Roo...

She's Alive!!!

2009-11-03T13:31:00.003-07:00

Oh, so sorry! I have been so horrible at blogging for the last few months and I'm afraid I don't think it's going to get better! Here's a super quick update...This isn't very entertaining, but at least it's something!

I am still working for the same company that I started with last December. I really like the job, but it's super busy...like ALL the time! I guess that's good though...job security, right? I have recently taken on quite a few additional responsibilities and sometimes I feel like there isn't enough time in the day.

I haven't really had much time to travel, but I do what I can! I went to Vegas in September to see the Body Worlds Exhibit...way cool and totally worth it! We had a blast too! Mom, Sarah, and I got to go to Boston to visit Leah at the beginning of October. We had so much fun! We drove up to Maine, spent some time on Cape Cod, went to Martha's Vineyard, and just had a relaxing time.

I have been doing some home shows selling my caramel apples and pretzels. I always have fun doing things like that so I take the opportunity to do it whenever I can. I just got an order for a lady that wants to do the apples as a favor to hand out at her wedding...pretty cool!

I just moved to Layton this past weekend. I was living in Murray in a townhouse with a few girls. Well, we had a few roommate situations that just made it obvious that it was time to part ways. So, after that whole thing with the girl that was stealing our food (see previous post), we got this girl in our place. We all got along with her, so we thought it would be a great situation...and it was for a little while. Well, one girl left and didn't hold up her end of the deal that we made...that she would find a replacement if she moved out. She was moving to a new place with more room--which I don't blame her for that at all 'cause I'd move too--but she never found a replacement so we were out that rent. Anyway, from that situation on it just seemed like we couldn't recover and find people to live there and make it work. We decided to all go our separate ways, so now I'm in Layton.

So far, I love the area. I am close to everything...and my commute is only like five minutes longer, so that's a plus. We'll see how it all goes! Sorry for such a boring update! Things have just been so crazy so it's hard to stay up on things! I will try to be better, I promise.

Girl's Trip

2009-05-04T15:16:00.002-06:00

Camille and I heading on our way

Camille and I love to get away sometimes, doesn't everyone? Well, we had been talking about going somewhere in May but couldn't make a decision because of a few things that were going on. Anyway, on Wednesday, we were talking and decided we should head to St. George for the weekend...that weekend. It was a quick decision so we didn't have to wait forever, which was awesome.

We totally took it easy and it was the perfect trip! I got off early on Friday and we headed down there. Once there, we checked into our hotel.

First things first...gotta test out the beds...Camille took it upon herself to do so...

These were actually the most comfortable beds I have ever had in a hotel. They were awesome!

Then we headed out for some dinner. After eating at Pizza Factory, we were waiting for our movie to start so we went over to this new frozen yogurt shop called Spoon Me. We thought, hey, why not give it a shot. Worst ever! It was a great idea...everything was all natural and they had a bunch of different types of fruit or cereals (weird) for toppings. We got our yogurt and sat down to enjoy...not. It was horrible! Ok, maybe not horrible, but it definitely wasn't good enough to waste the calories on.

Looks good, right? Don't be fooled!!!

After our 'Spoon Me' experience we went and saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past which was pretty funny! My favorite was the read headed ghost...too funny!

On Saturday, we went and got pedicures...

Had In-n-out for lunch (yummy)
Did a little shopping, went to Tuacahn

Had a little time for putting the feet in the hot tub, then went and saw

He's Just Not That Into You which was also pretty funny.

Not quite sure what was going on here, but I obviously thought it was hilarious...I know, not the most attractive pic, but who cares, right?

On Sunday, we headed home.

This was in Beaver (obviously) on the giant rocking chair. I've seen it so many times since I've been going to St. George at least once a year for about 20 years, but I don't know if I've actually ever gotten a picture of it...hmm, funny.

It was definitely a short trip, but it was so needed and way fun! Thanks, Camille!

Easter

2009-04-18T21:46:00.001-06:00

We went to Adam & Janae's house for Easter. We all had a fun day hanging out and watching the kids hunt for eggs. Here are some pics from that day...

Isaac

Aaron & David

Jonathan

Me and the cake I made for the occasion.

Mom & Benjamin

Caleb & Aaron

Lilah & Ruby

Lilah

One Fine Day...

2009-04-17T20:22:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had one of those days where NOTHING is going your way? Today was definitely one of those days...

It started at about 5:00 a.m. I headed to the gym and worked out for a while. I was feeling good and just knew it would be a great day. I mean, it's Friday, how could it not be great? I stopped in at Maverik to get a diet coke...and they were out! Are you kidding me? I should have known then that everything was about to go down hill.

I got to work and things were going fine. Because this is a slow time of year, we were planning on closing early AND work was buying us lunch, sweet right? Well, I was chosen to get everyone's orders and pick up lunch this time...so everyone decided to get Grinders. I got a turkey and avocado sandwich. I was super excited because it sounded so good! Well, it was made with like the cheapest deli turkey available (like a turkey roll or something) so it was really slimy. Sick. Then the avocado had this nasty taste like it had turned brown and gone bad so they just mixed it with new avocado to make it green again. Needless to say, I didn't eat it. So, now, I've had ZERO diet coke and no lunch...and that was probably the best part of my day.

We got off early (at about 2:00) so I began to head home. I realized (luckily before I got on the freeway) that I was about out of gas. No problem, I'll just swing by Maverik, get gas and be on my way. I pull up to the gas pump, get out and go around to run my card. I run my card and go to open the little gas door, but I had forgotten to pop it. No biggie, I run around to the driver's door and pull on the handle to get in and pop the little button. The door doesn't open. I pull again. Nothing. And again. Nothing. Apparently I didn't get it the first time and thought "oh, maybe I just need to pull harder." Nope. Keys in the car. I locked the door. I guess I had put my keys in the middle console, locked the door and gotten out. What?!?! I think I've locked my keys in my car only twice in my life and both times were in the last month!

I go around to the gas pump and cancel the sale. Luckily, I had my cell phone and my debit card, but that was it. I headed inside and called my roommate, Michelle. She was home...thank goodness! And since I had recently locked my keys in my car, I knew exactly where the spare was. She was going to bring it to me, awesome!

Now I definitely needed a diet coke! They had some now, so I was relieved. Well, since I've been through this tramatic experience, I deserved a cookie too, right? Yeah, I thought so too. I've been trying to not eat sugar lately so this was going to be quite the treat...I admit I was excited to eat it. I go up and pay for the cookie and the diet coke. I ask the clerk to get cash back (I wanted to give Michelle some gas money or something) and the clerk looked at me like I asked her to give me her own money or something...I guess getting change out of the drawer is taxing. She hands me my $10 and my receipt. I take the money, receipt and the cookie in one hand and my diet coke in the other. I turn to walk away and what happens??? As I turn, my cookie flies out of the package and onto the floor. I was already frustrated, but amused at the same time because I mean, really is all this happening? I look at the checker (secretly thinking...she has to offer me another cookie, right? I dropped it while I was still at the checkout) and I think I actually growled, "My freaking cookie just fell on the nasty floor! Ugh." The checker looked at me like I was crazy and there was no way she'd offer anything! Especially after I made her give me change. I thought, "Okay, fine, I don't need the cookie anyway." I walk outside to wait for Michelle. There was a garbage can right by the door outside, so I chuck my cookie and the receipt in the garbage.

I wait outside, just playing on my phone, making the time pass by. Michelle pulls up to save the day! She hands me my key and as I'm expressing my thanks, I reach to my pocket to give her some gas money. She stops me and says, "No, no, no, I'm sure you'll bail me out sometime. Don't worry about it." I think, "oh, that's so nice!" By then my hands are already in my pocket and I realize the money I took out isn't in my pocket! What? That's TEN dollars! I stop to think where in the world could it have gone, then I remember that I had thrown away my stupid cookie! Oh no! I go to the garbage can, which is one of these kinds...

Keep in mind that I did not know that the front opened like that...So I'm wearing this cute, new WHITE shirt and I have to dig through the garbage! What? I stick my arm in through the opening that you see there. Fortunately, the garbage wasn't very full, but that was unfortunate as well because that means I have to reach further in. I'm feeling (eeewww) around to try to find my money that I wasn't positive was in there. Finally I get a glimpse of it! Hallelujah! The problem was that I couldn't reach it. I reached my arm in as far as I could (I'm into it up to my shoulder by now) and I had to grab the bag and start cinching it up one handful at a time. As I'm in the middle of this, some guy walks by and attempts to encourage me, "Keep trying, you'll eventually find what your looking for!" Finally, I have it in my hand! All of that for a ten dollar bill! I go back over to Michelle's car to let her know I found it and she points out my shirt to me...my NEW WHITE shirt. I look down and my entire sleave was covered with black smudges and dirt...gross! I also got a nasty bruise on my arm from the garbage can.

Anyway, that was my awesome Friday! Luckily the day didn't get any worse but I thought I needed to treat myself to something great because of my traumatic experience, so I rewarded myself by going tanning, which completely relaxes me. Hopefully I won't have one of those days ever again!

Piano Recital

2009-04-10T19:59:00.000-06:00

Janae sent me an email telling me about a piano recital that Caleb and Isaac were going to be doing. It was held at the Piano Gallery in Sandy. It was so cute! Good job guys!

Ruby sat on my lap for the duration, so I got a cute pic of her...

Isaac played a few songs and did an AWESOME job! How cute is he?!?!
It was Caleb's turn...He played a couple also and did AWESOME also! How handsome is he?!?! (I can't call him cute anymore, I guess he's too old for that!)

They both got certificates for their awesomeness...

Monkeyin' Around

2009-04-06T18:56:00.000-06:00

I hadn't seen my mom forever, so I decided to go over and visit for a little while. David, Melody, Gavin, and Lilah came over to visit for a little while also, which was great. I was teasing the kids and taking pictures and David decided to join in...This is my family and I love them for it!!!

Gotta Love Having Roommates

2009-04-06T17:36:00.000-06:00

Prepare for a long post...don't feel obligated to read! This is one of those "for journal purposes" posts...

All good stories come to an end and thankfully this one ended sooner rather than later. It all started one beautiful November day...

We had a Thanksgiving dinner with my family and one of the best things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers, right? Well, I brought home some rolls to enjoy at a later time. I came home a couple of days after and went to eat a couple of rolls for dinner...and they were half gone! I know this doesn't sound like a huge deal...and it really wasn't but it was just a little annoying. I tell one of my roommates and she says, "Hmm. That's weird because someone has been getting into my dried fruit mix...and leaving it open." Okay, still annoying. We had a family baking party and we all got to take home a bunch of treats to pass out to neighbors. We had the baking party on a Saturday...I came home on Monday after work and guess what?!?! More than HALF of the goodies were gone! Later, this person told us she was lactose intolerant and doesn't like chocolate at all. Yeah...milk was missing, Michelle had some chocolate cookies missing, granola was missing, chips were missing...Now it's more annoying, I mean, who eats someone else's food?

The last straw you ask? So, I was getting ready to go play volleyball on a wonderful February evening. I get home at about 5:30, so luckily I had made a few meals on Sunday to last me the week. I got into the fridge to grab my chicken that I had made. Guess what? It was cut in half and gone! Who eats someone's leftovers?!?! I didn't know who had gotten into it (although I had a pretty good idea) so I grabbed my other meal and guess what? It was half gone too! What the???

I was furious and super bugged, so I decided to confront the culprit. I got home from volleyball and asked her to come downstairs. My roomie, Michelle, and I sat down and waited for her to join us. Her boyfriend was there as well, so he came down too. I started by saying "first off, this probably won't be a pleasant conversation." She looked at me like "Crap, I'm caught." I continued to ask her if she has been eating our food. Of course she denied it. Her boyfriend got kind of upset and said to stop blaming her. There was absolutely no one else that could have been doing it, so I told her that. The response? "Someone must be coming in in the middle of the day and eating your food." Um, yeah. I'm sure someone is coming in and eating our food, but leaving the TV, the computers, etc...She then proceeded to say, "This may make me sound guilty, but none of my food is missing." No kidding! It's because you're eating all of ours!!!

Anyway, it ended with the suggestion that we get a camera installed so we can catch the person that is sneaking in our house and eating our food.

The saga continues...

The stealing of food continued and then little things around the house started going missing...like little stupid things...like kitchen magnets (mind you, they are super cute magnets!). Our other roommate started noticing her things missing. We now had three of four of us with stuff missing and one person that never had anything gone...let's think about this for a sec...

We, as a group, decided that she needed to leave. That's an awkward conversation to have, but it had to be done! Michelle and I were discussing how we were going to bring it up and right at that moment the girl came down. I asked her if she had a minute to talk, she said sure, and sat down. I told her that we think she needs to move out and it's better if it's done sooner rather than later. I felt bad, but you know, sometimes it just has to be done! It all worked out alright, she decided to move back home and was actually happy about the situation once we were done with the conversation.

Funny thing, once she moved out, (it's been 1 1/2 months) not one thing has gone missing! It's nice to know that because it just verified everything that we were seeing. Anyway, not that you want to read the whole story, but I wanted to at least have it written somewhere so I remember this awesome story!

Becca Needs

2009-04-04T21:38:00.002-06:00

I saw this on Jennie's blog, and I thought it was kinda funny, so I thought that I'd participate...The rules are: type your name (Jennie) "needs" in google search & put the first 10 things that pop up. Let's see how random they are...

1. Becca needs to learn to move on...(hmm...)
2. Becca needs some mom time...(kinda tricky if I'm not a mom! or maybe I need time with my mom.)
3. Becca needs a boyfriend...(no kidding!)
4. Becca needs a man...(ok, I get it!)
5. Becca needs to find the sum of 34, 108, and 46...(ever heard of a calculator? btw, it's 188 in case you were wondering!)
6. Becca needs some CCS support...(what's that?)
7. Becca needs a new home...(workin' on it!)
8. Becca needs a vacation...(AMEN!)
9. Becca needs a little prayer...(I'll take all I can get!)
10. Becca needs a break...(would a vacation count?)

Now, I know I'm only supposed to ten, but I saw the 11th one and couldn't help it...

11. Becca needs to turn herself into the psych ward...(hmm...)

Too funny!!!

The Glass Castle

2009-03-25T21:17:00.004-06:00

Book club time again! This month we read The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls. The book was basically about this girl, Jeannette, and the hardships she went through in life. They lived in this shack in West Virginia for the majority of their childhood and had to pretty much fend for themselves...scavenging food in the garbage, working to support their parent's and siblings, etc. Throughout the book I was appalled at times at how the parents could treat their children. There was one time when the kids had been literally starving, like skin and bones, and the mom was sneakily eating a chocolate bar under the covers and had been gaining weight for a while! Holy cow, what a wench!! Anyway the story was pretty depressing, but still worth reading! That's convincing, right? But really...worth the read.
It was held at my house this month and we all had a super fun time! It's so fun just to hang out for a while and chat. We took lots of fun pictures and we even talked about the book for a few minutes! We didn't get everyone in a picture, but those in attendance were: me, Steph, Shelby, McKayle, Carla, Liz, Brooke, and Keelee. Thanks everyone for coming to my house!!

