Happy Birthday!!!

Yesterday Matt turned 29. Because of our work schedule, we are celebrating today with my family.
In honor of his birthday, here are 29 facts about Matt.

1. He is such a hard worker. He will work circles around people without thinking about it.
2. Matt is one of the most giving people I know.
3. His eyes look brown from further away, but they are really green like mine. :0)
4. He loves animals!

5. I taught him to fish, and was with him when he caught his first.
6. My family adores him. My grandad called him son.
7. He adores my family. He jumped right in and took care of all my grandmas finances, and still does. He pays all her bills for her. He would do anything for her.
8. He is very creative. He has quite the artistic eye.
9. He likes to make his friends happy. We host holiday get togethers ALL the time.
10. He considers many of his close friends family.
11. He has the biggest heart in the world.
12. His favorite character is Snoopy and he has collected memorabilia for quite some time.
13. He is very outgoing and will talk to just about anyone.
14. He has an awesome sense of humor.
15. For only having brothers, he is dealing with my plethora of sisters quite well.
16. He LOVES to cook, bake and try out new recipes.
17. At bbq's he is always the one manning the grill.
18. He loves to be outdoors camping or fishing.
19. He has a positive attitude about nearly everything, especially when he was sick a few years back.
20. He is going to make an outstanding father.

21. He can't wait to be a father.
22. He is content to stay home and make dinner and watch movies for date night, but is always willing to go and do whatever I drag him out to do.
23. He shares my passion for the Sawtooth Mountains.
24. He is very good with his hands and has built and remodeled many a set and rooms etc..
25. He loves just about every genre of music except for rap/screamo crap.
26. He stands up for what he believes in.
27. does SO much at work, I think the building would fall down if he were to ever leave.
28. He has a very loud and addicting laugh.
29. He loves me more than anything in the world, and is my very best friend.


We have been through Hell and high water the past couple years. It has done nothing but brought us closer together. We share the same passions, and make each other laugh. I don't know what I would do without him. Happy Birthday my love!!!

Is anyone else excited?

Camping can't come soon enough.

We are very excited for camping around here. However, every time we plan a trip we either end up having to work, or it rains... all... weekend...
In the mean time, we have been refurbishing my grandads old trailer. this was after we stripped all of the old rotting wood off of it. We grinded the old paint and rust off and then repainted it with a rust preventing paint.

Also, we bought a new sleeping bag. This picture doesn't do it justice.
it is HUGE
We can fit both of us and the dogs... it we have too...
It goes to 0-degrees and has drawstrings to tighten the top, kind of like an mummy bag.
Have you ever tried to sleep comfortably in a mummy bag with a dog either in the crook of your knees or between your legs? Not so bueno!
We also got a king size air mattress.
We are going to be so spoiled that going home and returning to our full size bed is going to seem like a joke.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

But if you must stay...
Thank You
for watering me topsy turvy tomatoes

(a gardner in my home ward... Sister Rich for the 16th ward peeps... swears by them, she is amazing so I am going to trust her opinion, hopefully they rock)

and my raspberries
(Which by the way, its fruit got eaten by squirrels the next day... grrrr)

and my corn plants

My clematis and tomatoes

and my rhubarb, clematis, pumpkins, squash, broccoli, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers.....

And providing lots, and lots of moisture, then heat, then moisture for my new composter.

Miss Idaho

I love this show. It holds a special place in my heart and we meet the niceset people and create friendships! This year was no different. I won't have pictures if the set for a few weeks, which I am kind of upset about because I was way proud of it! Oh well... Here we go.

The week started off with this.... unsafe platform and I was the one that bit it. Better me than the girls in their heels. It got fixed, and my ankle is healing. Matt really enjoyed documenting the color and size changes throughout the week. This was probably Friday or Saturday as I was icing before the show.

This week we also had to crown another crew favorite, better known as "Miss Morrison"
The first Miss Morrison was Briana Carr, who we all still love. We were sad to not have her back this year.

This is Tristan Long. What a cutie!

She hung out with us way more than she did with the other girls, and man, she is TALENTED!!!

This was after the crowning right before we started load out. De started a new tradition ending the week with champagne and orange juice, or for those that don't drink... orange juice!

Sadly, we have to say good bye to these fine ladies. Elise Davis and Danielle Beckstrom were Miss Idaho and Miss Idaho Outstanding Teen 2009.
Amazing job girls! You will be missed!!

None of the girls I was betting on won :( We did get a very beautiful and talented girl though. Her name is Kara Jackson and she was Miss Nampa! Congrats Kara!
As soon as I get pictures from the photographer, I will post them!!

Photos from Brigadoon

I hadn't posted anypictures from Music week, so here they are.
As always, these are courtesy of Dave Jensen

Final Bows

The "Bridge of Doom" It was ridiculously steep!

Matt was the special effects guy (smoke, have and fog) while I ran the lights

Funniest for last, the gal up front in the teal skirt in the front row cannot dance to save her life. This was a group dance and really quite easy. As you can see, she is the only one leaning to her right, while everyone else leans to their left. From where I sat, a cant really make out specific faces so I thought it was a little girl... nope. It was a middle aged woman. Bless her heart!

