Life Lately...

Sooooo much has gone on over the last couple of months I don't even know where to start!  Well... for starters, Christmas was awesome and we had so much fun that we didn't take any pictures!!!  The good news is that we got a new camera for Christmas so we can now take hundreds of pictures!  So the latest and greatest in the life of Chris and Jen, WE MOVED!  It is temporary, but we are currently living in Jackson, Wyoming for the next 3 months!  Chris got the opportunity to manage an H&R Block office up here so we put life on hold and headed up here for our next great adventure!  So far it has been really good,  we actually get to work together which is tons of fun.  I work at the front desk answering phones while Chris is preparing tax returns.  I just got here this week so we haven't really been able to explore and see what there is to do up here, but we love this little town and are excited.  The bad news is that we were over a half hour late to work yesterday because of two fresh feet of snow!  We are probably the only people up here who don't have a 4-wheel drive car or snow tires.  I was very sad to have to put our lives back home on hold, I love my jobs and miss my family but it will be good for us to be on our own for a while. 

Chris digging out our car with our window scrapper

In the midst of this big change, we have been struggling with some health scares.  We don't know everything yet but the doctors think that Chris has a hole in his heart.  It has been very scary going through all these different tests and things but we had to put all that on hold as well to come up here so we don't have any definite answers yet.  Not only has Chris been having some scares, but one morning right before Christmas I actually had a seizure out of the blue.  We ended up spending my mom's birthday in the ER, all of my test results came back completely normal, but I literally scared Chris to death.  Although everything seems to be alright, I am not allowed to drive for the next 3 months which is the worst part!  Through all this, we have learned to be very grateful and rely on the Lord.  We know that everything happens for a reason and I know the Lord is only trying to teach us and help us grow.  We are so excited to get away for the next couple months and spend some time alone without the stresses of life.  That being said, we have plenty of room and would love to have visitors!  It is such a beautiful town up here and there is actually SNOW!

Chris hooked up to all these heart monitors, running on a treadmill 

Me in the ER (I was completely out of it obviously!)

I am way behind on my posting, but here is our trip to Seattle, Washington August 15th-20th.  My mother-in-law's Aunt and Uncle live up in Seattle on Lake Sammamish and we had the opportunity to go and visit them for a week.  When we first got to Seattle, we headed over to the ferry which took us to the San Juan Islands.  From there, we had the opportunity to spend a couple days on the island of Waldron which is clear up near the Canadian border.  From San Juan island, Aunt Joyce and Uncle Gary picked us up in their boat and drove us to Waldron island.  This island is only 4.6 square miles and only has about 100 full-time residents.  The roads are all dirt and the only public building is a school.  Although it sounds very boring, it was actually a gorgeous place and we had a lot of fun!  We spent a lot of time at the beach, hiking, and driving motorcycles. 

One of the days on the island we decided to head over to Roche Harbor on San Juan Island.  We got to go in some million dollar yachts which were absolutely amazing!  On the boat ride over we attempted whale watching, but had no luck:(.  

We spent one day in Seattle which was a blast.  We got to see all the touristy spots, the aquarium, the space needle, Pike's market, and Chris' favorites the Seahawks and Mariners stadiums.  

The last day we spent at their lake house on Lake Sammamish.  We went tubing on the lake and had a nice BBQ for lunch.

3 Years

Time sure does fly when you are having fun!  Three years ago today we were married for time and all eternity in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.  I am so lucky to be married to such an amazing man and I am so grateful for all the little things he does for me each and every day.  For our anniversary Chris planned a whole weekend getaway to Park City.  Not only did he plan it but he packed and got everything ready so I didn't have to do a thing!  We did so many fun activities and had a nice relaxing weekend, just the two of us!  Here is a brief summary of what we did: Toured Olympic Park, walked main street, shopped, layed by the pool, mountain biked, rode the lifts, off roading in the jeep, & just hung out!  Here are some pics:

Chris at the top of the Olympic bobsled track

Me at the top of the Olympic ski jumping track

Looking over Park City

Us with Canyons in the background

At Westgate Resort

Jeeping from Midway down through American Fork Canyon

Summer Fun!

I know I am so behind, but here is what we have been up to this summer:  As always, we went to Lake Powell with the Lohner side and had a blast!  I love my in-laws and we always have so much fun together, I am so lucky to have such awesome in-laws!  It was super windy all week so we ended up doing a lot of hikes.  Here are some pics:

For the 4th, we went to Stadium of Fire on the 3rd.  It was David Archuleta and Brad Paisley!  During the day on the actual 4th we went hiking with our friends Sean and Ariel to the top of Squaw Peak and then had multiple family BBQ's!

My First 1/2 Marathon!

So after Amber had Kaiden, she wanted to find some fun way to get back in shape so, we decided to try a half marathon.  Amber, Spencer, and I signed up for the Utah Valley Half Marathon back in April.  Although I didn't end up having too much time to train, it ended up being awesome!  It was easier than I thought it would be and I loved the atmosphere!  I finished 13.1 miles in 1 hour 41 minutes and 29 seconds, at an average pace of 7 minutes and 45 seconds a mile.  I was the 138th person to cross the finish line and took 5th in my age division and actually won a plaque!  The worst part about the whole experience was having to get up at 3:30 so we could ride a bus up to the starting line.  We started just north of the Sundance turn off up Provo Canyon and ended at the Provo Tabernacle.  They had porta-potties, water, Powerade and fruit every two miles and at the finish line.  It was tons of fun and I hope to eventually be able to do a full marathon.....but we will see ha!

Chris looked down for a second and missed me running by....at least he got my backside ha!

The three of us at the finish line

Life After School

So I thought that I would have so much time once I graduated but that hasn't happened yet!!!  I have been really busy with soccer lately, I play on a bunch of teams, as well as coaching which takes up a lot of time. Well, after graduation, Chris really wanted to get away for a couple days so we headed down to Vegas with our friends Sean and Ariel.  We stayed at the JW Marriott which was way nice and we pretty much just layed out by the pool and relaxed.  Unfortunately, I fried my stomach and was in pain the last part of our trip!  We had a lot of fun, but didn't really take any pictures.  Here is a picture of the pool though:

This last Sunday my family went down to Gunnison to visit my Great Grandma Nielsen.  She is such an amazing lady!!!  At 95 years old she is completely with it, she lives by herself and is able to pretty much do everything without help.  It has been a long time since I have been down there to visit her so the whole family decided to go down and have dinner with her.  While we were there we decided to go and see my Great Grandpa's old farm.  When he was alive, he made his living as a farmer.  Although the farm is no longer in the family, my Grandpa and Dad know the owner and he let us walk around and see   the old house and shed.  It was really neat to see some of my family history and hear the stories that my dad and grandpa remembered about growing up and spending time farming.  While Dad and Grandpa visited with the owner, us girls had some fun doing a photo shoot.

Chris loved the tractor

It was very windy!!!

The outhouse is still there!!!

GRADUATION

Finally my school years are over!  I graduated on Friday, April 29th from UVU with my Bachelors degree in Behavioral Science.  I am so happy to finally be done.  I had tons of support from family and friends at my graduation ceremony and at the after party.  Thanks everyone for coming and sitting through boring graduation!  After the ceremony, it was freezing cold so we only took a couple pictures.   After that, we headed over to my moms for a some food.  Tons of people showed up and it was fun to be able to visit for a while.   

   

Me receiving my diploma!

My supportive husband

The whole gang!  (Thanks everyone for coming:))

Me, Shayli, and Kandace at my moms afterwards