A Day Off

Guest post from: Denver Stephens

It was one of those rare occasions when my husband actually took a day off in the middle of the week. I could probably count on one hand the number of times he has actually surprised me by staying home in the middle of the week over our 15 years together. Usually he doesn’t tell me, just wakes up and surprises me. I find it to be very sweet of him to take a spontaneous day for just the two of us. Sometimes, we take a day trip somewhere close to home and other times we just snuggle up in the family room and watch Directv Cinema. It’s a great way to reset our buttons and reconnect with each other. Fortunately he is the boss of his own company so things like this aren’t really frowned upon. And other times, he works for weeks on end with no time off so he is just making up for his workaholic tendencies. I’ll take whatever I can get and make the very best of anytime we can steal away.

What's Happening Wednesday

01. Ryan went snowmobiling with guys from work on Saturday and had a blast. No injuries, thank goodness
02. Watched the Superbowl with some friends. Ryan was cheering for the Patriots and was pretty upset when they lost.
03. We were invited by another ward to their new beginnings since we don't have any new Beehives. They had a great program.
04. Jason Wu for Target line is out and I've been wanting to check out some of the pieces but haven't yet.
05. Finished the 2nd book in the "Matched" series. It was a faster read and definitely left ya hangin. The 3rd book comes out this year.
06. I took our cat, Hairy to the vet yesterday for an exam. His gums are really red so we scheduled a cleaning for next week.
07. Big Budah rented from Ryan's branch so he snapped a picture as proof. Ryan knows so many people and has met a lot of famous people but no one believes him (including me) because he never get's pictures.
08. Went to the dentist today. No cavities! Yea.
09. Had breakfast at Black Bear Diner with some co-workers this morning. It was delicious. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, but I don't get a good one very often.
10. Ryan got tickets to see Lady A in concert next week. I'm so excited to go!

2011 WAC Volleyball Tournament

We got back from Vegas Wednesday night. We went down with Ryan's family to see Alyssa play in the WAC tournament. Although they lost, we still had a great time eating tons of food, walking the strip and being together.

The tournament was played in THE ORLEANS arena, where we stayed.

Loved the M&M store but didn't want to spend $13.99 a pound

At the coca-cola store the bear was there for pictures. He was so tall and cute, it was fun to watch him. I got a picture with Ryan's sisters that his mom bought. 

The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory tempted me every time I'd walk by it at the hotel. After we checked out I caved and bought an English Toffee apple. Well worth the $6

It seems like we go to Vegas a lot. Here's some of our other visits:

here

here

Our trip to Vegas

Ryan's dream car is a corvette. Just for fun we rented one for a few days. Here's the proof:

Ryan wanted me to video the convertible top

Most of the trip was spent watching baseball (the reason we went) but one night we did venture out on the town.

view of the strip

Bellagio

(you'll notice all the pictures with me in them are blurry. For some reason Ryan can't shoot a clear picture.)

This was Ryan's first time in Vegas and he loved watching the water show.

The gardens inside

Caesar's Palace

I was looking forward to nice warm weather, but it was really windy and cold the first two days.
My time spent watching the boys play was a little uncomfortable because I wasn't prepared, but they did a great job in all of their games. Ryan loves coaching and does a great job.We're very greatful we were able to go and enjoy a vacation.

One night we went to a CSN vs SLCC game

It was freezing!

I was expecting only a 7 inning game, but it went 9 innings. Yikes.

It was a special game and there were tons of scouts there.

I tried to take a picture, but it doesn't do justice.

Right before the pitcher would throw about 20 scouts sitting in the audience would all put their guns up and record the speed. It was very entertaining and I've never seen anything like it.

In this picture you can see 4 guns. That guy sitting next to me was from the Cincinatti Reds, his wife was reading. LOL. Oh to be the wife of a MLB scout, I'm sure.

There is a catcher on CSN that is 17 years old-Bryce Harper. He left High School at 16 and came to play baseball at CSN. He was on the June 8th cover of Sports Illustrated as "Baseball's Chosen One." He is projected to be the top pick in the draft in June. No wonder there were so many scouts there.

 

Here he is up to bat. He ended up striking out and was so mad he hit his bat so hard on the ground that it broke. It was kinda funny.
Overall the trip was a nice break. Ryan wasn't very impressed and we probably won't go back to Vegas for any pleasure vacations soon.

An occasion for celebration

Last week we went up to the Everett's to celebrate birthdays!

You may remember The new new one. Well, they added another addition to their animal family! He, who has yet to be named, is so cute. He's got droopy eyes and big paws and, well, see for yourself!

He's so little compared to Trigger.

Him and the kitty get along just fine

We had a little photo shoot

(he's a little cross-eyed)

Ok, so we're no pros, but we're getting good at celebrating birthdays!

Happy birthday Debbie and Janessa!

Also, my sweet nephew "G" turned 1

My dad is leading Ryan to his death

...or so he says.
For as long as I can remember my Dad has had motorcycles, so I don't know what the big deal is.

He's had a bike that's needed work, in his shop for a few years. He told Ryan he could have it if he fixed it up, so that's what he's been doing the past few weeks.

The finished product:

People keep asking me if I'm scared or OK with it. I'm fine with it! Ryan is so excited to learn to ride and I think he'll have a blast with it. I will too once it's safe for me to ride with him.