Playing Grown Up

My cousin Katie and I are 6 weeks apart to the day. We did everything together growing up. She lived in CA when I did and then she moved back East when she was probably 8 or 9 and my family followed a few years later. We were even baptized on the same day! So naturally when she had her first little baby doll I had to go spend some time with her and baby Cami. I bought a plane ticket (for the same price as driving) and flew to LA for four days. She lives in the cutest house right smack in the middle of Los Angeles!

Even though Cami was only a few weeks old, Katie threw a big bbq for me! My cousin Aubs and her husband came and my bff Mary and her family came! It was so fun to see everyone. Katie and I spent the rest of the week snuggling Cami, going on a walk where we trudged through the LA forrest and bought $10 worth of candy at the gas station!, eating at Cafe Rio and another delicious place right by her house, going to the singles ward ;), and just talking. I don't know how much of a help I was but I learned soooo much about newborns! My favorite part was taking a nap with Cami in my arms ( I know the nurses frown on this but it was so special!)

I was sad to go but I get to see them again in August and I can't wait to see how big my little Cami will be!


Enjoying the beautiful California weather

Mary! We grew up together (well from the time I was 13) in PA and were roomies in college. Now she is married with 3 beautiful children!

The only picture taken of us!

The Wild West

A few weeks back we took a road trip down to Tombstone, Arizona. Matt has literally been begging me to go there ever since we moved here three years ago. My Aunt and Uncle are both very adventurous and so when he mentioned it to them there was no more putting it off!! Tombstone is very close to the Mexican border about 1 hour south of Tucson. We drove down Friday night and stayed in a nice hotel in town. When we checked in we asked the front desk attendant if there were any good restaurants in town (it was 8pm). She said, "you want a restaurant that is open"? haha...yes..."well they all close by 8pm but try the bar, it might be open until 9pm". Ok so I don't know how people live there but to each his own! We did find a place that was open and Matt won a prize (which means he found hair in his food!!) We all got a good laugh. ~ Saturday morning we had a delicious hot breakfast at the hotel which was included in the price. Then we headed over to Boothill Graveyard which is a real graveyard but also a museum. It was very interesting to read the reasons people died 150 years ago....lots of violence and freaky deaths. After that we headed downtown and saw some people competing in a shooting competition....Matt really wished he could have joined! After watching them he got the bug and had to find a shooting range. We found a shop that let you shoot old guns but they weren't full of bullets just paint pellets. Matt had a great time doing that and I even shot some and hit the paper cutout in the head! Watch out! We next went to the Birdcage Theater where all of the 'cool' people used to hang out. There were nightly shows, gambling, and prostitutes. Who could ask for more?! The theater museum was kind of spooky but I got to learn about all of the prostitutes at the end so it was worth it! The most famous wild west men would frequent the Birdcage Theater like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. After touring Tombstone and learning all about how people used to live I am SO grateful I live in this day and age. ~ So after Tombstone we headed 45 minutes South to Bisbee, Arizona. It's a little town with the homes built into the hills. We had a fantastic lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then walked around. Let's just say it's a hippy town and kind of weird. After that we headed home. Glad Matt got to finally accomplish one of his life long dreams! Next time it will be my turn to pick our weekend getaway!

Occupy Bisbee

Bisbee, AZ We also took Old Time Photos but I don't have the picture yet. We dressed up as bandits!! So fun.

My New Frenemies

Matt has been telling me for some time that he keeps seeing owls sitting on fence posts in our neighborhood as he drives to work in the early morning. I believed him but never saw the owls myself (I don't get up before 8am....just sayin). So a couple of months ago I was driving at dusk and I saw the little precious things sitting on the school fence. Since then we have gone on many walks and taken pictures of the burrowing owls. They like to live in the ground and burrow into the dirt...hence their name. However, these owls do not live in a dirt hole. No they are much more sophisticated. They live in the rain gutter! I don't know what happens to them when it rains but good thing they live in AZ. There are three of them that live near the school and we always see them on our night walks. They don't like when we get too close and they hiss at us. That is why they are frenemies and not just friends. We are getting there slowly but surely! Matt wants to take them some meat and see what they do. I got a new camera from Matt and took these pictures. Aren't they just the cutest things you have ever seen? I've only named one so far and his/her name is Hoot. I'm still working on the others.

