The Andrews

2011-12-18T23:30:00.000-08:00

Capri Laughing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRaFx4sfmdw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Ranch-Giving and Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T17:15:00.000-08:00

Well it has been awhile since I have written on this blog! Seriously, I am bad but hey you get around to it when you can right?

Live has been crazy, busy as usual....running a business, new baby, school, new house/new projects. But hey that is what makes life exciting right? It is an exciting time to live.

Some things that I have been grateful for not in any particular order:

Capri

Paul

Clean Water

Food

New Home

Technology and skyping with Heather in Italy!

Family

Friends

The Gospel

These are just a few things.

We were extremely lucky this year we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year! One at the Ranch near the end of October, immediate family members and extended family members were there. We thought, why not make it an early Thanksgiving, also known as Ranch Giving. Sadly, Mr. Paul couldn't make it out, work work work :(

Some of the highlights of the trip were: picking the perfect Christmas trees for my mom, and sister Sandy. I wish we could have brought one home but I don't think the airline would be ok with that :) It was gorgeous. I absolutely loved the white birch trees with the vibrant yellow leaves, simply breathtaking. Another plus was that it wasn't too cold! This is a family tradition we have had over the years and I absolutely love it, it is so refreshing to hike around and pick your own tree from a mountain side so old fashioned but I love it!

Another highlight was eating the yummy dinner of course, seriously such good food, we had what any other person would have except for the fact that my grandma is a secret chef, she would of course never admit to it but everyone and their dog would agree anything my grandma touches is edibly delish! Moist turkey, mashed red potatoes, pear and gorgonzola cheese salad, stuffing, and grandmas famous rolls.

I was so glad that Capri was able to experience the ranch, it is a place of peace and solitude, we had a great time walking around outside and visiting with family of course. I feel so blessed to have my own special buddy to hang out with all of the time, she is such a charming little lady, I love her to pieces!

Also, my super fun sister in-law Danielle, threw an amazing Halloween party in the barn full of cob-webs, halloween treats and flying bats (ok they were fake but were still rad). It was fun to see everyone geared up for Halloween, and wow did Eric and Danielle/Chanel win in the costume department. They were a family of garden gnomes or as we called them "the gnomies", so funny! Here is the pic of their fam. Chanel was already tuckered out and was in bed by this time in the evening

I will be posting about the Halloween party another time but it was pretty amazing, Brittany and her magical hands...she can make anything look good :)

The homey gnomies!
The decked out barn
Papa holding onto miss Capri, so presh!
The palm tress sisters, ha so funny!
Loading on hand-picked trees atop the car
Oh how I love nature
Sista time-Danielle we missed you!
Just mama and Capri, wearing matching sweaters, funny story she Capri actually had a brown/creme blanket. But, since it was deer hunting season, we decided she needed a color that stood out so she didn't get mistaken for a little deer :)

Just lounging around
Ranch view from the window
Feasting!

We also had an amazing time with the Andrew's family, 9 out of the 12 kids were there, it was fun loud and exciting as usual.

I wish we had brought our camera, unfortunately we didn't bring it, so if any family member who is reading this has any pictures send them on over! The food was fantastic, there was like 12 different dishes! Along with 12 different pies, quite an amazingly delicious feast. My favorite dishes was the fresh green bean casserole, the crispy onions on top SO good. The stuffing was next, so incredibly yummy, Marlyce (Paul's mom) used her homemade bread with it and it was absolutely incredible!

It was fun having Miriam home from BYU, she is always so fun to catch up with, we also had some cousins come in from Lancaster, Kathy and Ricardo, it was fun chatting with Kathy she has a new baby that is a couple of months younger than Capri, her name was Anna. It was fun exchanging birth stories and such. We did truly miss Hyrum and Tiffany, Celeste, and Morgan.

Hopefully we can all get together soon!

Well that's a wrap...now onto Christmas season, I can't wait. I am most definitely listening to Christmas music, and have been since Thanksgiving dinner ended!

Sweet Baby Capri

2011-08-21T16:26:00.001-07:00

Pregnancy is over, now I can officially blog, just kidding. Well I guess I have more of an incentive to blog now that we have this precious little addition to our family. My oh my does she bring such a sweet, tender spirit into our home!

So I am going to write a little bit about my pregnancy and my labor. Pregnancy first 3 months seemed to drag on forever as I had the lovely morning sickness! I felt so sick I did not want to eat at all. The rest of my pregnancy literally went by in a flash. I know those that say they didn't like being pregnant, for me I absolutely LOVED it. I loved feeling my baby kick and grow even if it did cause MAJOR heartburn. Heartburn to the point where I would eat just a piece of bread and sure enough the burn was there! The funniest thing was whenever I would eat sugar she would kick...kick...kick, just like her momma she loves Sweet things! I loved feeling so connected to something and having an instant love for this new babe to join our family.

I really was hoping Capri would come on July 4th, so she could always have fireworks on her birthday and be around family, but alas she had other plans. The evening of July 8th, I was feeling some painful contractions that were pretty close together for about 4 hours. So Paul and I called in Labor and Delivery and they told us to come in. We walked in and I was so sure I was in labor, however, they monitored my contractions and informed me I was in false labor. Boy was I bummed I was in SO much pain only to find out the labor wasn't real. However, they checked my blood pressure and for some reason or another it had completely spiked. The doctor was concerned that I might have pre-eclampsia so they told me they were going to induce me since I was already one day over my delivery date.

I was so relieved to finally get my baby here! So, they induced me around 10:00 in the morning on July 9th. The Pitocin was super effective, that I was in some pretty bad pain that morning so they gave me some morphine. It was crazy how fast I dilated, I was at a 1 when I came in and by 11:30 I was already at a 3, I was still in some pretty bad pain so I opted for the epidural which couldn't bring relief quick enough. When they put the Pitocin in the IV it really kicked me into gear by 12:00 I was dilated to a 4. It was so crazy because the morphine was still entirely in my system and I was sleeping in-between my contractions every five minutes I would have a 30 second contraction. The rest of the time I was snoozing! The craziest thing is I went from being dilated from a 5 to a 10 in a matter of 20 minutes! By 1:30 it was definitely time to push, and boy oh boy was I ready. Paul was there helping me so much, telling me everything was going to be ok. Holding my hand even though I probably squeezed his hand so hard his circulation stopped pumping through.They had to break my water as it was unable to break on my own and 30 minutes later, Miss Capri Noelle Andrews came. She was as beautiful as ever, when she came out she was Completely clean which I believe was due to drinking raspberry herbal tea for about a week. She was beautiful, the doctor put her right against my chest right when she came out, she sat there with her eyes completely wide open, I was completely overwhelmed with joy and love that I have never experience before in my life, I would jump in front of a bus for her, take a bullet for her, whatever it would take to protect this sweet new life. I looked at Paul and felt so complete as a mother and wife. I feel so incredibly blessed and love being a mom.

I loved having family come and visit. Heather and my mom were there and were such a big help! My mom flew in on the morning of September 9th, the absolute perfect timing! They came in and threw their arms around me and expressed such great enthusiasm for their new niece/granddaughter. They were so funny they reminded me of tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum as they were both wearing identical striped shirts and sporting the same ear to ear grin. So funny! I absolutely loved seeing them interact with Capri!

Paul's family also came to visit, which was so wonderful! Such a fun, and exciting time, Hyrum and Tiffany were there along with Paul's parents, Rachel, Esther, and Miriam. I loved seeing them interact with our sweet baby doll and see Paul, the proud father show her off to them with such excitement. It was so nice to be surrounded by such love from our family.

The first night we had Capri I was a little nervous I would not get any sleep at all, or that breast feeding wouldn't come naturally but to my pleasant surprise I did get a great amount of sleep as Capri would wake up to feed then go right back to sleep or look around without making a peep :) nursing was easy and I felt a major relief as the first night was spectacular.

The following day we were hanging out and all of a sudden my sister Sandy from Utah busted through the door! I was completely unaware they made the trip out to see us. It was probably one of the best surprises of my life! I can't believe my mom and Heather kept it as such a secret. My little nieces Cameron and Kennedy immediately gravitated towards Capri and Mick (1 year old) their youngest was completely enamoured by her and would run over to her and say "MAMA" so funny and cute to see them all interact. It was so great to see Sandy as she has helped me so much along the way answering all of my pregnancy question, such a wealth of knowledge. I loved seeing her with Capri as she was gleaming just looking at her.

We also had some great friends Todd and Brittany drop in and see us, Brit brought us some of the best beef soup I have ever tasted and visited with us, such a treat to have such amazing support from friends and family.

So just be prepared my blog may just have more than one post a year, yea for babies!

Below are some pics of the little Mrs. I will be posting more soon enough!

beach-worthy-sundays

2010-06-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

Paul and I have church at 1:00 in the afternoon so we are trying to make a habit of going to the beach to plan our lesson for the kiddos, we teach the 12-13 group. They are awesome.
We bring our beach chairs and go sit and enjoy listening to the beautiful sound of nature mixed in with little squeals of excitement from kids at the beach :) We went to explore the tide pools and it was super low. I have never seen so many crabs at one time! They were all over the place...it kind of creeped me out because they remind me of spiders for some reason or another. How creepy would it be to be at the beach when it is super dark and the crabs start creeping around you...not a pretty sight!
We went to the cove and to the beach where we had our wedding reception, it was fun we took a pic, trying to do this every year for each year we are married take a pic at our wedding reception beach :) Our 3 year anniversary is near approaching...crazy!

The color of the coral was so virbrant since the tide was so low....

These rock formations are so cool looking, I love the texture

I saw this carved into the sandstone and it really made me laugh...when paul is acting like a girl I call him Paulina :)

Also this last weekend, I was able to see my daddy on his birthday I felt so lucky that I was able to share his birthday with him. Paul unfortunately was really sick and was unable to come. It was so fun catching up with my dad he always make me feel like a million bucks, he is so complimentary and has a contagious smile! He is one of the most Christ-like people I know!

My poor sick baby :(

Oh and I have a new nephew, his name is Mick...I wish I could be back in Utah to see the little dude. Sandy and Tim make really cute kiddos :)

Silly Times

2010-05-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday...love this day to pieces. I sleep in, then wake up grab some yummy fruit and Paul and I contemplate what we want to do for the day...
chores are on the list of course.

Organizing my office something I have been trying to get to forever, it is nearing its end which make me happy!

Paul of course has his early morning saturday mountain bike ride which he loves.

Then we decide to go swimming only problem is I can't find my temporary use card for the JCC. So we decide to put on some tennis clothes to play tennis just in case I couldn't get in. Lo and behold we arrive and their is a huge swim meet going on.

So we play tennis and Paul as patient as ever is coaching me with correcting my stroke, what a guy. We rally for a little bit, Paul teaches me to hit against the ball wall. I really need to do this more often, my goal this summer is to practice against the ball wall at least twice a week, then I can be a better match for the hubs!

Last but not least....we hit up costco...making the mad dash around picking up the usuals. We head off to our car and are about to get in and what happens next?!?!

Paul pushes the cart across the parking lot in hopes that the speed bump will catch it...the cart gains more speed than he predicts flys over the bump and is heading for two cars....Paul takes off as I am furious at him....runs fast enough to catch the cart as it goes inbetween the two cars...whew close one! ...he is one lucky man.

We take off to go home and Paul accidentally takes the 52 West so what do we do? Go eat at Wahoo's of course, just what we were planning on right? Ha ha...perfect little mistake :)

I love my Saturdays even though sometimes they are crazy, I have a funny husband who always keeps me on the edge of my seat!

Aloha!

2010-05-23T16:41:00.001-07:00

It is embarassing how long it has taken me to write a stinking post but ever since our Kauai getaway I have decided to start fresh and have a goal to post for a little personal journal. I know...i know i have said this before but this time I am going to follow through life is both exciting and dull at times but it is what we write down that really captures the moment.

Can I just say that if I could I would drop everything and move to Kauai with Paul?! I haven't felt this relaxed in my life for awhile, there must be some healing in the warm ocean water! Paul and I hung out with our awesome cousins, grandparents, aunts & uncles, and funtastic friends. I did miss my sisters and mom, I wish they could have joined me!

Most of the time Paul and I would wake up ready for the adventure of the day. Since the Dietlein cousins are quick to get up on their feet and happen to know the island like the back of their hands led us on some of the most amazing and rewarding hikes I have ever been on. I have to say that I am slightly obsessed with waterfalls and since Kauai has the rainiest spot on the earth and what Mark Twain would call "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific", with those two in combination the waterfalls were abundant!

