Introducing Wheaties Boy!

This was Tyler's wonderful Halloween Costume. I got all different angles just to show you how funny this costume really is.

Notice how his hands look like they are really coming out from his arms! HA! He held his hands like this so it would match up for most of the night.


And a close up. Gotta love those cute dimples! When we went to our Ward party Tyler scared a lot of the little kids and he had a hard time getting through doorways and eating dinner. Good times!


And I was a witch. Our costumes really didn't match. We were just proud of ourselves for dressing up this year. I always want to dress up and Tyler never does. This year I finally got him to do it and he was a hit

This is our weak attempt at carving a pumpkin. We've never been the real artsy type. The mouth is super big and low because we were in charge of "pumpkin golf" at our ward party.

Jason and Christina threw a really fun Halloween party and made us do some crazy things like put our faces into whip cream until we found a piece of bubblegum and then blow a bubble.

Gearing up for the fun.

Classic picture of Tyler.

Time To Catch Up...

Well now I have to catch up with all my pictures, so here it goes. Tyler and his family went to Texas to see his brother's mission. I didn't go because I had to work. My Mom came and stayed with me instead...that's when the tornado hit. Tyler says they had a lot of fun seeing all of the places that his brother served in San Antonio, Texas. This is on the river walk in San Antonio.

Cute picture of Lu and her two boys.

Tyler and his family visited the Alamo.

And then of course they hit up Sea World.

Also this summer, Tyler and I enjoyed playing sports in the great outdoors of Tennessee. This just shows how many trees there are here in Tennessee. This is on the golf course. We even saw two deer when we went golfing.

I'm not that great at golf...in fact I swing just like a softball player so it doesn't work out too well for me.

As for Tyler though...he has a really good swing.

Now to something a little more up to my speed. SOFTBALL! Too bad it's not fast pitch...but I guess slow pitch will have to do. We had a ton of fun playing on a team in Memphis this season. I was one of two girls on the team. It's always fun to be on the same team with Tyler. When we're on opposite teams it gets quite competetive, especially when we're playing ping pong, raquetball, or tennis.

Tyler is a really fast base runner

But sometimes when he really gets into base running...he slides and this is what happened. His leg took weeks to heal and I think he still has a little scar. (scroll past the picture if you don't like blood and guts!)

And after the game...we of course had to celebrate at Waffle House.

And this is my family reunion that I wasn't able to go to because I live so far away....sad! But they had a lot of fun. My great grandma is 96 years old and still doing really good.

Little Sister Getting Married!

My little sister and her cute fiance are getting married in the Salt Lake Temple in December. We're all so excited for them. These are just four of her engagement pictures.



They took these pictures in Logan, UT. My cousins Georgana and Jackie took the pictures for her. I think they did a great job! To see more of Georgana's photography you can go to this link...http://georganahall.typepad.com/. She is awesome.



Riding off into the sunset!

Last Day of Summer Forecast

Since I haven't posted in awhile, I thought I'd quickly throw up my last day of summer forecast. It's nothing too exciting but I'm ready for my favorite season to start. I love fall. Say goodbye to the heat and humidity.

Celebrating 3 Years in Hot Springs, Arkansas!!!

To start off...Tyler and I have been married for 3 years!!! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by.

So for our anniversary we decided to go out and explore Arkansas...Hot Springs Arkansas to be exact. This is the bridge that you cross to go from Tennessee to Arkansas over the Mississipppi River.

This is just one example of the big churches you come across in the south.

And this is what we found when we got to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It's the boyhood home of President Bill Clinton...interesting! We also saw Clinton's house that he grew up in. It is a small white southern looking house that someone else now lives in.

Hot Springs Arkansas is a little town that was settled back in the 1800's and was known for it's hot "magic" healing waters. We watched a documentary that said that back in the 1800's, doctors would send their patients to bath houses (pictured above) so they could soak in the hot springs and get rid of their diseases. People really thought this worked. The bath houses were known for their massages back in the 1800's, hot spring baths, and all kinds of spa treatments. I was surprised to find out that spas actually existed way back then.

This is another old building built over 100 years ago.

