Family Reunion 2010

So it has been about 2 years since I have gone to one of my Family Reunions, and I finally had the opportunity to be able to see everyone again, well, most everyone cause many did not come. This year the theme of the Reunion was Family Survival. If a major crisis is to come within the next 10-20 years then we would be able to go to the Family Farm and live off the land there. We created a time capsule were we put survival things (knives, "How to live in the Wilderness" books, D.O., seeds, etc.) and letters to ourselves to what we are today to where we think we will be in 20 years.

Here we are signing all of our names onto the Time Capsule before we put in our letters and survival kits.

Sunday morning we had our famous breakfast at the farm. Since Jared is the newest member of the family, Uncle Bruce and Dad decided to pick on him and have Jared make the entire breakfast, for the most part. I think Jared has fun.

After breakfast we had our mini Sunday church service. Uncle Steve gave the lesson on the meaning of "One" coming from the word "Uni" and how many of the words we use today include "Uni" (Uniform, Unity, commUnity, etc). We had to run into the house in the middle of the lesson thing cause it started to rain. At the end of the lesson, Uncle Wade and Miss Liz renewed their vows in front of everyone. They figured it would be good since none of us were able to make it to their wedding. They have been married for nearly 10 years, time certainly flies by fast. From there we got ready for our hay ride.

Brandi, Meagan, Kalee, Kaleb and Baby Lane getting ready for the Hay Ride.

Along with Camille and Shani.

Also a new member of the family Baby Lane. This was the first time I got to see Baby Lane and can I say adorable.

He looks just like Lauren when she was her age. It was funny, while on the hay ride, Lane kept looking into the wind so he kept making this hilarious faces, trying to keep his eyes open in the wind.

And then there was the famous family marshmallow fight. The one thing everyone waits for at the end of the day.

The men, Jared was everyone's prime target. I wonder who got Uncle Wade right in the eye, it was quite funny.

I was happy that I got this action shot. Austin came up behind Meagan and completely nailed her in the face. This year rather than using flour which is what we usually do, Uncle Wade and Miss Liz put powdered sugar in with the marshmallows.

So I can definitely say that we all got pretty sticky in the end. Thankfully I was one of the cleaner ones of the group, but I got nailed right at the end. I wiped most of it off before the picture.

All in all I think we had a great time. Yes, we were sleep deprived once we finally made it home and crashed for several hours. And need I say, we traveled a ton; flights to and from Dallas, 8 hour trips to and from Arkansas, 4 hour drive from Rexburg to Salt Lake with stopping point in Logan, UT., and however many 30 minute drives it took to go from Grandma's house on the farm to Margarets and back. Yes, we did do a TON of driving, but it was all worth it, I believe.

The Ride of Silence

A year and a half ago, while my dad was participating in one of the many bike races in Texas, was nearly killed by being hit by a trailer pulled behind a pick up truck. Being thrown from his bike approx. 15-20 feet, with a couple of broken/fractured ribs and his pelvis a couple inches out of alignment and I am sure some other injuries. While dad was lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, the man in the truck got out of his car, and instead of making sure he was ok, accused my dad for riding on his road and how bikers should not be able to ride the roads. (Talk about a complete jerk right.) The only reason why my dad is alive and not paralyzed this day is because of his camel-back water pack and his helmet. His bike was all but bent in half, all gears and shifters destroyed, the water pack protecting his spine from futher destruction, and his helmet completely shattered. Doctors were surprised to see that dad could have survived the incident. The doctors gave my dad a 70-75% chance for a full recovery. My father to this day, is pretty much fully recovered and lucky to be able to continue participating in the sport he loves. If my dad were not as lucky, I would not have a father and I would not have been able to get my Father/Daught dance.

Today, a bike race called "The Ride of Silence" is a race in memory of those bikers who were killed or injured on the roads. My dad is one of those bikers who nearly losed his life and by the hand of God was saved. This year, my dad participated in the race "The Ride of Silence" and CBS a local newbroad cast crew did a small documentary about the race. In this race, they include information in my dads event because he is a survivor of many misfortunate others who were not as lucky. So please, share the road with fellow bikers and remember they are all father's and mother's, daughters and sons to someone.

Our 1 Year Anniversary Experience

I can not believe it has already been a year, time really has flown by fast. Well our anniversary wasn't as big as many other couples may have, but I can say that we had a complete blast. First we went to the Driving Range and we hit a couple of golf balls. It was only my second time ever to hit at the Driving Range, and I had a blast. Yes, I missed the golf balls all the time, and sometimes I would swing, miss, and end up doing a ballerina twirl from the force of my miss and hit swing :) I had fun, even though I did look like a dork swinging the #3 driver, and definitely wearing the wrong golfing outfit, but that is all I have; but don't worry I am in the market to finding some shorts.
I know it may be hard to see, but my golf clubs, I swear they are from the 19th century or something, they are old. As many of you know, I am the odd ball of the family; I'm the only lefty. Turns out that I am a lefty when it comes to swinging at golf balls too. Well, since golf clubs are expensive to begin with and I am unable to use Jared's golf clubs, we had to search elsewhere to find me my own golf clubs. So one day, Jared decided to stop by DI and magically found my left handed golf clubs. Granted they didn't have a full set, but apparently they had enough for an actual game of golf; a #1 and #3 driver, a couple of irons and a putter. And get this they were only $5 for the whole set. Yes they may be way old fashioned, but Im not complaining too much.
This is me, most likely a swing and a miss. And yes, I know I have horrible stance and technique, so don't judge me. I'm new at this. However I was lucky to get a couple of hits that went in between 100 and 150 yards, I was totally proud of myself :)

Jared on the small putting course. Not a fan of putting myself, I prefer Putt-Putt personally. It is a lot funner when there are obstacles in the way; and an excuse to my horrible putting skills.

