Life With A Twist of Beth

Light and Dark

2012-01-24T12:46:00.000-09:00

On Sunday in Sunday School we were discussing what light and dark meant to us and to offer an example if we felt like doing so. This guy gave an analogy and I really liked it...he mentioned that light and dark is discussed many times in the scriptures and then he said that we need to the light to show us the obstacles. He said I like to think about if you wake up in the middle of the night and try to go somewhere you will probably stumble to your destination unless you turn on a light to show you what is ahead. He said the same is for our life, if we try to go without the light we will stumble.

I really liked that analogy and then I wanted to take it a little further, I thought about when you first turn the light off-the light struggles to stay as long as it can and when you do turn the light back on your eyes can't see for a moment they have to re-adjust. I think the same can be said for life also, when you start making choices that take you away from the light (and Lord) the Holy Ghost tries to stay with you as long as it can but if you keep going towards the dark there is only so long it can stay with you. When you come back towards the light you must make some changes (repentance, choices, etc.) before you can clearly see again.

I really liked both of these analogies and they have been on my mind a lot since then- do I chose to use the light or do I sit in a room of darkness, struggling to find my way around?

To The Future

2012-01-04T12:40:00.000-09:00

Today this place and I became acquaintances again (I thought about saying friends but I'm not quite sure that we have made it there yet). In 2 1/2 hours I will begin my first class of the semester and I'm shaking a bit thinking about it. I haven't always done so well with school, which it why partially it was so easy to stay away. I'm scared that I will do terribly and I will think "well there you go, school is not for you." and I'm a bit scared that I will do awesome and I will think "well what has your problem been all of this time?" and have no explanation. Kind of silly either way. I love living at home and getting to do stuff with Mom all of the time and I even enjoy working at Trafalga (most of the time), but is it where I want to be for the rest of my life? NO! So here is to the future as I take a giant leap (of faith, excitement, nervousness, etc.) into school!

3, 2, 1...Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T12:26:00.000-09:00

New Years Eve was a quite night spent at home, I worked in the morning and boy was it crazy (I would have thought for sure that everyone would to home or have other plans--elsewhere!). Libbey, Erick, Alexia, and Jacob came down to join in our "festivities." Most of our evening was taken up in watching The Swan Princess with Jacob and eating root-beer floats in celebration of Mom's birthday. Once it was over Jacob and Alexia went to bed, Erick called Peru for their midnight, and the rest of us began playing a game. At midnight we popped the bubbly, clanked glasses, went outside and screamed for a few minutes, watched someone elses fireworks, finished our game, ordered plane tickets, reserved hotel for our trip, and went to bed. It was a blast :)

It's tradition to wear Yellow in Peru for New Years Eve, Erick had forgotten and no one had a yellow shirt for him to borrow so he put on a banana.

Libbey shared her yellow necklace with him.

Mom and Kyle--don't look so excited Kyle.

Fireworks in the distance outside, I felt almost like I was back in Taiwan with all the fireworks that were going off.

Erick was on skype with all of his family, we turned around to see him holding up Alexia's shoe to the camera...we had no clue what he was doing.

Libbey laughing at her crazy husband.

Our game...look at all that green! (Mom's red, she always takes FOREVER to get anything on the board but she all of a sudden comes out of nowhere playing and whoops all of our butts every.single.time.).

I wore yellow and I didn't eve know the tradition.

This is my excited, cheering, happy new year expression/action.

Happy New Year everyone! May 2012 be as wonderful, exciting, blessed as 2011 has been.

Oh Christmas Day, Oh Christmas Day!

2012-01-04T12:07:00.000-09:00

Christmas Day was a day filled with family, fun, and food. We started out the day a little early (especially considering how it was rather late for us to go to bed the night before--Mom's church began at 9:30). We opted to go to church and then come home and do "Christmasy things." After church the first thing we did was open our stockings! (Growing up that was the first thing we did, then everyone had to shower and get ready- as soon as everyone was ready we would eat breakfast and then do presents). After stockings was breakfast and then presents! My big present from Mom was an ipod/cd dock that I have been wanting for along time. Kyle took me out on a "date," to lunch and to see Sherlock Holmes at the movie theater.

