Lomax Family

Our Home!

2011-08-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

As my Aunt would say, "we are no longer property virgins" and she is correct... We have purchased our very first home the first part of July! We are an official Syracuse resident! We can't express the gratitude, happiness, gratefulness, etc of this home. It's just wonderful... We are loving every minute of it. The biggest project so far has been the yard. This home hasn't been lived in for over a year, so you can imagine what the yard looked like. Unfortunately, I did not take some before pictures, though I do have some "in progress" pictures, both inside and out. (The house has 3 bedrooms - room for 2 more in the basement and 2 bathrooms - room for 1 more in the basement. I only took pictures of one of the bedrooms, as the other 2 are just a storage room / computer room).... (For some reason the top words are highlighted and I have NO idea how to take the highlight off....)

This is the master bathroom w/walk in closet!


Master bedroom


Laundry Room


Additional Bathroom

Entry Way

Family Room (With Bentley, of course!)


Kitchen / Dining Room


Basement


More Basement


More Basement.... (with the awesome fooseball table from my friend!)


And... More Basement


Cold Storage Room in Basement


Front of House


Front of House


Backyard


Backyard

Behind the weeds is a creek. This separates our home from the golf course (which is our backyard neighbor!) The creek has a lot of ducks and fish!


Side of Home

We still have a lot to do, get rid of boxes, put stuff away, more yard work to get it just the way we want, paint inside the house, tile the master bathroom shower (which wasn't pictured...), finish the basement... so on and so forth! The grass, tree's, flowers, etc and looking so much better!!

As the projects progress, pictures will come!

Thank you!!

2011-07-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

WOW! Thank you everyone. I am so grateful for each of you! Sorry I have slacked on updates, so much has been going on. Updates to come shortly --- camping, moving (again), life... etc!

Anyone out there???

2011-07-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

Tell me, does anyone really read the Lomax Blog anymore? Is it worth keeping? If so, pls make a comment :)

Love you all!

Are we home yet?

2011-02-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

Life is like a rollercoaster... There's ups and downs, everyones screaming and it's only fun when you haven't over-eaten. We're stressed out, tired, fairly certain we are both getting ulcers and we don't have anything to show for it.... yet. We're alive, just extremely busy and hoping the world doesn't come to an end before we find a house... Which leads me to say, we are looking!! We have two possibilities, now the waiting game begins. We are tired to the point our excitement level is on empty...

We hope you have all enjoyed your... Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and the beginning of 2011!!

If you don't hear from us in a while, we are either hiding in our new house or lost in the middle of nowhere trying to get to another showing! I should go now before the caffine wears off and I say something I might regret!

Where to begin.....

2010-09-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Wow... where to begin? It's been a long time since we've posted anything on here... So much has happened since March, lots of moving, trips and just life in general! The title "where to begin" is how I am feeling right now... As I sit here trying to type I am reflecting on what has happened these last few months... Since we moved to Salt Lake, we did get Bentley back, which was extremely exciting! Our little family was complete again... We ran into a problem with our little apartment (sorry, no pictures) and since then have moved back to Layton with my (Chantel's) parents. We are planning on moving next year into a house, so for the meantime we are staying here to save up! It's interesting living in such a small space, with all of our stuff in boxes, but we definitely appreciate all the love, kindness, generosity etc. that we are getting from both sides of the family!

Now to update you on our cute little family...

Bentley --- Crazy as ever, but always sweet & cuddly! He's loving the fact that there is another dog in the house... He loves to torture (staring, chasing etc) the cat... He is enjoying a backyard, but will soon get his very own! He is getting a lot of excersise by running around with Ryder... Very spoiled and he knows it!

