Everyday is a Holliday

2011-12-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

So, am I alone here or is there anyone else out there that wakes up in the morning with every intention to shower and then the day is gone before you get a chance to do so? Or you plug in the curling iron, but alas, it never makes it to your hair? Or you mean to put make-up on and out the door you go and realize that it totally slipped your mind? And you really really want to be on time to something, but you just can't do it? Or you realize it's 4pm and you haven't eaten breakfast yet? Or you have lots of things on your to-do list, but you never get a chance to even look at said list? And so on and so on.......
BUT it's not all for not! It's all for LOVE!
Man, do I love my boy. I love love love him. I love how cute he is. I love how good he is. I love the faces he makes. I love his eyes. I love his perfect little ears, his perfect fuzzy little ears. I love how he smells (most the time). I love his hair. I love his fingers. I love his big feet. I love his scrony little legs. I love his big belly. I love his many different crys. I love his beautiful lips. I love that he sleeps through the night. I love that he has slept through the night from day one. I love the grunts and noises he makes. I love his nose. I love how he snores. I love the noise he makes after he sneezes. I love his hair line. I just love love love this sweet little boy. And I love his dad.

Seriously, does it get any cuter?

PERFECTION

2011-11-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

per·fect

adjective

1. Conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type: a perfect sphere; a perfect gentleman.

2. exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose:

3. entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings:

Needless to say, we had a perfect little boy. Oh my, he is so sweet and so handsome and so perfect.
On Friday the 4th (my due date) I had a doctors appointment. I left work, picked up Trent and we went to the clinic. I was only dilated to a 2. (I was hoping for more than that, but what can you do). The week before I didn't get my membranes stripped because Dr. Black didn't recommend it for first babies and I wasn't dilated enough anyways. But on the 4th, I guess he thought it was time, so he went ahead and stripped my membranes. I wasn't too optimistic about it, but was counting on being crampy and achy. I opted not to go back to work but did opt to go for a ride with Trent over the mountain. : ) We drove to Monticello and had a delicious Thai Wrap and then over the mountain we drove. It was a bumpy ride and I had a lot of contractions. But once we got back home they went away. I woke up at 5:30 the next morning to go to work and my back was KILLING me. Oh my, it hurt so bad. I figured it was sore from the bumpy ride. But I went to work anyways. At work, I was having contractions, they weren't very consistent or painful. But as the day went on, they became more consistent and painful. I called Trent and Heather and Michele. I wanted to be sure that it was real labor and wasn't just a false alarm. I was getting a little anxious and nervous and figured if I stayed at work then nothing would happen. So I went about working, played some volleyball, had a few bites of lunch and by 12:30 my contractions were more consistent and pretty painful. So I called my boss and told him that I'd stuck it out as long as I could. I headed home and met Trent there. He packed a bag and I finished packing mine. But I still wasn't sure I wanted to go to the hospital quite yet. One of my biggest fears was going to the hospital and then being sent home. But I think Trent was nervous and just wanted to go. So he talked me into it. Within an hour of leaving work, we were headed to the hospital. I called the hospital and told them I was on my way. On the drive over, the contractions were exactly 3 minutes apart and I had to do a lot of breathing as they were getting very painful.  Trent called Michele and within 10 minutes she was in her car, on her way down here.
We got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors. They checked me and I was still just dilated to a 2. I couldn't believe it. I was sure I would be more than that with all that pain. I guess not. After a few minutes on the monitors they unhooked me and let me walk around some. Being able to move and walk felt better than laying in bed. But the contractions were really painful and exhausting. I was trying my best to do some good breathing but my hands and face kept going tingly and numb. After four hours of painful contractions I got an epidural. Woo Hoo! I was only dilated to a 3 and I was a little nervous that the epidural might slow me down or stop progress, but I still went ahead and got it and it was heaven.  Soon after, Dr. Black came and broke my water. I was able to rest for several hours (wasn't able to sleep though, too anxious and excited). Michele showed up with several hours to spare. They checked me through out the night and considered putting me on some pitocin to keep things going, but every time they checked me I was progressing just fine. Around 12:30am they started getting ready for the baby to come. This is when Trent got nervous. He got up and was pacing the hall. I was just tired but was trying to prepare myself mentally for pushing and the fact that I was going to be a mom in the very near future.
The doctor showed up and everything went fabulous! I pushed for an hour and 10 minutes. And he was born about 12 hours after getting to the hospital. I think it was all pretty average for a first baby.
We had a tally going for the baby name. Family, friends, doctors and nurses all put in their vote for a name. Renner got a lot of votes. Benson got a few votes.  I was leaning towards either Benson or Heston. But when I looked at my little boy, he looked more like a Heston to me. Trent had always liked Renner but he said the day before he was born, he thought Heston was a good name. I was amazed that we both agreed on one name. So even though Heston didn't get the most votes, it got my vote and Trent's vote.
Heston Franklin Holliday was born on 11.6.11 at 1:54am. He weighted 7lbs. 11oz. He was 20.5ins. long.
He is pretty much perfect. He is so sweet and so handsome. We love him to pieces. He has been a really good eater and sleeper. We got him home and he had to go back to the clinic for some blood tests.  He ended up having to be under the UV lights, in a billie bed. Poor baby, but he's all better now and he is such a good baby. We are so happy to have him. We fall more and more in love everyday!

Our drive over the mountain.

We got to the hospital and I got in my gown and I put my sweatshirt and shoes back on to walk around. I'm smiling, but I was hating it at this point. This was the brief pain free time in between contractions.

This was in between pushes. I was smiling and actually doing pretty good thanks to the epidural.

He made it! And life as we knew it......gone.

First family picture.

Proud mom! Proud aunt!

