for the birds

'Day' trips to St. George (i.e. back-to-back days of driving to and from) are totally for the birds. As of right now there's only one person who can get me to make said trips-although when the time comes I'm sure I will do the same for her sister:


My beautiful Birthday Princess
FYI she has a swimsuit, Princess dress-up crown AND skirt
on as well as the towel cover-up thingy. She's a rockstar.

 It was the Bug's birthday celebration this weekend. Well actually her birthday isn't until Friday but Mom's first first day back from maternity leave with the Chunky Monkey is Saturday the 2nd. She didn't want to overload herself, so she chose to get it done before hand. Since MY co-worker is on maternity leave too I have no time off so I had no choice but to high-tail it after work on Saturday.

Bug is the smartest, prettiest, sassiest two-year old around. We had so much fun counting "one...two...THREE!" and running through the splash pad. She is already a fashionista-made evident by her accessory choices of the day. She is a rockstar and already loves her pink guitar. Once that was open she had no desire to look at anything else.

I can't find the cord to my camera that has all the CUTE pictures, so you get to make due with the crappy iPhone photo above and the 'oh-so-adorable-you-have-to-be-pure-evil-to-not-LOVE-her' video of her with  her pink "gi-tar".

Also while I was down there LB2 and Fishin' Sister FINALLY convinced me to take these canaries home-I've wanted them since the Easter trip but I was convinced I would kill them. Well now I have them, along with a promise of a dog when I get my house looong story but good news for me-SQUEE! I love them, but they need names and I need help because we all know how clever I'm not. There's two girls and a boy. So far the suggestions are Pan, Wendy, and Tink; Bart, Maggie, and Lisa; and I came up with Rory, Lorelai, and Luke because they sang the whole way home. I'm kinda leaning to the latter, but I wanna see what y'all can come up with.

Time to play catch up...

As I'm sitting on Scott's bed watching him play Ghostbusters (at my insistence; I try not to be the bratty girlfriend who doesn't let her man do anything fun...) I decided I would be productive and update everyone on the happenings (or lack thereof) since my last post. Let's see...all the way back to June. That was a long time ago. Here is where Hollywood would insert the flashback complete with narration-just to warn you it's kinda long and there are a lot of pictures-most of which are in chronological but not chronological order... if that makes sense...

June: I branched out and did Beauty and the Beast in Murray. After a rocky start on my end, I ended up having a great time and made some fabulous friends in the process. Aside from the wettest June in like the history of Utah-thus leading to us being rained out not once, but twice AND a rain delay on closing night I had a great time and hope to call Murray my home again soon...plus it wasn't NEARLY as hot as the Sugar Factory-although I'm sure the rain had something to do with that...*sigh* The joys of doing outdoor theater.







July: Sparky, Kimmy, Scott, and I all bought season passes to Lagoon. I've never had one, and I didn't get to use it until after B&B, but it actually turned out to be pretty fun. It's no Disneyland, but let's be honest...there's only one Disneyland. Well one day Kimmy and I met up with some of my friends from B&B- Madman, Myranda, and Chris. I'm fairly sure it was the hottest day of the year, and NATURALLY we had to have the Old West Pictures taken. For some reason I looked ridiculous in all of them--everyone else looked great:

August: Amber and I took the girls to my parent's house for a girl's weekend to see Annie at Tuachan. This was my first show there and if you haven't been--GO. It's really worth the drive. I'm not sure who had more fun, my family or Ashton and Makayla. They both absolutely fell in love with my brother and sister in law Casey and Darla, and his menagerie, got henna tattoos from my mom, and helped my dad with the pond. The trip also served a triple function so Amber could take family pictures--for those of you who remember the last time we took them my dad had long hair--and for me to meet my newest neice, Allison Mae. It was love at first sight for me. I can already tell I'm her favorite aunt...