Landon --- Currently in school at the University of Utah. He is majoring in Computer Science and doing very well. Lots of homework which isn't always the funnest thing in the world! He's doing an amazing job at school, to which I am very proud of him! He has started running again, which he (seems) to be enjoying :) Of course, I like to take him out to "try and kill him" as he would say. His first official 5K will be Thanksgiving Day this year! He plans to run the Ragnar in 2012!!! He is still working grave yard shifts, but has now taken on weekend shifts to help pay for school! As he says, he's sleep deprived, overextended, and delinquent on his diabetic check ups... which leaves him looking forward to GRADUATION day, a normal job and a normal life!?!? ***Just wait till we have kids, hehehe***

Chantel --- Still working at PEHP and loving it! This company deals alot with health and so they give you a half hour or an hour to excersie, so 3 to 4 times a week, I play wallyball with my co-workers! Definitely keeps me healthy, which I love! I've also started running in March of this year... I wasn't sure about it at first, but have received great encouragement and help and now I love it! I have run a few 5/10K's and ran my first half marathon! I challenge myself each time to try and beat my previous time! Running has become my life, so-to-speak, as Landon finishes school. I actively look for races all the time, so if you hear of any, let me know! I'm also planning to run the Ragnar in 2012. In my free time (mostly on the front-runner to/from work) I am reading the "Hunger Games" series and have been enjoying it! I am a mommy to a little pup, no kids yet... waiting... waiting... and... waiting! (That was for you, Landon!)

Other random things ---- We've taken our yearly trip to Jackson Hole in June of this year and loved it! Not too many animals this year, due to the snow season, but still wonderful as can be! We were able to go to the H20 Water Tour for Brad Paisley featuring Darius Rucker at Usana --- that was great, but we've decided the lawn area is not the best seat in the world! They were free tickets, so we can't overly complain :).... We attended our annual demolition derby, which is a riot everytime! Who can forget the Farmer's Market? Ah! I love it in the fall! So much good fruit, bread, salsa!! I can never pass it up! We are planning another trip in a couple of weeks to head back to Jackson Hole to see what it looks like in the fall!

We hope that you all had a wonderful summer! Here's to a great fall season!!

Grand Tetons - June 2010

He's Baaaack...

2010-03-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

We've been living in our new place for about a month now. The boxes are slowly begining to disappear, and it's beginning to feel like home. But a big part of that feeling is having Bentley back with us again. He was only away for four months, but having him around makes our place a little happier and a little more fun. Even with all his whining, frequent bathroom breaks, and "chasing bunnies" in his sleep.
Check back soon...With Easter on its way and the temperature rising we'll be sure to have more updates soon. Oh, and a special thanks to everyone that helped us with the two moves we made in the last six months. We couldn't have done it without you.

We're moving.....yet again....

2010-02-19T19:41:00.000-08:00

It's true, we are moving once again!!! Thankfully, not very far... just down the street to be exact! We are definitely excited because we get this cute boy back....

Valentines Day & pictures of new place to come, as soon as our computer is up and running again!
Hope you all had a great Valentines!

how'd we do?

2010-02-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

The outcome of the beef pot pie was fantastic! Landon put so much hard work into making this and it turned out delicious!
* No pictures of the meal... I can never make pictures of food look appetizing... Just not my nitch I guess!
I can't wait for next week's new meal...
Week two: Quick Tuna Casserole

New tradition

2010-02-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we came across this book: "Joy of Cooking"

It's quite the book! So many wonderful recipes to try!

New Tradition: to make 1 new recipe from this book every week :)

Week one: Homemade beef pot pie

Canyons!

2010-02-04T18:47:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we were able to go snowboarding up at the Canyons! It was such a beautiful, surprisingly warm day! There wasn't much snow as we would have liked, but it was still fun to get away from all the "annual weekend stuff" and from the disgusting smog! This time was my first time taking the lift. I must admit (though you should know, I don't like to admit embarrassing things...), but I was deathly afraid of taking the lift. When I started snowboarding, I always told Landon that we need to find a resort that has a gondola... funny enough, when we bough our tickets for the Canyons, it was indicated that they had a gondola... what I didn't understand and came to realize is that you take the gondola part way up the mountain, then, if you want to go higher you had to take the lift! I got over my fear pretty quickly... however, I warned everyone that rode up on the lift with us, to watch out, as I may take them out!

Here are some pictures from the day...

We rode this up from the parking lot... very nerve racking... (FYI- you can only stand!)

Landon, excited to go snowboarding! Can't you tell?

This was the top of the mountain... you can see how clear it was!

Here is Landon and I... doing what we do best :)

Taking a rest & looking at the people coming down the hill....

We had so much fun and can't wait to go again!!

A new beginning!

