Backdating... Before Vacation!

So before we left on our vacation I had a busy weekend! Amy and I participated in our second Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride. It was a ride for breast cancer, there was 2600 women that rode in it, the second largest women only bike event in the country! We did it last year and had a blast, so we wanted to do it again this year! Last year we did the 36 mile ride, and this year we went up to the next level and did the 47 mile ride. We started later and finished earlier this year! We kept an awesome pace and only stopped at our provided rest stops and then two other stops for water and that was it! We were very proud of ourselves! Although we wanted to seriously die those last like 5 miles! THEY WERE HARD! But it was filled of a lot of fun and determination! Mike's Mom came and took pictures of us which was way sweet!


We gave ourselves credit for being SUPER fast because we were hardly ever with anyone from our group... but maybe they were ahead of us? No... we will go with we were ahead of them!

I got my bike a couple of months ago! I love it! It is a Jamis Sport Cruiser!


Also before we left it was Ava's birthday! I went over to Tina and Jake's and showed Tina how to do some cake stuff and this is the final product of her cake! Jake called it a Dr. Seuss cake which I think is fitting! It was a white cake and turned out really moist and yummy! I hope everyone loved it!

North Carolina!

So Mike and I just got home a few days ago from our vacation in North Carolina. It was kind of a strange trip because my parent's were packing up the house around us while we were there for their move, plus showing it so they can sell it, but it was still a fun relaxing trip! I did miss the nice Utah weather though, Mike felt like he was going to suffocate in the humidity! It was pretty funny, but also very sticky out there!

Our second day we were there we drove out to Emerald Isle with my Mom, and went out to Fort Macon where Mike wrote this in the sand...
We also played putt putt golf. It was a lot of fun, my Mom surprised me with how good she was at it! We all had a fun time goofing off and playing... I of course lost... it's not my best game haha.


We thought this was a pretty funny thing they had up on the course.
My mom and me. My new camera has a cool setting where you can select a color and everything will be in black and white except that color... Mike really liked that setting haha.
Us... this is probably one of my favorite picture of us...
Another day we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC. There were so many amazing things... this was one of the seahorses there.
Mike wouldn't get in the Kangaroo pouch... but Mom would!
After trying to figure out how to get the best pictures in the Aquarium I found out my camera has an AQUARIUM setting... haha.
This part was really awesome you are standing on a moving walkway and you have fish and sharks and everything swimming ALL around you! Over your head, EVERYWHERE!

These fish were HUGE, they are called sawfish and they had super long saw things!

I tried to pick one of the horseshoe crabs but when the legs started touching me it freaked me out so I had Mike do it! haha.
Yes, we stood in line behind the little kids to get inside of this clam! Mike and I could barely fit in the whole together it was so funny!

I thought these were so cool they are called "Weedy Sea Dragons"....
I am terrified of these but they really are so beautiful!

After the aquarium we went to Margaritaville for lunch!
Again... that cool setting...
Mike ate a "Cheeseburger in Paradise"... he said it was DELICIOUS!
This was Mike's first trip to the actual beach. We went to Topsail for a nice walk and took Ginger... the water freaks her out but she seemed like she had so much fun! Although she pooped on the beach and I had to go find something to clean it up... silly dog...

The Ocean really is beautiful!
Next day we went to the officer's beach. This was after Mike's first swim in the Atlantic Ocean!
Ginger was super tired, she fell asleep like this and then woke up and walked around with it draped over her head.
Mike wanted to go on a Hike but after we were attacked by lots of horseflyies we decided to head back... it was neat but Utah hikes are so much prettier to me...

A pond on the trail...
So my mom and Mike have a little joke about lobster, which he has never had but he always tells us to mail him one, so my parent's took him out for his lobster dinner...

The family... Mike, Me, Mom, Eddie, Noelle, and her boyfriend...

Mike's lobster! Yum!

After he ate them... yes we like to play with our food...
A stormy day, but we went out to Bogue pier on Emerald Isle...
My precious dogs! Ginger on left and Roosevelt on right...

Ginger is such a traitor and kept trying to leave me for Mike...

On our last morning before we got on our plane we went Kayaking on the Inter-Coastal Waterway out to the ocean. It was so fun and beautiful! We both love kayaking now and want to get some...

Mike... was so much faster than me... turns out I was paddling wrong the whole time like an idiot... he thought it was hilarious once he figured it out...

We weren't sure if my camera was taking pictures at this point so this is kind of weird...

Another fun picture...

We had a really fun trip but I am happy to be home too!

Down South!

So Mike and I spent this past weekend in Southern Utah! I had never been down there before and it was so much fun! We stayed with his sister Becky in Cedar, and then went hiking each day down at Zions National Park! It was such a blast! Becky was on call all weekend so she didn't get to come do much with us but at night we hung out at her house in the evenings and had fun visiting and hanging out together! I don't even know how to describe the weekend... but it was exactly what I needed! We left Friday and stopped in Ogden/ Salt Lake for some shopping for the trip and got to Cedar that afternoon. This first day we just took it easy, we went for a short drive up the canyon and it was really pretty. I just am still not used to how beautiful the mountains are, they still baffle me all the time.

Saturday, we got up and went to Zions, we did the Emerald Pools Hike in our fancy new Tevas! (Mike bought us matching pairs haha, they are awesome and so comfy!) We also did the weeping rock trail that day too...

I was so facinated by these cactus flower things... they looked like plastic it was strange, but they are really pretty...
There was a lot of pretty flowers and stuff to see!

So all the pictures of me I'm really SUPER excited or not so much... because Mike kept insisting on taking pictures of me that I didn't want taken but oh well... This is one of the falls to the lower emerald pools.

Somewhere along the emerald pools hike... Sand Hollow was so much fun and so pretty! The water was a little cold at first but you got use to it... Mike jumped off the top rock... it took me like 30 min just to decide to jump off the lower one... Once I did it was fun, except for the fact that I got water in my ear and it started hurting.

We left after that to head back to Cedar and get some dinner. As the night went on though my ear started hurting more and more until I was in so much pain that Mike made me go to the ER... The doctor looked at it, and it was INFECTED! It had only been 3 hours and my ear was infected! So they gave me some antibiotic ear drops, and a big IB Profen, and then sent me home with a bottle of Lortab... Mike said he instantly new when my lortab kicked in. We were at Becky's eating pizza, and I started rocking back and forth, and if I looked up at either of then I would just start laughing.... I was dancing by myself while sitting on the couch and just laughing A LOT.... they had a pretty fun time watching me make a fool of myslef, but it was pretty funny and my ear felt SO much better!

Sunday morning we had a late start, just lounging around the house, and then finally decided to drive back down to Zions... and we did ANGEL'S LANDING!
We got such a kick out of this little family and their matching camelpacks, Mike had to take a picture... he says the Dad's is different so he can dominate his man status... These switchbacks were seriously going to be the death of me... this is once we got to the top and thats how many we had to come up... well part of them and some were STEEP! I could barely breathe... my stupid eastern lungs! Mike was super patient the whole time! Contemplating on whether or not we should do this... Mike bought me a new hat so I could be "legit" haha.

Seriously, breathtaking! And yeah, we hiked on that ridge to the left you see! We did it!!
After this we were pretty dang exhausted and hung at Becky's for the night and left the next morning. It was really a great trip! I hated leaving and can't wait for our trip to NC in 11 days!! Although I have found out it will be the last time I can go back to this house in NC... my parents are moving... to TEXAS! So it's weird... I'm not sure what that will be like...