I want to suck your blood!

Halloween was a blast!! I was so excited because we didn't dress up last year so I was determined to go all out this year. Parker's Law School had a party Friday night at Green Street Bar. We were so excited to get all decked out and go as our TRUE selves, fangs and all. We even got red contacts to complete our costumes. They were the talk of the party. We even scared ourselves a little. UHH!! It was so much fun to see all of the different and creative costumes that people put together. Our camera died soon after taking this picture so I wasn't able to capture some of the best costumes of the night. The winning costume went to two of our friends that were the ThunderCats. They were amazing!!

The next day was one that we had been waiting for all year. We went over to Parker's parents to carve pumpkins with our nephews, niece, and rest of the family. Gaylyn and Dee went all out getting pumpkin carving kits, making a delicious meal, and for dessert pumpkin shaped sugar cookies for the kids and individually wrapping them for each grand kid to take home. Parker and I even got our own little bags. :) She is such an amazing grandma! We can't wait to have kids that she can do fun things for too. Sadly, something came up and Alta, Brandon, and the kids decided not to come and missed out on all of the fun. :( Parker and I couldn't let the pumpkins go to waste......so we carved them ourselves. I think we did a pretty good job. Mine was in honor of our alter egos from the night before.

After all of the hard work, the guys sat back and did what they do best... ...Yes, you guessed it, they watched some football. The day wouldn't be complete with out it, so thanks to our good buddy Joe Wiseman, Parker and I headed to my first U of U football game. It was a black out game so we got dressed in our BLACK Utah gear and headed to the game. We had such a good time! I'm really sad that the season is almost over. Next year we plan on getting season tickets. :) I can't wait. GO UTES!

A much needed update!

Thanks to daylight savings I have an extra hour to work on my blog, seeing that my body is used to getting up at 8 and it's really 7am. I've been so behind on posting so I'm just going to go back to August and update y'all on what's been going on in our crazy lives.

This past August we flew out to Georgia to visit my family. It was very much needed since we hadn't seen them since our wedding. We had such a wonderful time!! We went to this fun little restaurant, called Nicolas, as a family and had the time of our lives! The owner is a little old man who works in the kitchen cooking for everyone and then comes out to entertain before dessert is served. He was hilarious!He made everyone in the room get up and dance. SO MUCH FUN! The belly dancer was really great too. I think she had a little crush on Nate. :)

We stopped by Nate's and my old stopping grounds to see the fort that Nate built when he was in Outdoor Ed. Where was that class when I was in school?

OH MY!! I totally forgot about our exciting adventure to Prague! Well, kind of. We landed in Atlanta and like normal went to get our bags at baggage claim. After an hour we had our little bag filled with some of my shirts, my hair products, and one pair of Parker's shoes. All of our other things were in the main bag we packed, which was MIA! So we headed over to the lost baggage counter to see if they could help us. I had my bag sticker on the back of my ticket, or so I thought. So they sent me on a wild goose chase to find it because it said it was in the airport some where. Come to find out that the sticker on the back of my ticket belonged to Parker's and the bag that we already had taken off of the carousel. So if Parker's sticker is on my plane ticket then that would mean that mine would be on the back of his, right? WRONG!! Placed there was an unusual name that neither one of us had ever heard before. Eleectra Eunerick, or something like that. WHAT THE CRAP!! Come to find out, the stupid man at the Salt Lake Airport, who I think should lose his job, had told the lady in front of us to take some things out of her bag so that it would meet the weight requirement. While she was doing this he had "taken care of us" and didn't clear out of her listing so she went on to Prague with 2 bags instead of her one and the man just checked in our little bag to Atlanta. SO the whole weekend was spent searching for our bag and wearing Nate's and my mom's clothes. Luckily we got our bag the day before we left. I think Parker looks great in Pope colors. Other than the drama with our bag, we had a wonderful time and can't wait to see them this Christmas.

BACK IN SALT LAKE

It wasn't too long after we got back home that Heather and Ben came out for Ben's family reunion. So we met up with them and some of my cousins at Market Street for dinner. There was a little confusion on our part on whether to smile or make a funny face. Here's how the group picture turned out. :) Hahaha! My cousin Luz got married and so we went to her reception at The Lion House. She looked beautiful and so happy. Congrats Luz and Tom. Cassi, Jordan, and Beckham came out to visit and we tried to spend every second that we could with them. We love them so much and just can't get enough when they're here. We all went to the zoo and had such a great time seeing Bex react to all the different animals. He was in heaven.

More to come in the near future! I promise.