I think this is my fave! Keelee, you look HOT!

Dinner with the Girls

2009-03-22T00:18:00.003-06:00

We finally got to get together with Angela (and her baby) again...It's been so long!!! We had a good time at Training Table hanging out and chit-chatting...

AVP

2009-03-22T00:10:00.004-06:00

Jenny got me some tickets to the AVP Volleyball tour for my birthday. The event was on Valentine's day at the E-Center. Michelle and I went and met up with Janelle and Bryson there. If you don't know about the AVP, it's a beach volleyball tour with some amazing people! Some of the olympic players were there and it was so fun to watch! We loved it! I know this picture quality sucks, but it's all I got! This is Jake Gibb...and some chick.

Arches

2009-03-21T23:51:00.005-06:00

So, I've lived in Utah for 19 1/2 years and guess what? I have never been to Arches! Or Moab for that matter. Since we were in Moab anyway, I decided that I wanted to at least drive through Arches. We were super sore, so we didn't want to hike but I think we got to see a lot of cool stuff.

This was just some random dog in a hoodie that we saw on the way home. Too funny!

Volleyball Rocks!

2009-03-21T23:09:00.004-06:00

My volleyball team and I went to Moab for a tournament. We have wanted to do it forever, but it's just never quite worked out until this year. Camille's team goes every year, so we decided to head down together. We got on the road on Friday afternoon and arrived at around 4:00 that afternoon.

Amy & Me

Stacy & Michelle

We started playing pool play Friday night at about 7:00 p.m. Our last game Friday night was at about 10:30 p.m. and we played on Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. Pool play went until about 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.

During one of our games on Saturday, Kim went up to hit a ball and the girl that was blocking on the other side landed under the net. Well, as Kim came down from the hit, she landed on the girl that came under the net and rolled her ankle. The other girl didn't even apologize! Can you believe it? What a jerk! She was probably just mad that we CREAMED her team. Anyway, Kim was really hurt and had to have her ankle taped. I felt so bad but she still played really well.

After the pool play, they took a little while to put everyone in brackets. There were A, B, and C brackets. We did really well in the pool play and ended up in the A bracket! Yea us! Camille's team also got in the A bracket. We didn't get to play eachother, but at least we got to hang out during down time. We ended somewhere in the bottom half of the A bracket. Not too shabby!

Camille's team: Box, Camille, Janalee, and Kate (hitting)

Camille

Kate & Camille

Our team: Kim, Me, Katie, Stacy, Michelle, Amy

Michelle, Amy, Me, Kim

Amy & Stacy Stacy, Michelle, MeKatie, Steve, Kim, & Bryan

Vegas, Baby!

2009-03-21T22:20:00.004-06:00

McKayle announced at the spur of the moment that she was getting married in Vegas, so of course we headed down there for it. I drove down with Kenny, Steph, and Kira. We had an awesome time!

On Friday night, we ate some In 'n Out, because it's definitely a must-do in Vegas! Then we went out on the town...we headed over to meet up with Brian and McKayle at the MGM then went to the New York, New York to go on the roller coaster...which is AWESOME! It made me a little dizzy tho.
The wedding was on Saturday at a cute place called the Chapel of Flowers. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so all you get is the outside! I wish I would have gotten more pictures of everyone there, but I didn't so oh well!
After the wedding, we went over to the Flamingo to their garden area to take some more pictures then off to the buffet at the Rio, which was HUGE! We headed back to the hotel and hung out in the casino for a while. I did alright out there, I ended up winning enough so the trip only costed me $10! Granted, I didn't have to pay gas and my portion of the hotel was small, but it was still pretty awesome! Thanks for letting me tag along! And Congratulations McKayle and Brian!!!

New Job!!!

2009-03-15T17:15:00.000-06:00

I recently finished school and knew that once that was done, I'd be looking for a new job. I worked for my family before and it was a really good run. I enjoyed it and it was perfect for the time I was there (9 1/2 years).

Everything ended up working out perfect. I interviewed at a couple of places, but they just didn't feel quite right. I went in on December 2 to this company and got offered the job on the spot. I started on December 4!

It was kind of funny...the first thing the president of the company said to me was, "First of all, do you get offended easily?" Hmmm....do you know me? I said, "Um, ususally I'm the one doing the offending..." I knew at that point that it was probably the job for me! The rest of the interview went pretty well, so it was good news when he said, "Can you start today?"

I am now the HR/Payroll Manager at an HVAC company. The job is right up my alley. I think the hardest part is to get used to having to be at the office all day! Not that I wasn't at my old job, but I had a little more freedom! Anyway, I love the job and I love learning things about a business that is sooo different than the one I came from.

Christmas

2008-12-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

So, as you've noticed, I haven't been up on my blogging lately. Well, usually I take lots of pictures so I remember what I did...(I'm gettin' old). I didn't take any pictures this Christmas. I can't believe it! I kind of remember some of what we did, so here goes...
Leah was going to come out for Christmas, but a couple of days before she was shoveling and threw her back out. We were totally bummed!
We had a pretty low-key day. Adam, Janae & their kids were out of town as were David, Melody & their kids. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and program at mom's house. We also exchanged gifts that night.
On Christmas Day, I headed over to mom's at about noon. Some of the family came over sporadically throughout the day.
That night, we went to Dad's house and headed up to Bountiful to take dinner to the grandparents.
All in all, it was a nice day. Merry Christmas to all!

Present Exchange

2008-12-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

So, I love socks. Any type of decorative socks. Long, short, ankle, crew, striped, argyle, polka dot, checkered, solid. You name it, I like it. So, this year, Steph got me a sock bouquet! Is that the cutest idea ever? I thought it was! I got her a Scentsy candle, which was super cute, but not nearly as creative!

Me & Kira with her new counting turtle

Kira helping Steph open her present

Christmas Baking

2008-12-16T12:06:00.001-07:00

We have started a tradition to have a Girl's Christmas Goodie Baking Day. This year, we went to Jonathan & Ali's house. We made tons of stuff from chocolate dipped everything (candy canes, oreos, pretzels...), shortbread, chocolate crinkles, saltine toffee, english toffee, peppermint brownies, peanut butter balls, and more...I wish I had more pics from our fun day, but here's what I have...I didn't get any of Jenn or Melody & Lilah. :(

Ali, Val (Ali's Mom), Lona (Jenn's mother-in-law) in the background

Momma

Sarah & Janae

Ruby & I dipping away... Me & Sarah making Chocolate Crinkles Me, Sarah, & Ali

Baby Benjamin

Ruby Lou

Chris and Rachel Get Married

2008-12-16T11:31:00.003-07:00

My step-brother Chris got remarried on 12-5. The wedding was small and quaint and turned out really nice. Favorite quote about the wedding: [regarding the wedding kiss] "Becca, do you remember when Chris was chewing on Rachel's tounge when they got married?" Ha! Priceless!

Here are a few pics of some of the cute guests...

Isaac, Gavin, Aaron

Caleb & Jenn

Book Club

2008-12-15T22:28:00.001-07:00

I'm a little behind in writing about our book club...We had a get-together at Brooke's BEAUTIFUL home in November. Our book for that time was The Thirteenth Tale. I had heard from a lot of people that it was such a good book, so naturally I was excited to read it. It was alright. It kind of took a while to get into, but it ended up being interesting.

In December, we had a meeting at Shelby's house, which is so cute! We had a yummy dinenr that her husband cooked for us. We missed a few people from our group, but we had fun anyway. Our book for December was Skipping Christmas. If you're looking for just a cute little story about Christmastime, read this...or just watch the movie Christmas with the Kranks. This book is about this family that has a daughter that joined the peace corp and was going to be in Peru for the holidays. Her parents decided to skip Christmas and go on a cruise instead. The story is just about their difficulties with the community when they make this decision. Steph and I had already left by the time the pic was taken...

Congratulations, Jenny & Alan

2008-12-11T21:20:00.005-07:00

Jenny and Alan got married during Thanksgiving, so we got to celebrate with them. We went to The Wight House for a wedding dinner which was really nice. There were a few highlights including the raunchy server, the raspberry butter voice, and the "Wal-Mart worker" advocates. Oh yeah, and you should probably take note of who the grooms parents are. Anyway, fun was had by all! So, Michelle's eyes are closed, but this is the only picture I had of that night...

The wedding was the next day, so here are a few pics from that...

Waitin' in line to see the couple...

A little dancin'

Da girls. Steph, Michelle, Kira, Jenny, Me, KarenAnd last, but definately not least...This is what you get when you leave your veil and flowers just hanging around with a certain person...

Chocolate Pecan Pie

2008-12-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

I had a special request to post my chocolate pecan recipe. I should probably give credit where due, so I actually got the recipe from my mom via Karo Syrup. That's the best recipe for pecan pie we've had...it's on the back of the bottle. We just add some chocolate 'cause that makes everything better, right!?!? Here goes...

1 cup Karo Light Corn Syrup
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extra
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 unbaked 9-inch deep dish pie crust

Stir the first 6 ingredients thoroughly using a spoon. Mix in pecans.
Pour into pie crust.
Bake at 350 degrees on center rack of oven for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool for 2 hours.

Tips: Pie is done when center reaches 200 degrees. Tap center surface of pie lightly; it should spring back when done. For easy cleanup, spray pie pan with cooking spray. If pie crust is over-browning , cover edges with foil.
For ease, the frozen pie crusts work great.

Hope you love it as much as we do!!!

How do you like them apples?

2008-12-01T23:10:00.005-07:00

It's that time of year!!! Yep, gift show time which means buckets of apples...

Come check out the gift show. Here are the details:
Here are just a few stages of the yummy treats that I have in the show...

Thanksgiving!!!

2008-11-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

On Thanksgiving Day, we went to Adam and Janae's. It was such a beautiful set up! Janae used all of her beautiful china and even had some for the kids!

Check it out! Name tags and everything! Beautiful!

Even a super cute centerpiece!

I got to make pies this year seven in all... I thought they turned out awesome, so I just had to share! :)

Chocolate Cream & Banana Cream

Chocolate Pecan

AppleAs we began to eat, Janae tells us that the bottom plastic plates are just chargers, so don't eat on them. Jonathan just thought that he'd use the biggest plate. Yeah, good job Jonathan!After dinner, Sarah played with the kids. She came up with this costume...Nice!Caleb and Janae ran a 5K in the morning. Their ward sponsored it and had tons of shirts left over. So naturally, we all got one!
Since there were so many shirts, the kids decided to wear ALL of them! I think they all had like 25 shirts on each!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2008-11-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

So, we got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year! We had a family dinner with my mom on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We went out to Sarah & Matt's house out in BFE. It was super fun to hang out with the fam and eat lots of stuff. Here are a couple of pictures from that day...For some reason, I didn't take pictures of everyone, but this is what I came out with albeit a little random!
Lilah was so cute playing with the dogs. If I counted correctly, they have THIRTEEN dogs right now. There are four that they always have and there were nine babies! This pic is of two of the babies (one of which, Kronk, that can climb and jump over the gate!) and Abbie is the big one that's cut off in the pic.

Just randomness...Adam and Janae...oh and David had to get in too.
Jonathan & Ali being goofy.

Twilight Opening

2008-11-21T23:32:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, Liz, knew this girl that rented out an entire theater for the opening night of Twilight. Sarah, Matt, Jenn, Michelle, Jenny, Alice, and I all got tickets to attend. The girl that rented the theater ended up making a ton of gift bags for everyone as they got there...way too much work if you ask me...but we all enjoyed it! The little bags had vampire teeth, a Cullen necklace, and blood suckers (they were really regular suckers with a blood type on them...clever). Along with the gift bags, there were tons of prizes that they drew names for, so that was cool too.

The movie was awesome! I know that some people were disappointed because of lack of character development, there were things left out, and cheesiness. I have to say though, if you read the book, you don't need tons of character development, so I thought there was enough. Hello people, how are you going to have a movie from a book and fit EVERY little thing in it? There just isn't enough time. Also, the cheesiness? Um, it's a VAMPIRE movie. Nuf said.

I absolutely loved it, so maybe I'm a nerd. I don't really care though because I have now seen it twice and I'll probably continue to see it.

I really thought I'd be annoyed by the guy that played Edward, but he grew on me and he was great!

Anyway, I totally recommend it!

Into The Woods...

2008-11-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

About a year ago or so, my old roommate, Jenny gave me a gift card to Hale Center Theater. I finally got around to using it. It took a while, but it was worth it! Sarah, Michelle, and I saw Into The Woods, which I had never seen and didn't really know what it was going to be about. It had all kinds of fairytale characters and it was kind of about a quest that a baker and his wife went on in the woods. Pretty entertaining. A friend of mine played Cinderella's Mother and Sleeping Beauty, so it was fun to see her in it and she did an awesome job! The guy that played Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk ended up being played by a friend of Michelle's so that was a fun surprise.

Anyway, the play was really good and we had a fun girls night out!

Happy Birthday, Michelle!!!

2008-11-16T21:49:00.005-07:00

Monday is Michelle's (my roommate) birthday. We went out to celebrate at Iggy's on Saturday. Happy birthday, Michelle! Here are some pics from Saturday...

Michelle and her bday treat

Kim, Todd, Curt, Camille

Camille, Box, Me

Michelle, Katie, Steve

New Hair!!!

2008-11-14T22:36:00.003-07:00

So, I got my hair done this morning and I LOVE IT!!!! It's totally different from what I've EVER had!

Before...(taken on 11/8 - me bday)

After...(taken today!)

Hangin' out.

2008-11-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Steph, Angela, and I went out to lunch this afternoon. We celebrated Angela's birthday which is tomorrow. We all had a lot of fun, as always!!! Hey, Ang...Happy Birthday! I still think we should've had them sing to you!

Jenny's Shower

2008-11-13T22:20:00.003-07:00

We threw a lingerie bridal shower for Jenny tonight. We all had a lot of fun and completely embarassed Jenny!!! Congrats, Lady!
We played a question game and for any answers that Jenny gave that didn't match Alan's, she had to eat a piece of gum (bubble yum, of course). The funny thing was that Jenny HATES gum! Here is a pic of her eating it but she's gagging at the same time...I decided not to put the pictures of the actual gifts, but there were some pretty fun things. This is her opening one of the gifts...
We didn't get very many pictures of the people that came, so these will have to suffice. Thanks for coming everyone! We had a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday, Ruby!

2008-11-12T21:54:00.001-07:00

Today was Ruby's birthday! I went to Adam and Janae's house and got to spend Ruby's birthday with them. Mom and Mike came over to bring Ruby her gift...Lots of Tinkerbell stuff...super cute. We had dinner and then some cake and ice cream. She got some cute gifts and had a great birthday. Isn't she the cuteset?!?! Happy Birthday, Ruby!!! Love you!!!

The Birthday Continues...

2008-11-11T23:00:00.006-07:00

First of all, thank you so much for all the birthday wishes!!! Second, there were a few comments asking how the pumpkin pecan cheesecake was. It was awesome!!! I think they have it until Thanksgiving, so hurry and go get some, it's totally worth the calories!!!

