Did You Miss Me?

Because I have a ridiculous amount of things to catch  up on, I will be posting pictures and doing a brief synopsis to catch you up on my life.

I guess the first thing is that I had the laproscopic band surgery the end of February.  It has been 3 months and I have lost 35 pounds so far. It is definitely an adjustment, but it has been good so far. 

So I asked the nurse (right before my surgery) to take my picture so that I could blog it. I don't think she has ever touched one of these contraptions we call a camera because the picture on the left is hers. I ended up taking a pic of myself. They are both extremely flattering.  I guess they make good before pics, right?

A few weeks later it was my birthday. I turned 28 and I am not going to lie, it freaked me out a little. So far though, I have really enjoyed being 28. For my birthday, I went to Claim Jumper with Nat, Brooke and Jenn. We have a server there that we LOVE. His name is Ben. He is amazing. If you go to the Henderson Claim Jumper, you should check him out. Natalie was really hungry so we just put dessert in front of her face and she just went at it. 

The next night I had my annual birthday dinner at the Paez's house.  As usual, the food and company were delightful.  Following dinner, we watched Twilight in celebration of the fact that it had come out the day before.

I also had a lovely birthday celebration with my family. I got phone calls, texts and emails from my family and friends.  Jess sent me a cool vinyl Elvis sticker for my car. Pretty rad, huh? 

In April, I spent 3 weekends in a row at my dad's condo in California. The first weekend I went with my ward to Magic Mountain. I was fairly disillusioned. The last time I had gone was with Nat. I think we were 20 or 21. It was super fun. This time, it was too hot, the lines were too long and I was ready to bail after a few hours. I had driven up the night before with Nic and Amanda and we decided to leave early and hang out at the beach with a few of Amanda's friends. That was the highlight of the trip for me.

The next weekend I went back and went to Disneyland with my friend Tracy and a friend of hers. I freaking love that place. 

The weekend following,  Seana and I headed to California to hang out and relax. Childcare was taken care of thanks to my vast knowledge of character actors and Jason's willingness to bet on things that he has no chance of winning. It was a super fun weekend. We hung out at the beach, went to the movies, ate delicious food and just relaxed. My cousin Melissa was there that weekend visiting her boyfriend so she crashed there with us. She also went to Disneyland for the first time in her life. I felt like a proud mother when I sent her off to the magical kingdom.

 Here are some pictures of my dad's condo. It is the cutest place ever. He gets all of the decorating credit.

May has been equally busy. I had some mission companions and friends come out for a weekend. It is always really great to see them.

On the 14th, I flew out to Chicago for Zach's law school graduation. The way the plane/train schedules worked out, I ended up spending the night at the Midway airport Baggage Claim. I wasn't quite comfortable enough there to sleep, but I did lay there for a few hours before I had to catch my train.

It was fun to spend the weekend there with Zach and his family. I am very proud of him. 

That Monday I flew to Lousiville to see my friend Monica. I met her my first Sunday in my first area on my mission and we have been friends ever since. I spent a week with her. It was awesome, we went rollerskating, to the batting cages, got pedicures, went to Marengo Caves (snooze), saw a grip of movies and just had a fantastic week. We also went to an amusement park called Holiday World. This place is awesome. The different sections of the park have themes based on major holidays. It has some pretty rad rollercoasters too. They also have these soda stations set up throughout the park for complimentary drinks. How cool is that?

So I got home this week and am enjoying finding a more relaxing routine after these last crazy weeks.

Gingerbread Smackdown!

Last night, my friends and I got together for our first annual Gingerbread Smackdown to see who could create the coolest gingerbread house human eyes have ever seen. I would like your assistance in seeing who succeeded. Please follow this link and vote on your favorite. Also, please only vote once as we would like to preserve the purity of this competition.

Through the Ages...

So I discovered this fun site a couple of months ago and it has taken me this long to show the results. If you want to play, go to www.yearbookyourself.com

Here is what I would look like if I had lived back in the day:


1950, 1952, 1960



1964, 1966, 1968



1974, 1978, 1982



1984, 1986, 1990



1992, 1994, 1996

My Month(s) in Review

Okay, so it has been awhile since I updated. What's your point? Maybe I have had other things demanding my time. Here is a brief synopsis of my life these past couple of months.

My brother Michael got his Eagle Scout in June. He is cute. My brothers love each other.

I went to Denver for my mission president and his wife's homecoming. Please don't leave me any comments about how it isn't called a homecoming anymore. I don't care.

This is my last companion, Catie Dunn. We made part of the lovely 12 hour drive together.



These are some sisters from my mission. We ate at a mexican restaurant. Right behind us is where the performers were diving to their almost-deaths for our entertainment.



This is me with President and Sister Brimhall. I seriously love them so much. Aren't they cute?



President and Sister Brimhall with all the sisters that made the trip.



