bored...boards...party!!

Thats right, I have finally updated! Life has been pretty chill here, its wonderful! I have officially finished RT school, and passed my BOARDS! I did much better than expected, I was convinced I was going to fail, especially from the first few questions. I don't usually get nervous for tests because I have come to accept the fact that I do ok with tests and I am usually content with my score, but this test was a little different! My heart was pounding the entire time that I reviewed it. I will say that I learned alot through my studies but the only way I passed was through lots of help from my Heavenly Father and the countless prayer from me and my family. It was an amazing experience. Anway...its a relief to be done...now I am just trying to get a job so I can make some real money! We will see how that goes, especially with a few new developments in our lives!

So to celebrate being done with xray school, and meg (she is my twin sister, and yes I obviously talk about her lots) being finished and PASSED her first year of nursing school. Her and tooter (the fiance) decided to take a trip down to HOT Lake Powell! We decided it was also to celebrate Mark and Toot's b.days cuz they are both in May too! But we went last weekend and partied! We just mostly fished because Toot has an amazing boat that is definitely dedicated to fishing.



Mark caught the first fish, thats a 'strippie' he caught a total of 8

His first Walleye, and the biggest fish he has caught in his life!

My fishie! Mark is nice enough to let me fish with him and bait the line and take off those nasty fishes!
I only caught three, none of them were keepers, but thats a ok, cuz I hate dead fish. We all caught our fair share of cat fish...Mark hated them. I tended to catch my fish in the back of the boat with my feet in the water cuz it was so hot. Sadly I didn't get a nice tan cuz I burned so nicely on the first day.


This is Meg, she hopped in to go swim cuz it was so hot, I was too chicken and not hot enough at the moment! She is always hilarious to hear when jumping in the water, as we all are!


Meg tolerates fishes more than me, but this is her right before she kissed the nasty fish! She is gross! Megan just left her pole in a holder most of the days and caught more than me! She is simply amazing!

So I just have to share a hilarious incident that happened in the boat, cuz quite frankly I can't get over it. So I was just sitting in the boat while toot was driving to get to a canyon and I wasn't really holding on the anything. I assume he went over a big wave...and I was almost history. I somehow fell out of my chair into the back of the boat bouncing around like a dead fish. I couldn't stop laughing so I couldn't grab anything, my fingers get weak when I laugh...odd! So Mark is trying to help me up so they don't have to slow down, but neither of us can stop laughing. Meanwhile Meg comes back because she thought I passed out ( I have a hsitory). Toot confirmed i was lame! I hope it wasn't a had to be there moment! We saw lots of lizards doing pushups, it was pretty sweet!

I have a goal of taking more pictures, only when we go hiking though! Mark and I have a date night every week and go hike up Rock Canyon and have dinner once a week. Its great and beautiful...I hope I remember to take more pictures! ...until I have exciting news...

There is always a first for everything

After I finished my clinicals and it was time for Megs spring break, mom and dad asked if I wanted to go to Cali with them. I wasn't sure cuz Mark didn't go. But then I figured I mine as well be megs entertainment!We drove down with the parents and flew back. Here are some of the happenings! So, after 21 years of never riding on an airplane, I finally experienced it. If Meg wouldn't have gone with me I would have utterly been lost. She just has so much confidence, so I followed her. Lets be honest here, I should have listened to my brother in law and got over the fact of not being on one cuz it was like a large bus! So it definitely wasn't what I was expecting, needless to say. But I was so excited! Sadly, Meg and I thought the plane ride was far too long, even though it was 90 minutes.

This is our tray of soda and nuts, nice gesture, but why weren't the stewardess wearing the same clothes and were not nice!


Gambling was another first. If you don't know Megan, you are surely missing out...she bring the little rebel out in you . So I agreed to play $10, same as her...but she won $60 with the money i lended to her, what a freak. There was lots of money won, not by me, dad, and mom, but meg and my favorite Aunts, Koni and Wanda. Between the both of them they won $500.

When we got to California we went to a Pier by my grandpas house, to an utterly Delicious restaurant. The Pier was pretty long and it was quite beautiful. There were alot of people and people were trying to fish off of it, wierd. We didn't see anyone catch anything. It was fun to stayat grandpas house to see him again, he was pretty funny!