So, on Saturday, my actual birthday, I decided to sleep in as long as possible. I went to bed the night before at like two o'clock the night before. So, that should mean I would sleep until at least ten and maybe even 11. Yeah right! I was wide awake at 8:30. Lame!!! Anyway, I met Stephanie and Michelle (aka Bailey) at Bajio for lunch and then headed out for a shopping spree. Steph just got a new job (congrats, by the way!) and I'm looking for a new job so of course we needed new clothes! We spent way too much money, but got some fun things. It's a good thing we don't work together because we got almost all the same stuff.

Later that evening, I went to dinner at Paradise Bakery (yummy!) with my roomies and a couple others. Here are some pics from that night.
Thanks everyone for a great birthday!!!

Steph & Karen

Jenny and her fiance, Alan (hey, only two and a half more weeks guys!)

Michelle & I

Me, Kira, & Steph

Happy Birthday, Me!

2008-11-07T23:29:00.009-07:00

Camille and I usually take each other out to lunch or dinner for our birthdays. (Mine is on the eighth) So, this year we continued the tradition. We headed to The Cheesecake Factory and had an awesome dinner and of course, some cheesecake. YUMMY!!! Of course, she had to tell our server that it was my birthday. I hate when they sing to me, but Camille said she loves to see me all uncomfortable. After dinner, we went and saw the movie Forever Strong. It was a really good movie. It's one of those 'feel good' movies about a messed up kid that gets involved in a sports team and realizes the error of his ways. I guess Camille's friend's husband was the director so we showed our support! We both really liked it and definately recommend it!

Camille and I sharing some Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

Me and our server

Camille loves Cheesecake!

My birthday sundae AND cheesecake?!?!?

Fun Day

2008-10-25T23:40:00.009-06:00

Today was a fun and busy day! Stephanie and Kenny asked me to take some pictures for their family, so happily obliged. We went to Wheeler Farm and had a fun little walk around. After taking pictures, we went to The Cheesecake Factory...YUM! Later, Steph and I went to my ward party which was a chili cook-off. There was a talent show put on by the primary which was super cute! After that, we headed to her friend's wedding reception. We had a busy but fun day! Here are some of the cute pics we took...

Yes, I know this is random, but I thought it'd be a good pic. Pretty cool, I think!

And random, again!

A fun collage of their fam...we got some great shots!

Steph & Me

Me and Kira at Cheesecake Factory

Good Peeps, Good Food, Good Fun

2008-10-23T22:25:00.000-06:00

We went to hang for a night at Angela & Derek's house. We ordered pizza, watched t.v., and while the boys talked hunting outside, the girls caught up on each other's lives. The kiddos, Kira and Emma, played all night long. They were so cute to watch, but they wore me out just watching the crazy energy they had. We all took turns in their massage chair...it was heaven! It was fun, as always, to catch up and hang out. Thanks Ang & Derek for letting us hang at your house again.

Emma, Derek, Angela, MaryAlayne

Beautiful Mom & Beautiful Baby

MaryAlayne & Me

Emma tickling Kira--notice Emma's 'mittens' aka Kira's socks--Cute!

Emma was looking at me like I was a weirdo, but it made for a pretty funny picture!

Kira havin' fun on the bouncer

This was too cute...they were just chillin' on the bouncer. They must have been pooped after running around for hours.

Saturday is a Special Day...

2008-10-18T23:20:00.000-06:00

Warning: Long post, but mostly pictures!

Today was a super busy, but fun day! It started out super early with a fun Karate Tournament! Gavin showed off his mad Karate skills and did awesome! He has recently graduated to an orange belt! Good job, Gavin!!This is him telling the sensei that he'd be performing the eight point blocking sequence (or something like that)

He had all the right grunting sounds and everything!

Posing after the tourney

Lilah was so cute--as soon as she was able to, she ran straight to the table with all the trophies and attempted to take one for herself. Luckily Grammy was quick and caught her in time.

After the tournament, we went to IHOP and stuffed ourselves. yummy.

Cute fam!--Melody, Gavin, & David (Lilah above)

Me, Lilah, & Gavin

After the fun, I headed out to Steph's house to go walking and have some girl chat...

Me and Kira--don't you love the socks?!?! Too cute!

Next, I headed up to Park City for a family birthday party. We combined quite a few, so... Happy Birthday, Aaron, Janae, Mike, and Caleb!!! Adam and Janae had gotten a condo at a place up there, so we all headed up to hang out. It was so fun to see everyone! It feels like it's been forever since I've been to any family party. Good times...

Isaac, Rachael (Chris' fiance), Chase, Chris, Sarah, Matt, Caleb

Janae, Ali, Jonathan, Adam, Caleb's head

Matt & Sarah

Caleb and his new ride

Aaron & Ruby with their gargantuous pieces of cake--it's the best when Grammy serves the cake!

Caleb, Isaac, Gavin

Caleb, Isaac, Me

I love catching Aaron in his pondering moments!

Me and Baby Benjamin--he's so cute!

Hey Sarah, you got somethin' on your face. How'd you get that? What's with the crusty?!?!

Dinner and a Movie

2008-10-17T22:50:00.000-06:00

Camille and I finally got to hang out together! We had so much fun. We went to Crown Burger for dinner (fancy, right?) and then went to The Secret Life of Bees, which was super good! After the movie, we were gabbing forever like usual. We had a few 'shady' characters approach us asking for money, so we decided to head over and sit and chat at Wendy's. We got into the whole "I can't believe the eighties styles are coming back!" discussion. Do you remember unit belts? Yeah, so we were talking about it all and how we used to match our shirts, pants, AND socks. But the socks didn't just match, you had to wear two pair that were alternating colors on each side. Of course, the belt had to match and the headband had to match also, right? It was pretty funny. So, anyone that knows me knows that I am super matchy still. I was wearing a light green shirt with a darker green shirt over the top. Camille dubbed me a leprechaun for the ensemble. No sooner than we began our discussion did I show off my matchy matchy obsession! Here's the example...

We continued to chat about other really important stuff and closed down the Wendy's. We stood outside and were approached by more 'shady' characters, so we sat in her car and finished chatting. Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to read, but we had a blast! Thanks, Camille for hanging out with me!

MaryAlayne is here!

2008-10-15T21:01:00.001-06:00

Steph and I headed over to the hospital to visit Angela & Derek's new baby, MaryAlayne. She is BEAUTIFUL!!! I can't believe how small she is. It's funny...you kind of forget how tiny they start because they grow so fast! We had fun, as always, just chatting for a while. We even got to go visit my mom since she works at that hospital. Emma came with us for our little walk and beat Steph like five times running up and down the halls...Somehow, I wasn't able to get pictures of Ang with her baby since we hogged her from the moment we got there. :)

Kimmy Gets Married

2008-10-11T22:00:00.000-06:00

My good friend, Kim, got married on Tuesday! Congrats, Kim! Kim is on our volleyball team that plays on Tuesdays. Well, for some reason she decided to get married on a Tuesday. Crazy girl! J/K! We were super happy for her. We all played our games (split 2 & 2) and then went to the reception...in our vball clothes, of course!

It was kind of awkward to be at a reception in shorts and a t-shirt, but since we were with five others, it was okay. When it was time for the bouquet throw, Michelle and I were kind of forced into it. We were hanging out watching the other girls going crazy. Just a side note...I'm not one of those girls that tries to go for the bouquet... I couldn't really care less. Well, here comes the toss...it's going, it's going, and there it was...right in my face. If I didn't go for it, it would have it me in the face. Needless to say, I got the bouquet and it was beautiful! After that, the reception center lady came up to me and asked me if I wanted to book a date for my reception. Cha right!!! Not any time soon, honey! Anyway, here are a coupel cute pics...(I have one of me and her after the bouquet toss, but it's a print so I'll scan and add it later.)

Our team: Katie, Amy, Stacy, Kim, Me, Michelle

Random...

2008-10-10T21:27:00.003-06:00

Here's a random story for you about my OCCASIONAL ;) stupidity...I used pictures 'cause it's more fun that way...

This is an empty parking lot...

This is my car...(and me)

This is a puny tree...

This is me running into said puny tree. In my car. In an EMPTY parking lot.
Here's to my OCCASIONAL stupidity.

Sarah, Jenn, and I went to see Eagle Eye (good movie, by the way) and met at Chick-fil-A for dinner. We all headed to the movie in my car then after, headed back to drop the girls off at their cars and lo and behold...I just about hit a tree. We all had a good laugh, and of course, Sarah had to take pictures. Luckily there was no damage to my car, or more importanly, the tree.

Adventures Back East

2008-10-09T17:44:00.001-06:00

October 1 - 7, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, my mom called me and said "Sarah and I are going to Boston to visit Leah. What are you going to do?" HELLO! I can't have my two sisters and my mom hanging out without me! Obviously I had to book my ticket right away. Thank goodness for frequent flier miles! We headed out on Wednesday, October 1.

Mom & Sarah at the Airport while we were waiting for Leah

We got into Boston and headed straight to the North End to have dinner at the most amazing Italian Restaurant - Giacomo's. Mom and Leah had butternut squash ravioli, I had pumpkin tortellini, and Sarah had chicken parmesan. It was awesome food!

Mom & Leah at Giacomo's

Me & Sarah at Giacomo's

After that, we headed to Mike's Pastry. Can't go to the North End without getting some cannolis, right? Well, I can...cannolis are gross! The other girls loved them, though.

We drove around for a while to see the city at night and then headed back to Leah's house. She lives in a really cute apartment above a store. She has three really great roommates that were so nice to put up with us.

The “Bobbsie Twins”...dubbed by the employees of The Eye Institute of Boston (Leah's work) because of our bright pink eyeshadow. Sarah tried to convince me that I could get away with wearing pink eyeshadow...we'll see if I am ever daring enough to do it outside of vacation. Hmm...

The next day Leah had to work, so me, Sarah, and mom walked the

Freedom Trail to Faneuil Hall ......and learned some history along the way.

We picked up Leah from work and headed to Vermont to go leaf peeping.

It was absolutely beautiful!

Mom, Sarah, & Leah - this was at a rest stop somewhere in Vermont or New Hampshire

We had tons of fun on on the way to Sharon, VT

which is the birthplace of Joseph Smith.

We went to the Trapp Family Lodge...you know, The Sound of Music family.

On Friday, we went to Glouster and then up to Rockport. We had a great day shopping in a cute little town. Leah knew of this cool lighthouse that’s not really available to the public and you have to go down this little private road to get to it. There weren’t very many people there, so it was really nice.

Boats at dock in Rockport.

We ended the day at Kimball Farm, which is known for their ice cream. It was delicious!

Saturday we got up really early and headed down to New York. My cousin’s wife has a connection through her work that has an apartment in the city. It was a great place!

We went to all the normal touristy sites and had so much fun! We went to The Little Mermaid on Broadway, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and the Statue of Liberty to name a few. New York was great as always!

Leah, Sarah, & Mom at Rockefeller Center

This was part of the Berlin Wall and was displayed in Battery Park

On Monday, we drove back to Boston. We went through Connecticut, which was beautiful. On our way to Rhode Island, we found this super cute pumpkin patch called The Farmer’s Daughter. There were the most creative displays of all sorts of squash and gourds. We were there for so long just walking around and snapping pictures.

We got to Newport, RI and saw all the mansions. We went on part of the cliff walk and, again, took tons of pictures.
Alas, it was time to leave...We left and returned home on Tuesday and had to get right back to life. Thanks Leah for having us and showing us such a great time!!!

Here is a link to more of the pictures if you’re interested…Enter at your own risk!!!

Sarah's Pictures

Becca's Pictures

Picture Tag

2008-10-08T23:27:00.000-06:00

Stephanie tagged me with this picture post! Here's what you do: go to the fourth folder of your pictures, and post the fourth picture and tell about it!

K, so this is a little funny. I have this folder for weird pictures I have and pictures that I have done weird things with. So it happens to be the forth folder in my pictures folder. I wish the forth picture was something else, so much so that I almost cheated and picked a different picture! Oh well, this is me. This was a pic that we took while on the drive from Boston to Vermont. Sarah and I were having so much fun taking weird pics of ourselves. As if it weren't weird enough, I altered it with a few color changes and here is what it ended up as. I actually put this as the desktop background on my work computer (imagine a 19" monitor with THIS!) because I thought it was pretty funny. It also doesn't hurt that it keeps people away from my office. :)

I tag: Ali Cox, Melody Cox, Janae Cox, Camille Giles, Heather Harbert

Do it.

So, I'm a little annoyed...

2008-10-08T12:19:00.000-06:00

I am a little slow at updating my blog and here's why... My hard drive on my laptop was getting so full so I hardly had any room. I moved all my iTunes onto an external drive, but now my pictures are taking up way too much space. Frustrating!!! I just moved all my pictures to the external drive and decided to clean up my computer. I reformatted the hard drive so now I have plenty of space on my computer. Well, I am really annoyed at the fact that I have to plug in my external drive to listen to any music AND to look at any pictures. LAME!!! I am now in the process of deciding what to do! I guess I'm gonna have to break down and get a bigger hard drive for my computer. AAAHHHH!!!! K, so I know you're probably thinking "what do I care?" And, well, you probably don't care, but I needed to vent and what a better place than my blog? K, that's all.

Fall Colors

2008-09-28T17:05:00.000-06:00

My mom called me on Saturday and asked if I'd like to go up the canyon and take pictures of the beautiful fall colors. Of course! We walked around Silver Lake up by Brighton and took pictures of just about everything. Here are some of the pictures...
I'll add some more when I feel like playing with the mosaic thing again. :)

Good Times BBQ

2008-09-26T23:38:00.000-06:00

My old roommates, (and still friends, of course) Stephanie and Angela try to get together at least once a month. Well, we had already gotten together once in September, but we had so much fun that we decided to do a little something more. We went to Angela & Derek's house for a BBQ. Steph's husband, Kenny, was going to come too, but had something else going on so it was just us girls and Derek. We just hung out and chatted for a while.

Steph was nice enough to provide the meat for everyone. She put together some hamburgers, which were delicious, but were a little too big. Derek had to cut them in half and then in forths just to get them to cook all the way through. It was pretty funny...

Emma woke from her nap and her and Kira played for a while. Emma, Ang's daughter, was calling Kira her "little sister"...it was super cute! Anyway, we all had a good time and we made sure to book our next night in. Hopefully by then Ang and Derek will have their new little one, MaryAlayne (cute, huh?)

Movie Night

2008-09-25T22:03:00.001-06:00

Lisa is always finding the coolest deals and winning everything. Well, she is on top of the movie premiers that come up so she invited me and Stephanie to this one...Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

I really liked the movie. There was some crude humor, but I usually find that stuff pretty funny. There was one part that I had to block out because it was so disgusting...it had to do with barf. Ewww...

Anyway, we had so much fun. It was fun to see Lisa again and we'll for sure hang out more often. Thanks for the hook up Lisa!!!

A Walk in the Park

2008-09-24T22:27:00.000-06:00

Steph and I decided to make good use of the beautiful weather and spend some time outside. We went to dinner at Bajio, then went over to a park close by and walked for a while. We always have a good time just chatting...sometimes about nothing and sometimes about plenty. Kira was being so cute and just enjoying the scenery. I couldn't believe how well behaved she was!

