Ridin' Dirty

The Monday after the Pioneer Days Celebration and the day before the "official" Pioneer Day was a lot of fun. 
Remember that Motocross I talked about in my last blog? Well, we went out to that track to ride some of our own quads and bikes.  Gavin (my sister's husband) and Moydie loved it! We rode bikes until the bikes broke . . .literally lol. 

Here's Moydie on the Italian trials bike and then there's Little Brother on the quad in the back ground.  Sweet pic, huh?

Here's Moydie tearin' it up in the mud!!

Yep, that's My Handsome jumpin' bikes!

Uh, oh . . . Moydie's driving!

Yeah, we just jumped the quad . . . lol (but isn't this pic beautiful? The clouds are surreal!)

Wahoo!! That's me driving!!! Moydie likes gettin' dirty!!

Manassa Pioneer Days 2012

This past week was a busy one!! (Heck I feel like I always start out my blogs this way lol) 
On Wednesday the 18th we woke up super early to drive 9 hours to Alamosa, Colorado to get there in time for Little Brother's last baseball game of the season.  Little Brother is sooo talented! And he loves baseball!! He hit the ball once and even got to score and he had a sweet slide into home plate! He plays pitcher and holy cow he loves it!!
On Thursday the 19th we were busy with planning and setting up for my sister Heather's reception . . . It wasn't too bad or hard . . . and it looked good!! And of course the happy couple looked amazingly beautiful!

I'm usually not a fan of pinks, yellows, or oranges, but my sister chose the right colors . . . They were perfect for everything!!
On Friday, the 20th was the first day of Pioneer Days in Manassa!! Manassa, Colorado is 30 min away from Alamosa and they always celebrate Pioneer Days because that was the first town in southern Colorado that was settled by the Mormons way back when.  So, that morning started off with going to the parade which you get to see twice in one day because they loop back around after they go around the first time.  Moydie thought this was really weird.  I love everything about it. 

 My little sister Emily got to ride our Grandpa's horse in the parade! That's my other younger sister in front taking her picture.  

And here's the propaganda about Obama . . .

Afterwards, we went to a Rogers Family Reunion with lots of great food! And then we went to the rodeo!!

This is a great picture of the "cow chasing of the kids" event.  The kids 12 and younger go out there and chase down some cows to grab the ribbons off their tails for some money! That little guy in the yellow shirt is my cousin Josh Sowards . . . yep, the running gene's in our blood.  

The last year I was able to chase the cows, I was determined to get one.  So I remember seeing this cow being chased toward me and as it passed me, I lunged for it's tail and I got the ribbon! And then I remember getting ran over by the herd of calves behind him . . . yeah . . . they picked me up and took me to the ambulance and then after I calmed down and everything was fine, they started calling my dad over the loud speakers to come get me . . . they did this 3 times before finally one of my best friends, who saw this happen, went to my dad and told him, "Uh, I think Lindsey's in the ambulance" . . . yeah, it was kind of funny.  

On Saturday, (this was the crazy fun day), we woke up super early and ran the 5K!  Wahoo!! This was Moydie's first 5K and he did amazing!! He ran a 27:03!! That's around an 8:58 pace!! He was so excited and he had a lot of fun.  I ran a 19:03 and I got 15th overall, I was the 3rd girl, and I got first in my age group.  Here's us happy after the race . . . 

After the race, we caught the end of the parade for the second time and then we went and got me my greasy hamburger at the hamburger stands and my Mountain Dew and Moydie got some sweet brisket!

Next up was the SRS Motocross!! My family puts this on in memory of my uncle who died of Lou Gherig's disease about 8 years ago.  SRS stands for Steven R Sowards.  It was a blast!! I had a lot of cousins participating and they swept all the wins! What can I say, my family's talented!

After the winning Motocross, we went to the Demolition Derby! This is what everyone waits for! This is the greatest way to end an awesome Pioneer Days! The whole valley shows up and it's amazing! Moydie absolutely loved it! I mean, what guy wouldn't? Old cars bumping into each other on purpose for four hours? Yeah, it's that awesome. 

Moydie Took Me To LLAMA FEST!!!!!