Along the peir there were tons of birds that just sat there. So Meg and I were watching surfers and this one came up, if you look at it closely, it doesn't have its left leg.

Megs photography of a sunset in a moving car by the ocean.

So we got to go to sea world, and it was so fun! We hadn't been for like ten years, so I didn't remember much. We got to see lots of wonderful sea life. On the whole ride there, my mom was sent to the back seat with meg and i. I don't think we have laughed that hard forever. So the whole drive we were saying sea world in different tones of voice. If you ever have the chance to it with your mother and listen to how high her voice goes. We kept repeating sea world, o it was great! Maybe you had to be there!


Thats right folks this is another first, if you don't know my ultimate fear it is that of fish! So you better look at this and weep, because I am holding a star FISH! I was so proud. Mark disagreed that it couldn't count! So later that day I touched Sting Ray. Maybe by the time I die I will be able to take off my own fish and look at dead ones. Nasty!

Random picture of us. My mom is a great photographer!

On our way back we stopped at the San Diego Temple. Too bad it was Monday or we could have got to actually get closer!!

This picture is kinda odd looking, but it has a great story behind it. So my grandpa has an orange tree outside his front door, so Meg went and got one, and my dad pointed to another one that was bigger and looked better. So they peeled it and we all wanted a bite. Man was it sour. My grandpa comes out and tells us it is a lemon. Thats right we peeled and ate it like an orange. Only people from WY.

This was also our entertainment before going to bed. Trying to get us all in!!! Meet the fam!

So onto real life...on Tueday I went up to the Univeisity of Utah to have an interview for CT school. They only accept 5, so I wasn't expecting anything. They accepted me on the spot and I will be starting in July and be done in December! I am so excited. It better blow Weber's program out of the water! It already has, cuz I applied to them in mid March and know now, but applied to Weber in January and heard nothing!! Mark left his other job, due to hatred...he is so much happier now. He started a new job on Monday at a tech support place (somewhere he didnt want to go, but he knows it will be for a short time until we know what we are doing)! So there is the 411 on life. Hope you all are well!!

GET READY TO HOLD ONTO YOUR BRITCHES....

cuz, I am officially done with my 1500 hours of free slave labor, aka clinicals for school! Don't hold on too tight, cuz I will have more in the fall. Hold on again...cuz I am going on my first airplane next week with my amazing look alike! Hope we dont' get lost!!

Its about time

Here are some pictures of the last little while, you can tell how often I have my camera with me!!



People call me Crafty Mandi cuz that what I am...lol, jk!


This is the first real gingerbread house Mark and I had ever made. We all decided to have a contest, so during turkey weekend the Green family all made the gingerbread and took them home to assemble houses . If you don't know Mark, he is very precise and picky, it was kinda hard to be so precise with frosting. We thought we had the coolest roof with shredded wheat, and our yard had pine trees, a dead pine tree (marks idea), snowman, and ice skating rink. Nikki, my oldest sister did have the coolest roof, individual hershey squares, Jens was awesome very colorful, but I think megs won! she didn't have as much as we did for a house she found out after she baked it so made an out house!! it was awesome a lifesaver breath mint for the toilet and tic tac for tp! LOVED IT!

A puzzle that we did from work, I of coarse didn't finish it, Mark and his bro did.

Mark says hi snowmobiling , he went with his bros cuz i was chicken and it was too cold! It did make for some fun time with sis in laws and Meg!

Me and Meg trying to get Luci to behave-shes so cute

Minus my ever unattractive hamburgler shirt, this is a cute picture of my sister, Laycee, and Charly! Layce is always so good to come say hi when she is in town. It makes Christmas so good. We love talking about the good old times and see my moms face. Charly was the entertainment this time laughin her britches off at Luci!!




Just a couple of reasons it made it worth it to drive to Evanston 4 times in 2 weeks!

