california dreamin

Ive been back home now for about 2 1/2 weeks. the time has literally flown by. i cant believe that Ive been back home for that long. ill admit, the first week was kinda hard, i definitely had a hard time leaving provo and all of that that entails. so what have i done the past few weeks since being in California. mostly this...

DODGER games.

lots and lots of dodger games. last summer my first week back i went to three dodger games. now that, i thought was impressive. little did i know i would beat that record. my first week back i went to four dodger games in five days. three of which i went with different boys. its not hard to constantly get asked to go to games when you are hands down the biggest fan. and for the first week i was batting .500 as we won two of the four games i went to. which isnt bad, although my family constantly reminds me that im bad luck. the other game i went to the first week was Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium.

pictured: celebration after Ethier's walk off home run on Mormon Night. posted for Laura and Matt who left early.

Mormon night has always been one of my favorite games to go to each season. I love watching Dodger Vision, waiting for the sign to read "the Dodgers Welcome the Granada Hills Stake." It was also an exciting night since it was Mia's first game!! Although she will never remember it, it will be exciting for her that she went to her first game at just two months old! its never too young to start cheering for the boys in blue.

i also went last night with my dad. going with my dad was definitely the best date of all! and if im not at the game, im watching it every night. this brings my grand total of games this summer to 7. not too shabby for the fact that for a majority of the summer i was living in provo and for half of august the dodgers have been on the road.

YSA conference. I didn't go to dodger games that first weekend because i went to a California statewide YSA conference. the state was broken up into 7 sections based around the 7 temples in California. I was not looking forward to this conference. especially since the LA section was broken into age groups and i was going to have to go hang out with boys right off the mish and girls that just graduated high school. On the agenda for the conference: speed dating. wow no thanks. my parents wanted me to go and so did jessica. i told jess that she was going to have to cheer me up on the way down to the conference cause i was not in the mood to go. the two day event turned out really fun in the end. besides the long hours of talks, once we were able to meet people and socialize it was way fun. i met a lot of great people, and one in particular, that i became great friends with and subsequently hung out with them the next couple of nights.

BEACH. i haven't gone to the beach as much as i would like to this summer, but i have gone a few times with the GH kids. i would like to announce that every time i have gone to the beach i have gotten in the water. shocking.

just a little run down of what ive been up to. all of this and getting ready for DC. 9 days. crazy!!

im hanging up my crown.

i left lanai this week. for good.

which means im no longer the queen of lanai.

or the queen bee.

lanai was my HOME for three years

and im going to miss it

A LOT.

my life revolved around lanai.

my only friends are from that place.

i only associated with people that lived the lanai.

im gonna miss walking up the 5 flights of stairs (ok kinda miss)

im gonna miss hanging out in C1 and D1.

im gonna miss ward prayer and two ball.

ill miss bardi's sunflowers.

ill miss the peaks!! and the wave pool.

ill miss my bike...i mean chanels bike.

ill miss my parking spot! which i may or may not have written

L ROB ONLY over it.

ill miss the dance parties in the parking lot.

i miss the bonfires.

im pretty much gonna miss everything. its the end of an era, and if i said i didnt cry when i walked out of K4 for the very last time, well that would be a pretty big lie.

oh lanai, you have been good to me.

i have now officially entered the ranks of a lanai legend.

pioneer day

So pioneer day this year ended up being such a great day! I went up to Salt Lake and hung out with M'kynzi as we went to different places that reminded us of our amazing time together in London. Our first stop--Fish and Chips. We have been trying to investigate and find a good place that served fish & chips. The best place we found was Virg's. A little greasy and definitely no where close to good English pubs. Our next stop was to the London Market to buy treats and the Elizabeth Cafe for some tarts. Unfortunately these London shops also celebrate Pioneer Day, so they were closed. That didnt stop us from taking a photo outside, showing off our love for London. Since we didnt get a treat at the cafe, we drove over and got crepes. It was seriously such a great day! Kynz and I were able to catch up and seriously talk about how much fun we had last summer for hours! Kynz and I were such good friends in London and miss walking up and seeing her in the next bunk bed and being able to hang out every day.

But my day got even better. I was driving over to Rick and Brenda's, passing the MTC and I ran into one of my best friends. ANNIE.

omg i was so happy! I drove past her and screamed! Hurried and parked my car and ran to her. We were literally running through the field to see each other. We were both so happy! She said she was having a hard day and said she really needed to see me, and that it was a prayer answered. it was seriously so great. i miss her so much but im so glad that i was able to see both annie and christina while they were in the mtc.

wait, what?

how did my friends and i end up looking like this??

with battle wounds that look like that??

read my good friend mo milla's blog here to find out....