2010-01-11T18:06:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, or anyone that reads this! I can't believe it's already 2010.. where has the time gone? Another year has come... Have you thought of a New Years Resolution? I sure have! I never know about these "resolutions", but I think if you put your mind and willingness to actually do it, I think you can really achieve it! One of the many resolutions I have is loosing weight... I know what your thinking, everyone has that resolution. I have to admit that I have had that New Years Resolution every year, but of course, I NEVER stay true to it! I am definitely going to keep to it this year! So far, I've lost 4 pounds... That's a good start, isn't it? I think so! I do wish all of you the best of luck with your resolutions this year!

Your probably wondering, what in the world happened to us! I am reminded often that I haven't updated our blog since... OCTOBER! That is a very long time! As you probably read over and over again, we moved to Salt Lake. It's taking time to adjust here... sadly, we had to send our little guy on a very long vacation, as I like to think of it. My in-laws are taking great care of him! Actually, spoiling him! For a dog, he's very spoiled! We definitely love and miss him a lot! Thankfully, we get to see him every weekend! How can I forget the family?? We definitely get to see the family every weekend as well and are so greatful for each of them and all that they do!

I am disappointed to tell you that I can't upload pictures... why? I don't know! I'm not a computer expert... so, I guess you'll have to read without pictures! Sorry, I know... very boring!

Let me recap on 2009. It was a great year. The holidays were extremely eventful, full of laughter, love and special moments! We spent Thanksgiving with my family, enjoying everyones company. For the Christmas holiday, that was spent going to Temple Square with family, having parties with amazing friends, making many ginger bread houses that were definitely a treat afterwards, watching Christmas movies, playing Mario Brothers (WII) a LOT and all that fun! Our holiday season was full of delight! We hope that each of you had a wonderful holiday season and hope the best for each of you in 2010!

Landon also had a Birthday!! He turned 29 years old! We had a great day spending it with each other and with family! Happy Birthday love!

We are excited to see what 2010 bring us... lots to accomplish this year that's for sure! We can't wait to get our snowboards out (hopefully not hurt ourselves!), to go camping, hiking, fishing, RELAXING (if at all possible)...

(Sandra... I finally did it!!)

Moving Day....

2009-10-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

We are here... and actually moving! Into a house? Wishful thinking! We're actually moving up to Salt Lake to finish school. We won't have internet connection starting in a half hour or so... Meaning, this will be a short post :) No worries - the internet will be available at our new place, so more information and pictures to come!!

Happy Halloween to you all! We hope each of you have a fun and safe holiday!

Congratulations are in order.....

2009-09-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

My sister and her husband just welcomed a new addition to their family!! Since they decided that this was going to be their last, they chose not to know the sex of their baby. So we were all very happy to find out on Sunday that a baby girl, Aspen Taylor, has joined their family!! She is absolutely precious and adorable!! She weighed in at 6 pounds... (if you want more info, check out Tiff's blog...)

Aspen Taylor....

Congratulations you two!! We love you guys so much!!

Wow!! What a summer!

2009-08-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

We are alive! But... where do I begin? This Summer has been quite an eventful, fun, crazy (I could go on and on, but I won't) time!! We've done a lot, but I won't bore you with tons of pictures, but I'll give you a little glipse of everything we've done... There will be just a few pictures of everything we did... (just be greatful that it's just a few, since I am a crazy lady with the camera and have to take so many pictures!!)... ENJOY!

*Jackson Hole trip with the Lomax side*
We, the Lomax family have a tradition that every June we head up for our annual camping trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming! This year was so much fun! We went swimming, saw lots of animals, walked through Jackson, hiked by Jenny Lake, drove through Yellowstone and much more!

*4th of July*

We spent this holiday with the Lomax side... Enjoying each other's company, throwing waterballons, watching fire works and how could you forget the annual BBQ??

Some of the nephews!

We have the cutest neices!

*Sun City Carnival Tour*

This was the best country concert we have been too!! The performers were... Lady Antebellum... Miranda Lambert... and the best yet, Kenny Chesney!! Unfortunately, Sugarland was unable to make it due to voice problems... so it was kind of a disappointment that they weren't able to make it! It was definitely hot when we got there, thanks for me choosing the most sunny side of the stadium!! We probably spent over $30.00 on water, just to keep hydrated... but it was so worth it!! I hope we can go again, when he comes!!