Highlights of the trip:

Playing May I with our amazing grandparents

Shopping at Jungle Girl and getting some fun jewelry and trinkets

The spouting horn and finding "my precious", turquoise necklace $35 probably isn't real but I am in love, thanks sweetie!

Being lazy on the beach

Constantly searching for sea turtles, we saw some from the distance and I was boogey boarding and a fellow boogeyer told me a sea turtle was swimming right by me I was so bummed I missed out on seeing the cute creature...

Petrified sand dunes on the coastline

Keoki's fine dining-super fun atmosphere with some yummy food and

Pauls' favorite dessert hula pie...basically vanilla ice cream, macadamia nuts, and chocolate yum

Eating Madadamia nuts...we probably ate a little too much..

Tubing down some tunnel with headlights...on florescent...barely bouyant rafts to a fun little waterfall then hiking out. Before we floated down the river we had the choice to wear shoes in the water knowing we would have to hike out and wouldn't be able to raft back Paul opted to leave his shoes and said he could tough it out with his little socks, everyone told him he needed his shoes but when Paul is set on an idea, no matter how many people try to convince him of something he sticks with what make sense to him he had a little bit of a rough time with roots everywhere...but he made it, what a champ! Such fun times hanging out with the cousins!

Kayaking up the Wailua river with Adam and his cute girlfriend Megan...they were such a blast...then seeing and frolicking amazing Wailua waterfall...breathtaking! Thanks to Megan we were able to get some great shots!

Hooking up with Scott and Jess to go on a helicopter ride, Jack Harter helicopter to be exact with no doors....we like to live on the edge!! We went all the way around the island 65 minutes of bliss my favorite was the Nepali coastline which I believe is one of the seven wonders of the world, pictures and words cannot give this place justice, I was in awe the entire time. I was really giddy when I saw the waterfall off of Jurassic Park...so neato.

The crazy roosters that were everywhere...highlight for Paul...feeding KFC chicken to the roosters...poor roosters :(

Rope swinging into Kepu falls...so awesome we went there twice...such a rush!

Paddleboarding at Hanalei Bay with Todd, Brittany and Beckham...

Pretending like we were star fish in the water :)

Climbing up trees, acting like we were Tarazn and Jane!

The long windy road up to Waimea Canyon to see yet another amazing site of the Nepali coastline. Breathtaking!

Our wildest hiking adventure yet with adam and the dietlein crew, the tough and rough hike to my favorite waterfall yet Shangrula...it took 6-7 hours it was windy and you literally had to hold onto roots to make it through then on top of that you had to hike through 2 tunnels each about 3/4 of a mile...in the tunnels you had to wear headlights to be able to see on top of having to hunch about half of the time considering the tunnels height was about 5 1/2 feet, crazy poor Paul. Like I said the terrain was nuts I have never had so many scatches from tree branches, lesson learned wear some long sleeved shirt and some long sleeved pants for sure! At the end of the second tunnel we emerged and saw the beautiful cascading Shangrula waterfall....it was by far my favorite waterfall. There were little pockets of waterfalls surrounding us and then the mossy rocks...so serene. It felt so untouched like we were the first ones there, so beautiful. Thanks to our sturdy and strong tour guide cousin Adam we were able to make it through!

Hiking along the Nepali coastline with Todd, Britney, Beckham, Sissy and Jason. It was such a beautiful stretch...can I just say that Brittany is a super trooper with being seven months pregnant she hiked for a good strenuous 30 minutes then finally stopped...Sissy, Jason, Paul and I continued on the trail to arrive at the beach you had to hike into, it was hot, hard, but the view of the coastline was incredible. Just about a 1/4 of the mile in we saw a sign that said not to enter the water at the beach we were going to then it had a tally list of how many people had died because of the unseen rip tides and strong currents...the count was 35...crazy! We finally arrived and next thing I know I see Paul and Jason hopping in boys are crazy that is all there is to say about that. Then Paul and I went exploring a littlle bit more around the beach and we found the cave of wonders! It was hidden you had to walk along the coastline to see it but as you turned a corner you could see water rushing out....so you had to get on all fours to get through the first part of the tunnel then it opened up to this huge cave with a large opening...the view was incredible the water was crashing up against 3 large boulders, it felt like I was on some crazy movie set! Then we hiked back and snorkeled and saw some amazing parrot fish and other little fishies!

I would say up to this point in time it was the greatest adventure I have ever been on. Heavenly Father sure made this earth a beautiful place! Kauai has really helped me feel alive again, I am so greatful for the fun opportunity we had to go to this beautiful place!

Pics to come.....

A Perfect Saturday

2009-11-15T23:00:00.000-08:00

Paul and I had such an amazing Saturday yesterday. I slept in while Paul ventured out on a mountain biking ride, then we headed out to the Jewish Community Center played a little tennis swam in the amazing pool and finished off with some fine mexican cuisine with the Jacobsen's.

Fabulous day start to finish. I love my Saturdays and of course my Paulie!

Halloween!

2009-11-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm back...sorry for the delay in posting, I have made a goal to write every Sunday even if it is just a quick thought.
I love Halloween, I don't know if it has to do with the chill in the air, the excuse to dress up, or the sweet treats, decorating, the beautiful foliage...or due to the fact I used to work in a costume shop the greater part of my life and I had an excuse to dress as a different character every day. The costume shop is actually run through The Hale Centre Theatre, a live theatre in Utah. The costumes were authentic and weren't your typical run of the mill superheros, rather real renaissance velvet crushed bodesses, draped with gems along the neckline. Most of the costumes were used in the plays, the reason for their high quality and authenticity. As I used to put the costumes on...I felt transformed back into the empire of Rome, or Camelot.
Now that I live in San Diego I am sure you can all understand why I have a difficult time pulling together a costume somewhat worthy for halloween. But, nevertheless I found something from my very own closet! I decided to be a 1940's lady/flight attendant. Paul as he told me he is a "utilitarian", meaning there is no reason for him to get a different costume each year, rather just wear the same one every halloween. I guess we are kind of opposites in that respect...pretty funny. His mom made him this fun Tiger outfit and he gets so excited to wear it every Halloween, unfortunately this year we were unable to find the tiger cap...the best part of the costume. We had to settle with his tale and los tigres shirt, he's so cute!

On Halloween Eve we spent some great time with friends. The first party we went to was at one of my best friend's home. I was so excited to get there early to help set up for the party. I am a little obsessed with decorating...must have picked that one up from my mom! Jos. and I had so much fun placing decor here and there...preparing yummy artichoke dip and delish desserts....and of course Chef Nat brought some scrumptious ghost cream puffs, yu,! It was such a great turnout. The Gunderson's sure to know how to throw down a mean party!

The drink station, with our favorite friend skeletor!

Joselyn and I, Jos, dressed up as an awesome 80's girl, I wish I had a pic of Gibson and Ryan they were dressed up as the man in the yellow hat and curious george....such a fun idea!

We also went to another fun friend's party, Brittany Gharring, she dressed as Lady Gaga! So funny...she is one creative genius, yes she came up with this costume on her very own. I am bummed though because the pics don't do the costume justice she had the blonde hair, sparkle hat and everything! Tira was the mad hatter, which was so cute , you can't see but she had miniature tea cups on her skirt, hilarious.

For Halloween, Paul and I geared up to go to Chipotle and get our free burrito and then we saw the line, so we settled and went to Croutons for some yummy soup and Salad. Then we met up with Natalie and Adam and another couple in Balboa Park for the infamous Haunted Trail at Balboa Park. It was hilarious, Paul and I were making fun of the supposed "scary people" the entire time! I snapped a couple of shots even though it was not allowed....whoops I didn't know at the time.We then took off to Extraordinary Desserts and I had a raspberry tart that was to die for, seriously it was amazing! I will definitely be craving it again within the next week. It was fun as we all picked away at each other's desserts. What a great way to finish off Halloween.
Oh and last but not least we have to introduce you to our dog...Sparky. and our pumpkin chum chums....

In Stores Now...

2009-08-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This should be one of the last Nordstrom posts, you're probably sick of hearing about it but here's the finale post!!

True Birds are in EVERY Nordstrom store with an accessory department in the nation as of last weekend! They are generally located on the main floor by sunglasses/jewelry/purses. Check out the two styles below that are in the stores, they are fabulous and a perfect addition to your fall/winter wardrobe, great price too. Hope you have time to pop into your closest store and pick some up and/or to give True Birds some theatrical excitement to the sales associates and customers to get the True Birds line sold out so they'll continue to pick up more future orders of True Birds! If you're there, if you could also make sure they're displayed nicely that'd be great! I had two friends go yesterday and they rearranged them all like pretty little birds--thanks girls!

(*click on image to view larger)

*If you can all spread the word on your email, blogs, twitter, facebook, word of mouth...wherever that they are now sold in stores we would appreciate it more than you can imagine. We are being very blessed, the Nordstrom styles are doing well so far but we definitely want them to sell out so that we can continue to be a vendor there!

**Thanks again for everyone's support, help, cheerleading, kindness, thoughts, comments, spreading the word to others and motivation! You all helped our dream come true...THANK YOU!

2 Years of Blissicity!

2009-06-16T18:39:00.001-07:00

Well, Paul and I have officially been married for two years and it has seriously been so much fun! Anyone will agree with me that Paul is an absolute blast to be around. We have both grown together in so many ways!

We had originally planned on going to Wild Rivers waterpark, where we met almost four years ago! Unfortunately, they weren't open...we were a little bummed.

So what did we do to celebrate? Paul took a day off of work. We relaxed and watched the rest of the Laker vs. Magic game. To which the Lakers totally killed the Magic, ah, what can you do. They were definitely the better team.

After the game I made some yummy smoothies, then we ventured on to one of our favorite places to eat out, Islands! Paul had the CA Flyer, which is delicious i might add and I stuck with my classical favorite, the Wedge.

After Islands we went to Sea World! We have had passes for the last year and haven't used them as much as we should have, so we decided to go. It was a blast we first watched the Shamu show, Believe. It was pretty funny because the music they played for the theme was EFY worthy, it cracked me up! We got there a little late and there were hardly any seats left they only had some seat on the third row, the splash zone or the last row way back in the bleachers. We both decided to brave the splash zone. During the show it was pretty funny because the music they played for the theme was EFY worthy, it cracked me up. During the middle of the show Shamu came around to splash everyone and did we get soaked? You can be the judge of that!

Pre-Shamu Wave Run

Post-Shamu Wave
We totally got drenched!

Here's Shamu, he was brushing up right against the glass, I have never seen them get so close before!
Check out the Shrieking eels! They were so scary looking, they all huddled together and grossed me out. They totally reminded me of the monster eels in Princess Bride only that they were miniature in comparison to those suckers!

And yes this seal was a yelper. He was screeching the entire time, literally begging for food. It was quite hilarious, even when someone fed him a fish he kept screeching over and over...seriously? It was a little annoying.

Here is what we call "Wedding Beach", my brother had his Bachelor dinner party here, and Paul and I had our San Diego reception, on the rocks below. It sure brought back some fun memories! We decided to bring our portable grill and grill some hot dogs, surf watch, and just enjoy one anothers company. It was fab! Definitely a day to remember! Love ya babe!

Enough is enough....I am sick to my stomach!

