ding-dong...

..."Travis! Wake up! The doorbell rang!" As I elbowed Travis in the chest to no avail, he began sleep talking. Well shoot, I thought to myself. There ain't no way I'm getting up to answer it! It's 1:30 in the morning. #perksofbeingmarried

So I lay there quietly, until a few minutes later, ding-dong! Travis finally heard it and got out of bed. He took the longest amount of time to throw some pants on and finally made it to the front door. What do you know, whoever it was had been gone by then. Seriously, how long does it take to throw sweats on?! He noticed it was someone on a motorcycle that took off right when he got to the door. So he waited to see if they came back down the hill. Our neighborhood only has one way in, one way out, and we are at the beginning of it. Well, it never came back down. To add to Trav's confusion, it was his birthday the night before, so he'd had a few birthday drinks. So, after waiting and no one coming back down, he came back to bed.

Of course we just lay there because I couldn't fall back asleep. Who could it be? This is weird. About 5 minutes later, ding-dong. Wow! Travis was still awake. And he had clothes on! So he makes it to the door. I lay there waiting for a gun shot or loud scream. #bestwifeever I hear another man's voice and Travis goes to the mudroom to put shoes on and goes outside. Uhhhh. I hop out of bed, go potty, throw my robe on, and quietly leave the bedroom. I then tiptoe around to the front door and peek out the window. I see lights from a car but can't see what car. So, I walk around to the guest room to creepily peek out of that window.

Two cop cars?! What is going on? In our nice, quiet, new neighborhood? At our house?

Then I hear Travis opening the garage. So I creep back to the mudroom and try to hear through the door. And no, I couldn't just go outside and find out what's going on. Where's the fun in that!? So I hear talking but I have no idea what they are saying. So I go back to the guest room and see one of the police-persons taking a photo of Trav's truck. Hmm. Are we in trouble? No comprende.

After what seems like a long time, Travis finally comes back in. "Someone broke into my truck!" Well, technically they just opened it because someone likes to leave doors unlocked. Apparently the mysterious motorcycle man was our neighbor who was on his way home from work and noticed the truck doors wide open. After we didn't answer the door, he went home and found his vehicle broken into as well and called the cops. All they took from the truck was a $2.00 bill and a new unopened package of speakers worth about $100 but thankfully nothing was broken, they didn't try to enter the house (the side garage door was open! *shudder*) and the speakers are easily replaceable. Turns out this is the second time this has happened to the neighbors.

Things like this make me wonder: Is the person that did this desperate for money, bored, or just likes to hurt/scare other people? Why are there people who take away from others for their own personal gain? I will just never understand.

Basically the point of this story was to remember that our neighbor's sombrero got stolen and to tell you guys *cough:Travis:cough* to lock your stuff up.  People suck. Oh, and Travis sells fancy camera thingies and yes, he is going to be installing one.

Double the Weekends, Double the Fun

Wow. Another weekend come and go. Actually, two of them. I had so much fun these past two weekends that I have to share both of them. They both, of course, involved numerous drinks and fun shenanigans.

The first weekend consisted of seeing Travis play with The Brown Eyed Cats. Pat, the lead singer/band manager, is one of our good friends and they like to play for fun. They play a lot of 60's inspired music, so the requirement was that any girl that wanted to come had to dress up as a go-go girl. Any excuse to get dressed up works for me! Their first gig of the year was at Pocatello's only local brewpub, Portneuf Valley Brewery. They have great food, wonderful beer & wine and always have fun live music. They also display local artists' work for display and sale.

I had fun making my hair big, wearing fake eyelashes and rocking a mini skirt. The best part?! I had my entire outfit on hand! I thought it was pretty cute that the grown men wanted their band outfit to match. I'm diggin' the v-necks, not gonna lie.

The band pre-gamin' it

Cutest musician I ever did see!

I'm not sure what that pose is called. Just look at Riley!

My pretty dates...and Adam aka professional photo-bomber

All the ladies holding the leading man...he's single, ladies! And awesome!

Blurry phone pic at the after-party. I have no words.

Of course I didn't get pictures of my husband and I. That would just be weird. Obviously the rest of the weekend was spent recovering. Too. Much. Fun. And So. Much. Dancing.

This weekend was a little different. Myself and five girlfriends made the trek to Island Park, Idaho for a weekend full of relaxation and adventure at one of the girl's cabin. It was very much needed. Drinking, eating, relaxing, snowshoeing and sledding all wrapped in one weekend.

How you chill wine in Idaho

Fondue Fixins

Stunning sunset!

Yes, that's my leg.

