The Lean Mean Redd Machine

Redd Family Disneyland Photo Shoot!!

2012-01-16T11:48:00.000-08:00

Better late than never......Here they are!!

Ginger's Chocolate

2011-12-11T19:10:00.001-08:00

You've waited for years......now, here it is! You can now buy our delicious, homemade chocolates!! Enjoy

Ginger's Chocolate

Race Results

2011-10-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

2nd Annual Halloween 5K Results

Bib     Name               Age M/F Time Place   Division
1    Peggy Crawford    29    F      31.51    4        F
2    jared Orr                18    M    22.59    2   M 18+
3    Leah Wetzel       19    F     33.16    5   F
4    Jessica Draney       18    F     24.19    1   F
5    Natalee Taylor        25    F    28.29    3 F
6    Courtney Packard   26    F    26.28    2    F
7    Amber Nicholl       26    F     37.34    7   F
8    Heidi Eisert            22    F     34.48    6   F
9    Larry Shaw            43    M    27.01    3   M 18+
10    Tyler Martin        24    M    33.51    5          M 18+
11    Kellean My        32    F      DNF                 F
12    Jeremy Starkz    17    M     24.51    2   M 10-17
13    ryker Shaw         13    M     27.58    4   M 10-17
14    Nathan Gerdes    13    M    26.19    3    M 10-17
15    Parker Hisbee 12    M   27.59    5      M 10-17
16    Josh Ward           15    M    22.48    1    M 10-17
17    Justin Packard     28    M    19.41    1    M 18+
18    Kyle Redfearn     25    M    27.37    4      M 18+

Toby Came Home!

2011-10-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

TOBY JAY REDD came home from his mission in Maceio, Brazil!

We were bummed to be missing out on all the excitement, so at the spur of the moment, we decided we would drive up to Seattle to be with family!

It worked out perfectly that Christine had had her baby 2 days earlier and we would be driving right past her house! So we got to stop and visit the beautiful Smith family for a little bit!

Jack is such a great big brother! And sweet little Fisher is the most adorable thing ever!

Finally, after driving all through the night..and a lot of the day..we made it home!! We had only told Toby that we were coming so Keith and Cindy were pretty surprised! It was awesome!!

On Saturday, morning we all went to the temple together for the first time!! It was such an awesome experience, but we definitely missed Tyson, who was busy winning father of the year.

Later, we all went out to eat to celebrate Toby!

On Sunday, Toby gave the best Homecoming talk anyone has ever heard! He was such a great missionary, and is such a great man; we are so glad he's home now!

As a bonus, we got to spend a couple short hours with Tyson and the girls!
We love our cute, little nieces soo much!!

All in all, a great weekend! Well worth the 30 hours of driving!

Behind the scenes...

2011-10-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

So it turns out I didn't actually take very many pictures of all the work that went into the remodel.....probably because I was too busy just doing it all!

But here are a few pics..

It doesn't look like a lot, and actually, the painting itself was super easy! Nothing compared to when we painted our kitchen! Here's what was hard: taking apart our table and chairs, taking all the pictures and glass out of all the frames, then putting about 8 coats of paint on everything to turn it from black to white! I decided somewhere near the end that our ugly Walmart table was really not worth the trouble! Then getting the frames on the wall....my goodness, that was a project! Luckily, Tyler remembered his mom's method to completing a similar project, so we cut newspaper out to match all the frames and poked holes in the paper right where the nail would have to go, and put those up on the wall first. It actually worked really well!
All in all, it was definitely worth the time because I love coming down the stairs to see our beautiful "beach house"!

Shout outs:
Alyssa and Kyle came over and helped a lot! Kyle was actually the one who had to do all the taking apart of the table and chairs..Thanks guys!
And a big shout out to my poor, sweet husband! He was probably quite overwhelmed when it went from "it'd be fun to add some color to our house" to actually painting within 24 hours. Nor, I'm sure, did he expect that we'd have to match the rest of our belongings to the wall, and that I wouldn't rest until it was done! But he helped so much and was so supportive! I love that about him! He always lets me do what he knows I would do anyways!

My New and Improved Living Room

2011-10-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

TAA- DAAH!!!

Details

My very own handy work.
Both the pillow and the wall art were so easy to make!!

The *Dining* Room

Tomorrow, I'll show you some of the work that went into it :)

4 Year Anniversary

2011-09-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

It's almost the 4 Year Anniversary of our first date, so we thought it would be a good occasion to do a fancy photo shoot!

Enjoy!

If you like them, check out DASH Photography!

RUSH Triathlon

2011-08-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

SWIM 1 MILE...

BIKE 24 MILES...

RUN 6 MILES...

FINISH!

All in a day's work.

Smoothie Recipes

2011-08-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been getting a few requests for smoothie recipes, so here are some delicious creations I've come up with. Also, here is a link to another post with recipes.

(All recipes are for about 2-3 servings. Just add ingredients in the order they are listed, and blend!)

Tropical Smoothie 1.0

(In Hawaii this summer, I started off every morning with a version of this smoothie!)

1 fresh papaya

2 fresh mangoes

2 frozen banana chunks*

about 1/4 - 1/2 cup coconut water

about 1/4 cup Passion Orange Guava juice (or pineapple juice, or any other exotic-type fruit juice)

4-6 ice cubes (depending on how thick you like it)

*With the frozen banana chunks, I usually peel the banana, then break it into about 3 or 4 chunks that I freeze in a big ziplock and that's what I use in my smoothies.

