March Madness

Even though March Madness has to do with basketball, it truly describes our month as well!  With snow finally showing up Bryce was swamped at work while school was in the heart of the semester.  I was also going all over the place and trying to remember what day it was.  We did have some fun times despite it all.

Ski day!  Last year we took my dad skiing and he enjoyed it so much he did what he does best - invites the rest of the family for the next time!  Chris and Shea came up for spring break and Lindsay was able to come as well.  It was a beautiful day of spring skiing!  I was impressed with my sister who hasn't skiied since junior high and what I remember of that day was her throwing a tantrum on the mountain side and fighting with my mom.  Needless to say I was nervous what was going to happen!  She did excellent - everyone did!  Even Susan who brought us hot chocolate, hot soup, sandwiches, chips, drinks, and treats.  It was amazing - I don't know how she does it.  We skiied the whole day and then went back to rest and later had dinner that Susan once again whipped up for all of us.  I justify it saying we burned a lot calories.  I'm so grateful to Bryce for getting us all of the passess and equipment - it makes skiing an activity all of us can do!

Star Valley Wyoming - our friends, the Jessens, invited us to their parent's cabin in Wyoming and we happened to have the 4 days off when they said they were going.  The cabin was beautiful and so was the landscape.  There are a lot of Bagleys in Star Valley and at the first place we stopped when Bryce paid for something with the credit card he was bombarded with questions asking if he knew so and so's friend or so and so's teacher, etc ha ha.  Unfortunately Bryce doesn't really know anyone there ha ha.  We went shopping in Jackson Hole one day and I loved it!  Especially the boutiques where there are a lot of cute items that are one of a kind.  We ate at unique places to the town and walked all over.  We saw mountain goats, tons of elk, and a moose on our drives from place to place.  We rented a ridiculous amount of movies and played SO many board games.  We must've played Sorry at least 10 times and I learned that Taboo gets my adrenaline pumping.  We slept in every day, we also got to go sledding, and even went to church which I loved.  Sarah had overly planned our meals and one night we had grilled salmon, grilled asparagus, and cheesy potatoes.  I'm drooling just thinking about it now.  They grilled chicken especially for me because I don't like fish, but once I tried it I actually liked it!  The Jessens love to fish so it was what they'd caught themselves.  We kept saying we didn't want to go home, but alas the time for that came as always.  They said the summers there are fun as well so hopefully we get to go back!

Kelly Clarkson - My mom and sister have birthdays just days apart from each other at the end of March.  I always try to go see Kelly Clarkson when she comes to town because I love her so much and I was glad my mom's birthday was close to it so I could use it as an excuse to buy tickets!  My mom took me to her last concert for my birthday so I thought it would be fun to go again.  Of course Kelly rocked the house sounding EXACTLY like she does on her album - maybe even better because she does all sorts of freestyling.  We had great seats and sang ourselves hoarse.  It was such a great concert!  Lindsay turned 20 a few days later and we celebrated by going to Red Robin and eating disgusting Key Lime cheesecake that Lindsay wanted ha ha.  She's probably the only one who likes it, but that's what birthdays are for!  On Sunday Susan cooked dinner for 20 people to celebrate Lindsay's birthday.  It was definitely chaotic, but fun!  I can't believe she's already 20 - that means I turn 24 way too soon.  For her birthday we decided to do something fun together so it looks like pedicures and Zumba will be happening sometime in April!

And finally - we are Hunger Games fans (of the books not the literal event) and were so excited for the movie.  I had to sleep after a night shift the day it came out, but woke up so we could go to a matinee showing at the Gateway.  I loved it - it sounds like most people did as well.  Of course there are always those comments that the book was better, but that's why you have the option of doing BOTH.  I was surprised by my emotions that I felt during the movie that I hadn't in the book.  It's interesting that the different media can change that.  It was uncomfortable and heart wrenching to watch some parts of the movie even though they depicted exactly what the book was saying.  We took trax up to Cafe Rio and met the Leishmans there - delicous as always.  I could eat there 7 days a week - not kidding.  Then we went to the Jazz game vs the Denver nuggets.  We got to sit in a suite and it was pretty awesome!  We cheered a ton and watched them win the game.  It was a great night!

February Fun

The highlight of February is a tie between Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day.  Most people would say there is no comparison, but not in my family.  We cooked ourselves up a fat groundhog (aka Susan made her delicious meatloaf) and when we were good and full we had a ridiculous amount of treats with dad's homemade popcorn while watching Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day.  We watch it every year - I have way too many lines memorized - but I still find it so funny.  Susan hates the movie which just makes it more hilarious because we insist she participate in the tradition.  Until Hollywood makes another movie about Groundhog Day we are stuck with the same one!

For Valentine's day Bryce planned a surprise and woke me up to take me to get a couple's massage!  It was definitely the right time for this!  I didn't realize that even though I feel like I can handle my schedule well - slowly but surely the stress creeps up on you and your muscles hold a lot of tension.  I felt like a new woman afterwards!  Bryce decided to sluff school and we spent the day together.  For dinner we went to Fleming's at the gateway.  Never in my life would I pay that much for food, except we had a giftcard.  However, it was by far the BEST steak I've ever had in my life.  It didn't even need ketchup!  Ha ha.  Then we went and saw the movie The Vow.  We both were looking forward to it and the previews had me fooled.  Bryce and I had researched the actual couple the movie was based on and their story was so inspiring and they fought for their marriage and then you see the movie....I won't spoil it for you, but it was a let down.  It was still worth seeing considering both of our celebrity crushes were the stars :). 

And on President's day we went skiing with the some of the Bagley's!