The Good News

Good news first...
THIS girl is back. Hallelujah. We've missed her.

The Bad news?
That means summer is officially coming to an end.
This summer has been phenomenal. For reaaals. I'll have to do a summer highlights post or something, so I don't forget how much fun I've had.
I guess with all this talk of school we got an itch for new school supplies or something...which resulted in an evening of finger painting.

Which seems to always lead to someone getting their body painted...

Ryan is always a willing candidate.

Mark deemed his painting the winner. Bad Boys for Life.

And Roxies return resulted in a 3-person sleepover, as Jan would call it. We weren't mad about it. Just like bugs in a rug.

The Hot Pockets

"Bandannas are mandatory." That was the only instruction we received before we got picked up to go on our adventure Thursday night.

A conversation from a few hours previous went as follows.
Dean: Hey guys are we going to the hot pockets tonight?
Ryan and I: ...snickering...
Dean: What?
Me: The Hot Pockets?
Dean: Yeah, what? Wait...
Ryan: Dean, they're called Hot Pots. Although we could eat hot pockets while we are in the hot pots.

So, off we went on Thursday night...headed to the hot pockets in Spanish Fork Canyon. We drove up singing our hearts out, as is the norm.

After about 30 minutes of hiking in the dark we started to smell sulfur and we knew we were close.

After getting in we noticed our neighbors in the next pool over started freaking out a little bit, so I ventured over to see what the deal was. Turns out they were getting bit by these swimming beetles. NASTY. I was pretty much done at that point.


Good times. Always.

California Love

Hemet, CA. That is where darling Lola's family resides. Never heard of it? Probably the case...I hadn't until I met Lola. She had to trek down to Cali for a wedding, and so, of course, we had to join her. We love our road trips. We drove down on Thursday and spent the evening cruising the fine town of Hemet.

Friday it was off to San Diego.

Don't worry, Lola and I brought our Jellies. Flashback to 3rd grade? I hope so.

Are you wondering what the BEST PART of the trip was?
I GOT TO SEE ROXIES!!!!
We have spent the whole freaking summer apart due to her stellar internship in San Diego, so I was so excited to see her!! She hung out with us all weekend which was awesome. Much needed.

We played at La Jolla beach in San Diego all day Friday, with a short break to eat at Wahoo's, which was not bad. :)

We drove to Carlsbad for dinner Friday night, and finished off the evening with a trip to Oceanside Pier before we drove back to Hemet.

Saturday we went to Salt Creek Beach at Dana Point. It was BEAUTIFUL. We had such a great time there.


Can't you tell?

This picture might just be the best photo I've ever captured. Every time I look at it I laugh so hard. Each person really pulled their own weight to make this shot happen.

I have some seriously awesome friends.
Lola, Benita, Ryan M, Roxies, Me, Ryan S, and Mark.

Benita even let us bury her in the sand.

After we beached all day we casually made our way in to the Ritz Carlton that is located on the cliffs at Dana Point. We interested ourselves in a little hot tub/pool/fireside nap action. It was awesome.

I love these girls with my WHOLE heart.


We made our way to Pat & Oscars for dinner on Saturday night and it was back to Hemet.

Our trip wouldn't have been complete without a stop by H&M on the way home to break up the drive, and play dress up of course. We had such a great weekend. Thanks Lola!!

Mother Nature: 1 Us: 0

Camping. Not something I'd put at the top of my resume, but whatever. My friends take good care of me, and I love sitting by the fire listening to our favorite tunes, laughing, and getting away from the usual scene.
Last week late Sunday night we packed up and headed up Provo Canyon. No, it was not a holiday come Monday. It was in fact a normal work day. This is why I love my friends. They start your week off right.

Brad and George came and picked Benits and I up, and we met the rest of the crew up at our campsite.

It seemed a little colder than usual but the fire distracted us, and we wrapped right up in our blankets.

George kept us full. He literally packed an entire duffel bag full of sandwiches, cut up fruit, and other treats. Love that Georgey.
*Please note Ryan's Velcro grandpa shoes. He get's a pair every year for activities such as these.

When we go we all sleep under the stars, which is pretty amazing. I love being able to see the sky so brightly, being away from the city lights. Unfortunately for us at about 4:00 AM it started raining. This happened the last time we went camping, so our initial response was to wait it out. I sound super legit right now right? Sleeping under the stars in the rain..I know. I'm a natural born camper. (No, no, I am not.) After about 15 minutes of, "waiting it out," AKA hiding under our blankets, we realized it wasn't going to let up, and that we were actually SOAKED. We cleared the campsite in about 3 minutes, and stuffed our wet selves in our cars to head home. You win mother nature. You win.