Holy pictures, batman. It really was such a fun weekend. The cabin was so cozy I could stay there all winter! Idaho sure is beautiful. Oh, and if you ever find your way to Island Park which is very close to West Yellowstone, this cabin can be rented. Contact me if you're interested and I'll let you know how to find it!

Grateful Goals

Whoa. So you're probably sick of hearing this, but Happy to the New Year! I love the excitement of a New Year. I'm not so much a fan of New Year's Resolutions, but I do love to take a step back and think about all of the things I'd like to accomplish and all the new memories that are going to be made.

One of the most exciting things is starting the year in our new home. This will be our first full year here and I'm so excited. We already started it off right with a New Year's party which included ping pong and watching drunk boys sled down our hill. No, there wasn't enough snow, but it was hilarious. And scary. Trav's bum is still bruised!

It's only January which means I still have some time to tackle my 26 in 26 list. Thank goodness because I'm not quite ready to think about turning twenty (gasp) seven in August. Yikes. I can't accomplish #4 without the approval of my husband though, so Trav, if you're reading, please please please oh pretty please!?

I do have some other goals that aren't on that list, which I am going to put here to maybe keep me accountable just a little bit.

     *The quote above is my priority. I need to be thankful for all the good in my life and stop wishing for more. My life is so full and I need to remember that.  

     *Blog more. This is a biggie. I started this so I could remember all of the awesome adventures we have and I've failed to blog so many of them. Don't be surprised if you read about things that happened 8 months ago. You might hear about Christmas around Valentine's Day. Or tomorrow. I'm more worried about keeping up with everyone else's blogs that mine gets pushed to the back burner.

    

     *Go back to school. I want to. I need to. I think I know what I want to be when I grow up. Now, I just have to make that leap.
   
     *Drink more wine. Done and done. I had to give myself a freebie. This red I'm drinking right now is pretty dang delicious.
   
     *Read more books. At least one per month would be ideal. I haven't turned on my Nook in I don't know how long. I find myself always trying to catch up on blogs but I need to turn the phone off and get lost in a good book. I have a long list of books I want to read. Maybe I'll even join in on a blogger's book club. Any recommendations of books or clubs??
   
     *Take more pictures. I always feel like I'm annoying someone if I have the camera out, but I need to quit worrying about it! Pictures equal memories equal happiness and I need to use my fancy new lenses I got for Christmas!

That's basically it. My goals for right now. Doable and exciting, me thinks. We have quite a list for our home goals, too, but that is another post for another day.

Image from here

We're Still Here & Traditions

Woo! We get to celebrate Christmas! And New Year's! And anything else! Clearly I'm glad the end of the World did not happen, and no, we did not stock up on goodies and prepare a bomb shelter just in case. I'm more of a "if the World's ending, so be it, just take me" kinda person. So, in celebration of being able to celebrate, I wanted to share some of our Christmas traditions we will be starting this year. Growing up, we didn't do anything super crazy besides spending time with all 4 sets of my Grandparents. Now that I'm old and married, Travis and I want to start some of our own traditions.

We cut down our own tree this year and I hope we continue to do this. It was so fun to spend some time in the mountains and find our wonky tree.

The first year Travis and I were dating, his family started the "Prather Amazing Race". His parents set up silly games for the 4 kids and their spouses and had prizes at the end. Think "Minute to Win It" type games. Puzzles, scavenger hunts, eating 'dog treats', getting ping pong balls into cups, and so on. It's been such a hit that this year will be the 4th year and it just gets better every year. All I have to say is Trav's siblings better get their game faces on because we mean biznass. This is one tradition I hope stays forever and I can't wait to carry it on with our kids someday.

 

This is our first Christmas in our new home and we will be spending Christmas Day there, just the two of us and Riley. We received some homemade Kahlua (hello yummy) from a friend so we plan on making White Russians. I'm hoping this can be a tradition we carry on. I also plan on washing down these cinnamon rolls with the creamy deliciousness. If all goes well and my kitchen makes it out alive, cinnamon rolls will be an annual thing, too. It's my first time making homemade ones. Pray for me.

Silly Christmas/and or Disney movies are also on the agenda. Did you see all the movies Netflix added?! Fox and the Hound, here we come. Oh, and I can't forget opening our presents from each other.

I would really like to start the 12 days of Christmas next year and have a fun advent calendar when we have kiddos.

These are just a few things we plan on starting this year and I can't wait to keep adding more to the list as time goes on and our little family grows. No matter what your traditions are, I hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends and all the little things that make Christmas special. I know that's the most important thing to us is spending time with our family and making memories.