2009-06-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

I feel completely sick to my stomach.
I am completely appalled that close friends and family are taking our True Birds designs and are making and selling them as their own. It is eye opening to see peoples true colors come out. Besides friends and family that have come out and tried to sell them as their own (bad enough right?!), bigger stores that we used to love--- a n t h r o p o l o g i e and u r b a n o u t f i t t e r s have ripped us off as well. We sent product boxes to them with our Summer/Spring line as well as our upcoming designs that come out this Fall and they took months to return the pieces, only returned part of the samples, kept the line sheet and are now selling almost complete replicas of many of our styles online and at their stores. So upsetting. We will not be shopping at either of those stores again.
The Friends and Family that are making almost exact replicas of our designs have bridged even into the Baby Birds line which is 100% original, nothing out there is that same concept. They have also replicated our True Birds adult line in many ways from our designs, to even the verbal descriptions and branding they choose to use, I don't understand how people can't get their own ideas. I feel like we are so pro-originality and not copying others which is why it makes it so hard for me to understand others business ethics. This certain friend is from High School, I hope our High School friends, neighbors and others will choose to support our original ideas and hard work.
Its hard for me to understand that some people only look out for #1.
Please continue to support our brand, our designs and our hard work. Heather and I have worked so hard to create unique accessories and appreciate your support and hope you'll continue to choose to support us.
Know that we are moving forward and will continue to do so. For instance, today I'm dropping off requested custom accessories to Smashbox Studios in L.A. for a Seventeen Magazine photoshoot with the cast of America's Next Top Model, a celebrity requested True Birds accessories for tonight's premiere of the new Denzel Washington/John Travolta movie "The Taking of Pelham 123". Last night CBS Red Carpet reporter, Amber Valdez, wore True Birds for the movie premiere of "Hangover" and today Miley Cyrus will receive her numerous accessories she personally requested after looking over our lookbook and website on set of Hannah Montana last week. Noah Cyrus, her little sister will also be receiving Baby Birds and True Birds accessories by the end of the week before the family goes out of town for the Summer. We were also a part of the MTV Awards Events last weekend (post coming soon on www.truebirdsblog.com) as well as supporting sponsors and attendees at Brittany Curran's Birthday Bash last Saturday. We also got confirmation that we'll be posted about on Cosmogirl.com on June 15th as well as www.theluxuryspot.com and many upcoming magazines, see here. This isn't a bragging paragraph, merely a way to share with our knock-offs whats going on and letting them know that we will be calling them out in the media and online because we're not going to stand down.
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True Birds Blog!

2009-05-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

Wanted y'all to know that Heather and I finally started a True Birds blog. We've been wanting to do it for a while but wanted to get it to where we could create a whole community of beauty/fashion and not just have the blog be about True Birds updates and such. It will of course have updates on it as well but we have 4 contributing bloggers that are beauty editors, stylists, makeup artists and such from L.A. to N.Y. that'll share their thoughts, bargains and trendy ideas. Hope you check it out, http://www.truebirdsblog.com/!
Also, thank you to those in advance who link it on their blog, that is so kind and generous--thank you!!:)
One more thing--we dropped our True Birds, www.truebirds.com, pricing mega and added some new styles, we're currently loving all things neon so we added some neon flair to some feathered clips and headbands! We've been waiting to be able to drop our prices since our inception but have now been able to because of Nordstrom and other exciting things happening. Hope they stay as low as they are forever, only thing that may raise them is our stores not wanting us to list them that low:(. But know for now that they are low!! We haven't changed our pricing on Baby Birds..yet.
Thanks again everyone for your love and support, it means so much to me and to Heather!!

Married Men and Twirling Rings?

2009-04-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

Quick question for all the married ladies out there. Does your husband find it amusing to twirl/play with his wedding ring? Paul is the king of twirling the ring, he twirls here, there, and everywhere! I would always get mad especially in church...trying to kick him of his habit. I guess you could say I was a little paranoid about other people seeing him playing with his ring..because I thought he was the only one out there with this strange fetish.

As it turns out many married men have this strange habit! I commented about this oddity with my good friend Ali, who is one of the most observant people I know. She informed me that even President Uchtdorf plays with his ring...yes an apostle! Today I watched General Conference and Ali's statement rang true, he was indeed playing with his ring. So, I really had no ground to get mad at my dear sweet husband for what I thought was a strange habit.

About a couple of weeks ago I witnessed another married man playing with his ring in church. We were sitting in Sunday School in the cultural hall, and all of a sudden we hear a loud clinkety...clank..clink. Yes, the man twirled... and totally lost control of it...and yes everyone noticed

I guess it pays to be more observant. Had I known earlier I could have saved myself from some pent-up frustration over such a small habit which seems to be very common...silly, silly me!

2009-03-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hello all. So, this last Thursday was a momentous occasion in my life. Heather and I have been going back and forth with Nordstrom's and negotiations for the past couple of months...making all adjustments they deemed were necessary. We received a most exciting email about the two styles they want to put in their stores this coming August! Surprisingly the two styles they picked up were some of our latest editions we designed with Nordstrom's in mind...so I guess it worked :) Also, Heather had told me the day before was when she had paid her tithing and literally the next day we received the exciting response from Nordstom's. Seriously, this has been a high-shot dream for Heather and I and we feel so blessed from up above. Heather has been the best business partner I could have ever asked for, we have such a great time together and we each have talents and responsibilites we bring to the table...and it works out fabulously. I would also like to thank all of those who have supported Heather and I in our dream family, friends...we feel so blessed to have you in our lives! Especially my dear husband for being so supportive and letting me live my dream. True Birds accessories will be available at Nordstrom's this coming fall. The price point has dropped substantially because of our quantities and ability to negotiate our prices lower with our suppliers. Thanks again to one and all!

At the beginning of March True Birds accessories were requested to be featured on the runway at the W Hotel in San Diego for "Fashion for a Cause." It was so fun to see our products paired up with some amazing dresses and incredible coin purses that are retailed around $1000. The models displayed them beautifully. Leonard Simpson did a great job hosting the event and gave expert tips about this coming season in fashion and said our products were spot on for this coming season. It was so fun to have Paul there along with my mom who flew all the way out for the event. She is such a sweetheart! Also, big thanks to Erika, Tony, Lesley, Elliott, and Natalie for coming to support us for the event, you guys are great! Here are a couple of pics from 944 magazine from the event!

Nasty!

2009-03-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I was chillin by my computer and then Paul walks through the door. He told me something crazy had just happened in the elevator. He told me he was sitting in the elevator minding is own business and then he reached behind his ear expecting to find his skin and nothing else...but oh no what does he find?! A spider!! At first he thought it was a black widow...luckily it was just a harmless one. Poor Paul, at least he can get over it. With me I would have been in complete shock and I would be afraid to go to sleep, expecting a spider to crawl anywhere and everywhere. Nasty! Oh and I totally had to post a picture of a spider cartoon...just looking at a spider captured in a picture gives me the heebie jeebies!

Mountain Biking Adventures of Paul & Heidi

2009-03-02T11:03:00.000-08:00

This last Saturday Paul and I headed out to go mountain biking for my very first time. We went to Sycamore Canyon located in Santee. It was so nice to escape the city and get some fresh air. I wish I would have taken before and after picture of us, oh man were we filthy after. We had some nice mud tans going on!

Here I am pulling a face...thinking I look so tough!

Here is my handsome hubby...looking mighty fine I must say!I am not going to lie I was a little nervous mountain biking since I had never done it before. There were times where I did let out a couple screams. But man it was a rush, the first hill we pretty much went down was so steep. I didn't know if I should have braked a bit or not but I was so nervous. I made it up the slope that followed the steep hill and asked Paul for a couple of tips. He told me that I never wanted to use the left hand brake (front wheel), he said if I used any braking that is should be with my back wheel. Good thing I didn't brake down that hill...otherwise I would have been in for a crazy crash.

We went through streams, over jagged rocks and up some slopes. Since I had never mountain biked before I had a lot to learn. But it was fun and such a great workout. It was so nice to look out beyond the trail and see nothing but bare land...I never knew such a place existed in California.

On our way back was quite a challenge because I had a pretty bad crash that I am still trying to recouperate from. I will spare you the picture since it is pretty nasty looking. This is how it happened; I was heading down a somewhat steep slope but the tricky part of this spot was there was a very narrow bike trail you had to follow surrounding the trail on both sides was mounded up dirt. I happened to lose my balance a little bit and then all of a sudden I was smacked in my leg by the handle bar of the bike. I was in some definite pain and when Paul rushed back to meet me we both noticed my inner thigh of my left leg welted up and it looked like I had a softball in my thigh! Luckily, I was still able to ride back alright but to avoid any stree on my thigh I walked through parts of it. I definitely got my battle wound. I am so grateful that it is finally starting to bruise...it is still swollen but with the bruising comes the healing!

Even though I had what Paul called a "freak accident", I still thoroughly enjoyed the day and am looking forward to going mountain biking again! It is such a fun couple's activity. Oh and I forgot to mention on the trail I heard a rattle snake for the first time...good thing I was on my bike!

Double-Wedding Week

2009-02-27T22:32:00.000-08:00

The weekend of February 7th unttil February the 13th I was in snowy Utah. February 7th was the day my brother got married and it was truly a blessed union. My brother found this fantastic girl who suits him so well. I love how Danielle brings Eric out of his shell and makes him feel comfortable in any situation. We are thrilled to have her in our family, you rock Danielle. Here is a pic. of the handsome couple. My awesome cousin Jess took this picture.

I wish I had more pics of the day, but I totally forgot my camera...boo! The temple sealing was incredile and Eric and Danielle were given great advice. The reception was held downtown at the Gallivan Center and it was so amazing. Instead of flowers Danielle had sparkly branches as decor and it was amazing I wish I had some pics to show. It was seriously one of the best dance parties I have ever been to. I have never danced so much in one setting! The DJ rocked it up.

Heather and I stayed for the next week awaiting yet another blessed wedding from one of our best friends from college! During the week Heather and I seeped in as much time with our older sister and two nieces because they had just moved from Cali back to Utah. Tears were definitely shed! Here a couple pics of the little gems!

Here is a pic of Camryn and Kennedy playing store. Cam's obviously was the cashier and Kennedy was the shopper!

Look at that face...priceless!

We also had a Valentine's tea party and made sugar cookies. Kennedy was quite the little helper in the kitchen and helped make the frosting and even more she wasn't shy with decorating the cookies...they were fab!

We also had the opportunity to meet up with some college friends...it was so fun to see them! Ali just got an internship in New York...so awesome and Kerianne is going to Botswana for research...so cool!

I love Kerianne's laughing smile...seriously awesome!
Last but not least is the wedding of DeEtte and Jason Carver. It was so fun to be there for DeEtte. She looked stunning as you can see! Heath and I were able to steal some precious moments away from the busy bride to talk, hang out like the good ole days. Here are a couple of pics from the great day! Oh and isn't Palmer the cutest boy ever. such a handsome dude!

Here is a pic of another tea party we had in downtown Salt Lake....called the Beehive Room. It was so fun getting in some time with all the sisters before I came back to San Diego.

Academy Award Gifting Event

2009-02-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I had the great opportunity of helping at an Academy Award gifting event. It was so much fun, Erika and Christy also came and we had a blast together. The head coordinators of the gifting event was kind enough to let me pass out my product for free when every other vendor had to pay $10,000-$15,000 for a booth! We sure did luck out. It was located at the SLS hotel in Hollywood! We saw some b-lister stars overall it was a blast. Here are a few faces I was able to snap a shot of with True Birds accessories!

Here is Annalynn McCord the star of 90210, she is also rumored to be in "New Moon" the second book in the Twilight series. I had the opportunity to escort her around to all of the different booths. She was so sweet and nice and had the cutest accent, she was from Atlanta, GA. It was so fun to see how real celebrities are. I guess I was expecting them to be arrogant or something but I did not meet one person of that nature!

Here is Tony Dennison from "The Closer", with Keira Sedgewick. I also had the opportunity to escort him and had fun getting to know him...it is amazing how open he was about his life, he talked about his girlfriend, and his relationship woes he went through with his last girlfriend. He even asked some advice as to what products his current girlfriend would want. It was funny to because he went to another gifting event Heather was at and said he recognized her and Heather asked him if he went to "The Secret Room Gifting Event" and informed him that I was there and that we were twins. He was so nice and told me he would personally gift a True Birds accessory to Keira. What a stud! This girl had to be my favorite of the day! Her name is Holly Fields and she was such a joy to be around Christy and I co-teamed and escorted her around. She was a guest star in a couple of episodes of The OC. But she is mostly recognized for her voice overs, she has done voice overs for stars such as Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore to name a few. She was newly engaged and full of life and a charming personality!

This is Kim Coles, she was such a fun lady and hilarious as well as she is both an actor and comedian.

Last but not least is Melissa Farman from this season's Lost. She plays the young Danielle Rousseau and I completely recognized her as she walked through the door because she was on a recent episode of Lost. She is one multi-tasker she has been involved with acting along with going to school full time...what a go-getter.

We all had a blast and when we left one night Erika said she saw Nathan from Heroes. It was so fun for the weekend, but I do not know if I could handle living there the LA lifestyle is so busy all the time.

Great Big Happy Birthday to my one and only!

