Busy October!

October is always a busy month for my family just because there are so many birthdays in the family that we celebrate in October. My mom's birthday, brother's birthday, and my nephew, Austin, and niece, Kendyl all celebrate their birthdays in October. So we have a lot of family celebrating. Kevin is living and working in Wyoming now so we had to just celebrate with him in spirit. It wasn't just the birthdays though that made October busy and exciting. Here are some of the fun and exciting things that took place this month:

Temple Sealing of a dear friend and her family

So Stephanie that I work with and my work BFF had an amazing beginning to their month when she and her beautiful family were sealed in the Temple and I was able to be there for such a beautiful experience. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I almost did though. As I was leaving work that day to head to the Temple, I slipped and fell hard. It had rained that day and the sidewalk outside of work was slick. I was wearing my wedge sandals and I rolled my ankle, lost my balance, and took a face plant. It hurt, but the most upsetting thing for me was I had a beautiful framed picture of the Temple in my arms that I was giving to their family and when I fell I landed on top of it and heard the shattering. Devastating. But the place where I bought it was really great to replace it after I explained to them what happened. I was hurting bad, but had no time to realize how badly until I finally sat down in the Temple and my foot started to throb and swell. I knew I had really hurt it when I got up to move and couldn't put any weight on it. So after the temple, I headed for x-rays. Not broken, but a pulled tendon in my foot and sprained ankle= crutches and a special shoe until it healed. But again, I seriously wouldn't have missed the glorious opportunity to be with Steph and her family. I will never forget the beautiful scene of her children walking in the room all dressed in white and kneeling together, holding hands to be sealed forever. It was beautiful beyond description. So glad that they let me be a part of it.  

Boot camp

I started a boot camp in September and I have been really enjoying it. It even gets me out of bed at 6 AM three days a week to exercise and for anyone who knows me is aware that is a miracle by itself. I was worried when I hurt my foot that I wouldn't be able to do it anymore, but I stuck it out and though I wasn't able to do everything (particularly the running), I didn't quit. I felt good about that and was actually able to earn a dog tag. No easy thing. I earned mine by doing 300 full sit ups with no break longer than 3 seconds. My abs killed for a week after, but I did it. I even survived Hell Week which consisted of having no soda which meant no Diet Coke. I did it thanks to Crystal Light with caffeine. What I am liking about this boot camp that is different from other ones I have done is that they combine it with nutrition and healthy meal plans. All of the recipes I have tried are delicious and healthier for me and I am beginning to see some results. I like it so much I just started my second session on Halloween and now my foot is well enough to be able to actually do everything.

Trip to St. George with the family

So I mentioned that my nephew, Austin has a birthday in October. Since he and his brother live in St. George with their mom, we don't get to see them as much as we might like. So we decided to head down to St. George the weekend before his birthday and suprise him and his brother. So me, my parents, and Peaches headed down to see them. We had such a fun time. We swam a lot in the pool at the hotel, played, talked, ate, and laughed. It is so good to see them. I use to babysit them a lot when they lived here and I miss them. They are growing up so fast! McCrae, my oldest nephew, is now 13 years old and is 5'9" and actually probably 5'10" by now as fast as he is growing. He is definately going to be taller than his dad and my dad at this rate. Austin is still as funny as ever and has the greatest one liners. Ex: I was complaining that my boobs were too big right now and popping out of my swimsuit and Austin out of nowhere said, "Aunt Shannon that is not a bad thing". Seriously don't know where he gets it, that's not true. Anyone who knows my brother knows where he gets it from. Such a fun weekend with them. Glad we could go visit! Here are a few of our pictures from the trip:

Austin and McCrae in front of their house. They were all dressed up for a parade they were in about pioneers. Such Handsome boys!

Family photo. Seriously look how tall McCrae is!

Austin and Grandpa lifting some red rocks :)

 

 

Road trip and David Cook!!

