Father's Day!

Well I decided that I needed to publically tell people how I feel about my father. Here is a man that has been there to support me through the good times and the bad. I often wonder what he thinks of the kid he decided to name Theodore Jenkins Badger III. Now that I'm 34 approaching 35 I have seen a lot and done a lot. I have made good decisions and bad ones. My father has always been there to lift me up, listened to me when the world has become unbearable and picked me up when I have fallen down. He is my hero, the one I look up to, and the one I wish I could be more like. He has truly been successful in raising a large family with a few of us with special needs. (Not that we are special ed) He has balanced a successful career along with a high commitment to his Heavenly Father and his church. I can remember how often we went and looked at cars and test drove them. I always love to spend time with My Dad. I hope as I continue to develop as a father that I can be more like my dad. Luckily I have a great wife who I love that will make sure that I'm doing what is right. I truly love her and I love you! Happy father's day :)

Harley Trip - Southern Utah

Phew! This post was a very tedious one to create. We took a ton of pictures and they took FOREVER to load! We went on a Harley trip and toured the amazing sights of Southern Utah and Arizona. TJ said this is the best vacation he’s ever been on, so you KNOW it was a good time. TJ rented a Harley in Salt Lake on Thursday and we drove to St George {TJ on the bike, me in the car with Puppy}. We spent Thursday evening hanging out at my cousin, Kristen’s lovely house in St George with my family, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. On Friday morning, the trip officially started. We had 20 motorcycles and 38 people plus 1 chase vehicle and trailer {puppy rode in the truck. I still haven’t figured out how to safely fashion her to a Harley}. We went to Zion’s National Park and Moqui Cave and stayed in Kanab Friday night. We ate dinner at this restaurant in Kanab called the Rocking V Cafe. It is sooo delicious and unique. I’d highly recommend it if you’re ever in the area.
Saturday, we went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Lee’s Ferry and stayed the night in Page, AZ. We did a Poker Run each day of the trip, so that made it really fun.
Sunday, we visited this really cool slot canyon called Antelope Canyon. It’s on the Navajo Reservation just outside of Page. We went to Bryce Canyon and Kodochrome Park and stayed in Escalante, UT that night.
Monday, we saw Capitol Reef Park and stayed in Panguitch, UT. At dinner on Monday night, awards were given out for best dressed biker, etc. TJ won the award for BIGGEST BIKER WHANNA-BE! I thought it was the perfect award for TJ!
On Tuesday, our trip came to a end. On our way back to St George, we saw Cedar Breaks National Monument and Snow Canyon. We were so sad that the trip had to end because we had such a fantastic time! TJ is VERY tempted to get himself a motorcycle now, but that will have to wait until we have a place to put it. We’re ready to start planning a Colorado Harley Trip!

California Dreamin'

Puppy and I drove with my brother, Mark to California to see my parents. What was supposed to be a week long visit turned into a 3-week long vacation with TJ flying in for the last week. We had so much fun visiting my family and enjoying the awesome Cali weather. We celebrated Mother's Day, shopped, went to the movies, the beach, and rode the scooters to name a few things. Puppy, who is stuck in our apartment most of the time, had the time of her life getting lost in my parents house and playing in the yard. My parents are re-landscaping and replacing their concrete driveway with pavers. They have a beautiful new front gate too. The grass wasn't in yet, but that didn't stop Puppy from finding a nice dirt pile to lounge in. We went on walks every night and really enjoyed each other's company. When TJ arrived, we spent a day in San Diego with Stephen and Desirae. They fed us a delicious lunch of homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza and took us to a beach by their house with some cool walking trails. We love California!!!

Mom on Mother's Day

Mom and Me

Mom and Mark

Puppy lounging on the new driveway. It looks soo nice!

Beautiful new gate. It's going to look awesome when it's all finished!

Puppy and Mark wrestling. Not sure how happy Puppy is about this situation...

TJ and I at Stephen and Desirae's. We decided to take their Volvo to the beach. This is us trying out the back-facing seat in the rear. TJ decided it wasn't for him.

Brooklyn and I hanging out in the rear back seat. My favorite part of this picture is Brooklyn's upside down shades. Lookin' good!

We hiked down to this lookout above the beach.

Stephen, Desirae, Brooklyn, and sleeping Ian

On the beach! Stephen and Desirae really do live in paradise.

Baby Ian {look at those big blue eyes}

A typical scene: Dad and Puppy taking a nap together on the couch. Looks like a spoiled dog if you ask me!

Riding the scooters around the neighborhood

My Mom bought Puppy a new Frisbee. It used to look round and smooth {about 3 days prior to this picture}. Puppy started putting her head through the hole and we thought it was pretty funny looking. Check out the video clip:

On the ride home

She found her "spot" and looked like this for most of the 15 hour drive home

Wedding & Graduation - Our Crazy, Fun, Hectic Trip to Utah

Here's a re-cap of our fabulous trip to Utah...

Wednesday: TJ, the boys, and I drove to Provo. We had Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites on CD for the boys to listen to. I finished reading The Host by Stephanie Meyer. It was a great read. We arrived in Provo around dinner time and had dinner with TJ's family. We stayed at my parent's condo in SLC that night.

Thursday: We drove back to Provo for Mark and Tracy's baby blessing. Little Ella is adorable and is was nice to have all the family there for the occasion. All the girls in the Badger family went to Jessica's baby shower that night. We played some fun games, ate, and watched Jessica open all her cute baby gifts.

