utAh!

So on Saturday, June 26th I was chatting on the phone with my sister amie. She was asking me what I was doing for the weekend and what my plans were for the fourth of july. I told her about my weekend and how excited I was because I had 10 days off of work because my family was going on a vacation. She randomly asked why I wasn't coming home for a little visit and to be with the family for the fourth of July. I didn't have a good answer but blew it off anyway I figured there was no way I was going to go home for a weekend because I am going to be there so soon anyways. Amie spread the news of my time off through out the family and soon I was getting calls from all my family members asking me why I wasn't coming home (at one point I was so frustrated I started hanging up on people). Anyways, the weekend came and went and on monday night I decided randomly to buy a plane ticket and tell no one I was coming (besides mikah because he was my ride home from the airport)!

I was soooo excited and started counting down the days. Before I knew it friday (july 2) was here and I was on my 4 hour flight home (less than one week after my phone call with amie). I had a layover in PHX and decided to call my mom to make sure there was no way she thought I was coming home. I called her and told her I was in the city and needed to be reminded of the things she need me to pick up for her (yes, she does this to me frequently, she usually always has a shopping list for me even though I live 2,000 miles away from her). She was completely convinved I was shopping for her in the city and made sure I knew exactly what she needed.

I finally made it to my house on Friday night around 6pm. I walked in the back door and right up to my mom who's back was turned towards me! There was alot of screaming, hugs, kisses, and a few tears. Later that night I was able to suprise max & marnie who were in town as well. I wanted to be creative but got way to excited when their car pull up and just had to run out to the car! It was so great to finally meet little skyler (what a cutie)! I had soo much fun with him all weekend!

On saturday I suprised amie, brennen, and aiden! I finally got to meet sweet emma!

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with the family, playing with em and sky, boating on the dam, watching intense soccer games in the backyard, late night dinners with the boys, playing with my kitty lucy (who remembered me!!!) and catching up with my bff, kim.

It was kinda hard to leave after having so much fun, but I knew I would be home very soon (5 weeks actually)! I am getting very excited to get home now after I had I little reminder of what my life in utah in like, haha. I think it will make it a little easier to leave.

It was sooo good to see everybody. I don't think you realize how much you miss someone until you actually see them. I especially loved meeting Emma and Skyler, I am so in love those two.

Here some picutes of me and the babies...

Can't wait for labor day when I will finally be able to meet little nico (baby #3) and see baby skyler again!

Happy Father's Day Dad!!

I really have the best dad in the whole world. I miss him so much. My dad is sooo great and I wish more then anything I could be with him on Father's Day!

Happy Fathers Day Dad, I love you and hope you have a great day!

Disclaimer: My father is one of the happiest guys I know but, like every other man in this world, he DOES NOT smile in pictures.

my perfect nineteenth

my birthday was perfect this year... I couldn't of asked for anything better! it all started on friday night. whitney had a birthday dinner for me at her house. alli, nicki, whit, and I all had so much fun together (like always) and it was soo good to have one last dinner with them before we all go our seperate ways! me and whitney then spent the weekend at her house with her little 1 year old. it was so nice just to hang out for our last weekend together. we were able to watch a little gossip girl and find some deals at woodbury. it was real hard to say bye to my best friend... she left for utah monday and that made sunday night no fun. although, it's the end of our adventure our here, it is just the beginning of new adventures in utah.
on tuesday (my actual birthday) I got countless calls from family and friends mostly from home... which made me a little homesick but it was so good to hear from everybody. my dad sent me hot pink carnations and as soon as I saw they were carnations I knew they were from him-the note was so cute and made me tear up a little. later that night I went to dinner with lauren and opened the rest of my presents. my mom sent me a very cute package but I was real sad I couldn't open it up with her!
the next day, my nj family took me out for a great dinner! it was soo fun.
besides being away from my family, my birthday was perfect... i couldn't ask for anything more! and YAY, I am finally 19! I was sick of telling people I was only 18- they're response was always "oh, you are just a baby"

PS: wednesday, after being 19 for only a day, I pulled a GRAY hair out of my head... AHHH!!! I am only 19, do things like this start this early??

one year later...

on june 5, 2009, me and whitney left for ghana. we spent 31 days there volunteering in a hospital. we had such a great experience! one year later-on june 5, 2010 we made our last trip into nyc together (well not for forever-but for a little while at least).
there is no one else i would rather go on all my adventures with me... you're the best whit!

