Swimming with the babies

Today I also want to blog about this. Mostly so I can procrastinate studying, but also because it's more fun than memorizing my physiology words.

When I married Justin one of my favorite things I got from him were his nieces and nephew. I loved kids to begin with (which is why I always find myself babysitting or nannying) but these kids blow me away. They are so much cuter than any other children. I LOVE THEM!!! Ashton is four and is the oldest. He's so funny. When I first met him he would throw tantrums by running headfirst into the wall. He would collapse on the floor and just lay there until someone paid attention to him. He called Justin "Papa Sustin" for the longest time! Oakley is the next one and she is two. She's just putting sentences together and she LOVES men. It's so funny to see how she gets all gooshy with Justin. She's a princess. One time Brandi (her mom) asked her "Do you want to be a dancer?" She said, "no." "Do you want to be a gymnist?" "No." "Do you want to be a model?" "Yeah!" And she could too. She would make all the other Gap babies look like Raggedy Ann. Rylee is the last one and she was born in November. She is the serious one but I'm barely starting to get her to smile. She is quiet and sweet and adorable.

On Saturday we took the two oldest to an indoor swimming pool. They were a little freaked out at first because they are Hawaiian. They are used to beaches and outdoor pools. Even though they've grown up in Utah their mom has made sure they kept their roots. Eventually we got them to play.

White Rim Trail!

For spring break Justin and I drove down to southern Utah with friends and family. It was the Einfeldts (minus Dave), Mike and Janine Pope, Tom Swallow, my dad and Justin and I. We decided to do the white rim trail (80+ miles in the backcountry) in three days on mountain bikes. Yikes.

I will be honest. I'm not hardcore. I would love to be but that requires time. Time requires sacrifice in school and work which I cannot give. So after coming out of hybernation from the winter time with virtually no physical exercise and lots of holiday treats we decided to ride the trail.

However, I'm proud to say that I rode most of it. I rode 90% of the first day, 100% of the second day and 70% of the third day. The third day I took it easy because my wrists were starting to hurt and being a massage therapist requires my wrists to be healthy. Let me just say, my sore butt and back couldn't hold a candle to the AMAZING scenery that we were surrounded in. Here are some of the gorgeous pictures:

Here are all the girls ready to go at the trailhead.

Here we are in our goofy jerseys riding the first day.

And here are the gorgeous views of some of God's best work.

Guess who's back?

WE ARE! Yes, after four months we've come out of newlywed hiding and are re-appearing on blogspot!
Actually, what really happened is this...
We got married in the middle of the semester. After the wedding we were thrown back into the middle of finals, papers, projects, etc. The Holidays came and now we had our Christmas shopping list doubled. Meanwhile, we were working like crazy. The honeymoon came and the last thing either of us wanted to do was blog.... so we skied/snowboarded! Then school started back up again and having a full load, I just never got around to it...
Basically our lives are consumed with work and school. Lots of things are being neglected... laundry, unpacking our stuff (there's still that one damn box in the corner that won't go away), exercise, thank you notes, writing missionary friends (sorry Evelyn and Adrienne!) and the oil change that the camry needs desperately... sigh. I'll never be super wife.
I would love to write a big long entry catching everyone up but it's late and I am still nauseous from the mashed potato quesadilla my friend from work made me five days ago. I'll condense it.

The end of fall semester: Great! Justin got an A in chemistry which is no small feat. I got good grades too, hurray! I was asked to be an anatomy T.A. but after learning that there are no monetary/tuition benefits and it would require ten hours a week plus my friday and saturday nights I had to turn it down. I guess I won't be spending my weekend nights with the cadavers. It'll just be me and Justin. (oh darn.)

The Holidays: Holidays as a married couple are great. Not only do you get to share it with someone, but on a more superficial (a.k.a. honest) note, you get twice as many presents!

The Honeymoon: We went to Jackson Hole where it was 15 degrees. But after two days and a night of skiing/boarding and snowshoeing I was happy. Besides it being national drunken college singles weekend, our resort was great. However, I was sick of snow by the end of the trip. Good thing we got to come back to Salt Lake to.... oh yeah, snow.

Spring Semester: First of all, why is called spring semester? Give me a break. There is only 3 weeks of spring and in Utah spring is cold! We've both got pretty heavy schedules. Justin's in calculus 2, chemistry 2 and evolutionary biology. I'm in precalc (which is tough for me), physiology, motor behavior and a really tough nutrition class. We're barely scraping by as spring fever is kicking in.

Spring break: Next week! Next week! Next week! Holy cow are we jazzed. A three day bike ride in southern Utah with friends and family is gonna be a blast! My butt is gonna fall off by the 100th mile, but I didn't need it anyway. The rest of it will be spent working a ton.

Well, that about sums it up. Pretty soon I'll have pictures of the White Rim trail up. Hopefully it's not gonna snow on us. My skin is in some serious need of sunshine and my body needs that vitamin D. It couldn't hurt Justin to get a little tan on.