Next on our schedule was to take naps, most of us slept right up until people arrived at he door. Again this year everyone came to our house for dinner. Growing up our tradition for Christmas Eve was sub sandwiches and then for Christmas day we would do the fancy full turkey dinner. We decided last year that we would much rather have time to gather as a family and not be cooking all day and that we loved the tradition of the sub sandwiches, so that is what we do now for our Christmas dinner.

Miss C was a big fan of the chips.

Smiley, frowny, half-asleep, we still love them and find them adorable :)

Katrina has been taking piano lessons for close to a year and Mom asked her if she would be wiling to play a song for everyone, so Katrina practiced and practiced and was ready to share with all of us. She did wonderfully!

Claire has figured out that she is no longer a "baby" and likes to hold the "babies" in her lap.

The last several years we have been rotating which family you give gifts to. The Chuy's had Ben/Sonia family and their gift to them was a fire pit---they were super surprised and excited. (I had Joel and Becky this year and got them tickets to Disney on Ice--they went earlier last week).

Lexie wasn't so sure about switching and having Claire sit in her lap :)

I was the official recorder of all gifts. Katrina was also really sweet and bought me these beautiful earrings with her own money and black friday, I've already worn them a couple of times :) Ben and Sonia also had me for Christmas and their big present for me was the game Ticket to Ride (which I love--it has already been played twice since I've gotten it).

Sonia gave the two littlest nieces these beautiful Beatrix Potter books.

Where is Claire?

There she is!

The evening ended with a bubble bath in Grandma's jacuzzi tub for the grandkids and the adults all sat around talking about the upcoming CRUISE!

I love getting together as a family, the only thing missing was Joel, Becky, Aubrey, Parker. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Choose To Become

2012-01-03T20:54:00.000-09:00

It's a new year and with new years often come those dreaded resolutions or goals for the year (bleh!), where you feel guilty if you haven't done them yet or even guiltier if you don't complete those that you set out to do. I've done it myself, I start out January 1st with this whole list of things that I'm going to accomplish for the year, about January 6th or 7th the list has been lost and I've moved onto something new.

A couple of months ago I was able to attend Time Out for Women, it was a cool experience, there may have been a few times when I rolled my eyes (picture Jericho Road singing, hundreds of women standing up waving their arms---felt a little too Christian TV to me (not that it's terrible but that's just not me)), but I enjoyed it and learned a lot nonetheless. This years theme was CHOOSE TO BECOME. Choose to become whatever it is that you need to become. They weren't saying that choosing to become means adding more to what is a very busy and hectic life. Don't choose that. Look at your life and choose to become something that would make your life closer to what you want it to be. It's a bit of different thought when you focus that way, what do you want to become?
This year I want to choose to become a better daughter of god. I often wish that I could find my eternal companion (who doesn't that's not married?) but I realized that in order to do that I need to BECOME the best that I can be, strengthen my testimony and be prepared for the covenants that come with the Temple and Eternal Marriage.
What do you CHOOSE TO BECOME?

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

2012-01-01T21:48:00.000-09:00

The Chuy's invited us over to their house for dinner for Christmas Eve. After working all day and getting everything closed and cleaned I came home quickly changed and we headed for Salt Lake for dinner. In Peruvian culture Christmas Eve is when all the big celebration happens, they have a HUGE meal (with like 4 different kinds of meats!) and they even count down to midnight and have fireworks/dancing.

Ben and Lily brought some really yummy meat with a delicious juices and my favorite Peruvian dish Papas a la Huancaina.

Lexie Lou was getting her pre-meal walking in by having me help her walk laps around the house.

The beautiful set-up.

Yep Lexie drank her first "wine" :)

Lexie might have drank a little too much and started to choke so we were trying to help her and show her what to do, instead she just started at us all like we were weirdos (which I'm sure we all are).