So exciting! Love love love him!

Now that is one proud papa. (He never smiles like that for pictures)

Grandpa Keith and cousin Whitnie, just some of many visitors.

All bundled up and ready to go home. (There was snow on the ground in Monticello when we got there and it snowed a lot more while we were there)

We had a warm welcome home.

Aunt Michele stayed with us for the first few days. She helped out a lot. We appreciate and love her!

Dad and Heston enjoying some well deserved R&R.

Sweet baby Heston sun bathing with Pooh and Eeyore.

Heston had to be in the billie bed for 4 days. We are happy he's all good now.

Hurry up and wait!

2011-10-31T17:41:00.000-06:00

That's what I've been doing these days. Just waiting. Waiting for anything. A contraction. A pain. A broken water. A sign. A voice. But nothing so far. Well, I have had a few contractions here and there, but nothing serious or painful. A couple weeks ago I was checked and dilated to .5cm. (not five, but half). Is that even possible? Half a cm? Really? I think the doctor just wanted to give me a little hope. Well, now more than 2 weeks later I'm dilated to.................wait for it.......1cm!!!!!!!! What? That's it? I know. Tell me about it. At that rate I'm going to be 18 months pregnant before he comes. When you're this close to go time, the hours seem like days and the days seem like weeks.
Last Saturday night I was getting ready for bed and wouldn't you know it, my ankles were gone. They were swollen up and gone. It was a little disturbing because I had had no swelling before. The next day they were still pretty swollen, but my nurse friend told me to drink lots of water and I had my blood pressure checked and was fine. The swelling went away and has not come back.
Comfort and sleeping in a lying position are things of the past. My short term memory is pretty much non-existent. Breathing easy is no more. But all in all I can't complain. It has been a really easy pregnancy with no complications. Hopefully labor and delivery with be the same. I am still working and will do so until he decides to come.
As far as a name for this here baby.......no-name. Some people think that we are just keeping it secret, but we really haven't decided on a name. We have a small list that we are working with but are open to new ideas and suggestions. Here are a few from our list. Tell us what you think.
Renner (I think this is Trent's favorite)
Benson
Heston (this one has been growing on me)
Hadd (family name, it was my grandpa's nick name all his life)
Grayson (also a family name and the former name of Blanding. BUT, I have a cousin that just had her first baby a few days ago, a world away, in South Africa, haven't talked to her in months, and we found out that she named her little boy Greyson. For real? What are the chances?)
Waylon
Elway (I try not to think of Noelle's dog)
Anyways, hopefully when we see him, we will just know. But we are still open to suggestions.
We are anxiously awaiting his arrival. We are excited to meet him. We are nervous to have him. And we sure do love him!

Shipping 2011

2011-10-28T08:24:00.000-06:00

It was good to finally get out to Colorado. It was the first time Trent and I have been out there this year. Fist time to see the new "cabin." It was good to behold this sight again too. Never gets old. It's so pretty, it looks like a painting to me. Love the Lone Cone. And cowboys!

After much convincing and coercing, Trent got on a horse! All the cowboys were on their way back to the corral so I kicked Payton off his horse and put Trent on. He rode for all of 15 minutes and half a mile (if that). I went to the cabin and the horsemen rode on to the corral. A few minutes later Trent shows up at the house and claims, "I almost died!" He said it was the last time he was ever going to ride. He said his horse "went down." So I pictured a big rodeo with Trent being thrown in the air and landing hard on the ground, or him being drug around from the stirrup or something. But I guess his near death experience was his horse took a little stumble and went down on his front legs for a short second. It was pretty dramatic for Trent. He says his riding days are over. I say, not!

The kids had a serious game of baseball. The kids and Tyler that is. I think it boosted his ego to play with the kids. (not that he needs an ego boost). He was in on every play.

One of many meal times. I didn't get a shot of the "cabin" from the outside, but here is a shot of the kitchen on the inside. It is a "cabin" not just a cabin. Some say it's too nice to be called a cabin. Some say it's not made of logs, therefore is not a cabin. It is nice and it is big. We had about 75 people there for dinner each night and about 40 (give or take a few) sleeping there each night. Awesome!

Two beauties! Chezney, 2 weeks old. Taylor almost 14 years old.

Addison the little cheese ball.

I was a lot of help, being 36+ weeks pregnant and all. I never got on a horse but I did ride around on the four wheeler a lot. This is Trent and I taking a break out in the field, rounding up cows. I was always the driver, cause my belly didn't fit behind Trent. : )

Michele and Lloyd doing business.

Shipping Day! Working hard!

We had the annual performance by the dancing queens. This was their final act in their glow-in-the-dark costumes. It was a big hit for everyone. The girls loved it and the audience loved it.

Dancing queens. Young and sweet.....

And of course, the boys got involved too. They entertained us during intermission with some wrestling matches.

LOVE COLORADO! LOVE SHIPPING!

Mish Mash

2011-10-13T05:37:00.000-06:00

Heather got married!!! I know it was several months ago (April 29th, same day as the royal wedding) but I realized that it never made it on the blog, and if anything is blog-worthy, this is!!!!! Yeah for Heather and Kent!


Erin-Nicole-Heather-Lisa-Tamia-Cindy

Heather is now happily married and is already anxiously awaiting a baby girl. She is 11 weeks behind me. It's been fun to talk baby/pregnancy talk with her over the weeks. It's all still pretty surreal at this point.


Annual Girls' Trip!!! (9/10/11) We had a hard time aligning our schedules this year, but a few of us managed to make a day trip to Moab for pedicures, dinner and a movie.

Cindy and I and our big bellies waiting for the movie "The Help" to start. Cindy-35 weeks. Me-32 weeks. (Cindy has since had her boy! Tohaanii Jared Born 10/8/11, 7lbs, 19.5ins.)

