My beautiful new niece...

Here she is, the most beautiful baby in the world. She looks just like her gorgeous mama, full lips and everything. Seriously, I love her more than I can say. My heart explodes every time I think of her or see her picture. I have been on a high the past few days and it's because of this little girl.

Reese Madison

Yesterday

My best friend's life changed forever. She became a mother, and I am overjoyed.
I love you Ashley, Joey, and baby Reese, more than you know.

Yesterday Designer Consigner was featured on Good Things Utah. To see what they had to say and the clip of me, my mom, and Tori click here. The video is in the top right corner of the page.

FYI- the music playing in the background was NOT my idea, nor did I know they put that on there until I got home...yikes!

"Back to school, back to school...

to prove to dad, I'm not a fool."

Today Joshua officially starts his MBA program at Carnegie Mellon. What a little smarty pants he is. Let me tell you a little about Josh's brain. "It's 3 times the size of a woman's...it's science." It is brilliant. The kid is a genius. He decided he was going to go to MBA school a few weeks before the application deadline. He signed up to take the GMAT, studied for maybe a few hours, and passed with flying colors. He scored in the top few percent of those who took it. He wrote amazing essays, filled out his application, got his recommendation letters, and turned everything in. Mind you- this was all during our crazy home renovation. A few days later, he gets a "Welcome to Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business" email and he is in. Just like that. He didn't even break a sweat. Josh was one of only 40 students nation wide to be accepted into this top 15 program, one of 5 in Utah. He is amazing.

So, you might be wondering how this all works...we live in Salt Lake, the school is in Pittsburgh. Well, Josh is a satellite student. He basically Skypes (or something similar) into his classes a few times a week. The professor can see him, he sees the professor. He has all the same assignments as an on-campus student, etc. He will have to go out to Pittsburgh a couple times per year, but other than that, everything is done from his office, here in Utah. He is still working more than full time for Goldman Sachs and will continue to do so throughout his scholastic career. He will attend class after work a few days a week. He will be pulling 15 hour days most of the time, yuck!

I couldn't be more proud of Josh. He sacrifices so much for me, and for our future offspring. We appreciate you Josh. I love you.

P.S. I am a terrible wife. I didn't even get out of bed this morning to make him breakfast or anything. Boo to me.

Our weekend in Anitmony, Utah

Last weekend, for us, was spent in middle-of-nowhere Antimony, Utah. We lodged at the Rockin' R Ranch with 80 some-odd people for the Alvord Family reunion.

This is the Post office in Antimony. It is in perfect proportion to the rest of the town. I loved it.

When we arrived, late Friday night, Josh thought our bunk was a little too boring. He decided to unpack my bag and decorate with every single item I brought. I was still looking for some things the morning we left.

The littles were so happy to see their Monkey the next morning.

Baby Seth was too.

We had a weekend filled with Ranch activities. We rode horses in the middle of grassy fields, went tubing down the Sevier River, took long naps, put on a rodeo, played games that ended with everyone having to throw horse poop, went on a horse drawn hay ride, ate biscuits and gravy, enjoyed camp fires and some quality family time. It was really fun catching up with Josh's cousins. They are pretty rad and we always have fun when we are with them.

Rachel took 3rd place in the barrel racing competition!

You bet your bottom dollar that when I heard I was within the weight limit to do the mutton bustin, I jumped right on one of these bad boys. That's right, I rode a sheep...

...for a whole 3 seconds. I had dirt down my pants for the rest of the day.

Dan and a few other crazy extended family members dared to ride a baby bull. They are all crazy, crazy I tell ya! The closest hospital was 1.5 hours away. The ranch worker said that people get stepped on, dislocated, and broken all the time riding these bulls. Dan won the bull riding contest, in fact he made it look easy, and was the only one who landed on their feet once bucked off. He might have a new career in his future. Watch his victorious ride at the bottom.

melt my heart:

Our trip ended with a nice marshmallow roasting camp fire.

The end.

La Cucaracha Part 2

Part of what made this vacation so great for me was the fact that I only left the resort one day out of the seven I was there. The boys had activities about every other day, but I got to lay on the beach every single day. It was Heaven to me. The men had a day of golf, and some of them visited Chichen Itza. I enjoyed the resort, ate, got a massage, and read. It was a perfect week.

There were storms that brewed over the sea a few afternoons, but none of them ever touched land. It was a great combination because we got to enjoy a spectacular view and never had to leave the beach. There was even some slight cloud coverage on our 5th day, which felt great.

No one cooperates when I want to take pictures:

We went into town for dinner and ate at the amazing Chicago Ristorante. It is the best food we have had in Playa. We were serenaded several times by locals throughout our meal.

We feasted on steak, coconut shrimp, strawberry and spinach salad, and Lithuanian ravioli.

Grandma and the baby boys.

The lighting on the street was so beautiful at night. I could have mosied around forever.

Mari was $15 richer after she ate a large twig of rosemary.

On our final day in Mexico, we headed to Isla Mujeres. It was every bit as amazing as I remembered. This time, because we had such a large group, we chartered a yacht and sailed our way over to the island, making a stop to snorkel on our way.

Joshua

me and my pops

my cousin David with his wife Kim

the coolest kids in town, Micah and Cole

Kristine and Micah

Dad and his baby sister Aunt Cynthia

Cody, Patrick, Cole and Luke

Chris danced for me, it must have been my lucky day.

Cool Hand Luke

Cute Kris

Dad and Grandma Rita

When we snorkeled we saw a lot of great tropical fish, including 5 barracuda. Grandma got a private tour.

Luke was ready to go. They made everyone wear life vests, no one was excited about it.

Once we were on the island, we rented golf carts and explored the island. I wish I had video of my dad and Luke in their golf carts. They were maniacs, flying over speed bumps, racing people, and off roading.

Everything looks like this, bright, run down and awesome.

We stopped by an aquarium on our way around the little island.

We saw baby turtles,

sea horse, and a shark.

The boys wanted to dip Josh's head in the water to see how the shark would respond...no thank you!

Don't let this picture fool you, this mean guy was at least 6 feet long.

My husband hit his head on the top of our golf cart.

He wouldn't wipe the blood off all day because he thought it looked cool.

We spent the afternoon on North Beach. It is the greatest beach because it stays only two feet deep for at least 100 yards.

The cute boys

Kristine gave herself an exfoliating teatment with the buttery sand.

My black brother with little Micah dude.

The whole fam-dam

On our way back to Cancun, we were all pretty worn out. Most people were sprawled on the deck taking naps. The crew would have none of this. They came out, in full fiesta gear, and started a party. They are used to people taking full advantage of the open bar, so they probably thought we were the most boring people alive. They woke us all up sining 'La Cucaracha' and made us all drink soda shots. They started with the four year old, which I thought was awesome. They sang and danced until every one got a shot. It was hilarious.

The week ended with a few more tennis matches.

Ryder is one athletic litle boy. He is very naturally gifted.

We were all sad the trip was over. It was everything we needed. I love spending time with my family. It makes my heart happy. I'm so glad we were able to enjoy a perfect week in paradise with them.