what is going on

as i sit here waiting for the air conditioner repair man, i am trying to think of something interesting to blog about. there just isn't anything that exciting in my life! so, i'll just give a little recap.

*i did pilates for the first time last week. i really liked it. i want to do it again this week. thanks mickey for grabbing me at the last second to do it!
*i took dan to yoga for his very first time on saturday. he is the MOST in-flexible person i know. seriously, the man can't sit indian style, and had never been able to his whole life! he actually liked it, which sort of surprised me. the teacher was male, so i think that helped. we are going to do it again.
*i want 60 degree weather to come back
*i got my passport in the mail today! so glad to get rid of the old one. when i was traveling from the mtc to the airport, my mtc district had an ugly passport photo contest. i won. its bad. so glad to have a new one. dan and i are super excited about our upcoming trip. we are going back to italy on october 1. actually we are flying in to paris for 3 nights then flying down to italy. we will be back october 16. my mom and dad are coming with us. i am thrilled!!! i have wanted them to see italy for so long. don't worry though, this is not our only return trip ever. we'd be happy to go with you too!
*we finally got an area rug for our living room. it was on super clearance at super target. i LOVE target. one day we will have one out this way....maybe.
*dan got the bbq cleaned out. i can't believe how full it was! those birds sure worked hard.
*if you are free friday night, may i recommend you come to the miss grantsville pageant? i will be the point tallier. you know like on the miss america pageant when they say 'accounting services provided by...'? i will be the accounting services for the miss grantsville pageant. i have hit the big time i guess!!!

now that it is 83 degrees in my house, my brain is done.

p.s. as i sat and typed in my super hot house, i had a stroke of good luck! i won a $50 gift card to the outlets in park city listening to the radio! i never win anything. i was caller 6 AND 13. caller 13 won. and really, someone else paying for my next pair of shoes?! i'm not going to complain.

sad to report

i don't think the birdies made it. sorry to have kept you in the dark for so long. i checked on the eggs two days after the first one hatched. when i looked, it was gone. i don't know where it went. the other eggs hadn't hatched, two had small holes like they had tried to hatch but didn't quite make it. i have waited a week just to see. i can't being myself to open the lid. lame, i know. the mom bird is no where to be found. so i think our bird adventures are done for this year. if they come back, hopefully they will find a better place to make their nest.

let the chirping begin!!!

i don't know what i was expecting when we found out about these eggs. no offense to the little bird, but he is ugly! i freaked out a bit when i opened the lid to the bbq tonight. it scared me to death! luckily my neighbor and her 2 kids came over to help me get over my freaked outness! i think griffin (my 5 year old neighbor) would have picked him up if we would have let him! only one has hatched. two others, that i could tell, had holes in them and were beginning to hatch. so, the next few days could get a little noisier!
i zoomed in on the photo above. that little bird is looking for some food! he is not making any noise...yet! he has a few feathers on his back, but only a few. in 21 to 23 days he will be able to fly away. then i will have nothing to take pictures of but an empty nest, and maybe a good steak cooking!!!

(and just so you know, that is a wrapper behind the bird, i think from a soda can. this nest has had some interesting things in it!)

happy anniversary

dear dan,

i know you aren't big on celebrations, but i think a celebration is in order. 4 years ago today i did the best thing i have ever done. i married you. the last four years have been full of adventure, heartbreak, laughter, uncertainty, kindness, caring, understanding, growth, happiness, craziness, and most of all love. i can't imagine it any other way. it has been perfect, our kind of perfect. time has literally flown by. i look forward to the next year of adventure, as long as it is with you. i love you so very much.

love,
annie

road trip

i have been so wrapped up with my birds lately that i haven't taken the time to post pictures or stories from our most recent road trip. we decided to head up to montana to visit some good friends. how we know them, most of you know. natalie was mine and katie's young women's leader way back when. we would spend countless hours at bruce and natalie's house. they had parker when i was 15. then they had bailey, hannah, and sidney when i was 17. we spent A LOT of time with them. and, i love them dearly. they moved up to montana 7 or 8 years ago (without my consent of course!). we have missed seeing them often. but, when we do, its as if we never missed a beat.

anyway, dan and i headed up to idaho first then to montana. it was so nice have nothing to do. we were not obligated to be anywhere at any particular time. it was just nice. montana is beautiful. we had a great time visiting, shopping, eating, and going places. the kids are getting so big now. i just can't believe it. they are so fun!

after we left montana, we decided to be real adventurous and head to the eastern part of wyoming. so pretty much the only place worth going to or seeing in wyoming is yellowstone, and maybe star valley. which happen to be in the WESTERN part of wyoming. seriously, i understand now why the population of wyoming is only around 500,000. i think 450,ooo of those live in the western part of wyoming.

a brief explanation of the photos
*natalie took me for a pedicure for my birthday. then we shopped for my birthday, and ate, and ate, and ate. it was perfect.
*bailey and sidney at pompey's pillar
*dan at pompey's pillar
*for memorial day, we went to a party in the middle of no where on the crow indian reservation at the home of some of natalie and bruce's friends. this was an amazing place! lots to do, or not to do! the owner of the home also owned there clydesdale horses and took people on hay rides. they are beautiful horses!
*parker and hannah...i'm pretty sure all the kids were tired of my picture taking by the end of our stay...
*bruce and natalie at pompey's pillar
*natalie took us all out for my birthday dinner. parker and bruce had left that morning for the 8th grade montana history field trip. we ate and ate and ate. it was so much fun. and, oddly enough, one of the waitresses in-laws live in tooele. it truly is a small world!
*natalie and the girls went out of their way to make me feel extra special for my birthday. they decorated parker's bedroom door for me. it was so cute.
*bailey and me
*dan and i in one of our infamous self portraits in front of the billings temple. it was closed for cleaning so we did our best to climb up on the fence, not too bad, i guess!!
*sidney and bruce
*dan and i in idaho
*hannah
*dan and i in idaho, again
*dan bought me stuff to play raquetball for my birthday. don't worry, he also bought himself stuff to play raquetball for my birthday:)
*the idaho falls temple
*sidney
*natalie and sidney on the 4-wheeler on memorial day

we had a great time. thanks so much natalie and bruce for having us!!! we look forward to it again sometime soon. and we look forward to our next adventure, wherever that may be.

six

and hopefully final. and no worries, dan just gave me the birds and bees lesson for birds. i must have slept through it in science class!

5 and counting....

not that anyone cares, but as of this evening there are 5 eggs! holy cow. that is a lot of chirping. i can hardly wait!