Halloween Fun!

There are certain holidays that seem so much more fun when you have kids involved! I definitely think Halloween is one of them. This past weekend I was able to have some fun with my new siblings. On Friday night my birth grandma had a fun party for all of her grandkids. Everyone got all dressed up, but I unfortunately had such a busy day that I was late to the party and didnt have a chance to dress up...but it was still fun. She prepared the cutest halloween dinner and then we spent the night playing games and ended it with her famous bingo! It was a blast with all the kids! Then today I went over and had dinner with the fam and then the kids and I carved pumpkins. It had been a few years since I carved one and it really seemed more fun doing it with the kiddos. Sure am glad to have them in my life and so close to me!

All the kids with our pumpkins! Sydney, Rianne, Deion, Me, Kayla and Bryce

All the pumkins lit up..turned out pretty good!

The three generations of witches! Ha...sad that all I had time for was the hat!

Cousin Angela, Sydney, and Kayla

Cousin Jessica and Rianne...silly nerds!

These boys make me laugh! Bryce and Deion...they insisted we call them Ketchup and Mustard all night! They were just missing the person to be their hot dog!

Portland/LongBeach/Seattle Trip!

I ended up being able to get away and take some time off so I headed up north. I haven't been home at a time other than Christmas in years so it was nice. I flew into Seattle after 2 delayed flights and my bag not arriving with me...so annoying! My birth dad's mom and sister live in WA and my cousin and sister came up for the weekend and so we all got together for dinner. This was only the 2nd time I had seen them all since I found them the first time over a year ago. It was a fun night chatting, eating and then some of the girls and I went out to do some karaoke! Then I went to my parents house to finally get my bag and then headed down to Portland with my sister Jocelyn. I spent a couple days there with her and got to see my nephews and then on Tuesday my family was at Long Beach which is half way between Seattle and Portland, so they came down and picked me up in Portland. Then I went with them to the beach and spent the rest of the week there. Its really fun that I have so much family now. I have enjoyed getting close to so many more people who love me and care about me. It was also great to spend good time with my main family at the beach. It was really relaxing, just reading, flying a kite and hangin out. We then went back up the Seattle and I was able to see some other friends. It was great to just get away and take a break from my normal life! Below are the pics I took while I was gone!

Some of the girls on my birth dad Jim's side. Nicky(My aunt), Jocelyn (my sister), Sue (His sister inlaw), Me, Jeannie (his mom) and Chelsy (my cousin).

Jeannie with all the great grand children. All are my cousins except the two younger boys are my nephews.

Jocelyn with her oldest Landon

My cute little nephews Bailor and Landon

My sister Jocelyn and I

My cute parents at the beach!

My brother Kirk and my Dad with the kite we were flying. Hadn't flown a kite in like 15 years...the last time I was with my family at Long Beach!

My Dad and Kirk outside at the flight museum

This is the famous Spruce Goose plane that is the largest sea plane ever built and it only flew once. If you compare it to the other planes in the picture you can tell how enormous it is! Pretty cool!

Utah State Fair!

This past weekend I went with my birth mom and her family to the Utah State Fair. I honestly haven't been to a state fair like this is years! It was fun to go with the kids and watch them all have a blast on the rides. You realize when you're older how much bigger and amazing fairs are when you're a kid. So it was even more fun with the kids. Somehow I managed to stay out of all the pics but here are the kids on the rides....some of which had never been on rides before.

They are the ones in the middle with their hands up

Rianne, Sydney and Deion

Rianne

Kayla and Rianne

Bryce and Deion

Another Wedding!