Tropical Smoothie 2.0

1 fresh papaya

3-4 cups watermelon

1 chunk frozen banana

a little less than 1/4 cup Greek yogurt (or plain yogurt, or vanilla yogurt)

ice

coconut water (opt)

Tropical Smoothie 3.0

2 fresh mango

about 3/4 cup fresh pineapple

2-3 frozen banana chunks

about 1/4 cup coconut water

ice

The great thing about these smoothies is that you can mix and match the different fruits! There are countless combinations and I could never write out all the different mixtures!

Cran-Raspberry Smoothie

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1-2 frozen banana chunks

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup water

about 4 Tablespoons frozen cranberry juice concentrate

ice

dash of Flax seed and chia seed (opt)

I like to make this one kinda runny so it's just a cold, light, slushy-type of drink. Or, add some ice cream and you have a milkshake!

Banana Smoothie

1 - 1 1/2 cup milk

1 fresh banana

1 frozen banana chunk

about 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

a few drops yellow food coloring

2-4 ice cubes

Add a couple scoops of Nesquik, and you have a Chocolate Banana Smoothie!

Watermelon Lime Smoothie (My favorite on a hot summer day!)

4 cups watermelon

juice from 1 - 2 limes (depending on how tart you want it)

1/2 tsp lime zest

a couple Tablespoons milk

1-2 tsp honey

ice

Remember, it's all about creativity, and adding whatever you like, or have in your freezer at the moment! And I apologize for my lack on specificity with measurements, but it's really just up to you whether you like them thicker or more runny, sweeter or creamier, etc.

Happy blending!!

lastly...WHITE Oahu

2011-08-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

YELLOW

2011-08-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

GREEN Oahu

2011-08-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

RED Oahu

2011-08-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

BLUE Oahu

2011-08-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

i always get what i want

2011-07-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted this:

an Indo Board for balance training, so that I could do this:

The price: $134.95

Instead I got this:

A foot-long piece of black PBC pipe

and a surprisingly big, sturdy wooden cutting board from DI

Now we can do this whenever we want!!

The price: $6.79!!

Smoothie Experiment Day 1

2011-07-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I absolutely love smoothies! And with the weather being so hot, I've been eating at least 1 or 2 smoothies a day! So I got thinking...could I only eat (or should I say, drink) smoothies for a day?? Well, I've got nothing better to do, so I decided to give it a go! So today, I have been drinking smoothies for my meals. And don't be concerned about me not getting a balanced meal. I know smoothies are mainly fruit, but I'm pretty creative in my recipes and I incorporate spinach, flax seed, chia seed, and Greek yogurt so as to keep my nice and healthy! And please don't think this is some kind of diet! Anyone who knows me knows that dieting is the last thing I'd do! I just thought this would be a fun little experiment, and I'll of course include recipes!! A note on those recipes: I pretty make everything up as I go, so don't expect any actual measurements, smoothies are all about creativity and making them the way you like them!

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Triple Berry Smoothie
Greek yogurt (1/4 cup-ish)

Frozen strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries

Frozen spinach (a tablespoon or 2)

Dash of chia seed and flax seed

Fruit juice (if I don't have juice already made I just put some frozen concentrate and water in)

Milk (probably 1/2 cup, it just depends on how thick or runny you like it)

Crushed ice

Lunch: Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Recovery Smoothie

Milk (about a cup)

Nesquik chocolate powder (1-2 Tbls)

Peanut butter (2-3 Tbls)

Greek yogurt (1-2 Tbls)

Frozen banana (we freeze ours in chunks, and I use about 2-3 chunks, which is probably less than a whole banana)

Crushed ice

Snack: Orange, Peach, Carrot Smoothie

1 chunk frozen banana

Frozen peaches

carrots (not a lot)

Orange juice concentrate (1-2 tsp)

Wheatgrass (just cut a little bit off)

Milk and water

Crushed ice

Dinner: Orange Mango Smoothie

1 orange (peeled)

1 fresh mango

1 chunk frozen banana

Orange juice

Crushed ice

Ok, ok, I did cheat just a tiny bit...I was really craving cheese, and I haven't yet figured out how to make a smoothie with cheese, so I did snack on some cheese and crackers! I've noticed I get hungry again after just a couple hours, so these smoothies are really adding up! I pretty much cleaned out all the fruit in my house today! Maybe tomorrow I won't have so many smoothies...

4th of July Weekend (Part I)

2011-07-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

This year we wanted to do something different for the 4th of July. We've been going to the Idaho Falls show, and although it's a nice show, we were ready for a change! So we decided to celebrate up in Driggs at the Huntsman Springs Celebrate America Festival.

We wanted to go to the Hot Air Balloon show, but that started at 6am and we didn't want to have to start driving from Rexburg at 5 am, so we decided to camp up in the Teton Valley on Friday night.

It was so worth it! We were so happy to get to see the Hot Air Balloon show! It was amazing!!

Finally, after 12 hours of exciting festivities, the evening events started. We got to hear from Jon Huntsman and Glen Beck.

Last, but not least, we watched the most amazing fireworks show I've ever seen! I don't have any pictures to prove it, but just trust me, it was the best fireworks show ever!! There were like 3 times when I thought, "This must be the finale." But it just kept going it was amazing! So, for next year, if anyone is deciding where they want to go for 4th of July, I highly recommend the Huntsman Springs Festival!!

