Captain Planet...He's Our Hero

Recycling. Try it. It's easy. And environmentally friendly. And you'll be AMAZED at how much you can actually recycle.

Each week, our recycle bin is just as full as our trash bin. Seriously!

Here's a list of recyclables to get you going:
Junk mail
Magazines
Newspapers
Telephone Books
Brown paper bags
Soda Cans
Tin/Steel cans (soup, fruit, vegetable, etc.)
Cereal Boxes
Cardboard packaging/boxes (granola bars, pasta, crackers, etc.)
Milk Cartons
Juice Cartons
Plastic water bottles
Laundry Detergent bottles
Condiment bottles
Plastic food containers (yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc.)
Glass beverage bottles
Glass food jars (applesauce, spaghetti sauce, etc.)

Good luck!!

Labor Day Fun

Over Labor Day weekend Brett took a "boys' trip" to Dallas to visit his brother Brandon and attend the BYU vs. Oklahoma game. All of Brett's brothers and bro-in-laws and his dad were able to go except for two. The boys spent a day at Six Flags, a day at Schlitterbahn Waterpark, and of course, an evening in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium for the football game.

Good 'ol fashioned Texas bbq

Getting "friendly" with Batman at Six Flags

Dallas Cowboys Stadium

GO COUGARS!!!


While Brett was off partying in TX, I did some partying of my own with the girls including shopping, chick flicks, fro yo runs, lunch, and brunch.

Juju Berri with Kalie and Jill

Looking fierce in Forever 21!

Lunch at Paradise and shopping with my mom and sis


Hooray for LONG WEEKENDS and fun with the boys/girls!

Simple Math

2 Zumba classes

+ 1 Yogalates class

+ 1 Spin class in 2 1/2 days

1 Happy Rachel :)

The Results are In...

...and I can see!!!!

That's right. I had my surgery Friday afternoon, and on Saturday morning when I went in for a follow up I could see 20/15 using both eyes!!!! With NO CONTACTS!!! I can't even believe it's true. I keep trying to take my contacts out! My eyesight is supposed to continue to improve over the next few weeks as well! Although I probably could have bought a car instead, I think this was possibly the best investment I've EVER made! I would recommend ICL's to everyone, especially if you cannot get lasik. The surgery went well, and although there were a few scary moments, everything turned out GREAT! Thanks SOOOOOOOO much to my wonderful doctor who gave me something I never thought possible!


*Waiting for my Valium and E-N-D-L-E-S-S amounts of numbing, cleansing, dilating, and sedating eye drops to kick in, before they take me into the O.R. for surgery.*

Finally...Our Trip! (Part 2)

Week 2: (Week 1 in previous post)
As soon as we boarded the ship in St. Martin (3 days late), we headed straight here. The FLOWRIDER, of course!!

Although we spent most of our time on the ship to make up for lost time, we did get off for a few hours in Puerto Rico, where Brett served his mission!


This was one of Brett's favorite spots in San Juan. It was about a 15 minute hike to get here.

Our Ship, The Liberty of the Seas

Back on the ship, getting our climb on...

and devouring some delicious ice cream.

Formal night.

Taylor and I made friends with Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, who were on our boat. Because they had such infamous hair in the 90's (google "I Can't Live Without Your Love and Affection" for the video), Taylor asked them for a few hair tips. Their secret..."Silky Dirt" from Sephora! :)

The last day of the cruise, Brett, Spencer, and I were 3 of the 9 people selected to compete in "The Best of the Best Surfing Competition" on the boat. We were supposed to wear a crazy outfit, hence the hair.

Brett and I on the Promenade.

Family Love

We had such a blast all being together again. It was so fun to have Garrett home from his mission and great to spend some time with Spencer before he leaves for his in November. Thanks so much to Mom and Dad for a WONDERFUL trip we will NEVER FORGET!!

Finally...Our Trip! (Part 1)

Ok, it only took me a MONTH to finally get around to posting about our latest trip! Actually, it took me that long to get half the pictures back from my mom. So here goes. BEWARE!!! This will be LONG!!

First, a few stats to summarize the trip!

5 main modes of transportation used (airplane, car, train, subway, and boat)
+8 airports visited (Phoenix, Nashville, Columbus, New York, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, St. Martin, and Orlando) and 1 passport stamp obtained (St. Martin)
+21 games of cards played
+3 temples visited (Kirtland, Palmyra, and Manhattan)
+45,450,000 gallons of water flowing over Niagra Falls in one minute
+30 minutes in the Sacred Grove
+24 tickets to 3 Broadway shows (Shrek, Wicked, and West Side Story), 18 of which were won thru lotteries
+192 steps to the top of the Statue of Liberty pedestal
+21 pennies Brett put up his nose many, many times
+7 designer purses purchased from our favorite Canal Street vendor
+1 Schizophrenic who decided to strap a fake bomb to his chest causing the complete evacuation of La Guardia airport for 5 hours
+3 new best friends in "very high places" (the cruise Hotel Director, Sports Director, and Head Chef) who all wanted to make it up to us for missing the first three days of the cruise
+12 hours of surfing on the Flowrider
+2 attempts, 1 successful, at sneaking my underage 17 yr old sister into the adult-only dance club
+2 very good hair tips from our new D-list celebrity friends
=8,129 miles traveled and 1 wonderfully amazing trip

Week 1:
First Stop: Kirtland, OH to visit the Johnson Farm, the Kirtland Temple, and the Newel K Whitney Store. It was so interesting to tour the Kirtland Temple, which is now owned by the Community of Christ church.


