Just an Update...

The boys didn't come home with anything on their hunting excursion.
Who called that one?
It was me!

"Michael, at one time men were hunter/gatherers. We're drawing on those instincts." -Dave Richards

Today is the day that Michael became a hunter. Or rather, today is the day my dad decided to make Michael a hunter and failed miserably. He tried to teach him to elk bugle and I recorded the footage:

My dad has been trying to prepare Michael for this hunting trip for a few weeks, but I don't think Michael was quite prepared for all that hunting with my dad entailed. Those backpacks that they are wearing are filled with game bags. Which, I think, is a little optimistic considering Michael's limited bugling abilities and my dad's dismal elk hunting record. Michael's just lucky my dad didn't break out the elk urine...

I feel good about this hunting trip.

A Very Baker Weekend

As it turns out, my little brother is quite the little football stud. So much of a football stud, in fact, that he was selected to play in the Shriners East-West all-star football game! This game is awesome because it raises money for sick children in the United States, Canada, and Mexico to receive medical treatment at Shriners Hospitals for free. On Friday, me and Michael took off from Seattle and drove to Baker to watch my cute little brother play one last high school football game. There were football players from 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A schools all across Oregon who came to our little town to compete in this game. In Baker, high school athletes travel up to 6 hours across the state to play in state championship games, so it was nice to have them travel to Baker for once :) Even though it was about a billion degrees outside, the game was so fun to watch! And it was great to spend time with my family.

This is the glorious Shrine Parade in downtown Baker. The Shriners
(a bunch of old, retired men) get to ride around in go-karts and throw candy to the residents of Baker.

Colten wrote "Lindsey Lou" on the tape on his arm.

Okay, this one requires a little more explaining. There is a family in the ward that meets just before my home ward that has five little kids. Several years ago, they started noticing some changes in their oldest daughter, Sierra. When they took her to the hospital, they learned that she had an enlarged heart and that she would need a heart transplant. Her health really deteriorated, but a heart came in for her at the last moment. A few months ago, they started noticing some of the same changes in their second daughter, Lindsey. After taking her to the hospital, they realized that she has an enlarged heart as well. Right now she is in California waiting for a heart transplant, just like her older sister a few years earlier. After this family, the Binghams (ps, check out their blog here), realized that they had another daughter with an enlarged heart, they had all of their children tested and found out that all of them have the exact same problem and will need to have heart transplants eventually. Anyway, Colten's tape says "Lindsey Lou" for this sweet little girl who is waiting for a new heart.

Colten (#31) was voted one of the team captains for the East side.
He's such a little cutie :)

One of the reasons Colten was so excited about this game was because
Kennan, my little brother who just got home from his mission, got to see
him play football for the first time.

Isn't he the cutest running back you've ever seen?

And we were the obnoxious family in the stands wearing matching t-shirts
with Colten's number on the back. It was pretty adorable.

I haaaated to leave, but I'm hoping we get to go back to Baker before too much time has passed. I just like that place. And I like these people :)

Our First Seattle Visitors!

Jill and Brandon came to visit us this weekend! We had so much fun exploring Seattle and spending some serious time watching the Olympics. Mmmm, love the Olympics.

And sorry if the pictures look a little... odd. Turns out that I had the camera on the wrong setting most of the time. Whoops!

Seattle Temple :)

 On Friday we headed to the temple to do a sealing session. Unfortunately Michael had to work, so he couldn't play with us very much this day.

Ps... Awkward temple scenario occurred in which the sealer asked if me and Brandon would like to perform a few sealings to give Jill a break. We said no. Awwwkwwwaaaard.

It took some serious work to get all of us + the fountain in this picture.

 After the temple, we went to Pike Place Market and then trekked to the Space Needle. We were super excited to go up until we realized that it would cost us $20 a person. So we bought some Space Needle fudge instead. Not a bad trade, I say.

Presh :)

 After wandering around downtown Seattle (where Brandon got flipped off and screamed at by an angry driver), we headed back to our apartment to eat dinner (burrito bowls, sooo yummy) and watch the OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONIES (which were amazing). We love those things.

