An Open House, Surgery, and a Valentine

A week after my brother's wedding in San Antonio, I found myself back in CA for his open house. It was small, so we hosted it at our home and worked hard on all the decor and food. I think it turned out pretty nicely!

Top: 92 y/o Grandpa and my nieces
Middle: Sister and niece, Me with the bride & groom, Sister & Mom
Bottom: Outdoor decor: smore's bar, cake table, drinks

A week after the open house, I found myself at the Provo Hospital, getting my schnoz worked on...again. When I say "worked on," what I mean is I had a deviated septum fixed and nasal polyps removed so that I can breathe properly again. I had this surgery (minus the septum part) once before, about two years ago. So, hopefully this time is the last time. Luckily, coming out of anesthesia came with some funny stories... like taking my latex glove full of ice and putting it on my head exclaiming, "Look, I'm a rooster!"

Top: Surgery
Middle: The Super Bowl, Top Gun in 3D
Bottom: Valentines Day in Vegas

Now, let it be known, that I had the best Valentine this year. You may think yours was the best, and that's great, but I know in my heart that mine was. For Christmas, Devo got me tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil show of my choice. We were already planning a trip to California for President's Day weekend, so we figured we'd tack an extra day on to that and go to Vegas for the show on the way down. Well, naturally I chose the Beatles Love show, because I heart the Beatles in a major way. And it just so happened that the day we ended up being there was Valentines Day.

Before the show, Devo took me to a really nice and delicious restaurant for a filet mignon dinner inside the Mirage hotel. He also got me a beautiful amethyst necklace and hand made me the cutest, most hilarious, pop-up card. The show was amazing, naturally, and the night was perfect. And we were just so thankful to get out of the freezing cold here in Utah!

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at my parent's house in California. We had Taco Shop, played games, watched movies, visited my Grandpa, went shopping, and enjoyed 70 degree sunshine and happiness. It was a great long weekend.

Coming up next: in less than 5 weeks, two of my girlfriends and I are taking a chick-trip to Hawaii for a week. Yesssssssssssss. I. Can't. Wait.

Christmas and a Wedding

Yeah, I know it's almost March. I've just been too busy to keep up! So, here's a whole mess of pictures that capture what the rest of December until early January looked like for me.

Top: Christmas time in Utah
Middle: Coworker and playing with my Niece (she turned me into a boat)
Bottom: Christmas Eve, My niece's cute new outfit, Talking to my missionary bro.

3 Days after Christmas we flew to San Antonion, TX for my little bro's wedding.
We took time to visit the Alamo and do the Riverwalk.

The wedding at the San Antonio Temple. I now have a new Sister-in-Law, Ashley.
And she let me do her up-do for her wedding. 

An Abundance of Fun-Having

Remember that time that I got lazy about my blog? Oh wait, that was the last three months. And now I have so many things to blog about that this post just might end up setting some sort of world record. But, for your sakes (and mine), I'll try to keep it as brief as I can.

As you may remember, my personal goal for this year is "No Fear" - or basically not to let fear keep me from doing things. So, I've made it another sort of, unspoken, goal to just have as much fun as I can. And really, that's what I've been doing. I've been having so much fun!

After my Disneyland trip with Jayni in April, my Mom came up to visit me for Women's Conference, our tradition for the last 6 years.

Then in May, Jayni and I took another trip up to Idaho (AKA The Ranch)for Memorial Day weekend, where I rode a horse for the second time in my life. (First time was in February, also at The Ranch.)

On Memorial Day, we drove home from Idaho and met up with a bunch of friends to see Pentatonix in concert. Also included in this show were BYU's Vocal Point and Delilah. All three are a capella groups (you may remember them from the TV show, The Sing Off - or you may not, whatever). And let me tell you, that show was SO much fun. Pentatonix are extremely talented.

