Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

The month of December was not quite as crazy as my November, but it was a close second. I ended school at the beginning of the month and got straight A's! Something I haven't done since like Elementary school. Not that I get bad grades I usually just get a mixture of A's and B's and the occasional C. I was super happy about getting straight A's! Anyway preparing for Christmas is always fun and stressful, we bake goodies for our neighbors and friends and that is always a marathon! My brother Danny was able to come home this year for Christmas for the first time in years! It was awesome having everyone together and welcoming two new members! Danny is engaged and brought his fiance home for Christmas! Her name is Megan and we are so excited they are getting married July 9th in Idaho! Also my brother Ryan and his wife had a little baby girl on December 12th, they named her Maggie! Roman their 4 year old loves being a big brother, he would barely let anyone hold Maggie at the hospital it was adorable! During Christmas our house becomes sort of a winter wonderland, I took pictures this year to show everybody how into Christmas we get around here! These pictures are just a sample of all the directions we have everywhere!

Christmas Pictures:

This is our advent calendar that my mom has had since all of us were little. We always put all the Christmas cards everyone sends us up around it.

This bathroom is always decorated with snowmen, and the soap dispenser sings Frosty the Snowman when you push it to get soap.

This is a close up of our Winter Village that stays up for 2 months! December and January!

The whole Village

I just think this is so pretty! And Jesus stays up year round!


Our Christmas tree with out of control presents! It gets worse and worse every year!

Now for the outside. Our front porch

My mom has had these lollipops for awhile now and they were starting to look old and beaten up so she bought some fabric and ribbon and made them look new again!

The small part of our front yard

This is a portion of our large part of the front yard. My mom loves dogs and those two and the presents were a new addition to our yard this year.

Almost the whole house!

I realize that it's not very dark in the pictures, but it was the only time I got around to taking them! I love how festive we get!

Well Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2011 already! 2 years ago this time I was getting ready to move to Italy and now I'm getting ready to move to Flagstaff (not as drastic). I had a great New Year's Eve! I spent with a few close friends and we went to the Fiesta Bowl Block Party on Mill! We specifically went to see Jimmy Eat World! Which if you didn't know they are from Mesa and went to my high school Westwood the same time as my brother. They were fantastic live! One of the best concerts I have been too! I mean I don't go to very many but still they were awesome! There was some crazy body surfing and semi mosh pit stuff happening and I thought some girl was going to try to fight me but it all made for a good laugh at the end of the night! Going to their concert made me want to get back into their music and they have 2 other Cd's since the last one I have.

Jimmy Eat World at their best!


I have a few New Year's Goals not all of which I'll share on here but the couple that I really hope I accomplish are....

1. Be under a certain weight by my brother's wedding

2. Run a 5k in April with my sisters

3. Work on my scrapbook and finish all my Europe pictures by the end of the year.

Happy New Year!

My Crazy Month!!

This November has been the most hectic month of my life! It has been one thing after the other! It has all been good things I just feel like I have been so busy and running around that I haven't had anytime to relax until today! So November 1st is my lovely mother's birthday and this year she turned 60! So my dad really wanted to throw her a surprise party and enlisted me as his party planner! So I did my best and rounded some of the neighbors and all my siblings (except Danny) and pulled it off! My mom has a total aversion to being in the spotlight but I think she enjoyed herself at the party!

This look says everything! haha

I tried to have all her favorite things there, the color yellow, Mexican food, and nameless cake. That cake has 60 candles in it! Me, my brother Ryan and Kim Deering were all lighting it at the same time!

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My birthday also happens to be in November! It was November 11th, yep I am veteran's day baby and I always love it! I always get school off for my b-day! So my best friend Alana took me out to breakfast at Crackers with a few other friends I wanted there!

At Crackers with Whitney, Tracy, Jill, Melanie, & Alana

I also babysit for my brother every Thursday afternoon and Friday morning and the week of my birthday he didn't make any exceptions, so I still had to babysit! But look how cute my nieces and nephews are!

Morgan, Ava, & Lilly


They love taking pictures with me! haha


Every other Friday my sister Carrie babysits our nephew Roman, I helped her out the Friday after my birthday so she could go have lunch with some friends!

Roman & Lilly at the park! They are the same age

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My friend Ashlee has this crazy neighbor Patty who got ellen tickets so on November 17th we drove to and from California in one day. Never again will I do that! I was exhausted for like 3 days afterwards! The hour we were in the studio was so much fun! And Ellen is awesome! We got the first season of glee and the Lee Dewyze CD. The other 19 hours we were with Patty were seriously hell on earth! That woman complained about EVERYTHING!! She also was the worst kind of passenger....a back seat driver! When we got our free gifts from ellen this conversation seriously happened.

Patty: How much will these go for on e-bay?

Guy giving gifts: That's not very nice.

Patty: Yeah well Glee sucks!

How embarrassing is that?! If that doesn't tell you how our 20 hour day went with this lady I don't know what else will!

