Falling into Autumn 2010

In the interest of getting this blog caught up as soon as possible, I have decided to combine events into bulk posts at least until I am blogging in real time again. Fall of 2010 was happy thanks to being able to welcome it, since we did in fact go camping at Bear Lake, even if it was freezing. I welcomed fall by decorating the apartment. Fall decorations are my favorite decorations-next to Christmas decorations, of course. I had fun putting the ones I had not seen or been able to use (due to them being in a storage bay in Colorado) the year before, as well as embarking on buying/creating and putting up new ones. It was fun to make the apartment all festive for the fall season.

We also enjoyed numerous activities and outings including: Getting a gym membership with a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym (although this was another not-so-fun experience with lies and contracts, because when I became pregnant and super sick, working out was not an option and their contract was nothing like they said it was), breaking the diet rules-often (we were great at working out, but let’s face it diets are so hard!), Play dates with my friend, Alyssa and her super cute baby, Paige, dates with my lovie, trips up north to see family and friends and new babies, Celebrating my Grandpa’s birthday at Applebee’s, hosting a party for Halloween-complete with scary movies and sugar cookies, going to High School musicals and having my brother, Kyle, over for a sleepover and dinner with neighbors, and celebrating my Grandparent’s anniversary with them at Chuck-A-Rama. It was another busy and fun time in the Ostler world!

I LOVE fall! The decorations just make it even better!

Hitting up Ikea and Bridal Veil Falls for a girl’s day!

Visiting my family before heading to Tremonton to see friends and meet their new baby girl, Britley. Their parents even let us pick some fresh produce from their garden-it was so yummy!

Before and after a workout.

Celebrating Grandpa’s Birthday!

The card I found for him. It.was.perfect.

The first snow fall for the year.

Kyle over for dinner!

Courtney, one of my managers from Nordstrom was dressing up as Jasmine for a Halloween Party, so she had me do her hair. I think it turned out pretty good if I do not say so myself.

Our Halloween Party and festivities!

I really don’t do well with scary movies…

All dolled up (yes, even Ben) for a date night after a workout one night. Too bad we wasted the workout with the Kit Kats and hot cocoa…good thing it was worth it!

Goofing off for Ben and the camera.

Going to Box Elder High School to watch their production of Phantom of the Opera, and then bringing Kyle home to visit (which led to more diet cheating-candy bars, In-N-Out, pizza) for a couple days.

Grandpa and Grandma’s anniversary dinner double-date!

Time to work off all that junk food-we are horrible!

Another paly date at Alyssa’s with her and her cute, little Paige.

Our Little Road Trip

So…with Ben’s crazy (and by crazy I mean absolutely insane) work schedule, we never got to go camping that summer (unless you count the fourth of July at my Grandma’s), which is unacceptable if you ask me. Ben, knowing that I could not possibly welcome fall without a camping trip planned a little road trip to Bear Lake with me. He took a few days off work since things had slowed down a bit, and we were off! We were pretty crazy to do this for a few reasons. One, it was absolutely freezing with temperatures at a high of about 60 degrees during the day, and then dropping below 30 degrees at night. It.was.cold. Lucky for me, I had this super cute guy with me to cuddle with to help keep me warm. This cool weather did not keep us out of the water though. Ben was lucky enough to have a wet suit, and although he wanted to buy me one for the trip, I just could not bring myself to spend the money for one so I braved the water without one. It was cold, but it was still worth it! Two, we were crazy enough to think we could somehow find jet skis to rent off season-nope! Although, we did try for a good couple of hours. I was pretty bummed since I had been looking forward to it for months. Three, we were the only ones at the lake and by this I mean the only ones! That place is a ghost town off season! Although, this made for a romantic getaway with a lake all to ourselves, it could have proved dire in an emergency. Luckily for us, everything was fine and the trip was emergency-free.

We had planned on staying a couple days and nights at Bear Lake, but Ben came up with a fabulous alternative plan with the money we had originally intended to rent jet skis with-a night at Providence Inn!!! Needless to say, the soft, warm beds; huge, warm jetted tubs; and hot breakfast in bed complete with hot chocolate, did not take much convincing to get this girl excited about the idea. So, we called Providence Inn and made our reservation ( luckily, this was a middle-of-the-week trip, so they had rooms available because, normally we reserve months in advance), packed up camp and were on our way! We stopped at Rick Springs on the way, because, what is a road trip without stopping at all the landmarks, right? and about an hour later we were settling into our nice, warm room! We stayed in the Pioneer Room, which I figured was the next best thing to our plans for rustic camping. First thing I did was take a nice, long shower, and then topped it off with a nice, long, bath in the huge jetted tub. It.was.heavenly. We went to Café Sabor for dinner that night with our discounted coupon for staying at Providence Inn. When we got back, we were just settling into bed to watch a movie when the t.v. would not work. I tell ya! It was one thing after another not going according to plan with this trip! Lucky for us-it always worked to our advantage and this time was no different! We were upgraded to the English Cottage room that is usually a substantial amount more per night at no additional cost! Of all the rooms at Providence Inn, this was the one I always wanted to stay at, yet never wanted to pay for. YAY!!! I was so excited! The room was amazing and the best part? The jetted tub was even bigger in this room! I was one happy girl! It was also more of a house than a room with a kitchen, and living room as part of it. I could not believe our luck! Just when I thought things were going wrong, they could not be going more right! I am so grateful I have a hubby that is so sweet and thoughtful and patient. He is so much fun to ride along through life with, with his go-with-the-flow personality! It was hard to say goodbye to our trip and head home, but we made one last fun stop at Firehouse Pizzeria (so yummy) for lunch. We grabbed a few more quick shots of places from our past on the way home, and even stopped at my folks for a quick hello. It was quite the trip gone wrong, yet that ended up better than we could have ever imagined!

 

Ben kept pressing his super cold wet suit against me-stinker!

My crazy hair in an attempt to not get it wet. Normally I would not care, but his water was cold, folks! Dripping wet and cold hair just did not sound to appealing this time around.

We really know how to “rough” it-movie, laptop and all! We rented this movie from a cute little general store on the edge of town. Good to know some people were still alive and kicking in this ghost town!

Shhh…I am like a little kid when it comes to fear and imagination. So, I made Ben come with me to brush our teeth in the girl’s bathroom.

Rick’s Spring

The cookies here are A-mazing! This is the broken T.V., also known as our free meal ticket to an amazing suite!!!

Can you see why I got so excited?

Our hometown of Brigham City, first apartment in Perry, and the famous Maddox Ranch house in passing.

Definitely one of the best road trips-EVER!