For Nat's birthday, we drove out to Mt. Charleston and had foil dinners and watched a movie.


It was very fun. I heart Natalie Kennedy.

Well, that takes us through July. Someday I will catch you up with Audrey's bridal shower, her reception and my rad trip to Disneyland.

"Utah," derived from the Ute Indian language, meaning "people of the mountains"

I am going to walk you through Audrey's wedding day so you can feel like you were right there with us. If that doesn't appeal to you, consider yourself uninvited and stop reading.

It started out a little earlier than I like my Saturdays. I was in the shower by 8 and doing Audrey's hair by 8:30.



After her hair was finished we headed over to pick up her bouquet at a place called Planted Earth. This is the only picture of the bouquet because in all the excitement she completely forgot to carry it with her. It was a beautiful bouquet and just what she wanted. Unfortunately, you are witnessing the only moment she got to enjoy it.



With flowers in hand, we headed up to Midway to her new in-laws' house. We were given a rather spacious bathroom to complete her beauty routine in. I finished up her make-up and Amber and I got her into her dress. We had a bit of a zipper scare when I managed to get the fabric stuck, but Amber fixed it before any hyperventilation started.


My mom and I put her Converse sneakers on. My mom pretended to put her veil on for the sake of a kodak moment. I put her veil on for the sake of her hairstyle.



Amber and I helped her with some of her more personal needs because I am just that dedicated of a Maid of Honor.

I didn't take any pictures of the wedding, but if you want to see them, you can check out these blogs: Zach, Audrey and my mom.



After the wedding, my cousin Amelia and I went to see our favorite house in Midway. We call it the hobbit house and we would really appreciate it if the hobbits would evacuate and allow us to move in. We have thought about forcing them to leave. After all, how hard could it be to evict hobbits? Just lift them up and set them outside. We are leaving that as our last option though.

After being stuck in Midway for an hour or so due to an accident blocking our road out, we headed back Amelia's apartment where I took one of the best naps of my life. We were planning on going to a rodeo later that night, but there was a mix-up about the dates so we decided to check out the Orem City Celebration.



It was about as cool as it sounds. Parking was a nightmare, the parade was pathetic and the snow cones were flavorless. On the plus side, I got to see my mission companion Dundee and I was hanging out with my ultra cool cousins Amelia and Melissa, as well as my semi-cool brothers Jacob and Michael.

On the way home Melissa, Amelia and I decided to call my grandpa and wish him a Happy Birthday. He and my grandma answered together as they often do and without any greeting, we launched into a very enthusiastic rendition of the Happy Birthday song. Dundee joined in to give us a little more volume. When we finished, my grandpa told us that he had heard cows sound better than us. He is funny, and right.

I stayed that night with my very hospitable Aunt DeAnn and Uncle Kent. We went to church with them the next day. After sacrament meeting, we headed for home.



We stopped to eat at Carl's Jr., where I was obviously very hungry.



As we were leaving I saw the difference between the Carl's Jr. in Utah and the Carl's Jr. in Nevada.

And that, my friends, was my weekend in Utah.

And Yet Again, More Information About Me That You Don't Give a Crap About

I apologize in advance for the excruciatingly boring content of this tag. My cousin Julie tagged me and I love her too much not to do it.

1. What did you do 10 years ago?

I have already answered this in one of the many tags in which I have participated. Here was my answer: I was 17. It would have been at the end of my junior year, but I did Independent Study and graduated early. I was working at Cold Stone Creamery I think. I would open every morning, make the brownies, make the cones and make delicious concoctions for people all day long.

2. Five items on your to-do list: (another duplicate question & answer)

• Learn an instrument (guitar or piano)
  
• Become fluent in Spanish
• Learn how to decorate amazing cakes
• Graduate college
• Travel through Europe

3. Snacks I enjoy:

100 Calorie packs of various persuasions, fruit, milk chocolate m&ms and cinnamon bears.

4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?

My answer to this question is almost too boring to write. I guarantee it is boring to read. I would pay off all of my debts. Buy a nice home. Buy an extra Mini Cooper so when mine is in the shop for months at a time I am not forced to drive POS. Travel - everywhere, I don't think I would be home for a couple of years. Buy my friends outrageously extravagant presents like gold bathtubs and diamond encrusted frames. Pay tithing, give to charity, blah, blah.

5. Places I would live:

I have actually thought a lot about this because there aren't actually a lot of places I would live. Here is the list I have come up with so far: Denver, Boston, Washington D.C., Lexington (KY), and New York City. There are a few other major cities that I could probably tolerate. I am not a fan of small town living.

Audrey Flinder Flander nee Parry

So my little sister Audrey got married this weekend and I will do a blog about my weekend in Utah, but first I have some bridal pictures that I took of her that I haven't posted because Audge didn't want Mike to see her dress before the wedding. Now that he has seen her (and she was hot), I can post the pictures that a few of you have asked to see. Enjoy!