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!

Monkey Wrench

Last weekend Easton and I went on a little getaway trip to Las Vegas to take a break from our hectic schedules in Utah. Easton needed to pick up some Hobie Cat sailboats he bought on ebay while we were down there, but I must admit that my personal motivation for our Vegas jaunt was a Foo Fighters concert at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this concert. That's right, I said awesomeness...you're allowed to make up words when nothing in the dictionary will suffice. The venue was really small and we ended up standing SO close to the stage. If it weren't for the big bouncers who insisted on getting in the way, we probably could have reached out and grabbed Dave Grohl...and I seriously considered doing so every time Dave rocked out with his guitar.

This Foo Fighters concert was absolutely one of the best concerts I have ever been to! Dave put on such an incredible show and drummer Taylor Hawkins performed a mind-blowing drum solo. I had whiplash for at least three days after the concert because I was jumping around so much! I ended up missing my high school reunion because I opted for the concert, and I can easily say that it was one hundred percent worth it. I'm sure I would have really enjoyed seeing all of the people from high school again...but they'll just never be as rad as Dave Grohl.

Our next order of business in Vegas was to pick up the two Hobie Cats that Easton and Ty had bought on ebay. The seller lived in Bullhead City, Arizona, which was about an hour away from Las Vegas. Our visit to Bullhead City was interesting, to say the very least. The whole city seemed to consist of trailer parks, and we spent hours in the 106 degree heat getting the sailboats and trailers ready to travel. By the time we got the boats back to Vegas I was totally sunburned, my hair was stuck to my face, and I felt like I had run a marathon.

If you ever take the time to admire the view of Utah Lake and you happen to see a lightning-fast blur out on the water, it will probably be Easton on one of these bad boys:

The Joys of Camping

Those of you who have read my previous posts know that our camping trips this summer haven't exactly unfolded very smoothly. We have experienced robberies, four-wheeler accidents, rain, lack of supplies, and a variety of other mishaps that have caused our camping experiences to be less than ideal...but we have always embraced our fiascos as adventures and laughed away our worries.

I must admit that I did not experience the same kind of positivity on our recent Labor Day camping escapade. We decided to head up to the Uinta Mountains to celebrate Labor Day weekend, but we began our drive without any specific destination in mind. After hours of driving we settled into a beautiful and isolated area out in the middle of nowhere. Once we picked out the perfect spot to begin our fun, we had just enough time to set up our tent, start a fire, and appreciate the scenery for a few minutes before we were hit by one of the most evil rainstorms I have ever encountered. Our cabana was blown to smithereens and we spent the majority of the evening hiding in the car. The tent held up extremely well considering the downpour it was forced to endure, but I still experienced a steady drip of water on my face all night long.

The only silver lining to our camping trip was the discovery of a little cafe and campground a few miles from the campsite where we had almost drowned during the night. We stumbled into the cafe for breakfast the next morning and ended up laughing enough to almost make up for the hurricane from the night before. Defa's Cafe was straight out of an old movie, offering an abundance of banjo music, funny old men with beards, and paintings of cowboys galore. We all ordered hot chocolate and each of us got our own special mug. I was given the Irish mug because apparently I look like I'm from Ireland, and Easton got a Valentine's Day mug because I think our server had taken a liking to him (wink wink).

This picture was taken during our attempt to flee the area as quickly as possible. Yes, that's SNOW.

This may seem like a reasonable time for our story to end. However, we are all gluttons for punishment and decided to try another camping trip the following weekend.

We went to the same area in the Uintas and discovered a spot that was beyond perfect...except for a few minor details. There were articles of clothing strewn around the campsite and we even found shoes and socks scattered in a couple of places. Creepy, you say? The campsite was a veritable scene from The Blair Witch Project!

To make matters worse, we discovered this pillow hanging from a tree in the center of the site:

In case you can't see the pillow clearly, there is an angry stick figure drawn on the pillow with slash marks across the head and neck. This kind of thing would probably send most people screaming in the other direction...but since we're a bunch of crazy, danger-seeking kids...this is where we camped for two nights. That pillow was staring at me the whole time.

Even though we were staying in such a spooky campsite, we had perfectly ideal weather for the entire trip. We went four-wheeling and did a lot of exploring, and as usual we ate enough food for a whole army.