When I first started camping with Moydie and the gang in the summer of 2010, I would always notice Moydie's Llama Fest shirt . . .

One thing you have to know about me is I'm obsessed with llamas.
Yep, when I was about 10, my grandma took me to the Hogle Zoo and I bought a cute stuffed llama because it's eyes were just beckoning me to.  It is so cute and fluffy!  (I still have it on our bed in our apartment)
So I don't really know how my obsession got started, but it did and I love it.
When Moydie first told me about Llama Fest, I naturally wanted to go, not only because there were llamas, but because Moydie had gone which automatically makes it super cool.  We couldn't last year because we were one month away from our wedding so guess what?!
MOYDIE TOOK ME TO LLAMA FEST ON SATURDAY!!! Wahoo!!!

 Llama Fest takes place at the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, UT where the Festival of Colors is.

It was so much fun and the llamas were sooo cute!!! They even had two baby llamas that were barely 3 months old!!

 Here's a picture of both of them with one of their moms

 This one's my favorite!! Isn't she soo super stinkin' cute?! Her name was Nacha.

During the llama judging I was raving to Moydie about how cute the llamas were when all of a sudden, this boy in front of me (probably about 11) turns around and says, "I know, aren't they all so cute?! I want them all!!"
What?! This kid was just as obsessed as I was!!! Awesome!!

Here's a picture of the back of that kid's head . . . he's on the left with the light brown shirt :)

 Moydie's sister Bug came with us too!

Moydie and I even got matching Llama Fest T-shirts!! (Bug got one, too!!)

I'm officially making this festival an annual one for Moydie and I to go to because I loved every single moment of it!!! Thanks Moydie for taking me!

Wednesday's Proud Dinner

On Wednesday I decided that this is probably going to be one of the most random blogs out there . . . It'll probably have everything on here!! (Except for fashion lol because I don't have it :))
I thought of this because after cooking dinner on Wednesday I decided to blog about some of my great Gluten-Free dinners out there for everyone's enjoyment.  And this one turned out LOOKING amazing!
All of the credit for my skills in making great food go to my Mom for teaching me to cook just like her.
Here are some pictures of my Orange Marmalade Pork Loins with fresh salad (lettuce, scallions, tomatoes, and spinach), and fresh strawberries!

 Oh and that's scallions on top of the pork loins

Yummy! It turned out wonderful!! Moydie loved it!

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup Gluten Free soy sauce 

 1/3 cup orange marmalade (we always add more to make is sweeter)
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb pork tenderloin
2 scallions, thinly sliced (optional

Directions:
In a plastic bag mix the soy sauce, marmalade, honey, rice wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes together.  Marinate the pork tenderloin for a minimum of 1 hour in the glaze.

Heat the grill to 350°F or medium. Put on the tenderloin. Grill 8 minutes on one side (check at 6 minutes), depending on size of pork loin. Then flip it, baste it. Grill another 6-10 minutes. Start checking with a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat, at about 6 minutes on the second side. Cook until internal temperature reaches 140°F. Remove from heat.

If you have let the temp get above 140°F, you may need to slice the pork immediately or the meat will continue to cook as it rests and become overcooked. If you have taken it out in time, let the pork rest 10 minutes. Serve with rice.

Serves 3-4 (or two if you are both athletes lol)

Enjoy!

No Fireworks?! On the 4th of July?!