All this, and it's not even the 4th yet! Stay tuned for the second part of celebrations!

Baseball Mania

2011-06-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

Batting Cages

My husband was a great model.

Kyle gave batting lessons

Then to the Chuckers Game

and a beautiful sunset

for more pics go to:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150652295430285.693378.720885284&l=3f47b3a3a5

To all the Dads:

2011-06-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!!

We love all the dads in our family!

My awesome dad! He's always so much fun and loves to have a good time with his kids, and he's a great example of working hard to achieve goals!

Tyler's amazing dad, who works so hard to provide a great life for his kids! We love all the fun things we do together!

My grandpa, who is always ready to help others and impart his wisdom

Lastly, Tyler, the future father in our home (no announcements here), he is so great with children and I know he will be an amazing father!!

Our First Marathon

2011-06-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

The Long Story

4 AM. We're up and eating our breakfast that we'd planned all week. Everything we need for the day is set out. Our race bibs are already pinned to our shirts. 5 AM. We're loading the buses and waiting to be shuttled up to the Teton Dam site where we'll start the race. Nausea is setting in. I'm beginning to wonder why we signed up for this in the first place and if there's any way to get out of it. Casually Tyler responds, "Well, we're 20 miles from home, so we might as well run back." 6 AM. We're at the start now. We've waited in the 10 minute line for the porta-potty. The vaseline is smeared all over my toes, and we just ate our last little snack. Luckily, they are blaring loud music and everyone is getting excited. 6:29 AM. "One minute!" Everyone lines up at the Starting line. We stay about midway back so we don't get trampled. 6:30 AM. The siren sounds and we're off!! It started out easy. I was thinking, "Hey, this is just like all those other runs. I can do this! This is way too easy!"

That was just the beginning.

One mile down, then 2, then 3, and I'm still thinking this is way too easy. People must be over-exaggerating when they talk about how hard this is. 4 miles, I'm getting kinda hungry. Luckily, I have my Chomps that taste like candy! 5 miles, 6, 7, 8. I can't believe how fast the miles are going by! We already made it to our first aid station. That means more candy! This time is an energy Gel. Montana Huckleberry, yum!! Still so easy. I'm hardly even tired. "Hey, we're a third of the way done!!" We can't believe how nice this is. Mile 9 comes and goes, now we're at mile 10. Ok, I'm getting a little tired. But we've ran 14 miles before, so I know I can do that much easily. The miles are starting to get a little longer. I have to avoid looking at the Rexburg Temple at all cost! It's just a tiny white spec way, way far away! Yet I know, eventually we'll be running right past it. Looking at it makes me think we'll never get there. Mile 12, thank goodness, another aid station. Water and more gel, but wait. "Sorry we ran out of gels." You ran out!? There's like 100 people after us! I guess an orange slice will have to do. Mile 13! This is the half way point!! I expected to be more elated at this point. But instead I'm discouraged. I'm already tired. I'm ready to stop about now, and we have to do that many miles again?! "Wouldn't it be nice if we had only signed up for the Half? We'd be done by now!" Finally we're passing mile 14 and entering unknown territory in our running capabilities. What?? We're turning the wrong way! Rexburg is south, so why are we going north?? Errgg. This is depressing, we thought we were just heading back to some familiar territory. We're just getting into Sugar City. They have American flags lined up every 15 feet all the way through the city along our route! They did all this for us? That is so sweet, it makes me wanna cry! Ok, I can do this! I know at mile 18 we start up the infamous Summer's Butte hill. But we've ran that plenty of times, we're so familiar with it, and it means the end is near. If I can just get there, I might actually finish this race. But that's still 3 miles away. They must have spread out these mile markers, cause it's taking a lot longer to get to them than it used to. "Hey look! It's Alyssa!" Yay! Support! She even has posters! Ok, just get to mile 16, there will be more water and gel. What?! You're out of gel too! What were they thinking!! We need fuel! I guess an orange slice and bite of banana will have to do this time. We've only been running for almost 3 hours with another 2 hours to go, but don't worry, two bites will sustain us!! We keep passing all the Relay transition areas. Man, I wish I was just doing the Relay! It's time to start incorporating some walking breaks. Just 20 seconds per mile. Here we are! Mile 18. Ok, we know the hill will be tough, but once we're over that, it's just downhill to the finish. But those next 4 miles are going to kill. We've got 8 more miles and 2 hours to do them in in order to reach our goal of finishing under 5 hours. Some nice people are sitting in their driveway giving out water. How kind! Mile 19. Alyssa is struggling to ride her bike up the hill! Ahh, comic relief! Our walking breaks get more frequent and longer. The walking feels so good. But transitioning from walking to running is so painful. Mile 20!! Another aid station. And guess what! We got the last two gels! Finally, some energy to push us through the end. We're so close! It's just a 10K now! Mile 21. Will this hill ever end? I feel like someone took my quads and replaced them with lead balls. Are there big bulges in my legs where my quads used to be? Nope, they look normal...how odd. Mile 22. "I think I might just stop here. I'll just sit here for a while." I can't even let those thoughts stew or else they'll take me over! Who cares about that stupid 5 hour goal. It's not going to happen. Mile 23. Only 3 more miles. And we still have 40 minutes to finish. We can reach our goal!! Except that I can't run anymore. Oh, just forget it, we'll walk the rest of the way. Mile 24. It really is all downhill from here! We still have 25 minutes! We can make it! I'm just letting gravity pull me down. My legs are too tired to slow me down anyways. Mile 25!! 12 minutes till we reach 5 hours! "Let's do it, babe!" We take off like never before. Our legs literally felt like jello. Every step hurts so bad. This has to be more than a mile, it's going on forever even though we are running so fast. I try not to cry. I keep thinking we'll never make it. We pass the 26 Mile marker. The .2 never ends. I think I might throw up. We see the finish. Tyler tells me he can't go any faster and we push through a few more steps. Then we hear them announcing our names, we grab hands and cross over the finish line together!