On Saturday morning we spent the morning watching several hours worth of the Olympics and then left to go visit Whidbey Island and do some serious exploring.

The Calamet was our ferry to Whidbey Island.

 We were going to drive and bring a picnic lunch, but the line for the ferry was over 2 hours long, soooo we parked, walked on, and took a bus to Langley, a cute little town on the beach. We had heard rumors about some awesome ice cream before we left, but unfortunately there was none to be found.

Apparently the water was pretty cold. I stayed away though.

 So these pictures all look really odd because the camera was set in the low light mode. In broad daylight. Please ignore the weirdness.

The boys spent some time here...

No makeup... Yikes.

I like these people.

Jill makes a pretty cute muffin, no?

After successfully begging them to stay longer (they were planning on
leaving Saturday afternoon), we went to Lund's Gulch to see the
Puget Sound at sunlight and got a solid 30 seconds on the beach before the park
ranger closed the park.

We had so much fun with these two and are so glad they decided to stay a day longer :) We're gonna have to return the favor as soon as you guys get settled down in Vegas!

Our Life Lately :)

Hello all you patient readers out there! Odd that I have such a hard time updating this blog since I am working as a writer these days. Or maybe that makes sense... either way, it is definitely time to update everyone about the goings-on of the Everton family. Seeing as how our last post was about our anniversary, I have quite a bit of ground to cover. Get comfy, because we have had quite a crazy summer so far.

May
Me and Jill ran the Ogden Marathon! It was both awesome and horrific. Probably leaning more toward the latter. 

Still looking happy at mile 8!

Looking a lot less great at mile 17... Sorry, the husbands didn't get a face shot.

Aaand I've pretty much fallen apart completely down the stretch to the finish.
I really feel like this picture captures my best side.
Jill, on the other hand, looks like she could go do it again.

SO happy to done with that painful thing.

We finished in 4:30 and are pretty stoked about it. Are we going to do it again? Eh, the jury's still out on that one.


June
In the first week of June we moved out of Wymount Terrace, our very first home. It was stressful to move but exciting to move on. All in all, we are pretty excited to no longer be undergrads. I might only be speaking for myself on this one... Michael sings the BYU fight song every night before we go to bed.


Right after we moved out of Wymount we went to Moab for some serious mountain biking and camping. It was actually pretty terrible... Like, 30mph gusts of winds terrible.

See how overcast it looks? Those aren't clouds, that's sand in
the air from how windy it was. Yikes.

On Sunday we went on a picnic near the Negro Bill Trail.

Aaand looked at some sweet fossilized dinosaur footprints.

And on Monday we did this. Of course.

Where Michael ended up on his face. Of course :)

Later that week, KENNAN GOT HOME FROM HIS MISSION!!! After 2 (long) years in the San Fernando, California Mission, my baby brother came home and my family could not be more excited about it.

best.day.ever.

Colten got the revenge he has been plotting for 2 years.

And on Saturday. ASHLEY & BOSTON GOT MARRIED!! We are just so excited for these two :) They are perfect for each other. And this day was absolutely beautiful. Ashley looked stunning (as per usual). I just can't say enough about how excited we are. I wish we were in Provo so we could hang out with them next year! Unfortunately, I didn't end up with a single picture from this day. Booo! Here are some pictures from their bridals to give you an idea of how the lovely couple looked :)

Not to brag or anything, but I did her makeup :)

Not that she needed the help.

Love this!

July
After some playing with the Everton family (including the two cutest kids under the age of 5 I have ever met), we went to HAWAII with my family! And sadly, I only got 1 single picture of this event. Fail. My skills in capturing history are seriously lacking.

I'll take the second one on the left, please :)

After Hawaii, it was on to Jackson, WY with the Evertons!

Yellowstone looks cool, but smells pretty disgusting.

  

Nate loves his grandpa!

This is probably my favorite picture ever.

Our close encounter with wildlife.

Old Faithful!

I like this boy :)

Family picture! We look pretty sharp, no?

