Seattle

Justin and I were able to go to Seattle for 5 days. We had so much fun while we were there.

We left on Thursday morning. We made our flight right on time. We didn't have to wait long either. We got through security, went to our gate and they had already started boarding the first section. It was awesome. I don't like flying very much so it was nice that we were able to sit next to each other. I think we found the last two seats that were next to each other as well. We flew Southwest and they don't have assigned seating. We landed in Seattle around 10. We decided not to rent a car and just take public transportation. We got our bags and were looking through some of tourist brochures that were there to decide what we wanted to do. After that, we went and found the train (like trax) to go to our hotel. We got of the train and started walking in the direction of our hotel, not really knowing exactly if we were going the right way or not, but we found it. The train was only a block away from our hotel so it was very easy to get around there. We checked in and relaxed for an hour while looking through the brochures a little more. We decided to go to Pikes Place first and check it out. While on our walk there we hadn't had anything to eat so we stopped for lunch at The Hard Rock Cafe. First time I've ever been there. It was delicious. After we finished our walk to the market. We didn't do much at the market, just walked through it really fast. We ended up at the aquarium. They have City Passes there where you get a discount to go and do five attractions around Seattle, so we decided to get those. We started at the aquarium. It was cool to walk through and see all the different fish and animals they had there. Justin touched a starfish and had me do it as well. It felt like a rock. Never doing that again though. I don't like fish or anything out of the sea! We also found a fish with teeth. It's very weird to look at. After that we walked down a little more and decided to do the Argosy Cruise. It was an hour boat ride and it took us around the harbor. On it, there were telling us a little bit about Seattle and all the different things that were at the harbor. I don't think I can go on a boat that small again. I was getting seasick. We weren't sure what to do after that so we walked a little bit more around the area and decided to walk back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel around 5 and we still had a lot of time left in the day and we didn't want to waste it. Even though we were getting tired we decided to to the Underground Tour. The tour took us around the underground Seattle. We learned about the history of Seattle and how it started out. Very interesting. We had no idea what to do for dinner after that so we ended up eating at The Bistro connected to our hotel.

Friday was another busy day for us. We wanted to get up early and get an early start to the day but we ended up sleeping in because we were so tired from Thursday's activities. Once we were up and ready to go we had already decided to go to the Space Needle and all the attractions around there. We hopped on the train to go to our destination, but before we could get there, we had to catch the monorail. We got off the train and started walking in the direction we thought the monorail was... we were wrong! We took about a twenty minute detour to get to the monorail. When we finally reached it, it was right next to the station we got off on, just in the other direction we didn't walk in. So we hopped on the monorail and headed for the Space Needle. It wasn't crowded at all when we arrived which was nice because we ended up getting there around 11:30 when on the paper it said started the busy time. We were standing in line to go up the elevator and had to wait about 10 minutes. We finally got on the elevator and I had no idea that the doors were glass and you could see through them. I don't like heights so that freaked me out for a second while on the ride up. When we got to the top it was so neat. We sat down and were looking through the windows before we decided to go outside. It was so windy! The views were beautiful though. Looking out at the harbor and then the skyline, so much fun. While we were on the observation deck I swear I could feel it moving. Don't like that feeling. After about an hour we decided to head back down and go do some of the other attractions. We went to the Pacific Science Museum next. There we started out watching a 40 minute film on polar bears. Very informative. After that we walked around through the galleries that they had. It reminded us of Discovery Gateway. It was cool seeing everything though. We decided to get some lunch at a cafe nearby. After lunch we ended up at the EMP Museum (Experience Music Project). They had some cool things in there. There was a sculpture I guess you could say of guitars that played themselves. You put on headphones and you could listen to the music there were playing. We watched some concerts that they had there and then walked through another section on movies and some of the things they used in them. We timed it perfectly because as we were about to walk out, someone came down and told everyone that the museum was closing. We debated about going to the Space Needle again. We ended up at the top one more time because it wasn't busy (such good luck!). This time we didn't spend as much time up there. It started to sprinkle and the wind picked up a lot more. We found our way back to the monorail and back on the train to the hotel. We stayed there for the rest of the night because our legs were killing us from all the walking we were doing.

