Rascals

Okay, my sister-in-law had her baby on the 22nd, and my other nephew turned two yesterday, and it just got me thinking how much I LOVE being an aunt.

New little Isabella is the sweetest little sloth in the world. I'm in love.

 And her mommy is a great photographer.

Boys will be boys.  For Drew's birthday party, they rode around in Noah's Car and played remote control cars.

They are the best of friends.

 They can't steer the car on their own, so while Noah pushed the gas pedal, Scott pulled them around on his bike.  Aren't they the sweetest?  I could just smother.

Happy second birthday to Drew-bee.  I can't believe he's only two, he's the smartest boy in the WORLD.  He is the happiest, nicest, friendliest, cutest little boy, and he always makes me smile even if I'm having a bad day. I love him.

So THANK YOU to my great brothers for making me an Auntie four times so far.  I love all four of these kiddos, and the fifth on the way ;) Some perks to being the youngest child.

Thoughts

This Valentines day, I was sick as a dog. Not really, but I had a horrendous cold.  Reid asked me to be his, I mean her Valentine this year, and I was happy to oblige.  Sometimes people tease us that we are connected at the hip, but whatever.  We are.

We had a nice Valentines day filled with heart shaped pizza from Brick Oven and the only thing that I MIGHT love more than Reid herself: Brick Oven Rootbeer.

Chuck Bass also made an appearance.  He's been doing that for the past month or so.  He knocks on our door, so we let him in and then he doesn't leave for way too many hours. Overstays his welcome.  All the same, I loved this Valentine that Shannon shared on Facebook.  So Chuck.

I've had it with the "Cougar Eat." I'm not kidding I can't eat there one more day.  Luckily Reid discovered that they have CORN DOGS at the bowling alley downstairs.  Usually I just walk home and eat, but neither of us could pass this up.  Reid loves the great vibes in there... So do I.

 It's always a good day when there are wigs involved.

We went to Sonic way too late the other night, and Caitlyn had the classic fat kid moment.  She dropped her entire Ice Cream cone on the FLOOR.  Allison asked the guy if she could get a new one. He said no. And then he gave her a new one...

Also, Sonic has THEEEE best real fruit slushies. Get one.

I love my niece and nephews.  I went on a date last weekend with THIS guy:

and literally within the first 5 minutes he said to me "I promise my niece and nephews are cuter than yours, Andrea"  HELLO! Everybody thinks their own nieces and nephews are the cutest ones, so don't talk to me about who is cuter here, buddy.

Laughing is the absolute ultimate. Just like Gidget.  Sometimes it gets the best of Reid and me.  This morning after stats, we laughed for an entire 10 minutes straight about a Gorilla Suit...  Then I sent her this picture and we continued to laugh, even though we weren't together.

I have a friend, Kristine, who loves going to movies after school.  It's like a night time thing, or something you do when you have a lot of time on your hands, but you just go to a quick showing after school.  Well, that's how I feel about snowboarding.  Robert, Allison and I had a quick trip to Sundance after class today and it's was a treat.  Not to mention the treat that I bought in the lodge while we were there, WHEWIE!

Also, I have a bruise on my arm from Allison pinching me while we were getting off the lift for the 400th time.  Intentional.  She has a hard time with the second stop...

Reid is on a date right now.  He shows up at our door Sunday night, Reid is in a blanket. He asks if she's sick and she says no.  She's never talked to the guy.  He asks her if he can call her on Tuesday and ask her out for Wednesday.... She says sure.  He says he hopes he doesn't interrupt any Valentines dates. (Only her date with me and Chuck Bass, but go ahead).  He calls on Tuesday:

"He Allison, I was thinking we could just get some ice cream or something. Super quick.  We can just chat and get to know ya a little bit."

Is this a date, or a bishop's interview...?

Happy Wednesday! I'm off to barb. AKA, Zumba Tone.  AKA, me getting ripped.

Fat Kid Chocolate Cake

Last weekend, Allison and I competed in a vigorous competition for:

A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF FREE MAGLEBYS CHOCOLATE CAKE.

You read that correctly. A LIFETIME.

(My friends and I in High School used to call this cake "Fat Kid Chocolate Cake" and that is just what it is).