It was a fun Christmas Eve, we were all more than a little tired by the time we got home around/after midnight but fun nonetheless!

Here We Come A-Caroling

2012-01-01T21:07:00.002-09:00

The Monday before Christmas we were invited by the Chuys to go to a Christmas Sing-A-Long. It was hosted by the Larry H. Miller Family and held at the Energy Solutions Center. It was lots of fun, besides getting to sing Christmas Carols with 1000+ (with many dressed in Reds, Greens, Whites, Santa Hats, etc.) I got to hang out with family and play with cuteness that is my nieces and nephews.

Lexie didn't see the need of wearing her hat inside so I gladly held onto it for her (and of course we didn't want to lose it, where better to keep track of a hat then on top of your head?)

We almost lost Ben, Sonia, and kidlets seats (we got semi-yelled at my a lady) but we held strong and they made it just in time.

The orchestra that played beautifully.

You know, Lexie and I just chilling :)

The director, he was quite funny telling us that we needed to pause or sing faster to keep up with the orchestra.

Look at all those people and how well Katrina and Libbey can sing their ohhhh's.

The Jazz bear even came to visit...he was causing some problems with silly string and other noisy disruptive things :)

They have a special guest every year and this year it was Alex Boye, so that was pretty exciting. He kept on using the camera and big screen to "pop a zit"

It was so much fun, I can't wait until next year!

Who Stole The Cookie?

2012-01-01T20:00:00.000-09:00

December 20th we had a 2nd Annual Cookie Exchange Party at Ben and Sonia's house. I felt a little bad because of Mom and I going to California, I going to work immediately after returning and life I wasn't as prepared as we were last year (Mom and I spent the whole day getting ready for it last year). It was still lots of fun, Leah even joined us for plating.

I love seeing the different creations people make- they are always so fun (good), pretty (good), and decorative (good).

Leah and Katrina were a big help with plating everything.

While the work began Mom and Sarah played a quick game of Uno.

Once again the boys would pop in in hopes of receiving a treat.

And Mom and Sonia got the job of wrapping again-- this year we went with a bit simpler on the wrapping job so it also went a tad faster.

Just a fraction of the completed plates.

Sonia the wonderful instigator and host of the party.

Tania

We tried something new this year--hot chocolate marshmallows. Marshmallows dipped in chocolate and then rolled in candy cane (you can also do graham crackers or any other fun treat). They turned out really pretty and yummy, the sticks were a little too tall so they cut off the tops.

A side view of the yumminess!

Avenue of the Giants--Day 4

2012-01-01T19:50:00.000-09:00

Day 4 was technically Sunday but that was not filled with lots of adventure (besides my pandora going off on my phone in the middle of sacrament meeting) and no pictures were taken that day. Day 4/5 was filled with plenty more adventure of course lots of driving that came with it.

Our first stop of the day was a redwood park--again can't really tell you where it was (I'm really good at remembering how to get places but for some reason the geography of California continues to confuse me).

There was this slice of a tree at the entrance, they had different markers pointing out different parts of history--isn't it amazing what we can learn from the plants around us.

We never did find the tree this leaf came from but it must have been pretty amazing to have leaves the size of my head.

I come from Oregon---hugging a tree is a big thing :)

Not every day that you get to be inside a tree.

I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland in this picture looking up through the hole in the roots.

A new life growing from the old life.

They had different markers to show you things and a brochure to explain about them--I appointed myself the tour guide.

My throne!

There was a lot of this going on...

...And this

I thought that this looked like a llama, I can't remember what Kyle and Mom thought it looked like.

Again the Oregonian coming out in all of us...a banana slug (which I'm sure we all used to think were gross but because we haven't seen them in so long they were a bit of a novelty).

Coming out of this giant tree, it was big enough to sleep in and dark enough that I couldn't take a picture or see anything without a light.

After the redwood forest came...Taiwan-Village! Where I introduced Kyle and Mom to some of the yumminess that I experienced as a daily thing when I lived in Taiwan.

