my trip to utah: part 2

After my grandma's funeral in San Diego, I flew to Utah to work for a week.  I stayed at my parents' house and took care of the kitties since they turned around and went back to San Diego to wrap up family/funeral stuff and spend some relaxing time at the beach.  I was so happy I was up here for my friend Courtnie's wedding and I had a lot of fun hanging out and catching up with my girlfriends in Sandy.

courtnie & travis

married!!!

she was such a gorgeous bride!

fun reception at the draper dome

katie - to whom i am eternally grateful for setting me up on that blind date a few years ago

at the provo rooftop concert!  mindy gledhill was great

and can i say how much i love these girls

millie, bean, and i slept over at bean's cabin and then went boating with her fam!  sadly this is the only picture i took haha.

aaand milie turned 24!  happy birthday millie! 

also - when my family was in san diego, my mom turned 50!  on her 50th birthday, she and my dad did a 50 mile bike ride!  how awesome is that?!  my parents are pretty cool.

my trip to utah

Being away from Dustin SUCKS but is sometimes necessary.  Like now.  I had to make a trip up to Utah to go in to work for a few weeks (basically to keep my boss happy so she will want me to come back in September).  However, this trip was extended when she needed me to work a few more days, and then extended again when I decided to come a few days earlier for my cousin's wedding.  I felt like I would regret not coming for the wedding, since the whole family was going to be in town, and my grandparents were coming up, and my grandma is dying and I wanted to see her and everyone else.  And I am really glad I was there for it.

So we are both staying busy and trying not to let missing each other affect what we are supposed to be doing.  Poor Dustin had to move all of our stuff by himself yesterday when the office relocated to a different city in Texas.  I think we're halfway there - only 10 days to go till we're together again!

But I have been really busy and I've had a lot of fun in Utah with my fam and friends!  Here's what I've been up to:

relaxing at the pool with my mom : mother-daughter bonding, talking, drinking fresca, reading trashy magazines, etc

the happy couple!

married in the draper temple june 1st 

my cousin jordan and his gorgeous bride katie

me and my dad

lookin so fly in our sunnies

the whole fam-damily

all of my dad's siblings and their spouses 

and his parents

me and my mom

my adorable cousins tori & jocelyn

my grandparents: wilma & bud

cousin alexis & aunt elizabeth

some of the flowers, and they had mad-libs on the tables which i thought was a cute idea!

my cousins made all those pretty ribbon chandeliers!

cousin caitlin & i

my sis-in-law korinne left on her mission to spokane, washington!

bubba & tigger

one night i was the only one at home, and the kitties followed me all around the house!

they love me because i feed them 

(i stole these pics from christine)

my good friends from high school - matt & bree - got married!

so fun spending time with my girlfriends last weekend!

my good friend leigh was in town from canada so we threw her a baby shower!

i love all these girls!

my little cousin baby Grayson was blessed

a family favorite

i went at least three times while in utah, naturally

galveston

On Saturday, Emily and I took a little day trip to Galveston!  It was about a 2 hr drive from Beaumont.  Galveston is a coastal city with a lot of little brightly colored old houses but it has had a lot of damage from hurricanes over the years.

We went to Pleasure Pier, which was just built a year ago.  The pier had previously had some rides and attractions but had suffered significant damage from hurricane Ike in 2008.  Now it has a bunch of rides, restaurants, gift shops, live entertainment, and lookout telescopes.  We were impressed with how clean and nice it was!

We went on a HUGE roller coaster (I'm talking six flags quality) called the iron shark (which was pretty cool because you were flying over the ocean), shared a funnel cake, sat on some rocking chairs and enjoyed breathing that ocean air, and had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp, Co.  A lovely day on the pier!

the latest and greatest, and not so greatest...

Here's a quick recap of what we've been up to lately!  Just enjoying life as usual, all of the great and not-so-great moments...we'll get to that later.  Oh and did I mention that we are going to Corpus Christi again this summer?  Another Vivint summer in Texas!  It would have been cool to go somewhere else but I really enjoyed south Texas and we are happy about our decision to go back.  Also, my brother Trevor and Dustin's brother Stephen are coming along to sell!  It's gonna be a par-tay!

My little cousin Max was baptized!  Eight is great!  

After the baptism, we headed over to another harp recital.  My students got to participate in another studio's recital.  Sadly, I didn't get any pics but they played beautifully!  My four year old student played Mary Had a Little Lamb and looked oh so adorable in her pink tutu dress.