Our past 2 weeks in rewind

We have been having so much fun with family these past few weeks.

I can't believe that it's already the end of July. It has come so fast! Yesterday Parker decided to surprise me with a fun day date so he took me to Utah's Hogle Zoo. It has been so long since either one of us has been, so I was so excited when we pulled into the parking lot. The bird show was so great! We were well entertained and recommend it to everyone who can go. My favorite part is always the elephants. I LOVE these animals! I swear I took like 15 pictures of just them. Dari even posed for me. :) She's 48 years old!! It was extremely hot that even the animals were hanging out in the shade. Whenever we start having children, we've decided that a seasons pass to the zoo is a must!

We celebrated the 24th of July holiday in the best way we could think of, which consisted of a day of laziness and laying out by the pool. All of the family came over and we just relaxed and listened to music while the kids played in the pool. It was so hot that day that everyone at one point was in the pool at the same time. You know it's hot when all the ladies are in.
Tuesday night we went to my cousin Jonathan's wedding. We picked up my Nana and stopped at Zupas for dinner and then headed to the reception. It was so awesome, they had ColdStone ice cream- 6 Different flavors and a bunch of toppings. I discovered one of my new favorite flavors-Chocolate Cake Mix. It is to die for!! Also, it was fun because it had been over 10 years since I'd seen my Tio Marco and Aunt Jenny (Jon's parents) so it made it even better once I said hi to them, and they finally got to meet Parker. Sadly I forgot my camera so I didn't get pictures but another cousin is getting married next month so I'll have to be sure to take my camera then.

Last weekend was a good time as we drove down with Parker's parents to the Johnson family reunion. We had such an amazing time!!! The drive down was funny, because as we turned on to the road leading to Delta, Dee turned into a tour guide. I never knew that there were so many things to know about Delta; but after the drive down with Dee, I think it's fair to say that he could write a coffee table book. It was awesome and funny; it was great to see him away from his stressful work, completely relaxed, and cracking jokes the whole way there. We all joked that when he retires, he'll become a tour guide in Delta, Utah (who knows maybe it'll become a tourist hot spot in the near future :) The reunion was AMAZING!!!
Usually family reunion shirts are hideous; but I must say that these green army shirts that say "Johnson's Army 2009" are actually pretty cute!!! Also, we got dog tags, that depending on which family line and generation you were, differed with colors-very creative!! We really had a lot of fun, and I have never heard of a family reunion that consisted of hunting. But all of the guys and some girls went spotlight rabbit hunting at night, because it's a must if you've ever lived in Delta, Utah. Saturday morning, most of the family, woke up and ran a 5K race (Parker of course pulled out the "sore ankle" card so he didn't have to run.), at least Gaylyn and I were excited to get going. We were in charge of kitchen duty that morning so we all headed over to get breakfast ready for all the hungry troops. Later that day, we went to a gymnasium where there was a silent auction(to help fund future reunions), shooting range, and sandbox for kids to dig up quarters. It was well planned, and the silent auction was fun. Dee was a great fundraiser because he went around raising a lot of bids, to help raise money.
All in all, it was a successful trip; and it's always fun to hear about old family stories.

Two weeks ago we took 3 of our little nephews to McDonald's for dinner so that their parents could take care of the family dog-he was old and had to be put down. It's crazy how excited kids get for fast food-especially McDonald's. They had such a good time playing on the playground. It made us miss those childhood days where there wasn't a care in the world. If only that was the case as we grow older-but it's not. Our little nephew Gunner was the tuff guy, chasing around his older brothers and as he said in his own words, he was "defending the other kids." It was a good time, and we hope that they are doing well and had fun with us.

Oh say can you see...

We spent the 4th of July up at the cabin and had a great time as always!! Great food, entertaining movies, and lots of great memories with family. It's a yearly tradition in Parker's family to go to the Oakley Rodeo and watch the firework show at the end. It's a special place for me and Parker seeing that a year ago on the 4th, he proposed and were there as a newly engaged couple. :) I always love it when we go to the cabin. It's such a relaxing place to go and forget about all of the stresses of every day.

Here I am with my two favorite Sara(h)'s :) on our way over to the rodeo. We made all of the guys sit in the back. We didn't want to mess our hair up. Hahaha PLUS we knew that where ever we sat was where we would have to sit on the way back and it was going to be a cold night.

Once we got to the Rodeo, we ran into two of our great friends, the Lunts. It's always fun to get all dressed up in our cowboy gear. Next year I'm going to sport a belt buckle. :) Now I just have to keep my eyes opened for one that I like. Sara had a cute one on, I'll have to ask her where she got it, probably some where down south.