I wondered during the race why they always say that people cry when they finish a marathon. I wondered, do they cry out of pain, like I wanted to at mile 22? Or is it good tears because they did it? I kept thinking, if I didn't cry at my own wedding, I don't think I'll cry for this. But now I understand. We had pushed through so much pain, when nothing in our bodies wanted to move, we conquered the hill, we pushed through "the wall", we endured 26.2 miles! And so, the answer is, they are tears of joy.

At the Teton Dam site

Mile 14, feeling ok

Mile 19ish, getting tired

The Hill

So close!

what we did when we had nothing to do

2011-06-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

School got out last Friday, and summer school start this Monday, you do the math....That's right! One full week of vacation!! We had absolutely nothing planned for the week! We wanted it this way, cause usually it seems like the day we get out of school we have stuff going on and we never really get to relax. Not this time, we made sure we had no responsibilities, no where to go, nothing that had to be taken care of, NOTHING!! So mostly this week consisted of laying outside in the sun, reading, working out, and, of course, running!

Here's some of the more notable events:

Saturday: Celebrated another completed school year by going to dinner at Texas Roadhouse

Monday: Went mountain biking

Tuesday - Thursday: Lots of reading, running, and tanning. I also started this blog: www.theclutchco.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, this was about the time Tyler decided he had had enough of the relaxing stage, and was ready for waking up at 5 am again. Needless to say, we had to come up with some projects.

Friday: The fun begins!! First, we made these delicious chocolate-covered strawberries.

Then, we bought some new running shoes!! It was pretty legit! We got filmed running on a treadmill, and our running forms were analyzed to determine the best shoe for each of us. I'm pretty grateful too, because you're supposed to replace your running shoes every 400-500 miles, which was almost 1,000 miles ago for me! Now I'll have these bad boys to run the marathon in on Saturday!

And lastly, we finally went fishing and camping!

I even made the fire all by myself!

Side note: We made this AWESOME foil dinner. Not just your average beef and potatoes foil dinner, this was Mexican style! In the foil, we put chicken smothered in salsa verde, with cilantro, black beans, green peppers, onion, cheese and thinly sliced potatoes. Then on the side, we heated up rice in a can, and warmed up tortillas over the fire to make burritos! YUM!

Saturday: After coming home from camping, went for a 30 mile bike ride (2 hours in the sun at noonish = very painful sunburn!), then we put up these awesome shelves in our garage! Look how organized!

Well, that was our week of freedom. Next week begins preschool summer school fun! And don't forget to send us good thoughts this Saturday as we run our first marathon!!!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to our Wonderful Mothers!

Words to describe my Mom:

Caring

Hard-working

Considerate

Generous

Creative

Fun

Adventurous

Courageous

Words to describe my Mother-in-Law:

Thoughtful

Selfless

Artistic

Loyal

Cheerful

Loving

Helpful

Brave

We love you both!

Easter Festivities

2011-04-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

I've been *planning* on doing fun, festive things for Easter this year, (well, I've been planning on doing that for every holiday this year..) but, as usual, we get so busy and the holiday comes and goes before I get the chance to do anything...

And Easter was no different...

So, we just made do with what we had. And it was nice.

Luckily, a week ago we received an Easter surprise from the Easter Bunny sent all the way over from Hawaii!! (Thanks, Mom!)

Obviously we couldn't wait a whole week to open the baskets, so we have had Easter treats all week long!

Then today we had a very special Easter breakfast (it's also the same special breakfast we have on birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, Sundays...):

French Toast!

And then there was our very special Easter feast (which actually was kinda special):

Pork chops...

and, my favorite, Deviled Eggs! (Which no one else is this house likes, so yes, that entire plate was for me!)

Our Easter culminated with a leisurely (and, thus, Sabbath day appropriate) 25-mile bike ride. We picked a road we had never ridden on, and rode it till it ended. We were only chased by 1 mean dog!

All in all, a very good Easter! I hope it was great for all of you as well!

Project: Organization

2011-04-09T16:20:00.001-07:00

This Spring Break we spent a lot of our time doing Spring Cleaning! I wish I had thought to document more of our reorganization projects, but this is the only one I took pictures of.

This is the before of our under-the-stairs closet.

Even though I organize it almost every week, it still always ends up looking like this!

Notice the plethora of backpacks strewn about...I think the underlying problem here is that we have way too many CamelBaks, but I'm sure Tyler would disagree.

And then...Command Strips to the rescue!! Look at the organization! A hook for every backpack! Tyler's favorite part of the project was yelling "I COMMAND YOU..!"

Not too shabby, right!?

Ode to the Jamba Man

2011-03-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

You know those Jamba Juice people who stand on the street corners in a huge banana costumes and try to get you to honk or whatever?