Trent and his motorcycle posse went on yet another trip. (9/22-25/11) Besides the regulars, there were several others that joined them on this trip.

They made a big loop down to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They made several stops for sight seeing.

Baby Progress

2011-10-13T02:51:00.000-06:00

18 Weeks 3 Days

22 Weeks


27 Weeks 3 Days

32 Weeks

36 Weeks

We finally got the crib put together.......


And we couldn't have done it without Aspyn's help. We also got some painting done, some cleaning done and some house repairs done. It feels good to cross some things off "the list."


My AWESOME sisters-in-law threw a baby shower for me. Love them! I got loaded up with lots of baby loot. So exciting....I feel a lot more prepared now that we have the crib put together, we have a car seat, stroller, lots of clothes and a small stock pile of diapers and wipes (that Trent thinks is going to last forever, I think he's going to be surprised at how fast they disappear). I've started organizing all the loot, I hung some clothes in the baby's closet and it gave me a small anxiety attack. Aaaahhhh! The closer it gets, the more real and scary it becomes. I'm 37 weeks tomorrow. I had a doctors appointment today and I'm dilated to 1/2 cm. Ha ha. Not much, but it is a start, right? : ) We are excited and I'm anxious to finally have him with us. We can't wait to meet him and see what he looks like. (I also can't wait to see what name we'll come up with, he's still a no-name at this point). We can't wait for this baby to rock our world. : )

South Dakota and Elk Ridge

2011-08-02T04:56:00.008-06:00

Trent and his motorcycle posse went on a 4-day, 2,000 mile trip (give or take a few miles). (July 7-10) They went from Blanding to South Dakota. They all loved it! Trent said it was the coolest, prettiest trip they've been on. They saw lots of cool things on the way to their destination, Sturgis, SD. Sturgis is a well known place for all those who ride hogs. There is a huge motorcycle rally there every year. They were there about two weeks early (on purpose).

Mt. Rushmore, in all her glory!

Sturgis is famous for being the location of one of the largest annual motorcycle events in the world. Attendance has been estimated as high as 754,844. Population of Sturgis is usually 6,442.

They went to a buffalo jump. (where the Indians would run buffalo off a cliff). Trent said there were some students from a university digging these buffalo bones with little picks and brushes.

Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. It's the first National Monument established in the US. (1906)

Camping on Elk Ridge

July

Here are the die-hards that made it for a long weekend of camping.


That's me, shooting some skeet. I hit one!!! I was pretty proud of myself.

We played a lot of horse shoes.

Neither Trent or I were very good. But it was a good time!

Fur Cute!

Fur Cuter!

Coming Soon.......

2011-07-10T02:40:00.000-06:00

This little boy......is coming soon. I still feel like I have a lot of time left, which is good because I'm not prepared for this little man yet, but I know that the time is going to fly by and he's going to be here before I know it. I just I hope I get around to painting his girly purple room with a nice boyish blue color. Besides not being prepared, all is well. I feel good. I love feeling him move around (which always seems to be right about bed time. A pre cursor for things to come? I think so). I love it when others can feel him move too. Right now, I am loving cold cereal. I could eat it for every meal. I love that my nasal congestion that was driving me crazy is SOO much better these days. I am not loving the heart burn that seems to be getting worse each week. Nothing serious, very manageable with a few TUMS. I am going to love it when we finally decide and agree on a name, which might not be until after he's born. We'll see..... We're open to suggestions.

22 Weeks

A few weeks ago Trent was in one of his good buddies' wedding. Don't they all look so handsome in their bright colors?

Trent and I at the wedding luncheon.

Half Way There!

2011-06-17T02:26:00.001-06:00

That's right! We are half way there. I'm 20 weeks today. That is so weird to me. I feel like it just started and now it's half way over. Crazy. Within the last few weeks I have been able to feel him moving around in there. Which is very cool. I have still been feeling really good. I've had a little bit (very little) heart burn. So if the wives' tale is true, maybe this little babe is getting some hair. My pants are getting a bit tight so I did some maternity clothes shopping. I feel like I eat all the time. But I feel like I'm hungry all the time too. We had an ultrasound right around 17 weeks (May 31) and we were hoping we would be able to find out what this little baby is. The Dr. told us 60/40 boy. But that was so close to 50/50, so I didn't count on it. Two weeks later (June 14) we had our "big" ultrasound with the ultrasound tech and the good machine....and I saw it with my own eyes, it's a BOY! We are excited. Trent is very excited!

18 Weeks 3 Days

Here is our little boy!

Little foot.

This is random but recent.....the other day Trent and I hopped on the motorcycle and rode to Moab and did the La Sal loop. It was an awesome day and an awesome ride.

On our way to the top of the La Sals, over-looking Castle Valley.

And a shout out to the mighty, mighty hunter! Trent spent a lot of days and a lot of time hunting for this bear. Lots of miles in the truck and lots of miles on foot. Lots of early mornings and lots of long days.

And it was worth it. Look at that beast!

How Does Your Baby Grow?

2011-05-18T10:46:00.000-06:00

This is our first ultrasound. I was about 9-ish weeks then. (Sorry it's so blurry). This was when I was a nervous wreck. So I was excited to see something that slightly resembled a human. Can you see it? It's head and little body? Dr. Black said that he could see a rib cage and pelvis and bones. Do you think he really can?