Now that we're back in Seattle, it feels really good to just be hanging out in pajamas all day, watching Penelope, and trying to figure out what to make for dinner. So far the summer of 2012 has been filled with travel, adventures, and excitement. I'm quite ready for it to be filled with a little boredom :) That'll probably only last about a week though.


One last thing. Me and Michael went on a hike at sunset to the Puget Sound last week. It was pretty incredible. After all of these pictures of places we have traveled to, here is one from our new home. We are a little in love.

ps: visitors are welcome!

the cuteness

1. i am thankful for the people i love who have taken care of me this week!
turns out that michael has been out of town all week... and my days have been filled with extreme boredom interjected with bursts of fun toward the end of the day. on tuesday, jill & brandon took me in, fed me lasagna, talked baker bulldog football, and then turned on the biggest loser. and then on wednesday, emi went shopping with me at h&m (love it), then brought me home with her for some yummy tilapia and modern family. i love you guys!

2. i am thankful for a secret surprise.
sorry kiddos, i can't disclose details (yet!), but it was to do with why michael has been out of town... stay tuned :) it's good, trust me. and before you ask, no, i am not pregnant. sorry mom!


3. i am thankful for this video:
(please ignore the fact that the guy is just hanging out in his whitie tighties)

4. i am also thankful for this video:
(seriously, watch the whole thing. i know it's 15 minutes long, but trust me, you won't regret a 15 minute investment in this video. it maaaybe made me full-out cry. it's just that cute)

5. i am thankful that byu basketball is baaaack!

i know we technically lost the season opener against utah state, but i smell a killer season coming on. and i can't lie, i miss the jimmer, but i'm working on moving on.

6. i am thankful that i only have 11 days of school left in my undergraduate career.
yes yes yes x infinity.

maybe i won't be an editor after all...

i just got an email saying that there is a job opening at the hogle zoo...

how fun would it be to have this little cutie as a coworker?
i mean really.
{source}

and wanna know how i'm wasting my time these days? yeah, you could call it an addiction. my little brother's football team is playing in the state tournament and i can't get enough of the trash talk in the forums. it's great. my favorite post i've read so far?

"I have read about the Siuslaw [the team they are playing on Saturday] power running game. Sounds impressive indeed. But, your boys will get to say hello to our Colton [spelled wrong] Richards on Saturday. I will leave it at that:-)"

cracks me up.

real great weekend

hi all you people we love :)

did anyone else have an awesome weekend? because we definitely did.

it all started with an amaaaazing byu victory over utah state.
we didn't think it could happen going into the 4th quarter (and one of us--the male one of us--was super grumpy because of it), but.

riley nelson and his luscious locks lead us to victory.

and yes, we stormed the field. against utah state. shameful, yes. but i figured that since i'm graduating in december i probably wouldn't get another chance to walk on lavelle's field.why not, right?

the storming begins.

me and jill get in on the action.

hello blurry cody hoffman.

this game was followed by a 6-page annotated bibliography that i slammed out in 1.5 hours (least fun part of the weekend) in time to be emailed to my professor. yes, i procrastinate. don't judge.

next morning: mountain biking nirvana. sigh. i love this trail.

pretty orangey leaves :)

and the yellow guys.

i know this picture looks like me and michael are getting
zapped onto a spaceship, but that just isn't true, promise.

and the mountain biking was followed by the best bbq that i've ever had in my life and some really really great face time (via tv) with some men who really know what they are talking about. general conference. one of my favorite things out there. and yes, i might have slept through (quite) a few of the talks, but i am excited to read every word that was said in the very near future. i. love. conference.

more fun? yes. more fun. this weekend was jam packed with it.

a two-day everton party complete with a consumption of massive quantities of sugar, watching inordinate amounts of college football, gooooood sunday dinner, making fun of the liberal in the family, an expedition to iggy's, lots of time playing catch (which i may or may not have looked real bad doing), and searching for the perfect car for jackson hole next week.

all in all, a fantastic weekend and i'm sad that it's going to be over in a few hours.
sigh.
monday is coming too soon.