Saturday was kind of a lazy day for us. We stayed in the hotel part of the day but we decided to use our last city pass and brave the weather and go to the Museum of Flight. First we had to find a bank open to give us money for the fare for the bus. It took us about a half hour before we were able to find something open. We were surprised not a lot of stuff was open on Saturday there. We ended up finding a bank and made our way to the bus stop to catch our ride to the museum. On the bus we found some other people going the same place we were. We got to the museum and started wandering around. We started at the space section first and learned about the space station. Next we wandered around the planes and ended up in a room like the control tower for the airport. We sat and watched a couple planes land and take off. After we went through how airplanes started and then ended up in the WWI and WWII exhibits. It was neat to look at the planes they used and learn more about history. The museum took about about 2 and a half hours. We found our way back to our bus stop and our friends from the bus were there too. I guess we decided to finish up at the same time. We didn't have to wait long for the bus thank goodness because it started raining a lot more by the time we were done at the museum. We went back to the hotel, found some dinner and just relaxed there getting ready for Sunday.

Sunday was a slightly cold day but didn't start out too bad. Our main thing we went to Seattle for was to watch the Patriots play the Seahawks. We made our way to the field and just followed everyone else there. It was really close, about a 10 minute walk. When we got there we still had about an hour before they opened up the gates to let everyone in so we ended up just standing in line. We saw a lot of Patriots fans there. I was surprised by how many either made the trip or lived in Seattle who were Patriot fans. It made the experience so much better though. We were let into the stadium and I swear about a third of the people there were for the Patriots. We found our seats and we were by a lot of Patriot fans. There were some Seahawk fans around us but not as many as our Patriot fans. We were sitting really close to the field and being able to watch them that close made part of the experience. We were also sitting by a family that had just moved from Boston to Seattle a month before and they were Patriot fans. They had to go to the game because it was there where they moved to. It was fun talking to them about Boston. The teams came out and started warming up. It was cool watching the teams warm up and seeing how they started out the game. It was an awesome first half. We were doing so well. Patriots were winning. Then the second half started. It was alright until we started messing up. At the very end of the game, Seahawks came back and one it by one point. 24 Seahawks to 23 Patriots. It was sad walking out of that stadium but we were excited to have gone and seen an NFL game. That stadium is the loudest stadium in the NFL. I'm surprised we weren't deaf by the time we left. Throughout the game the weather started to turn. It started drizzling and then progressively made its way to a full on pour. We both brought sweatshirts and I convinced Justin to bring out wind breakers/coats. I'm glad we did too because by the time we walked back to our hotel, our clothes were soaked through. It wasn't that cold, just very wet. We changed into dry clothes and hung up our wet ones to dry. We went back to the Bistro for dinner that night because everything else had a long wait. We ended there, had some dinner and made our way back to our room. We had to pack and get ready to leave in the morning. We tried going to bed early, but that didn't end up happening.

We woke up at 4:30 to get ready to go home. We finished packing our wet clothes that were almost dry and went to check out. We wanted to make the first train back to the airport because we didn't know how long it was going to take us to get through security and all that. We ended up on the second train and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We ended up with about two hours of time before we were to board the plane so we got some breakfast and played games on our phone until it was our turn. Justin was able to board the plane before I was so he was able to get us seats next to each other. The flight back wasn't as smooth as the flight there. I freaked out a couple times because I don't like turbulence. We made it back safe and I was glad to be home. My dad picked us up from the airport and took us back home. It was so nice to get away and have a vacation. No stress about work or school and we were able to spend some time by ourselves. Every trip we've been on has always been with family except for our honeymoon so it was nice and relaxing to get away. We will have to figure out our next trip now. I will post some pictures soon of our trip.

Lagoon, Vacation and Milestone

Haven't blogged in a while but there hasn't been too much to blog about lately until now! :)

For Justin's work party we were able to go to Lagoon. We had so much fun. We went as soon as Justin was off work and stayed for about 6 hours. Justin got me on a lot of the rides that I've either never been on or wanted to go on just because I'm scared of roller coasters. I enjoyed most of them while we were there. We did this on like the 22nd of June.

