My HUNK!

It was Anthony's birthday on the 21st of July! I am so blessed to have such a patient and understanding and loving man as my husband. He understands and supports me better then anyone that has entered my life. He has faith in me and helps me to succeed simply because of his encouragement. So in honor of him, I tried to make his birthday as special as possible.
It began with a simple half truth about how busy his family was and how no one could come to a party on his birthday because they all had something else to do. The truth was that I had planned a surprise party at Porter Park for him, with all of his family. But because of increment weather, we had to move the festivities to his mom's house where I had to spin around lie in order to get him there. But over all it worked out and he alot of support and love.
The boys and I decorated his car with balloons and car paint. We even wrapped it in some streamers and wrote "NEW GRAD" on the back because he finally finished all of his classes!!!!! YESSSS!!!! WE ARE FINALLY and COMPLETELY DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ne ways... we had a lot of fun with his car!
Anth's Favorites! Crackers and instant oatmeal! What can I say? He is easy to please!
And new shoes to compliment my hubbie's dashing good looks! I love him so much and thank God every day that Anthony came into my life! I LOVE YOU, Anthony!

Five Wonderful Years!

Hey. This is Anthony writing. This summer we were able to celebrate our fifth anniversary. We ended up going to a few of the places we did on our HoneyMoon. It was a "coincidental" anniversary. I'll explain. One thing that was interestingly coincidental is that we stayed ad Mack's Inn in Island park, and we ended up in the exact same cabin as on our HoneyMoon. We even looked at a picture from our honeymoon to see if the number on the door was the same. It was. The other thing is that we went and watched Hello Dolly at the PlayMill Theatre in West Yellowstone and then the next day we saw the movie "WALL-E" in Idaho Falls the next day. The coincidence is that the movie WALL-E shows clips of Hello Dolly in it.

The cabin we stayed in at Mack's Inn.

We went and saw Upper Mesa Falls. It is pretty cool. There is a "micro-environment" there in that the moisture creates an environment where other plants that can't normally grow in the forest are able to grow there. The cliff wall on the other side of the waterfall is pretty neat looking. The picture's don't do it complete justice so I recommend going and seeing it in person. (On a side note I also recommend going and seeing the Teton Dam site in person. The huge canyon there is amazing!)

(this is Alisha Now) Another thing that was the same as our honeymoon was that we stayed at Shilo Inn our wedding night. We spent Friday night there. It was wonderful to have just Anthony and I on this trip. It was a great time to spend getting to know each other and to be with just us!
We walked through this park the day before we got engaged and took a picture at this same spot. It was fun to react everything.
The only thing that I didn't like reenacting was throwing up! I threw up on our honeymoon either because of stress or the heat and 60lbs wedding dress. Friday night, after eating a delicious snow cone from this new place, I began to throw-up and didn't stop until Saturday afternoon. I was laid completely flat for two days. The stomach flu is no fun!

Overall, it was a great anniversary and I loved every minute of time spent with my husband! I've married the best man ever but I'll post more about him in a little bit!

Policy Tech Party

Sometime in July (before the 18th) Policy Tech, the company that Anth works for, hosted a company party. We were invited to go to the zoo in Idaho Falls and then to a dinner at Freeman Park. It was a lot of fun! The zoo was nice and hot and the boys like looking at everything there. Dinner was really good too! They served Bajos! I have never eaten there and don't really like Mexican food but this was delicious. The boys liked it for the most part! Policy Tech is a company that Anth's brothers helped form about ten years ago and it crazy to see how much it has grown in the last year. It use to be about 10 people and now it has over 50! It's crazy! And I think that it is totally awesome that all of Anth's brothers work there as well! Anthony loves working for his family!


Andrew was really into this taco! His newest thing is to smack his lips when he likes something and lick his fingers! Where he learned such horrid table manners, while remain a mystery!
Peter is turning into a ham! He knows when I'm taking pictures and later he has been hamming it up and acting silly! Like he is now!

Monson Family Reunion

We had our annual Monson Reunion in Pocotello this year. My Uncle Willard was in charge and it was pretty fun! We got to go to the huge swimming complex that they have there! They even have a water slide, which I got to go down this time! After swimming we had hamburgers and hotdogs (standard reunion fare) and then sat around and talked for while. It was great to talk to my Grandma Monson because I have been working on her family's temple work. It's a little awkward because most of the my dad's family are not members. But it has been awesome to do the work!

Waiting to get into the complex!
James and Andrew
Anth and Peter! Our boys were a little gun shy until they got going and then they loved it!

"R" Adventure Hike

So, I'm not that big of a hiker and so when Douglas and Christy suggested hiking the "R" mountain for a double date, my knees were a little shaky! I hadn't been on the R Mountain before and was reassured that it wasn't that hard of a hike and that it would only take about thirty minutes to reach the top. So I agreed and was excited to be able to finally say that I had hiked the R mountain. Who lives in Rexburg and doesn't hike the R mountain right? Well, I don't how many of you have done this hike but it is a little on the steep side and if you have vertigo and a fear of heights like I do, it can be a little scary. We finally get to the top where I almost collapse from fatigue(did I mention that I am way, I mean WAY, out of shape) and then hike around the top to find a place to eat our picnic. It was a lot of fun and I did enjoy the hike. I was pretty sore for the next couple of days but it was great to get to know my new future sister-in-law.

View from the top of the R mountain looking down into the valley!
Us waiting for Anthony to come down so we can eat our sand witches, trail mix, and jerky.
It really is beautiful up there, once you make to the top. I loved the way the sunset turned everything into a thing of beauty!

Fourth of July

I will start with the Fourth of July and slowly work my way through the rest of the month. We spent the Fourth with Anthony's family since mine was camping. We were brave and invited all of Anthony's family to join us for a hamburger and hot dogs and fireworks later. It was a lot of fun and went a lot better then I thought it would. We had tons of fun and got to eat homemade banana ice cream and to celebrate Anthony's brother's birthday and also his ENGAGEMENT! That's right! Douglas is engaged and they hope to be able to set a date soon! Here are a few pics! Enjoy!




Douglas and his new fiance, Christy! They are such a cute couple and we are way excited for them!
Douglas cutting the cake! His mom made a cake that looked like a pizza! It was so authentic looking! She is so amazing!
Some of the nieces and nephews playing in our "sand box." Its more like a sand area where nothing but weeds grows! The boys love it though!
Andrew with a sparkler! He loved them! It was so fun to watch the boys with the fireworks!

And Yes! We still have our dog! Anthony did discover that he was not a dog person and so we are just currently fostering him until the Adoption Center can find him a new home. We have gotten use to him but it was pretty life changing there for a while. The boys and I have become pretty attached to him and he seems like a part of the family. It's going to be hard to give him up!

Still Alive!

Thank to all of you who showed concern for my absence in the blogworld! I am still alive just really, really, really busy right now. I volunteer to do alot of things early this summer and they are all coming to head right now. That was kind of dumb thing to do. Ne ways.. so I am feeling really busy but I do want to write all about our recent adventures. Especially the ones involving our anniversary and our family trip. NE ways... we are alive and I will write more soon and tell some of the stories! I promise!