Summer Vacations

Brad and I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a little vacation together right before I started my internship and Brad started school. Brad got work off and we left for Utah on a Wed. night and stayed until that Sunday. Traveling with your spouse is so much more fun then with friends. Friends are fun too, but life just seems right when you are going somewhere fun with the man of your dreams. We stayed at Brad's cousins who have an apartment in their basement. We had two rooms to choose from, a huge TV and a game room as well as a kitchen and a very large bathroom. It was fun to get to know Brad's extended family a little better. (Both of us were getting to know them. I had met them once and while Brad has stayed at their house several times, he was still getting to know them as well.) We wanted to go to Seven Peaks on Thursday, but some company purchased the water park for that day so we went to the outlets instead. On our way to the outlet stores, we got lost. I'm still not sure in what town the outlets are in but we did eventually find them. While wandering around looking for them, we found some HUGE houses and some really cool campgrounds and hiking trails. We want to go back and camp and hike and poke around some more. We then went shopping and eventually went out to dinner and watched a movie back at Brad's cousins. The next morning, we did a bit more shopping and then headed to Seven Peaks in Provo. Well when we both got up that morning, we knew we were going to get wet and so we each just grabbed whatever happened to be on top in our bags. We then checked the opening time online and headed out. Well, when we got to Seven Peaks, we found out that while online on their website it says they opened at noon, in actuality, they didn't open until 4:00. We then got to drive around Provo, looking for something to do for the next 4 hours or so. We both felt a little silly because we hadn't bothered to worry about wearing anything attractive because we knew we were going to be in our swim wear. We went to the Provo mall and just hung out until 4:00. 

  What they wore: 

Her: A classy pair of basket ball shorts and a GAP orange shirt with flip flops. Hair done in a pony tail. Makeup: minimal if at all.

Him: Very nice black and white and grey stripped V-neck shirt with a very sporty checkered black and white and grey pair of shorts. Black sandals finished the look off nicely. Hair: brushed. 

    

We had a blast though when the park finally opened and only came away with minor injuries. We were able to rent a double tube which meant that we could go together on all of the slides. Can't wait to go back again. Next stop, Lagoon. We got up early Saturday and drove to lagoon so that we could be there when it opened. We were in the park by 10:00am and didn't leave the park until 11:00pm. We had a blast yet again ridding all of the rides and eating all of the food. We originally packed a bunch of healthy food but all of that either stayed in the car, at the place we were staying, or in our locker and we just enjoyed all that places like Lagoon have to offer. I have probably never eaten that much junk all in one day and we were both lovin' it. 

  Right as we got there that morning. We are tired but ready to go and have some fun. 

 One of our favorite roller-coasters where you go in a loopty-loop twice. By the end of the day we were able to ride all of the roller-coasters and rides with no hands. Almost. Brad never even held on but it was an accomplishment for me. I LOVE rides and such but I also like to hold on.   

  Us standing in line for the two rides that I never did let go all the way through the ride. I could let go after I got over the initial shock of the ride, but I had to hold on to start. You see, these two rides are ones that you get strapped to, with arms and legs dangling outside with no protection, as you either get shot from ground level up to about 5 stories (or more, I can't really remember) and then dropped from said height, or you start all the way at the top and wait for the ride to just drop you back down to earth and immanent doom and then bounce you back up right before you hit the ground. We loved them. Kind of. Well Brad did, and I liked them after I got off. Ok, to be honest, the one that dropped you from the top, I was screaming so hard that I almost made myself sick. Brad said that in that day he has never heard me scream so loud or laugh so hard. The one that shoots you from ground level up we got off and got right back in line to do it again. I love rides like these after I get over the anticipation and shock of the initial drop. After that point, I am all laugh and like to let go and pretend to fly. 

  Us in line again for the rides explained above and you can make out one of the towers that you either shoot up on or drop from behind us. 

We are on our way home on Sunday but all the way from the highway you can see the towers that we rode on. Look close. We are quite a ways away but I was screaming my guts out at the top of one of those towers. Pretty cool. 

  This was my favorite roller-coaster. It was called "Wicked" and when you ride it at night, you are shooting so strait in the air that we could see the stars above us on the way up. This ride only takes a couple of seconds to complete because it is so fast. The minute you are strapped in, you are flying up and down and around and all over the place. So fun. We then headed home on Sunday after taking a nap at Brad's cousins house (we didn't get to bed after Lagoon till like 2:00am and then went to church the next morning). We both had a tone of fun and were so tired from all of the excitement. Can't wait to go back again.  

 And here, for your viewing pleasure, I added a couple of pictures of what it would look like if Brad and I decided to switch sweatshirts. These pictures were not taken on our trip, after we got home from our trip, or even in the same month as our trip but I added them anyway. I think Brad and I have a real look going on here. I don't mind wearing his sweatshirts out, but for some reason he won’t wear mine.  

I just love this kid. 

Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!!!!