*Uintah Camping with the Lomax in-laws*

We went camping up to the Uintah's with my in-laws, the next day (after the concert)... It was so nice and so relaxing. Unfortunately, we did not bring up our stuff... so my in-laws were so sweet and nice, letting us stay in their camper with them - THANK YOU!! We had so much fun... We were able to go fishing at Washington Lake... Bentley did awesome in his little portable kennel... We even let him play in the water a little bit... My father in law was nice to tell me, after standing in the water, that there were leaches in the water... haha - great! It rained quite a bit while we were up there, so we were able to drive around and see other potential campsites! (We're hoping to go again in Sept... we will see!)

*Jackson Hole Trip #2 *
This time, we were able to take my mom up camping with us!! This was her first time going to Granite Hot Springs and camp!! It was such a quick trip, but we had a blast!! It was fun to see Granite at this time of the year... It was pretty chilly and rainy, but so beautiful!! We went hiking up by Jenny Lake.. and can you believe it! The Tetons already had snow again!! We went over to Oxbo Bend and watched 5 river otters playing... Thankfully, with the rain that we received, we were able to see a few animals! We have much more to show in Jackson, so we'll be excited when we go again next year!

(Out in the middle of nowhere and we get a picture of a deer in the one place that you can see power lines...)

*Other things:

*Our brother and sister in law welcomed their 3rd little boy, Bridger! He's such a cutie!! Congratulations you two!!
*Lomax Family Reunion - It was fun to see that side of the family again! We just gathered together at a park and ate dinner and visited!
*Birthday Parties Galore! Happy Birthday to all of our family members!!

As you can see, this has been quite a fun filled, busy as all get out, Summer!! We hope that you all are enjoying your Summer as well!!

Mother's Day Extravaganza

2009-05-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

This mother's day was very special. My mom, sister and myself spent all day together... doing what girls do best! We went up to Homestead in Midway and had pedicures done! Unfortunately, only one could go at a time, but while we waited we enjoyed a mineral water hot tub... It was such a beautiful, relaxing afternoon in the mountains!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a delightful dinner at Macaroni Grill... we actually had quite a showing at dinner... watching two love birds making out... googly eyes & everything! We also went & saw a fabulous movie - Xmen: Wolverine... not a chick flick by any means... but this was the best movie playing! After the movie we went to get some ice cream in Lehi from Maggie Moo's... if you've never been there, I highly recommend it!

We got stuck in traffic while heading to get ice cream and decided to take pictures... I am sure people driving around us thought we were crazy, but we were having so much fun!! We were also teaching each other how to "jam" and what music is the "jammin' out" music!
(my mom is going to kill me for this picture, but it shows how much fun we were havin!)

We had a wonderful girls day and we hope to make this a tradition!

Happy Mother's Day to you both! I love you!

Happy Birthday!

2009-05-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast it has come.... I, Chantel, turned 24 on the 29th of April... Crazy how time flies! I had a great day... with the exception of working... Landon made it such a special day that I will always remember! He decorated the house with balloons and streamers and made a wonderful dinner & desert! Before my birthday, we were talking to Landon's parents and I had mentioned that I would like to get some dutch ovens... We were lucky and received 2 from them.. Again, thank you so much for those, Ken & Laile!! For dinner we had tin foil dinners... mmm... haven't had those since Girls Camp.... Then for desert we had this lemon, mandarin orange cake... oohh it was to die for!!

All of my family members were very generous in getting me cute cards and gifts... Landon got me some rollerblades! I haven't done it forever... We ended up rollerbladding after dinner and to my surprise we did exceptionally well :)

Thank you Landon for the best birthday yet! You did so much and did a lot of hard work to make it special for me... Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I love you!!

5 Year Anniversary

2009-04-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

This April 6th, Landon and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary! I can't believe how fast it has gone!! This has been the best 5 years of my life and I can't wait to see what the next years will bring!!
For our anniversary, we went to the zoo! That was such a blast!! It was nice and warm and the animals were really playful. Afterwards, we went to dinner. It was a very special day and was even more special that we were able to spend the entire day together!! I love you Landon!

I wanted to do a "shout-out" to my love and very best friend! Landon, I love you so much! I could not imagine my life without you!! You make my life complete!! I'm so greatful for everything you do and are! Your the greatest husband that I could ask for and I am happy that you are in my life! My life for the last 6 years (1 being the time that we dated) has been the best and I know there is more to come :) I can't wait to see what the next few years will bring!! I love you so very much! Thank you for everything love!!