First came the stinky tofu (doesn't it just so innocent sitting there?)

Yum! Green onion pancakes.

Mom waiting for Kyle to come back so that she could eat into the nastiness that is Stinky Tofu.

Taiwan Pork- I loved this stuff and I could never find it to buy (I would always love it when we had it at lunch).

Rice--definitely a staple.

The whole layout.

They are getting ready--do they really want to eat into this?

The first taste on their tongues, not so sure yet what to think .

Contemplation... They both said it wasn't terrible, it wouldn't be something that they themselves would ever seek out again. My guess is that it was watered down a bit and not as nasty as it could be because I know that my face when I ate it was not as un-responsive as theirs.

Another favorite of mine- scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

Mom even gave it a go with the chopsticks.

They said this was a Taiwanese hamburger--it was good but I don't remember eating anything like this in Taiwan.

Fish anyone? (at the market)

Look at all of those awesome Taiwanese treats!

We came back for Kyle's FHE (it was mostly a short quick thing with a lesson, but before that they did something called High/Low where they tell a high going on in their life and a low---this one girl who worked a veterinarian's office had cremated a pet boa constrictor that day---weird! and somehow that went off on a conversation where you can have someones ashes made into diamonds (see a company here)). After FHE we stopped off at this neighborhood nearby Kyles that they had all decorated, it was so cool! Each house had two decorated Christmas trees in front of their house (between the sidewalk and the road) plus their house decorations. One house even was Jewish and they had participated.

I tried to fit in with some of the decorations.

Can you tell which one is me? ;)

This one just made me think of Santa's workshop...I wish that I could have windows like that.

They needed someone English.

I'm totally ready to learn to drive a sleigh!

I love, love, loved this color of door and have decided that when I own a house I am painting it this color too!

After this stop it was off to home where we packed everything up and went to bed as fairly early as was possible as we had to catch the Caltrain to San Francisco somewhere around 5:30 in the morning.

I Left My Heart In San Francisco--Day 3

2012-01-01T19:07:00.000-09:00

One thing that I love about vacations...that it's ok to sleep in and be lazy (not that I don't usually do that anyway :D)

Saturday morning we woke up, got dressed and headed out to the morning market where there was plenty of tasty looking things.

They even had Asian Pears---which are delicious, if you haven't tried one before go and find one now, you will never regret it!

After buying enough to satisfy our breakfast minds we hopped back into the car.

Herbie's Cousin

Welcome to California where you see lots and lots of Prius's everywhere!

First stop was the Red Bridge (I think that it is misleading to call it the Golden Gate Bridge as it is not golden, never has been and there are no plans for it to be.)

Kyle took this picture and another one that I really like, I think the light coming through is really awesome.

We were happy anytime we saw signs like this...who knew that was something to get excited about?

It was a rainbow tunnel!

After the bridge we tried going to a redwood forest but apparently everyone else had the same plan as two parking lots were full and there were cars lining the roads on both sides for a mile or two. So we continued on down the road for awhile and found a beach (which I think ended up making Mom happier anyway because it gave her a moment to feel like we were "home")

Someone else had written this in the sand but we thought it fitting to steal it.

Nothing like feet in the sand (I'm a big fan of the sand while your in the sand but not so much when you leave the beach)

Our family is a big supporter of Kuru's so of course we had to take at least one picture of all our shoes together (though sadly mine are starting to break down a bit)

Isn't that gorgeous? And it looks so much like home too.

I have terrible balance and had to use the help of a brother to make it across.

These guys were crab fishing. I'm just used to crab pots and had never seen people use poles before, when they would cast the line would go out several hundred feet--pretty awesome.

There was a race going on, Kyle did not too shabby :)

Getting rid of the disruptive sand.

Next we stopped by at this park thing--I can't really remember what the significance of it was, I was feeling a bit tired and a little sick by this time.

Beautiful swans.

We be gangster fool!

