tHiNgS i aM gOiNg tO MiSs...

• My Family
• Friends
• Utah
• Air Conditioning
• Movies
• Music
• Sleeping in
• Going to the temple whenever I want/need to
• babies... nannying...
• swimming! [and boating]
• Weddings, babies born, graduations, more weddings, friends coming home
• winter-snowboarding
• a white Christmas

tHiNgS i nEeD tO GeT uSe To:

• dirt floors
• spiders, bugs, rats...EW
• not always having hot water (or water at all...)
• barely a washer, NO dryer
• the HEAT and humidity
• waking up early
• always being positive
• wearing a skirt
• always being with another girl instead of my boy..
• speaking portuguese!

.and i'm pretty sure both lists go on and on. yikes.

My farewell...

This is what happens when you let your darling 6 year old niece use the camera... :]

Missing Katie :(

It was a LONG day! [ok and marinda woke up before I took the pic, but I wanted her to pretend to sleep annnnnd she failed! haha]

Bridal shower #1

I threw a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law (with a LOT of help from my mom, and others!) It was a lot of fun and turned out well! We started with dinner, had people fill out advice for Kels, guess how many starbursts were in a jar (the winner got to keep it,) split into 3 teams and had them all design a wedding dress out of toilet paper and Kelsey chose her favorite, the winning team got candy bars. We also had a mad libs story where everyone chose a random word (place, number, adjective...etc.) and threw them all in a story, it was hilarious! We also played an ABC game where everyone had to come up with as many wedding related words as they could, one for each letter, and everyone was assigned a letter to bring a gift (that started with the letter) and also a food storage item that starts with the same letter as their name. We had about 40 people in our house and it was fun to meet all of the people that are important to Kelsey! She is such a doll and we are so excited and happy for her to [officially] become a part of our family!

Notice the gifts... from the beginning.. until the end! They are so blessed they won't have to buy anything at their new apartment!

Kels and Devyn [the maid of honor] are CHEESY!

Sharla (our stepsister) made this apron... it is DARLING! and also the colors Tanner and Kelsey want for their kitchen! (She didn't even know!)

Keep tuned for another bridal shower!

cutest little park ever!

SO cute and so fun! The ferris wheel was my favorite, it reminds me of the 50's, or like the one on the notebook :) The octopus was such a fun ride! We went on it twice! We were the oldest kids there, and I think we had the most fun! Even the 16 year old ride opperator guy was laughing at us. Loved watching the little kids on the merry-go-round, and the flying airplane. Olivia started crying, and sarah, her mom, said to just keep going and she would be fine. Well.. she stopped crying and basically bit onto the side of the airplane the rest of the ride! They even had the most ghetto mini golf course. LOVE this place!

people I LoVe :)

My parents!

Tanner & Trevor [Tanners graduation 08']

Kins & Tay :)

Sar, Me, Tash, Lizzy, Marinda

[more of my best friends, my roommates!]

Me, Sarah, Amy, Lindsey, Courtney

[my best friends since jr high]

Calley, Josh, Ethan and new baby Carter!

My good friend Kinzy from jr. high, we get together about once a year(or every other year) but when I get home, it will definately be more often!

(on right) My moms friend Collette who helped raise us kids, (on left) her daughter Sarah, who I grew up with, and her 2 kids Olivia and Cooper.

Collette's other daughter Ashley, her husband Coleman, and their 2 kids, Cash and (1 week old) Presley. Its so crazy these girls both have a family of their own, I remember when we were all little and rode bikes around the block a billion times!
Nephew Lochlan

Niece Caedence
Niece and Nephew Aspen and Celtin(not the best pic, but the only one from this day!)
Nephew Ethan (He's a new big brother!)
Niece Brindley
Niece Anika

(Stepbrother) Josiah, Sharla, Aspen, Brindley, Caedence
(stepsister) Shylo, Adam, Anika, Celtin, Lochlan

They live in Chicago now so we hardley get to see them, it was so fun to see how big the kids are getting and spend some time with them!

Camping!

I love camping! We go [almost] every year, to the same spot, with my dads side of the family. My grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings, and friends!

My roommates (from last year) Tasha and Marinda came up friday night. We went on a 4 wheeler ride, roasted marshmallows around the fire, listened to/told stories, and slept in the tent. I was so happy they came up! (As you can tell, I look BLAH in this picture, we struggled to get a good one of all 3 of us! )My boyfriend Stephen also came up with me. We survived about 4 whole days of being together 24/7! [it was easy!] And also a lot of fun :)
Probably one of the most entertaining parts of the trip was Tanners brilliant idea [learned from our Stepbrother Kyler, working long boring days in foods at lagoon!] of catching a bee, freezing it, tying a string around it, letting it thaw out, then watching it try to fly away, but you have it on a 'leash' on a stick! I am sure the bee was furious! But it provided some laughs from the whole family!




We played a game Kelsey taught us called Zip Bong. It was so funny! You aren't aloud to show your teeth, here are a few pictures of us looking crazy while playing!

Love my baby brother taylor :) Basically everyone that went.

And some more random pictures from the trip!