Family Fun

Sorry, I am pretty lame and forget to take my camera anywhere! But the past couple of weeks have been so much fun. The most important thing, I finished school last wednesday :D only a few months left (I am not counting or anything). For Thanksgiving, Mark and I got to go up home and hang out with both families. Our families are on the same schedule, so I wasn't looking forward to having to share equal time with everyone. I think it ended up alright, we had a blast and didn't want to go home. I got to meet some of Mark's moms family I hadn't met and played games there until we couldn't stand it. We then went to my parents house and played with my sisters, but all of them left on Friday, but I did get to go shopping!! We got to go Christmas tree hunting with my parents, Marks first experience! We also made our first gingerbread house. We haven't been able to decorate it yet, cuz we are procrastinators, and now our sink is broken and we try to use little amount of dishes. We had a blast and wish we lived closer, maybe one day in the future.
This last weekend too, cuz Marks family came down to AF to his nephews baptism. I had the chance to drive up to SLC and watch my nephew, sorta, but just entertain my sister in law. They stayed at our house and we partied as best we could. We got to hang out with the entire family on Saturday and it was really fun. We love family. Anyway there is a catch up with us, maybe soon I will remember I have a camera!

Crazy 8 Tag

8 tv shows that i watch
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. Friends
3. Numb3rs
4. Full House
5. Studio 5
6. What Not to Wear
7. America's Funniest Home Videos
8. CSI...I wish

8 things i did yesterday
1. Worked
2. Dishes
3. Watched Numb3rs
4. Got the mail
5. Played the organ
6. Went to Sportsmans
7. Grocery Shopping
8. Talked to Meg and mom

8 places i love to eat
1. El Matador
2. Cafe Rio
3. Taco Time
4. Brick Oven
5. Applebee's
6. Hunan Garden
7. My house
8. Mom and Dad's house

8 things i am looking forward to
1. being done with school
2. getting a real job
3. thanksgiving dinner
4. snow*
5. Mark to come home
6. Megan to come visit
7. Dancing with the stars!
8. Day off on Tuesday!

8 things on my wish list
1. Marks old car out of the driveway
2. Clothes
3. School to be done
4. Megan to come live by me
5. a dog
6. kids
7. house
8. a Corvette for mark

8 people I tag (if I only had 8 friends)
1. AuBri
2. Danielle
3. Laycee
4. Stephanie
5. Jessica
6. Jeri

Girls Weekend!!

So this weekend the girls in my family, except my oldest sister, Nikki, went to Riverton, Wy to see my twin sister. We decided to go before the weather got too bad, because we didn't want to be the ones driving in the snow, sorry Meg. Riverton is up where the famous Rocky Ridge/South Pass is where the pioneers had to go through. Anyways, after a 700 mile round trip, it was so much fun! We just got to hang out, be blown away in tornado like winds, eat all you can eat chinese, watched how to make haunted gingerbread houses, and met Meg's student ward, which was about 20 people :0! The best part was totally hanging out all night and laughing, nearly giving my mother a heart attack! I can't wait until Megan moves closer to home, so we can play all the time! Here are a few pictures! Ps dont worry, Mark didn't have to stay home alone, he played with his family too, but we are much cooler!


Wyoming roads tend to be rather boring, so they
have to make the drive interesting somehow!



Ya know, since somebody clocks how fast they run across the highway!

Meg and I having one of our better moments!

Me and my adorable twin, mom, and older sister!
We all look so much alike!

And just for some fun, here are some more pictures of Meg and I, cuz people think that its so wierd that there are two of me!

Us, enjoying home life!

Who could ask for more beautiful faces!

I know this isn't Meg, but this is Luci, my parents puppy,
this is how she rode on my parents 4 wheeler, they called
it Toto's basket. She like me, cuz she thinks i am meg

My beautiful sisters

Mark and Meg summer 07

I was tagged, were you?

I was tagged by my wonderful friend Laycee, like a month ago! I am totally new if you cant tell.

Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 4-6 people at the end of your blog by leaving their names.

Mandi
JOYS:
1. Mark
2. Summertime
3. Mexican food!

