imagine dragons

A few weeks ago we got to see Imagine Dragons in concert!  They are one of our favorite bands - Dustin and I both LOVE every track on their album.  I'm just waiting for them to release another album! Hopefully soon?  The concert was this year's Vivint end of year party so the whole arena was filled with Vivint people!  It was such a fun concert and Imagine Dragons were amazing live!  So much energy and crazy drum solos thrown in everywhere.  Thanks Vivint!

with our best Vivint friends TJ and Emily

gothen album release

For the past year or so I have been playing the harp with a local band called Gothen - started by Evan Jolley who I have known since elementary school.  Evan raised money via kickstarter to make an album, which I had the privilege of recording with them back in February.  Such an awesome experience!  Just a few weeks ago, we had an album release show in Provo where we did all the tracks on the album.  I played on 4 of them and you can hear the harp really well!  but I seriously love the whole album.  Each track is unique and so full of different sounds, instruments (guitar, banjo, trumpet, harp, piano, drums, violins, flute, cello, sax), techniques etc.  I would describe the music as indie rock maybe, kind of folk like, and sometimes it reminds me of the Beatles.  The album is available on iTunes now if you want to check it out!

The concert was soooo fun!  And it was great having friends and family there to support me!  Evan and his brother are hanging out in Europe for a few months so it will be fun to see how that influences his next musical endeavors for the band.  Stay tuned.

a post about quinn

We love our little hedgehog!  Even when she is grumpy and doesn't want to be woken up, she is still so adorable.  When Dustin is in school at nights, she cuddles in her blanket on my lap and we watch tv together.  For a while, she was occasionally bleeding under her ear and we didn't know why.  One day I realized her little toenails were super long and sharp and so I cut them with some baby nail clippers.  She always scratches herself right under her ear with her back legs so no wonder she was bleeding.  Poor thing!  Learn as you go I suppose.  She is warming up to us more every day and lets us actually touch her quills without freaking out - which is a big deal.  Enjoy the random pics.

one day she {mostly} crawled into dustin's shoe and took a nap

then when i tried to pull her out to put her back in her cage, she spiked up!  she did NOT want to come out of there hahaha.  

dustin turns 25

September 23rd was Dustin's birthday.  He turned a whopping 25 and we celebrated all weekend long!  Friday night some executives from my company were in town from Chicago and they took us out to dinner at the Market Street Broiler!  We had never been there before and the sea food was amaaaazing.

Saturday, Dustin had a halo party with his friends in Provo and they played till 2am!  Guy bonding time.  It's good for them.  

Sunday we went over to the Harpers' home and had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed birthday party!  Dustin loved the turtles when he was little (and still does) and his mom went all out!  Scott made his famous garlic burgers on the bbq yum.  My family and a few of the neighbors came over for the party!  This was also the night we were introduced to "The Fox" video bahahaha.  

Monday we went to the Pie for dinner with our brothers and some friends - they had a live musician in there and he was really good!  After dinner, we had some friends over for cake and ice cream.  I made a "better than sex" cake - Dustin's favorite.  Everyone wanted to meet Quinn and she was the highlight of the night as usual.  

Happy belated Birthday honey!  You are my favorite 25 year old!  I love you forever and I am so happy you are 25 so we can rent a car on our upcoming vacation. :)

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!

meet quinn

meet quinn the hedgehog!  

{the newest addition to our little family}

Yes, we have a pet hedgehog.  It all started when my mom was flying with another flight attendant who had this hedgehog.  She had just found out she was pregnant, and they were getting a puppy, and moving into a new house, so they were looking for someone to give Quinn to.  My mom sent me a picture of her and we fell in love immediately!  So she is now ours and we are in love.  Dustin wanted to name her Sonic but we decided to keep it Quinn - I think it's cute cause she has quills.  Some of you may know that I have been wanting a cat for a long time, but that is not an option because of our current living situation, so I guess a hedgehog is the next best thing!  She is the perfect pet for us for now.

chillin on her wheel.  hedgies are nocturnal, so she runs at night!  sometimes we sneak in super late at night and watch her run, she is fast and runs and runs and runs.

playing hide & go seek

hedgehogs are really curious creatures.  she sniffs everything and tries to get into all the small spaces she finds.

playing with dustin

she really liked how his hair tasted haha

playing in the grass! 

check out that tongue action! haha it looks so long here

i love when she is curled up into her poky ball

fun facts about hedgehogs:

in some states, they are illegal as pets

they are nocturnal

they eat dry cat food & meal worms are special treats

they need baths - we bathe her once or twice a week and use a toothbrush to clean her quills

when they get scared or need to defend themselves, they become an impenetrable spiky ball

they are not related to the porcupine

you can only buy them from a breeder

they prefer a warm climate, and if they get too cold they will hibernate and die