Friday I had off of work so I could pack and clean for our vacation. Saturday we left at 6:30 to drive down to Arizona. We were able to stay at his families cabin which we were very grateful. There was a fire around his cabin and we were very lucky to not have it touch our cabin but it brought to light how thankful we are to be able to have it there. We saw the damage that was done around some of the other cabins and where it was really burned and the cabins that were lost. It was a very humbling experience.

While we were at the cabin we were able to play around a pond that is behind there. We were able to play frisbee golf and games with his parents. We really enjoyed each others company and just had fun being able to relax and not have to worry about work. Plus it was cooler there than it was in the valley.

We stayed at the family cabin until Wednesday when we drove to the valley. We were able to stay with family down there which was a lot of fun! I've really only met his family once at our wedding over three years ago. I've seen a couple of them more than that but there were also a lot that I had never met. We were able to enjoy his Grandma's company and talking with her. We were able to go swimming a couple of times and visit with family. We went and saw Cars 2 which was cute. Justin and I were able to get off on our own for about an hour and we went shopping and enjoyed each others company. We were able to have an ice cream party at his Aunts house and were able to visit with his family. We drove home Saturday.

We had so much fun being with family and enjoying their company. Here are some pictures from our adventures in no particular order.






Also, Justin and I both graduated with our Associates of Science from Salt Lake Community College. We just received our diplomas in the mail when we got home from our vacation.

Catch up

Wow, I haven't updated our blog for a while. Here are some of the things I can remember that we have done. Okay more of just April and May doings...

In April we went up and visited Justin's Grandpa for his birthday. We enjoyed hanging out with family and getting to spend some time together. We had a little party for him and took some family pictures as well. While we were waiting to have some lunch, Justin's nephews were playing the harmonica with Grandpa. It was so cute! Justin and I also got to ride the 4 wheelers around. That was a lot of fun and considering it was only my second time ever riding/driving one, I think I did pretty well. After lunch, we took some family pictures and got ready for his grandpa's birthday party. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to see family.

My Mom's birthday was the day after Easter so we got to hang out with her that day. Jordan also got to call home from the MTC so he could say goodbye because he left for Peru on Tuesday. I'm sad that we didn't get to talk to him, but I know that it made my Mom's birthday.

The last weekend of April, Justin's sister and her family came down to celebrate our nephew's birthday and go to the zoo. I unfortunately had to work, but Justin got to enjoy that day with her and her family. After work, I joined up with them for dinner at the Mayan. It was a lot of fun. I'm sad that we didn't get to spend more time with them though as Justin had a house warming party his band was playing at so we split from dinner pretty fast. His concert went well and we had some fun.

This past weekend for Mother's Day/my mom's birthday, my sister, dad and I threw her a surprise party. My mom almost caught us a couple times talking a lot about it. One time I called to talk to my Dad about the party and she comes on the phone asking why I needed to talk to him. It was hard not spilling the beans about that one. Plus we had to keep it a secret of my sister coming into town because that was going to be a part of the surprise. My mom almost ruined that one too because she is trying to get a package together to send to Jordan for his birthday and she wanted letters and everything on the 5th. Had to keep delaying that one. She was really surprised by it. Her scream was loud! We really got her. I'm thankful for the friends that came. She really enjoyed spending time with them. I know she hasn't seen some of them in a long time. Thanks to my sister and niece for coming up and cooking with me for 3 hours that day getting everything ready and my mother-in-law helping with a salad as well. We had a lot of fun getting to visit with people we haven't seen either.

Also, while planning the party, I had to study for finals. We will see how I do when I get my grades. This semester was a lot harder for me as all my classes were online instead of having one on the campus which I originally applied.

That has been I guess our last two weeks. It has been crazy but it has been fun. We've enjoyed getting to spend time with our friends and family.

(sorry, I don't have any pictures. I need to get some from my family. I just never have my camera with me anymore.)

Christmas

This Christmas we had it with my family. We did Christmas a little early this year as well. The Saturday before Christmas, Candice and her family were in town so we opened up some gifts them. They opened up all of theirs but because my parents gave everyone the same gift we got to open that up and we got this awesome bowl that my parents painted. I will take a picture of it and post it. We also did our sibling exchange and I got a cupcake/cake/deviled egg carried, a keychain and a bread pan :) I was so excited. I needed those as well. We also got a game called Word on the Street from my grandparents. It's a fun and easy game. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them. Candice, Haley and I went shopping after we opened up gifts and looked around. I forget what we were shopping for, but we had a good time being together.