Niagra Falls: Horesehoe Falls (left) and American Falls (right) during the day, and American Falls at night

We climbed the Cave of the Winds to the base of the American Falls. The water was SOOO powerful and we got SOAKED!!

Seriously, the ponchos did NOTHING! :) Not one dry spot when we were finished.

We were also able to go on the Maid of the Mist up to the base of the Falls. We actually got to stand at the very front bow of the ship! Again, soaking wet!


Next: Palmyra, NY to visit the Sacred Grove, the Smith Family Farm, the Palmyra Temple, the Book of Mormon Publication Site, and the Hill Cumorah. Absolutely WONDERFUL!

Yes we are standing in the pouring rain! Notice our methods of helping Grandma climb to the top of Hill Cumorah.

NYC here we come! We took a 5 1/2 hour train ride from Buffalo to Manhattan. A WONDERFUL change from all the driving we'd been doing.

We made it! Meeting up with my cousin Lauren who lives in NYC at Grand Central and then going to the top of the Empire State Building. What a view!

Most Broadway shows do a lottery for 2 front row tickets for $25 the morning of the show. We were lucky enough to win 8 tickets (just how many we needed) to see Shrek! Notice the faces of us who won, vs those who didn't. :)

Visiting the ever amazing Crumbs Bake Shop! Heaven on earth!!

We were also lucky enough to win 8 tickets to see Wicked (my 4th time!) and 2 tickets for West Side Story. Thanks to Grandma for the rest of the West Side Story tickets. Seeing all these shows from the front row is something I'll never forget!

We attended a filming of the David Letterman Show, and while we were waiting for the taping to begin, a survey was passed around asking for stupid human tricks. Brett wrote that he can stick 21 pennies up his nose (don't ask he knows this!). The next day Brett got a phone call asking him to come audition at the Ed Sullivan Theater! Brett performed his trick for the producer and was told he could get a phone call sometime in the next few months to come back and be on the David Letterman Show. It hasn't happened yet, but I'd really like another trip back to NY.

We took a day to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

We spent some serious time shopping in China Town. Taylor and I are looking a little lost, don't you think?!

The morning we were supposed to fly out from NY to FL to get on our cruise, a man came into the airport with a fake bomb taped to his chest. Needless to say, they shut down and evacuated the ENTIRE LaGuardia Airport. We sat out on the freeway overpass along with hundreds of thousands of other people for several hours and consequently missed our flight and our cruise. Boo hoo hoo! :(

Our ship was at sea for the first 3 days of the cruise, so this is what we did until we could meet up with our ship in St. Martin. Playing cards at our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale and enjoying the WARM beach outside our hotel in St. Martin.


(Week 2 continued on next post)

This Seems to be Turning into a Habit

4 out of the last 5 nights I have somehow ended up going to bed after 12:30 am. Why??? I'm not quite sure, but I'm thinking this needs to change asap!

Recap:
Monday - Brett was doing a night shift and so I waited up hoping I could see him when he got home. I finally went to bed at 12:45 am. He got home at 1:45 am.
Tuesday - Brett and I decided to watch the first Harry Potter, and then somehow ended up watching the second one too! 5 1/2 hours of Harry Potter later, we ended up in bed at 12:55 am.
Wednesday - I got some sense and decided to go to bed at a more normal hour. I had a softball game that night but was still in bed by 11:15 pm.
Thursday - Brett watched the Cardinals game, and I worked on an application that actually could have been completed anytime in the next week and a half! I finally finished it and drug us to bed around 12:40 am.
Friday - I spent the night out getting frozen yogurt and laughing uncontrollably with my girlys Jill and Kalie until about 1:00 am. Thus I didn't get to bed until 1:20 am.

Keep in mind, that most of these days I had to be up, ready, and at work by 7:30 the next morning. Crazy, I know!

The results: I'm getting cranky and tired and have decided that for the next week I'm going to bed by 9:00 pm!! I know it won't happen, but at least I have good intentions!

What Budget Crisis?

Announced in the newspaper yesterday, "Rhodes Junior High in Mesa opens controversial pool project on Saturday."

The project? A FLOWRIDER!!

Yes, you heard that right! Rhodes Junior High spent $1.6 million to install a Flowrider in their newly renovated aquatics center. In the mean time, many of my teacher friends take pay cuts becuase of some "severe budget crisis." Hmmm... somehow this doesn't make sense.

Although this is upsetting, I still must say... HOORAY!!!! Finally, AZ's one flaw is corrected! We finally have a Flowrider. Next stop, Rhodes Junior High for some serious surfing action! Hang ten!

Pics from 2007