Annual St. George trip 2009!!!!

The Wave in Coyotte Buttes North Paria Canyon

Moqui Cave entrance

There is a store, artifacts section, bar, showroom, etc...... inside

dinosaur tracks

flourescent rocks as they are in nature

these are real. the rocks at bryce canyon are also flourescent and can be seen at night overlooking the canyon

The old bar (out of commission) with the bar made out of real geodes

Shawn got "perks" wearing his chef gear, and got to drive the carts around. All the parade hosts and people thought he was VIP

view from backyard

Shawn loved this outdoor kitchen. There were barstools in the pool

Mom kept trying to work her way into all my pictures

Grandiosa pool with lair inside rock.

climbing wall with 3 ft of padding mother is demonstrating if you fell

view from backyard. lots start from the $200 thousands!

Just an example of a cool bathroom in the show

Fun plaything in the house for kids

awwwww!!!!

Shawn says this is his dream kitchen. Anyone got 4.5 mil to buy this house?

This is what would happen if my mom had one of these in their room.

who is that tall man in that funny little box?

Shawn attempting the hammock. The branch was bent and we thought he was going down for sure

After the little "spill"

Dad walked away not caring about Kara's stuff, but about his prized possession. His sweatshirt.

Sorry if this post will bore the tears out of ya'll, but it is mostly for my family that couldn't attend this year, and in detail what we did.

We decide to start an annual thing 3 years ago, that we are going to go to the St. George Parade Of Homes every year. We have every year since then. Usually, it is my parents and Shawn and I that go, and that was the case this year. We always have an outdoor activity every year along with that too. Our activity was decided that we were going to see The Wave in Paria Canyon down in Southern Utah. If you have not heard of it, well, let's just say, that everyone wants to see it and photograph it. The permits are next to impossible to get and only 20 people a day are allowed because it is delicate. There are 3 ways to score permits. 5 can be obtained pre-purchasing 4 months in advance, 5 can be obtained on the online lottery, and 10 are obtained as walk-ins. No more than a group of 6 in one party can go. The pre-purchasing method has to be obtained online on the 1st of each month, and they are gone before you can even begin to fill out the application, next, you can enter the lottery, and choose 2 possible days to go, and pre-pay for everyone for those, and if your days don't get chosen, you lost that money, and the 3rd method is the walk-in passes. You have to show up at the Kanab office (off-season) at 9:00 am on Friday (only day to obtain walk-in passes) for sat, sun, and mon. and if there are more than 10 people trying out for that day, they will do a lottery. I have tried for 4 years to get passes.

I just needed to give a little background on how to obtain these tickets. Well, we decided we were going to have to get up by 2:30 am and leave for the Kanab office at 3:00 am to make it by 8:30 and fill out the necessary paperwork application to score tickets for the wave. All of us were tired, and couldn't just suddenly go to bed at 7:00 pm and sleep right away. I kept laying there and when I would fall asleep, I would wake up. We left and drove down there, and none of us could sleep in the car. Shawn and my dad certainly kept us entertained. We got the the kanab office, and filled out the app. More and more people showed up until the office was chuck full of people. They announced that this was the first week since New Year's they had to do the lottery, because it had been a slow time. Lucky us, it was only on our day that the lottery needed to be in place. There were 15 people and only 10 passes. One person from the group gets assigned a number and they take balls and roll it around in this thing and draw balls. Well, let's just say, that our ball was the only one left in the thing, and we were the only group that left without a pass. It sucked, and I was so mad. We went for a little breakfast and decided that we didn't know what else to do, so we just drove, and found a cave called Moqui Cave that had the only collection of real flourescent rocks, plus dinosour tracks, and cool Indian artifacts. The man we met there was so cool and so knowledgeable. He was LDS and told us some cool stuff that they have found down in Southern Utah, helping to prove the facts that the people in the Book Of Mormon did, in fact, live in the USA. Supposedly, Montezuma's gold is believed to be hidden under a lake right up the street from the cave. You can look it up and read about it. We went and checked in our hotel, and decided to see some of the homes. We went to the hotel and crashed early. We got up the next day and had a home spree. There was this ridiculously excessive home that had a pool with fake rock behind it with waterslides, and a lair inside with a jacuzzi. It had a 2 story gym in the basement with a raquetball court, half-size basketball court, climbing wall, putting green, and a Guitar Hero Harry Potter room upstairs. Incredible homes. I get a lot of decorating, and designing ideas from the show.

We went and visited Momma A (one of the missionary host families from Shawn's mission) and her husband Paul. They are fantastic people. We went to a random Sacrament Meeting with old guy's coughing up all their phlegm everywhere, and saw a couple more houses, and went to pick Kara up from Dave's modular home.

