lake powell

Life lately has been busy as usual so I am way behind.  So go back with me to last month... Over labor day weekend we went to Lake Powell with the Harpers, my two brothers, and friends.  We had some trailer & wave runner mechanical issues so it took us 11 hours to get there and about the same amount of time to get home but we had a fantastic time while we were there.  We stayed in a hotel and then just spent all 3 days on the lake.  The weather was gorgeous, I think we had rain once for about five minutes.  We did a lot of surfing, tubing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding and swimming.  

We LOVE Lake Powell! Hopefully next summer we will get to go for a week!

24

I turned 24 in Texas!  Woot woot!  My birthday was on a Saturday which was kinda a bummer because that is Dustin's loooong day of work selling alarms (9am - 9pm).  But it was still a really great day.  Emily and I met the guys for lunch (sushi yum) and then we got pedicures and frozen yogurt!  After the guys got home from work (around 10pm) we went to Wing Stop for dinner.  The next day we went to South Padre Island one last time and Emily made me a pink birthday cake!  We also celebrated again when we got back to Utah - we had a luau for all the August birthdays on my mom's side of the family.

This birthday was infinitely better than last year's because last year we were in the car all day long driving home from Texas, and then I was sick that night, and then the next day we had to move into our new apartment where we didn't have hot water for a few days.

It was sooo nice just coming back to our apartment with all of our stuff there just as we left it.  Not having to worry about finding a place to live, or moving all of our stuff was a million times less stressful than last summer. We (or rather I) have been having fun rearranging things and redecorating our little home, so maybe I will post some pics soon. We totally love the area, ward, neighborhood we are in and will be here at least until the spring when Dustin graduates.

Anyway, I love birthdays and getting older, and I am excited to see what 24 brings!

sushi lunch

wing stop with the browns for our late night dinner! we love the lemon pepper & honey bbq aaaand the drink machine where i can get cherry vanilla diet coke :)

our last trip to south padre island, with whataburger of course.

birthday luau with the fam

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.

summer book review

One of the perks of being a summer sales wife was having lots of free time to do whatever you please!  This summer I got a library card and then spent a lot of time reading by the pool.  Hard life huh?  Looking for a book to read?  Here is a list of the books I read along with a rating out of five stars ***** and my thoughts/opinions on each one:

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - Mindy Kaling

*****

five stars

Ok this book was HILARIOUS.  She basically tells her life story with a bunch of random funny stories/comments on life mixed in.  I knew her as Kelly Kapoor but didn't realize that she was also one of the writers for The Office.  I haven't watched her tv show The Mindy Project but now I want to check it out! 

This picture of her on the back of the book is my fave hahahaha.

2. Proof of Heaven - Eben Alexander

*****

five stars

This is one of those books where you find yourself rereading pages, highlighting like crazy (I actually bought this one), pondering, and having deep conversations with your husband about it.  It's a true story about a neurosurgeon who goes into a crazy coma and has a near death experience and then miraculously recovers.  This book is amazing and inspiring and although he is not a member of the same church that I am, everything that he experienced and shared about the afterlife and his relationship with God rang true to me.  I highly recommend reading this book!!  I lent it to my mom otherwise I would share some of my favorite highlighted quotes.  

3. The Winter Sea - Susanna Kearsley

****

four stars

Historical fiction kind of.  A modern day author is living in Scotland, writing a book based on the Jacobite invasion of 1708.  As she is writing, she discovers that her characters were actually real people, and her own ancestors.  Almost every other chapter is a chapter from the book she is writing, so you get two stories in one.  Very well written, the love stories are excellent, and it has a happy surprise ending. Win win win.

4. Seating Arrangements - Maggie Shipstead

**

two stars

Social Satire.  Basic premise is a summer wedding in the Hamptons and the father of the bride has issues of insecurity, control, and he has a fling with one of the bridesmaids.  Words that come to mind about this book: inappropriate, scandal, lobster, wedding drama, beached whale, heartbreak, disturbing.   The writing was good and I suppose it was an interesting look at a bizarre group of people and their relationships, but overall I was disappointed and wouldn't recommend it.

5. At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks

*

one star although it barely deserves that

The worst Nicholas Sparks book I have ever read.  Literally. It's about a couple who "fall in love at first sight" and get pregnant and married reallly fast.  The whole book is pretty boring; I kept waiting for a bigger plot twist or just something to happen!  But then something does happen at the very end - making it the worst, most awful, most depressing ending ever.  I can handle sad endings, but this sad ending was just dumb.

6. Honeymoon - James Patterson

****

four stars

This first time I "read" this was via audio book like five years ago when my mom and I were driving to San Diego.  I just remembered it being really good so I wanted to reread it!  It's a juicy suspenseful thriller and a quick fun read!

7. The Summer We Read Gatsby - Danielle Ganek

***

three and a half stars

Two half-sisters spend a summer together after their aunt dies and leaves them everything.  This is a fun, simple light-hearted book with quirky characters. The main reason I picked it up was because we had just seen The Great Gatsby movie so it was fresh in my mind, and this book has several references to Gatsby throughout.

8. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

*****

five stars

I love love loved this book!  A story about a terminally ill young girl who falls in love despite her inevitable fate, it made me smile, laugh and bawl my eyes out.  I didn't want this book to end.  And it's actually coming out as a movie so read the book first!  Some of my favorite quotes:

"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

"What a slut time is.  She screws everybody."

"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities."

"That's the thing about pain.  It demands to be felt."

"But it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he has Cassius note, 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."