Flashback Friday

I absolutely LOVED it when Cortney and my sister Laura use to provide past memories in their posts of flashback Fridays. I love reminiscing and thinking back on the good ole days. For the whole month of July I have been thinking back on Europe, as it has now been a whole year since I studied abroad in London. That month and a half was the best experience of my life and so now i am constantly thinking back on my all of my adventures that I had when I was there. Since today is also Pioneer Day in the great state of Utah, this also led me to some reflection on what I have done in the past on the 24th of July, and thus this inspired my creation of flashback friday.

Two years ago, July 24th 2007, was probably one of my happiest moments. I was in Delta Ut. Hick Town USA. Population: 3209 (yes i just googled it). Home of one Best Western and one McDonalds. We were in Delta for the Robins Rancho Rendezvous. So not only did i get to celebrate Pioneer Day in a great hick town but I was also at a family reunion (and i loooove family reunions, and I'm being totally serious.) Our family got to be in...thats right..BE IN the Hinckly Pioneer Day Parade. So Hinckley, UT. Population: 698 (not far off from my original guess of 500 which i usually tell people since no one has heard of this city) People in Hinckley have to go to the "big city" of Delta to go to school and go grocery shopping. WOW so great. So overall a great way to celebrate the pioneers coming into Salt Lake Valley.

Now last year just barely tops Hinckly Utah. I was here...

in PARIS. Freaking PARIS FRANCE. I went with 5 of my great friends to Paris. We went to Versailles, walked the Champs de Elysees, walked up the Arc de Triomphe, sat under the Eiffel Tower eating crepes and ice cream. Slept in a crap hostel, but ate the best frites (fries) Ive ever had. I loved every second of it, especially the part where i skipped the Louvre, and have never walked so much in my entire life. It was so cool to just be there. I think i said over a thousand times "i cant believe i am hanging out in Paris with just my friends" such an unreal experience. After spending the weekend in Paris my friends and I were so ready to go home. And not home as in Utah or California, Home as in our flat in London. I miss that place every single day.

Now what did I do this year on Pioneer day you ask? Well hung out with M'kynzi, one of my best friends from my London group and reminisced about London. Maybe Ill see some fireworks tonight to celebrate Brigham Young and the Saints coming to Utah. (If only Samuel Brannon had convinced Brigham Young to continue on to San Fransisco and settle there, then I would be there and not here. Too bad. )Flashback Fridays may continue...havent decided yet.

double baby blessings

For awhile our family was a little girl deprived in the granddaughter/niece department, but we are now on double time with two baby girls. and i absolutely love it! two weeks ago i was able to go up to Ogden for baby Kate's baby blessing and literally made it in the nic of time! Wade did a beautiful blessing and Kate looked so pretty with her headband and bow. After being in Ogden for a week--and holding Kate constantly-- i was off to CA for Whit's wedding and spending time with the fam AND meeting Mia for the first time. Last Sunday baby Mia was blessed in church and i was able to be there for that too. I'm pretty sure Matt also did a great job on her blessing--at least he didn't mess up the beginning!--but for the majority of the time all i heard was "where daddy go?" as i was on Chase duty, holding him during the blessing. Mia also looked so precious wearing the same dress that Kate did and also wearing a super cute bow. I LOVE my nieces so much and I'm so grateful for having two baby girls in our family.

next post wont be about my nieces and nephews, i swear...

the thing im gonna miss the most....

when i go off to DC.... These crazy kids.

While living in Provo I have been so lucky to be somewhat close to my sister Kelly in North Ogden. Every since I moved up as a freshman, I have tried to head up north about once a month for the weekend. It would be a whole lot nicer if Kelly and her family lived a little bit closer to Provo--I would be able to go up maybe for dinners or even to babysit--but nonetheless I have looked forward to going up for the weekends and have loved helping out and spending so much time with my super cute nieces and nephews. Ill miss Seth smack talking about the Dodgers and his willingness to watch ANY sporting event. Ill miss Ella begging me to do projects with her. Ill miss Drewbies silliness and his willingness to let me kiss his birthmark on his neck. And Ill miss the chance to see Kate grow up these next couple of months....But i dont know if ill miss the constant tackling from the older kids and the resulting loss of an earring.

But, when Im up in Provo, and when Ill be in DC Ill miss this too....

Ive got to say...my sisters have pretty cute kids.