St. George with Amie

Amie and I needed to get out of town. Have a day away from Las Vegas for the day and just forget about the worries of school and life and everything. It was so relaxing. We did a little bit of shopping at the smallest mall in America. We ate ranch burgers at Arctic Circle and enjoyed one of their yummy shakes. On the way back I found out that the road construction on the southbound 15 through the gorge was still going on. We took the other way around through Santa Clara. Super cute little town. On the way, we found this little cave (could be big, we didn't get in it, and we couldn't see the back) it smelled like urine and there was broken glass on the ground. There was also all this graffiti that dated back to the 70's.

The Girls Are Back In Town! - Aug 2012

Roommate Reunion August 2012

 We made a pact during this reunion. "If no one gets married in the next 5 years, thus pulling us together for that celebration. The next reunion time that must happen, with no excuses is in 2017 - 5 years from now."

  Hopefully we wont have to wait that long to see each other again!

The weekend started with a meeting at Ikea with lunch and a stroll around the store. Always love seeing the new styles and ways  to organize and the new color combinations. Followed by heading over to BreAna's house where we spent the next few hours catching up and visiting while we waited for Amy to get off work and join us. Alton came home from work and then proved to us how amazing he is. Without anything being said he made us all smoothies.  Such a sweet guy! Then after a few more hours of talking and laughing we decided that we needed real food and we drove over to Cafe Rio for dinner. So yummy!

Pam watching BreAna's girls while we got pedicures.
Krystal and BreAna got theirs first and then Leslie and I.

After our pedicures at the Aveda salon school we were all craving some yummy Arctic Circle.  Yukon Gold fries, fry sauce, delicious shakes, and ranch burgers. I would have a problem if I lived near a Arctic Circle.  Good thing the closest one is about 2 hours away. While we ate, an employee came over and gave BreAna's girls a courtesy cone - little baby cones for free. How fun!

After lunch we went and walked around the Provo Mall, BreAna and her girls went on a ride on the train around the mall while Leslie shopped for Mormon girl clothes - apparently they are hard to find in Albuquerque.

This group of girls will always be so special to me.

Posing by the creek inside City Creek and inside a really fun store.

L-R Merika, Leslie, Pam, BreAna, Amy and Krystal.

City Creek is a really cool place, I can only imagine the construction mess it was to create. The end result is beautiful. This is just a taste of that it really holds.

These girls are so amazing, I really feel like they have become such awe inspiring women.
BreAna is such a good mom and wife. Seeing her with her girls... she is super mom! I love how dedicated to family she is. She is still one of the most beautiful people I have ever known, inside and out. Her husband Alton really puts the bar high for amazing husbands.
Pam is so strong, she has really blossomed into a fantastic person, over coming challenges, taking risks and making differences in the lives of the kids she meets and teaches. I am so glad that she has put up with all of us for so long. She may have been better than us all.
Amy is just as kind and funny as ever, I really look at her and see an amazing joyful brilliant girl who some guy is missing out on. I am so glad she stuck with me after my freshman year together. I know I am not the easiest person to live with and she put up with me the longest.
Leslie is so classy, so put together, this girl has style in spades! I love the care and concern she holds for all the things and people in her life. I really feel like Leslie is so kind and good. I can't remember a time that she spoke a mean word to someone.
Krystal is fantastic. I am not sure I have ever had a friend who has known me and my struggles like this girl has. I think that we have had some similar struggles and that is a huge part of why she gets me like so few do. The second night in the hotel, we were all tired and I am so thankful that she stayed up with me and talked, listened to me cry and told me about how she overcame some of her own struggles. her stories gave me a little bit of strength and the support that I needed. I hope that Krystal sees in herself, the person that we all see in her. Strength, intelligence, woman of God,kind and most likely the funniest person I know.

After walking around City Creek we decided that with the SLC Temple was closed the next closest was the South Jordan Temple. We drove over and then the girls all went in for a session. We were able to grab someone coming out of the temple to take a picture of us. I chose to use my time reading, grabbing a snack, perusing facebook and taking a short nap. The nap was really needed! I had a very difficult time sleeping during the first night in the hotel.

 After the temple we met over at the Cheesecake Factory a few miles away. It was the perfect end to a perfect weekend. We ate, chatted, laughed, smiled, bonded, and then shared some amazing cheesecake.

I could not ask for better friends than these!

"See You Later"... "Goodbye is Unnaceptable."

Saying "See you later!" because Goodbye is unnacceptable! This is my best friend Staci. She is so amazing and over the course of our friendship she has been able to get me to open up like few ever do.  I dont cry, like really cry very often, and very rarely in the presence of others. In the words of Anne of Green Gables, we are "bosom buddies". This summer she got a new job back in Kansas and in a span of 2 weeks she accepted it and packed her house and was moving. She is such a go getter! I wish I could be more like her. She sees a chance at happiness and she takes it!
We went out to Lindo Michochan on DI and Eastern for the farewell lunch with a few girl friends; Ginger, Melissa, and Amie. The waiters sang to her in the tune of "Happy Birthday to You", it turned into "Con-grat-u-lations to you." Then they gave her a free shot of Tequila and churros with carmel sauce. So Yummy!
After lunch she told me that she really needed a picture with the back of the vegas sign where is says "Thank you for Visiting" and then we saw this cool mural and decided that she needed a picture in front of it.