The Sunday before Christmas my mom's side of the family always have a Christmas party. We get together enjoy food and do a white elephant exchange. It's so much fun watching all the little kids open up the gifts and then the parents taking it from them so they can open up another if they don't like it. One of my cousins little girl opened up the first gift and she got a princess dress up jewelry and her face was priceless. It was so cute. For the past couple years a toilet seat is usually part of the exchange, but this year it didn't show its face. I was kinda sad about that but we still had a great time. Before we went to the party, Justin's parents were going to be out of town for the holidays so we opened up our Christmas from them as well. We got a lot of great things from them. We ended up with water storage, a 5 gallon water dispenser/cooler and much more. We enjoyed spending a little bit of time with them before they left.

On Christmas Eve it's a tradition to go out to dinner for my family so this year we went to Applebee's. We spent the night at my parents house so that we didn't have to have my parents call us to come over and open up gifts. The boys stayed up late playing games so when the time came for them to wake up, they didn't want to. We enjoyed opening up our gifts and spending time together. We went to my Grandparents (N) for breakfast around 11 and visited with family. After that we went to my other Grandparents (J) and spent time over there. We went back to my parents, spent time there and then went home later on Christmas night.

We were so glad that we were able to spend time with my family this year. We had a lot of fun talking and enjoying everyone's company. Thank you for everything. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Thanksgiving and More

So I'm trying to think if anything fun has happened before Thanksgiving but I can't think of anything so...

For Thanksgiving we were with Justin's family this year. We went up to Idaho to spend time with his Grandpa and sister and her family up there. We had a lot of fun up there visiting with family and eating. We drove up Thursday morning. It wasn't a bad drive at all. The roads were clear which we were very thankful for. We got up there and Justin relaxed and played with his nephews. I helped Justin's mom and sister (well at least tried to) with dinner. I helped with the whipped topping for the pies and then I learned how to make orange rolls for dinner. (Good thing the batter was already done because I didn't want to mess that up). We had a nice time. We ate around 1 and cleaned up. We looked at the ads to see if we wanted to go shopping or not. Then we left for home at 4.

We ended up going shopping at midnight at WalMart for some deals. We got rubbermaid containers, movies, sheets, a vacuum and a handmixer all for a great steal. We were really excited. After that we went home so I could get some sleep to go to work the next day :(

On Saturday it was my Dad's 50th birthday! Happy Birthday Dad! We love you! That morning Justin got to hang out with his friends and play a game they all love. That evening we went to my parents house for dinner and enjoyed laughing and talking. Candice and her family came into town and we just had a great time. My Dad loved his birthday gifts. I think my Mom gave him the best one of all. It was letters from us and pictures of the kids. It was great!

Thats about whats happened in a nut shell. Oh, I got to pick up Justin's quilt that I'm making him. It looks so good. Now all I have to do is do the binding and it's done. I will post pictures of it once its complete. I love it and it turned out a lot better than what I thought it would which is always a plus.

Family Vacation

A couple weekends ago we got together with Justin's family. We went to Cherry Hill on a Thursday and set up camp there. We had lunch and then went swimming and came back for dinner when we were done. We didn't go swimming again that night, but we did stay up playing some games with Jon and Heidi. We got the boys ready for bed. The two older ones stayed with Ninny and Bapa and the youngest stayed with us in our tent. We shared with Jon and Heidi. Once the boys were down Jon, Heidi, Justin and I went for a walk around the camping area. We ended up going back to the swimming area and watched the employees have an employee party. They were racing up and down all the slides. It was fun to watch. When we did end back at our camp site we went to bed. I don't think anyone slept well that night. Justin and I ended up in his Dad's truck for the last three hours of our sleep.

Friday morning, we got up and had breakfast. Jon, Heidi, the boys and Dad went swimming once we were done cleaning up our camp site. Justin and I did the miniture golf while every one was swimming. We met up with Mom while she was watching everyone and sat with her for a while until everyone was done and then we had a picnic for lunch. After lunch we all wanted to go miniture golfing again so we did. It was a lot of fun. It was very warm though! When we were done we left to go back home. Justin and I stayed at Justin's parent's house that night instead of going back to ours. We all slept very well that night. We stayed up playing games and talking and just enjoying each others company.

