Oh, those Pioneers!

(I love how I wait until Tuesday to write my weekend blogs...you know, since nothing exciting really ever happens on the weekdays. I'm still slightly annoyed at the camera for running off, but as long as he reappears in time for the Cape Cod trip, we're all good!)

Confession Time...

When I was younger, a lot younger, like 9 or so, I hated the pioneers.

We had moved from Ohio, a pleasant, multi-cultural place where I had a variety of friends to American Fork, Utah, where everyone was white and LDS. I am too, so that shouldn't have been a big deal, but what made me different was that I had absolutely no pioneer ancestry. Seriously, these kids would compare pioneer blood lines, "Well, I'm a direct descendant from Brigham Young." The teachers would talk about it in the classroom like everyone had someone who had crossed those plains. My family is from New Jersey originally, so I always felt some resentment that I didn't have cool pioneers somewhere in the family tree. I also had a slight fear that maybe some distant New York ancestors helped drive the pioneers out!

But obviously I got over my extreme dislike of the pioneers and now appreciate them. And to show my Pioneer Appreciation, I went to a Pioneer Parade this weekend, the first one I've been to since I lived in Utah.

Let's admit, Pioneer Parades are a bit hokey (and this is where I wish I had my camera). There's no actual covered wagons with oxen or horses pulling. Instead, it's trailer beds being pulled by F-150s carrying large groups of Primary kids with water guns and illegal candy-throwing. But still, it's a fun event! I always play this game with myself whenever I'm in a large group of people to count the number of things that are unique, sort of like the game where you count all the red cars on the highway during a long car drive. This time, it was women/girls in tank tops (you know, Mormon event=Modest is Hottest!) and guys in full out pioneer garb. Judd's sisters Molly and Robin were helping with the formerly Cumorah Credit Union booth and float, and the in-law's trailer bed made a cameo appearance in the parade disguised as a pioneer wagon!

And you can't beat free snow cones and buttered pita-bread! A pioneer favorite...

And it's always fun going with good friends. We went with Sierra and Darren, Patricia and little Max, and Andrea and her girls Tori and Lexi!

Afterwards, we hung out at Sierra and Darren's house where Bindi perfected her box turns in hopes of becoming Team Boron's future hope. Later, we celebrated another American tradition and went to a 51s game, then we got a totally American snack: deep fried Oreos on Fremont Street!

EnduroCross!

(I wrote this a week ago, but was holding out until we found our runaway camera to post. The camera still refuses to reappear, so here we go...)

-Judd here, I know, its usually Kristen writing in this but she wants me to contribute a bit. We had an awesome time the other day at the endurocross. I was most impressed with how much Kristen got into it and was cheering riders on. The actual obstacles they were going over didn't seem too bad, probably the most challenging part would be the other riders, it was like demolition derby on motorcycles. There were so many brutal crashes but the pro's really stood out by how smooth and elegant they took the obstacles. The whole time Molly, Kristen and my dad were echoing what was going on in my head that I should be out there too. I've never raced competitively before but it would definitely be fun to try. Though its likely they are thinking I'd be more suited to this sport due to my perfecting of the art of the high-speed casual dismount. anyway, back to Kristen...


~Kristen: As part of my continuing initiation into the dirt-biking world, Judd and I went to EnduroCross on Saturday with Molly and Mike and Judd's dad who awesomely got us tickets! I had never been to something like this before, but it was SO COOL! It made me feel a little more relaxed about Judd's dirt-bike trips, since before I always worried he'd get really hurt. Well, these guys were falling all over the place, but they'd dust themselves off and get right back on their bikes. My favorite rider was Ricky Dietrich, mainly because he seemed so bad-A, plus he looked super cool in his black/white/pink/yellow striped gear. I just got really annoyed with him though when he would get so close to being #1, but immediately goof and fail to place in the main event.

I'm trying to get Judd to compete in November's EnduroCross amateur event since he claims that he could pull those stunts easily!

