Sunday, January 22

Coming Home...

I know I posted about my grandpa's book in a past post, but I just want to re-post about it to help get the word out.

My grandpa has written a handful of books and this is just another great addition to his collection. 
"A hardy story of Kalev's flight from communism during World War II; his reunion with his family after decades of separation; and a powerful tribute to the people of Estonia and their fight for freedom." - Lester Perry

Here is the official website where you can read the first chapter, get to know Charles Kalev Ehin, and even order the book for yourself. I was lucky enough to get an autographed copy in person :)


There is even a documentary being worked on by my cousin Matt Sampson who works at Fox 13. 

My grandpa has such an amazing story about his personal strive for freedom as well as Estonia's.

I hope you enjoy :) 

Monday, January 2

Holiday/New Year Festivities

Man I really wish that I had had internet connection down in St. George this past weekend, now I'm way behind on posts and updates lol. So, I'll just have to summarize as best as I can :)

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On the 28th, my family (sans Ry&Mad) went laser tagging and out to dinner for my step-brother Sam's birthday. His birthday is the 29th but Tyson and I left for St. George/Vegas that day so we did it Wednesday instead.

Wish we had some pics from laser tagging - as ALWAYS, I completely lost. I feel like I'm always wrecking and then the scores come out and I'm almost dead last lol. Oh well, it's always fun though.

We went for some pizza at The Pie afterwards. Can't go wrong with this place! 
Accidently ran over his gift card :) ha ma bad
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN
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A LONG 4 and a half day weekend is just what I've needed. Sometimes you just feel like you're stuck in a rut of a routine with working everyday, and a mini-vaca is just what you need. 

I love road trips! I end up getting pretty A.D.D. but belting out my favorite songs the whole way down really helps to pass the time - Tys was a good sport for putting up with it lol. 

Friday, after getting some breakfast and Krave... 

.....we were able to meet up with Tyson's sister and her boys for a little bit before they drove up to Highland to see the Bucks. 
Mason loves his uncle Tys
Caleb is usually slow to warm up to us, but was a ball of fun the whole time :)
After a quick little visit, we made our way to Vegas for the night. 

I LOVE driving through the gorge from St. George > Arizona > Nevada. Minus the nauseous winding roads, the view is gorgeous.

Vegas is so much fun at night and the strip is 100% more manageable when it's not New Years Eve.

I love just walking around and seeing Vegas; not to mention I love people watching lol. Although at times, Tys has to tell me to stop staring cuz I kind of just zone out and stare for minutes at a time haha.
Love that we were able to catch the Bellagio Fountain show
"Is this the real Caesar's Palace?"
LOVE the Cosmopolitan Hotel
Walking 3+ miles probably wasn't the best idea for Tyson's newly healed leg, and my back was starting to kill half way through the night; could we sound any more like an old pair of crippled people? lol

But we finally made it back to the Monte Carlo for the Jabbawockeez show!

The show was SO much fun! I really loved it! The only problem I had with it, and Tys could tell it was bugging me lol, was the fact that the original Jabbawockeez crew from America's Best Dance Crew, has 6 members (1 died a few years ago)...

.... the poster in Vegas shows 7 members....

...during the show I kept counting 8 on stage at times, and when they did their final bow, there were 11 total Jabbawockeez on stage.

Helloooo.... the original crew is 6, lets keep it that way. I get that maybe they get tired and need a sub-in, but it was completely obvious to me when it wasn't the originals on stage. Maybe it's a dancer's eye, but the talent just wasn't the same. I would have preferred if they took their masks off at the end to ease my mind that I hadn't paid all that money for some fakes lol.

Overall, DEFINITELY a fun show though :).

New Years Eve was extremely chill for us. We seriously didn't do a whole lot besides eat, played some games, and watched a Jersey Shore marathon to pass the time before the countdown lol. We're super exciting... we know :).

But, HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!! 2011 was such a crazy year for us!!
*Wedding Plans
*Bridal Shower with friends
*Bridal Shower at work
*Bridal Shower with ward members
*College Graduation Ceremony
*Ryan and Madison got hitched
*Tys and I got married
*Tys left for the semester
*and we are finally back together to work on being married again lol

SUCH A CRAZY AND EVENTFUL YEAR!! Not sure if 2012 can even match up to it... although, we will be waiting for Ryan and Madison's baby announcement :). They want to start working on a family this year!!

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On our way back from St. George, we decided to stop at the Buck's house since a lot of the family was there. We had so much fun playing games with his grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, and family.

When things died down a bit, we decided to play some more Quelf before we left for the night. Yeah, we ended up playing until about 1:30am lol. It was so much fun though!

I had some hysterical video footage from my phone, but for some reason, when I tried to compile/edit it on the computer, it turned it all sideways - so annoying. But I did manage to get a few (appropriate) ones by themselves lol.

*If a Quelf card ever tells me not to laugh, I ALWAYS do! Without fail!

*Haylee & I had to play some leapfrog :)

*Tys had to instruct an aerobics class haha
Use your hands to tell a story
Wear a belt on your head like a ninja
You are twins conjoined at the hip
Dance like you are at the school prom 
Make up your own yoga poses and name them
Always a good time at the Bucks

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Well, today is my last day of freedom before heading back to a busy week of work. It's been a nice, long, much needed break. Off to have some dinner at my mom's to see the fam!

Hope everyone had really fun holidays! And I hope 2012 brings you what you want :)