A year ago today... june.02.2009

I can't believe a year ago today I graduated from high school. It seems like yesturday I was sitting in class counting down the days and staying up all night finishing projects and last minute assignments. Some things I miss so much, mainly my friends. It has been soo hard to be away from my BFF KiMbErLee, I miss her sooo much! We had so much fun in high school together-- I miss getting our nails done together, skipping class together, study all night for finals (well at least that's what we were supposed to be doing), eating goldfish in 2nd hour, convincing her she didn't need to go to her american goverment class, making frequent trips to buckle, and going to lunch!! I wonder sometimes why we were in such a big hurry to get out of high school... now we are just dealing with the real world which isn't too much fun!! I can't wait to get home so we will be only a few miles away instead of 1,000's of miles away! Love you Kim...

playing in the sun... {05.26.10}

We are FiNalLy seeing the sun {NJ winter's are ToO lOnG}... and the past couple days it has been such nice weather. Yesturday it was 92 degrees and me and Ry had soo much fun playing outside in the water. I am soo excited for the summer and I am loving this hOt weather!

.{cUpcaKeS}.

Sooo all the little ones I take care of have {bIrtHdaYs} in the spring. Actually, the two girls have birthdays the end of April and little {rYan'S} birthday is in May... needless to say we all have been {vErY} busy with birthdays! When the first of three birthday's was approaching I was trying to think of something fun and different I could make for {MeghAn's} special day. I remembered a birthday I had when I was little... my mom had made the "coolest" cupcakes for my party!! That's when I got the idea. I would make the same cupcakes for Meghan. For everyone who knows me very well knows I am not much of a cook and I usually leave the cooking up to my mom and 3 sisters who are all much better then me. So for me to take on this challenge was quite the task... lot's of pressure! Well... Meghan ended up loving the cupcakes and so did everyone else! I even had to send a quick picture to my mom when I was done with my first batch so she could see how well I had done! :) I ended up making them for Meghan's school class, {EmMa's} birthday, Emma's school class, and Ryan and his little preschool class!! I made {aLoT} of cupcakes and by the end I was a pro and was pretty proud of myself. The pictures are of Ryan and his cupcakes before we took them to his little class.

I have had soo much fun with all the kids and their birthdays. Meghan had a big {pRojEct RunWaY} party on Saturday! She is a little fashionista and this party totally fit her. Throughout the house there was a {moOd} fabric store set up, {bLuEfLy.cOm} wall, a complete design studio, a {LoReAl-pAriS} make-up room, and a {gArNiEr} hair salon (where I did 20 heads of hair)! All the girls designed their own outfit, got their hair and make-up done, and struted their stuff down a runway that had been set up!! It was such a great party!!

Ryan is having a party tomorrow with all his little buddies, and Emma is having a {ProJeCt ruFfwAy} party next weekend! I can't wait...

bRitTaNy.in.nYc

Last week was such a fun week. My friend Brittany flew out for a visit and was able to spend the week with me and the kiddos. I had soo much fun with her and it was great to have a friend with me all day long! We had fun at night catching up on our lifes, eating ice cream and laughing with Lauren-- she kept me up WAYYY to late. When the week finally wrapped up and Friday night rolled around I knew I had to take her to the city. She had never been before and by the time we were done with work, I had less than 12 hours before her flight left Saturday morning... lots of pressure! We finally left my house around 7:30 and made it to the city a little after 8. This is all the things we saw that night...
1. Jazz Center (to pick up a NYC book, of coarse the night I actually need to use mine, I forget it at home)
2. Central Park
3. NYC Temple
4.Magnolia's Bakery (for a cupcake, duh)
5. Lincoln Center
6. Times Square
7. Chrysler Building
8. Empire State Building
9. Lauren Fagan Dhuyvetter!! (probably the most important stop of the night)
10. Battery Park/Statue of Liberty
11. Ground Zero
Pretty good, right? We had so much fun and I am so glad I was able to show Brittany a little bit of the city before she went home! We got home late that night and instead of getting a couple hours of sleep before the early morning airport run, me and Brittany decided to keep each other awake and talk the rest of the night (or morning)! It was the greatest!
I love you Brit-- thanks for all the great memories! Can't wait to see you in August!

my CraZZy weekend...