Quirky!!!! I was tagged and so are you!

2008-09-23T11:14:00.000-06:00

I was tagged by my sister-in-law, Heather.

Rules: Link the person who tagged you.

Mention the rules on your blog.

Tell 6 unspectacular quirky things about you or your family.

Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.

Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers'

blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

I am terrified of bridges! For some reason, I can't stand driving over them - they freak me out! I have been on quite a few, but some I refuse to go across! There is one huge bridge connecting Astoria, Oregon to Washington that I will NEVER cross! The largest bridge I went across (because I had no choice) was driving from Key Largo to Key West. The whole time we were crossing I was chanting the "Betty Botter" tongue twister just to keep my mind off it...Lame, I know, but I can't help it! This is why my crossing the suspension bridge on one of my previous posts was such a huge accomplishment.
I straighten rug tassels. Again, I know it's lame. I don't usually notice I'm doing it, but if I'm sitting by a rug that has tassels, I will sit there until they are all untangled and completely straight. I can't have any rugs with tassels in my house! My family has made fun of me for this for as long as I can remember!
Do you remember that 'Culligan Man' commercial where that little cartoon lady yells "Hey Culligan Man?" I don't even remember when the last time was that I saw that commercial. Everytime I see a Culligan truck, I yell (out loud. in my car. by myself.) "Hey Culligan Man!" in the same voice of that cartoon.
I can't stand radio morning shows...well, any talking on the radio at all! I always have a book on CD playing in my car. I am driving all the time, so I go through about a book a week and I love it. Sometimes I will just drive around to finish listening to it. You'd think with the gas prices I'd avoid it, but no.
There are 22 stars that surround the mountain in the opening of Paramount movies. How do I know this? I count them EVERY time I see them on the screen. I have an obsession with counting everything! How many stairs to get to my room from the main level? 14. Nine on the first flight and five on the second. How many to get to my basement? 13. Five and then eight. How many in my mom's house to get upstairs?...you get the idea!
When the windows are down in my car, I have to make sure they are even. Say someone in my back seat rolls there window down, a window on the opposite side has to be rolled down the same amount. I haven't decided why this is. I originally thought that it was because of the noise. I think it started out that way, but it didn't used to have to be even. It was just that if a window was down on the right side, there had to be one down on the left. It has gradually morphed into having to be even.

Ok, so after writing these out, I think I may be a little more OCD than I originally tought! Oops! My family makes fun of me sometimes for it, but I always thought they were exaggerating a little...I guess not.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look into my quirky life! Now it is your turn, I tag Stephanie, Camille, Angela, Ali, Janae, Mom, and Lisa Price. I hope you all are well and up to the challenge!

Book Club

2008-09-22T22:01:00.000-06:00

So, I just joined a book club with Stephanie and some of her family and friends! The book we were supposed to read BEFORE the meeting was "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd.

I was a little busy, so I neglected to read the book. When I arrived, we began discussing who had read the book. Well, it turns out that I wasn't alone...Only Brooke and Steph had read all of it and KeeLee had almost finished it! Brooke even brought questions to discuss! They were totally on top of it and the rest of us were slackers! I guess that having book clud is kind of a good excuse just to get together! We all vowed to read the next book before our next meeting! The new assignment is "Angry Housewife Eating Bon Bons" by Lorna Landvik. I had never heard of it, but someone said it's supposed to be funny, so I'll know soon enough!

We went to Johnny Carino's in Jordan Landing for our dinner. We had the WORST service I had ever had anywhere! We got there at about 7:00 p.m. and were sat right away. Our server came over fairly quickly and we ordered our drinks and dinners. Our drinks came out really quick and we just chatted and waited for our salads and all that stuff. Well, at about 8:00, we were still wondering where our salads were. We also hadn't gotten any drink refills or anything. We hadn't seen our server since she brought our drinks.

I went up to ask the hostess if she could find our server, but there was no one at the front. I saw another server, so I just told her that we had been waiting for about an hour for our food and haven't gotten any refills and hadn't seen our server. She said "Well, there's nothing I can do about it. I guess I'll get your server." Are you KIDDING me?!?! Never in my life has someone been so RUDE! Anyway, after that I saw the hostess go back up front, so I asked her to have the manager come over to our table.

He came over and asked what he could do for us. He was super nice and got us a new server right away. The new guy was great and got our food out to us within a few minutes of taking over our table. A few minutes after he came to our table, I saw our original server at the hostess station freaking out and yelling about us. PA-LEASE!!! We couldn't even find her to be rude to, so I don't know what her problem was! A couple of minutes later, she was bussing a table right next to ours and she 'dropped' (threw) a plate at our feet. She never came to clean it up and we were dodging glass the rest of the night.

At the end, the manager came back over and gave us each a $5.00 gift certificate, obviously because he'd like us to come back...Good thing there's another location because I seriously doubt that any of us would go to that one again. Because we were all so disgusted by our experience, Steph decided to write an email to the company. Very soon after she sent it, she received an email back from the regional manager saying how sorry they were. He asked for her address to send her some certificates to make up for it. Well, it looks like we'll be heading back to Johnny Carinos soon because he sent her $90.00 in certificates. Looks like we'll be visiting the Sandy location this time, but dinner is on them, so what the heck!?!?! Anyway, the company was fun and the dinner was not so much, but next month will definately be better...and I'll read the book this time!

McKayle, Brooke, KeeLee

Me, Liz, Shelby

Happy Birthday, Kira!

2008-09-20T22:42:00.002-06:00

Kira's first birthday party was today. It was super fun to have a reason to get together with some friends that we don't get to see very often and some we do see all the time. It's always good to see Kenny's family too! Happy Birthday, Kira!!!

Daddy Kenny, Birthday Girl, and Mommy Steph

(Cute toy, who could have given that to her?!?!?)

Little Kira - looking pretty cute, but where is the cake already?!?!

Do I really get this all to myself?

Everyone loves chocolate! :)

Emma says "Ta-da!"

Little Millie - isn't she cute?!?! I love the little pose and her hand! Too cute!

The Girls...Me, Michelle, Celeste & Millie, Steph, and Angela

Lunch Date

2008-09-19T22:37:00.001-06:00

My old roomies (and still friends) Steph, Ang, and I try to get together at least once a month to hang out and eat. We went to Cafe Rio (surprise, surprise) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Emma and prego Angela

Me and Steph

Kira

Happy Birthday Aaron!

2008-09-17T22:22:00.002-06:00

Just a little shout out to my cute nephew, Aaron...Happy Birthday! Love you!
Here are just a few of my favorite pics...

Doesn't this look like a Gap ad?

someone got a hold of the leaf blower...

All I want for Christmas...

Somewhere in St. George

I love this pic! We were hanging out on the balcony at a condo in Heber drinkin' hot chocolate...Yummy!

Happy Birthday Karen!

2008-09-11T23:22:00.001-06:00

Karen's birthday was on Septembe 1. Jenny and I decided to take her out to dinner to celebrate the big day. We headed to Red Robin for a fabulous dinner and some good fun. This story may not seem funny when read, but writing it reminds me of the whole night and it was pretty humorous, so it's probably mostly for my enjoyment!

It was kinda funny...we had this waiter that was super cute. He was just fun to joke around with. Karen kept giving him crap about a bunch of things. He kept coming back to our table and would say "I don't really have anything to talk about, I just wanted to come over and say hi." It was pretty entertaining for all of us.

Since it was her birthday she said she wanted to keep the super-awesome glass that her drink came in. Ok, so it wasn't super-awesome and I don't really think she wanted it but in true Karen fashion, she kept it up...it was hilarious. So, there was a huge table next to us and they needed one more table (our table). Our waiter came over and asked if we minded moving down so they could have the table. Karen told them she'd do it only if she got to keep the cup...all a joke of course. Well, I don't think they thought she was kidding because about two minutes later, the manager came over with a gift wrapped (in grocery sacks) Red Robin glass.

Anyway, we all had a great time and laughed a lot with each other and the Red Robin employees. Good times. Happy Birthday, Karen!

Jenny & Karen

Me and Karen with her new present.

Boise Baby!!!

2008-09-07T22:52:00.000-06:00

Steph's niece was getting baptized, so we headed up to Boise to spend some time with her family. We had quite the interesting drive up there! I learned this game from my sister, Leah, called the squishy face game, so naturally I told Steph we should play it. I was driving at this time, so she was the lucky one that got to start the game. Basically, you squish your face against the window like you fell asleep in some awkward position and wait for the people in the car next to you to give some sort of reaction. Well, I've played this several times and usually get some response. Can I just say that the people that we encountered were BORING!!! I don't think one car passed by and looked. It was okay though, 'cause Steph and I cracked up the entire time! I think we were both crying because we were laughing so hard!

The drive went by pretty quick and Kira did awesome, so we arrived in Boise without incident. We stayed at Steph's brother, Kyle's house with his wife, Jody. They have three cute kids: Bryce, Eryn, and Kaitlyn. We felt so welcome there and everyone was so nice. On Friday, we picked up Steph's mom and we (Me, Steph, Kira, Jody, and Renee)went to downtown Boise to go shopping, then met Kyle and Sterling at a restaurant. The lady at the restaurant was a total brat! (See Steph's blog for the whole story.)

Saturday was baptism day! Steph, Kira, and I headed out in the morning to get some shopping done and we went to lunch. The baptism was in the late afternoon, so we headed over there. After the little service, we were waiting for the other wards to finish. We were sitting in the chapel and the speaker says "Thank you, Sister Cox for playing the piano." My first thought was, "Oh, hey, my last name is Cox. I wonder if we're related." I didn't think so, but hey, who knows. Well, Sister Cox walks down the aisle to leave and who is it? My Aunt!!! I didn't even know I had family in Boise! My uncle, Dale and Aunt Carrie moved to Boise a year ago and I didn't even know it. I ran out behind her and was able to catch up and chat with her for about 15 minutes. I haven't seen her for years, so it was a nice surprise! After the baptism, we headed back to the house and hung out with the family the rest of the day. It was a nice day and we were happy to be there for Eryn's special day.

Eryn & Kira

We got up to head out Sunday morning and I went into Steph's room to find that Kira had gotten sick during the night. It was so sad! We headed home and she still wasn't feeling well, but we made it home without anything major happening. Poor girl! Other than that, we had a great trip! Thanks for the fun and the great laughs, Steph!!!

Sometimes there are no words...

2008-09-06T21:52:00.000-06:00

...or maybe there are (press little blue play button on the left)

Leah Visits!!

2008-09-02T21:07:00.000-06:00

My sister, Leah, came to visit over Labor Day weekend! She lives in Boston and tries to make it out here as often as possible. It was a last minute trip and we were all excited to see her! I picked her up at the airport on Friday night and first order of business?...Cafe Rio, of course! We headed over to meet Kenny, Stephanie, and Kira. I think they all enjoyed seeing eachother since it's been so long. Kenny and his girls

On Saturday, we went to Caleb's first football game. K, so he's nine and plays with full pads, like REAL football. Crazy! Their team kicked butt! I think he may have had the largest crowd there. Those in attendance: Adam, Janae, Caleb, Isaac, Aaron, Ruby, Benjamin, Marilyn, Christy, Mom, Mike, Dad, Leah, Me, Melody, Gavin, & Lilah. I think that covers everyone! We had a great time watching the game and look forward for more to come!

Later that day, Leah and I went to see Big at the Hale Center Theater.

It was a really cute play. I was a little curious to see how they'd adapt that to a musical, but it was pretty good.

The rest of the weekend was just hanging out with the family. To celebrate the holiday, we had a BBQ on Monday. All in all we had a good time and we were so glad that Leah got to come for a few days! Hey, Leah...see you in Boston soon!!

Here are just a few random pics from the weekend. I stole them all from Leah!

Ruby, Benjamin, Leah

Aaron, Leah, Ruby

Lilah

Ruby

Hangin' with Camille

2008-08-22T22:45:00.000-06:00

It had been so long since Camille and I had been able to get together, so we needed to remedy that situation...We decided to go to dinner and a movie. Original, right?!?! We met at McGrath's at the Gateway then went and saw House Bunny. So, the movie...it was hillarious!!! We were laughing so hard! Here's a disclaimer though - there is quite a bit of 'off-color' humor, so if that's something you are sensitive to, don't see this movie. I think that Camille and I think enough alike that we both just cracked up. It's about this playboy bunny that gets kicked out of the mansion because she turns 27. She ends up being a house mother for a soroity that is about to be closed because it's basically made up of the 'un-cool' girls. Anyway, we had a good food, good company, and a good laugh! What else could you ask for?

Here's a picture of me and Camille...This wasn't on our outing because I didn't take my camera, but this is from our trip to Santa Barbara a while ago...

Baby Benjamin

2008-08-17T23:44:00.000-06:00

Adam & Janae's baby, Benjamin, was born on August 13, 2008. He was 8 lbs 15 oz and was 3 weeks early! He'd have been like 11 pounds if he went full term, crazy! He had a few medical problems since he was so early, so he was rushed to Primary Children's NICU. He was supposed to be there for three or four weeks, but was able to come home after only a week and a half!

Anyway, I got to watch the other four kids while Janae was in the hospital and Adam was with her or the baby (2 days!). I picked up the kids from the hospital at about 6:00 p.m. the day he was born. We headed home after the exciting dinner in the hospital cafeteria. We played for a while and the kids were beat, so I put them to bed. The next day we got up and had some yummy breakfast. I was trying to think of super fun ideas to keep them busy and not just put a movie on. We colored, played Shutes & Ladders, played Disney Scene It, and a bunch of other games. I had fun and I'm pretty sure that the kids did too! Later that night, we watched Surfs Up, which was pretty cute.

The next day, we kept pretty busy playing and hanging out. We went to dinner and then went to see WALL-E. It was kind of a weird movie. The kids weren't very impressed either. WALL-E is basically a glorified trash compactor and he gets a kind of crush on another robot that comes down to earth to find life on the planet. All the humans are on a cruise in space. So, they all ride around on these hover lounge chairs and do nothing but drink their meals and shop on the computers that are connected to the chairs. Anyway, this sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but that's basically how the movie was! It had a good message at the end, which was to take care of our planet.

Later that night, we were able to go to the hospital and visit with Janae. I've never seen someone look so pretty, calm, and put together that quickly after having a baby. She said the trick is to put on some pearls and you'll look put together. It totally worked for her, but I have a feeling that putting on pearls wouldn't help me after going through all that!

The next day we went up to Primary's to see the baby. Since he was in the NICU, we had to go in one at a time with Adam while the others hung out in the playroom with Janae. It was so sad to see him with all the tubes in him, but we knew he was being well taken care of. I dropped the kids off at my mom's later that night so they could have a sleepover with their cousins.

I had a great time and it wasn't bad at all, but I don't think I could do it EVERY day! Love you guys!!! Welcome home, Benjamin!

Cowboy Up

2008-08-14T17:04:00.001-06:00

My roommate, Michelle, went home for the summer to help out on their ranch. Janelle, Megan, & I decided to take a road trip to visit. She lives in Cody, WY, which is about a 7 1/2 hour drive. We had a really good time on the drive up there. We had plenty to talk about and the time flew by.

