My In-Laws are the Greatest!

This last weekend Joe's parents came to visit! It was their first trip to Utah and we are so glad they came. We had such a good time and wish that they could come more often. The weekend was filled with:

Hiking in the Canyon

Tucanos 

Bowling (Joe broke 200!)

Family Feud on the Wii

Touring SLC

Visiting the University of Utah

Zupas

Lots and Lots of Pinochle

Red Lobster

Words with Friends

Great Conversation

Beautiful Sunny Weather

I only got some pictures from our hike. We are so glad that Gary (Joe's Dad) had his hip replaced so he could join us! This is the farthest he has walked in three years. It's like he's a new man!

Joe testing the water. He said that the SNOW RUNOFF wasn't cold. Ha.

Gloria and Gary Flager

Me & Joe Flager

(Sorry it's blurry!)

Gary on the bridge

The stream was right next to the trail

Gary, camera-man

We had a great time with them here! We always loving having visitors, especially when they are family. We hope to see them again sometime soon!

We went searching for the sun.

I know that I should have blogged about this a long time ago, but better late than never, eh?  In May, Joe and I went on a Mexican Riviera cruise. We had yet to go on a vacation with just the two of us, and our honeymoon was just two days at the beach. So, we thought it was worth spending our tax return on this getaway. We had seven lovely days on a cruise ship with no places we had to  be and no deadlines to meet. It was FANTASTIC! We stopped at Caba San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. Highlights of the trip include:

Swimming with dolphins

Kayaking with a glass bottom kayak

All you can eat soft serve ice cream (Joe made sure to take PLENTY advantage of this)

Playing mini golf on the ship

Sleeping in and not feeling guilty of it

Para-sailing over the ocean

Chillin' in the hot tub

Awesome shopping (Well, this was a highlight for me.)

Formal dress-up dinners

Meeting new friends

Wonderfully warm weather

Snorkeling in a coral reef and seeing the most beautiful fish

Reading the entire Hunger Games series

Getting an incredible massage

Zip-lining in the jungle canopy

Towel animals

All you want room service

Being able to spent wonderful time with each other

We had a wonderful time and are so glad that we got to take a break. The only downer was that it ended so soon!

The first day at sea was cloudy, but the weather got better as we traveled more south.

It was mother's day weekend so this guy made an ice sculpture of "MOM." It was cool to watch.

Our lovely room. 

We got a yummy pina-colada in this fun coconut monkey!

We saw this cute guy in Cabo San Lucas.

Our ship: Carnival Spendor

Lovers Beach in Cabo.

Supposedly this is a really famous arch. I thought it was pretty.

I'm not  a fan of salt water, but it was worth it!

Getting ready to go para-sailing! I think Joe was a little nervous.

We had a GREAT time. I hope we can go on another cruise someday!

Are you Gorky?

iPhone auto-correct can turn any conversation into something hilarious. Here's a little snippet from a conversation between me and my hunk yesterday. You may not find it as funny as I do, but it had me laughing for a good hour. 

Notice the random insertion of what the hunk should eat for lunch. That's a common occurrence. Just to clarify, I am NOT a socialist. A little while later I got on Facebook to see that the hunk had updated his status to the following: 

 

That made me smile. :)

I have NO idea why my phone thinks "girly" should be "Gorky." When I googled "Gorky", it came up as a last names of a Russian socialist writer and an American artist from the 1940s. Who texts about those people on a regular basis that they would be programmed into iPhone auto-correct?

In any case, it gave us a good laugh.  

Thunderstorms

Right now I am sitting on my couch, snuggled up in the quilt my mother made me, listening to the most glorious thunderstorm. I absolutely  love thunderstorms. I love them because they remind me of how marvelous and powerful nature is, and how small I am. I also love the memories that thunderstorms bring to me.

I remember as a young girl, my sisters and I would wait by the window to see the lightening until the thunder cracked. Then, we would run as fast as we could to our bed and hide under the covers until we gained enough courage to venture out to the window again. We would do this over and over, laughing the whole time, until the storm was over.

When we were a bit older, ages six or seven, we would pretend to be on a ship in the sea during a horrible storm. We would rock back and forth on our big rocking chair that my great grandpa made, pretending that it was a ship being tossed in the waves. Mother had a candlestick holder that we would hold and it made the imaginary scene even more real to us. The thunder and the lightening added the final touch to our adventure. I can still hear Cecily yelling, "Beware the rocks off the port bow!"

As a teenager, thunderstorms meant that swim practice was over. Some of you might not know this, but I swam competitively for ten years. I was even captain of my high school swim team my senior year. I was never very good, but I had a lot of fun. In Sacramento, most of the pools, including all the ones I swam in, were outdoor. So, we swam in all kinds of weather. Rain. Hail. Wind. We braved it all. The only weather that would force us out of the pool was lightening. I remember swimming laps and hearing the crack of thunder. My coach would blow the whistle and we would jump out of the pool as fast as we could. After all, we had been told how people who swim in thunderstorms always get struck by lightening and drown and we weren't going to let that happen to us.

In Oregon, there were lots of thunderstorms. I have a lot of sweet memories of watching thunderstorms with Joe when we were dating and engaged. Thunderstorms make for perfect snuggling weather. We would make hot chocolate, cuddle, and talk for hours. Those were some of the best days of my life.

The rain has slowed down and its been awhile since I've heard a crack of thunder.  I think I can see some sunlight poking through. That's the thing with thunderstorms--they never last forever. Soon the sun comes out and the sky is calm again.