Friday: TJ and the boys went to the rehearsal luncheon for his sister, Rebecca's wedding while I went with my parents to my brother's BYU graduation. Mark graduated in biology and plans to go to USC for dental school this fall. We had a celebratory dipped cone from Dairy Queen afterwards with Steve and Andra Duke. That night, we had a dinner party for Mark at the Spaghetti Factory. TJ hung out with his brothers while the Badger girls had Rebecca's bridal shower. After Mark's dinner, we had dessert at the condo.

Saturday: Rebecca and Tabor got married at 10:00 in the Salt Lake temple! The sealing was beautiful. It was rainy weather, but luckily it stopped while we were taking pictures. Their reception was that afternoon in the Joseph Smith Building. Rebecca looked beautiful and everything was just perfect. That night, my family went out to dinner at this delicious rib restaurant called Goodwood in Draper. I'm usually not a big fan of ribs because they're just more mess than they're worth, but these ribs were DELICIOUS! So worth having bbq sauce all over my face and hands. I'd highly recommend it. At dinner were the Dukes and my Uncle Ralph and his family. TJ and the boys spent time with the Badger family and celebrated TJ's brother, Mark's birthday.

We had so much fun seeing everyone. We don't get to see all the Badgers that often, so it was fun to spend time with everyone. Until the next wedding!!!

Easter

Easter weekend has been fun. The Easter Bunny made it to our house! Mason had a soccer game on Saturday, and his team won 3-0. Yay! Mason played defense. TJ and the boys went to see Monsters vs Aliens 3D on Saturday afternoon while I put together their Easter baskets. That night, we dyed eggs. I was worried about dye getting on the carpet. Unfortunately, our table is on carpet (you'd think the people who design apartments would realize the danger to their carpet when they put it in the dining area). The boys were very careful though. While we were dying the eggs, I had some clothes in the laundry. Our washer and dryer are stacked on top of each other in a little closet, and we keep the huge container of liquid detergent on top of the unit. Every once in a while, our washer becomes unbalanced and starts to shake and make a lot of noise. This started happening, so I opened the laundry closet door to investigate and the brand new bottle of BLUE detergent fell to the floor and exploded EVERYWHERE. When I say everywhere, I mean all over the carpet, splattered across the room, dripping down the walls. I have no idea how it projected so far. I wish I had had the forethought to take a picture right after the disaster (for blogging purposes), but I was too worried about all the soap everywhere. Needless to say, our carpet is a pretty blue speckled color these days and we will be buying a carpet cleaner tomorrow. Hopefully the color comes out! Let's just say that I would rather the boys spill egg dye on the carpet than deal with the sudsy blue mess that was my Saturday night. Life is an adventure!

Brandon and Mason woke up Sunday morning to a scavenger hunt for their Easter baskets. Someone was sure good to them this year! Among all the candy was some silly putty and bubble blowers. Who would have thought that the bubbles would be the highlight of the day with our crazy dog chasing them around and trying to bite the bubbles mid-air (see video below).

We hope everyone has a great Easter!

Dying Easter Eggs

Pretty eggs

My Easter present

SLC - Conference Weekend

TJ and I went to Salt Lake to spend conference weekend with my family. My Mom and I spent a lot of the weekend shopping for things to decorate my parent's condo. We returned a lot of things too (that's how my Mom rolls). Their condo is in a great location, and below are some pictures of the view from their balcony. TJ got tickets to the Priesthood Session and took my Dad and Mark. We also visited with my grandparents and Aunt Debra and Uncle Lyle. On Sunday, we made lunch and had my grandparents, Jessica, Skyler, and Rosalia over to watch the afternoon session and play games. Good times all around!

TJ and Me

TJ and Rosalia

Mark and Me

Conference Center, Temple Square, and Downtown

Church Office Building and Mountains

McCune Mansion

Capitol Building

Girls Weekend in AZ

For the past week, I've been in Arizona visiting Jen and Nick. It was sooo nice to visit. I miss Arizona! The weather was great, and I was able to see a couple of my friends. I also hit up some Grimaldi's Pizza and Yogurberry. I'm addicted to both and they're not available in Colorado. On Thursday, I met up with my cousin Tiffany for lunch. She's always a riot! I love hearing about her crazy dating life. Friday, Jen and I got foot massages. I had a gift certificate, and it felt fantastic! Friday night, Jen and I went to dinner with our friend Laura and ate at Maria Maria at the Tempe Marketplace. They have some amazing guacamole there. On Saturday, we went to lunch and the flea market with Caitlin and dinner that night at Texas Roadhouse with Nick and Jen. Sunday was a rather unfortunate day because Louisville lost. My bracket isn't looking so hot now. Sad day. We went to a game night on Sunday night and saw some friends from our old singles ward. On Monday, I saw my good friend Amber and visited the Bendixen's and their cute baby. It was nice to have a little vacation and hang out with the Styers!

Jen and Me

Laura and Me

Nick and Jen

Amber and Me

Everyone was disappointed TJ didn't come, but he stayed home with Puppy and Brandon and Mason and had a boys weekend at home. The day after I left, Denver got 18 inches of snow. I left just in time! The boys had snow days on Thursday and Friday. TJ treated them to a couple matinees and a new wrestling video game, which was the hit of the weekend. They saw Hotel for Dogs and 12 Rounds with John Cena (Mason's favorite wrestler). Puppy got to experience some serious snow. TJ took her out to the little field by our house to let her run around in the powdery goodness, and it was almost up to her shoulders. She got stuck a few times. Pretty funny!