Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Over Fourth of July Weekend, Brody and I took a much needed vacation. Well it was just a long weekend away, but I still considered it a vacation. We haven't been able to do much this summer-with me working full time and Brody starting a new job and constantly studying for the GMAT, there hasn't been much opportunity to get away.

I planned the Jackson Hole Trip as an anniversary present to the both of us. But we didn't really care for a romantic weekend just the two of us, we decided that it would be more fun to hit this outdoorsy and action filled vacation spot with some friends. (besides its a bit cheaper to go with others on a road trip)

We left early Saturday morning and chatted the whole way up. It only took us about 4 1/2 hours which was perfect. We stopped at a cute, but very slow cafe on the way up. I felt like a city slicker in a country town, because it seemed that we were the only ones who cared that they took 1/2 to make 2 sandwiches and that they were forever in taking our orders etc. The waitress wasn't too worried either...like this was the norm.

Any way after that we checked into our nice little hotel, actually it was a hostel. Ryan, Kristen, Brody and I all shared a room and had our own bathroom so it didn't feel much like a hostel. It didn't have many amenities, but that didn't matter because we spent virtually no time in the place.

After we arrived we got ready to go on our whitewater rafting trip. I have no pictures from this event because you couldn't bring your camera on the trip. I was a nervous wreck leading up unto this point. I was sure I was going to drown. I was very terrified..like stomach ache terrified. I managed to stay calm enough to get dressed and into the raft. We wore wet suits because the water was about 36 degrees. I was grateful for the wetsuits because cold was never an issue. While on the raft I felt a bit better, but going through the first rapid was pretty scary! I sat in the middle where they let children sit because, well i am a baby and petrified of drowning. After surviving the first two rapids I decided that I would try sitting on the side and rowing. I actually liked this much better because it gave me something to concentrate on while going through the rapids, instead of just sitting and watching. After surviving our trip, which turned out to be actually fun, we had a steak/salmon dinner looking over the river. It was quite good and the whole day was enjoyable.

Jenny Lake- Quite beautiful

The next day we woke up and drove to the Teton National Park (1 mile away) We hiked to a water fall and enjoyed the scenery. I got some ugly tan lines on my back from the hike.

Later that day we got dressed and walked around the town. We walked through plenty of western themed stores. Brody and Ryan met a Ukranian girl, who they flirted with mercilessly in a fur store. She seemed quite upset when she noticed my ring and said I looked about 18 and not old enough to be married. Turns out that I was older than her. I guess she just liked American boys. We took lots of pictures and ate good ice cream and barbeque. Finally, we came back and watched the enjoyable firework show on the land behind our hostel. It was a perfect ending to our evening.

I loved all the bear items in this town!

Fireworks!

We had amazing and warm weather for Jackson Hole our first two days, so it was ok when we awoke to clouds on the fourth of July. We packed up and left that morning after walking around the shops nearby for a bit. Our drive home was uneventful. The trip was quite fun! We will def be returning, maybe to go skiing next time. (Brody admired the virtical feet on the ski slopes the whole time!)

Brody's Dream Come True

Brody's dream came true on Saturday...He got to fly a plane! He always talks about some day owning and flying his own plane. I usually object from the fear of all the accidents that result from small air crafts. But I guess I can't be too overprotective.

He received a card in the mail recently, inviting us to "International Learn to Fly Day". A local airport was offering "Discovery" flights for super cheap. We couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Here he is at the controls. I confess, it was pretty scary at first. You feel every bump and you feel quite vulnerable all the way up in the sky in an itty-bitty plane. The instructor was sitting next to Brody, which was comforting. He actually said Brody did quite well for his first time.

I chilled in the backseat. We were on the ground for this picture so I wasn't scared yet.

Our plane was a total throwback to the 1970's but it was trusty and safe! I'm totally grateful for all the fun things I've been able to experience lately!

Viva Las Vegas!

Last weekend we made a little getaway to Sin City. I wanted to get out of the awful weather in UT and enjoy some sunshine. It ended up snowing in UT on Friday (the day we left) so I was ecstatic to have missed that. The weather has really been horrible this year. And it still is taking its sweet time warming up.

I decided that I had to take part in history and woke up at 3:30 a.m. to watch the Royal Wedding. I just wanted to see the dress so I just woke up for that part and then tried to go back to bed before leaving for Vegas. I thought she looked very classic and pretty. I enjoyed that the dress was so modest and refined. It makes me want a tiara again! Also, I thought her veil was very similar to mine!