We got to watch part of the first half from underneath the tunnel.  It was a sold out game, so we had a full house.

We began the competition with a strategy in mind.  We were going to get as much of the cake in our hair as we could, simply to get rid of it faster.

Unfortunately, we only walked away with a $25 gift certificate each to Maglebys.  But we sure got messy.  Our opponent had a pretty crazy great strategy himself, and ate his cake like a literal watermelon...  But hey, cake and great memories nonetheless. 

"It took us 3 days and a whole bottle of shampoo to get the stripper cake out of our hair."

Not really, but it did take a good 10 minutes in the bathroom at halftime, where there were 50 ladies asking us why the heck we were such a mess, and what they possibly could have missed.

Unfortunately, the rookie from Maglebys told me to turn my back to the student section, "so we could get all the angles...." So, pardon my view here.  But check out Allison's Bob Malooga technique here. 

So fantastic.

OYE!

Do I know what Oye means?? HECK NO!! But I'm just gonna take a minute and talk about the things I've been lovin lately, and the first is OYE!!

Thank YOU ward Zumba for introducing this BEAUTY. I listen to it while I study, and often catch myself movin in my seat JUST a little...

The next thing I'm obsessed with lately is BREAKING DAWN. I know, I know, Twilight is so cheesey, and the honeymoon scenes were a little too steamy and gosh, it was BORING... but I liked it. I've seen it three times, thank you. Twice in one day.  and THANK YOU Twilight for bringing this little number into my life. This is on repeat in my room today. Love.

I'm loving the braid. So easy to throw it backk.

 COUNTRY STRONG!! this is up there with Twilight lately.  I was sick last weekend with the flu and this saved me.  I watched it three times.

 OMLETS!! I finally bought a frying pan and learned how to cook these suckers... WHEW. Eat them every other day at least. I'll be working at the Hyatt in no time. That's how good these babies are.

 FAMILY TIME. Love my Niece and Nephews. TO DEATH. Drew has been into "Andews" these days. I'm loving that.

 Missing this little lady, but still loving her, you know?? 

Thank goodness for Skype, eh??

 So grateful for this guy.  Keepin it fresh over here at Conto Road. Seriously, a great friend right there.  We've been having some killer hot chocolate weeknights. Get together, drink hot chocolate with marshmallows, and "Talk about our days, you know?"

 My new instagram app, slash instagram in general. Havin so much fun with this. Hilarious! haha

 My new Christmas banner I made in my family room. Makes my day everytime I walk inside.

 Watchin my little guy. He came over to my apartment today and we had a blast together as always.

 CHRISTMAS TREATS!! Yum. Made great use out of these.  I've been usin all the things I already have and it's great.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I finally finished my family's Christmas card... Voila!

A worthy report

HEYO! Okay, so Thanksgiving rules. Thanksgiving BREAK rules.  I've been so busy doing so many fun things! I always say I don't love Thanksgiving because I feel like I'm just bored. Not this year, no way, uh uh. I promised myself to keep busy every waking moment. SO, I planned some craft times, and my family did a bunch of stuff together which I LOVED.  I'm blessed to live so close to all of my brothers still, and hang out with them every Sunday for a couple of hours, but it was nice to spend an entire 4 days just hanging out and doing fun stuff with everyone. I loved.  Okay, so I started making this quilt in August, but then school started and I'd just had it with cutting and sewing and cutting and CUTTING, so I stopped working.  But I finished over the break, and I love it.  I'm so proud of my first quilt. I'm like a small child.  Anyway, I just wanted to post about my lovely quilt and Thanksgiving break and how splendid it was. Back to the grind on Monday. FML.

Tying it was rough, cause we had two little rascals running around trying to step on it, and hide under it, and crawl around it, and throw cars on it.... we eventually got her done when we moved up into my mom's bedroom and locked the door... Thank you to my mom and Andi for the help on this beast.

Extra fabrique for some ninja time? Yes.

Hailey joined me. HIEEE-YA!

