Las Vegas 2011

This past weekend we went on a short trip to Las Vegas with our friends Mitch and Amanda. We left Saturday night and came home Tuesday night. It was a quick trip, but we had lots of fun.
We stayed at a super sketchy hotel called Imperial Palace. But you can't beat $25 a night on the strip so I can't complain. We went to the M&M Store, the Coke Store, rode the roller coaster at the New York, New York, went to breakfast Sunday morning with our friends Cameron and Lorna from our ward, toured almost all of the hotels (Our favorite is a brand new hotel called Cosmopolitan. Ssssoooo neat. Maybe mostly due to the fact it's only been open for about 4 months and the smell of cigarette smoke hasn't seeped into everything in it yet...), walked down Fremont Street, and even gambled a bit. Sshhh, don't tell! Haha ok so it really wasn't a big deal. Riley and I each allotted ourselves one dollar to gamble in any way we chose. We ended up winning $35 playing video blackjack! Sweet!
Things to remember for our next trip to Las Vegas:
1-Pack as much of your own food as possible. $20 a meal adds up really quick!!

2-It's ok to splurge at a buffet. We didn't get to do that this time.

3-Free parking is never actually "free". Remember a bunch of smaller bills to tip the valet.
4-VISIT THE STRATOSPHERE

5-Don't spend time in stores in Las Vegas that we have here at home. Not worth the waste of time.

6-You can't look ANYWHERE. I came close to attacking the dirty old men (and women) handing out the sick porno cards at every corner. The buildings have half naked people, the ground is litered with pornography, there are strippers pole dancing in most of the more raunchy casinos, etc, etc.

7-Remind Riley it's not ok to ask the concierge, "Is this the REAL Caesar's Palace? Did the REAL Caesar actually live here?"

We didn't take too many pictures of the trip but here are just a few! Enjoy!!

Grandpa Grose

I got a call on Saturday night from my mom while I was at dinner with my friend Sarah. She told me that my Grandpa had fallen while he was at a funeral and broke his neck, and my dad was on his way up to the hospital. Those were all the details she had at the time but told me she'd call me if she heard anything new. I remember my heart just sinking.

A few hours later my mom called me with an update. She said that my dad had returned from the hospital and told her my Grandpa was in really good spirits and shape, considering the fall. I guess he was at a funeral earlier that day and had leaned up against a wall to support himself. Turns out the "wall" really wasn't that at all, but rather a door that wasn't latched. He ended up falling head over heals down 8 or 10 stairs. Initially he went home really sore but that was that. One of my uncles ended up deciding he needed to go to the hospital and a few x-rays later they discovered he had clearly broken his neck.

A surgery and a few pain pills later, here's my sweet Grandpa. Happy as ever! He was in great spirits through the whole thing and has made an INCREDIBLE recovery. You can definitely tell that my Grandpa is a very loved man. When I went and visited him on Sunday I counted 16 family members in his little room. Every time the nurses came by they'd be a little surprised at the party going on in room 2202!

He's such a funny guy. He kept telling the nurses they should've just installed a "zipper" on him so he wouldn't have to go through all the surgeries anymore. He also said when he left the hospital he was going to go right back to "riding my fourwheeler", meaning his walker, of course ;)

He was incredibly excited on Thursday about his balloon horse we picked him out at the gift shop. He said it could be his ride home. Doesn't look too weight-bearing to me...He also had a huge grin on his face when the nurse came and brought him his lunch that day. Apparently he'd been ordering a cinnamon roll the last couple meals but they were all out. But they'd managed to snag him one for his last day and he was so happy he could hardly stand it.

My Grandpa Grose is an amazing man and such a wonderful example to his family. I've never heard him say a single negative thing about another person in my ENTIRE life. He is so dedicated to his family. I can't remember a single piano recital or choir concert of mine he didn't attend. I've lost count at how many first cousins I have, so to have him there to support me always meant a lot. He is the perfect example of living a Christ-like life. He served multiple missions with my Grandma before she died and he is always either at the temple or doing family history work online in his spare time. I watched him bow his head and say a silent prayer before he ate his lunch, even though I heard him say just a minute before how hungry he was.

If I'm half the person he is when my life is over I'll be happy. I'm so grateful it wasn't his time to go, yet. The world isn't quite ready to let him leave and neither am I!

Valentine's 2011

Riley had to work all day so what did I do to pass the time? Procrastinate! I had bought him a nice button up shirt a week or so ago but that was the extent of my Valentine's Day planning. So..pretty last minute I decided to buy some cupcakes and pick up takeout from Riley's favorite restaurant, El Matador.

It was quite the adventure keeping Benny out of the cupcakes and food for the ride back but we somehow made it back safe. Riley beat me home and I was greeted by flowers, a card, and a movie from Redbox. Aww... ;) So we spent the night together enjoying the food, the sugar, the movie, and eachother's company. Hope everyone had as fun of a day as we did!!


These are the pretty flowers Riley bought me
The yummy cupcakes! Red Velvet Cake, Raspberries and Creme, and Chocolatey Caramel....

Funny story behind the card. Riley handed it to me and prefaced it with, "I didn't even read what the card said, I just saw the picture of their feet touching and decided it was perfect."
I've told people before, but Riley can't sleep unless his feet are somehow contorted to be touching mine. Cute.