Some things that mom has been laughing about all weekend is when we went to a gas station for a pit stop, and noticed dad was walking out of the women's bathroom looking all sheepish. He had not noticed the sign, went in, and went into a stall, noticing that there were no urinals to be had. He then realized that something was not right, and knew he was in the women's restroom. Mom couldn't stop laughing all weekend. Another thing, is when we went to pick Kara up, we pulled out onto the road, and heard Kara scream, and looked back. The back had come up and all of her stuff tumbled out and was strewn on the road. Shawn came to the rescue and picked it up. Dad was just mostly concerned about his sweatshirt. Overall, it was a super good time.

So, an update on the job situation. I HAVE A JOB!!!!! The people from NPS called me today (the ebay/amazon sales job) and said that they were sorry it took so long to get back to me, but I have the job! It is mon-fri 6 am to 2:30 pm. ooh, the 6 is going to kill me, but I have a job! Whoo hoo!!!

If you want to see the complete St. George trip in all it's glory, go to www.picasaweb.google.com/karleebucher and click on the St. George Trip 2009 link

Snow Day!!!

Another fabulous winter sunset

The 3 most amazing things: My husband, the sunset and tons of snow

My 6'6" hubby demonstrating the size of the piles we created from shoveling the driveway

Yay for snow!

Wow!!! It makes such a difference where you live, how much snow you can get. We got a foot of snow dumped on us today, whereas, Bountiful and Salt Lake just got a skiff. It is literally a white winterland for us in Ogden out there. It is quite fun at times. Almost every night the animals make their trek up the hill to come eat our well-tended plants and bushes. ha ha. We will look out our window and see deer just a few feet away, and the last couple of nights, it has been the little fox that lives in the bushes behind our house that will come up and eat the pieces of scraps that we throw off the back deck for the animals. I spent my fabulous afternoon battling the elements and shoveling snow into a monstrous pile. Shoveled just in time to witness yet another fantastic winter sunset. I love tons of snow, so i guess i got what i wanted. Now, if i could only convince my hubby to go sledding, make a snowman and snow caves, that would complete the whole thing..........

Happy Valentines Day to the love of my life

My adorable hubby

In his chef's coat

chasing after me, making me laugh


Shawn and I have been through so much through our marriage, and I feel so grateful for him. He is a top notch husband that gives our lives a bowful of laughs everyday. He does so many little things and also big things for me all the time, and never ceases to quit doing those things. Even after 4 years of marriage, he still opens my door, shovels the snow off my car after it snows, scratches my back every night, lets me pick ALL the movies we watch, takes me on dates and plans them, cooks for me, turns his friends down to be with me, plans amazing birthdays for me, still leaves me love notes, and most importantly.... still makes me laugh daily. He is constantly putting me first and thinking of me before he does anything. He even does laundry and cleans the bathrooms :)We don't have a lot of money to spend (if any at all) and when I woke up this morning, I saw a stuffed dog sitting on top of some gum, and a Hershey's Pot Of Gold box of chocolates (my favorite). His presents are always well thought out and always has meaning to them. The amazing spirit he has about him all the time is magical. His personality and devotion draws people in. In fact, the first time I ever met Shawn's friends, we went out to dinner, and when Shawn was up trying to get us a table, his friend leaned over and told me that he is everyone's favorite friend. He picked up their tab at the end of the night. He is the least selfish person I know. The loyalty he has for people, and the trust people have in him is amazing. He is an example to me in every way.

Shawn, you truly are the love of my life

Happy Valentine's Day Sweetheart

Great Birthday so far!

So, we don't have a lot of money to just frivilously spend. But for my Birthday, Shawn got me 2 books that I have really wanted! I wanted the new Stephanie Meyer book THE HOST and he got me a Ripley's Believe It Or Not Book. I love to read about and look at really funky and weird things like that. I also get to have my hair done and some nails. I am excited. Getting stuff like that done always boosts my self-esteem :) Shawn's parents are taking us out to dinner tonight at the Cheesecake Factory (Only the best restaurant ever!)
Some people hate their birthdays, but I have always loved mine. It's a day that I truly feel like I can do what I want! Another great thing is that I think I have this job that I applied for in the bag. I would be working for NPS Market Square in their corporate office selling their items on ebay. I would sit in a warehouse type atmosphere, and manage the ebay side of things with about 5 or 6 others. They said that is their most coveted position, and everyone wants that position, but they are REALLY picky who they choose. You have to match all of this criteria specifically, because they want to know if I am going to make them money, but they really liked me, and said that I am the only impressive application they have. I would get to wear jeans to work too. SWEET! I would research trends all day, list items on ebay, and pack and ship items. That is like my dream come true. I am also super excited to go to the St. George Parade Of Homes. If you guys haven't been, you should go. It is incredible!
So, other important news: My favorite show The Biggest Loser. I am so happy that Joelle got voted off, but sad that Carla did too. Joelle is really oblivious to her actions. All-in-all, it was a great show! Also, I loved that when Aubrey said that she just gained muscle (when she only lost 2 lbs. in 30 days at home) that Bob told her to quit making excuses. She lost 2 lbs! Obviously, she was not doing what she was supposed to be doing. The scale never lies, but people lie to themselves about it all the time. I was thinking that when she said all that crap, and good for Bob for telling it like it is!