FEARS:
1. Walking to my car alone
2. Anykind of bugs
3. Death

Obsessions
1. Full House
2. Talking on the phone
3. Dancing with the Stars

Random Facts:
1. Megan and I have been on the news
2. I hate purses
3. I love to vote on the wii

Mark

JOYS
1. Mandi (he's trying to be nice)
2. LOTR
3. Mountains/skiing

FEARS-he has none cuz he is a man!! lol

OBSESSIONS:
1. Games
2. Computers
3. Dragon Ball Z

RANDOM FACTS
1. Loves to grill
2. Wants to be a super saiyan ???
3. Everyones favorite uncle, his nieces want to marry him

I tag Danielle, Kenna, AuBrie, and Stephanie :D

September News

I am obviously amazing and keeping this thing updated. Class has officially started for me on top of clinicals, but it has been amazing to be able to double clock for clinical and pay!! Mark decided to take a break and try to figure out what he really wants to do with the rest of his life. But in the midst of all this, we have been having great weekends with family and friends. Three weeks ago, we went boating at Echo with our good friends up in SLC Ty and Joline. Mark and I were pretty stoked about the idea because he loves it and I am starting to like it more and more (I am not scared what lies beneath!!). Mark is pretty good at wakeboarding, but claims to be a chicken for tricks, he also tried their air chair...that things is pretty cool to watch! He was rather unsucessful but I got a good snapshot of him trying. I just wakeboarded, and man was the water cold, I almost forgot to breathe. I tried to get mark to get in with me cuz I was scared. I did pretty good for the 3rd time going. And for the first time I made it over the wake!! I also learned, kinda, to knee board. It was pretty interesting, I wasnt very good, but Thanks Jo for teaching me how and bailing when I would fall off! You definitely know your from Wyoming when you go boating and wear hoodies!

This is Mark psyching himself into getting up on the air chair

His attempt!

My awesome skills on a wakeboard...jokes!!

This is Joline and Hoxon(sp??) knee boarding...Jo is amazing

The next weekend we got to go up to Evanston to play with Megan and go to Trisha's wedding reception. Boy, was that fun. It was chaos at home for mom and dad I am sure. Megan and I sure enjoyed ourselves and it was hilarious getting up to date on her boy drama! Ps meg, so glad I am not you! Mark was just an awesome twin-in-law and smirked and fixed computers all weekend. We also got to see my niece and nephew...there pretty awesome!! The following week I got my peaches and pears and canning season was on! I thought I would have had more time to can it all, but the peaches and pears sure seemed to ripen up all at the same time. I took off the week from clinicals and canned my heart out, just when Mark was home to help me. We did learn a valuable lesson though, don't try to can with a 70's rendition of a microwave/stove combo!! We ended up getting 35 quarts of peaches and pears, and a couple of bags of dried pears. I love it!


Some of the peaches...check out the beauty!

Mark says peeling peaches is worse then touching a fish!

We then went to a Haunted House with Marks brother, Greg this past weekend. We haven't been for a few years. It was hilarious! I jumped alot and Mark did a few times, it was great! The girl from the ring was a hit, and Santa scared the crap out of me!

Our Attempt of the Highline Trail

So we didn't really get a chance to tell a lot of people about our big hike in July that was for seven days...this may be long. We had first planned this hike at the end of March and we were going to do the whole 75 mile hike of the Highline Trail in the Uinta's. So we attempted to train so we could be in shape...but Mark and I didn't technically do anything until June and hiked Rock Canyon twice a week for 5 miles. Anyway so we are stoked to do this...some in Mark's family were so stoked we packed our packs in May, including food!


