life as we know it lately.

we went to my good friend's daughter's quinceanera. the latino came out in me and i danced my little heart out.

brigg's has a new favorite spot at grandmas's house.

junior varsity high school football. go warriors!

dinner date with my college besties.

bbq games at my dad's.

visiting my grandma.

indie ogden "meet and greet"

mandi, one of my high school besties, was in town which called for a girls dinner date.

mandi's little miss finley turned one so she had a little birthday party for her while they were in town.

gordon's cousin paul came home from serving a full-time mission in korea (his plane was delayed so to kill a few hours we tried a new restaurant in the big city called m&a european pizza deli. it was pretty good.)

football season is upon us which means game nights at my dad's! go packers!

playing actress for a little project my brother in law is working on. it was a low budget film, with boxes of cereal on a high chair to prop up the camera and a shop light for the lighting.

jackson hole, wyoming: a hardcastle tradition

this year we (matt, jenny, gordon, and me) went up a day earlier than we have in the past, which meant we had an extra day to do what. ever. we. wanted. we slept in, went into town for breakfast at the bunnery, went into grand teton national park for a hike, then headed back into town for the best ice cream i have ever had at moo's gourmet ice cream. when we got back to our condo the rest of the gang was there (everyone except mel and justin...they were busy welcoming their new little guy into the world!).

we did the normal jackson hole trip traditions: wake up early to see/hear the elk bugle (we may have missed that part due to lack of an alarm, but almost everyone else went to this part), breakfast in the national park (gordon's uncle greg makes one heck of a egg muffin sandwich), get together later that evening for some more family time (we may have also skipped this part this year too because gordon was sick and i was just plain ol' tired).

we saw a bear!

new additions this year (besides the extra day) were: sleeping in twin beds, venturing into yellowstone to see old faithful and have lunch, trevor, two "parentless" kids to chase around, and an impromptu photo session in star valley on the way home.

grandma hardcastle, thank you for your generosity and providing such a wonderful, memory-filled family vacation/tradition. we love you.

 

sleeping under the stars, wearing our swimsuits all day everyday, exploring canyons by boat : still feels like summer for us!

 

lake powell 2012

one of our favorite vacation spots.

i literally forget about everything. what day it is. what time it is. i have no where to be and no responsibility. i can be as carefree as i want.

each day we went on an adventure. hiking, cave exploring, cliff jumping, canyonneering.

it is safe to say that vacation gordon and vacation jess were in full swing.

we love the marsh family for including us in this family tradition (especially since we're not even family!)

i'm already looking forward to next year!

favorites of this year's trip:

"don't do anything cool without the gopro" said constantly by gordon to brandon and blake.

singing alanis morissette's 'jagged little pill' with blake

blake's 'lake powell' mohawk

cracking jokes about steve's fur coat

jersey shore marsh boys

"in america, we..."

"young, wild, and free" song (which just might be our new favorite jam...as horrible as that song is)

"checking on the melons"