Congrats Becky and Weston!

Over the weekend I flew up to Utah for a few days to finalize my letters of recommendation for grad school applications, and my short trip just happened to coincide with the birth of Becky and Weston's adorable little guy, Holland! I'm pretty sure that Becky purposely extended her pregnancy past the due date to wait until I was in town. So thoughtful.

Holland is absolutely adorable and I am so happy for the lucky new parents. Good luck you two...I hope you can manage to get at least a little bit of sleep over the next few months!

Giving Thanks

I love the holiday season! I find so much comfort in the consistency of my family's holiday traditions, and this Thanksgiving was everything I had looked forward to. We cooked all day, ate WAY too much food, and consumed enough pie for five families. Talk about living the good life!

We also had a chance to visit with our Uncle Dennis and his whole clan while they were in town over the holiday. It has been way too long since we have had a chance to see our cousins and it was so fun to catch up!

Does anyone else see a family resemblance here?

Thanksgiving is a good time to reflect on my millions of blessings and all the things I'm thankful for, so to name a mere few...

I'm thankful for Kylie...the best dog in the world. Every single day she makes me laugh, gives me unconditional love, and keeps me warm in bed at night!

I'm thankful for old friends. I love the way holidays bring everyone home again, and I will always appreciate the fact that no amount of absence or distance can ever change some friendships.

I'm thankful for Easton, who has supported me through some of the most challenging times of my life.

Most importantly of all, I'm thankful for my family. I am so blessed to be a member of such a loving family, and I continue to be amazed by their kindness, selflessness, and unwavering loyalty. I'm deeply grateful for my parents and sisters, and I love them so much.

Christmas is right around the corner! I'm definitely going to soak up as much Christmas music, tree decorating, hot chocolate (regardless of the fact that it's practically beach weather outside), Christmas shopping, and pumpkin pie as I can! Happy Holidays!

The Grim Reaper lives in San Diego

Today I decided to celebrate the amazing San Diego weather by hitting the beach with a friend, and on the way we drove by this hearse parked a couple of blocks from Cardiff beach:

Apparently the Grim Reaper enjoys a sunny day at the beach just as much as anyone else!

Tagged!

Angela tagged me on her blog a couple weeks ago and I somehow completely missed her post, so now it’s time for a little belated tagging action. Sorry it took me so long Angela!

Apparently I’m supposed to tell seven weird or interesting things about myself, and then tell seven other people to do the same and leave them a comment about it. I can’t promise anything very interesting, but here ya go!

1. I love nail polish and I tend to buy a lot of it, but all nail polish must meet TWO requirements in order to be considered worthy of my purchase: It must be an outrageous color, and it must be sparkly.

Here is an extremely flattering (not) picture of me at a concert last month. You can see my bright turquoise nail polish...one of my favorites!

2. I eat my biggest meal of the day around 2:00 in the morning. I have always been a night owl by nature and I am generally awake until ridiculous hours, and for some reason I get ravenous when the 2 a.m. hour rolls in. Last night at the aforementioned time I ate a bowl of spaghetti, a piece of pumpkin pie, a packet of fruit jammers, some canned pears, and a few potato chips. I fell asleep with an uncomfortably full stomach and told myself that I really need to break that habit…but I guarantee that I’ll be gorging myself again tonight.

3. I am obsessed with flip flops. I have a huge tub full of them but I never feel like I own enough. One of my favorite things is when I find really cheap flip flops at a grocery store or gas station, which is exactly how I found my favorite fluorescent pink ones in a barrel at Food 4 Less. I wear my beloved flip flops all year round, even during frigid Utah winters. You can take me out of San Diego, but you can’t take me out of my flip flops.

4. I hate R&B music and I think it physically raises my blood pressure. There have been times where I have started to feel really irritated for no reason, and I find myself flustered and annoyed and can’t figure out why…and then I realize that there is R&B music playing in the background somewhere.

5. My pupils are ridiculously oversized. I hate having such big pupils for a plethora of reasons: My eyes are more black than they are blue; I flinch every single time I walk outside and the bright light hits me; I look like the devil in pictures because my eyes turn bright red; and I am already getting horrible crow’s feet around my eyes from squinting so much. The only silver lining I can think of is that I have pretty good night vision!

This is a totally raw picture of me with my beautiful friend Lisa. She is a total knockout...and I'm just evil.

6. I am completely obsessive-compulsive about cleaning my teeth. I don’t know why I’m so fanatical but I hate it when my teeth feel dirty. I usually brush about four times a day and every night I have a ritual that includes brushing, flossing, using a tongue scraper and gum stimulator, and rinsing with fluoride. Make fun all you want, but I have a very clean mouth.

7. My biggest vices in life are Dr. Pepper and fruity candy. I don’t believe all of that mumbo jumbo about how food can’t make you happy, because if I have a Dr. Pepper in one hand and a strawberry Laffy Taffy in the other…I guarantee there will be a smile on my face.

I'm not sure if there are seven people who even read my blog, but I tag: Courtney, Jessica F., Sam, Tisha, Mallory, Anna, and Hilary!