Day two at the cabin fell on the 4th and no cabin celebration would be complete without 4 wheeling around the mountain, so we set out on a ride after breakfast. We were having so much fun. Sara's brother, Justin, was able to come to town with them, so there were a lot of cool people to go with. Speaking of cool, Pat A was the one to lead us down the trails. He is so HILARIOUS! We love him!! Anyways, like I said we were having fun...

...until......we hit a part of the trail that had washed out the night before, due to the rain, and the weight in the back, aka ME, was just enough to send the stupid machine up and back into the air, falling over us. FYI, we were going in the opposite direction in which the 4-wheeler is facing. Luckily, WE ARE OK!! Yes that is blood in Parker's ear but considering what happened, it wasn't that bad. The handle bar on the 4-wheeler landed on his face and some how tore the inside of his ear off and left it dangling by a little piece of skin. A few scratches and 8 stitches later he was fine, thanks to the best father in the world!! We felt so bad because he had the weekend off of work and there he was back in the office, sewing his son's ear back on. Thanks Dee, you're the best!! The touch of the master's hands.

I was so fascinated! I had never seen someone get stitches before nor had them myself, so I was taking pictures left and right. After we left the hospital, we decided that there was only one thing that would truly make us feel better...

FROSTIES!! Oh, they just hit the spot! I was lucky because I walked away with not one scratch on me, just a VERY sore right arm and left leg, which have turned into the ugliest bruises I've ever had.

To be honest, I was a little upset and maybe even a little bit jealous that I didn't get one little cut. I know it's silly, but there really wasn't any sign of me even being on the stupid machine, other than my aching body and where my clothes covered, so when people ask Parker about his face, they assume I wasn't even there, until I lift up my sleeve or drop my pants, JUST KIDDING!!! :) and show them the evidence. Parker thinks it's funny, and it really is, but I still would've liked to have just one tiny little scratch to prove that I was there to some what "cushion" his fall. LOL I know. I'm RIDICULOUS!

Here we are that night, alive and just a little sore. Nothing was going to keep us from night 2 of the Rodeo.

Even with the accident, we had an amazing time up at the cabin and can't wait for the next time we get to go up and enjoy it. We have the best family ever, on both sides, and always love spending time with them. Happy 4th of July!!

Family always makes everything better.

I woke up Saturday morning to a call from my mom and brother telling me they were in town. I was so excited and being that I am my mother's daughter, I jolted out of bed and began cleaning like a mad woman. Parker just looked at me with shock and said he was glad that I was feeling better. Sadly I felt even worse than I did the day before, but I couldn't let my mom see my house the way it was... semi-clean. If you know my mom, you know that she's the female version of Danny Tanner and always has her house looking spotless and smelling amazingly clean. So, my brother Nate stopped by with his friend to visit us a while before they headed down to the Provo bubble for some summer fun with the ladies. He ended up having a great time even though his many attempts to have a party were all broken up by the stupid rules and people who anally enforce them down there.


Parker and I were in charge of Sharing Time in Primary, so I headed over to my in-laws to print some ideas for a lesson off and to say "Hi" to Gaylyn. She's so sweet and I'm always so glad to see her. I couldn't have asked for a better mother-in-law and friend. Well, after that brief stop, I headed over to meet my mom at the mall where we did a little bit of damage. It was a good day for the both of us. We both found some really cute shoes and some fun summer clothes ON SALE. It's the only way we shop! There's nothing greater than finding the cutest outfit, that cost someone else $150+ and only paying $30. It's truly a rush. We stopped by Zupas for lunch. My mom had never been there, so I had to introduce her to some of the best food ever! She loved it so much we got some soup to go. Their tomato basil soup is AMAZING!! After a long day of shopping, we decided to go to my place and take a nap. My mom ended up spending the night at my Abuelita's apartment so I just went to bed early. Sadly Parks didn't get home til around 2am. Poor guy.