Well, since Cody is the 'Rodeo Capital of the World', we of course we needed to check out the rodeo! So, there is a rodeo EVERY night in the summer. It was really fun and there were some pretty cute boys to watch, so we had no complaints about that. :) I'm not a country girl, so I don't really know the names of the events, but I'll wing it. We watched the horse bucking, barrel racing (kids and adults), the one where the calf gets tied up, and the one where two people have to rope the calf (one gets the head and one gets the back feet). It was pretty entertaining. Oh, we also saw the bull riding. I think there were only a couple of people that lasted longer than 2 seconds, let alone the entire 8! Oh well, it was cool nonetheless. I think the cowboys still had fun and were excited. Here are some pics from the rodeo...

Michelle and Janelle

Janelle, Me, Megan

This is the one where two people have to rope the calf

K, so the quality here isn't great, but these are the Dodge Pick-up guys. A couple of hotties! They ride alongside the bull riders and help them get off and not get trampled.

This is the Village People singing YMCA

The rodeo clown in his cheerleading outfit. Hot.

On Sunday, we went to church and just took it easy the rest of the day. It was so nice to just relax and enjoy being out of town. Monday, we went horseback riding.

Michelle and Megan getting Rascal ready to ride

Rascal and Megan

Janelle getting Smoke ready to ride

Janelle and Smoke

I got to ride Mark. He was a grand champion of something, I don't really remember of what, but he's pretty impressive!

Michelle and her dad were riding Princess and Dude, respectively. I didn't get a picture of them, though. Oops. We rode for a few hours around the ranch and then along some trails behind their house. It was beautiful!

Tuesday, we went four-wheeling all around. I haven't gone four-wheeling since 2007 and that was in Ensenada in wine country, so it was a little different! We went around all sorts of trails and hills and a little rougher terrain than wine country! It was so much fun and I decided that I definately need to get me one of those in the future. Later that day, we headed home. The drive back was pretty fun, too. You'd think that after a seven hour drive there and three full days with the same people, you wouldn't have anything else to talk about. Well, we still chatted pretty much all the way home. We had an awesome time and it was so fun to get to know these girls a little better. I can't wait for our next trip!

Memories

2008-08-13T20:11:00.001-06:00

1. Leave a comment on my blog of a memory we have had together no matter how long you have known me. Please leave as much detail as possible. Help me remember our memory together!

2. Post this on your blog and see how many people have memories of you, kinda fun to see what people have to say!!!

Alaskan Cruise, Part Deux

2008-08-04T18:11:00.001-06:00

Ok, so here's the second installment of the cruise adventures...I know you've all been on pins and needles wating...I think I ended on Day 4 (see previous post), so here we go... By the way this is a very long post and lots of pictures...

Day Four 7/29 (cont.):

We finished our dog sled excursion, went back to the boat to have lunch and arrived for our next excursion just in time. We decided to take a bus up to the Klondike Pass. So the excursion was called something like "Klondike Pass, Yukon Suspension Bridge, and Salmon Bake". Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, it was. Mostly. So, we got on the bus to head up to the pass, which was in Canada. The drive was really pretty. Our driver told us a lot about the area and a few funny things about how life is lived there. For an example...He and some of his friends he lives with (I think he said there were 16 in his house) decided to go to a movie. Not too exciting, right? Well, the drive just to go to a movie? 2 1/2 hours. Crazy!!! Again, I take advantage of how close I live to things!

Anyway, so we didn't know much about the Pass or Suspension Bridge. Well, I didn't anyway. I don't know how much Jenny knew about it. Well, we were driving up and we went over a suspension bridge that was only anchored on one side. It was kinda cool, but the guy said that it was only anchored on the one side because it was on a fault line and if the ground shifts at all, it will just adjust on the other side. Well, if any of you know my thing about bridges, you know that it's amazing that I even went over that voluntarily. Ok, well maybe not completely voluntarily, but I didn't have too big of a problem with it. So, silly me, I'm thinking "Oh, if that's the suspension bridge, that's not so bad! I did it and lived to tell about it." OH NO, That wasn't it...

The Suspension Bridge

We show up at the top of the pass, and walk over to this little touristy area. What do I see? The Suspension Bridge...Can I just say, Holy Crap! I saw it and didn't think there was any way I could walk across it. I decided that this was a trip about facing my fears, so I sucked it up and did it. The bridge was shaking the whole way. It didn't help that some lady behind me was JUMPING on it. I gave her the worst crusty and she stopped pretty quick. (I've heard my crusty looks are pretty good, but I've never seen one work that fast!) Here are some pics...I had to take some from both sides and from the middle to prove that I did it! I think otherwise a lot of people wouldn't believe me!

First view of the 'real' suspension bridge...Yikes!

In the middle of the bridge

The other side, I made it!

So, after I survived the bridge, we headed back down the pass to go to the salmon bake. As we were headed down, I had an interesting experience. Well, maybe I should say a disturbing experience...We were on a tour bus, similar to a Greyhound. There was this guy that must have just gone to the back to use the restroom or something. As he was walking back up to the front, he was using the back of our chairs to steady himself. Pretty normal, right? Well, I felt him stop at my chair, which I thought was kind of weird. I sit there for a second just thinking he must have had to steady himself. I was totally wrong! Next thing I know, the guy is rubbing my face with the back of his hand!!!!!! What in the WORLD!?!?!?! He does this for about two seconds and then continues to walk down the aisle and sit down. Not once did he turn back or acknowledge what he did. I saw him several times after that and he never even looked back at me. WEIRDO!!! So, as I'm sitting there, I'm completely stunned! I gasped and turned around to see if Jenny saw it. She was watching out the window, so no. I looked at the guy next to me and he was sleeping. The people in front of me were clueless as well. I could not believe it. I was looking at everyone around me to see if anyone saw it because there was no way this could have really happened. Well, it did and it creeped me out! A weird thing about it was that the guy looked completely normal. He was probably in his late thirties, well put together (on the outside, at least), and was sitting with what looked like his mom. What would you do in a situation like that? I decided to just pretend it didn't happen, but I'm still weirded out by it!

So after that moment, we went to this little town called Liarsville. It was pretty cool. It used to be a gold mining town and now I think all they do are these salmon bakes for cruise ships. During the dinner, there were two guys playing some old music, one with a banjo! How long has it been since you heard someone play the banjo?!?! So, we thought, "Salmon in Alaska, it has to be good, right?" WRONG! I don't know what was wrong with it, but the whole 'feast' was horrible. We had a few different things, but it was all so gross! The salmon was barbequed and had some sweet sauce on it. It was so dry and had a disgusting flavor! We were shocked! We decided to toss our whole meal and just hope that we would get back to the ship before dinner. Luckily we did and all ended well!

Looks tasty, right? NOT!

Day Five 7/30:

We arrived in Juneau early in the morning. I think we expected Juneau to be a little bigger because it was the capitol, but no. It was pretty small, but they did have a Wal-Mart, so that was something! Our excursion began at 8:00 a.m. and was called "Whale Quest and Mendenhall Glacier." We got on the bus and enjoyed the drive while our driver told us about the town. Pretty interesting stuff, but none that I can remember! We got on a boat with about 50-60 other people. It was kind of cool because our table mates ended up being on the same boat. They were so nice and let us use a pair of their binoculars, which totally helped! As we started out, we saw a few bald eagles perched on a little island. We ended up seeing quite a few throughout the day. Pretty cool. So, we continued on our whale quest and ended up coming into a pod of humpback whales. It was so cool because there were about 10 right in front of us, 2 to one side, 4 on another side, and others all around. The tour guides were really surprised, too. They said that although there are usually whales spotted, some of them had never seen that many together. We totally lucked out! We also saw some otters, so that was pretty cool also. Here are a few pics from that...

This whale must have been iritated...This is it slapping its tail.

On to the Mendenhall Glacier. As we were driving to the glacier, the driver gave us each a map and told us there was a trail that went around some wilderness, but because of the bears, half of it was closed. Well, Jenny and I decided to walk the part that wasn't closed. It was really pretty and we were able to watch salmon in the river. They were sockeye salmon. I guess it was their spawning time, so we watched as the females would slap the river bottom with their tail to create a nesting spot for their eggs. Pretty cool process.

If you look closely, you can see a bunch of salmon. (They're the red things in the water)

We were standing on a platform and one guy says 'Hey, look!' We look over, and what do we see? A bear. It was a cinnamon colored Black Bear Cub. It was super cute! And way cool to see so up close! Here are some pictures of it...I didn't have to use my zoom because this is how close it actually was...

After watching until the bear went back into the woods, we walked over to the lookout point to see the glacier. It was beautiful. Again, there was a lot of ice floating in the water, which is still amazing to me. Could you imagine falling in or something?!?! By the glacier was a huge waterfall.

Can you see the people at the bottom? This thing is HUGE!

That night was our second formal night. We got all dressed up and headed to stuff our faces at the dinner. I think it was lobster night. I'm not a fan of lobster, but the Beef Wellington was delicious! That night, they did a champagne waterfall in the atrium and had a big party, so we headed down to watch that. Our waiter was one that was helping, so he convinced us it would be a good time. Our assistant waiter promised us a dance, but I guess he found his wife first 'cause we didn't get our dance. ;)

Jenny & I, all dressed up and nowhere to go

Day Six 7/31:

Our next stop was in Ketchican. Our super exciting excursion for this port is brought to you by Misty Fjord Sea Planes!!!! Yep, we went on a float plane! A float or sea plane is one that takes off and lands on the water. Scary! As I said before, this trip was all about facing fears! We met outside of the boat with others that we'd be flying with. There was a girl at that was checking everyone in. I heard everyone stating their name and weight...OUT LOUD! I heard that and my first thought was "Oh, hell no!" It was my turn and I stated my name and whispered my weight to her. I heard some of the women behind us say, "Oh, that was a good idea." No Duh people! I'm sorry, but I am not one that likes to announce my weight nor does just about any other woman I know! Anyway, we proceeded to the take off area. Our plane had a total of eight passengers, a pilot, and a co-pilot (which was just one of the tourists, like us). I was a little nervous, but decided that I'd probably never get to do this again. It was soo loud, so we all had headsets to wear. They were super hot!

Obviously not our plane, but a neighboring one taking off.

We took off from the water and watched the beautiful landscape and waterscapes below us. Part of the tour included a water landing on a lake. I think the lake was called Big Frog or Bull Frog or something like that. That was the scariest part. The pilot pointed the lake out that we were going to land on as we passed it. To my calculations, I was thinking that if we just passed it, we'd have to turn back around to land on it. Sure enough, next thing I know we are turning around, almost sideways mind you, with my side down of course! I had to take deep breaths and remember that it would soon be over. The landing was a little worrisome because it looked like the lake wasn't long enough. Well, everything went well and we all lived. What a great experience!

Once we landed and headed back to the boat, we decided that we needed to get a little shopping done. We went into town and did some touristy shopping and got some fun souvenirs. It was a fun day!
Day Seven 8/1:

First and foremost...Happy Birthday, Mom! Day seven was a day at sea. We didn't do much, but hung out and were lazy since we knew our trip was soon coming to an end. We read, walked around, and I'm pretty sure we took a nap, too. Later in the day, we decided to try our hand at Bingo. The jackpot was like $1200 or something, so why not?

When we got into the lounge where the Bingo was being held, they had some horse races going on. They have these wooden horses and roll dice to see which ones would move ahead and how many spaces. The first horse to the end wins. Well, of course the horses have to have names. The host was calling out and asking what everyone's favorite thing about Alaska was. This girl yelled as fast and as loud as she could, "ATV!" It was all slurred together and the host had to ask again what she said. She said it exactly the same way and you could tell that he was trying so hard not to laugh. Well, he asked her what was so cool about the ATV. She, again yelling, said, "It was totally awesome to the max!" We laughed so hard. I mean, when was the last time you heard someone say that? 1980? The host was talking about it later and said something similar but not exact. She quickly yelled out again and demanded that if he was gonna say it, he had to say it right. This may not sound funny to many, but we had a pretty good laugh out of it. :) If you saw the girl, you'd laugh too!!

That night was our last dinner with our new friends and our awesome waiters. It was also the traditional Baked Alaska night. Baked Alaska is a dessert that is basically neapolitan ice cream, surrounded by cake, then topped with meringue. They light the meringue on fire and usually have a parade with all the waiters carrying it around.

Triche (tri-chay), Jenny, Me, & Carlos

This is kind of a funny sequence. I made them stay like that until I got my camera out. I think Jenny was starting to gag, but I couldn't get me camera because I was laughing so hard!I guess he wasn't done feeding her after the meringue...here comes the ice cream. Open wide, Jenny!

Day Eight 8/2:

Our cruising has come to an end. :( We met in one of the restaurants with our disembarking group. We left the boat and were going through customs since we were now in Vancouver, Canada. As we arrived to the customs officer, he was questioning us on our plans. Well, our plans were to stay in Canada for a night and then head home the next day. He told us that we were in the wrong place and we couldn't get on the shuttle to take us to the airport. We were going to go to the airport, pick up our luggage, pick up our rental car, then go to our hotel. Fat chance was basically the consensus. The officer referred us to another customs officer, which walked us around to all the places that we had to go. She took us through another security checkpoint, then to another customs officer, which questioned us. They figured out that we weren't there to cause any problems, so they put us in a cab to go to the airport. Our luggage was on some bus, so we had to wait at the airport for it to arrive. While waiting, we exchanged some of our money to Canadian money so we didn't look too touristy. The bus with our luggage arrived about a half hour later, so finally we were on our way.

We walked about a mile or two to the car rental booth at the airport and checked out our car. We got this cute, black Ford Fusion. It was just the right size. We put our luggage in and were looking at the map (parked) to figure out where we needed to go. All of a sudden, we looked up, and SMASH!!!! Some guy had slammed right into us! Of course, I didn't get the insurance since I think my insurance covers me on rentals. I got out to assess the damage and the guy that hit us got out also. The damage wasn't too bad, but I didn't want to get reamed for it. I looked at the guy and noticed he was wearing a Budget uniform. Are you kidding me? The guy that brings the cars around 'didn't see us' and slammed into us? We went inside and the manager had me fill out an incident report, luckily not blaming me for any of it. I knew none of it was my fault, but who knew how things were handled in Canada? J/K, I knew they'd be fair. Anyway, the other manager came out and asked how comfortable I am with driving a big car. I told him I didn't mind as long as it wasn't bigger than an F250 or something. They gave us the keys, we got our luggage out of the other car, and then we were finally on our way. We got to the car and they gave us a Sport Trac Truck. K, so two girls cruisin' around Vancouver, Canada in a truck?!?! It was pretty entertaining, but SO NOT US! It was a nice car, but a gas hog! We noticed the gas stations there and they were 1.47. We were so confused for a little bit, but then I remembered, DUH...they use liters! $1.47 per liter, worse than the states and we had a gas hog, Ugh!

It's pretty cute though, right?