I'm a Lucky girl.

Finals tally: 2 papers done, 3 tests taken, 1 test to go.

Yesterday I had my last scheduled final. It was in my favorite class--immigration law. It was three hours of non-stop crazy typing and I loved it. All I have to say is I better get a good grade in that class. After the final I came home and fell asleep for 3 hours. It was an afternoon final, which  means I feel asleep around 6pm. I was so tired. After 4 nights of 4 hours of sleep each, my body just crashed. I don't know how new moms do it! Anyways, I woke up at 9pm, completely confused, watched a couple of episodes of Criminal Minds, then went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 9:30am this morning. It was amazing! I had forgotten what it was like to get more than 6 hours of sleep at a time. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I just have to finish this take home final and I'll be free!

Oh, and want to know why I am such a lucky girl? Because my husband knows how to make me happy when I am "a train wreck," as he calls it. He brought home this lovely box of my favorite Lucky Charms and said I didn't have to share. What a sweetheart. I love that man.

Now this is what I call March Madness

Before I became Mrs. Flager, I didn't know that much about sports. However, being married to the biggest sports nut I know has quickly changed that. This is the first time I have EVER filled out a March Madness bracket. Heck, last year I didn't even know what March Madness was. (It's the college basketball playoffs for those of you like me.) 

Anyway, the law school has a bracket pool and I thought it would be fun for Joe and I to fill out some brackets and see how we did against each other and the school. I am Flager1 and he is Flager2. Will you look at that! I'm beating him! Now, that may not seem like a big deal to many of you, but believe me, it is. Joe is so good at everything, I feel like I can hardly keep up. So when a moment like this occurs, I have to glory in in it!

By the way, can you believe that I am third out of everyone in the law school? Neither can I.

P.S. I am SO proud of my BYU cougars making it to the Sweet 16! Go Cougars!

Happy March everyone!

(Disclaimer: Joe may have helped me a bit in putting the bracket together. But, I assure you, it is my own picks that are putting me in the lead. )

There's a Ute in our house.

Joseph Flager: Graduate student.

That's right, Joe got into grad school! He'll be getting his Masters of Accounting (MACC) from the University of Utah. He's doing the part-time program. So he is still working full-time for the police department (Did I mention that he got hired on a permanent basis which means he got a raise and full benefits? YES!) He is taking two classes a semester, but with all the work that entails, that means he doesn't get home until 10 pm Tuesday through Friday. He will graduate in the spring of 2012, so we will graduate at the same time!

I am so proud of my sweet husband.

Lagoon.

Joe and I took a Saturday in August and headed to Lagoon in northern Utah. It had been YEARS since I had been to a theme park and so we thought we would check it out. Discounted tickets from Costco made it TOTALLY worth it.

I don't know if you can tell here, but it was a REALLY hot day and we got PLENTY of sun. The rides were a blast although I think I've lost my edge. Roller coasters are WAY scarier that I remember. 

We went to this "Circ de Ole" type show. There we tight rope walkers, crazy jugglers, and this lady who could bend her bodies in ways that I never thought were humanly possible.

FUNNEL CAKE!

Have you been on the rocket? It just might be the scariest thing I have ever done.

There are two rides. One that shoots you up and then you free fall, and then another one that brings you up slowly and then drops you.  We went on the one that shoots you first and I have never screamed so much in my life. It was a little embarrassing cuz I must have been pretty loud. People in the line waiting were clapping for me when I got off. I was still shaking a half hour later. Later that evening, we went on the one that brings you up slowly then drops you. Although they were having some technical difficulties but before we got on, everything was fixed (so they said) by the time we got on. Needless to say, that didn't help my nerves. As we were waiting to go up, I was overcome with a sense of PANIC. What was I thinking?! I screamed the whole way down and after we had gotten off the ride and walked out of the earshot of other patrons, I just burst into tears. I don't know what came over me! It was the shock of it all, I think. My crying scared Joe a bit. But he put his arms around me and all was well. I have NO IDEA how I am going to use the skydiving gift certificate I got for Christmas this last year.  

We had a GREAT time and even though I got pretty freaked out on the rides, I certainly would do it all over agian!

Is it too late . . .

. . . to blog about our Fourth of July? Well, if it is, Oh well. I'm going for it anyway. 

We had a lovely picnic dinner at Rock Canyon Park that consisted of hot dogs, corn on the cob, and a DELISH strawberry and grapefruit salad.

Allie and Chris were able to enjoy the holiday with us. We sure love having family close by!

Joe and I were played several games of Yahtzee to keep us entertained as we waited for it to get dark. This is his game face.

There was also a rendition of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It was a really great performance. Can you think of a better backdrop than those gorgeous mountains?

The sunset was STUNNING and a show of its own.

Of COURSE we HAD to have s'mores. It's TRADITION you know. Our mini BBQ was the BEST investment.

Have you ever tried a Reese's s'more? Simply DIVINE.  

We had a PERFECT view of the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire in Provo. We got to see the beauty of the show for free!

You have no idea how many tries it took to get all four of our faces in the picture. Out of eleven takes, this was the best one (meaning it was the only one where someone wasn't cut out).

Sparklers are my favorite part of the Fourth. I just can't go a year without them. There is something so magical about holding a firework in your hands. And you can take pictures and write with them.

J is for Joe.

Love.

M is for Meg.

Joe made this cool star. We had a great holiday!

I am so grateful for this country and the freedoms we enjoy! I'm so proud to be an American!