And here IT is four weeks later. It's facing down. Dr. Black said it was praying. I bet it's praying it's little heart out that it's parents AREN'T......well, I could put a lot of things here. And it's praying that it's parents ARE......a lot of things. I couldn't believe how much it had grown since the last ultrasound. To me, it doesn't look like it has anymore room to grow. But I'm sure it will, as it is only about an ounce here. It's kind of weird to just call it an IT, but hopefully in 2 weeks (I'll be 17+ weeks) we'll be able to see what IT is. Is 17 weeks too early? I know there are some people that think I shouldn't find out what it is, but I'm just too curious. I think I need to find out on this first one. But I definitely want to have a surprise baby sometime.

To All the Blogging World

2011-04-23T18:23:00.000-06:00

The real world knows, the texting world knows, the email world knows and the facebook world knows. So I thought it was time that the blogging world know.....we are having a babe. Yeah! We are excited. Excited and scared. But mostly excited.
I am due on 11.4.11. At my first doctor's appointment, I told him that I wanted to go overdue and have it on 11.11.11 I don't know if it's worth it though. But I'm sure as all babies do, it will come when it wants to come.
It's been a long time coming. I've had a few miscarriages so we were pretty excited to hear that this one is looking good. We were excited, but I was a wreck really. In the short walk from the exam room to the ultrasound room, I totally lost it. I was so nervous and I couldn't hold back the nervous tears. (Afterwards, Trent was like, "What is wrong with you? You were freaking me out." He says he hates to see me cry, but he should be use to it, I do it all the time.) Anyways, the Dr. said that everything looked good and he was very reassuring. He said that he could see a rib cage and pelvis and bones and limbs. All we could see was fuzzy gray and whiteness. (If I focus real hard on the ultrasound picture I can see a little tiny tiny baby with a big head). We were grateful the Dr. could see all those good things. The Dr. got really excited when it moved. He said that was a good sign.
According to MY calculations, when I got my first ultrasound I was about 10 weeks, but I measured a little bigger than that. Hopefully that just means that I am a little further along. I hope it doesn't mean that I'm going to have a huge baby with a huge head. Eeek!
I'm 12 weeks now. And all is well. I've been feeling really good. A few weeks ago I had some waves of nausea hit me here and there, but nothing too serious. No puking, no heartburn for me. Tired? Yes. Lots of peeing? Yes. And Trent says that I smell things that aren't there. But they are! Believe me, they are. I've always had a pretty sensitive nose and pregnancy just intensifies it. There are some smells that gross me out and others don't bother me. The ones that I think would, don't and the ones that I think wouldn't, do. I have some lotions that I loved before. Now? Not so in love. So I've put them away for now.
One day during my last pregnancy I was at my sister's house and we were fixing dinner and I walked past some chopped up tomatoes.....I almost lost it. I don't know what it was, but the smell and look and the thought of eating them....Eeeeww. It totally grossed me out. And I still haven't totally recovered from that. So I usually pick tomatoes off of any thing that I'm eating. Besides that, I can't think of anything that makes me sick now. Just random things on random days.
Anyways, I could go on and on. But I'll just say that I'm super excited. It's obviously a great time to be pregnant. Off the top of my head I can think of about 19 ladies that will be having babies in the next few months, including cousins, friends, sisters-in-law, mission companions, volleyball teammates, other Blandingites. It's a great time. It's been a good 12 weeks thus far and I can't wait for the rest. Stay tuned for the coming 28+- weeks for updates on legitimate baby bumps, new smells, crazy cravings, name wars (because Trent and I disagree on most name suggestions) aaaaaand.......if it's a boy or a girl! (Although, I think it would be fun to not know, but I don't think I can curb my curiosity for that long).

LOTS of posts in ONE

2011-02-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

First of all, I wanted to give a shout out to Hanksville. I've only heard stories and seen pictures, but finally, I got to go!! I pretty much just showed up. Trent didn't know I was coming. I rode over with my brother and his kids and surprised Trent. He was excited. We'll he acted like he was anyway. There was quit the crew there, but I couldn't ever tell who was who behind helmets and goggles.

My hard core biker babe!

I had a blast on my first Hanksville trip. And not to toot my own horn, but I pretty much busted a lot of bad moves : )

Shane took a little spill and literally "ate it."

Michele and I went to a Judds concert. (Yes, they are still around) And they are AWESOME! Naomi was just kind of there, but dang, Wynonna, now that girl can sing! Don't you love the flamin' red hair?!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!
So chaotic, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Trent got me a Cricut! LOVE it!

Trent got new riding boots.

Grandma & Grandpa took ALL of us to Durango......

....and we rode the Polar Express.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

2010-11-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

The last few months have been fun and eventful.........

San Juan County Fair-Kids' Rodeo (Aug. 14)
Here are some of the kids waiting for their turn to ride!

Look at Ladd "the Cowboy," bustin' that muttin'! It looks like he's about to fall off, but he rode that muttin' for a long time!

Javen "the Cowboy" rode a steer, he fell off and then got stepped on. The ambulance took him to the hospital and he ended up being flown to Grand Junction. He had some cracked vertebra and a broken shoulder blade. He wore a neck brace for weeks. He's lucky. He's as good as new now.

.....even after Javen's drama, Jessie and Taylor "cowboyed-up" and rode. They both did good. Jessie even placed in her division. Here is Justin congratulating Jessie on a good ride.

Trent and his motorcycle gang went on a trip in September. They went to Yosemite (half dome in the background) and Lake Tahoe.

Trent and I had our 1 year anniversary!! I was up in SLC for work, Trent came up for the weekend and we went shopping, went to Lagoon and stayed at Anniversary Inn. We stayed in the Mississippi Serenade room. We had breakfast in bed the next morning : )

Trent and I had a day off together, so we went fishing on the San Juan River....we didn't catch anything. But we had a good time.
Tis' the Season for Hunting! (Oct.) Elk Camp up on the La Sal Mts. "The only thing that could ruin this trip is if someone got an elk." -Cole Holliday

October has always been a busy month in the cattle business. Everyone made the annual mecca to Colorado to ship the calves. (No pictues : ( I had to leave early for work) And then on Oct. 21 Shawn and Tyler had their first shipping day since they made their big purchase. (A cattle ranch) Here are all the ladies, running the manual scales.