Ok, so there weren't any lions, or tigers, or bears, but there were a couple of moose!! So one lazy Sunday afternoon, Brad and I are taking a nap (and by taking a nap I mean Brad trying to sleep and me pestering him about how we are wasting our day and me poking him and prying open his eyelids and such) and we hear all of this commotion outside. We then walk out of our apartment in our little apartment complex (apartment complex: A location. A social or grouping of apartments with similar names and a joint parking lot. A place where the apartments like to gather and the humans living in them get to learn to tolerate and sometimes enjoy the close proximity while the owner of said apartment complex makes exponentially increasing amounts of cash while never once repairing said complex or being available by telephone.) and we notice that we have a couple of visitors. They are actually hanging out right behind Brad and mine apartment in the little playground. Well, since this is Rexburg, and it was a Sunday afternoon, the entire complex was standing in our little lawn taking pictures and calling animal control. The funny thing was that everyone was arguing about how old said moose were and if it was a mom and a baby and how big of a gun everyone had so they could shoot them. All the women were talking about how cute they were and all of the men were giving hunting stories (some of which seemed a little sketch to me) and talking about who had the biggest gun. Brad and I just laughed and enjoyed hearing all of these people who clearly have never really been around anything like this before. (We are both from Montana so we do know a little about stuff like this). 

 I guess when they first ran into our complex, they ran into a car (the owners of the car had purchased it two days ago) but they didn't do any damage to it. The moose is walking next to our car, The Prune, as we like to call it. 

 After a while of watching the moose wander around, Brad decided to get back to that nap he was trying to take before we had to head out to a little Sunday goodbye dinner at the park. As we got ready to go, we walked out our door and there the moose were. Just waiting for us. And since Brad and I are from MT, we knew better then to try to just walk past them to our car. Also, we just wanted to watch them and get as close as we could. The funny thing is our next door neighbors were stuck on the other side of the parking lot and we were stuck in our apartment. 

 Looks like this moose has a liking for Coke and black shoes. 

 I wanted to try to give this moose a muffin since I loved that book growing up and it is the name sake for our blog but I am not Suzy homemaker and didn't have pan fulls of fresh hot muffins just laying around in case a moose happened to walk by. Now I know better.  

 I know you can only see my head and eyebrows in this picture but we were trying to show you how close they actually got. I got even closer, but Brad was too busy telling me I better not take another step and to get  back closer to the door to take a picture.Good husband.  

 Again, recap. Sunday afternoon. So just about every cop and Sheriff in this great growing metropolis was at our complex getting ready for the catching of the moose. I'm sure everyone driving by (because the moose at this point were no longer visible to the road) were thinking we had a major drug bust or something along those lines. They could read all about it in the paper the next day.  

 They tranquilized them and let the officers do their thing while the animal control people got the trailer ready. 

 They even let a couple of regular, non-uniformed people help lift the moose into the trailer. 

 Ok, I know you can't see a thing but I had to prove that I got to pet the moose. I am the one in the middle, you might be able to make out my hair line and sunglasses. After they got both the moose loaded, they let anyone who wanted to hop into the trailer and pet them. We had to hurry though because the tranquilizer doesn't last long and they were worried about stressing the poor things out.  

Fun facts: So since there hasn't been a ton of rain, the moose were drawn to our little neighborhood because we have a nature park just down the street and it has a little duck pond. They think the moose were coming for the water. Both moose were probably around a year in age and had probably just left mom and were on their own for the first time. Rough first day if you ask me. We had to hose them off with water as soon as we caught them because in combination with the drugs, the heat, and the stress, animal control were really worried about them over heating. Moose hair feels like a horses main or tail. Moose smell bad when wet. Don't wear flip flops while chasing moose. Don't chase moose. Period. Moose kick out and attack with their front legs. My Grandpa Recht told me it is better to run into a mother bear then a mother moose. We did, in fact, make it to our Sunday dinner.   

Graduation. I finally did it!!!

No one ever thought it would actually happen, but it did. I learned all there ever was to learn and I never have to learn another thing ever again. Ever. Well I guess I do have one more thing to learn. But just one. I have to complete an internship starting Sept. 5th at a local veterinary clinic and then I really am done with college. At least I think.Before the graduation ceremony, we had a BBQ for all of the girls in the vet tech program and their families. Dr. Quirl (one of our teachers) was kind enough to let us all come to his place.

Here is my cute husband enjoying himself (he says he looks drunk but I think he looks good). 

I was so grateful that both sets of my parents came to support me. It was so fun to have everyone there. 

My dad after him and my mom left that morning trying to get to the BBQ on time to help set everything up. I am so lucky my parents are the type to get up early and drive all day just to sit through a boring long graduation. 

One of my teachers, Sister Baeza 

Dr. Dredge and I. We call him the program's dad because he was there right when it all started and became almost a father figure to all of us as we went through the program. 

 Here I am shaking Dr. Dredge's hand but I had a secret.

