Swagbucks Update

Just to let you know how fab Swagbucks has been to me, I've managed to earn $50 in Amazon Gift Cards!

I'm telling you, I NEVER type in gmail.com or hotmail.com into my web browser. I ALWAYS swagbuck it, and a lot of the times I win. I use it as much as possible, and it's paying off. Sometimes the search results aren't what I want, but I use it first before I google.

So what I can do with $50 in Amazon gift cards? Whatever I want! I get them in $5 increments, but I can apply as many as I want towards an order. So far I've used then to buy 2 items on Amazon and it was a breeze! Did you realize you can order food, diapers, and even Target gift cards all on Amazon?

Just a word of warning, the rules state you should only have one swagbuck account per household. Buck and I thought we were smart in getting two only to have his de-activiated one day and a $5 gift card gone.

Busy Week!

This didn't really happen this week, but since I rarely take pictures at work I thought I'd post a little something about what I do. This is in front of our office (obviously with a Boy Scout statue). The girl standing up on the statue with me just had a baby 9 days before this was taken! We got together because we won an award called the "High 5 Club" for starting five new Boy Scout units in one year.

But this week:

Temple #7: Mt. Timpanogas

Instead of just going with Matt and Jessica, we invited ourselves to Matt's family Temple trip. Thanks for letting us join you, Tiner's!

Happy Pioneer Day! Buck and I stopped by the much anticipated "Taste of the Valley" here in Provo. We sort of cheated the system (don't tell!) and only paid for one adult. I got all the samples, and anything I couldn't finish Buck ate. Seems honest to me!

There were only 25 vendors, and between 2,000 & 3,000 people, so we waited in a lot of lines. Much to our disappointment, many of the vendors that participated were national chains. We were hoping to find new local restaurants, but basically every place there we had already been too. Bummer! On the upside, for $10 we got WAY more food than either of us could handle. We basically ate lunch at: P.F. Changs, Tucanos, Goodwood BBQ, Sizzler, Gloria's Little Italy, Denny's, Spoon Me, Costa Vida, California Pizza Kitchen, Pizzeria Seven Twelve, Noodles & Co, and Froyo all at once! The "samples" were HUGE at some places, and just okay at others. I would recommend going sometime if you're in the area.

We also made it to a wedding reception! Below is Buck's beloved accounting group from the fall semester of the Junior Core. They really love each other. The one on the far right is getting married next week!

Here we all are together! Buck and I were particularly excited for the wedding since we've known both Glen and Jamie since before they were dating. Getting to see a love blossom is so fun! We're so excited for you guys!

We were pretty excited about their party favors...

Jones Cream Soda with pictures of the happy couple!

Here's to you, Glen and Jamie!

Happy Anniversary/4th of July/Honeymoon!

Two years ago we were married

and celebrated the 4th of July on our Honeymoon in St. John

Boy how the time flies! It's been a fast and fun two years, and we look forward to oodles more to come! In fact, instead of planning my wedding like I used to I've taken to planning our 50th wedding anniversary party.

Here we are bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 AM. The Balloon Fest is something Provo City puts on annually with the Freedom Festival. I LOVED it! You get to watch them blow up the balloons, take off, and return to the field you begin at to drop a "fox tail" (if you remember the Klutz yard game with the tennis ball with a tail on the back) on a gigantic "X" without landing. Pretty crazy stuff! It starts so early because as soon as the sun comes above the mountains the Earth heats up causing air currents which keep you from being able to navigate as well.

Our anniversary was technically on Monday, but because of my slack planning we didn't get a chance to do much. Instead we saved what we really wanted to do for the long weekend. We went on a fairly easy hike in Sundance (love it) to Stuart Falls. We packed a picnic to enjoy once we got there. The picnic consisted of chicken sub sandwiches and chocolate pear cake from our favorite french bakery, Elaine's. The sandwiches were out of the world! This pretty much made our anniversary.

After our hike we went to the movies! I know...gasp! I can't remember the last time we went to the real movies not counting when we got free tickets. Buck and I have decided to just be (very) patient and wait for them to arrive on Netflix. It's not too hard since we don't have TV so we miss all the previews. We ended up watching The Proposal which was cute.

Then for the actual 4th of July we just HAD to go to the parade. I love how the Provo parade actually has these blown up characters. We sit with a friend at her family's house, so for two years we have watched the poor parade volunteers struggle with getting these giant things around the street lights! Bless their hearts...

We headed to 7 peaks to polish off the sunshine, then headed over to the BYU campus to watch fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. Too bad it's Monday already...

Manti: Temple Trip #6 (of 12)

Growing up my favorite temple was always Manti. This is the picture I typically saw:

I thought it kind of reminded me of the Biltmore House (I guess because it huge, beautiful, and in the middle of nowhere) that I love so much. Pretty good guessing on my part considering the Manti Temple was completed in 1888 and the Biltmore House was built in 1895.

After all these years of looking forward to some day visiting this temple, I just want you to know it did NOT disappoint! It was magnificent. It's about 1 1/2 hours from Provo, but totally worth the trip!

The Tiner's!

We stuck around for the Pageant which was good if you like that sort of thing. This area of Utah is known for Turkey farming, so we just HAD to eat at the official Pageant Turkey Dinner...served in a Tabernacle/Church building no less. They served grilled Turkey which was really good, and even shared the recipe!