Who Ever Said High School Graduations Were Uneventful?

So last night Chandra graduated from Provo High. That's Brandon's little sister for those of you who don't know. It was quite the event. I guess she has a crazy principal who is on a power trip and he made up some of his own rules for graduation. One of those rules was no foghorns. Well we brought one anyway. Apparently it's a Salmon Family tradition, with the exception of poor Jordan. :(



There were a few people who timidly blew their horns for other graduates. But when Chandra's name was called, Brandon held that horn high in the air and really let it go. So this usher comes running up the stairs, so excited for some action that he tripped and dropped his radio, which went flying across the ground. So he proceeds to come over and tries to grab the foghorn from Brandon. They literally play tug-of-war with it for a few seconds and then continue arguing until the usher decided he need to call security because Brandon "wasn't cooperating." Security took their sweet time coming and while we waited, Brandon and Jason continued the verbal fight with this guy. It even got so far that he told Jason he wasn't making a good Mormon. Wow! I really don't think religion needed to be brought in to this.



So anyway, once the security guys got there, they reiterated that the ultimatum was that we give up the horn or leave. So Karen (Brandon's mom) decides she will take one for the team and she left, escorted by the two security guards. Why did we not snap any pictures when they were up right by us arguing, I don't know, but this is the best I've got. Notice the horn in Karen's right hand. :)

Everyone was cheering for her as she walked out and telling her how cool she was. I think pretty much every single person there at the graduation knew about it.

All in all, it was a fun night and we're glad we went. :)



PS. Jason and Brandon now have some plans in the works for Lincoln's graduation in three years. Stay tuned...

Our Tiny Garden

Brandon will probably totally make fun of me for posting this on our blog, but it's really been the most exciting things in our lives over the last week. Last Wednesday, just a week and a day ago, we started our little tiny garden and we have been having so much fun watching the progress.

Our tomato plants...

Then

Now


Our little cucumber seeds we sprouted on our own. I sort of remember learning about photosynthesis in Biology but it's still so amazing to me that you can stick a seed under some dirt, sprinkle it with water, and then it turns into these huge plant with stuff on it that you can eat!

Then

Now


Lisa, this one is for you. These are all the little wildflower seeds coming up. We might actually want some more by the way. When I told Brandon you asked me if I wanted more and I said no he was like "why did you say no? We should totally plant some more in the front."

We also realized that we have a little friend living in our backyard. On Sunday Brandon said "you'll never guess what I saw in our backyard today." So I guessed about a hundred different animals and critters but I didn't get it. Finally he said "a snake." Yikes! Yuck. I'm not scared of spiders or a lot of bugs but I really don't like snakes. It lives in our little jungle area by the water fountain. We saw it on Tuesday and Brandon sort of almost caught it but it got away. We're determined to find that snake, catch it, and help it find a new home...far away from our backyard. Here are some pictures of it's home.

Then

Now

I can't believe how green everything has gotten! Anyway, so this is what we've been up to lately...

My First Real 5k!!

So, on Monday night I ran in my first official 5k race! It was for Heritage school, where my friend Kristi's husband Ben works. It was really fun. There weren't a ton of people there which was nice. I ran it in 34 minutes!! Me and Kristi stuck together the whole time and it was really fun chatting with her as we ran. I was pretty well prepared for the race so it wasn't that hard for me. The next one I know I'm running in for sure is the Freedom Run on the 4th of July! Anyone that's interested (hint hint Lisa) is welcome to join me!

Happy Mother's Day

I have the best mom in the whole world and I had such a fun time surprising her on Sunday morning with breakfast for Mother's Day! Me and Kristen went to her house and brought stuff to make waffles. She had no clue. Way to go Dad on keeping it a secret for her!


There are a million reasons why I could tell you I love my mom. She is so kind and selfless. When we were little she was always the favorite aunt of all the cousins. She will do anything for anyone at the drop of a hat and is always so concerned with me and how I'm doing. I don't know what I'd do without her. She is such a great example to me and I have always felt so lucky to be her daughter. I love you Mom!!!

Here's 20+ years of love...with plenty more to come!

I Love my Vinyl!

So ever since we moved in to our new house I have been wanting to put up some vinyl lettering on the wall. I finally did it yesterday and I love it! We have some in our family room, bathroom, and bedroom. It adds so much to a room. My sister-in-law Tara did it for us. She's got a ton of cute fonts and she does custom, you can have anything you want! Her website is http://expressionsinvinyl.googlepages.com/.







