Me in my flight suit!
It's a bird...
it's a plane...
it's Allison!


I CAN FLY!!! Seriously! Jason is the coolest! He had an entire evening planned, babysitter and all for my birthday. After Cassidy's baseball game we took the kids to my friend Emmalene's house to play with her kids. I have been really excited to try a new restaurant called the Sonora Grill in Ogden so we went there for dinner, he didn't even need to ask me where I wanted to go just drove me right there. After a huge dinner and four Diet Pepsi's we walked back to the car but he didn't get in. He lifted the hatch and he had my tennis shoes and socks in hand. I asked him if we were going for a walk but he said that he thought I would need my shoes to fly. I have been dying to try skydiving for quite a while now and about a year ago they opened a sports complex with an indoor skydiving place called iFLY inside, the same building where I took Jason surfing for his birthday. Well, Jason let me fly! I can't belive how incredibly sweet and perseptive he is sometimes. What a very lucky woman I am to have such a wonderful husband! There ws one other guy there with his wife, it was his 38th birthday, so he and I took turns in one minute flights. I thought I might be sick with all of the food I had in my belly or pee my pants from all of the soda I drank but I made it through just fine. Skydiving here I come!

I have decided that the saying "You are as old as you feel" is really true. I don't feel 32 that is for sure! I can't remember feeling any different than I do now than I did in my 20's. I look pretty much the same as I did then and I actually am in better shape than I was then, especially since I was pregnant twice in my 20's. It is just sad that so much in today's society is hinged upon how old you are; I can't remember the last time I filled out any form that didn't ask for my age. Why does it matter so much? Just one of those "things" I guess. I wonder why birthdays are such a time for reflection. A time to sit back and contemplate where you are and where you are going. We took the kids to Kung Fu Panda over the weekend and it had one of the most profound lines in it. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that is why they call it the present". Cool, huh? I really hope I can try harder to reflect on that as I continue to age. :0)

A family picture at Zack's preschool graduation.
The graduate all decked out in his cap and gown.
Zack and his teacher Miss Hillary, I'm sad I have no more children to send to her school.
Cassidy and Zack, looking cute as always.
Zack's preschool class the last day of school.

Not the best picture of me ever by far but I wanted to show you my cute new haircolor, BLONDE, and how fun my hair is when my hairdresser and good friend, Emmalene, straightens my curly locks for me.

Look at those muscles. This is Cassidy at the finish line of her Kid's K.
A picture of mom and Cassidy after we kicked butt in the race.
The runners and Zack say cheese!

Looking so pretty, and sunburned after a day at the pool for field day, heading to the recital.
The girls waiting backstage for their turn to dance.
Cassidy and Stacey all set to do their thing.
Cassidy and her dance teachers.

Cassidy ready to play her first game on the "Oreos", that is a hard word to say.
Cassidy and her friend Hadlee, the broken arm girls. Hadlee just got her cast off after breaking it at school on the monkey bars and Cassidy had to wear a brace for a week after falling off the swing set at home again.
Waiting for their turn to hit.
Cassidy's first at bat.

Zack all ready to play his first game of t-ball. He is so excited to be on the Pirates of the Caribean team. :)
The dugout and the kids waiting their turn to bat.
Zack's first turn at bat.
All ready to hit the ball in the batter's helmet, what a ham!

What a busy couple of weeks that we have had. I can't believe that the school year is over and summer break is here, too bad it hasn't felt like summer outside, brrrrr! We have spent the last little while ending a few things and starting a few others.

Cassidy is done with soccer for the season but her and Zack will both be playing in the fall. She is also done with dance and had her recital on the 19th of May. She has decided that she does not want to dance again this fall but would rather play basketball. I have explained to her that dance in Utah is very competitive and if she wants to do drill team in junior high/high school that she will have to take years of dance to keep up with the others. She says she doesn't care and wants to be done. My checkbook is excited because dance costs a fortune so I guess it isn't all bad. Maybe she will end up in the WNBA someday. Zack and Cassidy are both playing baseball this summer, Zack t-ball and Cassidy coach pitch. Between the two of them we have a game to go to every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night through the end of June. Whew! Zack had his preschool garduation on the 16th of May. He was so handsome on the stage in his cap and gown as his class did the ABC's in sign language and sang a few songs. His favorite part was choosing where we went for dinner after, Cafe Rio of course. I have LOVED his teacher, Miss Hillary, who also taught Cassidy in preschool years ago. She is an amazing teacher and we are going to miss her greatly. Thank goodness a few kids in the neighborhood are going to be in her class in the fall so we can get updates as to how she is doing. Finally, Cassidy decided she wanted to run a foot race so when I found out that in conjunction with the Ogden Marathon they would be doing a Kid's K I thought why not. I wish I would have had the guts to run the marathon but that is a different story. Cassidy was AWESOME. We ran a few times around the neighborhood to train and she was so ready to run. She ran the race in 7 minutes, not bad for just under a mile, then we went straight to her last soccer game. It was a screaming 85-90 degrees that afternoon, a bit hot for a 12:30 run and a 1:00 soccer game but Cassidy rocked it all.