Saturday morning everyone got ready and we went and did family pictures by Justin's work. They boys did so well! We had a lot of fun doing it even though it was warm outside. We didn't do a whole lot on Saturday. After pictures we came back to our house and ate some lunch and then his family left. We went back to his parents house around 5:00 so we could go to his parents ward bbq. That was a lot of fun. They had a huge slip-n-slide and a candy cannon. They kids had a wonderful time. We slept at our house that night.

Sunday, we went over for lunch and then Jon, Heidi and the boys went home. We had a lot of fun with them while they were here. It was nice not really having to worry about anything and having some time off of work.

Oh, when we first got to Cherry Hill, I thought I saw my cousin and then I saw my uncle walking by. We tried yelling his name but he was too far away. My parents went out with my Dad's siblings and asked my uncle if he was there, and it was him. It was so funny to see them there. I didn't see them after that though. I don't know if they left by the time we got there or not.

Holiday Weekend and Birthday

Justin and I had a long weekend over the holiday. We had Thursday thru Sunday off from work. I took the time off to spend it with Justin for his birthday.

Thursday, we didn't do much. We stayed at home and I cleaned the house. Justin and Jordan went golfing and had a lot of fun. We stayed up late and went to a friends house and hung out there for a couple hours.

Friday was Justin's 21st birthday. We slept in after Thursday night. Justin went golfing again and I went and saw Eclipse with my Mom. We went out to dinner, Justin and I, to celebrate his birthday. After that we went to his parents house and visited with his sister and her family because they came into town.

Saturday was spent a lot with his family. Justin's sister and her family and his parents came over around noon and we had lunch and then went swimming for about an hour and a half. The boys had a lot of fun and so did the parents. We enjoyed cooling off in the cold pool after being out in the hot sun. Justin's family left and we got ready for the day. I made a cake for him and then we went out to dinner with a lot of his family. Not only was it his sister and her family, but it included his Grandpa, his Aunt and Uncle and 4 of his cousins. We went to Famous Daves and had fun visiting with each other. This is the second time I've ever met his Aunt, Uncle and cousins other than at our wedding. After dinner we went back to his parents house and my parents came over and we had cake and ice cream and visited more with his family. Then his Aunt and Uncle wanted to see the Draper Temple so we took them there. Got turned around a couple times but it was fun to go up and see it again.

This was our weekend and we enjoyed it a lot. We need to take more time off like this more often. :)

New Blog

So, Justin and I decided to start a new blog with pictures that we've taken and that we want to take. Here is the web address if you want to check it out.

http://jlbrintonphotography.blogspot.com/

Colorado

So this past weekend I had the opportunity to go with my Mom to visit Stacey and Alex in Colorado. We left Thursday morning and had such a fun time. I don't like flying because I can feel everything. I kept wincing everytime the plane would lose just a little altitude and my Mom kept asking me are you okay. I told her I was fine but that I could feel it move. Stacey picked us up at the airport at noon and we went to the store to get some things for dinner. Later on that afternoon we went walking around Old Colorado. We had fun going through the a lot of the stores. We went back to Stacey's house and had fun the rest of the night there.

Friday, we got up and had breakfast. Stacey and I went out to lunch at this place called Bon Ton's. It was yummy! Then we went and saw Date Night. Stacey laughed so hard she wanted me to make the movie stop so she wouldn't laugh anymore. We went to the store and got some ingredients so we could make sugar cookies. We went back home and made sugar cookies. Alex was having fun helping me mix the batter, and then cutting out the cookies. (Sorry, I don't have any pictures. My Mom has them all.) After Alex went to bed we stayed up playing a game called Things. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, we were going to go to the zoo but it was cold and it looked like it was going to rain, so instead Stacey showed us around Fort Carson and took us shopping there. I've never been on "post" before so it was fun seeing everything there. After that we went to the mall and went through a couple of stores. My Mom and Stacey had to convince me to buy some clothes. They are very cute though and they were on sale. :) That evening we went back home and my Mom watched Alex while Stacey, her friend Heather and I went and saw Letter's to Juliet. It was a very cute movie. Definately a chick flick! After the movie we went out for ice cream. We were going to go hot tubbing, but it started raining so we didn't end up going.

