"The Best Vacation Ever!"

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Idaho with the Johansson family. Every time my dad took any pictures, he'd ask if it was for the blog. So as soon as he sends them on to us, I'll post the"real blog pictures". Here's our trip in photos:

We started by visiting Grandma and Grandpa Tibbitts in Arco, where Grandpa was the Atomic Days Parade Grand Marshall

And then we went to the Atomic Days Rodeo. Reed got to wear Grandpa's belt buckle and Bryant sported his glasses he caught at the parade.
Then it was off to Redfish Lake-but not without stopping at the chipmunk place (Galena Summit) first!

Once we got to Stanley, we all scurried to claim a room in the cabin.
Monday we went to the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery and fed the Rainbow Trout and went to the hot springs.

Tuesday we hiked 3.5 up to the Bench Lakes, flew kites, and played volleyball.

Wednesday was ATV day. Everything started off great...

Then my quad flipped and landed on top of my bad knee. A few hours later it looked like this:

But we went home happy and dirty

Thursday and Friday were beach days. But dad has those pictures, so we'll just have to wait for those. Here's what my knee looked like when we got home Saturday:

My knee seems to be fine-just badly bruised. Overall it was a really good trip and we had a great time. It was so fun to be with the whole family-with Bryant getting ready to leave for his mission soon, it'll be a long time before we all get together again. Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful trip!

Let Freedom Ring!

Happy 4th of July! This is definitely one of our favorite holidays-warm weather, bbqs, fireworks-it doesn't get much better!

This 4th was such a good one for us. We woke up early and had breakfast and watched some of the hot air balloons until wegot the call to go-then it was off to Lake Jordanelle! Reed's buddy, Kevin borrowed his grandpa's boat for the day and invited us and some other guys from the vball team to spend a day on the lake. We had skis, a wakeboard, and tube to keep us busy all day. The weather and the water wasn't the best, but we made the most out of it and had a blast!

On the boat

Reed and Andrew on the tube

After a quick nap, shower, and dinner, we went to the BYU men's soccer game and then watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks from the field.

One Year & Counting!

Today is our 1 year anniversary! I can't believe how fast it's gone by! Being married is definitely the best and I've never been happier. I'm so blessed to be married to my best friend and can't wait for the rest of forever together! Loves you Reed!!

Cupcakes and Smarty Pants

We hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! We had a lot of fun-here's a quick breakdown.

Saturday: We did a little shopping looking for all those Memorial Day sales. We didn't do quite as good as we had hoped, but that's ok. That night we hiked the Y with Reed's old roommate, Craig and his fiance, Heidi. We enjoyed the great view from the top and had some much deserved Frosty's after!


Sunday: We were the keynote speakers in sacrament meeting at church and then hurried home for the best French toast with fresh strawberries and whipped cream on cinnamon raisin bread! It was so good! We ended our night by making and frosting some cupcakes! Our frosting wasn't quite the right consistency as you can tell from the picture!



Monday: Reed took me to the park to play tennis for the first time. It was pretty ugly, but we had fun and are excited to get better. The highlight of the day was trying a new recipe for dinner. We made Kung Pao chicken and I'm so impressed how well it turned out! It was really good!

Today we found out that Reed made the MPSF All-Academic Team! He was one of only four BYU players to make it. Way to go Reed, keep it up!

http://mpsports.cstv.com/sports/m-volley/spec-rel/052708aaa.html

http://www.byucougars.com/Filing.jsp?ID=10819

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go...

Just wanted to say congrats to my little brother, Bryant, who just got his mission call to Lansing, Michigan! He reports to the MTC on September 3, so he'll get to Michigan just in time for one of their wonderful winters! We are so proud of Bryant and couldn't be more excited for him! Good luck Mr. B!!!!

Now What?

So now that volleyball season is over, I really don't know what to post about! Penn State ended up beating Pepperdine for the National Championship, which we weren't too happy about. Oh well. Ohio State made it to the Final Four so it was fun to get to watch Reed's teammate from high school, Brett Versen, get to play in the semis. He did great!

Reed has started spring term-surveying and chem! Woo hoo! And he's also excited to be working with his volleyball buddies cleaning on-campus student housing! And I just keep on working.

We were sad to have to say bye to Reed's brother and his family yesterday. We've had so much fun getting to spend time with them the past few weeks. We hope they make it back to Virginia safely and that we get to see them again soon!

And here's a very cold and windy graduation pic just for fun!
insert husband here ^^^^^

We're Done!

What a week! Reed left (after finishing his finals-woo hoo!) for California on Tuesday for the MPSF quarterfinals against CSUN. He was so awesome to leave tulips and a graduation shirt for me when I got home that night. My parents got in town on Wednesday for all the graduation fun. One problem...they bought a painting at the BYU Bookstore before they realized that it wouldn't really fit in their car for the drive back to California! But Dad is an excellent packer, and made it work.

Thursday was the big commencement ceremony (I'll post some pictures later when I get them). I was not so excited to go and did everything I could to get out of it. But nothing worked. It was cool to hear our speaker, Elder Bednar speak. I just wish I would've been able to stay awake for the whole thing! Thursday night we had Reed's mom, little sister, and older brother and his family all came over to watch the CSUN game on my computer (only available on the internet). We had a lot of fun together and the Cougs swept the Matadors to advance on to the MPSF Conference Championships! Way to go!

Friday was the smaller individual college ceremonies. I didn't care much for the strange musical number or depressing speech (she basically told us that just because we graduated that it doesn't mean we have an education), but they did say my name right! My parents had to leave Friday so Ryne and Trae wouldn't be at home alone for too long. It was great to have them out here and I'm thankful for the sacrifices they made to do so.

Saturday Reed's mom took us to breakfast at Kneaders-soooo good! I forgot how incredible that place is! Then we went to the dinosaur museum in Lehi. The kids loved looking at the dinosaur bones! Then we headed back for some lunch and for Marie to use up the rest of her meal plan before she left for the summer. So we pretty much have like 25 bottles of BYU chocolate milk in our fridge! That is good stuff!

We ordered pizza, drank chocolate milk, and watched the championship game against Pepperdine on my computer. We won the first 2 games, but lost the last 3. BYU lost it's chance at an automatic bid to the Final Four, but was hoping for an at-large bid. Unfortunately, they were cheated out of that and LBSU got it. So that's it. Our volleyball season is over. We're bummed, but we're also excited to have some weekends again. Now we're just waiting to see when Reed gets to come home...hopefully soon! It's been a hard week to have him gone. But I'm so proud of how well he has done this season. He has worked very hard and has had to put up with a lot of stuff with the coaches, but has always kept a good attitude (he has certianly handled it much better than his crazy wife!). I love you Reed and hurry home!