Kenzie's Farewell and other such adventures!

Sunday we had the opportunity to go to my friend Kenzie's farewell! I'm SO excited for her, she's going to be such a wonderful missionary. We'll all miss her here but the people of Missouri are going to be so blessed to have her!

Bit of a reunion of sorts!

Rachel, Linsey, Kenzie, Alicia and I.

It was such a beautiful day that we couldn't resist going out for a spin in the Jeep.
(When I say beautiful that just means it wasn't single digits outside)

We also took Ben to the park. He LOVES running around fetching his beloved tennis ball.

I absolutely LOVE this picture. These are definitely my two favorite boys!

Our Christmas and New Year 2010

I just have to preface this with the fact that I've been a horrible, HORRIBLE slacker as far as pictures are concerned. But we had a wonderful Christmas nonetheless.

We woke up around 9 and opened the gifts we got for eachother. I got Riley some Jeep accessories like a shirt and some stickets, some KC lights for his Jeep and a few movies. He got me the Glee Christmas CD (yay!), some movies (those were considered gifts for both of us), and a Pandigital reader! Just like the Kindle and Nook, except it's in color! Love it!!

We went up to my parents after gifts for our annual Christmas breakfast. We had yummy breakfast casseroles, apple cinnamon french toast, and bacon. My parents got Riley a gift card to Home Depot, each of us a book, my mom got me a gift card for a massage, a Fh'zookie maker, and they bought me my own tackle box and fishing pole! Haha!! Carter got Riley a quesadilla maker since he insists on eating at least 4 every day for lunch and he's used it nearly every day since!

Later Christmas Day we went down to Riley's parents house for their gift exchange. This year was homemade gifts so we all had to be a bit creative. We had Austin's family this year for gifts so I made the girls each a few cute headbands, and Riley made a coupon for Austin and Shrena to have their DVD player installed in their car by him. Carolyn had us this year and she made us the coolest blanket ever!! One side has a big "D" for Davis, and the other half as a "V"....for Viewmont....whatever. At least HALF ot the blanket is pretty awesome. It's going to be perfect to take to the football games next fall!
Skipping forward to New Year's, we did quite a bit of jumping around. We started out at Riley's parents house and I helped Jessie get ready for her big New Year's Eve party. We ended up at my Aunt and Uncle's house in North Ogden where we played some ping pong, ate some food, and spent time just being with family. I'll post the few pictures I DO have until I get home and get the rest off my computer.

New Year's Resolution-Be better at taking pictures. Done.

Benny in his Christmas sweater. Awww..

Next year we're doing a fancy tree!
Sniffing all the pine needles just in case...

During our 2 hour getting ready session. Yikes.

My parents at the New Year's Party!

Last picture taken in 2010!

Ringing in the New Year, Gold family style.

I had to threaten bodily harm if he didn't take at least ONE good picture with me for the New Year!

Temple Square 2010

Friday night we went on a big group date! First we went to dinner at a noodle house called "La Cai" down on State Street and 9th south. It was really yummy. I took a picture of the sign! Riley spent a good portion of dinner talking with Lorna's friend Sheila about Chinese food. He learned the fortune cookies and sweet and sour sauce are all American, and not authentic. I think his whole world was turned upside down...

Then we went down to Temple Square to walk around and enjoy the lights. We rode Trax from the library to the temple. Riley had never been on it before so that was interesting. Reminded him a lot of the subway in New York but a WWHHHOOOLLEEE lot cleaner. Before entering the temple grounds we got distracted by this man playing the bagpipes. We spent a good 15 minutes talking to him. Funny guy. He wanted to tell us ALL about his bagpipes and also a million jokes....

The temple never fails to disappoint! The pictures I took of the actual lights didn't really turn out all that great, but the temple itself is beautiful.

After we went to JB's for some hot chocolate and dessert. We went with our friends Cameron and Lorna from our ward, and they brought their friends Kylie and Craig. Kylie has a litttle 3-yr old so we spent the majority of that time talking to him. We learned that he wants "a sewing machine and some fabric for making clothes" for Christmas, and that babies come from Ikea! Who knew!!

Finals Week

This week was finals week for me. Even though I only took two classes this semester it was still pretty intense. This post will only focus on my first final because it's the only one I ever want to talk about again!

Final #1-Leisure in Your Life (Diversity requirement fulfilled. Really a fun class. We learned all about how to create fun in your life without relying on the TV, learned different varieties of leisure, and discussed the world's point of view when it comes to free time)

Final #2-Living with Quakes (This class was online. The first half was focused on volcanoes and the second was on earthquakes and tsunamis. Fulfilled an International Relations requirement. Class itself was good, but I'm preettttyyyy sure I failed the final. And I've never failed a final in my LIFE.)

This picture taken right before I left my car to walk to my first final. Notice the concerned look! HAHA.

This was me halfway to class, realizing I forgot how far the walk was and these boots were a bad choice.

Yes I totally took a picture of the building. Goodbye Orson Spencer Hall!! (for the semester, at least)

Annnddd, this was me POST final. Cute, huh?! Don't worry only like three people saw me totally taking a picture of myself in my car. I was relieved to be done, ok? Don't judge me.