Our fur babies

Our dogs are silly, but we love them!

The Aftermath, So to Speak

So, here it is a few days later. It doesn't really hurt aside from getting stiff and the bruising. I promise you, these pictures don't do the coloring justice. Its really quite cool looking.

As you can see its still swollen, and bruised 2 or three inches up past my ankle bone. The bottome of my heel as well as the other side of my foot is all purdy lookin too. Before I get in trouble, I did have several medical professionals look at it. The fact that I have been able to walk on it with very little pain and have good range of motion is a VERY good sign. I didn't feel like wasting my time and the universitys money to go have it x-rayed only for them to tell me it stretched the tendons and ligaments and there is nothing they can do. Its not my first sprain, wont be my last!

I know you were dying to see a picture of my foot...

... So I have rather unhappily obliged...

Anyone guess what is wrong with that picture?

I will spare you the embarrassing details

i48 Reel Pirates Group Picture

A Hefty Goal

The best book ever. Matt and I have wanted it for a while, so last night we finally broke down and bought it. We have made a goal to do every hike on the book during our lifetime, starting this summer. There are some that I have already done, but we haven't done together. They range from quick 2 or 3 mile easy hikes to 4 or 5 day backpacking trips. You have no idea how excited we are to cross them off our list. Maybe I will put a scrapbook together with all the pictures from each hike... or maybe it will have its own blog. Hmmm... what do you think?

From Hawaii, With Love

Busy, Busy, Busy, Busy week.

Last week was insane. It is now Friday of the following week and I barely feel recovered. Just in time for another crazy week!

Last week myself and a few others from the Morrison Center worked at the SPEC (Special Events Center) over in the student union building. Its a pretend theater. Its actually quite ridiculous if you want my honest opinion. When it was built I am positive it was amazing, I would know, because my grandfather was on the project. But in the years following it has gotten NO LOVE and has fallen into disrepair. The fly rail (what makes things go up and down on stage and what you hang the lights on above stage) it SCARY, and incredibly unsafe. All of the lights were dirty and some just didn't work at all. The problem isn't that its a bad space, its that it doesn't have a staff aside from glorified janitors and audio visual guys who don't do more than plug mics in for events in the student union. Its both sad and frustrating to see something not utilized to its full (or even partial) potential.

That being said, we built a show there for The Trey McIntyre Project. I love these guys. They are a modern dance company who has made their home in Boise. Look them up, they are nothing short of amazing. This is my third show with these guys, and I love them more every time. Check out their tour schedule, if they come anywhere near you, GO!!

This guy is huge, he is well over 6ft... outstanding dancer

These 3 are my favs. The are so synchronized. Their timing and spacing together is impeccable.

Monday and Tuesday were spent building these guys, Wednesday was spent with my second show of the week The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Another AWESOME show. Hey, if I have to work all week, at least I am enjoying what I am doing!! I was able to work a position that night after load in where I was able to watch it while working. It has been a long time since I have truly laughed that hard during a musical. It pushed the envelope in so many different ways, and made us laugh about things we have needed to laugh about for a LONG time.


Thursday morning brought me back to the SPEC for tech rehearsals. A friend and I were running follow spot through these windows, and mine was lucky enough to have a frame right smack dab in the middle of it. In order to be able to shoot my light through the bottom window, I had to raise myself up enough to look out of the top window. I was on a bar stool, on a box that was hardly wide enough for the stool, running the light from behind. Needless to say it wasn't the most ideal situation, but I made it work. After a long day of tech rehearsals I headed over to the Morrison to fill in for someone who called in sick. Its a good thing I like her because that was 5 hours of sleepy time I was looking forward to.

Friday was opening night for Trey. Awesome, awesome show. As usual. After show my 3 fellow MC buddies ran over to the MC to start load out for Spelling Bee while I ran the spot for a Q and A with Trey. The longest they had ever gone in the past was 20 minutes. 35 minutes later I got out of there and ran myself over to MC to help with load out. I think we got out of there around 1am.

Saturday we were up at 5am, grabbed breakfast and met with a whole gaggle of people from Silverdraft (the movie studio) to participate in the i48 film competition. Our team name was Reel Pirates and we had a blast together!! It started at 6pm the night before with our info packet. In our packet we received a genre (silent film) a prop (dice as well as a line in the film and a name or something. They started writing the script that night, we film the next day, and edit the following day and turn it in by 6pm, exactly 48 hours later. They decided to film at the Morrison Center. Ugghhh... I felt like I was at work... lol. We got there, and the first shoot of the day was on the fourth floor. The only way to get up there was up a skinny metal spiral staircase. So we lugged all the film equipment up 78 stairs. We worked on the film for a few hours before I had to book it over to the SPEC to do a matinee with Trey. Another successful show. Went back to MC and worked on the film for a few hours and ran back to the SPEC for the final show and load out. The day was finally done at 1am.



It was a crazy week, but everything I was involved in was so much fun! Now We need to get rested up for Miss Idaho next week! Go Meg Rowe!!!