Kristen Reviews...the "I told you so" TV moment, the City within a City, and a little taste of bliss

We'll start with the event I said would happen since the beginning of this season's The Bachelorette. I knew from the moment Frank's creepy face filled Hannah's TV screen that there was something off about that guy. And even though all the previews and reviews showed "Rated R" and Wolverine Craig as the bad guys, I just knew Frank was going to pull some sort of stunt. Sure enough, he went back to Chicago to see if he still had feelings for his old girlfriend. My thoughts on this: if he was doubting anything, it would have been nice of him to tell Ali before she got weirdly attached to him (I know, with Roberto and Chris there, she liked Frank?). But at the same time, Ali is leading him on as well as the other guys. But I guess it's okay if you're getting paid $100,000 dollars to do it. But to Frank's girlfriend: congrats on getting your man back. I hope you have your own place and a decent job, because Mr.-I-had-a-good-job-but-I-wanted-to-pursue-my-screenwriting-so-I-moved-to-Paris-and-ended-up-back-at-my-parents...well, you know already. Maybe he'll write a really good screenplay about this whole experience.

At least my favorite homeboy Cape Cod Chris is hanging in there in the final two, but Roberto may be better for her. But that's probably because I think one of my Cape Cod friends should track Chris down for herself!



City Center...an experiment in the idea of "a city within a city". In Tokyo, they're building something along the same premise, except that it is one gigantic building with schools, grocery stores, libraries, public pools, you name it. I'm not sure if Las Vegas's City Center will eventually remember to cater to the people who live there as opposed to just visiting, but either way, the architecture alone makes it worth checking out. Random waterfalls, cool lighting arrangements, and gravity-defying statues and buildings are amazing. We walked around Aria, and then went to the still-under-construction mall Crystals. What I don't understand is why Crystals was necessarily needed. All of its stores are overly-expensive high-end fashion, but we already have malls and hotels with these stores on the Strip. At least at Fashion Show and Miracle Mile, they have reasonably-priced stores too for those of us not wanting to drop $1,000 on a pair of shoes. But it is fun to walk around still and pretend like we're super ritzy!





CRAZY-HORSE ROLL!!!
My favorite sushi place in Las Vegas is Sushi on Tropicana, and the creation pictured is why. I can't believe I found a picture of it online, but there you go! Salmon, crab, avocado, cream cheese, rice, sea-weed, dipped in tempura, baked, then drizzled in eel and yum-yum sauce. A long time ago when Judd and I first started dating, he was kind of hesitant on the sushi thing. So I took him to this restaurant and made him eat that divine creation. Now he loves it! We have started to make our own version of this, and it's awesome, but this roll at that place will always reign supreme! We live across the street from Sushi on Tropicana, so we tend to frequent it just a bit. Plus we're buddies with the sushi chefs now, so they usually give us free deep-fried ice cream or something!

TWO YEARS!!!!

Then during our reception...

...Now eating at the place!

Isn't it so pretty?

Judd and I have been married TWO YEARS today!

It doesn't seem that long, mainly because we make it a point to never stop feeling like newlyweds, but still, it's insane how fast time flies.

Our major celebration is our hugely anticipated Cape Cod trip in less than 3 weeks (EEEEEEE!!), but to celebrate the day, we went back to the Cile restaurant at the Bali Hai golf course where we had our ring ceremony and reception. It is such a classy place with stunning views. After eating their divine triangle cheese bread, we started off with humongous shrimp cocktail. Judd ordered a burger, and I went for the sentimental chicken dish our guests ate. They gave us this awesome gelato dish on the house with a cute little "Happy Anniversary" chocolate! Afterward,
we walked around the course a bit.

It was nice to sit back, splurge a bit, and reminisce while dreaming about the future. While our present to ourselves is the trip, I did get us some of those super-soft airplane pillows that you wrap around your neck just for fun. And Judd got me my absolute favorite stargazer lillies and sparkling cider!

I love you Judd, and here's to many more fantastic years! You're the best friend and even better husband anyone could ever ask for!

Prosciutto and Fireworks

4th of July...the easiest holiday to celebrate in a low-key, yet super fun way. You don't have to go all out to make it awesome. Judd, Bindi and I just got back from the park where we barbecued some hot dogs and snacked on our ultimate indulgent craving (after sushi, but cheaper: prosciutto and mozzarella! It was super delicious and of course the dog wanted some, but she had to be content with her bone, sorry!

