Denali: Part I of our Alaska Trip

Where do I even begin on this one! We have been planning this trip since before we were married. It was the trip of a lifetime! Tyler and I traveled to Alaska with his parents, Ed and Kathy, and his brother Brandon and his family, which includes wife Angie, and their fun and cute two little girls Mackenzie and Brooklyn. We went up to visit Tyler's sister Melanie and her husband Sam that live in Fairbanks. Our first day there we all packed up and headed to Denali, which is an amazing national park with all sorts of wildlife. You all get onto a tour bus and it takes you on a dirt road through the park. I was hoping to catch sight of a bear and was really disappointed when I missed the first one. Tyler was laughing at my pouty lip. But we saw plenty more which made up for that! As we drove out the first stop we made was to get pictures in front of Mt. McKinley in the distance. We were extremely lucky, only about 1/3 of the time is it completely clear of clouds, and we were one of the lucky ones who got to see it!!! After that we pressed on and saw bears, moose, ptarmigan, mountain goats, Dahl sheep, and Caribou! The end of our bus ride was at a camp called Eielson which use to be a number of things including an actual camp people would pay to come stay at. They tried to keep everything looking as close to how it would back then as possible. It was awe inspiring. the camp is near the base of Mt. McKinley so we took our family photo there. Then we took the ride back out. The next day we went to the visitors center so we could learn more about the park and get a good look at the dogsleds and dogs. The boys never fail to find any way to amuse themselves while waiting for the whole troop to get geared up for the day at the cars. They decided to try and jump the wooden poles in unison, and it came out more in a ripple effect, but it looks way cooler this way anyways! Lol. After we walked around the visitors center we headed for the dogs. We missed their presentation, but it was still really cool to see the dogs and be able to pet some of them. They sure got keyed up when Brooklyn would get around them too. It was funny. They'd be calm as could be, and then she'd come up and they just couldn't calm down. It was a fun trip, and only the beginning of our adventures in Alaska.

Our Anniversary

It has been far too long since the last time I updated this! It has been so crazy with me working over 40 hours a week and doing school! So I'm glad I'm taking a quick break to get more of this done! Well, we did it everyone! We have reached our one year anniversary! I can't believe it's already been a year since Tyler and I got married!!!! We are still loving it. I love it more and more each day as I get to know him even better. Now for our first anniversary a lot of girls may have wanted to go somewhere romantic and sophisticated. Not me. We went camping at my parents property. In the morning we went for a 4-wheeler ride and I even got to drive! It was fun, we went up by the microwave towers and down the other side a little ways. I had never been on that side and it was beautiful! Don't look over the drop off though! After the day of 4-wheeling we decided to stop by Scofield on the way home and catch some crawdads. That was so fun! I never thought I'd have so much fun! That was the first time I had ever seen or caught them before! It was fun. Watch out for those pinchers though....Tyler got a few good pinches. After we caught a lot we took them home to my parents' house in Mapleton and cooked them up with corn and potatoes. We had to convince a lot of people to try them, but once they did they wouldn't stop eating them! They are delicious!

Summer Adventures

This summer is just flying by!!!! Tyler and I hit the rodeo and had a great time! It was really fun to go see a real rodeo. I had only been to one before. The kids riding the sheep was my favorite part! Apparently I was laughing so hard. At first I told Tyler there was no way our children would ever do that....and then after I was laughing so hard at it I totally changed my mind. Our kids are sooo doing that! It was awesome.