Last stop for the day was Japantown. I had to drive up this hill that was straight up and had a four way stop at every corner, I was pretty sure that we were going to die and go rolling backwards down the hill (I was driving stick), but luckily we made it.

They had these beautiful trees decorated with origami.

I got a yummy crepe to share and of course the Asian world quickly pulls me back into V/peace sign in pictures :)

A close-up on the santa looking thing they added.

Another beautiful tree.

That's my kind of display...all cupcakes

By the time we were finished perusing through a pen store Japans version of the dollartree, and a couple of other stores we were quite hungry. We decided on a Thai restaurant nearby.

The sauce on this chicken was DE-LI-CIOUS! We kept on dipping our other foods in the remnants.

Kyle got this vegetarian dish, the flavor was not my favorite on their sauce.

We kind of had to hurry through our meal because it was a small restaurant and they had reservations for two different large groups (in the 20's) but they let us come in, we felt a little bad and didn't want to make them stressed so we hurried...but I am so glad that we went there!

Clang, Clang, Clang Went the Trolley--- Day 2

2011-12-26T19:26:00.000-09:00

Day 2 we headed up to San Francisco for a fun day full of adventure on the trolley, in Chinatown, and visiting my cousin and her family. By going to Chinatown it was fun to share with Mom a little bit of what it was like in daily life in Taiwan and have her try some fun adventurous food :)

Kyle helped Mom style her hair after her shower.

Waiting for the trolley in San Fran.

That's my Mommy!

Mom was entertained by the street performers.

K was thirsty and went into Burger King while we were waiting in line for the trolley.

Such an intense face.

Two birds kissing.

Chinese snacks!

A sign for where we went to lunch--yum, yum!

Waiting for the deliciousness to come.

Our first plate, potstickers- so good (and I even used/liked the dipping sauce that came with it).

Mom was a little at loss with the chopsticks and because we were in the center of Chinatown they didn't really provide normal silverware so she had to make due with her hands.

Each one of those windows had a lit wreath- so pretty. I've also decided that they must have a whole storage unit just for decorations for their store.

Dinner at my cousin Edna and John's house

The twins were so funny, they weren't paying attention when I took the first picture but the moment they realized I had a camera they wanted to pose for me.

Kisses goodnight

Little Red Caboose---Day 1

2011-12-26T18:48:00.000-09:00

Mom and I took a mini vacation a couple of weeks ago. We went to California to visit Kyle (lots of fun!). We were looking for ways to save a bit of money (to make it possible for me to go) and we found a super duper cheap way---ride the train! Mom had never ridden the train before and it had been long enough since I did it last time that I was excited to do it again (:D) Wednesday we packed and cleaned the house as much as possible and then we drove up to Libbey's. Lib took us to the Amtrak/Greyhound/UTA station where we checked in, got our tickets and waited for our train to pull into the station. The train left Salt Lake at 11:30pm, our first mission--sleep. With Mom sprawled out on one seat and I on the other we got some form of sleep. Most of our riding from Salt Lake to Emeryville, CA was spent trying to do homework, knitting, reading, snacking, and much sleeping. We arrived to Emeryville an hour early (yahoo!), with the early arrival I was a bit afraid that we would have a long wait for the bus that we would be taking to San Francisco, but as the bus was contracted through Amtrak it was there waiting for us. Our bus took us to a Caltrain station and then we caught the Caltrain to Palo Alto (where Kyle lives) and then we finally found Kyle as he pulled up in his trusty car (which I have named Goldie--no connection to the car color).

A beautiful Christmas tree that we saw down by Pier 39 when driving by in the bus.

Mama struggling to stay awake (reading a book in hopes that it would help :D)

Leaving the Amtrak the station.

What happens when I'm left to take my own picture :)

Palm trees in December...crazy!

This guy cracked me up...he pulled up beside the bus and was just dancing like crazy (and he wasn't a young guy either).

And people say that I travel heavy...I was told that there was a luggage limit and I"m pretty sure that this lady was not following that.

The first sight of our host.

