Hab's 30th birthday party....and other fun!

So I figured I should keep up my terrific habit of posting events WAY after they occur! Back in August, my sis Hailey (aka Hab) turned the big 3-0, and threw herself an awesome pink party. My dad flew me to Utah so I could be there for the party (thanks Dad-you're the best!) as well as hang out for a week!

The first day I arrived, Teal and I stopped at my fave place....Sconecutter!! We had a hilarious experience that left us in stitches at the drive-thru, so that was fun. He drove me to Hab and Steve's house, and the kids all played together while they made us all a really yummy dinner! My parents met us there and we all had lots of fun catching up and watching the kids play in the playhouse & backyard.



Hudson's robot moves

Hab's pink party was Pinkalicious! She has a great backyard for a summer night party!
It was perfect, and she'd thought of all sorts of fun details. She'd spray-painted twigs hot pink for a centerpiece/party favor tree. There were tiny nailpolishes tied to the tree that we each got to choose from before leaving. The food was all sooo good! There was dinner, pictures, and dancing. (I made some pretty wicked dinner and dance mixes if I do say so myself!)

Lauren and Betsy-we love their whole fun fam of girls! Betsy and I used to be roomies, and took organ lessons together, and also did lots of other obnoxious things together!! She's super fun and hilarious!

Oh, yes-all the guests were asked to wear pink

Besides the party, the highlight of the trip for me was going to water aerobics with Hab and my cousins Hillary and Tenley. I expected it to be fun, but it was WAY more fun that I thought it would be!!! After our exercise class, we decided to eat back all the calories we'd burned (and more) at Coldstone and The Pie. In that order too, because Hilly and Tenley were too polite to tell us that they hadn't eaten dinner yet, and got ice cream with us first. We felt awful when we learned this, and we all grabbed pizza after our dessert!

The morning of Hab's birthday, we all went to a Chicken and Waffles place that she loves, which is unfortunately out of biz now. Too bad...it was really good!

We went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory and opened gifties at Mom and Dad's house after. Here is the birthday girl posing with a few of her spoils. (I gave her the pink coasters) I especially love the necklace that she got-very cool!

While we were there, Gretel got hooked on the swing in my parent's backyard and wanted to be pushed out there for hours!

She loves Hilly's cute dogs, Lola and Bella. I do too! I'm so glad she gets to grow up with a little pup of her own. She and Gwen are thick as thieves lately! She loves to hold the leash and run with her! Anyway, I love these little Chihuahuas-they are very sweet!

This is Connor, who I used to babysit along with his siblings a long time ago. Their family was my favorite!! I can't believe how grown up and smart he is. I got to visit with him when he came over to ride my little brother Teal's golf cart. He was trying to earn money to try and buy it (I think he's bought it since then) and wanted to practice driving it. So he took Gretel and I around the block and he was a total blast to talk to. So mature-I felt like I was on a date (in a non-creepy way) because he was so fun to talk to!

His mom and siblings came over to visit since they heard from Connor that I was in town. Such a nice and cute family-I loved catching up with them!

Gretel was addicted to golf cart rides, and thankfully Teal was generous with taking her whenever she wanted to go!! She loves him and talks about him all the time.

Fun trip, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to write about it! I hope to have another visit soon! (Or you guys are invited here....)

My wicked weekend!

Way back in September, my besties and I went to San Fran to see the show Wicked. I am now getting around to posting all of these pictures. What fun we had!!!

Abby was figuring out the timer for the camera, and none of us knew the picture was being taken-we thought it was funny, how it turned out!

At a yummy dinner before the show

Inside the bart station, we stopped to pose by our sign~

A funny story about me riding the bart: when putting in my ticket for our last ride, I was expecting my ticket to come back out of the machine like it did before. But since it was my last ride it didn't come back to me-the machine kept it. But I wasn't thinking about this, and waited for my ticket. I waited too long, and the bar that lets you through (like at Disneyland rides) closed and I was trapped. With a long line of people behind me, I had to jump over the bar, which was not pretty with me wearing a skirt. The man that worked there yelled at me, until we went over and while giggling, explained to him that I'm just not all there. He seemed amused, and didn't care. We all had a good laugh about what a dope I am!

Awesome show!!

Starving afterward...we stopped at Mel's Diner for some pancakes and milkshakes

The next morning, we ate the best breakfast at a place called Honey Honey (our other favorite place there is Judy's-they are both fab!)

Abby used to live there, so she knows what's up-she's a great travel buddy, and I'd be too scared to go there without her.

Abby said Shauna and I MUST get a picture at the top of this street because it's famous for being the most steep. I can't remember the name of it, or other details about it...I'll have to ask her.







We had a blast-so sad to leave. Girls trips rock my world!!

Holidays 2010

We finally unloaded our very full camera, and I figured I should post some Thanksgiving and Christmas pics. For Thanksgiving, we went to SoCal to spend the holiday with Johnny's fam. Everyone was able to make it, so that was nice. Ellie and Gretel loved dining and playing together!

They are women, hear them roar! Caitland and Cheryl, cooking our turkey rostisserie style

Gwennie waiting beneath, hoping for some scraps to drop

One of the best parts of this trip, was the girls riding around the courtyard on this little bike. It was fun to see little Jane joining in on the fun. What pleasant weather we enjoyed!

Gretel of course, making her princesses dance together. These are from the toyroom there; little does she know, Santa will later bring her the whole princess collection!!

Gwen modeling her Juicy fur coat my parents gave her a couple of years ago! She's ready for some glam holiday parties!!

Now on to the Christmas fun.... Johnny's mom's friend had these hats made for the 3 little granddaughters-so cute!

Waiting for the annual sleigh ride (with Rapunzel too!) that we go on with Johnny's fam

We rode the carriage ride around temple square and Gretel loved our horse, Charlie

Christmas day-Gretel loved her "Beast and Belle" and made sure Beast danced with all the other princesses too. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a "Cinda-grella" dress and shoes, which she calls her glass slippers, and gave her Rapunzel, Beast, and Jasmin as well as other goodies.

Her favorite thing that Johnny and I got her was the whole princess Barbie collection. She was thrilled!

She's still obsessed with this book Caitland gave her-thanks Cait!!

She loved playing with Hudson and Ollie and I feel so bad I don't have a picture with Hudda-all three kids got matching jammies from my parents and Hab got a cute picture of them on Christmas Eve.

Gretel loved chasing and playing with them-and they all loved the train, of course... We took the kids to the Living Aquarium one day and they loved it, as always. Hudson especially loved Gretel and was so extra sweet with her. He cried when we would leave to go to Johnny's fam's, and he cried when we left to go home. All three were such good playmates! She misses you too, Hudda!

She got tons of books and clothes/shoes from Mimi and Pop-C, as well as a play kitchen, pretend food, and shopping cart!

One of her favorite things about Johnny's parents house was the drinking fountain. She would climb up on her little ladder and hang out there for a really long time! She'd also wear my headband and call it her crown.

She still fights getting dressed, but she doesn't fight about putting on her "doll dress." Thanks mom and dad, she loves it!

I got to fly out separately with Gretel while poor Johnny drove alone and even slid off the road into a ditch one night! Poor guy-thanks dad, for fixing everything on his car as part of our many Christmas gifts, and also for flying Gretel and I! You are too nice to us!

I stayed for a total of 3 weeks, and it was a great trip home! A highlight for me was going with my fam on New Year's Eve to see a play at Desert Star Playhouse. It's one of my favorite places to go, and it made me miss the days when we had season tickets with Hab and Steve and we'd go on double dates!

Thanks fam, for all the fun dinners and nights just hanging out and talking....we had a blast with you all!