Sunday our lesson went well. We taught the junior primary about how if we want to be forgiven, we must forgive. It was fun and I think the kids really enjoyed it. I had to leave half way through our lesson to go in to Relief Society because I was the "spotlight" of the week. Parks had left randomly this morning and wouldn't tell me where he went. Umm... I then found out why he left. Here is what every one of the ladies learned about me today:

(All of this is from Parker. I've copied the paper verbatim)

1. How did you meet? I was working in Washington D.C., she went there for work with her modeling agency. We exchanged numbers before hand on LDSLinkup.com. We talked then, and obviously she wanted a piece from day one. We both ended up in Utah several months later, dated, and married 1 year and 1/2 later.
2. Do you have a funny story to share? My parents hosted the Russian Special Olympic team here for the special winter Olympics. Alex became their best friend when they learned she was trying to speak/learn Russian with them for a week. Now, we joke that she it fluent.
3. What are your wife's best qualities? Good dark tan skin. Luscious lips! Smile, optimism, & personality, & Sexy Body.
4. What made you fall in love with her? Her ability to speak with/or without a southern girl accent. She's always smiling and the happiest person I know! A southern girl. And lets be honest she's gorgeous! ( met her while she modeled for Porche)
5. What don't we know about her? She is a very good singer, and she's half Chilean. ( Her mom's side.) & currently working the graveyard shift at ARUP Laboratories.
6. What does she enjoy? Reading, Sudoku, Pedicures, massages, musicals, Edward Cullen
7. How does she relax? Pedicures, reading, sudoku, and listening to me ruin good songs as I desperately learn how to play the guitar.
8. What is her favorite ice-cream? Mint Chocolate Chip

SO... After I turned a new shade of red, which rarely ever happens to me, I went back to help finish the lesson. We had an extra class mate today. She's such a cutie and is very interactive with the lessons. A perfect student. We gave the kids Fruit Roll-Up Stickers candy for behaving in class and they took the name literally by placing them on their faces.

After church we heading home to change for my Abuelita's 87th surprise birthday party. It was so much fun spending time with my family. I got to see so many people that I haven't seen in years.

Watch out for the wooden spoon! That's how the Araya family was punished back in the day.

My Nana and Grandpa Clare were able to come and have fun too. I LOVE that both sides of my family are close!My two tuff "dudes".My cousin Adriana just had a little baby boy last month. He has so much hair on his little body, Parker was blown away! She named him Alexander!! :) My cousin Hector was in charge of the entertainment and was told to pick up a pinata. Well he decided that one wasn't going to be enough so he bought 3!! It's a good thing he did because they were a HIT!! No pun intended. :) To make sure that everyone got a fair chance to hit, the guys rigged a homemade pinata for the guys! Talk about ghetto. A random cardboard box and duct take. It was AWESOME!!! Here's my cousin Andres fixing it for the persons next turn.
It just goes to show, your NEVER to old for a pinata. My little Abuelita was even getting in on the action.

And for your viewing pleasure, the video. I just have to inform ya'll that don't know my mom very well, when ever she gets around family, she's crazy. Well, crazier than she normally is. I LOVE YOU MOM!! :)

She wasn't going to miss out on any of the candy! HAHAHA

I love my family so much, especially my Abuelita, and don't like thinking about the fact that she might not be with us for much longer. I'm grateful for moments like this that I'll always remember. Te quiero mucho mi linda abuelita!! Feliz Cumpleanos!

6th Month Anniversary!

I can't believe it's already been 6 months since we were married. These past several months have been amazing and have flown by so fast. We really love being married. It's the best!! We've heard so many people say that the first year is the hardest, but we honestly couldn't disagree more. Now, we're not trying to act like we have the perfect marriage and never disagree with one another, because we do, but I think we're safe in saying that we're comfortable with each other, are able to communicate our thoughts and feelings, and respect one another. I think that it really has helped us avoid fighting.

Parker's been studying like a crazy man for the past month. He's been taking Con Law 2 this summer to lighten his load for next year and has also been working at the A.G.'s office. And on top of me working graves, he has a final on Monday so I haven't seen him much this past week. So we set a side a couple of hours on Friday night to celebrate our 6th month anniversary. YEA!! I woke up Friday morning feeling like crap. I came home from work early because I was having some strange chest pains which later turned into a terrible chest cold. It was really scaring me so I left work early. Anyways, I was awaken by a handsome man kissing me and then showering me with 2 dozen long steamed red roses. He's such a sweet heart. I'm so lucky! So after a long day of Parks studying and me running errands (Healthy or not, it had to be done) we went to Market Street for dinner and then it was off to the library for Parks and Enrichment night for me. We were both sad that we didn't get to spend more time with each other so we're going to try to get away for a weekend in July and really celebrate! :)

Funny little video... Hey Jude

I was catching up on my friends blogs and one of them had this posted and I just had to post it too. So cute. I love how the l's are replace with r's.

