Meeting the Fam in Pennsylvania

During our trip to D.C., we went up to Pennsylvania for a few days to see Casey's family. It was fun for Casey to see his cousins that he hasn't seen in 10 years and to see and stay with his Uncle Gary and Aunt Venus (we haven't seen them since our wedding). They are such wonderful, generous people. We also saw a little bit of his Uncle Dwayne, Aunt Amy, their kids, and Amy's bookstore. Amy was was really nice and even gave Casey the book he needed for his book club: The Alchemist. It was fun to meet some of family for the first time and see what life on the farm is like. They definately live a different life than what Casey and I were used to.

In case you were wondering what Pennsylvania looks like...

Casey and Garrison riding on the dirt bike

Playing on the tight rope in the barn. The boys made this one afternoon when they were bored.
Me
Bryce
It rained quite a bit while we were there. Candice convinced Casey to play football in the rain with her, and this is Casey taking cover.

Candice giving Casey that, "You're such a dork" look : )

Casey and his Grandpa Plessinger

Casey and his Great Grandpa Crawford

Washington DC

We're still alive! I know a lot of you were wondering since I haven't updated in a while. Anyways, for our anniversary, Casey and I went to Washington D.C. to see the sights and visit Josh. The first day there we went to the Holocaust Museum (very eye-opening and Casey's favorite). They had excellent exhibits and there was so much that we learned about the Holocaust that we never knew. We also went to a Nationals v. Mets game. It was a lot of walking, but little did we know how much more we would do...

The Holocaust Museum. The architecture was really cool. It was all very plain and almost cold with a lot of steel, brick, and unfinished wood. It definately set a mood for the museum.

The Room of Remembrance. Above these candles they had the names of different concentration camps and you could light the candles underneath them.
One of the windows that I liked.
Throughout the museum, they had informational videos with modern day interviews with survivors, troops, trials, etc.One of my favorite pictures that we saw.

Children's Tile Wall. Children from around the United States made tiles themed around the Holocaust.

This museum definately made you think...

A flag outside the museum. Just made you glad for the country we live in and for our freedom.

The Nationals Game. We all got free Lincoln bobbleheads. This is Casey and Josh mimicking Honest Abe's stern expression.
Casey and I after the game.

Twilight

My sister was in town a few weeks ago and asked me if I had read this book/series. I said I had heard of them, but never read any. If you don't know, they are books written by a BYU graduate about a girl, vampires, love, etc. They are huge in Utah, and when I say huge, I'm not exaggerating. I tried to get a copy from the library, but they only have 20 copies or so and there are 127 people on the waiting list, so luckily my friend Kerstin reads the books as well and I borrowed it from her. I started reading it at the airport on the way to Washington D.C. (yesterday) and I finished it this morning. I have to admit that I'm hooked. The storyline was good and I like fantasy books, so the vampires were a fun element. Plus, there is a good, clean romantic plot that I'm sure is the reason these books are so popular with girls. I'm reading a lot of NY Times bestseller non-fiction books at the moment, so it was good to take a break and read some good fiction. I recommend it if you have some time and are needing a good book to read. I have to give thanks to Joanna for getting me started and Kerstin for loaning me the book. I can't wait to start the second one!

Big Blue Bash

Last Saturday we went to the Big Blue Bash in Salt Lake City. I will probably be posting a lot of BYU stuff in the next couple of weeks because it is our last year at BYU and football season starts in a few weeks (Sept. 1, BYU v. AU). We figure we need to go to as much as possible and take advantage of the fact that we are at BYU. So, we went and ate food, took pictures and got autographs, and heard speeches by Greg Rubell (journalist for KSL), Eric Drage and James Dye (old BYU football players), Coach Tidwell, Max Hall, and Bryan Kehl. Below is a picture with Bryan Kehl. They were all really good speakers and seem like such nice guys. We also got the new Fully Invested t-shirts, so we can show our support for the team and wearing blue to the games. It was a fun night. We also made it back in time to see Ocean's 13 with Ryan and Kerstin, which is a really good movie. Anyways, GO COUGARS!