Well, this guy beats them all!! He is seriously amazing. I'm pretty sure the whole city of Rexburg would know exactly who you were talking about when you refer to the "Jamba Guy". And I don't know how much profit Jamba Juice owes to this man.

So, you're asking what exactly makes this guy so great??

For starters he LOVES his job! He's not one of those people who you can tell is so annoyed to be out there looking ridiculous. In fact, we had the privilege of running into the Jamba Guy in Jamba Juice one afternoon, and we asked, "So, you always look like you're having fun out there...did you try to get this job, or did you just end up doing it?" And he said, "I wanted it! I came in and told them I wanted to be the Jamba Banana and did a backflip for them!"

In the summer, he does baton twirling (not swinging his sign around, but legit twirling with real batons) and other acrobatic moves (such as backflips!).

And in the winter he does this:

Amazing, isn't it!! He is so talented! He would just spend hours out there in close to 0 degree weather and sculpt!

So, here's to you, Jamba Man, you are amazing! You make me want to drink Jambas all the time. I hope you know how much the city of Rexburg loves you!

Recent Events in the Redd Home:

2011-02-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

Tyler's Birthday

Tyler got quite the stack of gifts

it's funny because he felt so spoiled!

He loves his pink cake with pink frosting

In Other News:

Recently, we made one of our newest most favorite treats!! Skillet Cookies

Today, Cynthia and I made another birthday cake!! Much simpler than the last one!

It's killing the birthday boy to not touch it till his party on Saturday!

Lastly, Tyler brought Valentine's Day to our house early this year! He said he just couldn't wait to give me these beautiful tulips!

Happy Birthday to My Wonderful Husband!

2011-02-01T06:43:00.000-08:00

27 Reasons Why I Love My 27-Year-Old Husband

He is so handsome!
He is so nice to me and always wants to help
He is strong
He is smart
He is green: he has never driven to work, only bikes or runs, no matter how cold it is!

He loves his bike!
He always gives me a few bites of whatever food he prepares for himself.
He's never made me clean the toilets
He goes skiing with me

And he pretends like he can hardly keep up with me
He stays with me when we do races or triathlons
He looks so good in a suit.

He helps me cook.
He tells me I'm pretty, no matter what!
He makes me floss daily, but doesn't get mad when I refuse
He prays for me
He loves his family
He wants to be a dad
He is the best Spanish teacher in town!
He is so kind to everyone
He is an awesome rock climber!
He looks so cute when he cuddles up with his favorite magazine

He carries me up to our bed when I'm too sleepy to walk up the stairs
He combs his hair every morning
He encourages me to make it up the big hills when we ride our bikes in the summer
He lets me sleep in
He is the best husband ever!

NASA Space Center

2011-01-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know this took me forever, and I still have so many pictures from Christmas break that I haven't even looked at, but here are some sweet pictures from NASA in Houston!!!

Hawaii??? No....Clear Lake, TX!! This was the view right out my mom's window! Tyler and I enjoyed some nice runs along the lake with our favorite furry friend, Kody!

3...2...1...BLAST OFF!!!

We thought nobody would be there on a Monday morning...Wrong! It was soo crowded! We even ran into our friends who used to be in our ward up here!

Inside the anti-gravity rocket!....just kidding! Tyler could have fooled you, but not I...

My family with the first men to walk on the moon!

And here they are in real life!

This make me so proud to be an American!

Christmas #1

2010-12-14T06:58:00.000-08:00

Tyler and I celebrated our own little Christmas last Sunday, before the stress of working, packing, cleaning, and traveling began this week, and yes, it was just so hard to wait! Our tree has been full of presents for weeks, and neither of us could resist any longer!

It was fun in the days leading up to it, with Tyler reminding me, "3 days til Christmas....2 days til Christmas!....It's Christmas Eve!!" Now we have a similar countdown going on till we get to Seattle and start Christmas celebrations #2 with the Redds!!

Our huge tree is just so majestic looking in our not-so-huge living room!

(Cindy, this is the best picture of my gift wrapping I could find...I was also trying to do the whole artistic blurry thing you do so well..)

Stockings are my favorite part!!

And Tyler had no idea what I had put in his!!

Tyler got a new fireplace dvd, which he "has been wanting for years!!!!"

And he surprised me with this beautiful new "big purse"....apparently he was paying attention when I showed him all those purses I wanted!

Other gifts included a new belt for Tyler, The Nativity Story dvd and a little recipe book for Kelsey, and the gift I spent soo much time on, and still haven't finished..a homemade white robe for Tyler!

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas in the Redd house!

Speed Rock Climbing Competition!

2010-12-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

What: Speed Climbing. You have three 30-foot routes to climb, and 2 attempts at each to get your fastest time, then your best times from each route are summed for your total time!

This year, Tyler and I both participated! And it was awesome!

Tyler did great, he came in 10th out of about 30 very fast guys! His total time was 38.5, averaging hardly over 12 seconds per climb! (He was only 11 seconds behind the winner!)

I was serious about winning after coming in 5th last year...and...I did it! I took 1st place out of about 15 girls with a total time of 44.3 seconds! (My best time on a route was a whopping 11 seconds, which I'm pretty proud of!) Not only did I come in first, there was 10 second gap between me and the next girl!! WHAT!

Anyways, sorry about the lack of pictures, it was kinda hard to be snapping pictures when we were both climbing our little hearts out!

