travel diary: hot springs and lava tubes, tabernacle hill, meadow, ut

we always thought this would be a pit stop as we were passing by to go to on a different adventure.

turns out, this place made a pretty nice overnight trip.

just off the main road in a very small town is a place where lava used to flow.

now there are just remains of it all.

and tubes to explore.

and hot springs to soak in.



our little spot nestled next to one of the only "mountains" around.

briggs is cute.

yoga on top of a lava mountain...of course.

gordon making me breakfast.  he normally cooks a nice breakfast but because this was going to be such a short trip we decided to eat oatmeal.  glad we did because we forgot our utensils and ended up drinking it.

i love going places with these two.  and they love coming.  they're a couple of explorers.

abbi is cute.

   



jr., our neighbor friend, and gordon starring off into a deep lava pit.

little lava bubble caves all over.

lava arch.

can't you just picture the lava running.  so incredible.

lava pit.

as wondered the flat plains every now and then you'd come across a cave.  pretty awesome.

a mossy patch among the lava rocks.

move caves.

we love our la tortuga blanca and one day hope to live in her full time.

a couple can dream, right.

the lave tube.  it went on for a mile or so with bubble holes that led to the ground level appearing every so often.  it was incredible.

at one point all you could see was black lava rock for miles.

there were three hot springs we could soak in.  one was overrun by a boy scout troop.

the other was overrun by cows.

when we finally found "our" hot spring we were glad the other two were occupied.

the water was nice and warm. and so clear.

in a hot spring with my hot spring.

i love him so much.

glad i am his adventure partner.

indie ogden awards

my sister and i attended the 3rd annual indie ogden awards.

we love ogden and love celebrating all of the local people that make it so great.

we got to ride in a golf card limo from the parking lot to the venue.

the whole awards area looked so nice!  indie ogden does a great job.

some of ogden's best restaurants catered the event.

we have a navajo taco from jeremiah's.

slice of pizza from lucky slice.

sushi and ribs from tona's.

cupcakes from lucy's cupcakes.

and gormet hot cocoa and homemade marshmallows from grounds for coffee.

everythine was DELICIOUS! 

the local restaurants in ogden don't mess around.  they are the best of the best.



my good friend and local ogdenite, priscilla, and her husband, jose, attended

the awards for the first time.  they had a GREAT time!

the photo booth was so fun! 

with my foxy date.



blurry but a goodie. seriously, such a fun night!

at the end of the evening we mingled with some of the other guests.

one of them was the co-host, richie T, who is the

producer of my favorite morning radio show, radio from hell on x96.

he was hilarious and thought priscilla's husband was just the funniest.

(which he was...he also may have had a little too much to drink)

 

another great year of awards to celebrate ogden.

can't wait til next year!



a Christmas tradition

Dear Santa,

Please send us a baby cousin

for Uncle Gordon and Aunt Jess

our nieces and nephews have started a tradition of getting their photos taken together with santa

for christmas.  this year they surprised us with this photo.  jodi, gordon's sister, had thought of this

idea in the middle of the night as a way to help us spread the word that we are hoping to adopt.

it is perfect and we love our family so much.

best friend sleepover

little miss turned 4 and we got to have birthday/best friend sleepover.

i heard that a yoga studio in ogden had a little yogis class and i knew i wanted to take little miss with me.  she loved it!  it was so fun practicing with her.  we joined a friend of mine and her niece.  we asked them to pose in their favorite poses for a photo and these are what we got...

tree and warrior (little miss and i called it princess warrior)



snake

and lion

and downward dog (which we both looked under our armpits at each other to chat...she is so cute!)

she loved tree pose so much that the instructor shared a partner tree pose with us.

challenged my balance much more than little miss (she was leaning on me).

we worked up quite the appetite (especially me, i had gone to pilates beforehand).

i asked little miss what she wanted to eat and she said "i like pizza."

so we walked to one of my favorite pizza places, lucky slice,

to get "pizza slices bigger than our heads."  if you can't tell, she loved it.

later than night we met up with gordon's parents (her grandma and grandpa) who were having a

sleepover with little man for dinner and a stroll through christmas village.

little miss LOVED all the decorated houses.  we had a good time.

on our way to grandma's house for sunday dinner the sun was shining.  it was shining a little too much for little miss so she asked if i had some sunglasses she could wear.  i about died when i looked in my rear view mirror and saw this.  she is so cute!



little miss has often called me and told other people that i am her best friend.

i just knew we had to get best friend necklaces.

so i presented these to her with her birthday gift.

we were both reallly excited about them and wear them just about everytime we're together.

life lately

sister-sister date at bangkok garden.  our first time eating at this restaurant but definitely not our last.

it was so delicious!  and to make the evening even better, a nice gentleman paid for our entire meal.