Currently, I am…

Reading nothing! Unless you can count blogs. BUT! To redeem myself, I do have the book “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” by the one and only Bloggess and a large stack of magazines waiting for me. I hope to get to them someday soon.

Watching Gossip Girl on Netflix. Right this moment I’m on the second to last episode in Season 5. Chuck Bass’ dad has come back to life. I’d say I’m surprised but weirder things have happened. I will admit I’m pretty sad the last season is airing right now. I guess it is true what they say…all good things must come to an end. Trav and I are also trying to get through Nip/Tuck.

Thinking About all the things I need to accomplish this weekend! I’m pretty excited we get to have a weekend at home, no company, and a list of projects. Some fun, some not-so-fun. Fun = putting together furniture/decorating. Not fun = chores. However, I miss my nephew like crazy. We got to have him, my mom, brother and sister at our house all weekend. They live 6 hours away so I don’t get to be a spoiling Aunt often enough. He really was the Cutest Spud in Idaho all weekend long.

Loving peanut butter. This is nothing new. Oh, and Blogilates. If you’re looking for a new, fun way to workout at home, check her out. Girl means biznass.

Looking Forward To posting my recaps of The Dirty Dash and The Tough Mudder. Dash = fun, Mudder = holy crazy intense did I really just get shocked with 10,000 volts and jump in ice water fun.
Wondering how the heck I survived, but I’m sure not wondering if I’d ever do it again. Heck to the no probably not. However, I highly recommend doing it. I’ve never been more physically proud of myself.

Cooking/Baking yumminess! I made this pumpkin ravioli the other night and it was so good! Using won tons as pasta is genius. And delicious. And easy. I plan on baking some healthy-ish pumpkin cookies this weekend, too. I love pumpkin everything. Duh.
 
Disliking that it is already almost November. Put the Christmas lights away, people! Can’t we just enjoy this lovely fall weather and money in the bank for a little while longer!?

Making Me Happy – Having a home to welcome friends and family into, corn mazes, carving pumpkins and a handsome love to share every little adventure with. Even when he gets sick of pictures.



Wishing You a wonderful, happy, adventure-full day! If you have or decide to do a post like this, let me know! I’d love to read it!

**This post was inspired by Katie and then Steph. I’m sure you’ve heard of them but if not, you must check out their spunky blogs!**

Park City, UT {1st Anniversary Getaway}

For our first Anniversary trip, we wanted to have a little getaway, but not too far from home. Somewhere we’d never been, somewhere with mountains, and somewhere cheap(ish). Park City, being only 2.5 hours away, gorgeous, and in its off-season, was perfect. We rented a little condo for two nights and had a blast. A concert in Salt Lake, delicious meals, and a big kid’s dream, it was a perfect weekend. How about I show you in photos again…

…Except, the only time I had my camera out was on Sunday. Oops. I’ll just say the concert was fun. I made up my own song…

“Holy moly, teeny bopper, overload. Holy moly, we are, so, old.” Repeat.

Even though we were older than 3/4 of the crowd, it was a blast. Imagine Dragons is my new favorite band. Seriously, there were so awesome live. The rest of the line up included The Wombats, Group Love, The Used and Neon Trees. And there was beer. Beer + Live Music = Happy Prathers.

If you go to Park City, eat at The Eating Establishment. Mimosas and AMAZING eggs benedict. It doesn’t get much better than that. Okay. Sunday. Park City has what’s called the Alpine Coaster and Alpine Slide. It’s every little (and big) kids dream. I’ve always wanted to go for a ride (that’s what she said) on these babies. I figured they’d be silly, but holy moly, they were so. much. fun. Even Travis said he’d ride them again. Do it. Seriously. Oh, and I highly recommend Park City in the early fall. The leaves were changing but it was still 60 degrees, and the crowds are smaller. Perfection.

You control the speed on your sled thingies, and let me tell you, those things haul butt. One girl said she has seen someone go over the edge they were going so fast. So. Freaking. Fun. Technically we weren’t supposed to race, but Trav won. He had a head start though. Cheater.

Travis and I rode the coaster together. The kid said you go faster with two people, so really, we had to. You ride the coaster slowly up, and then haul down. You control the speed in this, too. I wanted to ride it again and again and again. Don’t even think about saying that’s what she said.

We stopped at the Tanger Outlets on our way out of town, which is in Park City, and left with nothing. Can you believe that?! If only I wasn’t such a cheap-skate. It’s worth a stop though. So. Many. Stores. And then we came home. But we like our house so it was okay. Plus, Riley missed us. I can’t wait to go back to Park City when the snow falls. It really is a beautiful, fun town. Now to go win the lottery so I can retire and buy a home there…