2009-01-30T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well it is Paul's birthday, he turned the ripe age of 31! All the reason more to love him, he is older and wiser :) He is such a great guy, for his birthday I made him a card of 31 reasons I love him along with a coupon book for treats and such. His main present, however, is in the mail and he is so excited. He is getting a new mountain bike and is super thrilled. Paul is always fun because he is always exploring new hobbies, which keeps things fresh and fun. Thanks for being such a great husband, confidante, and comedian in my life. It is rare occasion when I can stay mad at Paul because he always cracks a joke and breaks any small barrier we come across, he keeps things lighthearted. He is more than I could have ever hoped or dreamed for and I am the luckiest girl to have him as my eternal companion, love ya babe!

True Birds

2008-12-15T11:17:00.001-08:00

(Yayyyyy! I can finally tell you!)

Hello friends! Today I'm happy to expose the underground project I've been working on with my twin sister, Heidi, for almost a year now. We've kept our side biz pretty hush hush as we needed to place our accessory products in the hands of the right buyers/showrooms, magazines and influentials before we exposed our idea to the web world.

Our accessory company is called True Birds. We've been calling each other 'bird' for many years and thought the name fitting! We had a big vision of a business idea and limited time with newlywedness, work endeavors, moves and the sort but after lots of passion, designing, fabric districting, midnight sewing, marketing, graphicking, photoshooting,web-site-ing (I just made up a slew of 'ing' words!)and the like we have come out just in time for the last of the Christmas shopping! Yahoo!

We've struck some luck with a great buzz about the product. We're in numerous boutiques from Beverly Hills to the N.Y.C., have had some celebrity requests for True Birds from the likes of Mamma Mia's star, Amanda Siegfried as well as the writer of JUNO, Diablo Cody. We also just recently had a request for a meeting with the hair accessory buyer from Henri Bendel which will be held next month. We've been so blessed and we love how it is all naturally taking flight!

(A quick glance of what the True Birds, http://www.truebirds.com/ web store features)

So, we want to spread a little Christmas Cheer! We're offering a 40% off coupon for all orders until December 31, 2008. This coupon is for our family and friends and their family and friends so feel free to share it!

If you want to get an additional 10% off to get a total of 50% off your entire order its easy! All you have to do is post something about True Birds on your blog and/or facebook, send us a link of your post to truebirds@gmail.com and we'll immediately send you your 50% off coupon for your entire order as well as our much appreciation and email smile :).

fyi: All of our accessories are almost up! For the next couple of days the only items you can purchase through the website are the adult 'soft bands' and 'baby bands' because the others aren't linked for sale yet. If you would like to order others that don't have the link to buy online you can email us your order and phone number and we can do a paypal order via phone. Thanks!

*other fyi: you enter the coupon code on the page after you enter your credit card information

For Christmas Delivery order by

Wednesday, December 17th (11:59 PM PST)

*We would love to play Santa for you so we will pay the extra PRIORITY MAIL charge to make sure you get it just in time!

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Many thanks go to our so supportive husbands for letting us run with our dream, be our biggest fans, let us leave glitter, feathers, sequins and needles--ouch!--everywhere and also for backing us up financially in the state of the economy. Our sister Sandy has also been a true inspiration as one of our photographers, idea bouncers and super big fan. She's been with us all the way and so have her daughters, our darling nieces, who actually inspired us to create our Baby Birds line so younger heads of hair could have hip headwear too. Our sweet Mom and Dad and mother-in-law's have been so kind, supportive and interested, thank you! As well as our Grandparents and cousin Em. We also couldn't have looked profesh and all without the talents of Mariah and Nina, our two dedicated, talented and super rad photographers and our many willing friends that were able to model. Thank you ALL!

By the way, Heather and I don't enjoy 'modeling' our own products on the website but you do what you gotta do to cut costs! No offense taken if you get sick of seeing our faces dawn the products, we get sick of seeing our faces on there too!

http://www.truebirds.com/

I'm excited to finally share this with you!
Happy Holidays!

I'm Dreaming of a Silver Christmas.....

2008-12-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

One of my great joys in life is decorating. Sometimes I even take it to the extremity of taking pinecones from the Wild Animal Park, and Paul giving me the "I can't believe you just did that" look. But I'm not ashamed :) When my mom and I went to Z Gallerie over the Thanksgiving holiday we were able to get our theme inspiration, "silver christmas." However, I am very frugal when it comes to picking up Christmas decorations. Below are some of my fun finds, hope you enjoy!

These branches rock, I have to admit I did get these lovelies from Z Gallerie, my mome was kind enough to pay for them they were half off the day we went! However, you can create this same look by using branches, preferably with berries and spray painting them with silver and glitter, very doable. I also found the snowflake tin canisters at Target in their dollar section, the mercury bird was also found at, can you guess...Target.

A fun idea for the centerpiece of your table is by using some very fun, detailed ornaments. Getting coarse sand, mine was purchased at Walmart, getting styrofoam balls and hotglueing small shells on, and other silver knick knacks and treasures :)

Our beloved tree, Paul and I had so much fun decorating it!

These pinecones are the infamous ones found at the wild animal park :), anyway all you have to do is dust it with some silver and glitter spray. The extra greens are fun to place anywhere. When you get your tree cut, I highly recommend you ask for the trimmings so you can use them around the house.

I missed the snow, so I had to have snowflakes somewhere! Here I have some 3-tiered frames and all you really need is very small, flat ornaments and frame them as you would a picture. If you have larger, flat ones you can attach them with ribbon to the frame.

Here we have a nutcracker, I am a little obsessed but they are so stinking cute. If you have ever seen the nutcracker you know this mean mouse character. It was too funny for me to pass up, I found it for Target for $10, what a steal of a deal.

In this platter there is poutpouri, purchased at Target with the silver pinecones.

I love Christmas and the excitement it brings to gather with friends and family to enjoy this festive time of the year. I have been listening to Christmas tunes and the christmas bells keep ringing in my head...just the way I like it. Onto Christmas presents!

Gobbly...Gobbly

2008-11-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

Hello all, I have been neglecting my blog and feel like a blogging failure! I will keep trying to do better though I promise!

So, I just wanted to tell you about my special turkey holiday. We actually took the fun long road trip to Utah. Paul's sister Ruth was due on Thanksgiving and Paul's mom of course wanted to be there for the shining event so she hopped a ride with us! Paul's mom is so witty and funny...always telling embarassing moments of Paul's childhood...which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was super hard for her to leave her kiddos at home for Thanksgiving let alone two weeks! We were so proud of her!

We made our first stop at Ruth's in Provo. Here she is the mother-to-be she looked so great, it was hard to believe she was the full 9 months. We were all anxious for her to go into labor and in order to push that baby along Ruth drank herbal raspberry tea. Poor Ruth it wasn't the tastiest tea in the world...

Then we headed to my parents home in Bountiful. It was fun having my parents all to ourselves, spending some special one on one time with them. I was able to help my mom out in the morning by taking her to physical therapy to increase the strength in her wrist and elbow. It was really difficult to see her go through all of the pain...but she was a champ and pushed through the painful hour and a half sessions. I am so proud her!

While we were there,we we also happy to see my mom and dads future home! The view is absolutely stunning. When you look out the window you see hundreds of evergreens stretching across the hills. When you open the door you can hear the sound of rushing water...truly a paradise. The inside of the house needs some major work but my mom is going to work her interior design magic and make it breathtaking I am sure.

Turkey day came and one and all were stoked for the feast. My mom was not able to help much because of her injury so she did a great job at directing Heath, Danielle (my amazing future sister-in-law) and me as to what needed to be done. It was truly an adventure before this Thanksgiving I usually helped with the salad and setting the table...but this time I helped with the whole she-bang. My favorite task of the day was making the rolls, Danielle and I were a little nervous because we both had never attempted homemade rolls before...let alone being compared to the incredible baker my grandma, but my mom helped coach us and they turned out pretty darn good if I must say myself. On the menu:
Pear Salad
Turkey
Cranberry/Orange relish(yum!)
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Yams
Rolls

We all filled up again and again and went around the table and told what we were grateful for. We missed having a couple of my siblings who were unable to make it. My sister Sandy, Tim and Kennedy along with my brother Jason and Rachel :( But we heard they had a fun Thanksgiving. We then trekked along to the notorious Twilight movie. I enjoyed watching it for the second time and Paul to my surprise also enjoyed it! Some of my other family members thought it was a little cheesy but I guess it didn't bug me all that much...I am a romantic, sappy individual and proud of it!

The day before Thanksgiving my mom and I went to Gateway together to pick up a couple of items and went into Z-Gallerie and fell in love with their inspiring Christmas decor. We had fun browsing the store for ideas and found the one item we could not pass up, the sparkling branches and since they were 50% off my mom purchased some for me she is so nice! On Friday I helped my mom decorate the house for Christmas. We had such a fun mother daughter day doing something we both loved to do! Paul did a good job at snapping a couple of candids...my little photographer!

Friday night we went to the Hale Centre Theatre to see the musical "Into the Woods", it was the first time I had seen it. It was a mesh of about 7 different fairytales and how they all worked together to make their dreams come true. There is something about seeing a live play not only is the set alive you feel like you are a part of it just as much as the characters are. When intermission came I was a little disappointed because when I was waiting in line this girl was on her cell phone talking about the play then she said she wasn't looking forward to the end of the show because.......-she gave the whole ending away, seriously the nerve! No surprise ending for me.

Saturday came all too quickly and Paul and I packed up and headed off. We already had a full car at this point but I insisted that we take a couple of branches that were cut so I could take them home and spray paint them. Oh the silly things I do for decorations. It felt like I was in a forest when I was driving and looking through my rear-view because of the twigs that stuck out every angle. Paul was a champ and hardly complained about them at all.

At this point Ruth was about to get induced but we had no idea how long it would take before the baby came. So we headed off we were happy to find out that the baby was delivered at 5:00 p.m., if only we had stayed around a couple of more hours! Congrats Ruth and Jared we are so happy for you!

Under the Sea Halloween

2008-11-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love Halloween! Ever since I was about six I worked in a costume shop. I loved it, it was so much fun to go through the many aisles and pick and pull costumes off the rack to change me into whatever I wanted to be for a given day Whether it was a genie, witch,...you name it! This holiday definitely holds a special place in my heart!
Ever since I moved to California I have had a difficult time not living in a costume shop for the month of October. It wasn't until the 29th of October till I realized Halloween was almost here! Heather and I were in LA at the time and decided since we were close to the fabric district to go and check out some patterns and figure out what we could pull together last minute. We were going to go with cave people...until we saw some awesome sequin fabric. I had always wanted to be a mermaid and here was my grand chance, so we picked up random pieces of fabric we felt would go well together for a mermaid and a merman! Halloween is not Halloween for me unless I dress up!
The day of Halloween was kind of hectic and Paul came home a little bit later so we tried to make the merman costume work on him....but he ended up looking like a crossdresser and decided to bag his costume. However, lo and behold he pulled out an awesome tiger outfit his mom had made for him! Seriously, he made the funnest tiger. Every once in awhile during the night he would pounce out in front of people...it was hilarious!
We ventured off first to Seaworld, and I felt truly at home :) We met up with some friends Adam and Natalie, and saw the Rockin Shamu show. It was really fun to be there and see all the kiddos dressed up. We trick or treated and they gave us loads of Swedish Fish, how appropriate. Let alone they are one of my favorite treats!
We snapped some shots with the under the sea crew.
This girl was so hilarious, she was so funny...just look at that face. Isn't it funny how chilren are dressed up as he or she-devils!

Here is Paul and I, me trying to pull the face of a mermaid and Paul pulling out the claws!

Taking the trolley downtown. It was my first time and it was so much fun! Once we were downtown we people watched...our favorite costume of the night was the pacman crew. One dude was pacman and he had his three accompanying ghosts chasing after him...it was hilarious!

We then went to the mall and Paul had his first experience with Hot Dog on a Stick, crazy I know! It was a definite hit!
Last but not least we went to Ghiradellis for some ice cream. Thanks for joining us for Halloween Adam and Nat!

Excuses...excuses

2008-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

So have I dropped off of the planet, some of you might ask! Not necessarily I just have been crazy busy with a project that is nearing it's end, I will definitely post about it when it is finally finished. I choose to use this blog like my sister as a personal journal of the adventures and happenings of life. So below I have posted many of our activities over the course of the month. Can we say post overload?

Sweet Cameron

2008-08-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here is some fresh sweetness from Heaven. Baby Cameron, our first time seeing her I was absolutely beaming. She is so precious and beautiful. I still can't believe how small newborns are! Doesn't she have such a precious little face, we were lucky to have her awake, for the most part she is soundly sleeping! We are so glad she is here, happy and healthy! Now we have three fun-filled nieces, we are so blessed! Job well done Sand and Tim!!