We got to the Marriott really early so we thought they wouldn't let us check in yet, but they did, thank goodness! We were starving, so we headed out to Burger King (we like to try the local cuisine) for some lunch. After that, we went back to the hotel and tried to decide what we'd like to do for the day. Well, we decided to check out the local Wal-Mart. I know, super exciting! We went there and got a few souvenirs for super cheap. Good decision, we decided! Well, by then it was dinner time, so we tried some more local cuisine (Boston Pizza). We took it back to the hotel with us and rented a movie (Made of Honor), and sat and ate and watched a movie. So, that was our Canadian experience. We actually had a good time and the rest was much needed after our exciting week. The next day, we got up and headed to the airport. Got on our flight with no extreme drama, a little flirting with the customs agent on my part, but not much else. Once we got home, Jenny's boyfriend, Alan, picked us up and took us home. We had such a great time and I would totally do an Alaskan Cruise again! I highly recommend it!!! It's much different than other types of cruises. Alaskan is more laid back and focused on scenery. The Carribbean is more of a party and island (obviously) feel, so that is definately great too, but a completely different feel. The Mexican one is also fun, but more like the Carribbean, but not as many partiers. All are super fun and highly recommended! My next will hopefully be Mediterranean...crossing my fingers!

Well, that's it for the cruise, hopefully this didn't bore anyone, but if it did, it's your own fault for reading on after you were bored!!! ;)

Alaskan Cruise

2008-08-03T16:38:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to decide what the best way to make this post would be so it's not a mile long. I'll do what I can to not make it overwhelming! Don't feel obligated to read the whole thing, it's bound to be insanely long!! I used this as more of a travel log so I wouldn't forget what all we did. Sorry ahead of time. :)

My roommate, Jenny won some airline tickets from work so she was nice enough to share with me. I love to be the beneficiary!!! As soon as she mentioned it, I immediately said that I'd love to do an Alaskan Cruise. She quickly agreed that it's definately the way to go. We ended up saving about $1400 each since the airfare was covered! How awesome is that? Thanks again, Jenny!

Day One 7/26:

We left on Saturday, July 26 and flew to Anchorage, Alaska. We arrived and were connected with our shuttle from Princess Cruises quickly thereafter. The cruise leaves from Whittier, Alaska. Whittier is about an hour and a half from Anchorage. We found out on our drive that there is only one road in and out of Whittier, which consists of a two mile one-way tunnel that you can only enter from the side we were on every hour on the half hour. The window is only 15 minutes. We arrived and as we were about to go through the gate, it closed. This meant we got to sit on the bus and wait for 45 minutes until the next entry. LAME! Our bus driver took us over to look at a glacier in the mean time. So, let me tell you a little about this tunnel. Basically, it was blasted out as a train tunnel. It used to be that only trains could get in and out. These train tracks are much more narrow that regular tracks. The tunnel had to be adjusted when the cruise terminal moved to Whittier. We basically drove directly on the tracks to get through. By the way, the fee for a bus to enter? $125. Some fees were up to $300! That's CRAZY! Luckily our portion was included in our price for the shuttle. The tunnel was just wide enough to fit our bus with only about a foot on each side. Now, I'm not a fan of tunnels, so this was the first of many fears I faced this trip. We made it through without a hitch.

Now I'll say a little about Whittier. First of all, this town is kinda known as a crazy town. I think most if not all that live there are a little off their rocker. The town has about 250 people and get this: they ALL live in the same building! The building looked like some office building. It was only about 3 to 5 stories tall. Anyway, I think it's a crazy town.

We got on our boat, which was the Diamond Princess, at about 6:00 p.m. and disembarked at 9:00 p.m. Our room was an ocean view, which was supposed to be a 'fully-obstructed view'. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw our actual view...not too shabby!

We were reserved for the late seating for dinner, which was at 8:00 p.m. We were at a table with eight people. There was a couple, Mike and Donna, from Virginia; a couple, Steve and Kathy, from Dallas; and a couple, Ron and Pat, (Steve's brother) from Kansas. We totally lucked out with our table! All of them were so cool. The brothers and their wives kind of adopted us as their daughters for the trip. They were really fun to get to know. We hope to go to their homes and visit them. The pic to the side is Kathy, Steve, Pat, Ron, Carlos (vest) our waiter, and Triche (sp?) the assistant waiter.

Day Two 7/27:

Sunday was a day at sea. We cruised Glacier Bay from 6:00 a.m. until about 9:00 a.m. This was beautiful. It was a little weird to see ice just floating in the water that we were in. The glacier was pretty cool. They were saying that some of these glaciers go back about 20 miles. It's kind of hard to imagine just how big they are...oh, and yes, all that stuff that you see floating in the water is ice...
I don't remember specifically what all we did the rest of the day, but I think we took it pretty easy napping, reading, walking, and eating.

Day Three 7/28:

Monday was also a day at sea. We cruised College Fjord all day. It was beautiful! The fjord is surrounded by mountains and glaciers. It was pretty cold, but manageable. I think it was about 50 degrees or so, but the wind was pretty strong so it was better to view the scenery from inside. While we were cruising, there was a piece of the glacier that fell off into the water. It sounded like a huge crash of thunder that just went on and on. There was a huge splash and the glacier sounded like it just kept cracking. Super cool. Here are a few pics from that bay...

Look closely...do you see the water pouring out of the middle? Just to give you an idea of how big these glaciers are, that water hole was at least the size of a suburban or other large SUV.

The color of blue that is seen here is muted by the picture quite a bit. In person, it was so vibrant.

Day Four 7/29:

Tuesday we stopped in port at Skagway, Alaska. We were very fortunate that the weather cooperated with us. Each town that we went to, the locals were telling us that it was the first day of nice weather in weeks. It seemed to follow us wherever we went. I love to hear stories from the locals to see how life really is for them. Most of the tour guides were from the lower 48 and had come to each area for the summer and will go back to school when the tourist season is over at the end of September. In Skagway, the price for a gallon of milk runs about $6.00+, gas is about the same. Also, they only get deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables on Tuesdays, so if at anytime during the week you have a hankering for an apple, you better hope it's Tuesday because everything goes so fast.

We decided that on this cruise we would do whatever excursions we wanted since we saved so much on airfare. In Skagway, we went on a dog sled and went to the Musher's camp. For those that don't know, a Musher is someone that is a dog sled driver. There are a couple of main races that they participate in. At the musher's camp, we had an oppurtunity to listen to a musher talk about the races and what all it is. For the iditarod, the temperatures can go to 50 below! That is crazy! I don't know how anyone does it. I'm not gonna lie...I was a little disappointed in the dog sled experience. We were on a six person 'sled' which was really just a golf cart type thing with no top. We were attached to 16 Alaskan Huskies, which is just a fancy way of saying 'mutt'. I think we kind of expected 'disney dogs'. The dogs were really lean, small, and mangy. While we were on the sled, we got to a hill, but they didn't want to wear the dogs out, so they hooked us up to a car that drug us up the hill. We then went in a circle on the dogs and then ended. It wasn't really worth the price, but at least we had the experience.

Being dragged up the hill so the dogs don't tire.

On our way back to the ship, we noticed what it's like to live in a small town and not have a lot of little things matter, like street names for instance...Love it!!

We also passed one area and saw two missionaries sitting out by the church. The church was so small. It looked like a log cabin and like it couldn't hold more than 25 people.

I wonder what areas this mission covers. I bet they have to take a sea plane to get anywhere. It would be a hard mission, especially when the winter comes. One lady was telling us that they have to plan a trip to fly to the closest Costco so they can stock up for the winter. She said that she had to keep it a secret from her neighbors because she'd get too many orders from people. I guess I kinda take advantage of the fact that I live about 5 minutes from Costco!

OK, so I'm posting this, but it's not finished. I'm sure you are thinking, "Oh my gosh, how could she post more?!?!" Well, I'm only half way through the trip!!! There are some funny things that happened the second half though, so there is more to come. I am too tired to finish the post right now. Hopefully in the next day or two I can finish...

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

2008-07-19T23:15:00.001-06:00

Today is Stephanie's birthday. Jenny & I went out to Steph's house and picked her up to go to dinner. We went to the new Cafe Rio out by Steph's house. It was good food, good company, and good times. I gave her a book that I was super entertained by so I knew she would be too. It was a Postsecret book. Basically, there is this address that you can write any secret to. It started out as an art and social experiment. This guy collects these secrets that people write in and he posts them on his blog. He's also published like two or three books with all these secrets. Quite interesting. A lot of them are really sad, some of them trivial, and some that just make you think. Anyway, hope you enjoy the book Steph! Happy Birthday!!! Love ya!!!

Happy Birthday, Gavin!

2008-07-19T22:55:00.001-06:00

Today is Gavin's birthday. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday! Love you!

Movies, Movies, Movies

2008-07-19T22:52:00.002-06:00

So, I saw a couple of movies this week. On Thursday, Matt called me and said that he'd gotten some free tickets from IKEA to Mamma Mia, so naturally I tagged along! Sarah, the kids, and I hopped in the car and headed up to Layton to mooch the free movie. We got there just in time for it to start after a gruelling drive through rush hour traffic & construction (surprise, surprise). I have to say, the movie was hillarious! K, so Pierce Brosnan can't really sing, but he gave it a good effort. I saw the play in Vegas a few years ago and I really enjoyed it then, so I knew it would be good, but I didn't expect it to be so funny. Anyway, I definately think it's a must-see.

On Friday, I met up with some friends and saw Dark Knight. I was a little hesitant to go to it, but I knew I needed a little social interaction. I was, of course, really glad I went. It was fun to catch up with some friends that I haven't seen for quite a while. So, the movie...I get kind of nervous to go see movies that I know will be intense, only because I get so worked up and stressed during them. I knew that at least Christian Bale was in this, so he could get me through just about anything. ;) Anyway, the movie was super intense, but super good. I was amazed at how well Heath Ledger played the crazy joker. He was so creepy, so I guess he did his job! I kept thinking at how sad that we won't see him in anything else. He was a great actor. Aaron Eckhart was really good also. I don't want to say too much about the movie itself because there were so many twists and turns so I don't want to give anything away! So, this is definately a must-see also!

American Idol

2008-07-15T22:20:00.000-06:00

WARNING: Way too many pictures and lots of critiques to follow...

Ok, so I know it sounds nerdy, but I totally went to the American Idol concert! It was actually so fun! My roommate told me that the tickets were going on sale, so naturally I got online the second it opened. Camille's birthday was right around the time they went on sale, so I got her that for her gift. I knew we'd have a blast! So, I asked Steph if she'd like to go with Jenny, Camille, and myself, but it wasn't going to work out, so she said she'd go if no one else wanted the ticket. Sarah was thrilled (despite what she says in her blog!) that the ticket was available.

The four of us went to Red Robin before the concert, which of course was quite tasty.

Once dinner was finished, we all hopped in my car and headed to the concert. As we got to our seats, I heard a couple of people screaming my name. My first thought was 'who on earth would I know that would go to this concert?!?'

I turned around and two rows behind us were my aunt, Holly and my cousins, Capria, Krista, and Savanna. Wow! Small world!!!

So, the concert consisted of the top ten contestants from the show. They came on in order of when they were voted off. I was pleased that they each came out and performed by themselves. There were only like two or three numbers that they did together. The group performances always seem so cheesy. First up...

Chikezie. He was really entertaining. I wasn't a huge fan of his on the show, but I enjoyed watching him perform at the concert. I'd give him one thumb up. Next up was Ramiele. Not impressed! She has a pretty voice, but that's about it. She had absolutely zero stage presence. She kinda pranced around the stage, but looked completely uncomfortable. I'll go with one thumb down and the second thumb at about 45 degrees from being turned down.Michael Johns. Can I first just say...HOTTIE!!! He was so cute! I do think he did a great job. My favorite that he did was a Queen song. It totally fit his voice and he had so much fun with it. How 'bout one and a half thumbs up?Next up...Kristy Lee Cook. Ok, so on the show, I was not so impressed until she did God Bless the USA. I mean, 8 Days a Week? WHAT WAS SHE THINKING!?!?! When she came out on stage, she owned it from the first second. She did three songs, two of which were country and of course, she did the Lee Greenwood song again. Two thumbs up for her. When she is in her niche, she's fantastic. Carly Smithson...I love this picture. It looks like she was trying to fly away or something. She was entertaining. Sometimes she sounds like she is yelling, but all in all, I liked her. One and a half thumbs up. (I know I don't have half a thumb, but you get my drift...)

After Carly, there was a short intermission, so we just hung out and chatted. This is just a random pic of Camille that makes me laugh...

She'll probably kill me for posting this...Love ya Camille!!!

Brooke White was up after the intermission. How cute is she?!?! She was one of my favorite from the beginning. I was sure for a while that she'd be in the top three. She sang three songs. One of which was Let it Be. That was one of my faves on the show and she didn't disappoint. She gave props to Utah for all the support she got from here which was nice of her. I'll say two thumbs up for her. Here's just a clip...

Now, Jason Castro...

I have to apologize for having two pictures of him, but I couldn't help it. I had to show off the shoes he wore...Wait for it...

Um, yeah. Can you see them? I couldn't really tell if they were boots or just tennis shoes, but Come on, Jason! You cannot pull those off! I have an issue with Jason Castro. I think the only song that I enjoyed by him on the show was Halleluiah. He didn't even sing it at the concert. LAME. How in the world did he make it to number four? He gets two thumbs down.

Syesha Mercado. She has a pretty voice, but she also didn't have much stage presence. I was kind of bored with her. She is beautiful and I think I just expected more. I think that she would do awesome on Broadway. On the show, she did a few numbers that were very 'broadway-esque' and they were brilliant. I'd give her two thumbs sideways. (That means it wasn't worth the energy to turn them either way :))

FINALLY, the two faves...

David Archuleta. How cute is he?!?! During the show, I said that if I were 16, I would totally stalk him. Not in a creepy way, just a oh-my-gosh-you're-so-cute way. Don't even start to judge me, you know you know exactly what I mean! ;) Anyway, he definately did not disappoint! He was so good. Sometimes when you hear people on TV, you expect it to not sound so perfect in person. Well, with him, that is definately not the case. He was spot-on just like he was in every performance on the show. (with the exception of the one where he forgot the words, which he still sounded amazing while mumbling)

Anyway, he sang four songs. I can't remember all but one was the One Republic song Apologize. The other that I remember was Imagine. I have never heard so many people going so crazy at a concert. My ears were ringing so bad, it was hard to hear some of the singing. He was so appreciative of the fans in Utah. As he was thanking everyone, he started crying. Ah, how cute. I really hope he stays as humble as he is now. I guess only time will tell. I have a video, but it took way too long to upload. He gets two thumbs and two big toes up! (I know that's nerdy, but sue me!)

And the title holder...

David Cook. You know, I really liked both Davids on the show. At the final, I couldn't decide who I wanted to win. I think I leaned a little toward Archuleta just because he was from Utah. David Cook was very entertaining at the concert. He came out like he was already a bonafide rock star. It was quite a contrast to the humility of the other David. It was a little annoying that he was so cocky, but I guess he has every reason to be...
He sang two of my favorite songs from the show which were, Hello and Billy Jean. He gets two thumbs up and a big toe up, too.