Afterwards, we laid in the grass and read for a bit. That might sound lame to some people, but seriously, who has time to do that anymore? I know we sure don't! It was really relaxing to get lost in a good book for a while.

The park was right next to Green Valley Station's firework display, so we watched that for a bit. Surprisingly, our normally neurotic dog did NOT freak out at the fireworks. She didn't seem to even notice them. She did notice the smorgasbord of illegal fireworks afterwards when we went for a walk around the neighborhoods to walk off the ridiculous amounts of calories that prosciutto has in it (80 calories/serving, and since Judd and I each had about 3 servings...yikes! All that in a piece of meat and cheese!). I know illegal fireworks are dangerous and all, but growing up we had a neighbor that used to get them and it was super fun for us kids to light them, so I really can't judge people too much for it! They kind of made us nervous though when we walked under a few going off literally right over our heads!

We're both so thankful to live in America. It was nice singing patriotic songs in church today, I think we forget how powerful those lyrics are. We may not like some of the directions it is going in, but we are thankful that centuries ago, people fought for a vision of what this country could be and accomplish. We only hope that America will continue to be that country worth fighting for.

That puppy can swim!

I love this picture because both of us are squinting in it!


For the past few months, we have slowly been trying to teach Bindi how to swim. "Teach" probably isn't the best word since she can swim naturally, more like "getting Bindi accustomed to water". This dog was such a wimp when it came to swimming. We really wanted to get her to like swimming with us, especially since she's a little black dog in the hot Vegas heat. But finally yesterday, after a day of chasing dirt bikes, Bindi either knew she couldn't hide under the trailer any more or got tired of watching us have all the fun, because she voluntarily got in on her own! We were so excited and of course, like proud parents, took a ton of pictures. She's much nicer and cuddlier in the water and reminds me of a baby seal. She prefers to lounge around on the blue raft, but I'm sure once we remember to bring a tennis ball, she'll jump right in!

In other news, we're enjoying our 3 day 4th of July weekend, definitely needed! It was nice getting much needed relaxation in, and extra fun seeing people we haven't seen in forever (Mark and Katherine and their cute little boy, Jason and Cari and their awesome kids...geez, we're so behind...)

I think I have Judd convinced to watch the Jake/Vienna showdown tomorrow on The Bachelorette (what? They didn't work out? Unbelievable...not! Should have gone with Tenley!).

I got called as the Mia Maid adviser in our ward today. I'm excited, mainly because I've been wanting to teach Young Women's since we started going to family wards after getting married. I guess I just feel like I can relate to them so much more than Relief Society, but that's probably because I'm closer to age to them then RS! Should be interesting. I hope I can find the balance between being the girls' friend and their adviser, because I know when I was that age, I couldn't stand the leaders who were really pushy and I preferred the younger leaders that just seemed to "get it". It will be nice though, since Judd is in Young Men, so we'll get to do a lot of activities together, and of course, Mutual every Tuesday night!

Biker Chick

So now that I'm properly equipped with pink and black gear (ignore the dorky elbow pads), I feel much more confident and ready when I get on this beastly dirt bike! It wasn't as terrifying as I thought it was going to be. I can now get it in third gear, even though I still have this sense of "I'm going way fast and this would really hurt/suck if I fell" feeling, but the elating/adventurous part makes it all worth it! It's kind of like learning to ride a bike again, and while it took me (ah hem...embarrassing moment here...) two years as a kid to learn how to do that without training wheels, at least I could this in one afternoon!

Like the boots? TOTAL STEAL! I went into the store planning on buying the $80 boots, but they were out. Maybe Cycle Gear doesn't get in too many lady customers looking for pink-accented equipment, but the guy told me he'd match-price the boots I wanted with any other women-styled boots, including the really nice pair for $180! I asked if he was serious, and then he told me that if I bought gloves (which I needed anyways), he'd knock an additional $30 off the boots! So I got those $180 boots for $50! I don't know about you, but I love those good sales moments in life, so inspirational!

But anyways, since Judd says I should focus more on the bike instead of shopping for it, I've now been out four times, and it is a BLAST! Judd is a great teacher, and Bindi is a great chaser! Somehow this is supposed to be a workout, and while I'm not sure of the logistics of that, I do feel more in-shape after riding.

So if anyone ever wants to go, let us know!