We went to dinner at this yummy Mediterranean wrap place for dinner- Kyle got a delicious soup that we also sampled.

A shot of mine...I believe that I got lamb.

Mom and hers

For dessert we also went to a French bakery (delish!) and as we were walking back towards the car I had to go to the bathroom really, really bad! We stumbled upon this little building on the corner, just beside the street and it said bathroom. It cost $.50, of course I had to try it out :)

It was quite an experience, not everyday in the US that you get to pay to use the bathroom. I can't say that I want to do it again but it was still fun to try it out.

Cuteness!

2011-11-28T17:41:00.008-09:00

For Erin's Birthday I wanted to give her something that she would like and that she might have given up since having Allisyn. I gave her a couple of ideas and asked if she had other ideas, she picked to have her hair done by Brea. My job (along with Darrell) was to distract babies and take pictures. Somehow most of my pictures ended up being of baby cuteness instead of Erin and her hair but there are a few mixed here and there :)

(Erin wrote about her hair along with before and after pictures here)

The first strand that we pulled out of the foils and boy did it look blonde!

Gobble?

2011-11-28T17:13:00.005-09:00

I don't know about others but every year in elementary school we were sent home with a turkey paper and got to color/decorate it any way that we wanted to. We would bring them back to school and all of the classrooms would put them up on the wall outside their classrooms in the hallway. I never could just color it (especially not with my parents who love to put lots of time, thought, and detail into projects). This was done when I was in room 9 which would mean that I was in either 1st or 2nd grade.

Photography

2011-11-28T16:25:00.002-09:00

As I've mentioned before I've had the chance lately to practice my photography skills...

Skousen Family

Despain Family

...and as it seems to be something that I am going to be doing more I broke down and made a separate blog just for my photography, I'm not claiming to be amazing but it something that I love to do so I thought it would be nice to have a way to document it.

So now introducing my newest blog... Girl With a Curl Photography!

Day of Thanks 2011

2011-11-28T13:30:00.011-09:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, as most people I have much to be thankful for this year. We had a fun dinner with Libbey, Erick and their, my Grandma, a second cousin (?--I never remember the technical name of our relationship...our Mom's are cousins), Erick's sister, my Mom and I.

Camilla knitting while waiting for the dinner to start.

Erick carving the turkey, the Chuy's were awesome and cooked it for us.

My lovely Mommy

Ah aint she a beautiful sight.

My Grandma...92 and going strong!

Little Lexie Lou

Jacob

Look at all that yummy turkey

Camilla always makes the best rolls (it's kind of become a family dinner tradition)

Stuffing and rice

Mashed Potatoes!! It makes the dinner complete (my favorite--I kind of feel that turkey is the side-dish and mashed potatoes are the main course)

My Mom's famous salad--broccoli, grapes, nuts, onions, and a yummy dressing

Spinach salad

Because I know where Mom is it almost looks like she is going to throw the butter away.

What you get when I am taking all of the family pictures.

Madeleine...gorgeous!

Erick...haha

Can-can, can you do the can-can?

Half of the food and table setting

Jacob..what can you say? ;)

Lexie had her first Thanksgiving...she ate too much and was just a little tuckered out.

Lexie knows where the good are at :)

Thanksgiving was a delicious gathering and as usual we ate too much :)

The evening ended with us gals going shopping at 9:30 and not coming home again until 3:30AM! I used to love all the black Friday shopping but it's definitely not my favorite as much anymore. It was still fun being with the girls (we even introduced Katrina to the event and she loved it).

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving and Beginning of the Christmas Season! Love You All!!!

Courage

2011-11-20T21:35:00.003-09:00

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

My Favorite Things

2011-11-12T19:59:00.011-09:00

(I know, I know...I'm really behind :D)

I read about this party a couple of months ago and knew that I wanted to have one...it sounded so much fun and I loved the idea, Sonia suggested that I use my birthday as an excuse (but if we're being honest who needs an excuse for a party? ;D).