Happy Halloween!

 

Pumpkin Thief

Last night Easton and I carved pumpkins in an attempt to fully embrace the Halloween spirit. We roasted pumpkin seeds, baked pumpkin muffins, watched scary movies, and spent a few hours meticulously carving our perfect pumpkins. Easton carved an impressive witch and I chose a kitty (with adorable whiskers and everything!) for my pumpkin.

After working for three hours with those tiny little pumpkin-carving utensils, I finally finished my masterpiece and couldn't wait to put it on the front doorstep. Easton and I put candles in our pumpkins and brought them outside to view the full effect. After briefly admiring our handiwork, we went inside to eat a pumpkin muffin and find the camera to immortalize our creations. We were in the house for no more than ten minutes...and when we came outside again my pumpkin was GONE! I expected to find it smashed in the street by some little hooligans, but there was absolutely no trace of my cute pumpkin. I still have absolutely no idea what happened to it, and I don't even have a single picture to illustrate my hours of hard work.

This is Easton's beautifully crafted pumpkin:

And here is Easton proudly displaying his artwork...
while I proudly display my anger:

Still pouting. So sad...

On that note, I have a message for the dirty pumpkin thief that ruined my night: I sincerely hope that you run into the Blair Witch, or Freddy Krueger, or Hannibal Lecter, or Jigsaw from those awful "Saw" movies, or any other equally terrifying villain...and I hope they teach you a lesson about stealing other people's pumpkins!

28 is Super Great!

Yes, it's true...I'm another year older. Yesterday was my birthday and I had such a fun day! Easton planned dinner with a few friends at Olive Garden, and then we gorged ourselves on Easton's special fudgie-bottom cake (which was SO delicious...even though the tremendous number of candles on top almost set off the smoke alarm). We spent the rest of the night playing Rock Band because I just can't seem to get enough of that rad game.

I got some really fun birthday gifts from my family, and Easton blessed me with this little beauty:

Although my birthday was a blast, I won't deny that I do not enjoy this whole getting older business. I am really starting to feel ancient! The other day I actually found myself storming upstairs to tell the boys that live in the apartment above me to turn down their music! Those crazy kids.

Arizona Antics

Earlier this month Easton and I jumped in the car and drove down to Phoenix for the wedding of our friends Curtis and Candace. Our driving buddies were Wyatt and his girlfriend Courtney, and we all survived the many hours in the car by eating way too much junk food and singing along to old, sappy music. I'm pretty sure that the song "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins will forever remind me of that road trip.

Curtis and Candace had a beautiful wedding! They are beyond cute together and it is clear that they make each other so happy.

Here we are with the blissful couple at the rehearsal dinner:

The reception was gorgeous! I caught the bouquet and Wyatt fought off all the other boys for the garter. Our dates were spotted running towards the exit shortly thereafter.

The trek to Phoenix was also a perfect excuse to visit some old friends! Our friend Tom graciously offered to let us stay in his magnificent house, and my sister Courtney drove out from L.A. so that we could all play together. We had absolutely no trouble filling the time between wedding activities!

We started off with an outing to the lake and some pedal boat adventures...

...spent Saturday at an outdoor festival with lots of live music...

...took full advantage of Tom's amazing hot tub (of course Easton thought it would be absolutely hilarious to try and throw me in the pool)...

...and naturally we spent countless hours playing my favorite game ever: Rock Band!

When the weekend came to an end (sad!) I decided to get in the car with Courtney and head home to Cali for a couple of days. On the way back we drove through...drum roll please...Blythe, California! Of course we had to pull over on the side of the freeway and snap a couple pictures amidst a barrage of honking and catcalls.

I need to send out a HUGE thanks to Tom for taking us in and entertaining us! I had a blast and I can't wait to go back!

Oktoberfest

My roommates and I went up to Snowbird a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Amanda's birthday and we were lucky enough to be there during Oktoberfest! There were people running around everywhere in lederhosen, and we were surrounded by German music, food, and big beer steins.

We had so much fun riding the mechanical bull, the alpine slide, and the zipline, along with all of the other fun outdoor activities in Snowbird.

This is what happens when you lie about your weight to get stronger bungee cords so that you'll bounce higher on the trampolines: I kept flying all over the place when I would do a flip on the trampoline and then I'd get stuck up high where my feet couldn't reach the tramp. The attendant kept having to lower me down so that I could start jumping again, and the whole time he had this suspicious look on his face like he knew I had been dishonest.

We took the tram up to the top of the mountain and the scenery was absolutely beautiful! We had to start our descent back down the mountain sooner than planned because of a lightning and thunder storm that spoiled our fun, and the tram ended up getting stuck halfway down the mountain. The storm was raging all around us while we dangled in our little steel box, and it is never a good sign when the operator tells you not to touch the metal sides of the tram in case it gets struck by lightning. Yikes.

We did eventually make it back down the mountain, but my hair was sticking straight up from all the static. I had no idea that Snowbird was so much fun during the off-season! I highly recommend heading up there before all the Oktoberfest merrymaking is over!