Trent's aunt Kathy hooked us up with Jazz tickets. We had dinner before the game and we had sweet seats. Jazz won by 2 points in the second overtime.

GO JAZZ!
Kathy also hooked us up with "Bear" for pictures.

A Holliday Holiday

2010-08-27T10:48:00.000-06:00

Thirty-eight Hollidays loaded up for a summer holiday. Grandma Joey rented a nice big beach house for all of us, so we took 10 days off of work and went to San Diego.

We caravanned through the desert, and one of the cars was over heating....

And here's why! Holy Moly, that's HOT!!!

We went to the Mormon Battalion Museum

We went for a cruise on the hogs.....

on the PCH.

We played on the beach

We went to Sea World.....I love Shamu!

We went to the Price Is Right! Tanner got called down!

We went to the Wild Animal Park

It was a great HOLIDAY. Packed with GOOD times, FUN places, DELICIOUS food and GREAT people!!!

We did it!

2010-08-24T20:46:00.000-06:00

We are HOME OWNERS! We took the plunge! We are deeper in debt. We bought a house. As my sister-in-law likes to call it, we bought "a cabin." We closed on June 7th! Woo Hoo! It was an exciting day. Scary, nerve racking, but exciting.

"The Cabin"

We got everything moved in......

Then we decided to get new carpet upstairs.....

Ta Daa!!

Then we finally unpacked everything!

Wheeew. I don't want to move again for a loooooong time. : )

Ragnasty!

2010-06-24T03:12:00.000-06:00

Me and 11 other ladies did the Wasatch Back relay race. (aka, Ragnar. aka, Ragnasty) It was.......it was.....well there are so many words you could use to describe it. It was fun, funny, tiring, hot, brutal, long, exciting, hard, creative, busy, crowded, annoying, nasty, but overall it really was a good time.

Together we ran 188 miles, from Logan to Park City. We each ran 3 legs. Our finishing time was 33 hours 8 mins.

Christian, Adrienne, Mandy and Sunny. Getting ready to head to our starting line.

Let the running begin! Go Sunny Go!

Passing the baton to Holly......

We had a few hour break....we rested in the park with about 5,000 other runners.

We had to wear these flashy vests after dark.

Mandy finishes one of her legs, Christian starts one of her legs.

One of the many "creative" runners.

Heather finishes the "Ragnar" leg. 4 miles. 1678 ft. elevation gain. 52:48.3 Way to go Heath!

The scenery was AWESOME!

Heather thought she was a professional flagger.

On our next few hour break we had a camper to crash in, but with only 2 hours of sleep, only junk food to eat, and no shower, you wake up feeling pretty crappy.

Oh the sweet sweet honey bucket, my home away from home for a few days.

We did it!!! We finished!!!

Way to go team!!!

4 Days - 6 States - 1,749 Miles

2010-05-30T00:22:00.000-06:00

And it was all on a motorcycle!!!

T minus 2 days: Clean the bike. Must be nice and shiny for the big trip. We cleaned the bike on Wed. because it was the only time we had before we left on Fri. morning.

Day 1: Blanding, UT - Roswell, NM. 580 miles. I got off work @ 6am, we left @ 6:30am. (Who knew you could sleep on a motorcycle?) We were all bundled up, me in my snow pants and winter coat, Trent in his leather coat and new leather chaps that he got the day before. We stopped somewhere in NM for lunch, by then it was so HOT! We all peeled off some layers.

We went through Lincoln county, which is "Billy the Kid" country. There was a museum but we got there about 20 mins. after closing time. So we just walked around the little town and read the signs and looked through the windows of the buildings.

Trent, J.J. Bradford, John Imlay, Cole Holliday

If you've seen "Young Guns" or any other Billy the Kid movie, you'll recognize these names and places.

By the end of day 1 we were hot and tired and pretty sun burned. Trent was very sun burned. We stayed in Roswell, NM, alien capital. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_Incident

I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of the alien museum and all the alien shops.

Day 2: Roswell, NM - Guymon, OK. 378 miles. We went through Fort Sumner. We went to a big Billy the Kid museum. There was so much stuff to see and read. Fort Sumner is where Billy the Kid is buried.

The head stone is all caged up because......

From Fort Sumner we went through Texas and ended up in Oklahoma.

This was my view for 4 days.....

...this was my view if I leaned to the side.

Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are flat and windy. Not much to look at, except for cows and big green fields.

This is one of the many feed lots we passed. Right when we crossed the border into TX, there were a couple HUGE feed lots. I am talking 1,000s and 1,000s of cows in pen after pen. It's was crazy and quite potent.

Not much scenery, but pretty at times.

Day 3: Guymon, OK - Walsenburg, CO. 425 miles. We made it to Dodge City, KS on day 3. One of our main destinations. An old western town that was at one time or another, home to Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Trent's relative, Doc Holliday.

Trent standing by an old jail cell.

Me standing in the Boot Hill cemetery.

To escape the heat, we took a break and a cold drink in the dance hall/saloon.

The boys were pretty excited about this dance hall girl.

They went to church and repented of their many sins.

Trent watching an old time "movie."

Trent thought this was funny. (The gift shop sold paper that was made from cow manure.)

After riding across the flats plains for 3 days we were glad to see this.....

Mountains!!

We got to our hotel and watched the news. There were tornado warnings in Kansas and baseball-sized hail in one of the towns we had just gone through. Yikes!