STACI YOU ARE MISSED!!!

My Musical would have been better...

A few years ago while on a road trip to Denver Colorado with my friend Kris we began talking about how much we love Mamma Mia and the fact that all the music is from ABBA. We then started discussing other music groups that we could do that with. We decided that The Beach Boys would be perfect for that! We sketched out a story line and where each song would be inserted. It was awesome! I do believe that scrap of paper is now living at the bottom of a landfill.

 

 

Fast forward about 4 years and someone else had a similar idea and they turned it into a show in Las Vegas called Surf. Shanna was able to get she and I free tickets to the last show. It was fun, and the backdrops were really well done. I am glad I got to see it... but I still think my musical would have been better!

 

Stargazing with friends & Dominos with family

On my way home from my Utah vacation this August I stayed with Jessica for one night. There just happened to be a meteor shower happening that night. I am so glad that she and her brother Jacob and his new wife were going out to watch. We packed up the car, picked up the married couple and then blasted BSB on our way out to where we were going to layout and watch. We drove east on 189, passing bridal veil falls and then pulled off the road onto W. Main Canyon Road and then pulled off the road in a farm driveway. We set up the blankets and got ready to watch the meteors shoot across the sky.

The next morning I was driving down the road that leads to Jessicas house as I drove over to my Grandparents house. I love the view from Jessicas route. The "Y" is so fun to see.

Before I left town I had to stop

 and drive by my Grandma Andersons house,

 just to see the changes since she moved to Twin Falls ID.

On the way home on the I-15 I had to pull off the road to snap these awesome sunbeams near Nephi UT.

That night I spent with Jeffs & Suzannes family in St. George. I am always so glad to spend time with them and their adorable family. I got there just in time for dinner and games before the kids went to bed.

 

 

The next morning, the view was so amazing. I love the Red Rocks of St. George. I treated my family to my favorite resturaunt in St. George - Mongolian BBQ. The lady ther ehelped the kids use their chopsticks, or in her words - to be chinese. She loved Branson! She was about to take him home with her. We found out that Branson is really good with chopsticks... who knew!

After Jeffs family left to go home I stopped at Dandylion wishes - a scrapbook store, and while I was shopping I found out that the I-15 through the gorge was totally backed up because of the construction going on in the gorge. It normally takes about 35 min to drive through the gorge, with the construction it was taking 3-4 hours! Luckly I was able to ask the shop keeper about another way around the gorge. I was able to drive north toward  Santa Clara and then through the Native American Reservation and through the montain and then meet up at the I-15 right as it came out of the gorge. Saved myself some major time! 

While I drove I saw a minor brush fire.



Na Na Na Na Na Na...... BATMAN!

We love Batman.  We got tickets to go to the whole Batman Marathon at The Henderson Fiesta. It was so fun Theresa, Shanna and Myself met at the theater at about 6:30pm and we watched "Batman Begins", then "Batman: The Dark Knight", and then at midnight we premiered the new "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises".

We all loved it! The only bad part was the seats, we were not in the best, but they could have been worse.

I did see one of my students from Valley at the show, we chatted. He is the only student that I saw all summer. That's a first for me!

Las Vegas Downtown Str"EATS" - food truck party

A few weekends ago I met a friend Val and another girl in downtown Las Vegas. I had never been but apparently there is a big party downtown with food trucks and other vendors twice a year. It was really fun, a local DJ provided music and there was tons of free giveaways.
My friend was late an I had a little bit of a freak out while I was waiting cuz I looked like some kind of pariah standing there alone for 55 min with just my phone for company.
I had a minor twitter freakout while I was waiting for my friend, 35 posts in a span of 45 min. Not good. One nice thing happened while I was standing alone. A guy who had also been standing alone near me by the front gate came over and said, "are you waiting for someone too?" I responded in the positive and he proceeded to ask if he could stand with me because his buddies were also late. We talked while we waited for our friends. So at least I didn't have to stand alone for the whole 55 min.

Lunch and Target with Amie

Today Amie and I met up for lunch at Cafe Rio and a little Target perusing. While at the Target we came across a fun little toy- so this is one of my adventures!
It was so cool- it's a Lego man in a little bag, and you don't know which one it is till you open it! We both picked one up and had our big reveal over lunch.
Mine was a sleepy boy in blue and whit pjs. And Amies was a highlander with a mullet! It was awesome! I was hoping to get the statue of liberty, cuz that would have been awesome, but this was an acceptable option as well. :)

52 Weeks of Adventure of 2012

While talking to a friend earlier this year she brought up the idea of not only living and existing in our lives, but actually enjoying and being amazed by our lives. We talked about it more and thus we decided that to have amazing and memorable lives, we needed to be amazing at LEAST once per week. :) Thats how we got the 52 weeks of adventure in 2012.

Coloring Fun!

I have been wanting to color my hair for some time now. I went to the store and got the color almost 3 weeks ago and every time Shanna was home I would ask her to do it for me; well something always happened and she and I just never got around to it. So I was sitting in my room last night and I thought I should ask Skyler to do it! He is just watching TV and being lazy. I was apprehensive, but I asked anyways and he was cool with it. We talked and laughed a bunch during the process. It was really fun for me, but I don't know about him.

This is me in process

Here I am the next day!