The coolest thing about this town is that it is a national park. So when you're in their little downtown area on main street, there are hiking trails that lead up to the top of what they consider to be their "mountains"(much smaller than Utah and Idaho mtns.), but it was still a fun hike. You could even hike to hot water springs. This is us on the trail.

Us at the top...it is really green here!

On the hike there was a fountain where they've made it so cold spring water comes out so you can get a drink. Tyler and I filled up our water bottles. There were seriously people who had come from hours away with tons of milk cartons and huge water jugs to fill up on the spring water. They say they drive here every couple of months to fill up because they love the taste of the hot springs water. Tyler and I thought it tasted fresh but kinda weird!

This is an old army/navy hospital built over 100 years ago.

Get ready for what you see behind me...it's a huge truck that can turn into a boat. Tyler and I were convinced by the tour guides to take their tour. It was pretty sweet though because they toured the city and then all of the sudden we drove right down into a lake and the truck had a propeller on the back, turned into a boat and we drove around on the lake.

Then there was the wax museum. I don't think it was one of the nicest wax museums around because parts of it felt like a haunted house. Some of the wax people were falling apart. But here's ELVIS!!!

And of course President Obama. I think this wax figure makes him look really old. Even though I've noticed Obama has a lot of gray hair lately.

Bill Clinton's wax figure is pretty good, but what's up with Hillary?!?

Then we found this cute little popcorn shop that had any kind of popcorn flavor that you could imagine. I loved it of course, I can't get enough of popcorn!

Dinner on the lake.

Mom Comes To Town...Tornado Touches Down!!!

My Mom came to visit me in Memphis for a week and little did she know what an eventful week we would have.


BRENDA AND JILL

I found my way to the airport, which is a great accomplishment for me since I am so bad at directions. For those of you who know me...you know that I was not born with a human compass to guide me. haha! (you might recall the Dairy Queen story back in high school)

Anyways, I managed to pick her up. I was so happy to see my Mom. I hadn't seen her since the last time I went home which was three months ago.



Tyler was here with my Mom for the first couple of days, but then met up with his family in Texas to see his brother's mission.(pics of Texas coming) I couldn't go to Texas because I had to work, so my Mom decided to come stay with me.

I love my Mom's cooking. We made yummy food while she was here. We had a great time.


TYLER, JILL AND MOM EATING DINNER

Little did my Mom know, that the end of her stay would get a little crazy. Crazy as in cars and shopping carts getting tangled together in strange ways that seem impossible. That's right, a tornado touched down 2 miles away from my apartment.



We had just shopped at the shopping center where you see the car on top of the shopping cart the day before...and about 15 minutes before the tornado hit I was there shopping again alone. I heard the tornado sirens start to go off while I was shopping in Ross and quickly got in my car and started driving home. The safest thing would have probably been to stay put in the store, but the tornado ended up ripping right through the shopping center. When I got home, with sirens blasting and the tornado heading our way, this is what I found my mom doing...





...her hair and make-up without a worry about the storm.

I guess I've read to many severe weather text books and have seen a lot of bad damage after tornadoes...so I made us go to the safest place in the house...







Here we are in the bathtub holding on for dear life and kind of laughing at the same time!!! In case you didn't know...if you don't have a basement, the bathroom and bathtub is usually the safest place to be during a tornado.



MOM STILL DOING HER MAKE-UP IN THE BATHTUB RIDING OUT THE STORM...SHE WAS GETTING READY TO GO TO THE AIRPORT TO FLY HOME.


We made it through the storm...but two miles away from us, this is what happened...



HUGE LIGHT POST DOWN IN PARKING LOT OF SHOPPING CENTER

I took these pictures the day after the tornado hit.



TREES BLOWN SIDEWAYS AFTER THE STORM



KOHL'S SHOPPING CENTER...A BIG CHUNK OF THE STORE IS GONE.



GORDMAN'S SIGN BLOWN OFF FROM TORNADO


My Mom and I ended up making it to the airport after the tornado had gone through and miraculously my Mom was able to make her connecting flight home. What an adventure. Just another reason why Utah is such a great place to live...NO SEVERE WEATHER!!!

But this is what Memphis' sky usually looks like after a big storm has blown by.
The calm after the storm. Pretty, huh!!!


SUNSET AFTER SEVERE WEATHER

Thanks for coming Mom!