Day 4: Walsenburg, CO - Blanding, UT. 366 miles. We were excited to get back to the mountains, but the closer to the mountains we got, the colder it got. We went over Wolf Creek Pass (elv. 10,863 ft.). Brrrrrrr! It was bitter bitter cold. It was really pretty but hard to enjoy because it was so cold.This is on the way up to the summit of the pass, up on top there was a lot more snow and it was windy. Very cold!

Looking back at the mountains we just rode through.

We stopped in Pagosa Springs to warm up and eat some lunch. Lunch was good, but we never warmed up. I was chilled for a few days.

It was a fun trip. Lots of miles, lots of states, hot weather, cold weather. Good times. I was glad that Trent let me go on their "boys trip." I can't wait to hear where the next trip will be.

It's A Girl!!

2010-04-23T09:50:00.000-06:00

Now that I have your attention......

It's a Girls' Trip!!!! That's right, our 3rd annual girls' trip. A few months ago me and my friends from high school (we always say high school, but we've actually been friends since elementary or before, so I'm going to say my elementary friends from now on) took a trip up to SLC for the weekend. We'd had it planned many many months beforehand and we all look forward to it. We got a couple big joining hotel rooms and had a big party. Well it was a party for us 30 year olds. We went to our usual dinner spot, Olive Garden. We hit the hot tub a couple times. We did a lot of shopping. We laughed and talked into the wee hours of the morning. We went to see a comedian, Brian Regan. It was a grand ole time. Can't wait till next year.

Lisa, Tamia, Cindy, Erin, Me and Heather

Waiting for the hot tub......

Got the hot tub.

Heather and I playing in the pool.

Testing out some new lipstick.....

Lovely (not so much)

We went to a beauty salon and got "beautified."

Lisa and I were the only ones that dared get "beautified." But everyone was there to support, of course.

Lisa was a brave little soul, not without tears, but she was brave. She said she will never get "beautified" again.

At the Brian Regan show......it was fun and funny.

(I didn't realize that we were matching nerds with our nerdy glasses till I saw this picture. Glad I wasn't the only one.) ; ) The comedy show was fun, but I guess it wasn't fun enough to keep everyone awake. It was in the afternoon, in a nice, warm, dark theater, after going all day and staying up till the wee hours of the morning.....some of us just couldn't keep our eyes open. Well I did, but Heather didn't, Lisa didn't, Cindy didn't....did Tamia? Erin and I had some head bobs, but never fully fell asleep. Anyways, I thought it was funny, the comedian and the sleepers.

Well that's it for this year. Can't wait till our 4th annual girls' trip!!! Love you gals!!!!

Garth Brooks in Las Vegas!

2010-04-14T19:28:00.000-06:00

Trent is such a sweetheart. He got me Garth Brooks tickets for my birthday. It only took us about 5 hours on line, waiting and waiting and waiting. And several phone calls that never went through. But we finally got connected and Trent got some tickets for April 11th. I was so excited when he told me, then I remembered that his sister was getting married on the 10th. I wondered if he even thought about that when he was booking the tickets......he didn't. But it all worked out. We left right after the wedding and stayed in St. George, then got up the next morning and went to Vegas! It was awesome! We stayed at the Excalibur, the concert was at the Wynn. It was so cool to see Garth live,again! (I went to his concert about 17 years ago) He sounded so good. It was very casual, he looked like he had just come from a construction site, work boots, hoodie, baseball cap. It was just him and his guitar. Except when Miss Yearwood (that's what Garth called her) joined him on stage. It was awesome. I loved it!!!

The next morning before we left for home, we went to a Titanic exhibit. It was pretty cool. They had it set up like you were walking through a ship and there were all sorts of things that have been recovered from the wreck site over the years. Lots of dishes, some clothes, jewelry, shoes, parts of the ship. There was a HUGE piece of the ship, it weighs about 15 tons. No pictures though : (

We weren't supposed to take phones or cameras into the concert, so we didn't, but when we got there, lots of people had cameras and were snapping away. I wished I had my camera.......this is the only picture we got of Garth.

Here we are at our castle.

In the lobby at the Wynn. (Trent's not big on smiling.)

Me and Elvis

SURPRISE!

2010-04-03T09:53:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my sister Michele!!!! That's right, it was her 40th birthday. You would never know it would you? She got 40 black balloons, a few bouquets of flowers, some new cowboy boots, but her best present was a surprise visit from her mom and dad and ALL her siblings and spouses. Michael knew she would love it, so we all made our way up to SLC for a quick weekend. We all met at our meeting place, then were going to go to Payton's baseball game, where Michele was going to be. We were just about to head to the baseball game in our 5 distinguishable cars when Michael calls and says that Michele is leaving the game to go home for a minute....she will be driving RIGHT BY US in our 5 distinguishable cars. We quickly drive to a big parking lot across the street to "hide." David, in his big distinguishable truck, was last to cross the street and just as he was about to do so, Michele drives right in front of him......wheew, she didn't see him. So when she passes, we all drive to the baseball game. We park our 5 distinguishable cars in the corner, hopefully she won't notice. We go and find Michael, cheer on Payton, embarrass him and wait for Michele to come back.......

Here we all are....cheering.....waiting.......

Here she comes!!!!!! (Look how happy Michael is)

WHAT?!? She was so confused, happy, surprised, emotional....

Michele said when she drove up, she saw a big (beautiful) bald head sitting in the stands and thought, "hey, that looks like Trent." But she didn't think anything more of it. She was also surprised to see Mom and Dad, they had been staying at her house that whole week, but they "left" on Friday. They actually just went up the road a few miles and stayed with Uncle Jim and Aunt Kay. They met us on Sat. and went to the baseball game with us.

We went to dinner @ the Texas Road House.

Yum!