Jason has been busy taking down the carport we made over the boat last year, we were fined by the city foe being too close to our neighbor's property line so it had to come down (too bad we are law abiding citizens). I wanted to fight the city over it but Jason hates confrontation so it came down. Now, like a giant jigsaw puzzle, we are putting it back up over the deck in the back of the house (then the city won't know it is there). We worked on it all Memorial Day weekend, when the Oregon type weather would allow, and hope to have it finished soon so we can set up our patio furniture and enjoy it. I'll post pictures when it is done.
I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend and enjoys their summer.

Waiting for the train to come.
Frontrunner finally arrives.
Sitting on the train, the only seat we could find.
Look how crowded it was!

We decided a fun thing to do for Family Home Evening would be to ride the Frontrunner, the new commuter train, down to Salt Lake for dinner. They are letting anyone ride it for free until Wednesday to try it out. Well, we got to the station and talked to a friend that had just taken a long hour and a half ride home from Salt Lake and decided that we would just ride it the five or so miles to Ogden and back instead. We got to the train stop at 4:30, rode it to Ogden, ate at Subway in the train station, and got back to the Roy station at 6:45. It was crazy! The kids had a really fun time but we were so glad we decided not to go to Salt Lake after all. We would probably STILL be on the train if we had. :)

Jason and Allison in front of a fountain on the "Strip".

The hotel we stayed at, the Stratosphere.

Allison and Nicholas Cage, a wax one anyways.

Allison and Jason getting Henna Tattoos.



Kaydence and Cassidy at Fiesta Fun Center.

Zack on the tube slide.

Allison and her lil' sister Kim.

Jason and Kim playing the air hockey game of the century.


Scott and David Grygla at the reunion.

Jolley Pierce and Bethany Bracken.

Jason and his friend Blair (they went on their mission to Pennslyvannia togther and Blair is married to my friend Bethany from Page).

The kids going CRAZY!

My cousin Tony and Brad Ross.

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, isn't that what they say. Well, I'll tell you what we did in Vegas to keep your dirty minds out of the gutter. :)

We left on Wednesday morning and met my parents in Cedar City, which was weird because we haven't been there since we moved nine years ago. After lunch at Sizzler, yes Ronna Sizzler, we left for the "City of Sin" and the kids headed to Page with my folks. We got to Vegas at about 4:00 their time and the fun immediately began.

After checking into our hotel we decided to walk up to Freemont Street, the street that they covered a few years back and they have light shows on the ceiling. Anyways, our map definately wasn't to scale so it ended up being at least a two mile walk with not much to see but tattoo shops and wedding chapels, not the interesting part of Las Vegas Blvd. that is for sure. When we finally got up there we had dinner and came out of the casino just in time for a Queen tribute light show, very cool. We decided to buy bus passes, $5.00 for 24 hours, so we wouldn't have to walk back. After we boarded the bus, we decided we would ride it all the way down the strip so Jason could see it at night and we could plan what we wanted to see the next day. Bad idea! I guess there are like 46 stops on the strip and we made all of them, twice. It took us two hours to get up and back, by the time we got back to our hotel it was 11:00, 12:00 at home, so we were beat.

The next day we got up and put our walking shoes back on. We rode the bus to our first stop then walked a bit as well. We were able to see plenty of sights. The mall, Planet Hollywood (delicious lunch there), Ceasar's Palace, a comedian/magic show (Mac King, he is supposed to be on Letterman on May 6th), M&M and Coke World, and various other things as we wandered around, they still hand out various pictures of naked women as you walk by so that is always nice, GROSS! We ate dinner at a huge buffet then headed back to the hotel a bit earlier than the night before. Neither of us being a fan of cigarette smoke we both took a shower each night and tied all of our dirty clothes in a trash bag before we left town.

We headed to the factory stores on our way out of town then it was to St. Gerorge to meet up with my parents, our kids and my sister there. We were able to hang out with them Friday afternoon, went to lunch, swam in the pool, played at Fiesta Fun Center, then went to dinner. They left for Page first thing saturday morning and we headed home after that, with my mom's old Yukon to try to sell it for her up here. On the way home we stopped in Provo for a mini high school reunion for me. A good friend of mine, Shanna Grygla, organized a get together at her home so I was able to see a bunch of my old friends, the kids ran around and had a great time and Jason got a free meal (seriously though, Jason knew a few people even one guy from his mission). It was so great to walk down memory lane. Hopefully we can make it an annual thing.

It is back to the old grind. Loads and loads of laundry, back to school and work, a house to clean and meals to cook, etc. It sure was fun while it lasted though!

Some more candid shots in Vegas:
Here is a picture of the famous Vegas cowboy on Freemont Street.

Jason at a statue of show girls in front of Harrah's hotel.

The comedian we saw, Mac King, after his show.

Jason's dream car, a Ferrari, was everywhere.

We actually saw ONE celebrity, here is Pete Rose.

A close-up of us on the bus.

This the the new double decker bus system in Vegas, the Deuce. I would have saved a fortune on cab fare in college if Vegas would have started this like thirteen years ago.

Jason by the M&M's Nascar car in M&M World (four floors of M&M goodness and stuff).

A picture of New York New York.

I wanted to include this picture in my blog because these guys are so hansome. This is Ty, Jeff, and Jason all dressed up and ready to go to the general priesthood meeting. The men go to priesthood and the woman and kids stay behind at Uncle Dale and Aunt Jill's place. When the men come back we all have banana splits. It is great time.