Flashback Friday 153

This was my favorite thing when I went to visit Grandma Mills. Teddy Ruxpin reading to me. Life was good.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 206

I finally took the fort down. It was time. It had been a little over two weeks that it had been up. I think everyone that came to the fort agreed that the basement living room is a better location for it. So I think I will set it up there from now on. Less I have to drag up and down the stairs anyway. Before I took it down, I had another sleep over in it and my cousin Dave got to see it when he was helping me set up my fish tank on Monday.

The reason I kept the fort up for another day was for Liz. She came over and it is tradition to spend time with Liz in the fort. This time we chatted and she helped me with my taxes (aka did them for me). She is the best. I hate doing taxes and for some reason, she loves it. So it works out. I'm so glad they are over and done with. And January isn't even over! What? ha ha.

Sunday we had ward conference. It was great. I love our stake leaders. Our Bishopric is of course equally as awesome. Our bishop gave a very heart felt talk that I loved. His love just radiates and I really appreciate that about him.

I also had a heart to heart with my health coach this week. February is the month I am rededicating myself to my diet. I'm writing it here to be held accountable as I told her I would. I want to reach my goal weight before spring hits so that I can feel good putting on a bathing suit. My cheat days will be my yurt trip, World Nutella Day and Valentines day. That is all. Yes, I celebrate World Nutella Day every year.

Still sore from Pilates this week. Can I just say how happy I am to have Jeannie back teaching Pilates after a year or so of no Pilates. I need it and am so happy to have it back. My core strength is finally starting to come back a little. Now to get back into running.... Lolly and I decided we want to run a race together this year. Hopefully a 10k. I haven't done one of those yet.

I have a zit on my lip. It hurts.

Today for work, I only worked a half day because I left the snow to go to 75 degree weather in Arizona. I'm loving it so far. My half day at work was pretty awesome. I checked my email and did a couple of things and then we all went to Sportsman's Warehouse to get fishing licenses. When I get back from Arizona, we are going ice fishing. Since we were right by the Sweet Tooth Fairy and Paul had never been there before, we went in. You can't go in there and no get anything. It's too delicious. So my boss had us each pick out two cake bites to get. On the way back to work Paul was reciting poetry that he knew to me because he was giving Ron suggestions of things to do for his wife for her birthday. My department is so full of characters. I swear our office would make a great comic strip. My brother in law's sister / my old roommate/ my friend and mutual friend of my co-worker Lauren and I... Blythe, would do the best job making the comic of our office. Too bad it would never happen. It was a great idea though.

I flew Allegiant from Provo to Mesa. This was my second time flying out of the Provo airport. I love it. Flying into Mesa was great as well because it is super close to where my sister lives. I don't know if I have the strongest feelings about Allegiant though. They will charge you for everything. No water even  unless you want to pay $2. There was ZERO leg room and they are super picky about charging for bags and seats... anywhere they can find room to charge, they will. You have to be careful with them or else it doesn't end up being as cheap as you think it will be. No doubt it is convenient though.

I'm not going to lie, I was VERY excited to escape the cold for a long weekend. It was snowing today when I left, and I got to AZ and it was 75 degrees and I had to take off my jacket because I was too warm waiting outside for my sister to come pick me up from the airport. I LOVE IT!!! I mean.. I was sad to miss the snow only because I still want to build a snowman, but I don't think there was enough snow anyway... and John reassured me that Winter would still be there when I got back.

I am SO excited for my entire family to be together starting tomorrow night. Besides for like 10 minutes for our family pictures two Christmas's ago, we haven't all been together in like 5 years I think. Should be a blast. And we are all going to be under the same roof. WHAT? Should be a blast.

Speaking of family. My niece Irelyn put on my mom's glasses on Sunday. I thought it was hilarious because it made her look like a Hipster. Don't you think? A very cute Hipster. She cracks me up.

Photo of the Week 204

Pine trees and snow. Doesn't get much prettier.

Snow Tubing

The last time I went snow tubing at Soldier Hollow (which was also my first time) was 4 years ago. We went for work. I remembered it was a good time, so when I saw a Groupon for it, I bought it. A group in my ward was also forming that were buying Groupon's for it and were all going to go together. I figured if John didn't want to go with me, someone would.

That group went this last Friday night and lucky for me, John wanted to go with me. We got there a little after 6 and had until 8. I finally got to try out my new snow clothes and excited to wear my snow boots again. I love my snow boots. My new snow clothes are pretty awesome as well.