Jared hitting the golf ball. I was so jealous of Jared cause he was hitting all of the golf balls like over 300 yards. So not fair. One day, I will be able to do that.

Jared is such a cutie. I just can't help but love him :)

Sometime suring the middle of our driving golf balls. Some friends of ours from our old ward showed up, so we got to hang out with them as well.

After golfing we stopped back at the apartment so I could change shoes, and so Jared could change shirts. From there we got the buy 1 get on free Jamba juice (which is definitely the best). Then we had lunch at Quizno's. I got the chicken carbonara sub and Jared got the Baja sub. They were so good. From there we went to Idaho Falls and did some shopping. I got some cute, white American Eagle capri's on sale, and a couple of shirts. Jared got another hat on sale for $5 at Aeropastal. From there we went and saw Iron Man 2, which was AMAZING!! Granted the first 45 minutes ticked me off, but it got much better from there. After the movie we got dinner at Red Robin's cause I was definitely craving their Southwest pasta. It those spiral type noodles with a salsa alfredo sauce with tomatoes, olives, grilled onions, and a side of sour cream (weird I know but amazingly good). After dinner we went home and got ready for bed. Jared surprised me with a full body massage, talk about amazing.

All in all, I think it was an amazing 1st year anniversary, and I am so excited for the years to come.

The Month of April

Well this month has been Cr@zY like non-other. The school semester ended, Jake (my brother-in-law) got married, Jared and I, by the grace of God, got the apartment we wanted to move into last minute, fishing and trying to find a job. There is so much to say, so I will talk it slowly and be brief :)

Jake got married April 16th in the Idaho Falls Temple at 12:30 p.m. to his bride, Emily. As of that day the Honsvick family is now complete with every member married. Those three days leading up to the wedding have been crazy and exhausting as well, last minute gifts and decorating. They had a beautiful, simple and elegant wedding.

Jake and Emily as they walked out of the temple together after being sealed for time and all eternity.

Emily's flowers turned out amazing. I helped her pick our the flowers and come up with an arrangement for them back in February. They were beautiful. And her dress was gorgeous as well.

Jared and Jake posing for the camera.

And I couldn't forget about Madison, my little niece, who is so freaking adorable I can't stand it. I hope my kids turn out as cute.

So about our apartment. I don't have picture yet, but don't worry I will try and get them up as soon as I possibly can. So at the end of the semester, one of Jared's friends told him that Main Street Station (the apartments we now live in) has a sign up saying that they are leasing. Main Street Station supposedly never has one of those signs up. So Jared and I jumped on it that next day. This Apartment complex is government subsidized, in other words income based. We can't make more than a certain amount each year in order to qualify. So, due to that fact, we tried to see if we could get in on our last year tax returns cause Jared made way to much this past summer. So we were cutting it really close. We got all the papers in and the manager sent it to the auditor for approval. She called us and told us that we did not get it. Jared asked if there was anything else we can do. We called her the next morning before we decided to renew our lease at Stonebrook to confirm we didn't get the place. She then told us we got it, we were SO freaking happy. She told us what had happened for us to get the apartment. So the manager called the auditor up and told him/her about Jared not getting his internship and jumping straight into year round fast grad to graduate sooner, and some other things I not sure. Well the auditor called his supervisor told him/her, and they completely denied us. Well the auditor didn't think that was a good enough answer, so the auditor called up the President of Syringa Apartments (owner's of Main Street Station) and told her our situation and she gave us the OK. We are totally blessed.

This summer, we are going to be doing a lot of fishing. It is a good thing that Jared likes to fish and its also a good thing that I like to eat fish. We went fishing a couple days ago and we got a great catch.

We compared our fish to a Nature Valley granola bar. We caught 2 16", a 14.5", 12 and 10. We were pretty happy. We have fish and ribeye that night. It was Yummy! So fish is definitely going to be on our menu for the summer :)

School's Out!!!

Well the semester is finally at a close. Jared was unable to receive an internship for this summer, so instead he is going to finish up his schooling so he can graduate a semester sooner. We are in the process of finding a new apartment and we are hoping that we will be able to get the one we want. I am in the process of finding a job here in Rexburg, hoping for a job at a fitness place, I am crossing my fingers. I am looking forward to this summer, Jared promised me that he was going to go fishing this past fall, but he didn't. So I am making him go fishing every weekend this summer :) We are going to be eating a lot of trout this summer and to be honest, I am super excited. This past summer when I was in California, Jared and his family introduced me into fishing and eating the fish we caught, it was a blast, and now I am pretty much addicted to it. I am continuing to work on cross stitching my baby blanket that I have been working on, and I am proud to say that I am super excited about seeing the final product. Oh and Jalei, if you ever ready this, your flouta, (however you spell it) is FREAKIN AMAZING! Just had to put that in there.

To catch you up on some things that have happened this past winter.

Jared and I set up our tent in the living room and camped out over the weekend in it, sleeping bags and all:

This is Jared in the tent playing his video game. I can't recall which but I have a feeling it is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare because he has his headset on, most likely talking with Brandon. Jared and I (mostly Jared) decided to randomly play hide and go seek while I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed;

this is where I found him. I just about died laughing. I could hardly tell he was in there, it actually took a double take 'till I realized it was him hiding in the bed within all the pillows.

Also, we were privileged to celebrate Kalee's 19th birthday. She had been craving fried chicken from Jared for about a year, so we thought we would be nice and do that for her.

Kalee's birthday dinner: homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies; gotta stay healthy :)
Jared making the homemade chicken gravy, mmmmmm...the best ever!
and last but not least; Kalee's dinosaur cake. Her boyfriend Cooper made it for her at our house. Isn't it cute?