Holly's Birthday Weekend

 Holly just had a birthday and it was kind of a big deal... so we went on a trip together. It didn't quite work out exactly as expected but it was still AWESOME.  Holly got to have her first standby experience and unfortunately it wasn't too lucky. Our original plan to go to Hawaii got VETOED so we went to San Diego instead. Although it was a bit disappointing, Holly and I could of had a good time together if we were stuck in an elevator for the weekend... So San Diego wasn't too bad of a deal.

We ate ALL WEEKEND LONG and it was totally worth it.

I took Holly to Extraordinary Desserts, next time you are in San Diego you should probably stop by.

We tried to get some sun and managed to find a few rays.... and while the sun was hiding we walked around Torrey Pines.  Not quite Hawaii but still beautiful.

 So glad I have a girl like Holly in my life.  She's always been an amazing friend.  I know I can always count on her whenever I have a problem, need advice, or am looking for a good time.  We decided that we are definitely best friends because even though we got our fair share of frustrating, annoying, exhausting, and disappointing experiences at the airport, we never once got sick of each other.  Instead we laughed until we cried, ate tons of great food, laid out at the beach, met up with friends and family, and had a grand ol' time.  Thank you Holly for being born and for always being so great.  Sorry the weekend wasn't quite the paradise you were expecting, but I'm glad we got spend it together.

happy fall...

So, I haven't blogged in a while. But I had some time on my hands today so I thought I would say hello... I'm in Dayton, OH and the leaves are changing here and its beautiful. I love the fall, but I hate that it means winter is on its way. I am excited for carving pumpkins, haunted houses, and holiday treats though!

A few things have changed since I last participated in the blogging world. For one, I moved to a new house in Salt Lake City. Its pretty much the cutest thing on the planet, and my roommates are awesome so I'm pretty stoked. One of my roommates owns the house and she recently redid it all and it looks great. If you ever come over you are totally going to be jealous... its THAT cute. The other day we celebrated my other roommate Alaina's birthday. We had a concert in our backyard and it was awesome. A bit cold but the music was great. St. Boheme, Gothen, and Matteo played and all did a fabulous job.

Also, a couple more recent changes in my life: I am going back to school! I just started an online program through USU for Communication Disorders. I'm basically getting my prerequisites done for Speech Therapy. I'll hopefully be applying for grad school this winter. And I finally got part time with SkyWest and will have a little more control over my schedule and life... something I'm VERY excited about. So yes, things are looking up for me. And hopefully everything will work out in the end!

today i fell in love with sacramento...

...granted, I got this new artsy photo app that makes my pictures look 10 times cooler than they are in real life... but serious, sacramento is super neat. I walked around old town, stopped in lots of cute shops, got lost on a semi-creepy street, walked to the Capitol, found Capitol Park (which is BEAUTIFUL), found the biggest orange tree in the universe, and stumbled upon a free latino concert downtown. It was awesome. I really do like it here, maybe I should come for an extended visit sometime...

Happy Birthday, Jennilee

This is my best friend, Jennilee, and today she turns 25. Its kind of a big deal, and so is SHE. If you have had the chance to talk to this girl for even a few minutes, you know that she is a pretty rad chick. We met seven years ago (crazy that its been that long!!) at BYU Hawaii and our lives haven't been the same since. I'm so lucky to have her as a friend.

Jennilee is FUNNY, smart, beautiful, kind, loving, forgiving, patient, thoughtful, considerate, selfless. She is an amazing listener. She's always been there for me when I needed someone to talk to. She is supportive, encouraging, and lights up every room she walks into. She has an amazing testimony and has always been a great example to me of love for our Father in Heaven and faith in Jesus Christ. She is an amazing wife and mother and a great friend. Oh, and did I mention she is FUNNY?! Like seriously, funny.

Jennilee, Happy Birthday!!! I hope today is wonderful... I love you!!!

st. thomas

So, I finally took advantage of my flight benefits and went somewhere I had never been before:

St. Thomas

...

it was awesome!!! My mom and I went out together (my poor dad didn't get on the flight... thanks to the disadvantages of flying standby) for a couple of days and had SO MUCH FUN.

st. thomas is beautiful (almost as pretty as my lovely mother)

this was the view from our hotel

they drive on the other side of the street there... and my mom and i only had ONE near death experience :)

we found the best beach on the island... hardly anyone was there and we got to snorkel, and lay out, and swim and read under the beautiful caribbean sun.

we ate lots of good food,

saw a lot of really beautiful beaches,

and we even found a house we wanted to buy...

so that we could do THIS all day :)

we ate pizza on the beach

sunburned our white white bods,

and had a brilliant time.

getting home on standby turned out to be a little tricky... silly me, forgot about memorial day weekend and lots of flights were full. it only took us 24 hours to get home, no big deal...

ha ha! but it was worth every second of it! Mom, thanks for sweating in that hot humid air with me... and dad, we were really sorry you couldn't be there with us :(

Anyway, we had ourselves a great time, but are happy to be home. And we LOVED St. Thomas!!!

Cody, WY

So, I had an overnight in Cody today. And what does one do in Cody?? you might ask... Well, I found the answer: Buffalo Bill Historical Museum.

Cowboys. Indians. Buffalo. Guns.

...

Awesome

it was a little rainy, but luckily the hotel had a SWEET gold mini-van for me to drive down town!

Don't you kind of wish you were a cowboy?? Or even better, and Indian?!

and naturally, i had to take a self portrait... asian style

Next time you are in CODY, be sure to stop by. Its a rip roarin' time.

bliss

Have I ever told you how much I love this girl?!

I got to go to San Diego for a couple of days this month to hang out with Jennilee... and it was SO SO SO SO SO fun. If I could live in San Diego and hang out with Jennilee everyday, my life would be complete. She is so fun and I laugh so hard everytime we hang out. Loves it. And, not to mention, she has THE CUTEST kids in the world.

me and jennilee at pipes

ps, going to the beach with 2 kids can be quite a production....

cache man

the beautiful Velzy

and I finally got to go to extraordinary desserts... next time you are in SD, GO THERE. SO delicious...

also, I got to hang out with my favorite girl in SLC... heather and I have way crazy schedules so we don't get to see each other much (even though we live like 4 mins away from each other) but a date with Heather is well worth the wait.

and i got to go home for a couple of days to see my mom for mother's day... unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my beautiful mom... but I did get one of this guy... How cute is Jake?! The Larsons are growing chickens now and he was really excited to show me the baby chicks. I got to see the Hunts too... Duane and Chase took me to the gym and kicked my butt... and Kaylee, Charly, and Sammy showed me a real good time on the trampoline. My nieces and nephews are SO FUN!