Brody's mom and brother came with us on our adventure. We couldn't find any friends who actually wanted to go with us, and Brody's mom was eager to take a weekend away too, so they became our traveling companions. Julie drove her car so we could save on gas (we still had to pay a fortune in gas because gas prices are even worse in Southern Utah/Vegas)

When we got to Vegas we were happy that it was warm, but it was horribly windy. So much so that it was actually pretty cold. Sadly I didn't get to lay out on this trip.Oh and Brody was very proud of this shirt he purchased and wore for the rest of the night. Surprisingly he had multiple people come up to him and compliment the shirt!

We visited many attractions while there. First, the pawn shop on Pawn Stars on the History Channel. They were filming when we got there so I saw one of the guys on the show. We visited a million casinos, the Bodies exhibit (which was kinda creepy, not my kinda thing), the Titanic exhibit (they had a piece of the ship...this was something much more enjoyable to me), the roller coaster in New York , New York, the Bellagio water fountains and a show at Treasure Island. The Show at Treasure Island was awful to put it lightly. We treked, what seemed like miles, to see this show. We were under the impression that it was for kids, but it ended up being a bunch of super scantily clad girls dancing provokatively on a ship with horrible monologe and songs. It was far from G rated or child appropriate. Hence we will not be watching that again.

Here are all of our pictures from the trip. I was happy to get away, but being back in UT means I have not trips to look forward to, at least not for awhile. Back to work and back to reality.At the M & M factory.

After the "Bodies" exhibit

Riverdance

Brody's dad purchased Riverdance tickets long ago. It started out as Nutcracker tickets for Christmas but then Brenda decided ballet was not her thing and that she wanted to go to Riverdance instead. I thought that Paul only bought tickets for him and Brenda, but instead he bought four and we were the lucky guests. (probably because Karissa was in Idaho and well Jason would have no desire to attend)

I wore a green dress to honor the Irish heritage. We got to go to an amazing restaraunt before, which was quite the treat. I had the best chicken I've ever tasted and some amazing sweet potato casserole. I am getting more accustomed to fine dining since my induction into the Mulderig family. I still try to order the cheapest things (which is good because I prefer cheap chicken over expensive steaks) I was very happy with my selections that night!

We are stuffed after our amazing dinner.

Riverdance was also amazing and every dancer was amazingly thin. I once again thought that I need to be a full time dancer. I don't know that I would be a good Irish dancer, I don't think Irish gigs would be my forte. But still I would love to participate in that extensive cardio. Everyone in the show was incredibly talented and I left feeling very cultured.

Christmas Around the World: or at least America

This Christmas vacation was a crazy one. I don't think I've ever attempted to do so much during a break and I don't think I will try to do it again. Vacation was quite stressful at times, but definitely a lot of fun. It starts out with me leaving on December 16th. I flew back east and first stopped at Debbie's house, where I got to meet my brand new nephew, Preston. I bought him this super cute onesie.

He is extremely tiny, but very adorable.

While I was in VA I got a chance to go visit Jessie and Dustin in Richmond. I haven't seen them since my wedding, so the visit was long overdue. It was exactly as old times. We shopped, baked, talked and just hung out. It felt so good to have a dose of the past. I miss having such a close friend nearby! We did make a visit to the Richmond Art Museum, which was quite fun. Here are the only pictures that we took. (we have never been good at taking pictures when we are together)
After my 4 hour round trip drive to Richmond I then made it to the Dullus Airport and flew to Johnstown. My parents thought it would be easier if I just flew there instead of having to come pick me up from my sister's house. The flight to Johnstown was an interesting one. I had a stopover in Altoona and then the flight to Johnstown was only 8 minutes. It was incredible! The people at the Johnstown airport aren't the most competent of folks so I don't think I'll be making that flight in the near future (the trip entailed things like sitting on the plane after landing for 2o minutes because of miscommunication. the airport people were waiting for us to unload and the pilot and flight attendants were waiting for a sign from the airport people. It was quite ridiculous)

I spent a day in Johnstown and then drove to Pittsburgh to pick up Brody. I spent some time with Susan and the kids. After picking Brody up we went to a special Korean dinner made by one of Susan's friends in the ward. It was very delicious and fun.

While in Pittsburgh we stopped and saw Lindsay's new house! I was quite happy to see my best friend all grown up in a home and with 2 fat cats! After visiting Lindsay and taking a tour of her new town, Cranberry we drove back to Johnstown.