 My dad snuck me a fake snake (which Dr. Dredge HATES) and I had it up my sleeve for when I shook his hand. For the last 2 years Dr. Dredge and all of us have been joking and pulling pranks and probably having more fun then a college program should allow. I knew I had one more shot so I took it. He laughed so hard and then threw it down on the ground and stomped on it to make sure it was dead. Dr. Dredge always told us no one dared to bring a snake to him to be cured because the way he would cure it would be to end its life.      

 Me walking across the stage receiving the empty diploma case that I worked for 5 years to get. I'm so happy I could burst. But I'm pretty sure I probably could have had a lot shorter of a time and spent a lot less money just buying off someone else's empty diploma case.   

 I also got a flower to boot! Thousands of dollars didn't go for nothin'. It must have been one expensive flower. 

 

 Brooke and I. Two Montana girls who finally got-er-done. 

 This is the very first person I ever met at collage. I was walking to church my first Sunday (no roommates yet) and there was this girl who wasn't used to the snow and couldn't quite make it to church in her high heels. We ended up walking together and that was that.

 The dream team. 

 Gross I know. But we liked it. :)

 Once again, I was so grateful that mom and dad Mousley came to support me. It took a lot for them to make it and I am grateful they did. 

 And my parents got up early and made the long drive and came to support me. I am so lucky. They worked so hard so that they could be with me and they worked hard to help me get through college. I never would have made it without their help and support.  

Finally, after 5 years of working hard, this is the most intelligent look I could come up with. 

Blessings and Birthdays

First off, I have to say that Brad and I have been so blessed. Brad made it into the nursing program here at BYU-Idaho which is a huge relief. The school only accepts 10 students to the alternate track for the nursing program (alternate meaning you have more credits than just a freshman) and from how soon we found out about him getting accepted, we are pretty sure it didn't take long for the school to decide that they wanted him. Big weight lifted off. He feels like this is the direction he needed to go and despite him getting his application in late, he made it. I will soon be a nursing school widow and can't wait for him to finish so that we might actually get to see each other once in a while. 

Over the memorial weekend break, we were blessed to get to go to Utah and stay with Erin and Trevor (my cousins) and meet Allen and Cait's little girl Asia. We spent lots of time playing with Benji (Allen and Cait's oldest) and LOVED spending time with those loved ones in Utah. Wish we could have stayed longer. We went to Hogal zoo and instead of taking pictures of the cute little ones and family (the whole reason we even went) we just got pictures of the cute little zoo animals. This might say something about Brad and I but I will let you fill in the blank. 

 Brad and I got the opportunity to go to the Jordan River Temple. So fantastic. We want to collect pictures of all of the temples we go to and make a book out of it.

Now mind you, we got to the zoo like three days before the opening of the polar bear exhibit so we didn't get to see some of the animals because everything was closed down.

 We had limited batteries for our pictures so we had to ration out which animals got to have permanent residence in our memories and hearts. The other animals should have thought about being cooler before they got to the zoo so that we would want to remember them as well.

 Cute little guy peeking out of his little blanket.

 Brad and I's idea of the perfect home. Lots of open space, fresh air and a stimulating environment.

 This cute little girl was just a few years old. She also did a little performance for us by standing on her head. I didn't know elephants could do that. Nerd alert: I guess this is a natural playing position (head stands) so one day the workers saw her balancing act and they thought it was pretty cool so they started throwing anything an elephant might find tasty at her so that she had positive reinforcements. Now she can do it on command. I wonder if when she is big if she will be able to. That's a lot of weight on one noggin.  

 Thumbs up for baby elephants!

 Look at those feathers!! So pretty

 A sloth. I think sloths are so funny and cute. I want one. Just one. He can sleep in the corner of our bedroom and he can ride in my backpack when I go to class.

 I wouldn't mind having one of these as well.

 Monkey see, monkey do ;)

 So for Brad's birthday, I wanted to get him a tent. So I spent several weeks trying to figure out what he would want in a tent, I have no clue when it comes to these types of things, and then I went to Walmart on the day of his birthday and agonized over tents for like an hour. Of course no one was around to tell me what a good tent might be so I finally figured that this one was the cheapest and had the cutest trim. I like bright green. So I got it and turns out it was exactly what Brad was thinking he might want for us for our first tent. We then set it up in the spare room and spend a couple of nights "camping". We turned off all of the lights at night and had to walk around with our flashlight. Let me tell you going to the bathroom in the dark is a little more concerning than it is with the lights on. I had to check the shower to make sure no one was taking advantage of our darkened state.

 Brad is a little excited.

 Then, somehow, all of these cheesy little bugs came to our house and had cute little love notes for Brad. I guess they were all love bugs.

 Can't really see it but all of the little colored things on the walls were our bugs.

 Smore's over the stove and some of Brad's favorite chips. I am a good wife.

 Camping trip complete with a camp fire.

 Now, we had hot dogs which are a little more "campie" but both of us like pizza more so we went with that instead.

The day after our little camping trip. So much fun. We also watched a movie because we figured that there was a little spot in our tent for a power cord to come through. If there is a spot for power cords, then obviously there is room for a TV. 

I am so proud of Brad and love him to death (and beyond) and I am so lucky I get to spend the rest of forever with him.