This 4th of July, I went to Huntington, Utah with my husband Moydie. 
Huntington is Moydie's hometown and it's 20 minutes south of Price, Utah.  It's a cute little town that reminds me of my hometown, Alamosa, Colorado. 
Well, as most of us know, the weeks leading up to the 4th were busy with fires all around Utah and Colorado.  And sadly, there was one in Huntington Canyon not far from Huntington hence the name. 
I actually hadn't heard much about this fire, until we were driving there on Tuesday the 3rd.  The closer we got to Huntington, the thicker the smoke.  It was super sad. 
What made us even sadder is that Moydie's family has several cabins up there.  And as of the 4th, the fires were less than a mile away and moving towards the cabins.  
As of now, the cabins are safe . . .  probably because of . . .
The rain storms all over Utah and Colorado on the 5th! It was such a blessing!! And it was a lot of fun too, seeing how Moydie and I were out in it for about an hour.  (I ran 8 mi and he lovingly biked next to me) :)
Anyways, on to some happy stuff!! Moydie and I got to wear our cowboy hats to the parade on the 4th, Moydie taught me how to land a front flip on the tramp!, we got to star gaze on the tramp, we got to eat lots of junk food (and some healthy stuff, too), and we got to lounge about with family without a care in the world  . . .
Except for that one little detail . . . We couldn't shoot off fireworks on the the night of the 4th!
Well, ok, I lied, you could light them off, but in the middle school's baseball field supervised by millions of firefighters.  It was kind of fun actually . . . All the kids got free sparklers and holy cow, those sparklers were massive and explosive! Ha ha kind of . . . And then they had a little fireworks show and then the people that had bought their own starting lighting them off right where everyone was doing sparklers!  I was a little nervous on several accounts, but nobody got hurt and there wasn't a new fire blazing in the middle school's baseball field :) 
The fun thing about doing it this way was that it was a huge community celebrating our Independence close together.  It was a grand sight.  And it was a grand 4th of July week!

MY SISTER'S MARRIED!!!

June sure went out with a bang because . .  . MY SISTER GOT MARRIED!!! Wahoo!!!
That week starting Saturday June 23 - Saturday June 30 was the busiest of my life!! (Maybe not, but it sure felt like it!)
Saturday June 23- Moydie and I went hiking on Mt. Timp (see last post) with our friend Sam!! Wahoo!!  It was so much fun and I loved every minute of it.  On our way down from the mountain, my mom called me (yep, somehow I got reception lol) and she said that they finally got into town! Yea!! So after we got off the mountain and ate some Indian food and cleaned up, we went and saw my family.
Sunday June 24- Pretty much a normal Sunday.  Moydie and I woke up at 11 am and then went to church at 1 pm and then after church we just chilled with my family. 
Monday June 25- At seven am all of my sisters went to the Provo Temple to do baptisms.  My youngest sister Tara had turned 12 in April and still hadn't gone to the temple.  Mom thought it would be cool for all of us sisters to go.  Tara loved it! 
Tuesday June 26- All day long we were at Seven Peaks!! (Yep, all of my family has the Pass of all Passes!) And then at 8 pm we were at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple for Heather to take out her endowment! So cool!
Wednesday June 27- We were helping Heather move out of her apartment and such.
Thursday June 28- HEATHER AND GAVIN GOT MARRIED!! Wahoo! Yep, at 10 am!

 Aren't they adorable!!!? That's my dad on the right opening the door :)

Then there was pictures at 11am

This is my whole family :) I love them mucho, mucho, mucho!! Or I guess I could say Se amo muchisimo!

 

Then we went to Paradise Cafe til like 2 pm hanging out with family and eating great chocolate chip cookies! Then we went home to take a nap, and believe me I did not want to wake up to go to the reception, but too soon we had to.  But the reception was fun and my sister looked absolutely beautiful all day long! :)

This is my sister Tara . .  doesn't she look thrilled? Lol love her!

 

Then we helped clean up after the reception and we got home around 11 pm.  (yeah, there was no way I was gonna run that day lol)
Friday June 29- Was pretty chill.  I swam with my little sister Tara and Little Brother Evan and then we went to one of our cousins basketball games.  After, we ate at Paradise Cafe again (one of our new favorite places lol) and then after we ate dinner we all went to an Owlz game.  (oh and by the way, they don't let you take even an empty water bottle inside the game!!! Pretty ridiculous, huh?! I was very upset . . . I mean, I'm an athlete and my water bottle is super precious to me!! Come on!!)
Saturday June 30- My little cousin Hallie got baptized at 9:30 and Moydie and I were in charge of the music.  I played the piano while Moydie led. Afterwards, we had a delicious picnic lunch and then we headed home to sleep away the crazy stress of the week. 
See what I mean? Yep, it was pretty crazy busy, but a fun, satisfying week!

Moydie and I at the temple before Heather and Gavin came out

Moydie, Little Brother, and I at the reception

Fun, huh? :)