Quite a lot of driving, I know. For Christmas Brody grew what he called his Christash, which you can't really see in this picture.

And Pam recruited me for her first annual Rupper Reindeer Run. None of her siblings could be convinced to participate, probably bc it was freezing and the roads were covered in snow. It turned out to be quite a fun experience and appreciated being able to participate in a Rupper family tradition.So at this point in my Christmas vacation I was getting super excited for my upcoming trip to Jamaica!! We were thrilled to be going but were starting to get a bit nervous since there were stories all over the news about a storm of the century that was to be hitting the East Coast the next day. Sure enough (as it is our luck) we got a call from the airline on Christmas night saying that our flight for Monday morning was canceled. They put us on a later flight that day saying that it should leave. But the next day I logged onto to American Airlines and I found out that our flight, the new one, was also canceled. I was starting to get quite stressed. So Brody spent more than an hour on hold to talk to an agent and they told us that they only option we had was either wait 3 days (which we couldn't) or fly out of Cleveland, OH. Well we decided that OH was our only option and we just had to make it work (cause if not we would miss the majority of our trip and I was not willing to let that happen)
We had one major problem though. My large suitcase full of clothes and bathing suits and necessities for Jamaica was sitting at my sister's house in VA. See because I flew from VA to Johnstown on United (which charges a luggage charge) I decided to leave it there. We were originally supposed to fly out of Dullus so it would have worked out perfectly and we could have picked up our suitcase before we left the country.
But since we decided to go out of Cleveland we had to scramble and we scrounged up some bathing suits and clothes. Too bad my mom had just this past year cleaned out my room and got rid of all my random things that I had in there (like shorts and dresses) We decided that wearing the same clothes over and over in Jamaica was better than missing 3 days of our trip.
So we made our trek to Pittsburgh and then on to Cleveland. and my good brother-in-law used his Marriott points and got us a hotel by the airport so we could sleep there and then leave on our 6 a.m. flight!
Here we are in the airport on our way out of the country.

We are both super pale and exhausted but excited!

So this posting has exhausted me so I will continue with my Jamaica trip later!

A Visit from Pam

So today, I got to stay home all day-- it felt quite strange to not go to school and well I felt a bit bored. I am coming down from a high of frenzy since the past 2 weeks of school have been beyond crazy. I turned almost everything in yesterday and now have one more presentation and I am finally free to relax and begin Thanksgiving vacay!!! But my vacation from school today was not planned, my car broke down on the off ramp of I-15. Luckily some kind man helped push me to a nearby parking lot. It couldn't have been a better parking lot, because I was able to get my car fixed at the car place right there. I did have to sit in a Scone Cutter for 2 hours while I tried to get ahold of Brody. Because of this, I missed all the buses to Provo and decided to just stay home for the day. Luckily, a lot of my classes were canceled today and my presentation is tomorrow so I was ok to miss school. but anyway that is my long introduction to my actual blog post.

My dear friend Pamela came out from PA to visit this past week. She named herself my shadow for the week that she was here. I felt bad that I had school and other things to do, but I think we still managed to spend some quality time together.

We were able to go to dinner for her bday at this trendy sushi place in Salt Lake. She got a sushi roll called the volcano. The plate even had fire underneath the roll, it was pretty cool. I'd post a picture, but you can't see the fire.

I think I look bald in this picture. We went out with Pam's old roomies, Paige and Mindy

Afterward, we went back to my house to share a special cake that I made especially for Pam. She loved it.
It was fun having her around! She'll be missed!

New chapter in our lives

Life has been crazy lately. I am wrapping up my job at United Way of Utah County, Brody graduated and craziest of all we moved!! We are now Salt Lake County residents, no longer stuck in the confines of Utah County. So far, I haven't figured out why so many Utahans hate Utah County but are ok with Salt Lake. I guess we have better shopping and probably more restaurants (though I haven't tried any of them yet) but I guess I will get back to you on why Salt Lake is better after I figure it out.

One thing for sure is that our apt is a hundred times better. Gone are the days of cave dwelling. After 2 years of living in an apt with no major outside facing windows, I am delighted to report that we have windows on every side of our home and they let in a ton of light. I do not have to turn on the lights at noon anymore!!! We love our duplex. We have a backyard, bigger kitchen, 2 bedrooms and tons of fun upgrades. You must all come visit soon!

Not decorated yet...it's a work in progress

Brody's graduation was fun. His parents came down for the convocation on Friday morning and then we all went to lunch at Chef's Table. It was fun to celebrate in style. The food was amazing.