Oh Mona.

One of Utah's mecca cities resides about 30 minutes south of Provo just off I15. How I've made it through my entire career of living in Utah and never experienced the rope swing in Mona I will never know. Luckily, Lola, Mark, and Ryan showed me the way.

Unfortunately, the weather was a little colder that we anticipated. Ryan came prepared, wet suit in hand. (Yes, child-size wet suit.)

Mark and Lola ventured into the lake to swim across.

Due to inclement weather I didn't actually get in the lake...next time Mona. Next time.

Awkward service, awkward statues, and awkward movies.

We like to eat, we do.
So, on Friday night we ventured up to Midway to eat at Cafe Galleria. It is a quaint little Italian restaurant that my parents rave about, so we decided to try it out. The food was good and all, but we all agreed on the fact that it must have been the most awkward dining experience of our lives.

The awkwardness began when we couldn't find anyone to help seat us, and finally we were told to just find a table, and someone would come find us. So, we walked around trying to find a good spot. We ended up on the porch of the building, most people eat outside, and we pulled an extra chair around so all 5 of us could have a place to sit. As we were starting to sit one of the workers came rushing over to us telling us that we couldn't sit there because it was against fire code. Instead of helping show us to another table she walked away leaving us stranded and table-less once more. We found another tiny round table we could all huddle around, and then we sat there for another 10 minutes while we wondered if someone was actually ever going to help us. Finally a little tiny girl who spoke hardly any english named, "Ivy Joan," (psssh, yeah right), came and took our orders. She looked like she might burst into tears at any time, and she couldn't understand a word we said. It was rough...

We followed up our dining experience with some gelato at Zermatt.
This is what happens when I tell everyone to "get together for a photo." Thanks guys.

If you'd like to catch us in action however...

Again, soooo cooperative.

We finished off the evening with Step Up 3D. A bad idea. I have loved the other two because although the storyline is usually lacking, the dancing always makes up for it. Not so much in this one. The storyline was awkwardly awful, albeit nonexistent, and the dancing was all computerized, so it wasn't even real talent. LAME. Still a good time though.

You spin me right round baby right round.

80's Dancing. I recommend it.
We got a group together and headed up to Area 51 for a Thursday night of great music, great outfits, and above average dancing.

Let's be honest, I love to dance anyways, but there is just something about the beats of the 80's that makes the moves unstoppable. We didn't get up to the club until about midnight and we danced straight until 2 in the morning. Yep, you bet I was exhausted for my early morning clients, but let's be honest...so worth it.

I still can't stop singing, "Send me an angel." Good times.

Sun, fun, and water. All favorites.

Last week I went to Lake Powell.
It was glorious.
Every year I usually go with the Safford Family. It is a tradition of about 8 or 9 years. Much to our dismay, the family that had the houseboat the week before our planned trip, drove it over a sand bar causing a lot of damage to it and canceling our trip this year. I was very sad indeed...until my friend Ryan Moss invited Benita, Mark and I to go with his family.
Some of the high lights of the trip were...

1. The Moss family. They were awesome, and SO welcoming to let us invade their vacation.
2. The diving board off the back of the boat.
3. Laying in the sun all day. No concern for time or schedule. We put a lot of good hours into the flotation devices we bought.
4. Laughing...a ton.
5. Playing with Ryan's nieces and nephews. His 4 year old niece Bella called Benita and I "The sisters," and was convinced that we were twins. Mark played with Ryan's nephew Tanner for the entire trip. It was adorable.
6. Morning runs. Benita was a good sport and appeased my exercising addiction. We got up a few mornings and went running in the dried riverbed's and through the trails by our camp.
7. The Luau. The Moss family has a theme day every year. This year's theme day was Hawaiian, and both the boat and the vacationers were decorated from head to toe. The day was full of games, tribal tattoos, Hawaiian music, and a dance party.
8. We ended each night with a campfire. It was so amazing. The weather was perfect and we sat by the fire and laughed and talked for hours.
9. Sleeping under the stars. One thing I love about Lake Powell is sleeping up top underneath the stars. The sky is always SO beautiful.
10. Midnight Tiki Torch Hike. On our last night there we realized there was a lot of oil left in the tiki torches, and we figured what better use than a midnight hike through the red rock. It was awesome.
11. Wakeboarding.
12. Trying to explain to the Moss family that I don't like meat. (Ryan's dad is like the CEO of the meat portion of Albertsons or something...needless to say they eat a lot of meat.)
13. Brian, Ryan's brother-in law's, amazing nightly homemade frozen yogurt. Fat free of course. I was seriously in HEAVEN with this one. Yes please.

It was such a good time. I really do love Lake Powell.