The next weekend I had the pleasure to attend my first sealing ceremony for my dear friend Brittany's wedding. My friend Kathryn came to visit from AZ and we had a BLAST at her wedding. Yes, I know the last part of the previous sentence is counterintuitive, but really, her wedding was so much fun and I was just so happy to see her happy. She deserves it!

Two weeks later I hopped on a plane with my brother and his girlfriend and headed out to Southern CA for my step brother, Ryan's, wedding. It was lovely to spend time with so much of my family - especially my "Step" family - including nieces and nephews.

Look at this little munchkin. Is she not ADORABLE?

When I got back from the CA trip, I got the surprise of my life when I was called into my boss's office one day and asked how I was feeling about my current role on the team. The next thing I know, he's asking me how I would like to be promoted to a manager position with an extra 15K a year for my salary. Definitely wasn't expecting that. But, I graciously accepted (even after he told me to "go buy a damn Elantra." Apparently nobody takes me seriously in my little rolli polli car...weird.) I was pretty much on cloud nine for the next few days.

The promotion was announced the next week at our quarterly team offsite, where we went to the Park City Olympic Park and did team activities that included a Nordic Sprint and a Street Luge/Biathlon. Not going to lie, I almost crashed right into the side of a mountain my first time doing the luge (which was, I suppose, a better option than the alternative, which was to fly off the side of a cliff), but I learned from my mistake and figured out how to steer when it really counted.

Which brings us to the Fourth of July, which I spent lounging by the pool in the daytime and rocking out to The Beach Boys live during the night. Yes, I said The Beach Boys. So what if only one of them is an original. These guys are ancient and they still rock! Besides, their music makes me feel like I'm at the beach in CA, so it's pretty much the sound of home. Can't beat that.

Stadium of Fire was amazing, truly. I can't believe I've lived in Utah for 7 years and this was my first year going. The production was spot on, the fireworks were incredible, and I must be growing up because I think this year was the first time I really thought about what it means to celebrate our freedom. Everyone knows that I'm an England lover - heck, I even spent one of my July 4th's traveling around Southern England. But my experience with living out of the country for just two short months made me appreciate America 100x's more. Ever since then (4 years ago - can you believe that?), The Star-Spangled Banner gets me emotional. And so does watching fireworks explode in sync with a choir singing America the Beautiful, apparently. I love this country.

Mixed into all of those events were a number of pool parties, BBQ's, pedicures, book-reading, and other fun activities. Now, there's just one more (the grand finale) thing to do on my list of things to look forward to this summer: go to Hawaii. Which is happening in a week and a half. And I seriously can't wait!

Two Birthdays and a Wedding

Here's a few quick pictures from my weekend.

Last week my friend Brittany was in town for our friend Emily's wedding. While she was here it was also her birthday. Brittany lives in Maryland (which, for those of you who struggle with geography, means that she lives on the opposite side of the country as me) so I hardly ever get to see her. So having her in town made me feel like I have friends again!

Brittany's birthday dinner!

Then on Friday night I conned Chad into going to the wedding reception with me (HATE showing up to those things alone). Ok, I didn't have to con him. He's so sweet that he said yes. Plus, I went with him to a reception a couple of weeks ago, so I guess he owed me.

Rachel, Brittany, Nikki, Brittany, Raechel - totally accidental!

And the bride. (She and I used to be roommates)

By the way, I heard a quote recently that made me laugh: "At weddings, old people always poke me and tell me, 'you're next!' So I started doing the same thing to them at funerals." Story OF my life.

On Saturday it was Chad's nephew Tyson's birthday, so we went to his brother's house for ice cream and cake. But Tyson doesn't like cake, so his mom made him a super cool donut-hole tower instead. We all sat outside and watched him open presents, then after that I soon found myself playing catch with 5 small children and simultaneously. Which then turned into keep-away (which I do not think is a fun game! Especially since I'm usually in the middle!) For some reason these kids think that I am so much fun. Did you read that people? I'm fun! Anyways, and then Chad and I tossed a football around for awhile. Loved it. Loved all of it. And now my butt is sore from running around on the grass. Pathetic.