am proud of him! Although he's a bit nervous, feels really bad while I go to work and he lays in bed, and has never been without a job... like ever, he is anxious. Plus he can run all the errands during the day and hopefully I can convince him to clean a little more :)

We are hoping he can find something he will love long term, but in the meantime the Lord will provide. 

Saturday campfire

Millcreek canyon is just a 5 minute drive from where we live. We are lucky! The small canyon has camping sites, trails, fire pits, a small lodge and pretty scenery. Aaron and I went up the canyon Saturday night with our in-laws Jake and Mary after playing pickle ball and swimming in their pool. The weather was perfect. 

It took us a little while to find fire wood, and get the fire running, but once we did we enjoyed hot dogs, and marshmallowy s'mores.

May and early June is my favorite time of year, perfect sunny weather and the mountains are so so green! Of course Mary and I had some Diet Coke, she's one of my favorites!... Mary that is. 

The boys starting the fire. 

Yummy s'mores, we got the chocolate striped cookies and smashed the marshmallow in between, so good and the chocolate was melty and delicious. 

So so happy summer is here to stay! Can't wait for more weekend campfires!