Well since I am still single I have watched friend after friend take the plunge and join the married life. Each one being a bitter sweet time for me. But this last one was a little hard for me. One of my best friends Haley got married. I am not sure why it was a little harder for me, maybe because she and I have been through a lot together over the years and she has especially been through a lot in the last year. Haley unexpectedly got pregnant last year and gave birth to her little guy Jaxon a few months ago. It has been a rough road for her and the dad Walker. But they were able to work through things. Wasn't sure if this wedding would happen but it did and it was fabulous! The ceremony was done really well. I totally started crying when I saw her walk down the isle. I was so glad to see that they both just looked so happy and relieved to finally be married to each other. I am so happy for them.
Later that night was their reception. Leave it to Hales to do something totally different...they had a BBQ/pool party. I have to say as casual as it was, it was probably one of the funnest receptions I have been to! No offense to anyone! Lol. It was just a great time swimming and celebrating their marriage. I love them and wish them the best!

The lovely Bride and Groom

Haley with Jaxon. He is so stinkin cute!

Me and Hales

I love this pic of them about to jump in the pool!

One of the reasons I love Haley! Of course she jumped in the pool in her dress! Crazy girl!

Husband and Wife finally able to enjoy the water!

Don't worry that the photographer got a shot of me alone! Probably the most casual I have ever gone to a reception. ;)

And here they are the adorable little Robinson family!

Royal Bliss!

There is a local Salt Lake City band called Royal Bliss that I just love! I was introduced to them by a friend awhile back. They were in town putting on a show again a few months ago and so I talked to Sterling into going with me, hoping he would like them as well. Luckily since we have similar taste, he ended up totally getting into them and having a great time! It was cute cause for weeks after we saw them, their music was all Sterling listened to...needless to say he is one of their biggest fans now! Lol. We have gone to see them a few other times and most recent we invited a few friends. We had a great time even though they still havent played Ster's fav song yet. For anyone interested in finding new music, you should totally check them out!

Some of the band....not the best looking bad! Haha

Me and my roommate Stacy!

Stacy and her boyfriend CJ

My best friend Jared and his super cute girlfriend Kim

Me and Ster! Can you tell how much he loves all my pics I make him take. Lol.

Camping and Hunting trip!

So for those of you who knows me really well....you know that I have never hunted and didn't grow up with family that even did. Well Sterling is a big bow hunter. He looks forward to it every year and has been talking about it since we started dating. He invited me to go with him and since I am up for any adventure I thought it would be fun. We loaded up his camper and headed down to Monticello. Since that is where he grew up, he and his family all hunts in the mountains just outside of town. Ster gets up at about 4am and hikes an hr up the mountain to his treestand where he sits and waits for the deer til around 8 or 9am. Then he comes back to the trailer, naps and hangs out all day. The plan was for me to hike with him and sit in his treestand with him but he decided that he didnt think that was the best idea and wasnt enough room for both of us. Which to be honest, I was willing to do it but each morning when he left I was okay with it! Ha! But I rode the 4 wheeler up the mountain to the top and would scope out all the deer and we would text back and forth talking about what we could see. Even though I wasn't right there, I felt like a little part of his hunting. We had a lot of fun hanging out and camping. Spent some good time with his grandparents in town too. They are such nice people.
I ended up coming home after the weekend and Ster stayed for the rest of the week. He ended up finally getting his deer on Thursday. He shot a big 24" 4x4 buck. It is the biggest he has killed before and he was really excited about it! I am just wondering what in the world we are going to do with all this deer meat! He already has over another deer in his freezer! LOL. Venison anyone?
Overall it was a fun trip. I was happy to get to experience and see what his hunting trips are all about. Glad he wanted me to go with him. I spent the rest of the week babysitting my birthmom's kids while she was away at education week at BYU. It was a lot of fun spending that much time with them. They are such good kids and I love having them in my life. It has been long week though and I am glad to be back in my bed at my place! Enjoy the pics of my trip!

Oh how cute huh?! Haha! Sterling laughed at me for doing this. We were trying to decide what to do and he mentioned this as a joke. When I got excited about it and told him I had never carved my name in a tree with a guy before...he laughed. So while he took a nap I went out and carved it. Not too bad huh? I think its cute! And its at the spot where he camps every year!