We chose our tube and got hooked up to the lift. John and I always went down the hill together. You go faster that way... plus then you have the company. One time we went down with a couple of people in my ward as well... although we somehow broke off from each other half way down. The weird thing is.... besides those two, we only saw a few others from our group the entire time we were there. Not sure how since our group was half the people on the hill. Here is our group minus John and I and two others. (They must have taken this after we left)

As much fun as John and I had going down the hill a few times. It was SO cold. This was not as much the case last time I went because I went during the day. I think this would have been a lot more pleasant even though we had the beautiful view of the Midway and Heber city lights. It was just too dang cold. Your face freezes as the wind and snow shavings hit your face as you zip down the hill. Even in my new snow boots my toes were starting to go numb and we won't even talk about my hands because it past the point of cold and numb. We still had fun, but we didn't mind leaving at 7:30 instead of 8. Plus I  got a deal on it anyway. We would have gone during the day except with the Groupon we could only use it on weekdays and well.... we all work.  Oh well. It was still fun and John and I are glad we went. John had never been before, so it was a new experience. John and I always have fun together no matter what we do.

Winter Hiking

On Saturday, Allison and I decided to do some hiking up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was supposed to be one of the easiest hikes in Utah.

We got up there a little late since we had a little bit of a late start because of me picking up my fish tank. It was getting dark our entire hike. The hike was supposed to be under 2 miles round trip. We basically thought we would walk to the falls real quick and then come back. But there was nobody on the trail. There were forks in the trail and we didn't see signs for which way we needed to go. We ended up going the wrong way... straight up hill when we realize the directions said it was flat the entire way. We turned back and got on the right path. The sky is getting darker by the minute.

We reach the end of the trail. We DID NOT see the falls anywhere. Where could they have been? We couldn't understand what went wrong. This was supposed to be one of the easiest hikes. The darker it got we new we had to head back instead of continuing to look for the waterfall. We didn't want to end up on an episode of "I Shouldn't be Alive" so we went back... feeling like we failed... big time.

Since we never found the waterfall, I am not labeling the post by the name of the waterfall. Just Winter hiking... that is what happened. We are determined to go back again and find them next time. Leave with a lot more daylight. Oh well. Allison and I still had a blast... we always do.

Ombre'

I have been friends with Nicole for a long time. We have kept in touch ever since she got married. She is also an excellent hair stylist. She has been doing my hair for the past 5 years I think. I always leave loving my hair.

She knows me and she knows my hair. I always let her do whatever she wants and I have never regretted that. I have had the Ombre' for a while... off and on. I always love it. I like the way it looks on me. Every time she has given me the melt, it looks slightly different. This time we were both very pleased. My hair looked JUST like a picture I had pinned on Pinterest. WIN!

Nicole is amazing. Really. We have a blast chatting and catching up AND I leave with fabulous hair. It's a win win really. Thanks Nicole! If you live in Utah county and are looking for a hair stylist. I recommend this girl.

Saltwater Tank - Phase 1

I have always been fascinated by marine life. I love visiting aquariums and that is why I wanted to get scuba certified. Sea life is beautiful. My cousins Dave and Trav have had the Saltwater fish tank hobby for a while. They are pro and have REALLY beautiful tanks.

When I went to Indiana to stay with my cousin Travis is the first time I actually considered getting one. I just stared at his fish tanks while I was there. He talked me into doing it. He told me it would help with my winter depression AND that because I have a cousin near me that is pro and has hook ups... I could get it for cheap. For the right price... I would do it. So I got together with Dave for a fish meeting.

Right after that we started looking at KSL and other websites to find deals on the perfect tank for me. I decided that I wanted the 29 gallon biocube. Perfect size for my living situation and a perfect starter tank for someone who doesn't know what they are doing. Yet it still has plenty of space to have a beautiful sea life display. We found one for a decent price. I didn't tell Dave, but I bought it and picked it up today. I drove out to Standsbury park to get it. It's far away, but luckily I was already in SLC for my eyelash/massage trade, so it was only an extra 25 minutes.

I got there and the guy took it all apart and put it in my car for me. I bought a few buckets the night before to transfer the water and fish and rock easier. It all fit in my little car... I was on my way home with my new hobby.

When I got home I was running late to go hiking with my friend Allison (blog post to come) and so I just took the bucket that had the fish and rock out of my car and set it inside and left everything else in the car while I left and didn't come back for several hours. I got home around 8 or so and realized that I needed to do something with all this stuff... but I had NO idea how to set it up and hadn't even decided where I wanted to put it yet. (Fort week makes it a little hard). So I took some pictures and sent them to Dave and said "Now What?"