Love, me

Fun in the snow

2009-03-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

We finally made it up snowboarding this year!! We try to wait until we have wonderful weather for the weekend, but the weather is so unpredictable here. Everytime we had great weather on Saturday, we were either sick or doing other things... But then, once we were ready to go snowboarding, the weather wasn't cooperating like we would have liked it to. This day was a good day. We actually saw some sun... It was windy up at the top of Snowbasin and we got snowed on for the first part of our run, but once you got part way down it was good.

The hill that we came down at the bottom

Middle of the slope - here you can see how windy it actually was!

Us taking a break....

When we were leaving, it started to clear up and we were able to get this gorgeous picture!

We had a great time doing what we enjoy the most and are hoping to get up there at least one more time before all the snow melts...

Valentines Day!

2009-02-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

Our Valentines started a week before the actual day. We had a flood in our bedroom closet, so while it was drying out we stayed at the Little America Hotel.... thanks to the partial refund from our landlord. It was a fun, relaxing and a much needed little vacation :) Then, the next Friday, Landon got me flowers - so I received them a day early! They were gorgeous...

On Valentines Day, we opened our gifts to one another and even to Bentley. Landon got a book, few clothes, choloates and a card of course :) I got some flowers, a card, perfume and a poem. Ever since our first Valentines together, since 2004, Landon has always written me a poem... This is a tradition that I hope will continue for a long time :)

Bentley got a new teddy... he's a species confused teddy...

After that, both Landon and I made a wonderful breakfast! mmm....

Later on.... we enjoyed a dinner at Outback, before all the crowds... We then went to see "He's Just Not That Into You". We enjoyed the movie a lot, it was a great Valentines film.

We both agree that Valentines should not be the only time to celebrate our love for one another, but it was still a lot of fun! We hope all of you had a great Valentines too!!

Evil Bunny...

2009-02-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

I seem to recall trying to explain to Chantel, when we were still dating, that I tend to see things a little differently. It was nothing so profound as to be life altering. In fact, most of my little observations of life tend to make people roll their eyes, or look at me like I'm just a little insane. (Hmm...) Anyway, the other day I was sitting in the car talking to Chantel on the phone and out of nowhere I see this evil bunny staring at me. After changing our conversation mid-stride so I could interrupt and tell her what I was looking at, Chantel had the good idea that I should take a picture since it wouldn't last forever. So, here it is...

Can you see it? Yeah, well not everyone does at first. Take a look at the picture below. I tried to use Photoshop to highlight it a little. Then look back at the original above.

I know it's just a pile of snow, but I thought it was fun. Plus, now I get to share it with all of you. Chantel keeps telling me that I need to be more social, so here ya go, a little piece of my world...

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

2008-12-14T07:26:00.000-08:00

Can you believe all of this snow? I love it! We love this time of year, seeing the new snow fall,
especially early in the morning when the sun hits the snow and it shines so bright!

Being married, we were able to start new traditions of our own... We love the new ones and especially the good ol' family traditions! Watching movies together, having Christmas parties... and, best one yet is, snowboarding! Landon has been so thoughtful in helping me learn to snowboard and it's been so much fun! We are excited for how much snow we have received, because it means more for the mountains!

Whenever Christmas comes around it seems like the decorations explode in our house! We've actually done a lot better this year, but trust me, previous years were crazy! Here are some pictures of our Christmas decorations!

Our Christmas Tree, which fits perfectly in our little apartment. Our stockings, and yes - even one for Bentley... And our most favorite is our bear! If you haven't been to our home, we are in love with black bears... so this fits perfectly with our decor!

We wish you and your families a Merry Christmas!

Tis' the Season of....FALL!

2008-10-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you're like us, but we love the fall season... seeing all the leaves change their colors to beautiful bright colors, when it's windy to see all the leaves blowing around, the rain that comes, the fresh air... I could go on and on, but I think you get the point! This conference weekend on Saturday, Landon and I drove up to Snowbasin to see all the changes that are happening and had a wonderful time! We were lucky enough to see all of this when it was sprinkling... so we were able to catch a lot of stuff! (We were hoping to see snow up at Snowbasin, but it wasn't too cold yet) Here are a few pictures of the fall... Enjoy!