So, I bet you thought I was finally finished with this ridiculously long post, but guess what? I'm not!

After the concert, we were trying to find out where they were because we wanted to see about getting autographs. Well, Sarah and I were almost home and I got a voicemail from Camille saying that she saw a bunch of people lined up at the back of the E Center. Being the dorks that we are, Sarah and I turned around and headed back. We had to do some maneuvering, but we cut in front of about 80 percent of the people waiting in the line. The idols started coming out one by one, and we bombarded them with everyone else. We pushed, shoved, and yelled our way to most to get a signature. The only three that we didn't get were Jason Castro (big deal), Syesha (also, big deal), and David Cook (he didn't even come out to give autographs). I got some pics of a few, but my camera died after three... Oh well! Here are the pics I got. I am going to scan the autographs one of these days and post them. Mostly as proof to one person that didn't believe that I did it!!! ;) you know who you are... :)

Kristy Lee Cook - Btw, she is beautiful in person!

Ramiele - Btw, she is so little! Her and David A. are about the same size. (5 foot nuthin)

Michael Johns - Btw, super cute!

OK, so that's all...Bye.

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

2008-07-13T22:39:00.001-06:00

Wow, July is full of birthdays! Today we went to a park in Kaysville for a BBQ that Ali put together for Jonathan's birthday, which was on Thursday. We had a good time and some good food. Happy Birthday, Jonathan!!!!

Fruit pizza, one of Jonathan's faves, could ya tell?

Ahhh, me and my little bro.

Happy Birthday, Jonny Conny!!!

More Birthdays

2008-07-12T22:02:00.002-06:00

In keeping with the new birthday tradition, I took Sarah & Matt's kids out for their birthdays. Since they live in Nevada most of the time and there's a little time crunch while they're here, I combined all three of their birthdays. Carson's (8) is in March, Makana's (10) in June, & Bryce's (11) in August. We met at Chick-fil-a for dinner. I have to just make a comment about Bryce's outfit. It was super cute, but it totally took me back to the 80's, thus my reasoning for calling her 'Funky Fresh'. You can see part of it in the pic below. She had black leggings with white polka dots with a white skirt over it. Then she had these arm cover things. I don't even know what to call them. They're like leg warmers for the arms, so I guess arm warmers would be an appropriate term! The outfit was completed with peace sign earrings. It was sooo cute! Rock on, Bryce!

After dinner, we went to JC Penney's for a bit, then drove to IKEA to pick up Matt to join us. After having dessert there, we headed to The District to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. It was a super good movie! I wish I had a picture of all of us in our stylin' 3D glasses!

Sarah had her hair in these cute twist-braid-like ponytails and this is those cute twist-braid-like ponytails tied in knots.

Carson was having WAY too much fun!

This was so funny! Makana was trying to get out of my car and somehow got stuck between the seats. She was a little worried at first, but then saw the humor in it. That may have had something to do with me and Sarah laughing and grabbing for the camera. Hmm.

Birthdays

2008-07-12T21:10:00.002-06:00

Lilah's birthday was on Thursday and Gavin's is next week. They are going to Oregon for the week with the fam, so I went over to give them their gifts this afternoon. It was so fun to watch them open them and get so excited! I love when I see Lilah and she says "Gecca" in her octive-lower voice. Super cute. Here are some pics from that little visit...

These are her new earrings that she got from her mom on her birthday.

Gavin in his cute new outfit and his monkey bank that I got him.

Gavin, me, Lilah. Can you tell they get a lot of pictures taken of them? They have perfected the picture smile. Super cute!

I got Lilah some cute nail decals and some little tattoos. They were really cute and it took her no time to start applying them!

Lilah showin' off her mad piano skills

It was fun to see you guys! Happy Birthday!

Texas Roadhouse

2008-07-11T22:32:00.000-06:00

Steph, Kenny, Kira, & I went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We haven't hung out in so long, so it was so good to see them. Just some fun pics from the evening...

I love this pic of Kira, it looks like she was taking the pic of herself...too cute!

Food not coming fast enough, Kenny?

Becca, Kira, Steph

Miley's Blessing

2008-07-06T22:04:00.000-06:00

My cousin, Lisa and her husband Donald, had a baby at the end of May and she was blessed today. Her name is Miley Hendrix Holland. She is so cute! It was held in the Kaysville Tabernacle, which is a beautiful building. Of course, the blessing was beautiful. Miley's dress was amazing. I guess the story is that it was made from my Aunt Diane's wedding vail. All of her girls were blessed in it and all of Jana's girls were blessed in it. Now, Jana's daughter, Lisa's baby was blessed in it. What a great tradition! I didn't get any pictures today, but here is a picture that I stole from one of her albums...Isn't she cute?!?!

Kira's Blessing

2008-07-05T22:35:00.001-06:00

Steph & Kenny's baby, Kira Hope Hart, was blessed today. Steph's family was in town for a family reunion, so they decided to do have a combo. Her nephew, Joshua, was baptized. There were a few talks by his brothers that were really cute. Then, Stephanie read a letter that she wrote to Kira. The letter was really sweet. (I think she has a copy of it on her blog. Link on the side) Stephanie's dad blessed Kira and it was really beautiful. Her blessing dress was made by Stephanie's mom. It was so pretty! (Pic on Steph's blog) It was fun to see Steph's family and Kenny's family. I don't think I've seen a lot of them since her wedding or when Kira was born. After the baptism and blessing, we went to the clubhouse at their house and had some lunch. It was a really nice day.

Independence Day Festivities...

2008-07-04T23:40:00.000-06:00

Today was a pretty relaxing day. I just hung out at home and got a few things done, you know, laundry and all that fun stuff. We decided to go to Thanksgiving Point to watch the fireworks. I stopped by Adam & Janae's to help cart everyone down there. The kids made t-shirts for the occasion. They were so cute! Sarah & Matt's kids made their own t-shirts also. Pics to follow.

They also helped Janae make some treats to bring.

This was just a cute pic of Aaron I captured.

We arrived at Thanksgiving Point and Sarah & Matt had saved a perfect spot for us. There was quite the set up. Mom & Mike were there with their camp chairs, canope and all. The had otter pops for all the kids. (Ours and all the others in the area.) There was a huge area reserved for just our family. Lilah didn't waste any time on the treats. Everytime I saw her, she was getting something else. It was pretty funny. She kept bring them to me to help her with. She'd say "Gecca" and hand it to me. Too cute!

All the kids

The Clan

Sarah & Bryce

'Honk!'

Aww, cuddly family.

K, so those of you that know me pretty well, you know I don't necessarily care for fireworks much. I went to see them to spend time with family and so I wasn't a pooper. I had a good time hanging with the fam. I spent time during the fireworks display to try to get a good picture, 'cause some fireworks pictures can look pretty cool. Well, my battery died right in the middle, so here is the fireworks picture I got. You will be amazed...Wait for it...

Wow, can you stand it? Don't be jealous!

Congratulations Bryan & Laura

2008-07-03T22:45:00.000-06:00

Tonight was my cousin, Bryan's wedding reception. It was at a cute reception center/house in Provo. We had a really great time chatting, strangely enough looking at you tube videos (you go, b-money!), eating cake, and just good ol' family time. I stole these pics from Adam & Janae's page. Some of my nieces and nephews at the reception.

Shout out to my Bro...

2008-07-02T22:47:00.000-06:00

So, for those of you that don't know, one of my brothers had brain surgery a year ago today. I just wanted to put a little note on here to say that I'm so glad that you are doing so well and you haven't had any other major issues. It was such a blessing that things went so smoothly. Way to go! Love ya!

Wii Fun

2008-06-29T22:01:00.001-06:00

So, I recently got some new games for my Wii. I got the Wii Fit, which is awesome! Then I got Rock Band, super fun! I took the games out to Sarah's house in Eagle Mountain to have some fun playing. It's pretty entertaining to watch everyone on the Wii Fit trying to do the hula hoop, yoga poses, and any of the other awkward things. I much prefer to do the Fit in the comfort of my own room! No spying eyes that way...

We took a break and had some yummy hamburger chow mein (I know it sounds gross, but surprisingly it was way good) for dinner and funnel cakes for dessert. Then out to burn off some of it on the trampoline. It's pretty fun to see how high we can bounce the kids! Luckily there weren't any crazy falls, it was close! Then, back in to continue the wii fun!

K, so as we were taking turns to do the Wii Fit, Makana decided to write a book. Here is the cover for the book...

She said, "It's like that song. "I like big but's in a cannot line." So Sarah said, "You should write the rest of the words on the back so you remember it's from the song." K, was that a set up or what?!?! Here is what she wrote...

We asked her to sing it to us. Being the drama queen she is, she gladly obliged.

"Big buts in a can not line. No heart is gonna stand me by. O yaha, ahanoh, Boyaha."

We were laughing so hard and I think she still doesn't know why. I think she thinks it's cause the picture she drew. Nope, Makana!

Here are the real words for those of you that are trying to sing it in your head, but just can't quite remember...

"I like big butts and I cannot lie, You other brothers can't deny that when a girl walks in..." If you want the rest, look it up!

This was our reaction...

Cox Reunion - Day Two

2008-06-28T22:15:00.004-06:00

Today we concluded our Cox Family Reunion. We went up to Millcreek Canyon to a day site there. It was beautiful! Some of the fam went on a little hike to a waterfall. I didn't attend since I was wearing flip flops, what was I thinking?!?! Anyway, there was a little stream next to our site, so we had a boat contest. Everyone had to make an 'all natural' boat to compete. It was pretty funny to watch the creativity come out!

And the winner is...

Wait for it...

Jonathan!!!! Way to go!!!!

<<<<<>>>>>

K, so this was the cutest thing...Notice Ruby is sitting next to the fire pit (no fire blazing)

Me: "Hey, Ruby. Whatcha doin'?"

Ruby: "I'm just sitting here so my pants can dry."

As she looks at me like 'duh, why else would I be sitting by the fire pit?!?!

I love it!

Since the stream was right by the site, the kids were playing in it the whole day. I guess there was also a 'slide' they found which was just a dirt hill that they could slide down. Too funny! They were all filthy by the end of the day. What a great way to end the reunion!

David, Melody, Gavin & Lilah & Leah & Dolly -

We missed you guys!!! Wish you could have been there!

Cox Reunion - Day One

2008-06-27T22:15:00.000-06:00

Today we had day one of our Cox Family Reunion. We went to Copperton Park out by the copper mine. It was an awesome park! We played a little kickball, which was super fun! I don't think I've played kickball since elementary school. The kids were a little wary when I came over and asked to play, I think they didn't think I could hack it. Boy, were they in for a surprise! I hadn't lost all my stellar moves. I was so into it, I chucked the ball at some little kid and hit him in the head, oops! He was OK, so don't worry. Besides, he was just some kid that came into the game and he was a little too cocky for his own good. So, that sounds rude and like I meant to hit him, but I didn't, I swear!

Anyway, after a friendly game of kickball, we played a little tennis, then scattergories, then pretended to play lacross (or at least threw the ball around). We only played that for a few minutes because I accidentally threw the ball into a tree and lost it, oops!

Scattergories fun...

We all fussed over the newest member of our family, Miley. Her mom, Lisa, is in the white in the previous picture.

This was just so cute, I couldn't help but post it! :)

By the end, we were all pooped and ready to rest up for our next fun-filled day!

Dinner with the girls

2008-06-26T23:45:00.000-06:00

Tonight I went out with Stephanie & Michelle. We went to Gateway and hung out at the water fountain for a few minutes, then had a nice walk to California Pizza Kitchen. Yummy! We had good food, good company, and good times. It's nice to get together and have a little girl talk.

Lunch with Amy

2008-06-26T23:22:00.000-06:00

Today I went to lunch with a good friend from high school, Amy (Thacker) Steen. We have such a good time when we go out. We get to play volleyball together still, but we break for the summer, so we don't get to see each other as often. She was nice enough to drive out my way from Herriman. We went to Applebee's in Draper and she brought her cute and chunky babe, Brooklyn, who is ten months old. What a cutie! Thanks Amy for a fun time and happy belated birthday!

Dumpster Divin' and Manti Mania

2008-06-22T22:11:00.000-06:00

My dad and Dolly were in Mt. Pleasant RVin' it. They were stuck with their RV, but no car. Well, he asked me to bring down a car for them. I guess it was getting annoying to unhook everything any time they wanted to go anywhere. So, I called Sarah and got her to get her kids together so we could make a day of it. We had planned on leaving at one on Saturday, but you know what they say..."The best laid plans..." I met Sarah at my dad's house in Draper. She took my Tribeca to Les Schwab to get the air pressure checked and I took the other car, Bryce, and Carson to Arctic Circle to get some grub before heading out. Once Sarah and Makana arrived, we ate and while eating, I gave Sarah the key to the BMW since she was going to drive that while I drove my car. I left to go to get something that I had left at my dad's. While I was there, Sarah called and asked me where the key was. I told her I gave it to her. Well, it was no where to be found! She asked one of the workers if they could open the garbage to see if it was in there. The employee informed her that they had just taken out the garbage. Oh no!!! Sarah and the employee headed out to the garbage to start the hunt. That's about the time I arrived back at Arctic Circle. Of course, my first thought was "I have to have a picture of that!" So, here ya go...

She wasn't very happy that I came out with the camera, but come on, how could I resist?!?! After I took a few pics, I delved in and helped search. After checking about three bags, we were convinced it wasn't in there. Sarah asked the guy if there was ANY garbage in the can inside. He said some, but not much. Since we exhausted the dumpster diving, we went inside. Sarah looked in the inside garbage and moved a little paper and THERE IT WAS!!!! I was laughing so hard! Our hands were covered in fry sauce, ice cream, soda, and anything else (I don't really want to know what) that was in the dumpster. (notice the trail left by the garbage by the dumpster, EWWW!)

So, finally we headed out. It was about five by this time. The drive wasn't too bad. We got to Manti at about 7:30 and headed over to hang out by the temple. We had some good quality family time. We watched the pageant that was really good, but I think they need to cut it by about half hour! Super good, but super long (1 ½ hours!) We headed to the RV park and got there by about 1:00 a.m. We transferred all three kids to my car and headed back. It was a longer drive on the way home than on the way there. I don't know really how that works, but it seemed like it was at least 3 hours longer! I took Sarah and the kids to their house in Eagle Mountain and headed home to Murray. I didn't ge home until 4:00 a.m.! Crazy, but fun times! Here are some pics from our trip...

Bryce, Makana, Carson

Makana, Sarah, Bryce, Carson

Dad, Dolly

Sarah, Bryce - see that plate in the background...

Wait for it...

Bryce - after setting her foot in the ketchup.

Sarah - this is such a cute pic of my sis :)

Makana lookin' oh so cool

Bryce & Me

Carson

Hey, would you like a frozen banana?

No, but I would like a regular banana later, so yes.

Nice!