ONE-FRIDAY: the morning of July 25th we woke up and went up to the trail head taken by my mother in law. We started and of coarse I brought up the rear because Mark, his brothers and dad took giant leaps! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up, but lovingly Mark stayed close by. The first day we hiked 12 miles in. Getting up to Pigeon Milk Springs was so hard for me...rocks everywhere and uphill for about 3 miles (a couple times I had to remind myself to breathe, because I thought I was going to pass out, i am good at it). We finally made it and ate lunch where I thought there was no way I could hike the 5 more miles. We hiked up Rocky Sea Pass which was cake I thought and going down all I could say is that I was glad I didn't have to hike back up, little did I know! We then kept hiking with few breaks and about 2 miles before Gladys Lake, our stop for the day. Mark and I were so slow, I almost thought I was going to die and I kept telling myself I was way over my head, which I was, Mark admits it too! We just kept saying keep moving, his knee hurt my hip hurt and it just sucked! We finally made it to camp and fished. The mosquito's were awful! I CAUGHT THE FIRST FISH OF THE TRIP AND THE COOLEST CATCH! I thought I was going to not get the first fish, and Mark really wanted me to beat Chad-his brother. I thought Chad had one, but his lure got caught and ended up breaking his pole. So I casted and the wind came up and I knew it was bad so I just reeled in and all of a sudden I hear splashing and my father in law says you got one...it was hanging half way out of the water in a dead tree. Mark saved the day and got it out, sorry no picture. Mark caught about 15 fish and I caught 7.
DAY 2-SATURDAY: We were supposed to be up at 6am, but woke up when we wanted. We decided to hike out, it was supposed to be an 8 mile day, however we made it not even 2 miles. We fished the lake of coarse, Mark caught another fisherman's lure at the bottom of the lake. We decided to set up camp there and good thing we did cuz it rained. We ended up staying here for most of the week because we were awesome backpackers...and it did have a nice set up for a fire and such! Today was also the first day I drank out of a spring without purifying the water
DAY 3-SUNDAY: Chad made an itinerary and Sunday it said 6am begin lounging...lol! We played games all day and enjoyed ourselves. We had an opportunity to have church at "Chapel Rock" named by Rob, my father in law. It was a great experience, having sacrament and priesthood, and for my sake Relief Society...we had to cut it short cuz it started raining like no other.
DAY 4-MONDAY: We had quite the day of fishing. Most of us went on a long day hike to go fish a bunch of lakes...our hands got toasted from being on the lakes all day. We went to Reconnaissance, Triangle, Boot, and Doug Lakes. I was an awesome fisher woman, and Mark too! In Triangle Lake the fish were so tiny, they fit in Mark's palm, they were so tiny I was ALMOST attempted to touch one. (FYI-I refuse to touch fish, Mark does it for me, he is so nice)
Day 5-TUESDAY: Chad, Dad, and Rob went and fished Lightning Lake...my hands hurt from the sun and Mark almost went...but decided to help Greg teach me Pinochle. The Hughes' family always wants to play and for some reason I resented the game...but Mark and Greg are good teachers and patient. We were just plain amazing! That night we had a tournament...Mark and Greg, Rob and Chad, Me and Dad. Greg said it was the first tournament ever finished. Mark and Greg got eliminated in 2 rounds by me and dad...YES! But Rob and Chad won...the lucky beasts! This night was the only wildlife I had heard, an elk came in the camp, cuz Chad called it in...I was freaked out and Mark just said hmmmmmm.
Day 6: Wednesday: We hiked out to Pigeon Milk Springs, that's right where we started! It was a good hike, Chad was awesome and took my pack up Rocky Sea for me. I then took my time, it was great...we then found the camping spot that the Hughes' had used before with an awesome kitchen. That night they then had to decide when to go home...Thursday, Friday, or Saturday...keep in mind it was supposed to be till Saturday. You totally have to watch the video because it is hilarious!
Day 7: Thursday: So we pack up that morning and Greg and Rob head out first so they can call for someone to pick us up. Dad, Chad, Mark and I went and fished Carolyn Lake so we could catch some Arctic Greyling (Mark's favorite). These fish were mean and really feisty! They had a beautiful dorsal fin though. So we started hiking out and we are about halfway done and we ate lunch when all of a sudden we see Greg...they took a wrong turn...so sad! We then made it the rest of the way which seemed like it took forever cuz you could hear the highway. I was never more excited to shower!

FISH COUNT 490 Dinner-I had red on my hands from the koolaid
DAD: 148
CHAD: 148
ROB: 68
MARK: 72
MANDI: 50
GREG: 14
Chad's awesome fishing skills Mark's Arctic Greylin







Below the video of the Hughes' boys and what they do best...making decisions and pacing