Happiness is...

 

 

...New clothes/shoes, when you haven't had them in a long time!  Thanks to Mauri and Madison for helping me make such a tough decision :o)

we are the fair-est of them all

This weekend we went to the Utah State Fair in Salt Lake and it was SO fun!  We couldn't find any friends to go with us at the last minute but it worked out, because Zach's sister, brother-in-law, and their kids were up there at the same time so we just headed up to meet with them.  They left earlier than us but we stayed into the evening for the rodeo.  By that time our friends Lauren and Charley were able to meet up with us.  (Don't know why I don't have any pictures of that part!)  The mutton bustin' was hilarious though.  A sweet tiny little girl won!!  (If you don't know what that is it's where little kids ride sheep and whoever stays on the longest wins)  They were adorable and some ate it so hard but they were good sports about it and still waved at the crowd!

We didn't expect it to be so hot so snowcones were a MUST.  Zach looked so cute in his plaid shirt, jeans and work boots :o)

Baby Kaylie loved the snowcones too!  She kept grunting for more, although from these pics you might not think so.

This goat insisted on chewing the collar of the other one... so cute.  Maybe he was trying to help out.

I honestly think the animals were my favorite part, did you KNOW how huge dairy cows are?!  I couldn't get over it.  It was kind of scary, so the kids wouldn't take a picture this close unless I stood with them.  Ew my hair.

 We rode the big yellow slide with potato sacks!  It was a lot funner than I thought actually!

We all got airbrush tattoos cause I insisted to Zach I must have one.  He joked about me getting a tramp stamp but they were more expensive, so I got something equally as trashy.  I have declined to post a picture because it's a little embarrassing.  Hallie however INSISTED that her unicorn be on her back.  Hahaha we couldn't help laughing!  Chase got Mario (yeah!) and Tashina got this one which I thought was actually very fitting for her.

Kaylie sat like this for quite a while and got some laughs out of passers-by.  So relaxed.

Tashina and I were both relieved that Zach took the kids on this ride, they were spinning faster than anyone else, it looked absolutely sickening.  But they loved it.

Funnel cake... enough said.  mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Here's us just before the rodeo.  Finally cooling down!


The only part of the day that really bugged me was that Zach stopped to play this basketball game.  It was $2.00 to shoot ONE time, which he did, and missed, so then the guy talked us into paying $3.00 more to shoot two more times, which he missed again.  Then he wanted us to pay $5.00 MORE DOLLARS and literally the money was draining out of my wallet so fast I was super annoyed with him, what a rip-off.  Even as fair prizes go, the prizes for that one sucked!  "Win anything you see here!" he said.  I couldn't even spot the prizes at first.  Only a sports team blow-up chair or a giant sports team ball.  Zach doesn't even really LIKE sports.  So I was pretty bratty to the fair dude and said "No, we're done." and walked away while Zach apologized.  Haha but SERIOUSLY a freaking waste of money.  I did feel bad for being a brat though.  But for $10 I could buy a new shirt.  Not an ugly blow up sports chair that we have no room for.  Zach told me I needed to loosen up.  Whatever!  :o)  Ok I might have been a BIT moody that day too.

Overall it was a great day!  A lot of money but a LOT of fun!  Can't wait till we get to go again :o)

Just sayin:

We have no air conditioning in our apartment OR in our car (broken) so really there's not a lot of relief for us right now.  I drove Zach around/ran errands all day, which I don't mind doing at all except it's just disgusting at this point in the summer.  Not to be gross, but really, I get out of the car and wonder if people can SEE how sweaty I am.  Sick I know.  And then if I don't get shady parking spots, well I'm pretty much screwed.  So after dropping Zach off at work and running one more errand, I came home, stripped down to my underwear, turned on the fan and collapsed on the couch where I am currently eating sour watermelons and blogging instead of doing dishes, laundry, or returning something to Walmart.  And I don't feel guilty!

AND: why the heck is it now cloudy and thundering, I have been waiting for those clouds to get here all day, and as soon as I get HOME...  How completely ironically annoying!  Ha.  (Don't think that I don't recognize that maybe I just complain too much.  Hate the cold, tired of the heat.  I'm just never satisfied.)

So.  Love summer.
Ready for a break though.
Can't believe I'm saying that.

Sweet, sweet love

Today is a special day for the Moss family... it is Zach's parents anniversary (29 years), his sister/brother-in-law's anniversary (8 years), and OURS!  Two brief years of marriage but we have, literally, never been happier.  Every relationship and marriage runs its course differently, and for us it was a little bit of a rocky start but I am beyond grateful for everything we've learned together.  I am so blessed to have the perfect partner-in-crime, the exact person I need in my life to be strong where I am weak and vice versa!  Love you so much babe.

"My life was blessed and has been blessed for 29 years. I will never forget that day when an angel gave me her heart and I gave her mine." (Kurt Moss' facebook status today... does it get much better than this?)

the best thing about Utah is summertime!

Just a few short days after we left Washington, Zach's parents came down to Utah for his sister's birthday.  We just love Park City :o)  Except this time we stayed at a different hotel (Hotel Park City)

 I, once again, had to work all day Saturday but I drove up to stay late Saturday night and all day Sunday.  Unfortunately I missed the birthday festivities (presents and cake).  Sunday morning we made crepes for breakfast and then hit the pool before getting rained out.  Look how gorgeous it is:

Zach, always enthusiastic:

And nieces and nephews are always fun:

this one has a buddha belly that won't even stay inside her suit!  while this skinny little man is always freezing:

It was sadly the first time I've seen a pool all summer.  So I've spared you from my whiteness.