Paul and I taking in every moment with this sweet baby girl...babies are the coolest!

Beach Day

2008-08-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

I love beach days. We met up with Paul's cousins Cathy and Ricardo and their little kiddos along with Hyrum and Tiffany and baby Rachel. We had so much fun chillaxing on the sand. We are so lucky to live so close we definitely need to take advantage of where we live.

Here's cute Nephi, pulling a mischevious face!

Paul the peacock.

Shout out to Tiffany who took this great picture of Paulie and I.

Sweet Baby Rachel, I love those cheeks!

Ruth's Baby Shower

2008-08-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of the decor for Ruth's baby shower, you can't tell she likes pink can you?! It was so fun, Tiffany did such a great job planning everything out from the invitations to the games to the party favors. It was so fun to see Ruth I have not seen her since she got pregnant she only has about 90 days left, but she is still so small...she has just a little bump! One of the most entertaining games was the sippy cup chugging competition, I had never seen this before but I was laughing hysterically! Great job on the party planning Tiffany, and congratulations Ruth we are so excited for you!

Comedy Club

2008-08-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

Awhile back Nat and Brandon invited us to go with them to a comedy club! We had such a fun time. I decided I liked the comedians who had their performance scripted out, improv seemed overused and not nearly as funny. The last comedian was my favorite! He was Asian and he was pretty much mocking himself the entire time. Paul and I had the same favorite joke of the night. One of the comedians was commenting on how crazy little kids act. He was hanging out with one of his buddies and was kind of out of it when his friend's family came home and all he remembers is a little kid running up to him and whispering in his ear "I used to be a cat" and then ran off. Seriously, hilarious! He definitely had the last laugh. Thanks again Nat and Brandon for the fun night out!

Paul pulling a face as usual trying to impersonate Charlie from "So I Married an Axe Murdere", whilst holding the votive candle getting ready to blow it out.

And Natalia and Brandon, they are so photogenic, seriously!

Sea World

2008-08-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

Paul and I broke down and got Sea World passes! It has always been a childhood dream of mine to go to Sea World but for some reason or another it never worked out. We had the perfect excuse to get passes because one of my best friends from college was visiting and invited us to go with them. Paul and I have been having a good time going after work during the non-busy hours to enjoy the park. My favorite show would be the Rock'n'Roll Shamu I know so cliche, right? I just think it is unbelievable how the trainers teach the Shamu all the cool tricks!

And of course one of our favorite places was the Sesame Street bay of play
watch out Paul the panther is ready to pounce, what is that look on his face?!

This pic was hilarious, I had to post it. For some reason or another I have the hairstyle of Alice from the brady bunch. Paul looks like he is about to cry because I ate all of the cotton candy. Me enjoying every minute of it..he..he

And the firework show to end the experience with a bang!

Silly Rhinocerus

2008-08-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

My fab parents came to town so we met them in Coronado. I love Coronado it is such a fun place to visit. We want to an awesome Zaggat rated restauraunt called the Rhinocerus. What drew us in was the fun decor and the presentation and last but not least the price. My mom and I had a fun time parousing around looking at everyone's yummy plates of food, getting ideas as to what we were wanting to get. Kinda funny my mom even started talking to a random stranger who actually offered my mom to take her left-overs...my mom is so energetic and fearless I love it!
The Paulster and I.

The parentals, they are so stinking cute!

After dinner we went window shopping since everything was closed (probably a good thing) and came across this butterfly fantasy!

We then ventured on to the famous Hotel Dell Coronado and walked around searching for Maggie Moos in hopes of indulging in a scoop of divinely flavored ice cream. To our utter dissapointment they had closed, oh well. Thanks for the great time mom and dad we love you!

Padres Night!!

2008-08-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Good ole Nat planned this fun event! What was the highlight of the game the $1 hot dogs of course. I don't believe I have ever seen hot dogs so cheap at a baseball game. Kind of sad they have to have special $1 hot dog nights to bring in the crowds, but we aren't complaining the hot dogs and company were well worth it.
Paul is a major A's fan any baseball event we go to you can guarantee he will be sporting this hat.

It was fun sitting up in the nosebleed section besides the face that we had some crazy hooligans that were yelling into poor Joselyn's ears. We think they secretly knew that Joselyn was a teacher and were out to get her from the beginning. Don't worry Joselyn gave them a piece of her mind and put them in her place. It was kind of annerving that the kids' parents refused to quiet them down at all. I mean half of our section kept on looking up in our direction expecting the parents to do something but never did, craziness!
The girls!

Big question of the night is did the Padres win? A resounding no, but hey we were there for the hot dogs and social aspect, overall a great night!

Oh funny story as we were on our way to the game while we were stopped at a stop light. Nat was conversing about people on the street and how cool some people think they are. At that moment we looked right ahead of us and noticed a metro guy with his designer jeans and a rip nearing an area which should not be exposed. We were in awe at how his skin tone through the rip perfectly matched his ultra-tan face...we were amazed it must have taken some major effort to match his face to his derierre!! Wish I had a pic to prove so you could see the evidence.

The Blue Wavestorm Wonder!

2008-08-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

I have always dreamed of being a surfing chick. So a couple of weeks back Paul and I invested in the one and only Wavestorm. Where did we purchase this 8 foot wonder, Costco of course! If you go to any beginning surf beach I can guarantee you will find about five of these boards floating around.

What is so fabulous about this board? It is made of foam, super thick, light, and last but not least super easy to balance on! I have attempted to surf in the past but have never been truly successful. By the time I paddled out on the 10-foot wooden board I was too exhausted to even catch a wave because it was so heavy. With the Wavestorm I paddled in and caught the wave super easy and I was actually surfing, it was the coolest feeling ever!

Paul gave it a whirl and did amazingly well. It was kind of funny seeing my 6'6" man surfing it up. The Wavestorm is my beginning board and I love it! Our friends Drew and Kathleen came to the beach with us this last Saturday, Kathleen did amazingly well for her first time and Drew the surf king shredded the Wavestorm on the big waves.

Just living the dream!

The Knothead Craze

2008-07-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I had the amazing opportunity to help represent Knotheads in Las Vegas for Cosmoprof which is one of the largest beauty conventions in the U.S. In total there were about 800 vendors displaying their products in hopes to be picked up by large beauty corporations. If you have never heard of a Knothead, I seriously urge you to check them out. Definition of a Knothead: a unique hair accessory that does it all from sleek to funky to classis all in a matter of minutes! I have fallen in love with Knotheads and with the unlimited possibilities to make your hair stand out in fun and unique ways. I have thrown out my bobby pins and have resorted myself to just using a knothead to change up my hairstyle on a daily basis, I love it.

Out of all the 800 vendors Knotheads created the most buzz! The event lasted three days in the duration we were hit up by huge names such as Ulta, Sally's Beauty, Target, and Costco just to name a few! One of the most exciting proposals came from a representative that has major connections to Disney, she wants to put Hannah Montana on the front of the packaging. Hannah Montana is a super-celebrity at the moment and anything with her face on it sells tremendously well! There were people from all around the world getting knotted up in the craze, you should check it out Knotheads at www.knotheads.com

It was so fun working with the Knothead crew, my awesome cousins Scott and Jessica Law are the head honchos of the company and are an absolute blast to be around. I also got to hang out with the twinner, who works as the head honcho of marketing and of course the amazing Katie Squires...life could not get better, but I did miss the hubs terribly. I loved being able to introduce the product to so many different people from all around the world. It was such a conducive environment for me to be in and I loved every single second of it. All in all it was a lot of work but it sure makes a difference when you love who and what you are working for!

The Crew!

Katester and I true Knothead blue inside and out, and aren't these shirts abolutely adorable I love them!

I totally have my buns of steel going on!

Oh and did I mention how incredible the booth was?! Heather and Jessica spent a great deal of time searching out the perfect items that would keep the look clean and fun to match the amazing branding. People left and right commented how much they loved the branding and the packaging.
What I did during my time off!

I am stoked that Las Vegas finally has a Cafe Rio, I got my fill there twice and it was ohhhh so delicious!

We had a fun time at the Mandalay Bay hotel other than the fact we were walked in on twice first by one of the employees and the second time by a couple, kind of messed up! We were a little frustrated and we called in and they felt so bad they gave us $50 worth of free room service. For breakfast we got a yummy fruit tray with bran muffins...it was delicious!

The beautiful Bellagio water show...love it!

Heath and I walking the Strip!

The twinner and I indulging at the Rainforest Cafe.

The fab glass sculptures in the bellagio, and I hear each flower costs $10,000...crazy!

Stretching out on the nifty statue after being on my feet all day.

My new do I love to wear all the time, it gives a nice braided effect.
I am planning on hosting a Knothead party soon enough so stay posted!

The Fun Fourth of July

2008-07-18T00:12:00.001-07:00

Happy Late 4th of July!

2008-07-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

So this may be a little too late, but how could I not post about my second favorite holiday?! Paul and I were lucky enough to get off a couple days of work to go to our family ranch! Highlights of the trip include: four wheeling with Paul down sulfur creek...so there was no creek but the trail was awesome! It was rocky, dirty, scary at moments and Paul and I thought our combined weight at moments might have just tipped us over the top. Luckily, we survived without any scars and without being carried away with a flash flood.

The fourth of July activities include: The classic egg toss, did we win? Nope I had a difficult time cradling the egg it splattered all over my hand and I attacked Paul and spread the slimy yellow goodness all over his shirt, classic. He was a little p-d off but that is what messy activities are all about, everyone needs to get slimed, part of the fun right?

Potato Sack race. Back in the day I used to rule at this one I was pretty much unstoppable. Sadly, I came in last as I kept on tripping and landing on my face. I guess my coordination has slipped through the cracks...maybe next year!
The most entertaining event to watch was the frozen sock race. Pretty much the point of the game was to hit the sock super hard against the concrete, get all of the ice out and throw the frozen sock on your footsie. So try and picture this Paul hitting the sock with his face scrunched up it seriously looked like he was a three year old throwing a tantrum and ramming the sock onto the hard concrete. He came so close but this one too unfortunately was a loss as well.

Fourth of July Parade, so back in the day when I was a little tyke we used to hold our own parade where there was more people in the parade than actually watching it. We would hop into my grandpas retro mid-70's Jeep...dressed up in our sequined fourth of july outfits, it is so old and awesome! Anyway we kind of dropped that tradition and went to town for the big Teasdale Parade. Let's just say that the two-humped camel parading down the street was the most thrill-seeking part of the event, it was awesome.

And of course there was the firework show, it lasted for a good while and for the big finale my cousin Scott asked cute Shalie to tie the knot with him, and she said yes, we are so excited to have her and her cute son Brandon join the fam.

On Saturday we went to the waterfall. I love it, every year the waterfall changes because the rocks corrode from the constant running water. It was so refreshing and the best part of it all was I somehow got my mom to get her hair wet...this is a huge thing if you know my mom, we had a blast. My mom and I swam against the current to see who could get the closest to the waterfall..it was spectacular. Paul joined us as well and we had such a jolly good time.

That night we went to the big apple and grooved to country/hippy music it was funny being surrounded by a bunch of hillbillys.

The absolute highlight was horseback riding on my grandpas new horses. The horse was so well-trained and very assertive. Paul also hopped on the horse but he was a little nervous considering he is used to being bigger than anything...kinda weird for him but he did very well!

Sunday we went to church and walked to the white cliffs to see the Petroglyphs. It is so amazing how they are still so visible after so many years!

Oh and did I mention that we slept in a Tepee! It was so fun my grandparents put a cement block under the tepee so it was more sleep worthy. The coolest part was the top of the tepee wasn't covered so you could see the stars crystal clear, what a dream come true.

The end!

Casa de Reyes!

2008-07-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Paul and I met up in historical Old Town. We had an enjoyable time as we indulged in some fine Mexican cuisine and watched the talented mexicans in their festive clothing serenade table to table!I love it when my dad travels to San Diego for work, he always spoils us by taking us out to yummy dinners. He is so fun to be around and always makes you feel like a millions bucks! Love you dad!

The Surfer's Covin' Paradise

2008-07-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun snapshots I took of some surfers, they were totally shredding!

