Book Club

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!

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

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!

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!

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!!!

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...

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

Leah Visits!!

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