He was surprised. He had no idea I was getting it today. He had offered to go with me to pick it up and set it up... but it was out in the middle of nowhere, I didn't want to inconvenience him. It was kind of late and he couldn't come over that night. He called me and told me to just put the tank in a temporary place and put the water back in and set it back up... otherwise the fish would die by morning. WHAT? I really didn't want to kill my new fish! Allison was over and was nice enough to help me take everything out of my car and put it in the kitchen. Almost everything was pretty heavy. We are strong girls... it's all good. So she also helped me take it all downstairs because I knew that is where I wanted the tank... I just didn't know where downstairs.

Dave was thinking that everything was still connected and that I would just have to put the water back in and the rock and fish and then just plug it in. WRONG! He asked me to send him a picture of that parts so he could tell me what I needed to plug in for sure so that the fish wouldn't die. I sent him this.

I didn't hear from him for a while after that. I started to worry. I just stared at everything like it was a puzzle. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe I shouldn't have surprised Dave and should have waited for him to go with me. A while later, Dave calls to come to my rescue. He tells me to get the heater... it looks like a Popsicle with a cord on it. Trying to put it together this way was going to be more difficult and take a while. Then Dave got smart and started to FaceTime me. I always forget about that because I never use it. Boy did this make things easier. By this time I had Allison and McKenzie there to help me because we had been watching a movie. So I had helpers which Dave referred to as my assistants. It took a little while, but Dave looked at my parts and instructed us via FaceTime which part to grab and what order to do things and what to put in when.

For the most part it went smoothly... and was pretty entertaining because there were 3 girls trying to put a salt water tank together who all had no idea what they were doing. There were a couple of mishaps. Like when Kenzie was picking up the live rock to put in the tank and the ends broke and the rock fell and we all screamed. Meanwhile Dave and Heather are in bed laughing at us. It was seriously funny. Maybe you had to be there... but we were all laughing... meanwhile Dave was trying not to laugh at us too much and trying to be encouraging and supportive. There was a fish in that rock that I hadn't seen... but the guy I bought it from said it was in there. Not sure how that rock dropping didn't kill the fish, but I saw it later... it's alive. Anyway. It took 3 of us and Dave instructing... but we put the tank together just enough that the fish won't die. It will have to do until Dave can come over and help me with the real set up. Can't wait for that. Until then... I'm counting this as a success! It was a fun and adventurous Saturday night. I love my family and friends. I wish I had that FaceTime recorded.

Can't wait for Phase 2 of my new tank! Travis will be so excited when he finds out I actually did it. 

Flashback Friday 152

I think I'm in 2nd grade here. Whenever we got together with my dad's side of the family, this is what my Aunt Rose and I always did together.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 205

Another week. It went by fast. I kept busy at work and in my social life after work.

The fort is still up... so I had some friends over during the week. Like my heart to heart with my BFF neighbor which was LONG overdue. We used to talk all the time, now it is hardly ever. My old roommie Sarah came over as well. That made me happy. I have been hanging out and chatting with my roommate McKenzie a lot this week... which is great. Love that girl and she is so busy with school that I don't get to see her much. We stayed up WAY too late Monday night chatting and making late night runs that we probably shouldn't have....

Speaking of late night runs we shouldn't be making... 711 just opened this week right down the street from us. I'm not sure how happy I am about it. This could be dangerous. But hey... maybe I will love it. During the summer... bike rides to get drinks.

Friday I finally started working on my second T-Shirt quilt with my mom. Only just begun, but I think it is going to be way cute. Now we just need to work on it like once a week.

My brother blessed his baby on Sunday. It was a great and very sweet blessing. I was glad I was able to go. Neat to see my little brother turn into a fine man and a wonderful husband and father. I love him and his family. It was fun to have Irelyn sit with me for a little bit in church.

Saturday my friend Josh came over with his brother to watch a movie in the fort. My friend Dallin also came and so did John. I let Josh choose the movie. Do you know what he chose? Sharknado! I had never heard of it, but I'm pretty sure it was the worse movie I had ever seen in every way. If you want to see something so terrible and unrealistic that it is funny... watch this movie. It is under the horror section on Netflix. We all had a good laugh. We also noticed how specific Netflix is getting when suggesting movies to me. Netflix thinks it knows me so well...

I got new work out clothes last week. Long overdue. They actually fit me well (since I lost so much weight since the last time I bought work out clothes). They make me feel skinny... I wish my regular clothes made me feel the same way. I need new running shoes next. I'm thinking of designing my own on the Nike website. John has caught on when we are shopping... we find something that meets my needs, but then he adds, and it looks girls too. Great. ha ha.

The first counselor in my stake presidency (President Sandburg) gave the devotional at BYU on Tuesday. He did an amazing job... but he always does. That is why I love that guy. He just has a gift. I found out that he worked side by side with Dave (guy I dated last year-ish) in becoming a marriage and family therapist and specializing in what he did that got him the job that he has now. When I told Dave that I know him, he was really happy that I get to work with him. I see why. What an awesome guy. I LOVE hearing him speak and luckily get to hear him pretty often.