We both worked the 24th so this had to count as our holiday. My family had their reunion up at Bear Lake and we were unable to get work off. We just had too much going on and I was leaving for South Dakota soon. So I was bummed that we didn't get to go up and see everyone, but Wendy was awesome and popped in to see me for a little bit before they headed up. I did have that Sunday off though, so we were able to go up and see Tyler's brother Brandon who was down with his family Angie, Mackenzie, and Brooklyn. Sorry if I didn't spell names right! They live in Montana and we don't get to see them often, so we were excited to get to spend some time with them. We headed up after work Saturday and spent the night. When we got there they decided to go to Hyrum lake to get some water skiing in before it got dark. Tyler was awesome!!! I really enjoy watching him water ski. He was bragging about how it was like riding a bike and you never forget how to do it, and then he didn't make it getting up the first time! We all got a good laugh out of that. But once he got cruising he was great. They kept trying to talk me into it. I suck, so I declined. Maybe another time when there aren't so many people there to laugh. Tyler was sweet though. He knows how much I like to swim, so he jumped in with me and swam to shore. The next day we went to church then just enjoyed sitting out in the yard visiting. Ed bought a small camo 4-Wheeler for the grandkids that is totally awesome, and we all had fun riding it around. Mackenzie would not ride it due to a mishap earlier, but she'd ride it with me. She didn't like that Tyler was riding it around so much. She kept thinking he was going to try and get her. Also, she told us that he was wasting the gas. I found that one funny. The next day I flew out to South Dakota to help open the new Cabela's in Rapid City. I am here for 16 days! Sturgis was going on for the first week we were here, so I pulled Tyler's old boss down there to check it out with me. It was CRAZY!!!! I have never seen so many motorcycles in my entire life! The streets were shut down because all of the bikes were parked down the middle of the street. There were some totally crazy bikes too. Ron didn't know the nature of Sturgis though, so we headed for the car quickly after dark, eyes toward the sidewalk! Lol. It was definitely a life experience. And my picture definitley does not do it justice. There was street after street even more packed than this one. And it went on forever! Most of my days were 12 hour days and we only got one day off for the 16 days we're here, so for my one day off I decided to go see the sights. We hit Mount Rushmore first. It was smaller than I had thought, but it was still really amazing. I learned a lot about why each president was up there and the construction too. I found it very interesting. After Rushmore we headed to Custer National Park. We had direction issues all day though. We had no idea what was north or south. So it took us a little while to get there while we figured out where we were. I was so dead that day. I felt like I had hit a wall. All the long days had finally caught up. The second we sat down in the car I was struggling to keep my eyes open! After Mt. Rushmore we headed down to Custer National Park. It was gorgeous!!! I really would love to move up here if we could get a house surrounded by their beautiful pines! The park was fun because they had packs of buffalo everywhere and they sure aren't scared of cars! They tend to cause traffic jams. Some people are stuck for hours! We were lucky and made it through the heards all right. They also have "wild" donkeys. They were used for transportation back in the day and eventually set free when roads and cars were available. They have done rather well at surviving and multiplying. They come to every car to get free food. I wanted to feed them. So I was going to grab some chips and just stick my hand out the window. While I wasn't looking Ron rolled my window all the way down, so when I turned to feed the donkey it was in my window and right in my face! I screamed and was fumbling for the button to roll the window up! Ron found that just hilarious! He tried that same trick with the buffalo but it didn't quite work. While we were driving we had to pass through these small tunnels that only one car could fit in. You had to honk before entering. And each time you drove through they had framed the trees on the other end around Mt. Rushmore in the distance so you had a perfect view. It was breathtaking. But these tunnels were tiny! There was one that was only 8 feet wide and you were driving through a small crack in the rocks! It was crazy! And last but not least, we had to pay homage to National Treasure 2. We found the lake where the eagle rock is and it leads to the treasure! Tyler was bummed that we didn't find the rock or the treasure, but the lake was beautiful! And they have gorgeous camp-sites there. I would love to go back for a trip! This concludes my adventures so far in Rapid City. But who knows, maybe something else exciting will happen. The whole time I've been gone Tyler's been working a lot of shifts and cleaning the house.............or at least that's what he told me. We're getting ready for our next 2 adventures. It's our anniversary the 24th of this month. One year already! That is just crazy! And then we take off for Alaska with the Wright family. That should be really fun! We'll keep you posted!

Fun in the Sun!

Hello everyone!! Here's the latest update for our lives. This last week we had a lot of fun. We both had Saturday off, which doesn't happen very often. So we invited our nephews for a hike to Timpanogas cave. Tyler has been hiking it almost every day, usually with a 45 lb. backpack on! The only way I agreed to go along was if we had our nephews hike it with us and go inside. So we had Wayne, Teresa, Daniel, Ben, Matt, Michelle, James, and even Scott come along! We were surprised at how well the boys did at keeping up. Ben was sure good at setting the pace for all of us too! He was so excited to get to the top. Of course, we had our fair share of carrying them up the trail too. Tyler didn't bring his 45 lb. pack because he figured he'd probably be carrying them up the hill a lot. And he was right! The cave was a lot of fun once we got to the top. I couldn't believe how cool it was inside. I was glad I brought my jacket. Daniel sure was a riot inside. He told us all about stalagmites and stalagtites. He even told us a joke! I couldn't believe how narrow and low some of the tunnels were. I don't think Timp caves are for everyone. After that we ran home and got ready for our next fun event! Tyler is a sweetheart and he knows how much I love the Beatles! So he got us tickets to this activity in the American Fork Park. It's their Steel Days this week and to end the week they had a Beatles tribute band play and then fireworks. How can you pass that up? We got ribs and shuttled over to the park. It was a lot of fun. They played all of the early stuff and they even got us to get up and twist and shout at the end! Tyler sang along and got up and danced with me. He is so much fun. And of course, when the fireworks went off he couldn't keep quiet. He has to BOOM along with loudest of them. He just loves his fireworks. It was a great end to a fun day. Don't worry, there will be more to come. We have the Spanish Fork Rodeo in 2 days, and the Steve Miller Band next week. And this summer is far from over! I've still got South Dakota up ahead, and we're heading to Alaska in September! I'll update you all soon! Love Taryn and Tyler