(Don't know what's up with Hailey's eye there in the left shot...woops)

 And THIS is my pinterest wreath. Isn't it just lovely? I had so much fun making it. One of the more FUN crafts I've ever done, actually.  And I have one more thing that I made that I just love love, but I haven't hung it up at my apartment yet, so no pictures.  But they will come when I get them.

Happy Holidays everyone.  I can tell already this Christmas is going to be one of my best.  It's been one of the seriously best years of my life, 2011.  I can't wait to see what 2012 brings.

Love.

IS THIS REAL LIFE?!!

K, this is killing me. I'm in love.

I am a happy camper.

I am so happy with my life right now. Everything I've been wishing for this entire year is coming true. I hope it lasts.

Speaking of camper... I want to go camping. In Moab. In the next week, I already have the whole thing planned out in my mind.

I have a job now. I like it. I'm learning a lot.

Now that Robert and Tawni are married, they're bored. I see Robert more now than I have in a few years. I love that.

Is my blog boring? The layout plus the writing? Probably.

I'm going to make a quilt. Yes, I want to start tomorrow with Mon. It's going to be a cutie.

I am going to buy a bike. I've been wanting one for so long and then I went on a bike ride this week and confirmed it. Good thing I have a job.

Not taking classes this Spring was the best thing I ever did for myself. Am I a little bored at times? Yes, but I try to fill some of that time with useful activity.

I love the old folks home. They are such a treat and always happy to see ya. Bingo Thursdays here we come!

Doesn't it seems like you go through a lul, and then everything comes at once? You had nothing to do all day, and then all of a sudden, two things come up at the exact same time.

It's dumb when people get awkward over things that you try to make normal.

I like shopping and John Mayer.

I bought Country Strong a few days ago. Seen it twice since. It's a great flick.

C squared.

My roommate and best friend had a birthday on Saturday. She's pretty.

She is 20, so these are 20 Reasons why I love Caitlyn:

1. We have the best meeting story that anyone has ever known, and she still lets us talk about it and it never really does get old!

2. She's always down for something fun.

3. She's one of the best friends in the whole world.

4. She is always thinking of others and genuinely wants her friends to be happy.

5. She's a great listener and she gives great advice. When I spill my thoughts that are so repetative and boring, she always actively listens and tells me what she thinks of what I'm saying. Can't explain how much I appreciate this one.

6. She's HI-LARIOUS. Even when she doesn't know it, she says the funniest things that make my day.

7. When she thinks something is extra funny, she laughs really hard and it's one of my favorite laughs in the whole world.

8. We have a special boy bond. Nobody else will ever understand.

9. She always shares her great music with me, and gets me hooked on all the latest.

10. She shares my love for celebrity gossip. I came home about a month ago and she said "GUESS WHAT?!" And I said "WHAT?!" and she said, "ZAC AND VANESSA BROKE UP!!" -- I loved it.

11. She HATES scary movies, and even though she makes them not scary for me, I love watching them with her because she is so hilarious when she screams and freaks out at it!

12. She has the most beautiful voice in the world and she serenades me.

13. She wrote me a song about my life and nailed it. She wrote the perfect song for what I needed.

14. She eats cookie dough and pizza rolls with me in the wee hours of the night.

15. She always wants to know what you're doing in the day, and checks in on how your day was, how your test went, or how dinner was. She's very thoughtful. Even though it's small little things everyday, she probably doesn't even know how much I appreciate it.

16. She gets in these rants that she probably hates, but secretly I love when she gets in those moods... haha

17. I love how excited she gets when she has big news. She starts with "OH MY GOSH YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!" And I know it's going to be good.

18. She's a great wingman and always comes with me when I need some moral support. I wish I could be more like her in this way.

19. She has one of the greatest families in the world, and they are always so nice to me.

20. She helps me get ready in times of need, and picks out my clothes and straightens my hair!

I could go on and on. Love you Cait, Happy birthday!

It's been awhile.

The library is a great place. Always a familiar face. (Whether I just know them because they study by me everyday, or I really know them is questionable).

In marriage class today we learned about dating and then courting. Caitlyn turned to me and said

"So what's inbetween? Friends with benefits?"

I cracked up.

Then Robert wrote out the real order for us. It goes like this:

Before dating, Dating, (Apartment 15), courting, engagement, marriage.

I cracked up again.