We had a great weekend. I finally went running on the Provo River Trail and loved it! Me and Bran took a nice walk on it on Sunday as well. It's so awesome living right by it.


And here's a picture of us at Nielsen's Grove Park with all the pretty tulips. We are loving this warm weather!

Yep, I'm a Nerd

I'm a nerd, I have to admit it. But hey, what can you do?

110 words

Do I Deserve This?...Probably Not

So for weeks and weeks I have been wanting to get up early and go to the gym in the morning instead of going after work. But I'm too lazy and my bed feels too good to force myself to get up! Well today I finally did it. I woke up at about 5:40, went to the gym and worked out from like 6 till 6:45. So I get home at about 7 and the kitchen light is on. My first reaction was yikes, someone has been in my house. But I knew I locked the door. So I thought maybe Brandon had come down to get a drink or something but forgot to turn off the light. Turns out he was actually there in the kitchen. I was so shocked to see him awake at 7 a.m.!

So why was he downstairs in the kitchen so early? He got up to make me breakfast! How cute is that? He told me he had been planning it for weeks, but was just waiting till I finally got up and went to the gym. So we had an AMAZING breakfast this morning consisting of pancakes, eggs, and juice. It couldn't have been any better. It was so yummy! He is such a good cook and is so sweet to me. I love you Bran!

Mission Reunion

I went to my mission reunion on Friday night and had such a good time there! It was amazing to see President and Sister Biddulph and a ton of other people I knew (including Jocelyn, my old college roommate whose husband happened to have served in my mission...I had no clue). We had a great program, I was called on by surprise to say the closing prayer...and then asked to do it in Ilonggo, yeah, that was a bit scary. I don't feel like my Ilonggo is that great after being home for three years! We had some amazing banana splits and watched a video that Elder Hopkins put together of everyone's pictures. It was so cool! Here are some pictures of me and some of my very favorite people!!! I know Brandon (and probably a lot of you) is going to think this is way too many pictures but I just can't leave anyone out. These people mean a lot to me!

Elder and Sister Hopkins. I love love love these guys! They saved my life my first 6 months in the mission, helping me get our toilet to flush and a million other things.

President Biddulph - the best mission president in the whole world!!


Sister Biddulph - the best mission mom I could have ever imagined. She saved my life when I was in the hospital by bringing me "real food" every day!


Sister Oliver (now Alexis Sorenson) at the amazing banana split bar.

Beau McDonald.

Nelson Atagi.


Sister Krajewski (now Laura Lunt). So so so good to see you again!


Camile Kellogg. Thanks so much for riding up with me Camile and keeping me company! You're the best!!!


Elder and Sister Boyse. We had the most amazing couples in our mission!


Elder Hutchings. This guy blew us all out of the water with the language in the MTC!


Elder Merkley and Elder Hale. Kari-Lynn, Liz, and Alexis: All I can do is smile. Remember Bago?

Totally wasn't expecting Jocelyn to be there!!

Elder Bowman.


Kimberly Sechser.


Elder and Sister Mounteer. These guys had to take over being mission president when President Biddulph had to go home early unexpectedly. Can you imagine?!!!

Well sorry to anyone who thought this was a boring post but going to my mission reunion was honestly one of the most exciting things I've been able to do in a long time...besides Florida. ;)

Trip of a Lifetime - Marco Island, Florida

Well, Shannon beat me to the post but what can you expect when I work and she gets to stay at home? :) So anyway, we just got back from the best trip ever! Brandon and Jason's Insurance Agency qualified to go to MetLife's Annual Leadership Conference this year. We are so proud of them for working so hard. It was such a fun trip. MetLife took care of us SO well. They paid for us to go on fun excursions and to have AMAZING food for every meal.

We were sad that we had to miss out on the first night's dinner because of a delayed flight. Customer service is apparently no longer in existence with the airlines. If you can see on the clock in this picture, we barely got to check in at the hotel at 1:00 a.m. on Sunday instead of 6:00 p.m. Bummer. :(

The next morning though, when we woke up and realized we had come from this:

To this:

We weren't so sad anymore. :)

So....from amazing food,

To amazing sunsets,

To lots of fun,

(On a boat ride where we saw lots of dolphins)

(Heading out on our jet ski tour where we saw even MORE dolphins)

We seriously had the trip of a lifetime!