Here are the basics of the idea: each person picks a favorite (can be anything...lotion, candy, recipe, gift card, etc.) and brings five of the same thing. I put a $5 limit on each favorite but you could pick whatever you want to. When they arrive at the party they write their name on five separate slips of paper and put them in a bowl. When the time comes everyone draws five pieces of paper (with five different names on them), you then give one of your favorite to each of the names that you drew. At the end of the party you go home with five new favorites.

Part of Mom's favorites...she loves cards so she made a pack of cards for her thing.

My favorites in my chair and ready to go (because I love to bake I made a baking kit---muffin pan, cute pink and polka-dotty (both favorites too!) muffin liners and sprinkles).

I made salt scrubs as the party favor.

We played the word game...you couldn't say the word "like" (do you realize how hard that is?), every time you said it you had to give a penny to the person that "caught" you. At the end of the party the person with the most pennies received a prize.

Two of my favorite colors! All lined up pretty and ready to go.

This year I had everyone also bring a favorite dessert...because I'm always trying new recipes I have many favorites. I made cookie cups and filled them with a cream cheese pastry filling and then topped them with a strawberry pastry filling.

We started the party with lots of talking (of course what kind of girl talking would be without talking?)

Irene (from Trafalga) and I.

Libbey, Mom, and I

Our family is really good at the silly pictures :)

Anna, I, Janet, and Candace...my roommates from last year (I found out like five seconds before or after this picture that Candace had gotten engaged!)

Filling out the papers with their names.

Kimmy

Brea getting some of the really yummy drink

Leah and I

To fill some of the time we played catch phrase (with lots of candy as the prize)... playing catch phrase without being able to say "like" is really really hard--try is sometime!

After the games came desserts!

A classic Anna and Candace

Our New Favorites!

Brea and Kimmy

Libbey

Mom

Candace

Anna

Irene

Janet

Erin

Charissa

Leah

I loved the variety in favorites that were given/received...

Brea/Kimmy (Caramel Apples--yumm!)--Irene, Charissa, Mom, Anna, and Leah

Libbey (Be Active Kits--water-bottle, gloves, chapstick and I'm not sure what else)--Erin, Anna, Janet, Charissa, Leah

Mom (Card Kits)--Janet, Libbey, Candace, Irene, Kimmy/Brea

Candace (Easter egg full of Change)--Erin, Mom, Kimmy/Brea, Janet, Beth

Janet (Cinnamon Cheerios)--Libbey, Leah, Irene, Candace, Erin

Anna (Playing Cards)--Janet, Libbey, Erin, Beth, Mom

Irene (Nail Polish)--Charissa, Candace, Beth, Leah, Kimmy/Brea

Erin (Cross Stitch Kits)--Mom, Charissa, Kimmy/Brea, Janet, Beth

Charissa--Libbey (Red Vines), Anna (Spatulas), Mom (Loofa), Erin (Candle), Candace (Silly Putty)

Leah (Pretzel Turtle Kits)--Charissa, Anna, Beth, Irene, Kimmy/Brea

Beth (Cupcake Kits)--Leah, Libbey, Candace, Irene, Anna

I really enjoyed this party and I plan on making this an annual thing every year sometime in October. I do think that I will switch it up every year and I will change what the favorite food that people bring is (Soup, Salad, Casserole, Appetizer, etc.). I think that it would be fun to see what different people enjoy.

Thanks to all those that came this year I hope that you had fun and that I will get to see you again next year!

2011-10-27T16:09:00.004-08:00

For my Birthday I decided to have a dinner with my closest friends, it was so much fun to have Leah, Jamie, Erin, J.J., Allisyn, Brea, Darrell, and Addie all together. I made dinner and afterwards we played games with some entertainment provided by the babies :)

Addie trying on Aunt Leah's glasses.

Jamie very serious during the games...had to make sure that the boys won :)

I promise I'm not as scary as I look :)

There was a buzzer and both girls thought that it should be kept in their hands...they were more than willing to crawl across the table to who was currently holding it.

The future pianist

Addie couldn't find her own pacifier so she stole her baby dolls.