This past weekend was soo crazy and I am still trying to recover from it! I am going to completely skip over Friday night because that's a post in and of itself (stay tuned)! I'll start with Saturday morning.... I never went to bed the night before (details to come) and so I was ready early. Whitney finally made it to my house around 9:30--that's when we headed to Philadelphia!!! On our way down we past a yard sale, I didn't think anything of it and giggled a little and said, I love yard sales! The next thing I knew Whitney had pulled over and we were walking across the street to the big sale. I ended up spending $3 on a necklace, a pair of baby shoes, AND 7 PAIRS OF EARRINGS!!!! Yes, that's right, I bought 7 pairs of earring for $.50! I loved it!
When we made it to Philly we got a little lost at first, Tommy (my GPS) was a little confused and was taking us to the wrong places! Finally we found a parking garage and starting touring the city. It was really pretty city and it wasn't overly crazy. We went to Liberty Bell, the National Constitution Center, the Declaration of Independance Building, and City Hall. We even ate a Philly cheesesteak right in front of Liberty Bell! After, Whitney dragged me up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the movie Rocky (??) was filmed. I have never seen Rocky and I had nooo idea what she was talking about but I am really glad I went up there with her! It was really cool to see. I even took a picture by the Rocky statue, even though I have no idea who he is! :)
When we were done with Philly we headed to Atlantic City, NJ. AC was such a fun city. We walked along the beach and down the boardwalk, shopped a little, and then hit Steel Pier (an amusement park on a pier right off the boardwalk). We went on a couple rides and Whitney got her very first funnel cake!! It got late and we decided to call it a night, we headed back to the car and headed back to my house. The 3 hour drive home definitely wasn't fun and we had to turn on some hard core rap music to keep us awake towards the end of the drive but it was totally worth it!
The next morning we woke up and decided to head to Six Flags!! We jumped back in the car and drove a little over an hour to Jackson, NJ. We spent the day riding roller coaster after roller coaster! We had SOOO much fun and I loved spending the day with Whitney! The rides kinda beat us up, me and Whit both walked away with a few bruises and I had a constant headache all day Monday!
I was exhausted after such a crazy weekend but we had such a great time.... all the driving, briuses, headaches, and lack of sleep were totally worth it!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I have been living 2,000 miles away from my Mom for the past 10 months and it definitely has been very hard. I miss her like crazy. I miss running around doing errands with her (which at the time drove me crazy), I miss her homemade meals and warm homemade bread.... I even miss her waking me up way too early in the mornings by laying next to me in my bed and talking until she was able to get a response out of me!

I love you Mom and can't wait for you to come visit again!

.leXi.e.LizaBet.H.amMonD.

I have walked acrossed the Brooklyn Bridge, rollerbladed in Central Park, shopped 5th Avenue, fallen in love with frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity, got lost on the subway, dress up for the NYC Opera, ate a hot dog at a Yankee's game, and said HI to my friend Gus in the Central Park zoo. For the past 10 months I have been having the time of my life. All of this and soo much more are slowly becoming distant memories but experiences I never want to forget-- that's the purpose of this blog! I am hoping now that I have something a little more exciting then a notebook and pen to record my crazy life, I will do the "recording" part more often.

So that all of this makes a little more sense let's back up a little bit.... I grew up in a small town in Utah. I love it even more now that home is so far away. I graduated high school in June 2009 and moved to New Jersey the end of July. My best friend and partner in crime, Whitney, moved out here with me.... we do everything together! I am a nanny for a great family and I am in love with 3 little kiddos I spend most of my time with! On the weekends me and Whitney are inseparable and can be found (most of the time) in the city!

I have 10 months to catch up on so bare with me. But hopefully with time I can get our most memorable weekends spent together posted on this blog... xoxo