Ok, ok, this is actually from last year's competition..but it's the same idea...

Here I am with the winner of the guys division and the kids division (this kid is also a champion gymnast!)

And here's me with my prize: a fancy, new $70 harness!! (which actually fits Tyler better than it fits me, so Merry Christmas Tyler!!) We actually came away with a lot of other gear from prizes as well, which we added to be worth about $150 total...not too shabby!

It was a lot of fun, and we'll see if I can defend my title next year!!

Craft Blog

2010-12-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I was going to attempt a craft blog-style post, but after getting half way through, I was spent...so here are the copy and pasted instructions:

Here's what you'll need:
-3 styrofoam trees: sizes 15x5, 12x4, and 9x4
-3 small candlesticks (you can find these at just about any thrift store for about 50 cents)
-spray adhesive
-glue: Elmer's glue for the glitter and a stronger glue like E6000 to glue the tree to the candlestick
-glitter in your favorite 3 colors (we found these awesome colors of glitter at hobby lobby)
-white spray paint

Here's what you'll need to do:
- give your tree a good coating of the spray adhesive. you can use the elmers glue for this part, but the spray adhesive covers better and gives a nice smooth finish, plus it's a lot faster. leave the bottom of the tree undone, this will get glittered at the end.

- once you have your tree coated in glue, cover it completely with glitter. when all 3 trees have been glitterized set them aside to dry.
- next take your 3 candlesticks and give them a couple quick coats of white spray paint. then let those dry completely.
- now take your E6000 and glue the candlesticks to the trees. it's best to let them sit overnight. (keep an eye on it though. on one of the trees the glue ate away some of the styrofoam and my tree tilted to the side. so just check on it for the first hour or so.)

- when everything is completely dry, flip them over and cover the remaining part with glue and glitter. (we used the elmers glue for this part)
- then all you have left to do is decide where to put them!!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

This was our first year celebrating Thanksgiving on our own. Although it was sad to not be with family, it was exciting to start our own traditions!

Luckily, we weren't completely alone, we had our good friends, the Christophersons, over to celebrate with us!

And, they were even brave enough to take on the turkey! But look how pretty!

Michelle and I had fun watching the boys try to cut it!

Our feast turned out wonderfully! And I am just so glad to be eating left-overs for every meal since then!

In case you were wondering, my three pies turned out perfect!

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake Recipe

Blackberry Pie Recipe

There's no picture, but here's the recipe anyways...

French Apple Tarte Recipe

On Black Friday, instead of facing the crowds at the one store in Rexburg, Tyler and I went skiing/snowboarding up at Targhee for the first time since he proposed to me there!

It was kind of scary driving on the snowy, icy roads to get there, but when you're driving into this view, it's totally worth it!

Here's what it looked like when he proposed:

And here's the exact same spot 3 years later!

It was so clear and beautiful up there, and we had the most amazing view of the Tetons!

(This is for my brother, Devin, cause he really wanted to see the Tetons when he was here last summer, but it was too cloudy that day)

All in all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Winter Begins

2010-11-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

In Rexburg, fall only last a few weeks, and now it definitely feels more like winter than Fall, and here's why:

We harvested all our carrots!

We had a huge blizzard yesterday! I loved the view of our little townhouse neighborhood.

And I made my first Christmas craft -- Michelle, Sam, and I each made one of these beautiful wreaths! I love the way it turned out and it will match my Christmas tree perfectly! (Post on my Christmas tree to follow)

Three Cases of Resiliency

2010-11-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

So early in our marriage, I told Tyler I liked getting little potted plants more than cut flowers because the plants lasted so much longer...little did I know...

Since then, Tyler has given me little plants on special occasions, such as, the first day of a new semester, the day we moved into our new house, when I started my new job, etc. Tyler has such good taste and always gets me unique or exotic flowers! I love to take care of these little plants, and I don't know if it's my "green thumb" or if I'm just lucky, but here are three of my flowers that have surpassed all expectations!

When we moved into our new house last February, Tyler gave me this awesome cyclamen plant. At first they looked like this...

ok so they aren't quite as pretty now as they were back then, but the amazing thing is that for the last 9 months, they have always had at least a few flowers on them, nonstop!

I love looking into the bottom and always seeing more and more little buds! It's the never-ending flower!!

In September of 2009, Tyler gave me one of those little daisy plants. After a few months I had to switch it to a bigger pot, and again after another few months, until finally, it was too big for my biggest pots!

I finally decided to plant it outside along one of our fences and see how it would hold up...now it's over 2 feet tall and taking over that corner! And blooming more than ever! This is my first plant to live over a year!

The last and most astounding case of resiliency is seen in my beautiful hyacinth plant which Tyler gave to me in January of 2010 for the first day of my last semester of college.

(which looks like this when it's blooming, but this is at Temple Square last Spring)

They bloomed beautifully, but eventually withered and died. But I was not going to let that be the end! I even forced Alyssa to water "this dead plant" when she plant-sitted for us!

And, LOOK! It paid off! Amidst all the old dead parts, it just started to re-grow! Amazing, isn't it!?

So there you have it, 3 of my favorite little flower plants!

Happy Veterans Day

2010-11-11T05:51:00.000-08:00

I don't want to let Veterans Day pass by without expressing my gratitude for those courageous men and women who fight or have fought for our country and the freedoms we enjoy here.

