Our New Arrival!!!

After many discussions and Ryan leaving a different picture of a chocolate lab on the computer every night for me to see, we found a puppy. I've been completely against it from the beginning but am softening. I loved my lab, Sandy. She was part of the family. I can tell our new puppy will be no different. It does seem to feel like I have two babies now; they both cry, both fight, and both want all my attention. But they both give the best kisses and puppy dog eyes. :) Every morning when Raiyah wakes up she starts yelling, "Doggy, Doggy" and runs around the house looking for her. And then the rest of the day they are inseperable. The only issue at this point is that sometimes Raiyah just wants to be left alone and the puppy just wants Raiyah to love her. Like I said, just like having two babies. But it's been fun. Oh, her name is Bella, which means Beauty in Portuguese. We think it fits her nicely.

Raiyah just loves showing off. Her favorite thing right now is twirling.

Wild Horse Canyon

We went on our favorite hike with the family in Wild Horse Canyon in Southern Utah. A lot of my Flanders Cousins, My friend Max Laforet, Cour D'Alene, and My immediate family all went. We had so much fun camping the night before and getting up early to hike. Raiyah loved dirt, and rocks. It was funny going down with Ryan since we both went with Young Men and Young Women growing up in our Ward. I love hiking with my wonderful family. Is there anything better?

HOGLE ZOO!!!!

We had so much fun hanging out at the zoo with our
family today. How lucky we are to have so many
cousins. The group picture is my cousin Marie (Flanders) Mchelson with Mara. Then Ashley (Foster) Flanders with Mykell. Me and cute Raiyah. Sara Martin with Jack. And my Sister-in-law Allison with Abigail and Lauren.
Aren't they so cute!





Raiyah loves the "Ghost Alligator," and drinking from the good old Lion's mouth with Abby.














Raiyah's favorite animal at the moment is the monkey. She carries hers around everywhere and signs it every chance she gets.








We bought a season pass and can take a guest and their kid anytime. Come join us any time you want. It's lots of fun.

Viewmont Viking Rugby

I wanted to put this picture up and just say how proud I am of Ryan and the Viewomont Rugby Team. Ryan didn't think he would have enough time to coach a team this year but knew that if it got started he would support it as much as he could, and is really looking forward to next years season when he can spend a lot more time with the boys, because he will be graduated!!! So this was the first every Viking Rugby Team and they did really good for their first season. It will be fun to see the kind of fight they put up next year. They even have a home field now, which is the rugby field next to the Farmington Skate Park. They share this field with Davis's rugby team, which is Ryan's Alumni. Anyway, it's been fun seeing the boys play, and hear how much fun Ryan is having.

Hanging out in the BERMUDA TRIANGLE

I loved Bermuda. Everything was perfect. All the locals were so friendly and welcoming. We enjoyed just being carefree and riding our scooter everywhere. My favorite thing of the whole trip was being with my wonderful hubby all by ourselves.

This was our favorite spot. We found it our first day. It's Heydon's Chapel and was built in 1604. It's very beautiful. The whole village uses it everyday. They get together for morning prayer, afternoon chant, and night prayer. What a cozy village it was.



Gibbs Light House is the oldest, and I think the only working cast iron light house in the world. It was really fun to go into.

All of the houses are perfectly white on the roof , with gutters doing a maze into a basin (each person catches and saves their own water). The yards are mostly perfect little patches of grass with perfectly painted houses.

We won a cruise to Bermuda from Stampin' up. It was for Iraq Veterans. What a wonderful person the owner is. She donated so many of these trips to veterans. We were so grateful.

This is the Crystal Caves. Two little boys found them years ago by chasing after their ball that fell down a hole about 150 feet down. They climbed a rope down and found the cave and a big pond from the ocean. It's beautiful.

I think St. George was my favorite city. It had cobblestone streets tons of beautiful shops, old churches, fortresses, and colorful houses.

This was an old unfinished church. My first thought was of the movie First Knight. I love romance. It was fun feeling like Ryan's Princess and just hangin out in here all by ourselves.

So I always thought Bermuda was a Carribean Island. I was totally wrong. This island is totally different from any other I've been to. I loved it for it's uniqueness. The whole island is 21 miles long. It only took us about 1.5 hrs to drive from one end to the other. They only rent scooters to tourists which I loved. Ryan thought it was his duty to use it as his dirt bike (never buy a rental I'm sure all men use them as their off road vehicle). Every day we went out and explored, our favorite was finding old churches, or abandoned houses and riding our scooter on the old railroad trail. The beauty was so different and clean from most places I've been. The water is more blue than anywhere else I've been. At night we headed back to our cruise ship to eat a good meal and get a good nights rest for the next day.

We went scuba diving to a ship wreck. How cool is that! Where else are their ship wrecks all around the island. We drove right through the Bermuda Triangle, and dove to one of the ships who have been mysteriously taken. :) Ryan got the gash from us snorkeling at Chruch Bay. The waves were huge and I was knocked right onto Ryan who then hit right onto the coral. But wow it was beautiful. The fish were huge and bright as well as the coral. I was just glad the bleeding didn't attract sharks to eat me.

New York New York

TIME SQUARE

CENTRAL PARK



New York Temple: How awesome it was to be walking amongst gigantic buildings and then spot the Angel Moroni. Wish we would have had more time to go in, maybe next time.

This is the second time I have seen the Statue of Liberty. I was surprised at how my emotions were stirred just as strongly as the first time. I cannot imagine what this statue has meant to so many people over the years. The freedom we have in this country is something I hope to never take for granted. What a wonderful gift from another country that we were able to help win their freedom back. I didn't know this statue was in Paris, when I saw it there it took me by surprise. I remeber feeling the same leap in my heart of gratitude for all it symbolizes. What an incredible country we live in.


Our cruise took of from New York City so we had a day to explore. We had sooo much fun, although it was in the 30's and we just had jackets. The funniest thought kept coming to my mind, picturing Weston (Elder Jones) Ryan's brother wandering the streets of the big old New York. I'm happy he is in New York getting to experience a world like no other.


Did I mention I LOVE NEW YORK!!!! Of all the places I've been I get really giddy in New York. It just has the most awesome vibe. I would love to work there. We will see...

Overcoming my FEAR of WATER in Dominican Republic

Ryan and I ventured out and left Raiyah at home with Grandparents, and Penny. :) I was really nervous to leave her thinking she couldn't survive without me. But of course she is still breathing and thriving like she always does. We stayed at a Resort in Puerto Plata called, Sun Valley Resort. It's owned by a company we just invested in (cross our fingers it works). We were really impressed. It was absolutely beautiful. We went kayaking, snorkeling, waterfall hiking, boogie boarding, wind sailing; all the works. I've been afraid of water my entire life since almost drowning when I was around two. I don't remember this episode but involved my Uncle Gordon seeing my hat floating on the water and realizing I wasn't wearing it. Ever since I have been petrified of open water. Even seeing pictures of it makes me sick. But I have married a fish. Ryan would live in water if he could. So I am trying to support his likes, and I had a really good time doing it. There were a couple of times when there were huge waves coming at us on the kayak, or snorkeling past where I was sure Jaws would soon appear that I didn't think I would survive. But here I am happy I faced my fears. Dominican is beatiful. The exotic resort wasn't so bad either. :)