Summer Fun

Hello again everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my last Blog, I keep forgetting my camera! Maybe I'll just have to start keeping it in my purse again. This summer has been crazy and busy for us. We celebrated Father's Day even though we're not parents yet. Tyler is still a great husband, and I guess our two frogs can count as our kids for now. I got him a North Face shirt, and tickets to the Steve Miller Band. That'll be fun. We're going to that at the end of July. We're still having fun being newlyweds. Yes, we know we make you all sick. But we still have fun doing the little sweet things. The other night while Tyler was working I made a trail of Hershey kisses go from the door to the bed. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but it was fun to hear Tyler laugh when he walked in the door and followed them to the bedroom. I will be doing a lot of traveling this summer. I kicked it off the third week in June with a trip to Orlando. I went to help my brother's company at a computer conference. My job was really easy. I just had to walk around and make sure all the computers were up and running and answer basic questions from attendees. We made it down to Universal Studios while we were down there which was way fun. They shut down the park for our conference so we didn't have to wait in any lines. Barenaked Ladies and the Blue Man Group also put on special performances just for us. It was a pretty cool conference. It was fun being that close to the ocean because I'm a huge seafood lover! So we got the best sushi ever, and all you can eat seafood every chance we could get! It was an all expenses paid trip so we broke the bank on food! I was definitely ready to come home and see Tyler when we were done though. It was our first time apart since we've been married and it was definitely weird. I was glad to be home! The 4th of July was nice this year. Tyler has to work every 4th of July, but this year he worked events instead of patrol, so I got to go hang out with him while he worked. I got to watch the parade with him, walk around the event, and watch the fireworks with him at the end. The police force was really nice and made dinner for all of the cops and their families. So we had a nice barbecue at the mobile command center. It was pretty cool. The next day was my family reunion for my Dad's side of the family. It was really fun, and really hot! We had snow cones and cotton candy, which if you know me at all..............you know I LOVE my snow cones and cotton candy! We even had snow cones at our wedding! My nieces and nephews were so excitd to see Tyler. They just love him. As much as he denies it, he's great with the kids. It was a hot day, and I went ice blocking with my nieces. Tyler wouldn't ice block. He said he'd break an ankle or something. What a chicken! So the little kiddies and me ice blocked. They really showed him up! But he did at least swing with them. And to put a cherry on top, I guessed the amount of animal cookies correct in a jar and won it! Life is good and we love summer! I'll have to do better at keeping our Blog updated so the future posts aren't this long! And I know we'll have a lot more adventures this summer!

Newly Weds

This is the first chapter in our book as a family and I can't believe we've already been married for 9 months! Time flies when you're having fun. Right now Tyler and I are living in Highland while he works in Sandy as a cop. He loves his job and works extra shifts whenever I'm working. I just hope he doesn't get burned out at that rate! I'm working at Cabela's in the camo department and love my job as well. Not everyone can claim that they sell camo for a living. Living the dream. I am also attending BYU and hope to get my degree in Construction Management. This summer will be packed with adventures for us. I will be going to Orlando, Rapid City, and we're heading to Alaska in September with Tyler's family for a fun vacation. The boys will be hunting caribou while the girls entertain themselves around town. This past week Tyler and I went camping up American Fork Canyon and had a blast! We went fishing at Silver Lake Flats and caught tons of tiny fish! We catch and release anyway so we didn't care. We just had a blast! We bought a season pass up there for the summer so you can count on plenty more of those experiences this summer!