September: MY BIRTHDAY!!! My awesome friend The Chris-not to be confused with the previously mentioned Chris-- took me to lunch and made me the cupcake tower of goodness complete with a candle and my FAVORITE kind of cake--Red Velvet...oh, and did I mention both my parents FORGOT my birthday? Yeah. They totally did. Kinda put a damper on the rest of the day, but I can laugh about it now...good thing I had Scott that night to lift my spirits--I really am a lucky girl. :)


October: The long-awaited trip to Disneyland was FINALLY here!! I was so excited to get away from everything and spend some much needed (and well-deserved) time with my family. I was especially happy because Scott faced his fear of flying and came with me.
We got tickets to the trick-or-treat party in California Adventure and decided to dress as Mousketeers--except dad because he wanted to be Captain Jack and Scott because he's a party pooper. Joan and I bought iron-on letters before we left and my mom made the shirts once we got to the condo. Well, after making three shirts she ran out of letters and had to fashion an 'N' for her name...leading her to misspell her own name-'Melaine' instead of 'Melanie'. Apparently she STILL can't talk about it without laughing to the point of tears. They still turned out great though:












We had a good time the first two days, but on day three Scott woke up and said he wasn't feeling too hot. By 8 pm that night he was in bed with a fever. The rest of the trip was pretty much a bust, but Scott was great and humored me by not only attempting to go to the park every day for a little bit but going to a character breakfast AND taking pictures with the characters and photo-ops-although he HATES having his picture taken. Looking back I'm 99.9% sure it was the Swine Flu...especially because Joan was diagnosed with it three days after we got home...

And that brings us to now. Looking back I've had a busy couple of months. Nothing of note is happening this month...unless you count me paying off my car, Thanksgiving, and Christmas music starting on the radio...you gotta love this time of year. Hopefully I will be better at keeping everyone posted.

Thanks for reading. :)

I'll be home for Christmas

So I'm cheating and changing the dates on this, but you all love me so you're just gonna deal. :)
Every year since 2005 I've been able to go home for Christmas. For those of you who don't already know, home is now St. George. For everyone but me, anyway. Well-Christmas with my family has changed so much over the years. We've gone from our small little family spending the day together to in-laws and grandkids, sharing the day with everyone. As different as it is, I wouldn't change it for anything. I love my sisters in law and my nieces and nephews so much.

This year is especially neat because Jon and Michelle are expecting their first baby-something I thought wouldn't happen, that's for sure. :) Jon really met his match in Michelle; she puts him in his place and I love to watch them together. He loves her so much and will be such a good dad. He's got a great empathy belly going, as you can see here:

Although Darla and Casey aren't pregnant, Casey needed to throw his hat in the ring:
I think he's pretty impressive...
This Christmas I also spent with a lot of time with my mom. I love her so much, and I am so lucky to have her as my mom. Even though I am grown, she still continues to teach me. For Christmas she gave me the best gift. She made a cook book for each of us with our favorite recipes when we were growing up. Then we made cookies together. I think they turned out great-although my mom's side of the family didn't appreciate them like they should have. My co-workers LOVED them! I think they're cute:

I normally stay the entire weekend, but I cut my trip short for the Vander Linden family Christmas party. Scott and I have been dating a little over a year, and so I decided it was time to introduce him to the family. (actually, my wonderful family was giving me grief and questioning whether or not he was real, so I HAD to call their bluff.)
I spent the weeks leading up to the party telling him about my family-who is married to who, who their kids are, and how they're related to my mom. I also prepped him for the noise. You know how loud I am, and I come by it honestly. Scott comes from a very small family-one sister, and his parents families don't live near by. His mother is from Kentucky, and his dad is a farm boy from Tremonton.
My family on the other hand is like the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". My mom has seven siblings, they're all married, and they all have kids. I have TWENTY FIVE first cousins, and most of them are married with kids of their own. Needless to say my family is HUGE and LOUD. Scott was fantastic. He remembered most everyone, and everyone seemed to really like him. It's always nice when your family likes the person you're dating.
All in all my Holidays were fantastic, but I'm SO ready for spring!!

Great news!!

So my little brother called me last night. He and his wife are expecting their first baby!! I'm so excited!