(okay, that nice gentleman was my sister's boss, who just happened to be getting takeout and saw us)

mom and daughter(s) night out.  we went to dinner and then saw a movie (the hunger games mockingjay).  then on the way home my mom spontaneously decided we needed a pumpkin pie blizzard from dairy queen.  i don't really like pie, but this was really yummy.

it's not secret that i love our town, ogden.  sammy brue is a local musician who is talented beyond his years (he's like 13 or 14!).  he arranged a show in ogden with the artist grace and tony headlining.

it was amazing!

all performers were fantastic.

and we got to hang out with them afterwards which is always a bonus.

(they are all VERY awesome people)

little man turned 6.  we had a birthday sleepover with him and took him to see a favorite of ours,

teenage mutant ninja turtles.

it was pretty good.  not as good as the original (what is?).

he enjoyed it a lot.  he laughed at all the jokes. and got his own personal snack box.

later than night little man noticed gordon's guitar in our downstairs living room.

he asked gordon if he knew how to play.

and then we proceeded to have a dance party.

it was fantastic!

oh where to begin with this little miss.  she is so dear to my heart. 

she invited me to be her special guest at her thanksgiving feast at preschool.

she created our placemats (a thankful turkey which said she was thankful for her bed and birthday cake).  she sang a couple of songs, one of which has a part that talked about being thankful for her friends at which she paused, looked at me and whispered "you're my friend." my heart almost burst.

she is just the sweetest and i love her so much!

i love the holidays.  holidays bring out of state family together.

i hadn't seen my cousin monika for six years.  when i found out she was coming into town

for thanksgiving i was beyond excited.  i knew i wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

and i did.  we saw each other every day she was here except for one.  we got warm beverages at my favorite cafe. we went bowling. we ate at the delicious taco carts.

we went to the temple. we went to yoga.  it was the best week ever. 

(sorry, not sorry for the blurry pic)

our california niece and her family were also here over thanksgiving. 

we made sure to get some one on one time with her in hopes that we will be her favorites, too.

i think it's working.

my sister and i have a thanksgiving day tradition to run longer than we normally do our morning runs.

the weather had been perfect for our trail run.  the snow stayed in the mountains for gordon to snowboard on thanksgiving morning and off the trails for us.

thanksgiving day was spent at my moms (the day before thanksgiving we got together with all of my mom's side of the family, which was pushing 100 of us, for a pre-thanksgiving dineer).

it was terrific.

i got to have one last chance to have my cousin's little girl warm up to me.

her little boy wasn't shy at all and loved playing with gordon.



all my hardwork paid off and her sweet little girl decided i was pretty fun to play with.

the day after thanksgiving we went to temple square with gordon's family to see the christmas lights.

christmas lights and the slc temple are two of my favorite things.

i played princess with little miss practically the whole time we were there.

it was perfect.



i love food and i love trying new places.

our town opened a new thai restaurant that is so fresh and tasty, i could just eat there everyday!

song #5

my dad text stopped by my work this week to give me a little gift he has bought for me. inside the gift bag was a card. i opened the card first. in it he told he how proud he is of me. and that he knows there is a special child out there for gordon and me. and that he can't wait to spoil them. he ended by telling me that he knows i will make an awesome mother. and that he loved me. song #5 was also written in the bottom left hand corner of the card. i looked inside the bag to see a cd...garth brooks. now, i don't listen to country music every day.  but there are a few country artists that i really like. and 90s country sorta has a special place in my heart (thanks to my dad). i put the cd in my computer and went to track number 5. mom.
Little baby told God hey I'm kind of scared.
Don't really know if I want to go down there.
From here it looks like a little blue ball
That’s a great big place and I'm so small.
Why can't I just stay here with you?
Did I make you mad, don't you want me too?
God said oh child of course I do
But there’s somebody special waiting for you

So hush now little baby, don't you cry
Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender tough and strong
It's almost time to go and meet your mom.

You'll never have a better friend
Or a warmer touch to tuck you in
She'll kiss your bruises your bumps and scrapes
And anytime you hurt
Her heart’s gonna break

So hush now little baby, don't you cry
'Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender tough and strong
It's almost time to go and meet your mom.

And when she's talking to you make sure you listen close
She's gonna teach you everything you'll ever need to know
Like how to mind your manners, to love and laugh and dream
She'll put you on the path that bring you back to me

So, hush now little baby, don't you cry
Cause there's someone down there waiting whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright
A loving angel tender tough and strong
Come on child it's time to meet your mom

my dad said that when he first heard this song he began to cry.  

it reminded him of me. 

now i have yet to get through this song without crying.  

it touches my heart so deeply that my dad thought of me when he heard it.

people are answers to prayers.

i know for a fact that my dad is an answer to my prayers.

just another reminder from my heavenly father that he hears my prayers.

and i think that's pretty special.

and that my dad is pretty special, too.

world adoption day

we are so excited to celebrate and join the first ever world adoption day as a hopeful adoptive couple.

we know adoption will change our lives (it already has).

we look forward to the opportunity to grow our family in so many ways.

and can't wait for that opportunity to come.

we have been overwhelmed by the love and support from so many around us.

so many are spreading the word about us and our hope to adopt a child.

we have so much love and gratitude in our hearts.

we know our day will come.