Carson, Makana, Me, Bryce

The Fam

Livin' in a Postcard

2008-06-20T22:42:00.000-06:00

So, have you ever thought about how living in Utah is like living in a postcard? Also, have you ever just been sitting at home and you just have to get out? Well, that was me on Friday. I decided to go get some Cafe Rio and head up to Brighton to enjoy the outdoors. Well, I didn't realize how cold it would be up there, so I didn't stay quite as long as I would have liked. I had a little picnic at the entrance to the Silver Lake Hike (or Stroll) Trail.

Me listening to some tunes

View from my picnic table

'Mickey Mouse'

This mountain totally takes me back to when I was 12. I went to a beehive girls camp at Brighton and Mickey Mouse was our view.

Comin' down the mountain

I had such a relaxing time just hanging out, reading, and lovin being outside.

Birthday Outing

2008-06-17T22:06:00.000-06:00

I decided to start a new tradition this year and take out my nieces and nephews out for their birthdays. Isaac's birthday was on May 12, but since May was so busy, we didn't get to go until today. We went to see Kung-Fu Panda at Jordan Commons. We lucked out because it was showing on the IMAX, so it was extra big & extra awesome! We had a great time & I look forward to being able to do this tradition since more of them moved so much closer!

Kind of an awkward pose, but what do ya do when there's no one else to take the pic?!?

Tri-celebration

2008-06-16T21:33:00.000-06:00

We had a celebration for my step-dad, Mike, for Father's day, Jenn for her Birthday, and Makana for her birthday. We went to Mom's house and went swimming and had a BBQ. Super fun!

Mike grillin' & Mom chillin'

Makana, Gavin, Bryce, Caleb, Aaron, Sarah, Matt

Adam, Janae, Ruby

Jenn, Chase

Best Buds & Cousins, Issac & Carson

Lilah, Melody, David

Ruby Lou

Ruby & Me

Hey Aaron, Say "Cheese!"

Another example of what happens when another brother gets a hold of my camera. He got a hold of my phone, too. When I got it back, it had a very similar picture set as the wallpaper. I won't make you look at some of the other pictures that ended up on the camera!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T22:13:00.000-06:00

We had a dinner for my dad and all the other fathers in our family at Adam & Janae's on Father's day. It was a fun time and pretty low key. Here are a couple of pics...Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of my dad that day, oops!

Bryce, Sarah, Caleb

Ali, Jonathan

Melody, Bryce, Sarah

Dolly

Ali, Janae, Adam, Dad (partial face)

Meatfest

2008-06-14T23:19:00.000-06:00

A few times a year my dad and Dolly host a BBQ, which we have dubbed the 'Meatfest'. This is because he always provides and cooks the BEST tri-tip steak. Fun times were had by all. Here are a few pics from that night. By the way, Happy Birthday, Leah! Wish you were here!

Ruby, Dolly, Dad

Caleb, Janae

Caleb, Adam (no face), David, Lilah, Granddad, Ruby

Aaron, dowin' the cherries

Dad has an awesome slide that everyone had a blast on…

Caleb, Makana, Carson, Isaac

Caleb

Carson

Isaac

Makana

Ruby

Baptism

2008-05-31T23:24:00.000-06:00

My nephew, Isaac, was baptized today. It was such a great day! Leah gave a talk and spoke on what baptism is and what it means. She also talked about our late Grandpa, Marley Petersen, and what a great man he was and that Isaac’s middle name came from him. Isaac was so handsome all dressed in white. Afterwards, we went to Adam and Janae’s house and had fun chatting with family and enjoyed a yummy BBQ.

St. George - Good Times

2008-05-31T22:32:00.000-06:00

May 23 – 30
My family goes to St. George every year over Memorial Day. Some choose to come for the weekend and some stay for the full week. This year, I opted for the latter. It’s always a super relaxing get-away. Mostly we spent time at the pool, Wal-Mart, Target, or In & Out. (Also, St. Thomas as mentioned in previous post) We all have an awesome time just being with family. Adam and Janae and their four kids, Leah (flew in from Boston), Myself, David and Melody and their two kids, Sarah and Matt (their three kids weren’t in town yet), Jonathan and Ali, Mom and Mike, and Grandma Petersen were all in attendance. Lots of people = lots of fun!
I wish I had more pictures of the trip, but here are some I do have. My nephew, Gavin (David & Melody’s son) has a love for dancing. Melody put on some song that sounded like some kind of Military or Drill song. It was so funny to see how, without any prompting, Gavin started marching around. He had some other stellar moves also…

I snapped this picture of Lilah, unbeknownst to her. She was just chillin on the couch watching TV. Super cute!!

And Gavin being goofy…

This is what happens when Jonathan gets a hold of my camera…

More good times...

Grandma Petersen

Ruby, Mom (aka Grammy), and Lilah

Leah and I left St. George on Friday afternoon. We picked up Sarah at work in Lehi and dropped Leah off at Adam’s house. Sarah and I then drove out to pick up her and Matt’s kids in Elko. We drove to Wendover Friday night, spent the night and left at the crack of dawn to make it to Elko. We were there just long enough to get them in the car and take off. We had to make it back to Draper by three for a baptism. We cut it super close and it was a lot of driving to do in two days, but it was worth it to have the kids out here!

St. Thomas, Nevada

2008-05-25T22:30:00.000-06:00

We were in St. George for the week and drove down to this town called St. Thomas. It was settled by one of our ancestors, Thomas Sasson Smith. He came to Utah in 1848 & settled St. Thomas in 1865. St. Thomas is located in the Moapa Valley in Nevada (previously thought it was in AZ & UT). The Mormons had to leave the town due to the final Nevada border line that stated St. Thomas was entirely in Nevada. The Lincoln County Sheriff posted notices saying that all taxes (they had already paid to AZ & UT) were due immediately and to be paid only in gold. Because they were farmers, they didn't have access to gold, only to crops and livestock. The town was covered up in 1935 when the Hoover Dam creating backup of Lake Mead. The only thing left of the town now are the tops of the buildings. We were told that you can see them if you go into this field behind Ruby and Leah...

Anyway, we went into the field searching. We were equipped with a GPS, canteens, walkie talkies, and not much else. We ventured in and couldn't find anything (keep in mind that these plants are like seven feet tall and pretty dense AND no trail!) There were these spikes sticking up out of the ground that were super sharp. It was some kind of plant. Jonathan got one stuck in his shoe and drew blood. He had to pull it out with pliers! After a few minutes of walking through, Gavin was a little unsure about this make-your-own-trail thing, so I stuffed my camera in my pocket, hoisted him on my back and just started running through the jungle.

Sarah & Gavin in the thick of it

We were about 1/4 of the way to that mountain you see in the background in the previous pic, still finding nothing. So, we saw these 2X4s sticking up in the middle of somewhere, so we thought, 'hey, let's check that out.' Yeah, nothing there again. So, hey, let's try to go in further. Still nothing! We got to a clearing and the plants were only about five feet high at that point, so we were at least able to see where we could check next. At that point, Adam, Jonathan, & Matt continued on. Sarah, Caleb, Isaac, Gavin, and I stayed back and waited to hear what was ahead. Right about then, I remember that camera I stuffed in my pocket, yeah, it's gone! I was kinda freaking out. It's a pretty new camera and a pretty nice one, too. I couldn't imagine what to do. I was racking my brain trying to remember when I put it in my pocket and realized that I did that right in the thickest part and about an hour before. Ahhhh!!! What to do?!?!?!

We had the GPS which had tracked our trail, but it was acurate to about 6-20 feet, kind of a large range. The other problem was that we came in two different groups and of course, the GPS was with the group not with me. Since there was no real trail, we came in differently. We started back and did our best to keep around the same area. We found several tracks, but couldn't tell which were ours and which were others. Anyway, we were all praying that we could find it. Everyone split up and started searching. After about half hour of searching, I felt like things just didn't seem right, so I went about ten feet from Sarah and lo and behold, THERE IT WAS!!! It was right on the edge of a crack in the ground.

See this pic of Gavin & look at the ground for an example of what it was like...

It was crazy AND we didn't even find any ruins of the town!

We got back to where we started from and hiked back up to the cars. Adam decided to drive to the next lookout to see what was there. So, what, you ask, was there??? The trail-head to take you to the ruins of St. Thomas. It was like a 1 1/2 hour hike round trip. Lame! I think we were in the field for about 3 hours looking for something that wasn't there!! Makes for a good story and we had a good time, though. So no harm done! Here are some other pics from that outing...

Caleb & Isaac ready for an adventure...

Aaron with his 'talkie-walkie'

Stylin' Lilah

Stylin' Ruby

(Matt & Sarah in the background)

Jonathan & Ali

Brunch with the Girls

2008-05-23T22:11:00.000-06:00

Steph & Kira, Angela & Emma, Celeste & Amelia, and I all went to brunch at Mimi's when Celeste was in town last. We had fun as we always do! It's funny to see how it has changes since a few years ago. We started doing our little outings and it was only adults. Then for a while it was Ang's daughter, Emma, and me, Steph, and Celeste. Now Steph and Celeste have both had cute little girls and Angela has another baby on the way. Soon we may be out-numbered by the kids!!! Maybe one day I'll contribute, too, but not for a while! This is one of the only pics I came away with that day...

Celeste's Cutie, Millie

BBQ Party

2008-05-17T21:30:00.000-06:00

Steph and I went to a BBQ at our friend, Bailey's house. I met Steph at her work to pick up her and Kira. Ok, so she is so cute! Here are some pics that I took in my car while waiting for Steph to move her car. Don't you want to just squish those cute legs???

We got to Byron & Michelle's in Layton and had some hamburgers, salads (including quite an interesting one with some mayo and sugar. hmmm...), chips, and yummy carrot cupcakes. Steph and I hung out inside talking to some people and being entertained by some kids playing Guitar Hero. It was kinda funny to watch. There were some songs that they couldnt' get through, so I got to pass the song for them. Pretty fun!

Me & Kira

Steph & Kira

Kira, Steph, Michelle (aka Bailey), Me

More chubb legs :)

Hey, Steph! What's so funny?

Oh yeah, I remember...He he!

We had so much fun at the BBQ! Good times had by all, can't wait until the next one!

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T20:50:00.001-06:00

Mother's Day - We had a yummy dinner at Adam & Janae's cute house. Here are a few pics from that day...Funny, I didn't get any pics of my mom that day. Hmm, I'll post some from a different day...Love you mom!!!

My Cute Niece, Lilah

Wait for it...

Lilah again...This was so cute. I was ready to take her pic, but I think I was supposed to catch her. She slid down and slammed right on her little bum. If she got hurt, it wouldn't have been funny, but since she laughed, it was pretty entertaining!

Ali, Jonathan, & Adam

Adam was nice enough to BBQ the chicken for us. Ali and Jonathan kept him company. Jonathan, why is that pose so familiar?

V-ball Party

2008-05-10T21:15:00.000-06:00

We had a party for my volleyball team today. Some from my team came and some from Camille's team came. Those that were in attendance...Myself; Camille & Hubby Curt; Stacy & Hubby Craig & kids, Alex, Nathan, and Elise; Michelle; Kate & Hubby Steve; Janelle & friend. We had a good time and we surprised Camille for her birthday. She was totally taken aback. We enjoyed BBQ Pork sandwiches, chips, & delicious poppyseed salad. We celebrated the birthday with coconut cupcakes. Yummy! Happy Birthday Camille! Love ya!!!

D.C.

2008-05-06T19:26:00.000-06:00

From May 2 through 6 I was able to go to Washington, D.C. with my great friend, Camille. We had so much fun! We stayed with friends, Jaimee and Trey, in Fairfax, VA. We went to some not-so-traditional, but interesting sites while there. First, we went to the Smithsonian of Health and Science. I know, you've probably never heard of it, but it was very informative. You know, things like elephantitis, bezoars (look it up, eww!), and other weird stuff. We also went to Arlington Cemetary and saw the changing of the guards. Very sobering. That night, we saw the monuments all lit up, that was cool. The monuments in DC totally live up to what you'd expect. Camille had a bladder splitting time at the Lincoln Memorial. ;)

The next day we went to Baltimore, MD. We spent the day at the inner harbor. The "Bodies" exhibit was there, so we saw that. If you've never heard of it, it's actual human bodies that have been preserved with some sort of plastic injections. The fingernails, eyebrows, and hair are all still attached. it's very disturbing, but cool. Obviously we were on a health and science kick. I think part of it has to do with the fact that Camille is going to school for nursing, so it's kind of natural to gear toward those types of things. We ate seafood on the water, watched some interesting people, and had a great time.

So, the next day, Camille and I ventured out on our own. We had a GPS, so we thought we'd be fine and we were for the most part. We decided to go to the Printing and Engraving Museum to see money being made. We found the place fine and I dropped Camille off to get the tickets while I was going to drive around the block. Easy enough task, right? Well, it was. The first time. Somehow on the second time around, not so easy! I ended up on some bridge (and you know how I love bridges) going away from the place I wanted to be. I was on some road that had ZERO turn arounds for like 10 miles, then I turned around, but of course I had to go 10 miles the other way. I was depending on the GPS to get me back, so a half hour later I was close to where I needed to pick up Camille. I turned down the street and lo and behold, I was on the bridge going the wrong way, AGAIN!! Ahh, I was so frustrated! Another 10 miles down the same road and 10 miles back. Finally, I got back to the building. Camille was very patient, thank goodness! Anyway, we saw them make some money, which was pretty cool. We made a quick jaunt over to the holocaust museum. There was such a reverence there.

When we finished there, we drove to Mt. Vernon.

It was beautiful there. We got there too late to go inside the grounds, but from what we saw, beautiful. We only stayed there for a short time. We left and were on our way back to Jaimee and Trey's when we decided our toes needed a little attention. We stopped at some hole in the wall salon to get pedicures. The place we stopped was a little questionable, but our toes ended up gorgeous!

We got back to the house and Jaimee was baking and cooking up a storm for Camille's birthday dinner. We had broiled (almost smoked out) shrimp, asparagus, awesome salad and yummy rice.

Camille, Trey, Jaimee

We then had carrot cake that was amazing!
I love this pic of Camille!

To finish up the trip, we went to the spy museum. It was kinda cool to see all the sneaky stuff. We then tracked down a Chevy's to enjoy some chicken flautas which are a must have. Now that Utah doesn't have any more, we have to get it when and where we can!

Wait for it...

That sums up the D.C. trip. We had an awesome time and can't wait for our next trip. Hmmm...better get planning something!

Cupcakes

2008-05-05T20:08:00.000-06:00

One project I have been working on is opening my own business. I will be opening a cupcake shop called "Sweet Cakes by Becca". I'm trying to come up with some really great recipes. So, I was testing some recipes and I made, for the first time, Red Velvet Cupcakes. They turned out super yummy! Thanks for the recipe, Craig! The next exciting sweet treat will be Carrot Cake Cupcakes.
I need to come up with some fun names for these...any ideas??? My sister-in-law said I should name some of them after my nieces and nephews. I think it would be a good idea. My nieces and nephews are Gavin, Lilah, Caleb, Isaac, Aaron, and Ruby. Some of the flavors I have perfected so far are, coconut, red velvet, carrot cake, orange, lemon, chocolate, and vanilla. I think that the red velvet would be perfectly suited for Ruby. I am open to any suggestions on how to get creative with it!