Ashlee, Me, and Holly! We love ellen!

Holly, Ashlee, & Me! See that lady in the back?! That's Patty! She ruined ellen for us!

A cute picture without crazy Patty!

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So pretty much October and November Alana & I have been planning and prepping for our 2nd murder mystery party! Well it was so stressful, time consuming, and so much work! But somehow we managed to pull off another successful party! Alana is so talented and stresses me out with all that creativity and talent that I just can't handle sometimes! I had an emotional breakdown that day from all the stress of the party and school and everything else going on! But I recovered in time for the party! And everyone seemed to love it! So thanks to everyone who made it great!

Alana built this wall! Like I said she stresses me out! haha

This was the purpose of the wall, sorry about the cleavage! haha

Again the purpose of the wall!

Tracy made the food! It was excellent and doesn't this display look beautiful!

Kalli, Alana's sister did the mocktails I believe! I made myself two and they were delicious!

Our Patriarch of the family we were all connected to for the story! Do you know who it is?

The whole group!

So between school, parties, and family birthdays this month has been so crazy and busy! Good things have happened though, I threw two fabulous parties, got to spend sometime with friends and family, signed up for classes next semester with some difficulty, and officially have a place to live in Flagstaff for next year! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have a lot to be grateful for! I'm so grateful for this busy month and all the things I was able to accomplish even when I thought it wasn't possible, I'm thankful for the house I got in Flagstaff, I'm thankful for my nieces and nephews and how much joy they bring my family, I'm thankful that my mom is a great cook/baker and is willing to teach me and I'm thankful for the gospel in my life!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Flagstaff

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Flagstaff for 3 reasons.

Reason 1: Look for a place to live

Reason 2: Go support my cousin and attend his football game

Reason 3: See family

It was a short but sweet trip, my parents, myself and my sister Carrie headed up to Flagstaff on saturday morning and we came back sunday afternoon. We arrived at about 12:30, so I headed to the institute hoping to find some information about housing as I am planning to move up there in January. I was so fortunate to come across this girl who is looking to renew her lease and needs new roommates in January. It couldn't have been more perfect! After that we met up with my aunt and uncle and their family at the Sizzler for lunch and then went to the game at 3 pm in the Sky Dome. NAU played Montana State and they were supposed to get killed but NAU killed them 34 to 7! It was a great game to attend! It was also so great so see all of my cousins! Especially my cousin Kira who is married now so she can't regularly go on family trips! After the game we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner and while at dinner my cousin informed me the house I was interested in was in his neighborhood. So while his family headed back to Kingman and mine back to the Travelodge (yep we stayed at one of those) we went and checked out the house. It was such a cute house in a very nice neighborhood, its close to campus and my cousins house, the girl that I met and showed me the place seemed really awesome! However the only downfall is they need 2 other roommates besides me to keep the house so hopefully she will be able to find them soon so I can live there as well!

I'm just so excited about actually moving to Flagstaff! I have always wanted to go to NAU every since my brother Danny played football there! It holds so many great childhood memories for me there and I'm excited to create great adult memories there as well! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll get this house!

The Second Annual Murdery Mystery Party

Last year me and my best friend Alana threw a fabulous Murder Mystery Party! It was so much fun and a ton of work for us! We really enjoyed it and I think are planning to make it an annual occurrence! Last year this was all the people who attended the party.

This year we are hoping for the same turnout, maybe a little more! So I would like to know who is interested in coming this year? If you are, let me know and get me your address by October 9th. Since this party takes so much work and preparation we are kind of strict on certain details. If I don't get your address by the 9th you won't receive an invitation, if you do not RSVP by the designated date you won't be able to attend the party, and you must not be late for the party! Some details you need to know about the party are that it will be held on November 20th and that the theme is the 1950's. So if you missed out last year and don't want to this year come! And if you came last year and know of someone who would like to come have them get in contact with me!

Inspiration

I haven't posted anything since my amazing trip to Seattle, but I was thinking the other day while watching the travel channel where my love of travel came from. Growing up as a child my parents took us on family vacations quite often. We used to go to Disneyland every summer as I was growing up, or it just seems that frequent in my memories of my childhood. I can recall a trip to Mexico we took with a bunch of neighbors, I think I connect this trip mostly with my eldest brother threatening to tie me to the luggage rack of our 89 GMC suburban, I was 4 or 5 back then and I just roamed the car, no rules of car seats for toddlers in the early 90's. I remember a family trip to the Grand Canyon where my brother who is just above me in the age line up threatened to push me in I believe I was only 7 and terrified of the Grand Canyon right up until I went for the second time in my life a few years ago. I can remember a trip to Utah to visit my sister at BYU, numerous trips to Flagstaff to see every home football game of my brother's for 4 years straight, this is the reason I fell deeply in love with Flagstaff and have always wanted to live there for a short period of time. Other exciting family vacations included Disney world when I was in the 7th grade, Washington D.C. in the 8th grade, and more recent ones have been San Diego a few times, Las Vegas, Disneyland of course, even as adults my whole family still loves Disneyland, and New York City with my sisters and mom! So as you can see I have been traveling my whole life but I never really became infatuated with it until I saw this woman on this network....

Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel

I just happened to come across a show called Passport to Europe and have watched every single episode since. This woman inspired me to study abroad and truly experience another country and what it has to offer! Before I even saw this show I had been to Canada, Mexico and Germany already. I didn't really appreciate this fact until I saw her show and her excitement for each new adventure she went on! I decided I am going back to Europe to truly appreciate it, I decided about a year and half before I actually did study abroad that I was going too! At that time I narrowed my choices down to France, Italy, and Australia. France because I took 3 years of french in high school, Italy because I had learned so much about its ancient architecture from interior design school, and Australia because of my aunt who is a native of there and I just adore her. Italy ultimately won out in the end as you know and I have this TV woman to thank for getting me excited about traveling! She also has passport to Latin America which I have also seen every episode of, and Passport to Great Weekends, which is traveling within the United States and Canada, and more recent Passport to Asia! They are all truly amazing! There are so many amazing places to see in this world it's so incredible! Thanks Samantha Brown for being my inspiration to travel!

Seattle!!!

Since my blog was created for writing about traveling adventures, I should probably write about my vacation to Seattle a few weeks ago! I had the chance to visit my friend Cassie, who recently moved to Seattle for culinary school, over 10 days. I arrived June 24th and came home July 3rd. It was such a fun vacation! It was just the right amount of mixing touristy with relaxing things. The day after I got there was Cassie's birthday, so me, her, and her roommate Julia went to Pike's Place Market and spent a good amount of time there. Julia and I decided we would tell everyone we came across that it was Cassie's birthday to see how much free stuff she could get! It was really fun! Julia even had a street musician sing Happy Birthday to her! That night we went out to dinner at this really good Mexican restaurant called Cactus. Being that I was in Seattle and visiting a culinary student, I ate a ton of food, which I don't regret any of it, well except maybe the fig bruschetta! haha. Saturday Cassie and I headed down to the waterfront to walk around and check some tourist shops out! I made out so good on this trip, I had a free place to stay (Thanks so much again Cassie and Julia!), my ticket was $30 round trip (thanks mom!), and Julia works at a souvenir shop so I got a sweatshirt and magnet for $14 (you rock Julia!) So needless to say most of my money went to paying for all the yummy food I tried! Well Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday Cassie had to work, so Sunday we went to the Fremont flea market and I was in heaven! It was reminiscent of a European market, which I miss so much! Cassie came to the market with me for a little while then had to go to work. I browsed through the market for a couple hours, and explored downtown Fremont. Then I made my way over to Ballard because there was a Farmers market going on over there as well, so I walked from Fremont to Ballard which took me over an hour, but the weather was nice so I didn't mind too much! I ate lunch at this really good Italian place called Palermo's in downtown Ballard. The next day my brother Danny and his girlfriend Megan were able to drive from Idaho and spend a few days with me in Seattle! This was so much fun! I was so happy to see my brother who I don't get to see very often because he lives in Idaho and finally meet his girlfriend! She met my whole family while I was in Italy! The first day they were in Seattle we went to the Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder, where the salmon make the trek upstream from the ocean back into the lake. We then hung out until dinner with her friends who all live in Seattle. It was nice because me and my brother were able to catch up a lot at dinner. The next day was my ultimate tourist day! Danny, Megan, and I bought a city pass and did the Space Needle, the Pacific Science Center, The Harbor Cruise Tour, the Seattle Aquarium and the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum. It was an exhausting day but a lot of fun! The next day Cassie had off so we all went out to breakfast together at this delicious place called The Dish in Fremont. Danny and Megan headed back to Idaho that morning and Cassie and I babysat her niece Maci. After we were done babysitting we went and saw Eclipse. Thursday Cassie had to babysit her niece and another little girl named Elvie, so we took them to the Woodland Park Zoo, which was also a attraction on the city pass, which Seattle's Zoo is pretty cool! They had some neat animals there! Friday we decided to do Theo's Chocolate Factory Tour, this was probably one of my favorite things we did! The tour was extremely informative and the chocolate was delicious and you get to sample a lot at the low price of $6! The actual chocolate bars are pretty expensive but sooo good! After the tour we headed over to Bainbridge Island just to walk around and check it out, the downtown had some cute shops in it and I got a really cute address book! The next day was my last day so I just relaxed and got ready to go home! It was so much fun seeing Cassie and meeting her sister, niece and roommate! They were all great! I had a ton of fun! It was a great vacation! Sorry this post is so long but I was there for 10 days! haha

Here are some pictures from my trip:

Cassie's birthday at Pike's Place

The waterfront

Fremont Market

Chocolate Tour

Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder

Space Needle

Pacific Science Center

Harbor Cruise

Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum

Horrible Depictions of Jacob and Edward

On the ferry to Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island