Family Time

We were so happy when we found out that Matt's sister's family was coming to Arizona for a few days. They spent Friday night and all day Saturday with us at our house. The girls went swimming literally all day long! It wasn't even that warm but at 8:30am they were out in the pool! Glad the pool gets some use! Friday night we went to a spring training game. Angels vs Indians. We were planning on sitting in the berm but it was sold out so we sat in the left field seats. The Angels won!! Saturday we hung out while the girls swam and then we had to go to Cabela's! Matt has to go there every chance he can get. In fact I think he is there right now. He shops more than I do! Anyways we had a lot of fun and love when family visits!

Hunger Games Review

I absolutely have been looking forward to this movie ever since they announced they were going to make it! I read the first book almost three years ago and it has been one of my favorites. So I knew I had to see the midnight showing with my girlfriends. We were invited to a party type premiere with giveaways and swag bags. The party was fun but I didn't love that we sat in the 3rd row! The movie is shaky and my eyes were killing me by the end. Anyways, so my review of the movie is that it was EXCELLENT. I loved it. I loved it even more when Matt and I went to see it last Friday. Yes I have seen it twice already and yes I want to see it again but I'll restrain myself! Of course the movie doesn't have everything the book has but for a 2 1/2 hour movie I think they did pretty good!

I Won Something!!!

So when it comes to contests everyone in my family knows that my sister Lauren is the big winner. She wins EVERYTHING. In the past year she has won a Hershey's contest, tickets to a BYU football game and a tour of the stadium, $150 worth of BYU bookstore gift cards, a night at any Ayres Hotel and $50 Visa gift card, and the list goes on....well its also no secret that I enter every single contest under the sun. So when I saw my name on Deseret Book's Facebook status as a winner I was SOO excited. I called my Dad and he just laughed....he finds it amusing that we enter all of these contests.  So I am now the proud owner of a signed Jimmer DVD! I'm on a roll and I'm hoping to win a hawaii getaway next haha.

 

Girl's Camp Fundraiser

So this year for the fundraiser the girls decided on doing a mexican fiesta dinner and a silent auction (well the leaders kind of decided and the girls ok'd it!) We started in January by promoting it and passing around sign up sheets for donations for the auction. Our ward was so incredibly generous! We had over 50 items and about 20 desserts for the live auction. I was also very fortunate that my Uncle is VERY generous and donated a ton of Xbox and Wii games and accessories for the auction. I asked him if he had anything lying around his office and I really thought he would just send one game....well he sent a HUGE box of stuff, all brand new!!
The girls were very involved and helped out a ton with their fundraiser! They made up the auction sheets, made reminder calls, made the flyers, donated services, wrote the thank you notes, set up, etc! For dinner we had sweet pork, chipolte chicken, and ground beef with lettuce, tomato, fresh made salsa, homemade refried and black beans, homemade lime rice, chips, and yummy tortillas. I think people were impressed that it was 'authentic'. Everything was made from scratch! The decorations were beautiful! The girls made the tissue flower centerpieces and all of the table cloths and runners were donated from a wedding the week before the auction! One of the YW was the emcee and Matt was our auctioneer for the desserts! He is good at that kind of thing haha.  Oh yeah and we also had a talent show that night! Busy busy night packed with FUN! We had a lot of help from everyone in the ward and we are so so grateful for it. In the end the girls raised enough money to cover girl's camp (including the leaders)!


Getting ready and writing Thank you notes to all the donators!

Silent Auction tables

 

 

 

 

We had so many great items and some of them went for a ton of money! Ward members donated Suns tickets, crafts, services, gift certificates for hair cuts, laser treatements, craft classes, and professional teeth whitening! The only thing I forgot to auction off was a bounce house rental...I'm still upset I forgot! Thanks anyways Poiette!!

 

The lemonade was even homemade!

 

 

Matt made this golf cake for the live auction! He is the domestic one in this relationship! So talented.