Scenic Snapshots

2008-07-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

I think I may be a little obsessed with taking pictures, but how could you not in the cove?! It is such a beautiful place...oh how I love San Diego!

Peeps and Seagulls!

2008-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Can you see it? This seagull totally blended into the background...oh silly seagull!

The Seagull doing what it does best...just flying around

While Paul and I were watching the sunset we saw these crazy sun worshippers...weird, but you have to appreciate the random acts of others!

Paul pulling a G.Q. with his bright green Adidas work-out shorts, what a handsome husband I have!

Paul taking a candid shot...as I am deep in thought

I thought this man was so adorable, waiting for the sun to set with his little puppy!

Watch out Paul the surfer's gonna get ya!

Phil's Barbeque

2008-07-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

If you ever want to wear a plastic bib, and eat like a carnivore, Phil's is the place for you! So...the wait was long and it was noisy, but it was so worth it! We went with some good friends Paul and Lindsey Ellis. I must say I was super impressed it was the only time I have ever enjoyed a rack of ribs! It was cooked to perfection. The meat was super moist as it literally fell off the bone and it was slathered with sweet, smoky barbeque sauce...what a tasty treat!

Here is Paul and Lindsey after the feast.

And us...so Paul was the only one who wore the bib, what a silly but smart boy!

Tennis All-Stars

2008-07-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the first round of pics I took with my new camera. It was a blast playing around with the different modes, I shot these in sports mode and the shutter speed did a good job keeping up with these active brothers! These two love to battle it out on the tennis court, and who won this time? Props go to Hyrum, but it was a close one :)

Tiffany's Grad.

2008-07-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, we were able to attend Tiffany's graduation ceremony. It was well worth the wait to see her receive her diploma. She graduated from UCSD majoring in Biology, way to go Tiffany we are so proud of you!

First Year Anniversary Pics.

2008-07-01T07:22:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago one of my friends Lani Wilkinson asked if she could take our first year anniversary pics, and of course we said yes! Paul and I decided we wanted to take the pics at the beach where we had our wedding open house. It flooded back so many fun memories! Lani did such a fabulous job, she just let us goof around and captured the moments, thanks Lani we will treasure these pictures forever!

My New Love!

2008-06-30T16:36:00.001-07:00

Cameras, cameras...so many choices! Sadly our little camera pouted out while we were in Julian and I have been looking for one and found the winnner. Drum roll please, it is the Canon G9 point and shoot. The great perks about this retro inspired camera are the shooting modes, the capablilty to shoot in raw which allows you to unleash your inner creativity, 12.2 megapixels, iso settings, color enhancement modes, and impeccable picture quality just to name a few. I guess we went all out since the last three digital cameras' life lasted a maximum of one year until the cameras decided to pucker out. I have already had fun with this little wonder and look forward to many fun adventures ahead, cheers to Canon for making such a solid, joyful camera!

Boomers

2008-06-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

Ahh...Boomers, I haven't ever been but I absolutely loved it. Paul and I went with Hyrum, Tiffany, and baby Rachel. We had so much fun as we played miniature golf and Paul and I each got a hole in one! It was a back and forth battle for the win between Paul and Hyrum and Paul pulled ahead for the victory. We always have such a fun time with Hyrum and Tiffany, thanks for making it such a joyous adventure!

Here I am batting away, I did pretty well for my first time, if I do say so myself!

Let me introduce the next Babe Ruth, Paul was hitting mostly every ball with precision and speed, you are awesome babe!

Tagged!

2008-06-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

So...I was double-tagged by a couple of dear friends awhile ago, so here it is, I hope you enjoy :)

attached or single? I have always been attached from day one to my twin sister and then made the transition to being attached to Paul, I wouldn't have it any other way!
best friend? My very best friend goes to Paul, followed by my dear sisters!
cake or pie? Cake, my favorite would have to be my mom's lemon poppyseed cake...yummy
day of choice? Friday, because it marks the beginning of a weekend
favorite color? true-blue all the way
gummy bears or worms? definitely gummy bears,
home-town? Bountiful, UT
ideal vacation? Any beach with aqua blue water, grainy coral sand, and a hammock strewn between two palm trees with Paul by my side...in other words tropical paradise!
january or july? July, the month of fun, growing up in Utah we would always take our summer family vacations to Lake Powell, Cali...much better than the heart of winter
marriage date? June 15, 2007
number of siblings? 4
oranges or apples? oranges...I love the sweet, tangy, tart combination, yum!
phobias? sometimes chlosterphobia, and definitely arachnaphobia
quote? "Life is short and you will have your ups and downs so take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back"
reasons to smile? Paul, San Diego weather, Family
season of choice? Summer in San Diego
tag 3 people: Heather, Sandy, Tiffany
unknown fact about me: Once upon a time I was called "farmer joe"
vegetable? cucumbers...they are so refreshing
worst habit? Cutting other people off mid-sentence...I definitely need improvement in this area.
x-ray or ultrasounds? I guess x-rays since I have never had an ultrasound
your favorite food? Italian
zodiac sign? Virgo

1 Year Anniversary

2008-06-18T23:35:00.000-07:00

Wow...has it really been one year I can't believe it, time has literally flown by and it has been the best year of my life! This past Sunday Paul and I celebrated our first year anniversary together! So I have to admit it is still kind of strange living with a man I remember when I was a young tad my girlfriends and I would play house with our blonde haired barbies and dreamy eyed ken's and of course our favorite part was when we they got married and they lived happily ever after...and here I am married to my own personal ken and leading a very happy life. We have lived and learned a lot about each other and it makes me appreciate Paul at a much larger scale! I am such a lucky girl to have ended up with such a good looking, smart, and funny guy! Paul has helped me learn to appreciate the small things in life and it is so refreshing. I look forward for the years ahead, love you babe.

Wow...Julian!

2008-06-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

Paul and I decided we wanted to celebrate our first year anniversary by going up to fun-filled Julian! We took last Friday off and left in the afternoon. It was such a pretty drive...and when we arrived I was ecstatic to see some mountains...small...but they were still mountains! I was thrilled, one thing I do miss about home are the mountains, I guess growing up I always felt they were a great shield of protection...kind of weird, but true at the same time.

We stayed at the original Julian Gold Rush Hotel in a cute little cottage. The lobby looked like I had jumped back 100 years they had a lot of great antiques that helped capture the heart of the old west. I was kind of surprised when we arrived to our little cottage, I took a virtual tour of the room we were going to stay in before and I was expecting the interior of the cottage to have pale blue vintage striped walls with a blue couch, paintings, and flowers. Instead the room had white walls with taupe stripes on the walls, a white couch, no flowers, and different paintings. All in all I still loved it! One of my favorite accents in the room was a vintage warm white vanity...it was so sweet!

Paul and I strolled down the fun streets of Julian...it kind of felt like a ghost town. Across the street from the hotel was a cute shop had all types of goodies. They had so many crazy jams I was surprised to see this jalapeno jam...I guess it would be a good wake-up call in the morning with your toast. Surprisingly the fun little shops closed down around 4:30. While we were strolling I was taking one picture and then I tried to take another and the lens gave out...so this posting will sadly be mostly pictureless :( Later on in the night we went to a to enjoy some fine barbequeing. Paul ordered the buffalo steak and I ordered the Teriyaki chicken. My favorite part of the meal would definitely have to go to the splendid mashed potatoes. Crazy story this particular saloon was not allowed to sell alcohol because of a past incident when they sold alcohol to a minor which resulted in a fatality...so sad.

Early on Saturday morning Paul and I woke up to go eat breakfast at the hotel. They served the best granola I have ever had...it had such a sweet, tangy taste, I am craving it just thinking about it! The main course of the meal was the potato pancakes, they were so scrumptious...loved them. For those of you who don't know much about Julian they are famous for their apple pies...or apple anything for that matter.

Paul and I then headed off near Lake Cucuyamca to go on a hike, it was a nice little loop. Paul kept on talking about how much fun it would be to mountain bike down the trail. It kind of looked a little frightening to me because of the crazy ridgy rocks everywhere, Paul is a lot braver than I am that is for sure! When we had finished hiking Paul freaked me out by telling me I had ticks all over my back. I was super nervous...turns out they were just small little black nats who seemed to be very attracted to my white t-shirt. Paul was super nervous thinking he might have had ticks on the back of his t-shirt but thankfully we were tickless...yikes!

The last portion of our trip was the best! We saw a little girl was wearing a swim-suit and we asked her if there was water nearby...she told us there were some waterfalls. One of the forest patrolman told us how to get there. I wasn't expecting too much...but then we saw the first waterfall and it was super small but beautiful the water cascaded gently over the granite rock and the water was so clear you could easily see down to the bottom. We followed the falls further down, we probably passed five waterfalls. Along the way there were small pools of water we waded in. It was so picturesque I absolutely loved it!

One of Paul's favorite things about the trip was testing out his new shoes called Sanuks. The crazy thing about this shoe is it is really a sandle with light fabic which covers the foot, with two small holes in each shoe for drainage purposes. He wore them on the hike and waded with them through the water and passed them on as the coolest shoes he has ever had. Another great thing about Sanuk's is you can wash them in the washer because they are super flexible.

The end...sorry so long:)

Lovely Laguna

2008-06-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago Paul and I went to Laguna Beach to hang out with my family. My awesome parents came to town and we all gathered at Emerald Bay, a private community which had a private beach! Thanks to our awesome cousins the Brian's who live in Emerald Bay were kind enought to call us in. It was so much fun we celebrated my dad's birthday along with an early celebration for father's day. Heath baked up some splendid coffee cake , the traditional birthday cake for our family! It was so great to have most of us together I relished in the moment because I don't get to see most of us together too often. The boys had a joyful time as they played in the water and explored the unknown. I was recovering from a cold so I just chilled on the beach with my fun sisters, mom, and my playful niece Kennedy. Later on in the day my fun cousins Derik and April and their children, Maddy, Ford, and Grace joined us. For dinner we had Gina's pizza which was absolutely amazing!!

Later on in the day my parents took off to the airport and my cousin Scott was having a housewarming party in Santa Monica. Scotty and his cute girlfriend did some major work to the house and it looked awesome. We were super happy for him...the house was so fun, way to go Scotty!

Paradise in La Jolla

2008-05-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

This last Sunday Paul and I were doing what we usually do on a Sunday afternoon...sit around, watch a little tube and eat to our heart's content...lazy...lazy...lazy! It was time for us to come out of our hermit hole and we are so glad we did! We decided to go visit beautiful La Jolla cove. We were planning on walking around the main cove but it was too crowded...so we took our drive a little further south to a beach where we held our reception. It was so incredible! Paul and I took a little nap on a grassy knoll overlooking the horizon...magical!

This is where we took our cat nap!
We then decided to go take a stroll on the beach and check out the tide pools. The tide pools were crazy there was so much action going on! I don't think I have ever seen so many hermit crabs in my life. Paul decided he wanted to contribute to the circle of life and fed one of the hermit crabs to a sea anemone (so sad...poor little guy:(
On our little stroll we also came across this funny hand-shaped rock...so I decided to go try and mimic the hand and paul snapped a pic.! As we were walking back to retrieve Paul's Rainbows we noticed a bunch of seagulls' were surrounding his sandals they seriously go after anything and everything...luckily we were able to rescue the sandals!

Here is the famous Pink Panther mobile home! Paul and I were lucky enough to take a private tour of it a couple of years ago. We were so happy to see that this pink ride still makes its way to the cove! Inside this pink beauty are some fun trinkets linked one way or another to the glorified Pink Panther...

Leaving the cove...we are so fortunate to live in such a wonderful world with exquisite beauty! Nature's breath is waiting outside your front door....all you need to do is take a step out every once in awhile!

Hostess with the Mostess!

2008-05-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

This last Thursday one of my great friends Natalie Andrews-Wardel invited me to a fun, free party planning event held at the Prado in beautiful Balboa Park. Balboa Park is so fun, each building has a name and we ended up at the house of hospitality. When we arrived we were able to meet the fun hostess of the mostess founder who put this whole thing together! All around there was summer inspired party ideas. She mixed two themes together which were Tahitian with Zen, it created such a unique and subtle atmosphere! Nat and I were wondering how this fun party was funded we weren't surprised when we found out it was sponsored by the famous Chambourd drinking company. We were offered drinks left and right...it was crazy...however, we were super excited to get a virgin pineapple drink that was very tasty! The food there was quite scrumptious! For appetizers there were grapes, stinky cheese (the stinkier the better!) and crackers, for the main course we had a choice between chicken and beef tacos, and last but not least for dessert we had whipped cream with yummy raspberries served in a chocolate tear-dropped cup. Nat and I were a little nervous, because after we ate the dessert someone at the table had mentioned there was possibly some Chambourd product mixed in with the dessert. We didn't feel any differently and we certainly didn't taste the surprise in the dessert...we came to two conclusions either the lady was wrong...or the alcohol in the dessert was cooked out which is very possible! Here are a couple of pics from the event...