The view from the top of the Mt down to where Ster's treestand is where I scoped things out for him. He's in the top of the group of aspens straight down in the middle.

Ster practicing shooting his bow. Have to admit its kinda hot! ;)

Both of us all camoed up. He looks a little more legit than I do. Haha.

Don't let this pic fool you....I never shot that thing! Lol

Then and Now...

So this is a pic from Waaaaay back in the days of good old USU. These are the 5 of us girls (Janene, Me, Madalyn, Kim and Stacy) who pretty much did everything together! And did we have some fun! Lol. We were all around 19 and single in this pic.....since then just a few things have changed! Everyone but me is now married...yup last one! And lets see there are 6 kids with one on the way! We are all spread out over Utah now with Stacy way out in Nebraska....so needless to say we are hardly ever all together. But last night most of us were able to get together since Stacy was in town. We met at the Cheesecake Factory....which is my fav restaurant, YUM! It had been almost 4 years since we had seen Stacy and hadn't even met her youngest kid, Asher. It was so fun to get together and catch up. The great thing is that no matter how many years pass, when we get together it doesnt feel like it has been so long. The only sad thing was that we were missing Janene. And we did miss your face! The group isn't the same without our Nener! LOL ;)

THEN

And this is the four of us NOW! Hmmm think we have changed at all?! Only 8 years later.

Stacy with her youngest, Asher, who is a little mini of his dad Brandon!

Both of Stacy's cute kids, Avery 5 and Asher almost 2

Tucanos....yum yum!

Sterling took me out to a yummy dinner at Tucanos on Friday night. Its one of those brazillian bbq type places where they bring tons of different meats around to your table. Oh my goodness talk about being stuffed! It was so good! It was a great night just hanging with Sterling. This weekend we are headed hunting and camping so I will be sure to post about that little adventure!

July 24th and Monticello!

This past weekend was Pioneer Day which is a holiday in Utah. Ster invited me to go with him down to his hometown Monticello. His whole family got together for a little reunion. For those of you who don't know where that's at...its about an hr south of Moab in southeastern Utah. Its a small town of about 2000 people. He has quite the big family with 2 brothers and 3 sisters which are all married and have kids. There are almost 16 grandkids so needless to say having all of us in one house was a little chaotic but fun. It was great to get to know his family more....I just love them! It is so easy to be around them and they make me feel so welcome.

Sterling bow hunts every year up in the mts in Monticello. He and his family have their own part of the mtn that they stake out every year. Sterling wants me to go with him for a couple days of the hunt and so while we were down there he took me hiking to his tree stand where he parks himself waiting for the deer. Oh my goodness....talk about a hike! Luckily he had his brother drop us off at the very top of the mtn and we hiked straight down.....I mean super steap straight down to his tree stand so he could fix it a bit and then we hiked down more and out. It definitely wasnt an easy hike but it was fun to have him show me what he does cause he loves it so much. Then the next morning, before the sun came up mind you, he and his dad took me on a 4wheeler ride up the mtns to scope out the deer. Wow....talk about beautiful mtns! I had never been on a 4 wheel ride in the mtns like that before and it was awesome! We saw so many deer and elk....never seen em that close! It was fun.
Monticello celebrated the 24th on Sat with a parade in the morning and fair in the park and then fireworks at night! It was so fun to see his neices and nephews run for the candy....they are seriously so stinkin cute! The fireworks at night were prob the best I have seen just because of how close we were.....seriously right above us! They were huge! So much cooler when you are that close!
Overall it was a great weekend. Glad to be home in my own bed again but it was so fun with his family and also having him show me around. We continue to get closer and realize how happy we are with each other. He is great!

Fabulous view of Monticello from the top of the Mtn.

The beginnning of the hike down

Ster up in his tree stand fixing it all up! I cant believe he climbs up that thing so much!