Wednesday night and Thursday morning there was fog... and it was SO thick that you could barely see things unless it was right in front of you. Thankfully I'm used to driving in that so it doesn't bother me too much coming from Santa Barbara... but it always weirds me out when it happens in Utah.

I jammed a little bit with my neighbor Jed, the one that works at the piano bar in SLC. He's a cool dude... and a talented dude. I need to jam with him more often because it was pretty fun.

For visiting teaching this month, I decided that we should go out to dinner instead of just sitting at our girls house and chatting. We went and got Indian food (my fav) and I think everyone was glad we did it. Maybe we will do it again sometime. I have really come to like these girls. They are fun. Visiting teaching is not a chore when you become friends with your companion and the girls you teach. :)

Photo of the Week 203

Winter in Utah Valley.

Dinner and a Movie with Des

It had been a while since Desiree and I had gotten together. Too long really. So we decided to change that and got together tonight.

I drove to her house so I could see the twins... and then we went to dinner at Rumbi's (we love and got the same thing... the BBQ Chicken salad) and then we headed over to the movie theater.

I know it is pretty after the fact, but we both had never seen Frozen, so we went to go see that. We laughed throughout the entire thing and loved the music.

We could talk and laugh and be as loud as we wanted cause guess what? We were the only ones there! I love it when that happens. :)

I love my Desiree time. We decided that we had waiting too long and we shouldn't let that happen again. Up until she had kids we were a lot better about keeping in touch. Hopefully it won't be that long until next time.

2nd Biannual Fort Week

This is my 2nd Biannual Fort Week. For those of you who don't know, I started Fort Week in 2010. However, it was only in June every year until last year, I decided it needed to happen twice a year with popular demand and encouragement from some others. I was hesitant at first because I like that it is a special event and it takes me a while to put up the fort... but I think it was a good decision. 

This is the first time ever I have changed the location of the fort. I decided to do it last minute. It is now located in my basement living room instead of the upstairs living room. This makes it a little smaller... however, it it cozy and I like it. I might even like it better. Then I have more control over the fort as well... don't have to worry about roommates planning things and not being able to use it. So... I thought I would share some pictures of my fort in it's new location. 

I haven't had a ton of friends over this time. However, I still have had lots of friends come hang out, have heart to hearts and watch movies in the fort. Plus some sleep overs and I will have Ninja Warrior on Sunday.... as is tradition. Fort week is always a good time! 

DIY Sharpie Mug Craft

Last Friday, when I went to the sleep over... one of the many things we did that night was do a craft. Sarah and Lexi and I love to craft. In fact the last time we got together before this, was to craft... that is when I made a maxi skirt for the first time.

Sarah looked on Pinterest for ideas and found a simple craft. Sharpie Mugs! She went to the store and got us all white mugs (which we paid her for) and brought a bunch of sharpies. 

You just draw on a white mug with a sharpie and then cook it in the over after for a half hour or so at 175 degrees. After it is cooked, the sharpie is not supposed to smear off. However we found that the colored sharpies still smeared after... but the black and red didn't. Good thing I only used black and red. That's all! Easiest craft ever! Here is each of our mugs. I love how we each did something so different, but they all turned out cute.

I pulled from a couple different ideas on Pinterest for the inspiration of mine. I LOVE how mine turned out. A little taste of home in a mug. :) I even wrote home at the bottom of the mug to find when you finish whatever you are drinking. 

So if you ever want a cheap and easy craft.... well, you know what to do.

Meg's Wedding

Today my old roommate and good friend Megan got married. I went to her reception tonight and finally got to meet Justin (her husband). The reception was simple and beautiful in downtown Salt Lake City. They served hot chocolate and waffles. I chatted with some of her family (who are super great) and some friends that went to the wedding.

I love Megan. She is a dear friend and that means a lot to me. I'm happy that she found love and is happy. It is funny to think back at this time last year when we were living together and complaining that we would never get married. Amazing how things can change in a year. I hope I can find the same happy ending that she did... soon would be nice. :) Congrats Meg and Justin.

Flashback Friday 151

In my last confessions I mentioned that I wanted to build a snowman before winter ended. I have never built one before. I have helped with a snow sculpture before. I think they are totally different, which is why I still want to build the traditional snowman.

Back in my Riviera days (Winter of 2005) Monica and I made Big Bertha with our friend in the ward, Shane.  What gave us the idea. We found another snow sculpture at the Riviera built by someone else.

So we decided to do one of our own. Here's how she turned out. (Not my idea by the way.. I just helped)

I think the one we found is more awesome. However... our's was funny. It was funny to make as well.