I especially want to honor one special Veteran today: My Dad

My dad was in was in the United States Navy when we were really young and living in San Diego. But I still remember going to different places to see and learn about the ships, planes, tanks, and other cool military stuff.

It wasn't until 2003 that my dad went overseas to Iraq as part of the United States Army Reserves Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was there for about a year, and we got a few phone calls (too bad there was no Skype back then) and lots of letters/postcards, some that even contained cool Iraqi money and stuff.

My dad said: "I lived on a ship similar to this, which is kind of amazing when I think about it now. No civilian job compares to this."

I remember one story my dad told me about a generous man who paid for a bunch the soldiers' coffee as they were in the airport on their way home from Iraq. Thank you, kind stranger, for showing such appreciation to my deserving dad, and the others who were with him. I hope someday to be able to be the answer to a daughter's prayers that her father will be safe and comforted while he's away like that man was to me.

Luckily, my dad made it home safe and sound...but I know not everyone is so lucky, so let's pray extra hard today that those who are currently serving will return safely back to there homes and families.

Thanks again to all who have served our country.

Happy Veterans Day

HALLOWEEN

2010-10-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

This year's Halloween was different -- no trick or treating, no Halloween ward party, no dressing up, not even pumpkin carving!!

But we did organize and host a Halloween 5K!

To which about 10 people showed up and everyone walked away with sweet prizes from our sponsors!

And, since we are so excited to have the Jamisons over for a Halloween lunch tomorrow, we spent the evening baking up a Tarte aux pommes (French apple tarte) and passing out candy!

Of course, we wanted a little bit of Halloween spirit in our home, so we put out some decorations,

I styled my hair festively,

(that's my new favorite apron that I made with the help of my kind friend, Cynthia)

and Tyler was a "relaxed" Batman.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CINDY!

2010-10-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST

MOM/MOTHER-IN-LAW!!!

Dear Cindy,

we love you because:

- you are the nicest person in the world

- you are so creative

- you cook really well

- you take so many amazing pictures and give them all to us free of charge

- you always know the right answer

- you're always willing to talk

- we had fun watching HGTV and Iron Chef

- you miraculously hit that squirrel out the the garage with a hockey stick

- you always have fun holiday ideas

- you want to celebrate Hanukkah

- you are selfless

- you are very, very patient,

and lastly, we love because

You're my mom.

Fall Climbing

2010-10-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

I realized I hadn't taken any rock climbing pictures this year, so here you go!

Matt coming down after a hard climb!!!

Tyler being a careful belayer

Tyler chalking up during a hard climb

I love this face!

Getting ready to climb

woo-hoo!!! There's nothing betting than rock climbing!!!!

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!!!

2010-10-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Cynthia and I decorated this awesome cake for Cynthia's son's third birthday party!!

It was a lot of work, but soo fun, and I've decided I really like decorating cakes!!

Here's the step-by-step:

Laying the fondant...

Adding the accessories and another layer...

The top layer and BUZZ! (the H is for Hunter, the birthday boy!)

Finally, the Lightyear wings and the final product!

Pretty cool, right?! PS this is what we were going for, and I think we did pretty good!

Here's the cake at Hunter's birthday party!

Hunter was so excited and all the kids loved the cake!

Zorro y Zorra - The Movie

2010-10-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!!!

2010-10-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Cynthia and I decorated this awesome cake for Cynthia's son's third birthday party!!

It was a lot of work, but soo fun, and I've decided I really like decorating cakes!!

Here's the step-by-step:

Laying the fondant...

Adding the accessories and another layer...

The top layer and BUZZ! (the H is for Hunter, the birthday boy!)

Finally, the Lightyear wings and the final product!

Pretty cool, right?! PS this is what we were going for, and I think we did pretty good!

Here's the cake at Hunter's birthday party!

Hunter was so excited and all the kids loved the cake!

What did you do today?

2010-10-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have gone to work, stayed home and cared for your kids, or went to school...and I...I did this:

created the costumes for Tyler's fox puppets to wear in their debut film.

Background - Tyler promised his students that he would film a love story between Zorro & Zorra, his spanish-speaking foxes, who have also become the Spanish class mascots.

The lovely Zorra....

...who is recused by the one & only crime fighting Zorro....

They fall in love and get married.

The End

Alyssa's Wedding!

2010-09-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

So these are in reverse order, so we'll start at the end and work our way back...

Alyssa and Kyle leaving for their honeymoon in California!

The Lundrigan group at the reception. It was so great to have my Uncle Doug come all the way from Oregon, and he was sooo helpful! Uncle Gord, Aunt Leesa, and my cousin, Hannah, trekked all the way across the country for North Carolina!! Hannah was one of Alyssa's bridesmaids. And, of course, Grandma and Grandpa took a road trip from Canada, and even treated us to a little visit in Rexburg before and after the wedding.

Instead of the regular centerpieces at the tables and a buffet style meal, we mad the centerpieces out of the family-style meals.

These girls were such huge helps!

The wedding cake! Me and my mom put our hearts and souls into making that cake!

The happy couple after the sealing in Bountiful, UT. (Notice his unique white ceramic ring)

Groomsmen

Bridesmaids

Kyle's parents

The Lundrigan siblings

The Esquibel siblings + spouses

Centerpiece at the pre-sealing brunch.

More of the bridal party

Me and my brother, Devin (he was a groomsman)

Christine's little boy, Jack, was so good while his mom was off taking pictures!