Here is a fun table setting, I love the monstera leaves underlining the forks and plate...bamboo mats...coconut shell squat cups. I also love the circular vase with a banana leaf wrap and the mix with the lava rock...so fresh!

I love this flower arrangement. Each flower complements the other and the criss-crossed bamboo brings brings an exciting element to the arrangement!

Last but not least the beautiful presentation of the sketchy/tasty dessert...can we say my chocolate fever has just set in just looking at it!

American Idol Live!

2008-05-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

This last Monday I took the day off of work and visited Heather in Pasadena. I was planning on leaving at night that is until Heather received a surprise phone call from her fun friend Lindsay Peyzant. Lindsey pretty much asked Heather if she wanted four tickets to American Idol on Tuesday night, of course she was thrilled as was I when she asked me if I wanted to go with her! We then called Sandy to see if she wanted to join us she was laughing hysterically when we told her and said yes of course. We were also lucky enough to have one of Sandy's friends, Kristen to come and join us.

So we woke up the following morning ecstatic for the fun day ahead of us! Supposedly the line for the tickets was supposed to start at 10:00 a.m. We arrived just shortly after that around 10:15. Much to our surprise the line was probably formed by idol-crazed fans around 6 in the morning. We were a little bit nervous considering we might not be able to get tickets for the vouchers we had brought in, but we decided to wait. On the vouchers it said we would receive our tickets at 12:00 and be seated for the practice rehearsal which started around 1:00. We thought that two hours wouldn't be too dificult to endure for my sister who is seven months pregnant! We sat on all types of things in line, tissues Sandy had brought, a power box, and plastic bags just to name a few! The line was moving pretty fast and then there was a complete hault! We were just twenty people behind the beginning of the line and we were in the same spot for two hours!

During our time in line Sandy noticed that fox news from Utah was interviewing people in line, she then called out "hey we're from Utah". He turned around and came over to us. He asked us when we got our tickets to American Idol, we told him, the previous night and then he was fishing for a story, he asked, "you mean you purchased plane tickets last night and flew in this morning?! Much to his dismay we told him no and that we were now living in California, but we still got on the news as we yelled and cheered for David Archuletta, even though we were secretly big fans of David Cook...so we are swingers but we really wanted to be on t.v. and we were! Finally the man who was issuing the tickets came and he only had maybe a hundred tickets left which is such a small amount considering there was about 600-800 people in line behind us! We luckily ended up receiving out tickets around 4:00 which means we missed the dress rehearsal but we finally got seated at 4:30. Sandy was such a trooper, she is seriously amazing we were in line for about six hours and she hardly complained at all!

American Idol was held in the beautiful new Nokia theatre. It was so big I believe the theatre held up to 7, 1oo people! We were pretty far in the back but had an amazing time as we were screaming for both David's. They both did such a great job! We rocked out with Cook and swayed to the love songs with Archuletta. We were all surprised at the negative comments given by the judges that were directed towards David Cook! We thought he did incredibly well and were a little disturbed with Simon's tactless comments, but that's Simon for ya! I mean with the wrestling themed night Simon told Archuletta, he knocked Cook out hard. All in all the energy in the theatre was contagious and we pretty much lost our voices from cheering so loud, well worth it though!

As we exited we were interviewed by Fox news stations from DC, LA, and Pheonix. We were major supporters for David Cook, surprisingly we were severely outnumbered by Archuletta but we were determined to stand by our hearthrob rocker! We also ran into our fun cousin that was in line 700 people behind us and were unable to get tickets, that is until they tracked down the ticket man and scored tickets for the sixth row, way to go Christy! The following night we were all jumping for joy when the proclaimed winner by a staggering 12 million votes was Cook, looks like we were right and the judges were wrong this time, but hey America ultimately decides not the judges even though they do have great influence. One last thing I went to work on Wednesday and one of my co-workers had voted 805 times for Cook, I think she set the all-time record, way to go Beverly! Well there is the long version of the story for ya!

In Tribute

2008-05-12T23:11:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to a wonderful, charismatic friend, Lindsey Spjute that passed away a couple of days ago. While serving a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in London, she had a sudden heart attack while running. It was a little difficult today, it hit me pretty hard that she was gone and what a short but sweet life she had lived. Lindsey was such a joy and delight to be around, she was always lifting others up! Of the times I was around her I never heard anything negative seep from her mouth. She had such an optomistic attitude about life, and great concern and love for others. She left her mark for good in everything she did. Love you Lindsey, thanks for being such a great example to me and to so many others. I know you are in a much better place surrounded by glorious angels in heaven, and dear family who have awaited your homecoming. We will all miss you but thankfully we know we will see you again in time.

Grand Theft Auto IV

2008-05-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

I am appalled at how Halo’s Grand Theft Auto IV has hit the record high for most sales out of any interactive media! I am so disgusted with this game because it completely lacks all standards of ethics! Basically this game is propogated towards those who want to be thugs of all thugs. How thuggish…let’s just say that sex and violence are the two core elements. Activities include but not limited to drive-by shootings, pornography, prostitution and if you participate in it your well being goes up. What a sick and twisted game! It scares me to think how accessible these types of video games are. What could be the side effects of this game…a demoralization of society...maybe that is a little too dramatic, but seriously it does more harm than good, that is for sure. It seems as though childhood violence is escalating, I believe there is a definite correlation with video game violence and childhood violence. Through these video games you are conditioned to think violence is fun and guilt-free, all in all you become desensitized to violence. These video games don't show the real impacts that violence can bring and consequences aren't given for the obscene actions you take. I wish there was some way to stop these crazy people from creating these abhorrish games. Well there is my soap box moment for the day!

The Stellar San Diego Zoo!

2008-05-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before last Paul and I went yet again to see the animals...are we obsessed maybe a little bit but Sandy(my wonderful older sister) let us use her pass which expired on April 30th, so we had to take advantage, thanks Sand and Tim. We met up with some great friends the wonderful Wardels. We hit up the zoo around 10:00 am because Nat and I wanted to see the baby Panda and he is only out and about in the morning. Little did we know we picked the best time of the day to go! If you go early in the morning the animals are very entertaining, alert, and fun because it isn't in the middle of the day when it is too hot to for them to rove around.

The highlight of the day were the Polar Bears, they were absolutely incredible! They were in the water glass enclosure, this was the first time I have ever seen them this close they are usually hiding away and you are lucky to even catch a glimpse of them. They were so beautiful their fur coats looked like big giant cotton balls as they swirled their way through the water. There were two Polar bears who were wrestling each other, it kind of reminded me of my cousins who would wrestle unceasingly till there was a victor...they were so fun to watch! They went through three rounds and it was hard to say who the victor was because they were so similar in size and looked identical, watching them was almost hypnotic it took us awhile to pull away from them and gallivant on to see what else the zoo had to offer.

We then went to see the beautiful sleeping giants, panda bears that is. It is so sad everytime I have been to the zoo they are always sleeping but they still look so darn cute! We were able to catch a little glimpse of the baby panda but he was so high up in the tree I couldn't get a good shot! Anyway the baby panda was adorable as ever nestled up in the tree oblivious to what was around him. Wouldn't it be cool if you could fall asleep so easily perched on the branch of a tree...with no fear of falling?!

We then went on to see the gorillas, not a whole lot went on in this exhibit but the boys sure did have a good time talking to the zoo keeper. A couple of random facts gathered was that the gorillas take birth control because they are maxed out on the space they have for the gorillas. There are two baby gorillas and he said they are super playful and he wrestles with them at times, however, he wouldn't be caught dead...then again he might...if he tried wrestling with the silverback. He said they are very tempermental and one time the silverback got so angry he broke the inner layer of the glass. Last but not least the average life span for a gorilla is 40 years...well there is some random trivia for the day! The silly Gorilla below is giving herself a pedicure...so random!

As the day went on Nat convinced me it was time for me to go green, it was going to happen sooner than later...Nat just nudged me in the right direction! Thanks for the great day you two we had so much fun!!

The Wonderful Wild Animal Park!

2008-04-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Paul and I went with some good friends Brandon and Natalia to the Wild Animal Park. We started off the afternoon picking up the infamous in-n-out...you can't beat the price nor the quality of food! We then ventured to the park it was fun we really just hit the major spots. Here is a pic of Paul and I just with the crazy condor

Later on in the day wonderful Hyrum and Tiffany joined use with cute little baby Rachel! We were so glad they were able to join us, here is a sweet pic. of baby Rachel...she is thinking, "come on Aunt Heidi not another pic I am trying to enjoy my crunchy, yummy snacks!

One of the funnest parts of the Wild Animal Park is going on the safari tour. The tour bus as you can see is pretty open...it is about a thirty minute tour that takes you to a free range of animals wandering around the open terrain which include; giraffes, rhinos, and cheetahs...just to name a few. The saddest fact of the tour was that the black rhino will become extinct within the next 15 years...it seems weird in this day and age animals are still becoming extinct.
As you can see the rhinos were giving were not giving us much face time!

Here is a great pic of Natalia and Brandon near the end of the tour, thanks for joining us for the day....zoo times rule!

The most entertaining animal of the day were the lions..they were so playful! The cubs were wrestling while the other larger lions were lounging out on top of the range rover, this pic takes me back to the Lion King for sure!

Extraordinary Desserts...better late than never

2008-04-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks back we went to Extraordinary Desserts for Joselyn's birthday party. It was the first time that I had ever been and I must say that the dessert went beyond my expectations! I give it a 10 for presentation and of course for the taste-bud thrilling menu options. I had the Tiramisu which was pretty good, I would have to say my favorite was Paul's it was a tropical influenced dessert with ricotta cheese no less, who would have thought ricotta cheese would be good with dessert?!
Here is a priceless picture of paul eating the petals of a flower, he actually didn't think it was all that bad...but he did lean more towards the rose petals dipped in the chocolate sauce.

Here we are with the awesome Jacobsens...I totally copied Nat and got the Tiramisu, yummy!

Here is a pic of Paul and I in front of a cool towering display. Anyway if you ever get the chance to go to Extraordinary Desserts please do...it is fantastic, thanks for picking such a fine location for the party Ryan and Joselyn!

Is the Smart car Smart?

2008-04-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

How smart is the smart car, yea it is definitely fuel efficient and is compact enough that when you purchase it.... you can drive it out of an elevator and save on the staggering rising prices of crude oil! I was on the freeway yesterday when I looked out to the left I was baffled at the size, I mean I thought my civic hatchback was pushing the limits on size but this car looked like a toy car, I would say it is about the size of a luxury golf cart. The man in the toy car was going 70 mph, it was sort of surreal while I was looking at it I felt I had jumped into a cartoon...it just didn't look right to be going so fast in such a tiny toy car. I find it interesting how they named this car the smart car. So you can save on gas...but what about your safety? Don't you think someone who is smart would be concerned about their safety more than a mere buck? I mean imagine driving a smart car at 80 mph and you get hit by a large truck going the same speed, say goodbye because there is a slim chance you are going to survive! The mind-boggling thing is the car received five stars for safety when it when through the crash screening test. The smart car has a steel cell that surrounds the passenger doors to help provide an additional safety source when and if the car is crashed. Regardless of the safety features I still wouldn't get one...well there is my two cents on the topic.

Fortune Forward Cookies

2008-04-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

So I had the great privelege of going out to lunch today with Tiffany, my sister-in-law and my cute little niece Rachel. We went to Pick-up-Stix and it was oh so yummy for Chinese fast food. I was in a rush so unfortunately we were not able to share our fortunes together. I opened mine in my car and was pleasantly surprised at the simplistic yet profound statement the little crumpled up piece of paper had to offer. The statement was..."your presence livens up any conversation." It was such a pick-me-up that has kept me happy for the rest of the day. Even though sometimes we receive fortunes that may or may not be true it sort of makes you think...how you can make the little statement ring true by implementing it into your life. I think everyone should get a fortune cookie a day to help brighten spirits and to use it as a fun self-improvement booster program. So fortune forward everyone!