Aren't the colors beautiful? Bright too!!

We drove through Ogden Canyon to come home and were lucky enough to see this beautiful waterfall! What a great ending to our fall trip!!

CiRcUs!!

2008-10-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

This year, we were able to go to the circus while it was in town! This was Landon's first time (as an adult, he went when he was younger) and my very first time! We were impressed by it, and by all the many tricks people & animals can do! I wasn't sure about the ringleader singing through the whole thing, but overall it was great! Here are a few pictures that I took... sorry if some of them are blurry...

The entertainers were either in a rope or in rings doing many tricks
The elephants were very talented as you can see from the pictures! It would be fun to train such big animals, to do such things! The trainers were even able to get all the elephants to lay down (like they were playing dead...)

This next picture is actually a video of some entertainers... I told Landon I need to get me one of those things that they are jumping on! Pretty neat! (There is sound, so be sure to turn it up! It's more entertaining that way)

This picture is at the end of the show, showing all the performers! It was a great show, with great entertainment (including all sorts of animals, great clown performers, motorcycles both in a cage and on a tight rope). We hope to go again, more so when we have children, it will be a lot more fun with them.

Utah State Fair

2008-09-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

This year we were able to attend the Utah State Fair. It was so much fun to attend! We were able to walk around and see the animals (not all of them, though we wish we could have). We saw the cutest rabbit though - I just love his furry face! (They were selling baby bunnies and I tried to convience Landon to get one, but that didn't happen!)

When we walked through the exhibits, this one stuck out by far! It was hand made and everything! Pretty amazing that people have such talent! Then, there was a statue made out of BUTTER and only butter! They had to leave it in a cool area, so that it wouldn't melt...

It has always been a tradition in my family to attend the yearly Demolition Derby! We normally head up to Coalville every year, which we did this year... We found out that the fair has one too and we decided to go check it out! This one was Amazing! We had such a blast! Here are a few pictures that we took :)

As you can tell, everyone was having a blast! This was a great day and will be a must for next year!

Camping in the Uintas

2008-09-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, my family, Landon and I went camping! We had such a fun time! It was the first time, for my parents since they've moved back and the first time with my nephew Noah and Tiffany! We also had the fun opportunity of fishing at Lilly Lake! This is the lake that we fished at, it was so peaceful and relaxing... yet stormy!

My mom and I were the lucky ones that day to catch our fish. (My dad & Noah caught a few fish as well, but unfortunately lost them out in the lake...including the net)

Landon was so patient while waiting for his fish to come along, he was so close many, many times! But the fish didn't bite! Next time babe!!

Ryder was such a good dog during our fishing adventures! Though, we found out quickly that you can't leave him alone, let alone be just a few feet away from him, or he starts to whine! We enjoyed having him there, as this was his first time camping!

Noah did well up camping for his first time. He really enjoyed walking down to the river and throwing rocks! He saw a moose and the rest of the time kept saying "oose!"

In all, we were sad to end the camping trip, but we had a blast and hope to do it again next year!

ABC Tagged...

2008-08-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

My cute sister-in-law tagged me for the very first time! I'm so excited! Here's hoping it will turn out good Ü

A = ADVOCATE FOR: Pet Adoption (anyone that knows me, will understand this one...)
B = BEST FEATURE: Eyes
C = COULDN'T DO WITHOUT: Landon
D = DREAMS AND DESIRES: To be a mother
E = ESSENTIAL ITEM: Flowers
F = FAVORITE PAST TIME: Play water-volleyball
G = GOOD AT: Talking (Landon's response)
H = HAVE NEVER TRIED: Cold Pizza (again... Landon's response for me)... Mine - Sky Diving(which will happen in 2009)
I = IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS: Buy a house, new car and start our family
J = JUNKIE FOR: Salad...mmmm
K = KINDRED SPIRIT: My mom
L = LITTLE KNOWN FACT: I'm learning to snowboard
M = MEMORABLE MOMENT: Our Wedding
N = NEVER AGAIN WILL I: Eat a red pepper (From a Chinese Restuarant - I don't recommend it for anyone - especially if your dared to!)
O = OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: Clothes Shopping
P = PAST TIME DOING: Playing games
Q = QUOTE: "A person doesn't marry someone they can live with, they marry someone they can't live without"
R = REASON TO SMILE: All the fun times I have with Landon
S = SINGS ALONG WHEN: No one is listening
T = TAG SOME FRIENDS: Tiffany, Jenny, Katie and Stephanie
U = UNINTERESTED IN: Hunting
V = VERY SCARED OF: Haunted corn mazes
W = WORST HABIT: Bitting my nails
X = X MARKS MY IDEAL VACATION SPOT: Africa / Serengeti
Y = YESTERYEAR DECADE OF CHOICE: 1950's
Z = ZODIAC SIGN: Taurus