Afterwards we began the dreaded move! It took us basically all weekend and was miserably hot. But we are finally done and now only have cosmetic things left to do. I need some throw pillows, curtains and a few other things.

Next week I start orientation and then school. I am not really looking forward to the commute, but I will enjoy being back at my favorite University.

Good bye to Provo, but not to campus!

1 whole year!

It's amazing that one year ago (more now cause I'm slow to update the blog) that I married my husband here!

That day ended up perfect and I came home with a pretty good prize! Being married to him really has been the best :)

Love Brody's face in this one!

K enough of the mushy. For our anniversary we decided to go to Snowbird. It is one of our favorite ski resorts in the winter, but we never had been there in the summer. We also just had a month of traveling so we didn't think a big trip was appropriate.

First, we ate at an Indian Restaurant on our way. It was yummy. I tried to take a picture, but the waiter who took it, took a horrible picture! We stayed in a quaint room at the Inn of Snowbird. We had a fireplace and a cute kitchen. It was nice to get away from the heat and spend a day in the mountains.



We also got a pass to participate in all the activities that they have there. We went on the alpine slide, ziplinging (nothing compared to Costa Rica ziplinging), the tram and hiked a bit and some easy rock climbing walls. It was a fun day!

Afterwords, we went to the Jordan River Temple (I wish we could have gone to the DC temple, but they are all special and beautiful) We had an amazing experience there. We definitely felt loved and so happy that we had chosen each other!

Two New States for Brody

Brody was lucky enough to visit two new states on his trip to Nauvoo. He made me drive across the Mississippi to visit Iowa (we were there for about 10 minutes) but we touched the Mississippi with our toes. We found this old historical fort and park conveniently just across the river.

As I said before we flew in Milwaukee, WI so when we drove back to the airport Brody wanted to walk around the city for a bit. He also wanted to visit the Northwestern Mutual campus. He is currently doing his internship for Northwestern so he was excited to see their buildings.



We also walked down to the water (Lake Michigan) and saw a cool museum. There were about 10 weddings going on at the time so I'm sure we crashed many pictures!

We finally boarded our plane home after this! It was a fun trip!!

Woffinden Family Reunion

Last week was our much awaited Nauvoo trip! The trip entailed flying from SLC the whole way to Milwaukee, WI renting a car, driving 5 hours to the middle of nowhere Illinois and then staying in a large historic building with 20 some people (my entire immediate family, minus some in-laws) Sounds crazy, but it was actually really fun! Brody even survived it. It was a super short trip, with too much traveling, but the whole thing was fun!

We did have to suffer through 100 degree weather with horrible humidity. We were basically dripping the whole time. But that was the major downside of the trip.

When we arrived to Nauvoo, we were able to go straight to the pageant. They told us at the beginning that it was a tear jerker. I was impressed with myself the whole time, thinking "wow I haven't cried yet, I'm so good" well I spoke too soon. I ended the pageant basically bawling. It was super touching to listen to stories of the pioneers and of the prophet Joseph!
I also got to see my old roommated Meghan who is currently on a mission there! It was so fun to catch up, brought back tons of good memories of living in LA.

Snow cones before the start of the pageant!

After the pagent we all crashed in bed. We had an early start the next day. We were going on a hand cart trek and wow did I need the rest! So I went on a trek when I was 14 for youth conference. I had a ton of fun and don't remember any manual labor. Maybe my memory has dimmed or we were just on the cushiest trail ever, because this handcart trek was no picnic.
As you can see in pictures, by the first 5 minutes we were all covered in mud and tired. We unanimously decided to just go 1 mile instead of 3! It was definitely an experience to remember!

We spent the rest of the trip sight seeing . I never realized how much their is to do in Nauvoo. There are a ton of historical houses and shows and plays and pioneer activities. We went on a oxen ride a nd the rest of the family went on a wagon ride through out town.

At Carthage Jail. That's my nephew Connor in the back.

Cute houses in Nauvoo.

Our wedding cake topper! My mom drove it the whole way out from PA. We shared the cake with our family (just a couple weeks early for our first anniversary celebration) A real romantic night with 20+ members of my family!

We got a chance to go to the temple while we were there! It was really beautiful!

So that was the majority of our family reunion. My parents are enjoying their mission there. They wear pioneer clothes, do tours and appear in shows. Sadly, we didn't get to see a show where my parents actually have parts, but we saw them perform none the less.

I will add the rest of our trip later. This post is getting too long.