BYU Women's Football Clinic

Last Thursday (August 2nd), I had the opportunity to go to the BYU Women's Football Clinic and I had the greatest time. Casey was super jealous : ) Although, I did wish that he was there with me because I know he would have loved it. There were over 400 girls there (which is 300 more than they had last year). First, we signed in, got our shirts, got to look around the Cougar Club (which is so cool), and eat a little. Then, Max Hall (this year's quarterback) took a few of us on a tour. We saw the locker room and the press box. Along the way I saw different players and took pictures with them. After the tour, we all sat down and Bronco Mendenhall got up and talked, answered questions, and introduced the coaching staff. We then had a players panel where we asked some of the players a few questions. After that, they took us outside where they went into detail about the positions on the field and what they do. When that was over, we got into groups and went around to the different stations and did drills with each coach and the players. It was so much fun. After that was all over, we all sat down and Coach Mendenhall talked to us again and thanked us for coming, then we got to watch a new 12-minute long highlight video. As we were leaving, we got a goodie bag with the new Football poster, the schedule card, schedule magnet, and this fold out that had different stats and information about football. Oh, and I even got interviewed for some Idaho Falls newspaper : ) I had a blast and I would definately go again.

The Cougar Club

Locker room. This is the stuff that each player gets every year.
The Press Box
Bronco Mendenhall
Doing drills Starting from the top left (then continueing left to right): Me with Fui Vakapuna, In the press box, With Walter Kahaiali'i, With Shawn Doman, Landon Jaussi, and Matt Putnam, With Bryan Kehl, With Coach Mendenhall (I know, not the best picture), With Max Hall, the coaching staff, and again with Fui Vakapuna.

New Toys

When I came home from work today I had quite a few surprises. Casey was there instead of at work, playing with his new laptop, and there was a box with my BRAND NEW NIKON D80! Casey bought it for me for our anniversary. My husband loves me! : ) I'm so excited to use it. It is a little overwhelming since there are so many buttons and modes, but after testing it out and talking to Jason a few times, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

Casey and his new laptop

My beautiful camera

Pioneer Day

The 24th of July is Pioneer Day, which is another excuse not to have school (but unfortunately not work for most). After I got out of work, we went tubing down the Provo River. We have always wanted to and even though there were a few rain clouds in the sky, we decided that we had better do it while we had the chance. It was so much fun. I got a little beat up just because I'm talented that way (bruises on my shins and a big one on my bum from hitting a rock), but other than that (and the water being a bit chilly) it was a relaxing way to spend the afternoon. We then had a BBQ and set off some fireworks that night. It was a great way to celebrate our ancestors and their trek to the west.

Girls Wii Night

Last Wednesday, a few girls (Tamara, Christie, Jeanette, and Megan) and I had a Girl's Wii Night. We brought snacks, talked, then played tennis, boxing, bowling, smooth moves, and Rayman for a couple of hours. My favorite was Rayman. It all made for a very fun time and I'm so lucky to be able to work with such fun girls.

Tamara and Megan boxing

Jeanette running on Rayman. To run, you have to move the remotes really fast up and down.
Once again, I couldn't get the video to actually appear, so here is the link of us playing tennis. We look like complete spazzes (especially Tamara and I), but it must help because we won almost every game : )

http://s123.photobucket.com/albums/o315/jennatanner/?action=view&current=2e07e392.flv

Harry Potter!

Ryan, Kerstin, Casey and I went at 12:01am this morning to go get the 7th Harry Potter book at Wal-Mart. We got there at 11:45pm and there was a line in the store, but by the time we had bought our book and were leaving, there was a huge line all the way out the door and around the building. It was crazy. I've never gotten the book at 12:01am before, so it was fun. I'm only on the third chapter, so we'll see how it goes...

Kerstin and I with our books

Some people couldn't even wait to get out of the store before they started reading it.

POP! Goes My Heart

Casey and I went and saw the movie "Music and Lyrics" a while ago, which features this song. It was a pretty funny movie, but my friend Jeanette at work has this song on her computer, so whenever she wants to make my day, she'll play it for me. I love this song, so I just wanted to share it with all of you. It is one of my current happy songs : ) Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spASMbLrGaE

Hogle Zoo

A couple of Saturdays ago, we were invited to go to the Hogle Zoo, by our friend Kevin. By the time we got there with Rich, Rebecca, and Kaley though, Kevin and Cathy were all zooed out, so we ended up going around just the five of us. As always, it was HOT, but there was a rare white alligator temporarily on display there, so it was really neat to see. It was also Kaley's first time (it was my first time as well) at the zoo, so it was fun to see her get excited. We also got a magnet to add to our growing collection : )

This was one of those big balls that spin on water. It was donated by O.C. Tanner (the jeweler).

These drinking fountains were so cute.

Rich, Rebecca, and Kaley

This elephant made noises and squirted water out of it's trunk. I have Casey to thank for this picture.

The most photogenic monkey there : ) (the display was temporarily unavailable) A Cougar. This was Casey's favorite part by far. He was so excited to see a real cougar and took a ton of pictures to try and get a good one. Unfortunately, this is the best one we got.
Black Bear. He had just woken up from a nap.
This alligator had his mouth open every time we went past him.

Casey and I with the giraffes.