All the bridesmaids

Here's Gord at work! He was so great to take so many pictures!

Here is the best picture I can find of my dress after its make-over! I think it turned out ok!

Bridals. (Me, Christine, and Gord were all snapping pictures of the bride like crazy! Christine's and Gord's turned out better than these ones that I took)

Getting ready for the day!

HELP!!

2010-09-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

So, you will remember that I got my Bridesmaid dress and I was going to accessorize with all ivory: pearl jewelry, ivory button, ivory belt, ivory shoes. Well, it turns out that (cheap) ivory belts are really hard to find (despite what some people have told me)! So, I decided I would make my own ivory belt!! However, now my issue is that I can't decide what I want it to look like! Ok, ok, I may be over thinking this, but I just want everything to look perfect for the wedding! So, that's why I need your help deciding which belt design!!!

Bridesmaid dress refresher:

Belt options:

#1 Flower cluster

#2 Bow with flower center

#3 Straight line flowers

#4 Bow with no flowers

Vote for your favorite!!

Random Thoughts

2010-08-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

When my mom was here, I served a real French dinner, or at least as close as I could make it...here are a couple of the highlights

A pre-dinner drink to enjoy over a lively conversation: Fruit juice with an orange slice and a fresh mint leaf (Don't worry, Cindy, I'll omit the mint next time)

A cheese platter: gruyère, brie and muenster

We ended the meal by staring out the window at this awesome double rainbow!

Next comes wedding stuff, more wedding stuff, then even more wedding stuff!!

I've been working on these cute little guestbooks, there'll be one at each table for people to write messages and I'm gonna put some edge-burned, sepia pictures of the beautiful couple.

Next, the bouquets:

Bridesmaids - cream hydrangea

Bridal bouquet - red hydrangeas with cream roses. This picture does not do it justice; it is seriously soooo pretty!!

Lastly, my bridesmaid dress...except I'll switch out all the white accessories for ivory.

So that's what I've been up to for the past couple weeks.

The Rexburg RUSH Triathlon

2010-08-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

This was a perfect race day. Sunny, warm, with no wind, and warm water. This is the first race that Kelsey and I have done where we have had so many fans, so we have pictures this time! The swim was fun; Kelsey swam like a shark cruising past other competitors.

Can you spot us?... just kidding, we don't even know where we are.

Transition 1

The bike ride.

The final stretch of the run.

It was such a good feeling to have finished the race.

We got medals for completing the race which we proudly wore the rest of the day, and will probably wear for the next few days too. Kelsey and I are the greatest team, and it was so much fun doing the race together. Next on our list, THE IRONMAN! Well, maybe. Stay tuned for France pictures, they really will come...maybe

French Update

2010-08-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

I know you all have been waiting for a more indepth update on our France trip, and luckily, I have a sister who is very talented in story telling. So, here is a link to her blog with an exquisitely written chronicle of our trip thusfar. Enjoy!

http://www.yellowbelliedmongrol.blogspot.com

Paris in a Day

2010-07-21T15:06:00.001-07:00

Paris is magnifique! and today was intensely busy! Here is a very brief summary of what to do if you want to experience all of Paris in one day!

First of all, we used the Metro, a lot!

Palace of Versailles

Gardens of Versailles

Alyssa escaping from the palace.

Le Tour Eiffel

We climbed every step!

Le Louvre

Notre Dame

Une boulangerie

We ate a baguette for dinner.

The Arc de Triomphe

The view from the Arc de Triomphe

Many, many more pictures to come!

Get Ready..

2010-07-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

We're getting ready for Le Tour de France!!!

We'll be in Bordeaux on Friday to cheer on Lance and Team RadioShack!

We made these sweet posters, and if we're lucky, Lance might notice us!!!

The final products

Watch for us as the riders get into Bordeaux on Friday, July 23rd, we'll be holding these posters and cheering our heads off!!

Aloha!

2010-07-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Maui was AMAZING!! I can't believe how beautiful it was! I loved everything about the trip, except for the early morning wake up calls, I'm sure Keith can tell you what a grouch I am in the morning! We had such a fun-filled week! Here are some of the highlights:

This was the view from our balcony

Ahhh, the ocean...this is heaven

The water was so clear and blue!

Windsurfing was really cool to watch!

On the way to Hana, there were some awesome beaches with black sand

We got a glimpse of a Luau at a really fancy hotel!

I loved the palm trees!!! Especially while the sun was setting!

These are from the Aquarium

Still from the Aquarium, but I swear we saw the same fish when we went snorkeling! I think snorkeling was my favorite thing that we did; the clear water and all the beautiful fish were just paradise!

Tyler and I picked some fresh coconuts and a banana off of some trees in our resort

It took us forever to finally crack it, and it didn't taste very good, but it was still way cool!!

Finally, the tropical flowers!

I wish I could make arrangements like this!

Ok, Kaylene, this one is for you! This was the biggest and most delicious shave ice ever!

For more pictures, go to Cindy's blog (she's amazing!), http://www.reddempire.blogspot.com/

Side note: I found this online, this is us sprinting to the finish line at our half marathon!

Teton Dam Marathon

2010-06-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

I know it was a few weeks ago, but here are a couple pictures from our half-marathon.

I wish there were some action shots, but it's kinda hard when we're running together the whole time, ya know? It was so fun, despite the pain! And we have a new found respect for anyone who can do a whole marathon, I don't think we'll ever try that!