"Attention Texas Road House!!! We have Michele here and she's turning 40. Let's all give her a nice loud YEE HAW!"

Back in the saddle again...............It was Keith's birthday the next day. The big 70!

Then we went BoWLiNg! (for Kathryn)

Some of us were good.....

......some of us were not so good.

Some of us needed lots of help.......

Some of us tore it up........

Some of us were more interested in other things.......

......... and I tore it up in skeet ball!

It was a quick, up & back trip. Trent and I had to drive back to Blanding early Sunday morning so I could work a 16 hour shift. It was totally worth it though. We had so much fun!! Happy Birthday to Michele, the best oldest sister I've ever had!!!! Lots of love!!!!!

Bike Trip

2010-03-26T16:24:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I headed out on yet another motorcycle trip. Thursday afternoon we headed out of town and spent the night at my great aunts house in Eager Arizona. Being march madness as soon as we arrived at the house we all sat in front of the TV and watched college basketball and drank Mountain Dew all night. The next morning we got up loaded the motorcycle and made our way to Tombstone Arizona. The first few hours of the day were extremely cold as we had to go up and over a snowy, windy mountain. That we made it to tombstone that evening and toured the old town and old buildings. It was pretty cool to see the old stuff and think of what life would have been like back then. We found ourselves getting up way early the next morning as we had a very long day ahead of us. We headed up to Tuscan to take in the Pima Air & space museum and lunch at Famous Dave's. Its pretty sad that we plan our whole trips around what city's have a Famous Dave's Restaurant. Anyway the air museum was way awesome and and thousands of awesome airplanes. With the coolest of them all the SR-71 Blackbird. That night we arrived in Yuma Arizona. Another night of sitting in our motel eating pizza and drinking MT Dew and watching more college basketball. (Dang BYU). The following morning we went and toured the old Yuma Territorial Prison. I sure wish we would treat prisoners now a days as they were treated back then lol. If your ever in the area I would recommend taking the time to tour this old prison. After the prison we headed for the Hover Damn making a stop in Lake Havasu. Havasu was a little crazy being college spring break. The reason for the stop in Havasu was to see the London Bridge. Yes the actual London Bridge. With plans to build a new bridge in London the auctioned off the old bridge. some dude bought it and it was taken down piece by piece and assembled in Lake Havasu. We spent longer In Havasu then planned so we had to ride really fast to make it up to Boulder City Nevada to see the hoover damn before it got dark. As we were dropping off the hill into the dam I was thinking it was going to be to dark to see anything then I remembered that I still had my sunglasses on haha. We rode over the dam and stopped on the other side. It was dark by now and we decided to keep on going and to try and make it to Kingman Arizona.. Spent the night in Kingman and got up early and headed back to Blanding. On the way home we stopped at the Grand Canyon. I gotta say I didn't think there was anything Gran about it it. It was pretty ugly and not very impressive. I would rather go look at Dark Canyon on Elk ridge. After the stop at the canyon we booked it home so we could be home before dark. thanks to John, Cole, and J.J for making the trip a great one. After five days with the guys it sure was good to get back and see my wife;)

A few headstones in the Boothill graveyard
Old Downtown Tombstone These are the rooms for the prostitutes. These rooms would cost25 bucks a night
Doc Holliday's Table. Yes we are related

Tombstone's Original Hearse Prison Tower and water tank Notice the Toilet (can). It would get emptied once a week The London Bridge

Snow! Snow! and more Snow!

2010-01-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

Oh my stars! We have so much snow. And it's snowing right this minute. We are going to have mounds of snow around for quite some time..... Here's our little house...and with that deep deep snow on it, it makes it look even smaller.

Yes, that's my car, my poor buried car.

Aspen is still on top of the snow, but her house is almost gone.....she slides down to get in.

This is a mini van, a mini van!! A few more inches and it would be lost forever.

Trent, working hard to dig us out.

Trent's 4-wheeler. I think it's safe to say he won't be riding it for awhile......

Trent working hard again....I think this was the third time he'd dug us out that week.

Shawn shoveling off his roof. This was the east side, about up to his waist. The north side, over his head.

Jake is about to get buried.

Come on in! If you can get over all the snow.

....some more wedding pictures.....

2010-01-22T05:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some wedding pictures.......Trent and I went over to the temple the day before we got married and Brooke took some pictures for us. It was nice to have these done before the big wedding day. One less thing to worry about. I think they turned out great. Enjoy.....

#!~SuPErCrOsS~!#

2010-01-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

So.......the Holliday boys were planning a trip to Phoenix to go to the supercross motorcycle races. I like supercross and have been several times with my brother. So I told them that I wanted to go, and do you know what they said? "Nope, it's a boy's trip." Are you serious? So I said, "fine, I'll go with David." They all laughed and didn't think I was serious, so of course I had to make it happen. I called David and asked if he was going and when he was leaving. Originally he was going to leave on Thursday so he could get some golfing in on Friday, in that case, I wouldn't be able to go because I had to work a grave yard shift on Thursday night. But he called back later and said that Javen needed to go to his basketball practice on Friday after school so they weren't going to leave until about 3pm on Friday. Perfect, that would give me time to sleep some on Friday morning and get ready. So I told him I wanted to go. Trent and all the Holliday boys left at about 2:30 and David, Javen, Taylor, Porter, Keaton and I finally left at about 4pm. We stayed with Tyler, Lacey and Aspyn. The Holliday's stayed with a relative in Surprise, AZ. We spent a lot of Saturday at the stadium watching practice races and what not. The Holliday's ran some errands around town and ate at Famous Dave's, of course. When the races started, Trent came and found us on our top row seats. During "half-time" I went and found Trent and the crew in their row 16 seats. (Our seats were better ; ) ) So we did see each other for a few minutes. When we were driving home the next day, we were within about 10 miles of each other, but we never saw each other. All in all it was a fun trip, separate, but fun. I had a good time with David and the kids and Trent had a good time with the Holliday boys.
(I was going to put a video clip of some of the races, they were pretty sweet. Lots of good crashes. But I don't know how.....Trent, you're on it.)