It's odd though. He's still the little hellion I remember growing up. It will be fun to watch him raise his own little bunch of hellions. :) Not to mention odd because I thought I would become a parent before he did--never seemed the type growing up. I'm happy that's changed! I love being an aunt and spoiling my nieces and nephews with love and treats! :) (The treats are why I'm the favorite.)

Congrats bro. I love you and Michelle. :) I'm excited to meet the young one.

Let's play catch-up, shall we?

Holy crap. Have you ever had times in your life where it's just sped by, yet you have nothing to show for it? That's how the last couple weeks have been for me. Then when I sit down to account of my adventures (or lack thereof)-I draw a complete blank. So...I will attempt to make this short, sweet, and somewhat interesting for those of you who care to read further.

In August my best friend Amber, Grandma Honey, and I took the girls to see "South Pacific" in Sandy. Amber is doing such a great job teaching her girls to love the theater. We had so much fun dressing in hula skirts (the girls did, anyway), our flower leis, and hibiscus in our hair for the night out. I thought the girls would have a harder time with this show than they did with last year-we saw "Beauty & the Beast"- but aside from a few wiggles they were captivated! Now they go around the house singing "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair..." Thanks to my little shutterbug best friend I have photos of the evening:

Makala, Mommy, Grandma Honey, and Ashton

Makala, Mommy, Auntie Kristen, and Ashton

Um...what else....ooh! ooh! Kimmy and I went to the State Fair a couple weeks back. We had a BALL!!! She had only been once before and had missed out on so much. The Fair was a family tradition for me growing up--I have especially fond memories of the "Big Yellow Slide". Amazingly enough Kimmy had never been on it, so NATURALLY we had to go!! It was so fun spending the afternoon with her wandering the Fairway, people watching, and eating all different varieties of Fair food!! P.S.-the corn dogs and funnel cakes were our FAVORITE!! :) Kim never sent me HER pictures, you you're stuck with mine: (Why they're HUGE, I don't know...)

Waiting in line on the slide-Kimmy is so cute in her new shades!

Partaking of the Fair food...YUM!!

Last week was my birthday, and that was fun. I'm not one of those people who dread getting older. Actually I look forward to my birthdays. The only thing I dread is the landmarks--you know, the milestones society thinks you should be hitting each year. That aside, I had the special treat of my parents visiting. It's always so fun to have them here. You don't realize how much you need your family until they aren't readily accessible. Unfortunately I don't have pictures-my parents are about as willing for pictures as Scott is--but I do have a couple of what awaited me when I came back to work the next day:


This is the whole reason I didn't come in on my birthday. I was trying to avoid the chaos!! I appreciate the effort of my co-workers though. It did make me feel loved.








Hanging in my chaos--let's just say I didn't get much done that day-there was TOO MUCH going on!! :)

Can you believe she'd never been on the Big Yellow Slide!? I KNOW!! We had fun though!

Last year these were all over the fairgrounds, but this is the only one we saw...

Well, that's about all that's been going on as of late--nothing too exciting as you can see.

Mindless dribble and chronic headaches

So this weekend was an interesting one. We are going into our slow season at Joe's, and I had forgotten how much it sucks. Having six tables for a Saturday night blows. On the bright side the weather was nice so being out on the patio wasn't as hellish as it usually is. Hopefully by the first of October it'll be closed for the season. I'm so over being outside.

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday. Her husband Jason decided to throw her a surprise party. Now if you knew Amber you'd know that surprising her isn't an easy thing. She's the one who hunts for presents and peeks weeks before Christmas. So the fact that Jay pulled it off was an impressive one. It was fun to see everyone and my girls. I couldn't love her kids more if they were my own. She's done such a good job with them. They are turning out great.

The Landon boy--ice cream was FAR more interesting than me.

Miss Makala-She's the oldest

Miss Ashton--my sweet little middle girl

So life is still life-and trust me, the less you know the better-but I am SO over these chronic headaches. Stress sucks, and I just want it to go away!!! The one bright spot is that in a little less than five months I will be in the Happiest Place on Earth with three of my most favoritest people-Kimmy, Sparky, and Branny. Huzzah!