Life has been so much fun the past month. Parks and I are on the activities committee, which we like to call the Party Planning Committee. So we helped with the ward camp out this year and it was a blast. We camped out at Pine View, near Ogden Canyon. It was beautiful. It's been raining SOOOO much here that it's so green. I feel like I'm at home in Georgia. Well not quite. We were so proud of our little tent. This is where we slept. :) The water was so cold so I wasn't even thinking of getting in. Here I am with my friend, Janae nice and dry.Parker got out on the water for the first time this year and was having a good ol' time until he landed a trick wrong and tore some ligaments in his right foot. We thought it was broken but luckily it isn't and so my poor brave guy has been limping around for the past couple of weeks. Here are the before and afters.

Before

And After

Here's my brave man. He's so sexy!

On top of the activities calling, we were called to serve in the Primary teaching the CTR 5 class. Our little kids are adorable. It's amazing how smart they are at the ages of 4 and 5. When you don't think they're listening, they're soaking up everything you say like little sponges. We have 3 kids in our class. Here's a pic.

Our sister Cassi and our little nephew, Beckham, are in town visiting. Cass is an amazing runner and came to run in the Wasatch Back. It's a 170 mile run that goes from Logan to Park City and teams of 12 take it on within a 24 hour time period. WOW! So we've been so lucky to be able to spend so much time with them. Parks LOVES this little man. The only thing that would've made this whole thing perfect would've been to have Jordan here. We miss you, Jo!

Bex couldn't get enough of his uncle Park's chest hair. Here he is playing with it. It was so funny.

Sadly I didn't have my camera this past weekend when the whole family was together, so I didn't get a picture of all of the family together. I'll just have to count on Sara for some fun pictures to enjoy.

My husband is AMAZING!! Parks is learning how to play the guitar. He's been playing for about 2 weeks now and has gotten really good. He practices all of the time and even wakes me up by serenading me. It's so romantic. HAHAHA, I'm such a dork. I'm his number one groupie! Don't worry fans, we'll be going on tour within the next year. I'll sing and he'll play for me. It's going to be BIG! :) I'll have to get a picture of him in action, in the near future.

We're Dehydrated!

Our lives have been so busy these past few months. Parks finished his first year of law school and has already started the summer semester. He's taking one class and working at the AG's office downtown. I've been working graveyards at ARUP Laboratories for the past month and am trying to adjust to the hours. It's not something I would've thought I'd do BUT I get a 4 day weekend so we think it's worth it. We spent Memorial Day weekend with Parks family down in St. George for a family reunion. It was so much fun!! We went shopping, laid out at the pool every day ( we're starting our summer TANS), and I was able to finish the book I was reading (The other Boleyn Girl). It was good. I'm just glad that I wasn't born in the 1500's. I'm excited to watch the movie and see how it relates to the book.

We've been really trying hard to change our eating habits and eat healthier. I think Parks got a little bug while in SG because ever since we've been back he's been dehydrating like crazy! He's the next Ron "Ronco" Popeil. Oh yeah, we're bringing it back!!

He's dehydrated everything. You know the usual bananas and apples. He's even made mango fruit roll-ups. They were AWESOME!! The papaya didn't workout as well as we would've liked. Papaya is actually really gross!! We threw that away immediately. It' tastes like feet. I think we'll stick to the store bought kind (that's loaded with sugar. Now we see why). The next adventure will be jerky. YUM! I can't wait for that!! I love JERKY!!

Well Parks just walked in, so I've got to go. Hope everyone is having a great summer. We love you!!

OUR CINDER BLOCK PALACE

Here are a few pictures of what our little apartment has turned into. Like I said before, it's a work in progress and we still have a lot to do, so we'll post more pictures as we update our home. :)

This is our lovely kitchen. And if anyone has the right to complain about lack of counter space, I think we do. :)

Here is the view when you turn around. Hahaha! I'm not joking. Parker and I are really happy with how it's turning out and we think that painting the walls was the best idea we could have made. It's nice that they allow us to paint here, we just have to either paint it back ourselves or pay for it to be painted white when we move. We figure that we'll be here for A WHILE so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

**FYI** For anyone who ever considers painting over cinder block, it is NOT easy to paint. No matter how much you try and coat it, there are still those stupid little holes that remain untouched. BUT, I will say that it's so worth it. Now we just have to put pictures on the walls.

Parker and I decided not to paint the bathroom, for right now. :) So this is what it looks like. Parker doesn't really like the purple but it's what I had from my last place. I'm thinking that I'm might change it to a dark teal blue to go with the brown and cream, but we'll see. We are going to paint our bedroom, so I'll post pictures of our room when it's finished.