Winter Fun!

2010-01-14T11:01:00.001-07:00

We went snowmobiling/lion hunting the other day. We went with some of Trent's buddies. They had a hunter from Georgia and he was actually filming for a hunting show that's on the outdoor channel (or something like that). They had their cameras and microphones and what not. The hunter was a funny, goofy guy with a nice thick southern accent. Trent and I rode around on the snowmobiles looking for tracks. The other guys were in the truck.....they got stuck. I sat on the snowmobile and supervised the shoveling and digging and jacking. We found lots and lots of tracks and let the dogs out and they went back and forth on some tracks but never found anything. My first lion hunt was fun and exciting.

We went on our annual sledding trip: 21 people, 2 big trucks, 6 sleds, 0 dogs and lots of snow!!!!!!

Javen, Nicole & Payton (fighting over the sled) and Jessie & Taylor
.....apparently Payton won the fight.

Trent was driving, I made him get out and sled while I drove.

Trent and Kathryn

Trent's rope broke and Kathryn thought it was the funniest thing EVER!

Good Times!!!

EARLY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

2009-12-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

Christmas showed up early this year for us. We were up in Provo for the state football game and went with my dad to pickup a new matress at RC Willey, Nicole and I came home with a 65" tv, a couch, love seat, coffee table and two end tables. It was too good of a deal to pass up. This makes Jazz games so much better lol.
OH CHRISTMAS TREE! OH CHRISTMAS TREE!
This past Saturday we went with my family out to Elk Ridge to get Christmas trees. We spent the afternoon looking for and cutting down trees. We ended up bringing home seven. Most of them were blue spruce but we opted to go with the pine. It smells so much better. On the way home I got sick and felt like I needed to throw up. When we got back to our house I started to get these crazy pains in my stomach and lower back which lasted through the night and into the next morning. Needless to say, I didnt get any sleep that night because I felt like I was dying. Well about noon on Sunday I went into the bathroom and passed a kidney stone. I hope I never have to do that again. That afternoon when Nicole got home from work we put up our tree and decorated it.

Trent's Ram

2009-11-09T14:53:00.001-07:00

I was Lucky enough to draw a once in a lifetime desert bighorn sheep permit this year. Man was it a great hunt. It was by far the most frustrating hunt I have ever been on. It was also the most rewarding. After several long days of sitting and glassing different locations all day long Through out the month of October our patience payed off. On Friday Oct 30th I had to work. That morning Scoot Flannery and his father in law Kerby went out and started glassing. At about 11:00 i got a call from scoot and he told me he had glassed up a ram. I made a phone call to get some coverage for work and then Mason Latham and myself headed out. We got into the location and scoot told us they hadn't seen the ram for a while and they though he was bedded down. Well to make the story short mason and I made the stock into where they though the ram was. Well he wasn't there so we made out way back down to the rhino and went down the road a few miles and stopped. I hiked off a canyon bench and mason went up the hill to get a better view for glassing. Just as i dropped off the bench i could hear rocks and all sorts of noise. I just new it had to be sheep. It took me about 10 minutes before I could locate them. They were at 700 yards and were out of my shooting range. I ran up the hill and signaled Mason to come down. We made out stock and were only able to close the distance to 420 yards. Out came the spotting scopes. We spent the next 5 minutes looking at them and trying to find the biggest ram. There were 12 sheep in all. 5 Rams and 7 ewes. We pinned down the biggest one and decided it was a shooter in our book. I took off my pack and laid it down on the ground and got down on my belly and took a good aim. Boom!!! I shot over its back. I shot over its back a second time. i was holding the cross hairs just above the back to compensate for bullet drop. The third shot i put it dead on and the sheep dropped in its tracks. This is when all the hootin' and hollerin' started. Man were we excited. It was almost dark and there was no way we could cross the canyon and get to it before it was pitch dark so we went to the rhino and headed back to the trucks. When we got back to the trucks we told Scoot and Kerby what had happened and I don't think they believed us. We headed back to Blanding for the night. The next morning we got up super early and made the hour drive in the truck and another hour on four wheelers. We got on our packs and hiked to the sheep. As we approached the ram my heart almost exploded. Oh man what an experience. The photo shoot began and lasted about an hour. we then caped the ram and cut off all meat. Our packs were leaded down. It was a long and heavy hike back. I'm grateful for all the help I had on this hunt. Nicole, Scoot, Kerby, Mason and Devan, thanks so much. PS. Won't it look great hanging on the wall.

Wedding Day Pictures

2009-11-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

Our Wedding Day

2009-11-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

September 26, 2009, what a great day! We had so many people come to the temple with us. Family and friends came from far and near. I'm pretty sure we broke the record for cramming so many people into a small room. I was so happy that Grandpa Fred was able to do the wedding ceremony for us. It was short and sweet, just like we like it. The luncheon and reception went great! We just showed up and everything was taken care of. Thanks to everyone for everything! It was a great day!

Engagement Pics

2009-10-29T16:24:00.000-06:00

Here are a few of our engagement pictures.. I know they are over a month late, but better late than never, right?

Welcome

2009-10-29T00:39:00.000-06:00

Hey its Trent, just welcoming everyone to our new blog. I'm hoping I can talk Nicole into taking over the blogging since I'm a slacker at it. It's been 4 months since I posted over on my other blog. It may take a while to get this blog up and going but keep on stoppin in to see whats going on in our lives..