Probably one of the best trips ever! So my friend Stephanie and I have known each other for like 6 or 7 years now, but we really started to get to know one another when she started working in the office and then our friendship really blossomed when we both discovered our mutual love of David Cook and I introduced her to Pandora and the David Cook station. We have been playing nothing but that station in the office for months gearing up for the release of David's second album. He then announced he would be touring and we decided that we would go to his concert together. Even if he didn't come to Salt Lake, we would go to the closest venue. He announced his co-headlining tour with Gavin DeGraw and we were sad to learn the closest place he was coming was Boise. Stephanie is pregnant so I worried the trip would be too much for her, but we decided to go anyway. The concert was on a Monday so we had to take Monday and Tuesday off from work to go but we made it happen (minus a few work calls I had to take as we were driving to Boise). We left in the morning so that we could get there and allow ourselves plenty of time. We decided to do the VIP tickets because it was only a little bit extra and we could get a t-shirt, autographed picture, guitar picks, and we got to meet David and be there for soundcheck. It was so worth it! We got into Boise, checked into our hotel, got all prettied up for David, and headed to the venue for soundcheck. We got lucky that there were not that many VIP's so it was a more personable experience. Boise city had a noise ordinance until 5 PM and since soundcheck was at 4 we got to have a special acoustic concert instead. He played three or four songs acoustic, did a question and answer thing, and then we got to meet him. I have met a few famous people in my life and most of them were rockstars and he is seriously I think the nicest one I have ever met. He was so sincere and was truly interested in each of us. He was funny, witty, and just all around adorable. I think I told him that I might, maybe just love him a little, okay a lot :). It was a fun night and a great concert. Another VIP perk was that come showtime they actually let us into the venue before everybody else and since it was GA we were happy to have first dibs on where we wanted to be for the concert. We met a couple of older ladies from Canada that became our concert friends, DeeDee and Marla. They loved their wine and Steph and I had fun laughing at how drunk they got as the concert wore on. Marla kept assuring me that they weren't driving home. It's a good thing too. We had so much fun and when we got back to the hotel we just layed in our beds with the lights off talking about awesome it was until we both pretty much fell asleep mid sentances. I am so glad we went and that Stephanie and the baby were safe (I had told her I would be her bouncer to protect the two of them if need be). It was fun and safe night though. Here are some pictures from the trip:

 Showing off the VIP lanyards

There he is!

Signing autographs.

I am blushing a little in this picture because he put his arm around me and then I went to put my arm around his waist and somehow I missed and touched his bum. I was so embarassed that I quickly moved it up to his shoulder. Not sure if he felt it or not but I sure did :).

Love this picture of the two of them.

I told him it was the baby's first concert and one of the band members said he should rub Steph's belly for good luck. He told them maybe she didn't want that and Steph immediately told him it was fine :).

Then David thought it was only fair she get to rub his belly for luck too. (Can I just tell you how jealous I was at this moment). I think that's why the picture is slightly blurry.

The only good picture I got of the concert was of Gavin DeGraw. The venue didn't allow picture taking and they were watching closely. Right after this picture, a big mean looking dude with a lot of piercings told me I had to put my camera away. So the only pics of David performing are in my mind :).

I'm with the band. Don't we make a good couple :)

One of the best nights ever!

A party and a maze

So I mentioned that my niece, Kendyl had a birthday this month too. She had a party to celebrate and then we went to the corn maze. My aunt and uncle have a corn maze they own so Mandy thought that it would be a fun place for her party. I was glad that we went before it got dark since it gets haunted after dark. I admit I am a wimp and hate haunted houses and the like. I just don't like to be scared. I am still traumatized from a few years ago when my cousin chased me with a chainsaw wearing a creepy monkey costume through their maze. It was a fun maze, although I may have cheated to get us out of the maze sooner. We pulled the map of the maze up from facebook on my phone. Had we not cheated though I am pretty sure we would still be in there. It was a great party. Here are few pictures of the princess, hamming it up for her birthday!

Love this girl!

Here's hoping November is a little less busy, but just as much fun!