Anyway, for a date the other night we went to some of the homes from the Salt Lake Parade of Homes.  We went to about 4 I think since we only had a couple hours, and didn't want to drive all the way to North Salt Lake.  The first three were beautiful of course but fairly average in size, but the last one we saw was ah-mazing.  Check it out:

Ok let me give you the stats.  This house is basically in the middle of nowhere, actually somewhere on a huge hill above Herriman.  We saw deer on the sidewalk as we were driving up to it!  I was so excited about this.  This house costs $1.5 million and it's probably worth it... 2 staircases, 2 sinks in the kitchen, 3 balconies (one with an outdoor fireplace) and a fireplace in pretty much every room!  Including the master bedroom which I thought was awesome.  I lost count of the number of bathrooms.  And there was a sweet playhouse out back which probably cost as much as a regular house.  This was the view from all 3 of the balconies AND the front porch:

Such a fabulous waste of money!  haha.  That was a fun date for us.

So now to get caught up, yesterday was my birthday!  It's not getting its own post because I hardly have any pictures.  But I had the day off, so for lunch Zach and I went to Cafe Rio (never a disappointment).  Stopped at an outdoor sale on University/University where I got an adorable dress and a tank top for $10.  Later we met up with his sister Shae and our friend Pablo and drove up to Cheesecake Factory (MORE good food!)  Pablo was generous enough to treat me AND Zach to dinner and we didn't even have room for cheesecake.  I couldn't get a good picture of Zach and I because it was so shadowy in there, but here's a cute one of Mashaela and Pablo:

 Then we made a quick stop in the mall so I could get some new earrings.  Top it all off with a redbox and I was set... such a good day!  Now if only I could keep from turning 24.... OLD.  Next year will be absolute torture!

Took this picture for you, Mauri... Shae had this ring on and I immediately thought of you!

Seattle

So I'm a little behind, what else is new?  I need to blog about our trip to Seattle although the pictures have been on facebook for like two weeks.

So we went up to visit for the purpose of going to Jeff and Natalia's open house barbecue (which by the way the invitations were ADORABLE!) but also I had requested to see Seattle since I'd never been.  Zach's parents actually live in Puyallup but since we fly in to Seattle I always just say that.  And a very long time ago when we got engaged we went to the Space Needle and walked around/ate by the water, and rode a ferry.  But that still leaves downtown Seattle and the farmer's market which are must-sees!  So first thing when his parents picked us up from the airport we went right to the lightrail and rode into downtown.  Here's Zach's dad Kurt as we headed down to the marketplace.

But of course we were starved so we had to EAT.  Elyn had heard about this place:

which we found tucked away upstairs somewhere in a building, which was delicious and ended up having an awesome view:

which I would like to frame and put in my house somewhere, so I played around with it and I need to know which is better, the edited or the original?!  please vote.

Anyway so with full bellies we began our trek around the market, so fun and the most amazing flowers I've ever seen!  (we bought some:)

Also we bought some DELICIOUS smelling beeswax homemade candles from a very nice man who makes them with his family.  I put it in a glass votive in my bathroom and we haven't even burned it yet and it smells AWESOME.  Also people in Seattle are a bit weird.  But I loved it.  Check out these guys in front of the original Starbucks (line out the door!)  You had to tip for a picture, so Zach did and I... did.

We watched another guy do an entertainment show with a unicycle and juggling knives and things; again, people are super interesting there.  I literally think I ended up in a picture with two Asian chicks who sat down beside me.  But we had a great time.  Beautiful weather, too.  Love this picture:

Aside from that we had time to see Inception, have Sunday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, and Zach even got to play ball with his dad in the yard which I thought was just precious.  (Seriously... so cute.)  And check out those trees... only Washington!  So gorgeous.

And then of course there was the BBQ!  Here's the couple of honor:

and me and Zach:

and a cute picture of Zach to redeem him from that one:

there's a holiday for that?

I pretty much forgot that it was Pioneer Day on Saturday, I even forgot that I was allowed to wear jeans to work that day, which is a big deal!  Don't get me wrong, I love the pioneers.  Both my parents were converts but Zach's family actually has some real pioneer history which is super exciting to me.  Their lives fascinate me and I think frequently how there is definitely a reason I was born in this day of luxury and not during pioneer time.  I would never make it.  (I went on the pioneer trek to Martin's Cove in high school so I know this for a fact.)  Reading and hearing about the lives of early Saints, and the sacrifices they made can bring me to tears.  They really have a special place in my heart, I look up to them and love them and am grateful for everything they've done for the church and the country.

That being said, Pioneer Day still strikes me as a little funny.  Work closed early on Pioneer Day (but not on the 3rd, or the 5th of July).  Fireworks tents stay up throughout the month of July.  There's parades and rodeos and all kinds of festivities.  So I guess I shouldn't argue with having one more reason to celebrate.  Maybe it's just the fact that it's primarily a Utah holiday and nobody outside the state even knows what it is!  (Yes, that was me until I moved here.)

Anyway, so after getting off work on Saturday we drove to Spanish Fork for fireworks with some friends.  Even though it's just a few minutes away I've been to Spanish Fork all of about 2 times in my life, so we had a little trouble figuring out where we were going.  We argued about whether it was a "hick town" until we passed the "Wiggy Wash," and I guess that settled it!  We ate, played Sorry, and talked while we waited for the fireworks, which is pretty much all we ever do when we get together anyway!  Haha it was a fun night.

we brought deliciousness

matt and zach

so festive!  hillary, me and katherine

when I tried to lay on Zach's lap he kept smashing my face with his arm

...so I licked it (no shame!)

this is Matt taking Kat's picture.  a random little girl gave Katherine a picture that she colored, very cute!