I hope that you've enjoyed getting to know a wee bit more of myself Ü..... Chantel

Photos From Jackson Hole

2008-08-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

We hiked for about an hour straight up the
side of this mountain.

This is the famous old barn from "Mormon Row". That is the Teton range behind it.

This mom and her baby decided to bed down
right in the campground.

Go to Jenny Lake and take the ferry across.
This hike was awesome!

If we didn't have to leave, we never would...

Our New Family Travel Tradition...

2008-07-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Every year Chantel and I make the five hour trip up to my family's favorite camping spot, Granite Hot Springs. Which is about an hour outside of Jackson Hole. My family has been going there for over 25 years. In fact, it has become kind of a running gag that we try and keep the place a secret, since just about everyone we talk to seems to know that it's there. (If you haven't been there go watch "A River Runs Through It." The scene where they take the stolen boat over the waterfall was shot up at Grantie Falls.)

Anyway, both last year and this year we have had a moment of drama to highlight our trips. Something that we hope isn't our new camping tradition...In 2007, Chantel and I were driving up to Granite when we hit a fairly substantial chunk of rock that managed to roll down the hill and land right in the middle of the road.

To make a long story short, we came around the corner and BANG! Next thing we know the tire is flat, the airbags are deployed, the windshield is cracked, and the instrument panel is popped out of the dashboard. We managed to hobble up to the campground on the spare tire (not recommended) and eventually got into Jackson Hole where we got the wheel replaced with a less than appealing winter tire and rim. We felt like a couple of rednecks driving home in a car with this one giant tire, the steering wheel bungee corded up so the airbag wasn't in the way, and a windshield so cracked we were lucky we couldn't feel the wind coming through.

This year, our little incident was with Bentley. It might not have been nearly as dangerous as a car crash with a rock, but he's our little guy and we think he's already been through enough. Luckily things are well on their way back to normal and he is doing much better, but here is what happened...

In preparation for our upcoming camping trip Chantel and I decided that we would take Bentley, our dog for those of you who don't know, to the groomers. We wanted him to be clean while he stayed at the boarding kennel. Well, anytime Bentley gets to go for a ride he is thoroughly elated, and usually so full of energy that we can hardly pin him down long enough to get him into the car. This was the case on Saturday when we were trying to take him to the groomers.

As Bentley was climbing into the car he somehow managed to catch one of his claws just right and broke it at the bone. Unfortunately, because he already walks with a limp we didn't notice until a few days later. When we finally decided a vet needed to see him it was the night before we were supposed to go camping. One hundred and fifty dollars later, we walked out of the vet's office at 9:30 at night and Bentley's claw was removed and he was all bandaged up.

Needless to say, we felt like the worst parents in the world leaving him at the kennel the next morning. But we convinced ourselves it was for the best since he wouldn't be able to walk around as much on it while it was healing, and because the vet was next door and was able to check on him while we were gone.

Now Bentely is doing much better. His little paw seems to be well on the mend and his personality is making us all smile like it did before. We just hope that we aren't going to see these kind of incidents every year when we go camping...

The battle for control of the blog begins...

2008-06-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

It's been only twenty four hours since we first came to blogger.com. Chantel is anxious to spread the news (we just don't have any.) Landon spent...too long...making a title image in photoshop. Now we are hopelessly wandering through all the links trying to decide what looks good and hoping not to erase everything we've done so far. Now that we have a blog we aren't going to be out socializing with any of you anymore so be sure to check back often to see what we've been up to...(Landon's comment)...Just a joke, good grief! But do check back again later, we should have more posted. Ü