One of many Idaho Memories

Memorial Day Weekend....always a fun weekend to leave the city and enjoy some time away. And that is what we did! Tyler and I left Friday about 3:00 and had a great drive up to Idaho. We stopped in Blackfoot to have dinner at the Hansen's and then continued on to Salmon. Despite rain, slush and unfamiliar roads to Tyler, we made great time! It was fun to be home and fun for everyone to be able to get to know Tyler better.

Due to crazy rain and snow Salmon had gotten, no pipe to move the whole weekend! What a treat. We went in to Grammie and Papa Stokes' house and helped some other family members put in a sprinkler system for them. It was fun and we got rained on just a little. That night, we went up to the cemetery to put flowers on the graves of our family members.
On Sunday after church and a delicious dinner, we went up to our upper ranch, also known as "The Upper Place" It's beautiful up there and plans are formulating for the Stokes' cabin up there one day!



It was a really fun weekend. And with school officially out, there will be many more trips to Idaho this summer!

A terrible, horrible....

No good, very bad day!

I love that book. "Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" I felt a little like him today and Australia sounds like a pretty good move! Ok, it wasn't quite that bad but I still felt that Australia would be a good option!

How to count down the days....

3 weeks
2 Mondays
3 assemblies
14 days
98 hours
5400 minutes

When you look at it that way, summer is just around the corner for this teacher!!!!

A Mothers Day weekend to remember

First off- a tribute to my mother on this, now day after, Mother's Day. Mom- you have always been there for me! No matter what time of day or how far away you are there. You have been there with awesome advice and a shoulder to cry on. I love you so much Mom. Thanks for everything!

Though I wasn't able to spend Mother's Day with my own mother (we did talk on the phone) I spent it with other great mothers! Tyler and I went to Blackfoot Saturday and Sunday and we had such a fun time. His mother and grandmother are so wonderful and always so good to me. So, thanks to all the other mothers I know and love!

As I think back on our weekend together in Blackfoot, I have many memories brought to mind. A few will be recorded as I laughed so hard I almost shot orange jello out my nose! The conversations went something like this....

There we were sitting around the dinner table and it was a pretty quiet moment then you hear from Grandpa, "Tyler, were you on your mission when the Teton Dam broke?" (remember the Teton Dam broke in 1976 and Tyler is 28....) No control at that point, we all lost it. I had two options with the jello...choke on it or have it shoot out my nose ( i know, disgusting but funny) and since I was still wanting to impress the Hansen family, I decided choking on it would be a much better thing to do. We laugh and cry for a good 5 minutes. Then Grandma says something about "being a fox" and that set us on even more! To top it off, the "in your face thing" (aka facebook) is how word spreads nowadays, even among families!

It was such a funny moment and I think Tyler and I still were laughing about it when we got back to Utah. But those are the moments we cherish. We cherish those moments and always get a good laugh and remember those good memories. So, thanks to the Hansen family for a wonderful weekend and fun filled memories!

A New Me...well, kinda

I know, it seems silly but I feel I went through a little crisis at the age of 27. It wasn't big but I just...needed something. Everything else in my life is great. A great job, a wonderful boyfriend, a...car, an awesome house with great friends. It was time for a change...in the hair! I know it doesn't look like much but I was so scared. Ask my mom how scared I am when it comes to my hair. These were her words before I went in, "Don't cry and remember it grows back!" Words of wisdom! Thanks to a great friend from home and her salon in Orem, I experienced the Salon for the first time and it was really fun. And I love my hair. Very subtle but very good for me! I may go a little lighter but for now, I am loving it! So that list of great things in my life just got one more thing added to it. My hair!

23 days

I'm not counting until the end of school...okay, of course I am. It has been a great year but you get to a point when you are done for the year. I have run out of journal ideas, movies sound really good and the warmer it gets, the harder it gets! But- 23 more days is easily doable!! I will think, a test then a movie, then a little more learning of history and then it is 3 months of summer!

April Showers

Oh the business of April! Which I would like to say is why I have not blogged for a month. But I think because I spend time at work on the computer that I want nothing to do with it when I get home. But that attitude has got to change. Especially when people think I have died or something because there is nothing on my blog for a month. So, at least once a month is my goal!!! Ha ha! Ok, I will try for every other week! Life is so fun but it seems that I don't have time to blog it. But, for you few faithful followers of "Get Stoked" I will be better!

So April has been a crazy busy and fun month for the Stokes family. Extremely emotional at points but good. I spent almost a week at home in Idaho for Spring Break with the family. Eating lunchables and pudding in the hospital with Mom (her having snuck it all in her hospital gown for me and Em), watching girly movies and convincing Mom to slide down the roof to sneak out of the hospital!) It was a fun week. I was able to spend Easter with Tyler and his family in Blackfoot. I was so nervous but there was no need to be. He has an amazing family and they welcomed me with open arms! I even got an easter basket and was able to participate in the Annual Hansen Family Easter Egg hunt!

The very next weekend I made the trip back home for BYU-Idaho graduation where Sara and Emily became graduates after a long haul of school!! Good job sisters!! I am so proud of them. Though graduation was long, we had a fun time!

The next day after graduation, Nathan went through the temple! What a wonderful day. The last time we were in the temple together as a family was when Mary went through. It was such a fun day and amazing to see my little brother grow up. We missed Mary a lot this day but am happy she is in Minnesota working hard!!!


Oh how I love my brothers!!!!
Ok, this was emotional crazy day!!! Nathan went into the MTC on April 21st. They came down the night before and we all went to dinner and they met Tyler for the first time. Tyler and I were sitting there waiting for the family to come and it was not the first time when I almost starting crying! So, Tyler met the family and they were all themselves!!! We had a fun time at dinner and had some good laughs as Nate and Josh were stuffing cookies in their pockets at Chuck-A-Rama!

For some reason I had a really hard time letting Nathan go on his mission. I am so happy for him and he is going to be a wonderful missionary but just letting my little brother go to a foreign country is hard and thinking of all he will miss. But, he is going to be awesome!

I did bawl like a baby but I know that he will be wonderful in the Philippines! They will love him and he will do so much good! Good luck Elder Stokes! I love you and will see you in two years!!!