Life as I know it Tag

2008-04-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged for awhile now and have finally decided to catch up on it! So here it is, thanks for tagging me Joselyn!

What was I doing five years ago?

I was getting ready to graduate from Viewmont High School, and I was anxiously awaiting for an acceptance letter to BYU! I was also working one of my last years as a lifeguard, what a life! All I had to do was sit in a chair, get a tan, watch out for the little ones in the water, and get paid for it...oh the simple life!

5 Things on my list of things to do today:

1-clean the house
2-make dinner
3-read for at least 30 minutes
4-water my plants
5-watch the sunset at La Jolla Cove with Paulie

7 Snacks I enjoy:

1-Mambas, if you have not tried them please do...they are amazing!
2-Butterfingers
3-Coldstone Cake Batter Ice Cream, with crunched up brownies, yum!
4-Peanut Butter Cookies
5-Lay's Salt & Vinegar Chips
6-Dole factory soft serve pineapple ice cream (on Oahu island)
7-fresh blueberries, and strawberries

3 Bad Habits

1-Not screwing the lid on the toothpaste after I am finished using it (Paul can attest!)
2-I tend to let road rage get the better of me
3-Huge procrastinator in pretty much everything!

5 Places I have lived:
1-Portland, Or.
2-Bountiful, Ut.
3-Provo, Ut.
4-Laguna Beach, Ca.
5-San Diego, Ca.

What would I do if I were suddenly a Billionaire?

I would start a charity to help children who have been abused in any shape or form. It hurts me to know that there are parents out there who tend to take out their anger on their children that leave both physical and mental scars for an entire lifetime! I would also start a charity to help impoverished children around the globe and would visit poverty stricken countries help feed the children in that area, and set up schools that teach them English and trades that would help them escape the situation they were born into.

I would own a jet and learn to fly one by a professional, it is something I have always wanted to try out! I would travel all over the world and explore unique cultures,and learn new customs to help make sense of this world at a much deeper level. I would go on all types of adventures of course with my man Paul, we would go on an african safari, go river rafting in New Zealand, snowboard down the swiss alps, deep sea dive in the mediterranean sea, swim alongside a dolphin's fin...just to name a few!

I would own a large home in Laguna Beach with 10 acres of land, overlooking the ocean. I would go crazy with decorating my home since it is one of my many passions. We would have a tennis court in the backyard, along with an amazing square cut pool with great waterfall features, and a waterslide for the future kids of course!

I would get Paul all the new and upcoming electronics for a lifetime, he can't get enough of them! I would also get Paul top of the line mountain and road bikes, I would buy him a barnes and noble bookstore so he could go pick a book a day to read.

Oh and last but not least I would get a silver Mercedez-Benz SUV I think this car is so hot, I love the shape, size everything about it besides the gas prices but I guess if I were a billionaire gas prices wouldn't even cross my mind!

5 Jobs I have had:

1-Lifeguard
2-Bookstore Cashier
3-Catering Administrative Assistant
4-Entrepreneur for Halos and Wands/Selling Hawaiian leis
5-Sales/Marketing Assistant for a drapery hardware company

5 Things people might not know about me:

1-I have a twin sister
2-I can't fall asleep when my feet are dry or my lips are dry, totally weird I know!
3-I had to be stitched up three times from my wreckless days as a child
4-when I was younger I wanted to be an archaelogist and I thought egyptian tombs were the coolest, I went through a weird Egyptian phase.
5-I want to start a children's line of clothing someday, I guess that means I need to get a sewing machine!

Wow, getting tagged is fun so I will pass this joyous activity to Sandy, Heather, Camille, Brandi, Jackie and Emily!

Sick Days!

2008-04-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

So, I have been sick since Monday morning, I woke up and I had completely lost my voice! I even had to have Paul call my boss to let him know I would not be coming in. I believe I have been tricked, every year around this time I get Spring allergies regardless of where I am. Last week, I had the sniffles, sneezes and the coughs. I really thought nothing of it assuming it was just allergies, however, it progressively got worse and it hit me Monday morning that what I was experiencing was not just the simple Spring allergies, rather it was a Spring cold! To make sure I used my trusted friend Wikipedia to give me some answers. The common symptoms for airborne allergies is a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes, and sometimes even an irritated tickling throat. It is amazing how the common cold and airborne allergies are so similar! The weird thing is I took my first allergy pill of the season yesterday and had no reaction to it, but when I took Dayquill my immune system finally woke up and helped clear out my nose, throat, and my painful headache. I thought I was going to be able to go to work today, but I woke up with a painful headache, runny nose, and itchy eyes...I tried taking cold medicine and it did absolutely nothing for me today...is it possible that my cold disappeared and my allergies took it's place, I am confused but hopefully I can clear up this mess soon!

Fun Weekend!

2008-04-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Paul and I met up with my side of the family for the horse races located in Santa Anita. My fun cousin Lauren came to visit from Oregon, also Sandy, Tim, Kennedy and Heather came...good times. It was my very first time and it was so beautiful! One of my favorite things to do was watch as they showcased the horses, while they slowly trotted around the loop, they were so close and so beautiful! Their manes were sleek and shiny, not to mention their defined bulging muscles, and their large brown eyes with their lush long eyelashes, which I am definitely jealous of!

Then we went into the stadium and we were able to go right up to the fence and await the races! It was so fun to see the horses race to the end with such poise and speed! I have always had a secret fantasy of riding a glorious black horse at top speed to the horizon to catch the sunset...hasn't happened yet, but maybe someday!

Here is a pic of Paul and I at the races, we had such a great time and Paul definitely learned some valuable life lessons (money is not made to be thrown away)

When we left the races Paul and I headed off to Hollywood. It was my first time and I was star struck... I didn't really get to see any real stars but I walked the star walk and stepped on a couple. Paul and I were a little stressed for time as we were hoping to reach our destination by a 5:30. We made it and stood in front of the Pentagus theatre waiting patiently to put out names in the lottery to get tickets for Wicked! I had been aching to see this show for so long!! We finally made our way up the line and put both of our names in the green spinner. The fellow who was in charge of the drawing was very informative on the procedures for the ticket. He repeated probably at least five times that we needed to have cash on hand, picture id to get the tickets, and be there in person to receive the tickets no exceptions.

The drawing started at 6, at the same time he was pulling out the first ticket Paul asked me if I put Heidi Andrews or Heidi Palmer on the sheet of paper and I put Heidi Andrews, so I checked in my purse for my id coming to find out I didn't have any id whatsoever on me!! At that moment I sprinted to my car (luckily we were pretty close)lost my shoe a couple of times and made it in the nick of time when he pulled my name out of the green spinner, I was out of breath and ecstatic I squealed for joy and ran to the booth to purchase my tickets. The great thing was the tickets only cost $25 and they in the front row where all the action was!

Paul and I were about to leave when a lady urged us to stay in hopes we might get drawn which would increase her odds. We were pretty sure we wouldn't be drawn again but stayed to humor the nice lady. I mean what are the chances to be drawn once let alone twice out of a spinner that had about 70 people in it when they only drew thirteen names. To our surprise the eleventh name drawn out of the spinner was Paul's what a lucky pair we were that night. People gave him some pretty dirty looks as they realized we both had won. Anyway we didn't have enough time to hit the action of Hollywood Boulevard so we just went to a small pizzeria and then had amazing frozen yogurt from yogurt star, I highly recommend it!

We then went to the Pentagus and awaited the much anticipated Wicked! It was Paul's first time to a broadway show, I was crossing my fingers that he would like it. To my suprise he loved the show, he thought it was incredibly funny and entertaining! This was my favorite broadway show by a long shot! If you ever get the chance to see Wicked don't pass it up!

Classical Music

2008-03-24T21:18:00.001-07:00

Recently I have come to appreciate classical music at a much larger scale. My favorite composers would have to include Beethoven, Bach, Tchkaiovsky, Mendelssohn, and Mozart just to name a few. Classical music is sensational, revitalizing, and even comical if you listen close enough. I believe no other genre of music can compare. When you listen to the music you decide the story behind the song, which strongly encourages creativity. Classical music reminds me of art where each brush stroke is added slowly until the colorful collage of colors come together to form a beautiful picture. So it is with each individual instrument where they slowly come together to build up to the pivotal point of the song where the picture and story sync together as one. Paul and I were discussing an unfortunate disappointment in the media. That is media taking advantage of great works of art and destroying the essence of the song, and the ability of the viewer to make it their own. I believe classical music should be associated with elegance and beauty such as in a ballet where both of these crucial elements are present. An example of the media taking advantage of a beautiful classical piece was when Nike used Mozart's Requiem as the background music for the much anticipated end of the game. Unfortunately, when I do hear Mozart's Requiem I associate it with basketball and Nike shoes, which I do not believe was the intent of the piece when Mozart composed it. However, on the other side of the argument some people have not had many opportunities to hear or make use of classical music, so ads can sometimes help those who have never explored Classical music to do so. If you look at other advertisements they use today's most popular musical artists to appeal to the viewer as hip and cool...such as rap, which I think evoke feelings that aren't as encouraging as feelings that are stemmed from Classical music, any thoughts?

Twilight

2008-03-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have become a part of the Twilight craze! I love books that help you escape reality and jump into fantasy. Sometimes you just need a break from everyday life! This book is unique and super creative! It takes an impressable twist on vampires. When I first heard this book was about vampires I hesitated. I thought it would be the typical vampire book, where a drop-dead gorgeous man who lives in a dungeon comes and preys at night for a beautiful woman just happening to take a late night stroll who easily gets seducted by the heartless, bloot-thirsty creature who bites in and finishes her off. When I read the synopsis of book I became intrigued by the simply brilliant plot Stephanie Meyer created! I will briefly explain the plot. Bella Swan is just the average girl who happens to abruptly move in with her father whom she barely knows, she meets Edward who is ravishing, intelligent, never ages and just happens to be a vampire. Some of his strenghts include; running as fast as a mountain lion, impeccable strength and capturing the heart of Bella Swan. Edward lives with a family of vampires who control their natural instincts of killing humans by feeding off of animals in the forest. The vampires live an ordinary life, the dad is a doctor, and Edward and his siblings attend school like any other young-looking teenager. Edward and Bella end up getting caught up in an unorthodox romance where passion is severely present, to the point where Bella's scent becomes very difficult for Edward to abstain from. This novel is so gripping and keeps me on the edge of my seat for the entirety of the novel! I am already on the third and final book of the series and I don't want it to end! I would recommend this book to anyone, dive into fantasy!

Paul's Germany Adventure's!

2008-03-20T23:56:00.000-07:00

Here is the view from the castle, pretty amazing huh? I love the spread of colors each housing unit has, they all go together so well! Germany is such a beautiful place!

2008-03-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun castle Paul went to on a Sunday afternoon. Germany is known for it's castles, there are so many. If you ever go to Germany you should take a boat tour down the Rhine river, castles literally line the river, the reason being back in the day when the only way to transport goods was through the river services, those who owned the transport services were extremely wealthy and built large, extravagant castles.

2008-03-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a fabulous picture of a spiraled golden statue, or should I say tower it is so tall!! Germany has so many cool statues all over the place. Paul especially loved this one because it was so ornate and detailed, and of course because it gave him good luck!

2008-03-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

This is a zoomed in version of the picture above, Paul made some friends...where does he not make friends?! They explained to him at this particular statue if you spun the spindle it would give you good luck, so he merrily did it...look at that grin on his face, priceless!

2008-03-20T23:25:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing picture, I am so proud of Paul what a photographer! Paul was located in Nuremburg, which is fairly close to Munich. Paul said the river flowed throughout the city, how pictureseque!!

2008-03-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

Paul was fortunate enough to go to Germany for a good week and a half to do testing on phones for Qualcomm, I felt so bad for him, what a tough life he leads!! He arrived to Germany on a Saturday night and had all day to explore on Sunday. Here is a great picture of a Gothic influenced cathedral, he came across on is stroll, isn't it amazing?! I love the rich culture in Germany, there is so much to take in!!

I finally gave in!

2008-03-15T22:46:00.001-07:00

I finally gave into creating a blog. Everyone I know pretty much has a blog and I began to feel a little left out. I believe there are three main reasons to blog, the first is to somewhat keep a documentary of your life, the second is to discuss core convictions, and the third is to keep in touch with loved ones. All three of these reasons convinced me I have waited too long. So, thanks for family and friends who nudged me to start a blog!