We finally made it to Scheel's! 

Watch Kitty.

The other day when I pulled up to my parent's house, this is what I saw.  

Our good friends Katie & Jason (who set us up on our blind date, and thus we owe them forever).  Katie threw Jason a surprise birthday party last week.  I love surprise parties!  Happy 24 Jason! 

Shayna and Tanner picked me up from work last week to take me out to lunch!  Yum, fish tacos.  I'm sorry Tanner but if you're gonna make a face like that, you can't expect it not to show up on the internet.

Sister bonding time.  Shayna and I had a craft day while Dustin was out selling.  Who knew celery was so beautiful?

We also had a not-so-great moment last week when Dustin's car was stolen.  Yes, STOLEN!!  It was parked on the street, locked, and the next morning it was GONE.  Such an awful awful feeling!  Even thinking about it now, I just feel sick.  It makes you feel so violated, you know?  Luckily there was nothing valuable in it, although he had a nice stereo system.  We filed a police report and Dustin thinks that it won't turn up, but I am just crossing my fingers and praying that it will show up!  Even if the stereo is ripped out, it would just be nice to have the car back.  Dustin has never not had a car, and I think it is driving him even more crazy than me.  I think it maybe has something to do with his man ego.  

So for now, we are experiencing the one-car life.  We have always had two cars, and even though we both live close to school and work it is kind of a pain and pretty annoying.  We have to go through this talk every day where we have to figure out who needs to be where, when and who needs the car, etc.  I'm still hoping that the car will turn up, but if not we will just make it work until we leave for the summer, and then re-evaluate and possibly buy a car after the summer.  

Anyway - to end a happy note - this week is spring break for Dustin!  I still have to work but it means that we can play every night and stay up late watching movies and he doesn't have to worry about doing homework.  Also, I made these yummy lemon cookies last night.  

back to december

Whew December came and went!  I can't believe we are already into the new year.  Well we were so busy being busy and busy just enjoying ourselves and the holidays and our families that I didn't write a single blog post.  So here's a quick recap. :)

a few girls nights with these beauties!  

lots of harp playing

Hung out with our favorite vivint friends - TJ & Emily!  The girls crafted while the boys played Xbox.

Christmas harp recital with my four students!  I gave them dusting brushes for their harps.  Teaching is such a joy!  Someday when I'm not working full time, I plan on expanding my studio...

Bowling & pizza for Tanner's 16th birthday party! Look at my crazy parents haha.

Our Christmas tree.  My parents got a new fake tree this year, and gave us their old one.  We love free stuff!  It fit perfectly in the corner of our front room.

After one of my gigs.  I accompanied a Methodist choir at their Christmas concert.  Mr. Harper was the ultimate harp mover!  Snow, ice, rain, multiple flights of stairs...nothing he can't handle.  

I finally made it to Trader Joe's!  Let me just tell you that milk chocolate toffee popcorn is DANGEROUS!  I'm restraining myself from going back and buying five more bags.  We're going to try out the mandarin orange chicken tonight.  

A Christmas party I played at - this house had 31 decorated Christmas trees and 19 nativity scenes. After that, I felt fine about not going to the festival of trees.

My old roommate/traveling companion/good friend Michelle got married!  So happy for her - they make a gorgeous couple.

Santa came to {my grandma} Noma's house!  It's hard to recognize him behind the beard and glasses but it's my hubby!  Santa baby!

We had our own little Christmas a few days before the 24th.  We wrapped presents, got some fish tacos from Rubio's, opened our gifts to each other, and watched Home Alone.  Dustin surprised me with a STUNNING sapphire necklace I had been admiring at the mall.  He is the best.  I love spending Christmas with him. We have way too much fun. 

We did Christmas with my family on Christmas Adam because my mom had to fly on the 25th.  We spent Christmas Eve at Dustin's parents.  Such a lovely Christmas and it was fun having both of our brothers home from their missions this year.  

We spent a lot of time at Dustin's parents house between Christmas and New Year's when his family from California was in town.  The Harpers are serious about settlers of cataan and I finally won after being a part of the family for over a year.  So this was a big deal and I definitely did a victory dance.  Dustin was so proud.  :)

We went tubing twice in one weekend!  Once with all of my Hunt cousins, and once with the Harpers.  It was a "kick in the pants" as Dustin would say.  And also freeeezing cold.  

Hope you all had a fantastic December and a lovely Christmas!