It seems like the times when I update my blog is when I'm particularly swamped on school work. It shouldn't be this way.

You can't ask boys advice about other boys. Even if they beg you to tell them because they know everything and they have all the good advice in the world. Cause you know what? The truth is that boys advice only applies to boys that are like them. And I'm wondering about the kind of guys who like to give the advice.

I went ice skating last night. Stake activity. Was I forced onto the rink? Yes. Did I appreciate the force? .................yes.

Wishing that I were here with these wonderful people instead:

Is this not the best picture of Caitlyn on earth?

Last night I got kicked out of the library. No I didn't do anything outrageous or out of line. I was just here too long and the workers wanted to go home... I don't know why.

Nobody warned me that dating in college would be such a nightmare on my brain. What the heck?

Music really helps me get through my day. I have a study song. It's the only thing I can listen to while I study. It's called Moonlight Sonata. It's on a constant repeat.

L.I.F.E. G.O.E.S. O.N. - Noah and the Whale

I babysat my niece and nephew yesterday and Hailey started singin, "partyin partyin, YEAH!" I laughed and recorded her sing a good 30 seconds of the song word for word.

Caitlyn: "It's so simple a baby can learn it."

We had a ward fireside on Sunday night and there was some great points made. I have a few things to change in my current life.

I need another road trip stat.

I've moved my studies into the Asian Collection. It's quite nice in here.

It's sad how you live somewhere, meet a lot of people, the semester ends, everyone moves somewhere else, and ou start over. I wish I could be a little more like Kevin: "That's not sad. It's just life." But I can't help but be sad that the year is ending and people are going away :(

I'm gonna miss her this summer, but at least she's comin back in the fall with me! Couldn't do it without her.

Sorry for the heinous pic Reid. Nobody Reads my blog anyway.

It just really shows why I'm gonna miss ya ;)

Brother Richardson: "You gravitate toward one another. There shouldn't be a need for establishing a safety boundary."

John Mayer: "Anything other than yes is no, anything other than stay is go, anything less than I love you is lying..."

That about sums it all up, friends.

Scary Day

"Be direct. One usually accomplishes more that way."

- Fortune Cookie.

Happyness

Here I am on the fourth floor of the Harold B. Lee Library.

Watching the Pursuit of Happyness for American Heritage.

Crying.

Yes, there are tears in my eyes.

I Used to be Fat.

So there has been a lot of TV watching this week being at home with the fam. I usually don't watch tv, but it's been kind of nice to have nothing better to do than to sit down to a nice episode of "I Used to be Fat." Seriously, there is a show called this. It's a weight loss show about these people who lose like 100+ pounds in like 4 months. It's pretty amazing actually. This show combined with the outrageous amounts of food I've been eating this week got me thinking about that time when

I used to be fat.

It's true. I'm not just saying this. During my senior year I lost a grand total of 30 lbs. And yes, you're probably thinking about how I'm not even that skinny now! (Since May I think I've put 10 of it back on. Diet starts again January 1.) But it's true. My brother didn't believe me either until he saw this beauty picture of me from The first month of my Senior year.

All pride aside, this is the heaviest I've ever been:

Yes, the belly spilling over the belt with some stubby lil legs, a round face, and two chins.

Oh, and how about that terrible mullet I'm rockin here? WHAT!!?

Booty Pop.

"From flat to fab in seconds with Booty Pop!"

Did there ever exhist a more wonderful white elephant gift?

I think not.

Boys. GIrls.

I've noticed something lately. When boys meet other boys who have mutual friends with their friends who are girls, they are very civil to one another.

"Hey what's up man? What's your name?" They get rollin on a topic, where they're from, who they know, whatever.

When girls walk into an appartment with other girls who are mutual friends with their friends who are boys, it's not the same story. They ignore eachother and pretend they are the only ones present.

If only girls could be a little more like boys..

Finals

I'm coming up on my first finals week of my entire life.

We never had "finals" in High School.

I'm a lil nerves.

Libra.

Horoscopes are for reals. I don't care what anyone says. Sometimes when I read my horoscope, I feel like there is someone out there playing a trick on me who knows my life story. And no, I'm not joking here.