Ponies & Mustangs: September 2009

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Weekend at Bryce Canyon!

This last weekend we had a family get-2-gether in Bryce Canyon. We signed up to run the Rim Run which is five miles. It was such a blast. I ran with Heather and we made it under an hour! It was such a thrill. We all had so much fun and got to hang out with all of our cousins which we haven't really seen in years. We used to go every year when we were kids as a family tradition! It was fun to do it again! Also we got to ride horses, go to a rodeo and swim! It was a blast! Sorry to see it end. Here are some pics. My little brother posed in some of them. Enjoy!

Danny!

Cason!

My new Cowboy Shirt! It says "Free your Spirit" Yeehaw!

My Cowboy Boots!

Danny's Cowboy Pose!

Surprise Birthday Party for my dad

Jared, Cristina and I planned a surprise party for my dad. It worked out great. Everyone was able to make it. It was so much fun. We played alot of Guitar Hero and hung out all night long! And my dad was shocked so that made it pretty cool. Here are some pictures. Enjoy. Jared is a pro on the BBQ Me, getting ready for a party! Guitar Hero! Matthew! Madison!
Happy Birthday Dad!

Good Day/ Bad Day...

GOOD DAY... Selling a $4500.00 Diamond Ring at work!

BAD DAY.... Wearing two different color shoes. ;(

Yes, I really did that.

How it "REALLY" happened (Jareds words on our first date)

It was our first date and I was pretty nervous. Not just that she’d like me but that mountain biking wasn’t the WORST dating idea I had had in my whole life! I nearly changed my mind 5 times or more! Turns out, it was perfect!
Here’s what really happened! I picked her up and fixed her tire, something I knew I would have to do, she’d told me it was flat. When I got to her house, she was wearing jeans and a really cute Aerosmith t-shirt, I think. I may just be switching the shirts in my mind but now that I think about it, I’m almost sure of it! Anyway, for those of you that are mountain bikers, the red flag went up at the mention of "jeans!" Not common apparel for tearing up the trail! Anyway, she consented to changing into some athletic shorts, still very cute, I might add, and off we went. Not until after I asked her about her helmet, actually! She didn’t have one! I let her use mine and assured her that she had no reason to feel guilty if I died!
We got to the trail and she seemed a bit nervous still, although conversation flowed unusually well for a first date on the ride there! We readied ourselves and headed out to what the butterflies in my stomach told me would be our last date. I admit, I took the harder route on the trail because she had told me she used to ride the Green Valley Loop, a trail which I am familiar with. Being familiar with it and thinking it a reasonably challenging trail, I thought for sure she would be equal to the challenge! Which she was. At first. She made the first hill quite well and we talked a bit as me made our way to her favorite part, Death Valley, a little aside to the trail that adds a bit of fun to an otherwise tedious grind. (Uphill ride for quite a while.) While we were riding through there, she quickly made it apparent that this wasn’t the type of trail that she was used to, both vocally and through her riding! Yes, I realize she’s in the room! We kept up good conversation, though and continued to talk about things like our families, our shared love for comedies, and the holocaust. I threw that last one in there for fun, we didn’t really talk about that!
Anyway, she did the funniest thing at this part. She was struggling a bit and I had gotten ahead of her several feet so I stopped to make sure everything was fine. I hollered back, "you okay, back there?" To which she replied, "Ahoy, I’m a sailor!" It was the cutest/funniest thing she could have done at the time. I knew she was quoting a movie. At the time, I’ll admit, I didn’t know which one but I knew it was a movie, nonetheless.
We continued on and she made it clear that she thought I was some sort of mountain biking professional who may have mistaken her for a potential sponsor! That wasn’t the case, I don’t need a sponsor, I do it for the love! I’m not that good, I had to remind her of that constantly!
By now we had made it to the down-hill part and it was kind of getting late. Not quite dark but not far from it. We went through some trees and just after we came out, she got back on her bike, (there were a few areas in the trees where she preferred to walk it, like the bridges... and the dirt!) and followed me down the next hill, which she didn’t quite make! Yep, by now most of you have heard the story of the infamous "first date wreck!" This is when it happened! She had scraped her arm pretty good and apparently bruised her knee. There is a creek right along side the trail so we decided to get the dirt out of her fresh wound and some water born amoebas into it! That didn’t really happen, she never got sick, but we did rinse her arm in the creek. And, I might add, it was kind of cool that she let me help her.
Shortly after that we got talking about movie lines again so I said, "I’ve got one for you, here goes... ahem, ‘that’s not exactly how I saw it going in my head.’" Probably not an exact quote but a pretty fair representation. To which she replied, "I love Hitch, that was such a good movie!" I said with all certainty, "that’s kind of fitting for this date, wouldn’t you say?" To which we sat on the mountain side laughing for about fifteen minutes!
A few details I left out. Somewhere back in death valley we ran into two older gentlemen riding the opposite direction. Seems fitting, they must have been suffering from some sort of alz heimers or something. Anyway, the more talkative one mentioned something to the effect of how attractive Shannon is and then went on to say, "and I see at least one of you is smart enough to wear a helmet!" To which I just bit my tongue and waited for her to stick up for me and say something like, "well, actually..." But to no avail. She just agreed and off they rode! My jaw and my pride lying side by side in the dirt!
Another thing I forgot, and this one actually has a lot of significance to me, was when she was walking her bike and said, "Yeah, I’m not even trying to impress you anymore. I gave that up back there with the whole wrecking the bike thing!" It was just one of those things that normally you probably don’t want to hear but this time, for some reason, it just felt good to hear that at some point she was trying to impress me!
The date ended with dinner, I can’t remember where just now, give me a break, I didn’t do this when I should have so it’s three in the morning as I write! But the important thing is that when I dropped her off I knew then that I had met somebody worth getting to know. I couldn’t wait to see her again. And so it is today!

8 days later, we were engaged to be married.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Weekend at Bryce Canyon!

Surprise Birthday Party for my dad

Good Day/ Bad Day...

Our Angels

Things that Shannon loves...

MEET MOLLY & MAX

Forever Family

My Values

Inspirational quotes... or so they say... :)

Jared & Shani

Southern Texas Eggs

Blog Archive

About Us.

friends & family

My Shelfari Bookshelf

Jareds mustang (someday)

Jareds favorite basketball team

Larry Bird

Neil Diamond.

Meet Rainbow Dash

Meet thistle whistle!

Meet Minty

The Egglestons

Our show

How it "REALLY" happened (Jareds words on our first date)

With love,