On Saturday, August 8, we headed to Evanston, WY. We were running a little bit late, so Matt ordered us pasta bread bowls from Domino's for dinner. (We ended up taking Matt's car.) I had never had one before. It was so good! We didn't stop in Heber or Park City, but just drove through to Evanston. We saw a deer on the way, somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere, Utah. Matt initially was going to take I-15 to I-80, but I told him that wasn't the plan. Now he is a huge fan of going through Heber. It was pretty :) Evanston was frigid when we got there. We stayed at Motel 6. Matt took a picture of the sign on the door while I was checking us in. Mostly it needed to be edited. He found it amusing. :) When we got to the room, I immediately turned on the heater. I've decided I'm a fan of 1 bed rooms. They're the same size as a 2 bed room. . . . but with more space!

This was the lovely comforter in our room. :)

I was so entertained :) The adult side was pretty schwanky, though. We sat next to a wall waterfall. Behind us there was a fireplace with some leisure chairs. Even the raised tables had raised upholstered benches.

As we were leaving, I saw this cute little guy on the sign. He let me get pretty close to him.

We didn't stop on our way in, so I made Matt stop on the way out.
Here we are with the Fossil fishy.

After Fossil Butte, we headed further north. We were going to stop in Alpine, WY for lunch, but there wasn't much there, and Jackson was only 30-45 minutes away.

Arch in Afton
Welcome to Star Valley.
The Snake River on the way to Jackson - a route I am more familiar with than I should be :)

We stopped at Wendy's for lunch. Coincidentally, that is the last place we had lunch before leaving Jackson last year :) After lunch, we headed to town square, then wandered around a few of the shops. It was actually quite fun to just wander. Matt found a store he wants to come back to when he's rich. They had all sorts of cool things, like giant crystal rocks and petrified wood. They had some amber jewelry, and I told Matt he should get me some (cue saleslady :p). She was talking to us about the jewelry. She said that the earrings were pretty cheap, they started at $50. HA! In my world, $50 for a pair of earrings is outrageous! Like I said, it's a store for when we're rich.

On the shed at town square in Jackson.

Outside one of the shops

I thought this little guy was so cute!

The famous arches at town square.

I have made two more backgrounds with corresponding headers for the blog. One is a fall theme and one is just for fun. I saw a way cute paper in all the digiscrap stuff I downloaded yesterday and was inspired to turn it into a background :)

Who doesn't love cake?
Doesn't Rachel have a cute smile?
YUM!

They like to beat on each other ;)

Me & cute Jenn

Presents!

Michelle, Camile, & Jennifer Presents are quite as exciting when they're not your own.

Matt caught a McKade!

More presents!

Gracie got 2 Barbies!

With a little help from TCBOTB, Photoshop Elements, and various free digiscrap stuff, I have customized my own background and header. TCBOTB even told me how to get rid of the little border around my header - which is nice, cuz it was never even, nor did it go all the way around my header picture. TCBOTB also directed me to a site with color hex codes, so I could actually find colors to match what I'd done. I had fun playing with Elements too, finding more effects and whatnot to further customize things without utilizing scrapbook stuff. In fact, the only things from the scrapbook world are the butterflies and ribbons. The rest was Photoshop. All in all, I'm quite pleased with my first original blog design. :)

The day after Pioneer Day! Too bad it doesn't have a cool name. Anyway - So I worked the 24th evening and left Matt to his own devices. I thought, Maybe his family is doing fireworks and he can go to that? I don't know what he did, really, but I had made plans with Shawn and Darren for a movie and cookie night on Saturday - but then Darren had to work (you bum!). It all worked out very well, though. Jason was kind enough to remind Matt that we had a family get-together with the Covalt side. So after working (yay for OT!), we rode down to Payson where we had a nice bbq. Jenn and I mostly hung out trying to get the other kittens who aren't so keen on people. We also finished naming them. Lynx wouldn't let us catch him (or her?), but he would attack my fingers rustling in the hay - and then he'd nibble on me. lol I don't really know what all Matt did since I was busy playing with the kitties. It was fun to visit with family that we don't see quite as often.

Well, this post was much more lame than the fun we had. Oh well. At least I posted again ;)

Yay for not being in parades! They aren't half bad when you get to watch. Especially if you have kids. Kids are so dang cute! I took the morning off of work to go watch the parade and then hang with my mom's side of the family at our now traditional bbq after the parade. Usually (I think), a lot more of my family attend the parade. Well this year, I parked at my cousin Tammy's as they were getting ready to go. It was Tammy, my aunt Chris, and Angie's three kids (Kaitlyn, Cambria, & Milton). It was cool. Guess who we ended up next to? Hmm, Shawn and Darren. How funny! So I chatted with them quite a bit. My uncle David and his two kids, Benjamin and Rebecca, also showed up part way through. My Grandpa Wilson was in the parade with the American Legion as well, which I didn't know was happening. I totally was going to take my camera....but I left it home :( Bad things happen when you're in a hurry. Poor White Peaks looked kinda small, but they sounded alright. It was only them and the Payson High School Pipe Band in the parade. (Days of '47 is in Salt Lake, so the northern bands do that - suckers, I hear it's a killer.) Usually Timpanogos makes an appearance at Spanish Fork, but no such luck.

Part way through the parade, Kaitlyn came over and sat on my lap. She's so cute! She's all, "Amber, it's been a long time since we've seen you." I'm pretty sure she had to ask Tammy or Chris what my name was - that's how often we see Angie's family. And they have been so little! So she chatted away while we watched the end of the parade. Near the end, she asked if it was over because she was tired of watching. So cute!

Anyway, after the parade, we walked back to Tammy's to relax before the bbq. I got to play with the kids some more and chat with Tammy - which we don't normally talk (or see each other, I might add). It was fun. The kids made birthday cards for their grandpa (my uncle Mike...one of my uncles Mike...) It was then that I noticed Angie's Kaitlyn was spelled that way.... I must say that I'd decided on that name with the exact spelling for if I ever get a girl. I came by it on my own... so Ange, if I do ever get pregnant and do have a girl, don't feel I'm name stealing! (K, now I probably would never name my daughter Kaitlyn since it would be the exact same as her second cousin...but I just wanted to point this out.)

Around 1pm, the rest of the fam began to show up. Grandma and Grandpa Wilson and Steven were first. Lloyd and Debbie showed up a little after that. Then eventually the Beardalls and David and Edna arrived. (The Wilson side is notorious for being late - some more so than others...) I was just excited I had enough time for some lunch before I had to go to work. :) It was way fun to hang out with my family. It seems to get harder and harder to get everyone together as the grandkids continue to get older. Sigh. And to think, I'm not going to the reunion either. :p Work officially sucks (Matt's, not mine - stupid no saturdays off....)