Sunday, we stayed at home all morning until we had to leave for the airport. My Mom and I played with Alex while Stacey got ready. Stacey took us to the airport so we could fly home. We landed at the airport just after 2. Justin picked us up and took us home.

That was our trip to Colorado. It was a lot of fun. I've never seen Stacey's house so it was nice to see it after she has been there for two years.

Bacon

Justin wanted to make chip dip yesterday and it called for bacon so he wanted me to make some. So we took the bacon out and started cooking it and as I was turning it the grease from the bacon splattered and hit me on the chest and neck. I now have three burn marks from the grease and they don't feel to good. So, I decided I am never making bacon again. If I do, it is going to be the precooked kind so i can just plop it in the microwave for a few second and be done with it. No grease really, no mess, plus they taste great!

Temple Square

Justin's sister and her family came down for a weekend. We had a lot of fun. We went and walked around temple square going through the visitor's center, taking a tour of the conference center and having pictures in front of the temple. Here are some pictures of our fun adventures.

Candice and Brandon were also up from Sunday thru Tuesday. I got to visit a little bit with Candice on Monday. We went to the mall cause she had something to pick up for work and we walked around for a little bit. I also talked to Brandon for a minute.

Two Year Anniversary

Its been a couple weeks since we had our two year anniversary but we had a wonderful time together. I took a couple days off of work and Justin got off work early one day and had another day off. We went out to dinner and stayed at home and spent some time together. We had a wonderful time. Lets start with Friday March 12th. I took the day off and cleaned. Justin got off work early this day. We stayed at home and enjoyed having some friends over. Saturday we had a wonderful date night. Justin won a prize from work where we got to go in a limo to dinner at The Melting Pot and then we went and saw Brian Reagan. We had a wonderful time. We went with one of his co-workers and her husband.

This is what we had for dinner. It was the Alpine Night Out or something like that. We got an appetizer of vegetables and bread in a cheese dip. Then we had a salad. The main course came after that which included chicken, sirloin, filet minon, shrimp and ravioli. We cooked it in a broth which our waiter said was healthier. For dessert we had strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, brownies, marshmellows which we could dip in chocolate. The chocolate was white and milk and they did it in a ying/yang sign. It was awesome! We loved it!

This is us at dinner waiting for the main course to come.

This is us in the limo I believe on our way to watch Brian Reagan.

Brian Reagan was very funny. We had a lot of fun watching and listening to him.

That was our Saturday. Sunday Justin and I stayed at home. I cooked lasagne for us which is the second time I've ever cooked it since being married. The first time I did it, it was in the crock pot which was too dry. This one I made was wonderful. It was a recipe from my dad. We had leftovers for a while, but everything bite was eaten up.

Justin took Monday off because that was our actual anniversary. We didn't do much that day. We just stayed at home is all I can remember. We are very happy and glad to be celebrating our second year anniversary. We are excited for the many more to come along.

We were talking about where we have been living since we were married and where we have celebrated our anniversaries. Right after we were married we lived in our apartment. On our first anniversary we were living in Justin's parents house. Now we live in our own home. We are wondering where we are going to be on our third anniversary.

Projects

So I decided to post the quilts that I have made on here. I like to sew and in high school I made my first quilt (which I never got a picture) and then Justin's mom got me into doing shag quilts so thats what I've usually been working on but I did a stack and slash for Justin and I. I don't have that picture uploaded yet but I will get it. Here are the pictures.

This is one that I made for my Uncle Bret. Its huge! If I remember its 13 squares down which each square is 7 inches.

This one I made for one of my best friends who is having a baby girl!

This one is for my mom for Christmas of 2008.

I made this one for Stacey.

There are a lot of quilts that I still want to make. Justin wants one that is colorful so I'm working on finding a pattern that isn't too hard that he will like where I can do a lot of colors.

Pictures

Yeah, we finally got our pictures put on our computer. Well, Justin finally uploaded them so here they are! I hope you enjoy! Also, the pictures are in backwards order and I really don't want to have to fix them so go from the bottom up.