The only downside to the weather situation was the unbelievably FRIGID temperature that rolled in at night.

Can you tell how cold I am in this picture? I think it is quite possible that I was actually frozen to that chair.

In an attempt to battle the arctic temperatures, we built two fires so that we could try and keep our fronts and backs warm simultaneously. We abandoned the fires for a while to play capture the flag, which was SO fun (although I may have been on the verge of frostbite while I was out hiding in the bushes with the Blair Witch).

I must say that our final camping trip of the summer was a huge success, even taking into account the freezing nights and the scary pillow. I had so much fun! I hope our good luck lasts until next summer so we can do it all over again.

Motownphilly Back Again...

I'm not a huge R&B fan (in fact, I usually compare R&B music to the sound of nails on a chalkboard), but when Boys II Men rolled through Utah we were simply obligated to go. The cheap price and close proximity were the major selling points of the concert, and I must admit that I attended the concert without any real expectations. My lukewarm attitude was immediately blasted out of the water when Boys II Men walked onto the stage and started dancing in perfectly choreographed unison, while simultaneously singing ALL of their old classics along with a bunch of Motown hits. I surprised even myself by knowing all the words to every single song and I ended up having SO much fun!

We all crammed onto a couple of blankets in the grassy area of the stadium because the concert was completely sold out and incredibly crowded.

Kristen and I joined an outreach program and volunteered to take these mentally handicapped boys out on dates:
We are hoping to get some kind of tax deduction for our charitable works.

Lake Powellooza

I know it has been a really long time since my last post...but hey, I never claimed to be a good blogger. I'll do my best to make up for the monumental time gap, so prepare yourself for picture overload.

A couple weeks ago we went on an incredible trip to Lake Powell! Easton planned the whole thing and I am fairly certain that he missed his calling as a party planner or travel agent, because the house boat was SO nice and I ate enough delicious food to make myself gain five pounds.

These boys spent most of their time posing for the camera...

...which meant that we spent most of our time like this:

This is a shot of Easton showing off his phenomenal wakeboarding skills:

Now...I know what you're thinking. You're wondering if Easton's shorts are really as small as they appear to be. Well don't worry...they're even smaller than they look. As a matter of fact, we were lucky enough to witness an abundance of teeny tiny shorts on our Lake Powell trip, and I'm not referring to the girls!

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Needless to say, we had a really fun group on the houseboat. It has been a really long time since I laughed so much...and after the many hours Easton spent teaching me to wakeboard, it has also been a really long time since my body hurt so badly.

Getting ready to jump off the houseboat...

...you can probably guess what happened next.

I was so sad when we were forced to vacate the houseboat and head back to reality...especially because we encountered a pretty harsh reality immediately after stepping off the boat. When we got back to our truck we discovered that the boat trailer had a flat tire, and Easton and Natalie had to run all over town to track down a new one. All of the other cars took off, and three hours later we finally hit the road.

Our drive began fairly peacefully, and we were lucky enough to have two whole hours of smooth, uninterrupted travel…and then another tire blew on the trailer.

We were out in the middle of nowhere and we were completely stranded. Natalie called her Allstate emergency roadside service and the conversation went something like this:

Natalie: Hi, one of the tires on my boat trailer just blew and we need a replacement.

Roadside service lady: What kind of car needs the tire?

Natalie: No no, we need a tire for the trailer carrying our boat.

Roadside service lady: You're driving a BOAT?! And you need a new tire?

No wonder it was taking so long for us to get home! We're such idiots...boats aren't supposed to drive on the road!

In a nutshell, we ran out of options because you can't tow a trailer with a flat tire. We prepared ourselves for a long, uncomfortable night in the truck until Ashlee remembered that she knew someone who lived in a bordering town. After a very late wake-up call at around one o'clock in the morning, a sweet 75-year-old man came to rescue us. He was nice enough to let us stay in a rental house that he owns and which happened to be vacant, and we were pleased to discover an uber creepy basement that looked remarkably similar to the one in Silence of the Lambs. We even found a big meat hook on the wall to complete the effect.

We did eventually make it home the next day, although I don't think I have ever been so tired in all of my 27 years of living. I won't deny that the drive home was one of the more miserable experiences of my life, but the Lake Powell trip was absolutely worth it!