Thanks guys for a fun night!

Despain Family

2011-10-26T20:57:00.004-08:00

Erin and J.J. gave me the opportunity again to keep working on my photography a couple of weeks ago. Because I was having a dinner that same night we decided to just do it in the backyard and then at the railroad tracks that are a couple of blocks away. I only took 777 pictures :) but I'm pretty sure that we got some A-MAZING ones!

(Allisyn LOVED my yellow bracelet and my Mom's pumpkin shaker, sometimes that was the only thing that would get her to sit)

Lunch of Champions

2011-10-26T20:45:00.004-08:00

Nathan and Sallee were in town for a couple of days (yeah!), they wanted to see everyone if only for a bit so we arranged to meet for lunch Friday afternoon. I got lucky and someone was willing to cover my shift so that I could go and join them. We brought my camera but unfortunately forgot to take some pictures after Nate and the Chuys arrived (Claire had been super tired and fell asleep right before they left to come meet us for lunch).

Mommy...love her!

My silly brother who is not a fan of taking a normal picture.

Sonia...she had had surgery on her hand the day before, a big trooper being willing to come have lunch with all of us despite probably being very tired.

The HUGE sandwich that Sonia got...we had not expected it to be so big!

We missed Sallee and Claire at lunch but when we were finished Claire had woken up so Mom and I went over and visited them for a bit...it was so much fun to hear Claire giggling and laughing!

Life is a Yummy Waffle

2011-10-26T20:14:00.006-08:00

My Mom's side of the family has a gathering and dinner once every 3 months, the dinner happened a couple of weeks ago. We had yummy waffles, cinnamon sauce, and sausage. It happened to be when Becky, Aubrey, and Parker were still in town (yeah!). Mom wanted to take some pictures of all the cousins, we greatly missed Miss C but the pictures turned out cute and displayed the personalities of the kids all very well.

This one cracks me up every time I look at it.

Aubrey and her cute hair that Aunt Libbey did for her.

Becky, Aubrey, and the Joel's bear

Aubrey with Joel's bear and Jacob with his bear that Grandma made for him.

Turning One

2011-10-26T19:54:00.005-08:00

This month Miss Alexia (the last of the 3 cutie pies) turned 1, they had a big bash with lots of friends and family gathering for yummy food, bonfire, pinatas, and cake.

Everyone a chance on the pinata

As soon as it was down the ground was completely covered with little bodies going for candy.

Party goers gathering around the bonfire for the delicious warmth that it offered.

The cute cake that Brea made for Lexie.

Adorable Aubrey...I only wish that they made a coat exactly like that in my size.

They had a guessing jar to guess how many candies were there, Uncle Ben and Aubrey tied so they got to share the prize.

Meeting the Baby

2011-10-26T19:42:00.005-08:00

Becky, Aubrey, and Parker were in two for a couple of weeks because Becky's sister was getting married. They stopped by for an afternoon visit on my day off, I loved seeing them and getting meet Parker for the first time...he is as cute as I expected! Aubrey is just as chatty as ever andher conversations are becoming more complete and Parker has the most beautiful smile that lights up his whole face! I miss them all but I was so happy to get to see them a few times before they left again.

(My Mom made this bear for Joel when he was little)

Skousen Family

2011-10-26T19:07:00.004-08:00

Thanks to friends I've been getting a chance to work on my photography lately. General Conference weekend Brea and Darrell had asked if I would take some family pictures for them, after the last session I headed down to Provo to take them. We went over to the the duck pond and water falls by Heritage Housing on BYU's campus. I took pictures for them 6 months ago after the last Conference, I just have to say getting pictures with Addie looking at me and smiling was a lot harder than it was last time. I'm pretty proud of what I got, I still have a lot of improving to do but I am getting better.

Red's the New Brown!

2011-10-26T18:47:00.004-08:00

For a couple of months or so I've been looking at my hair and all I've seen was blah! I knew that I wanted to do something extreme and different than I have ever done before. I asked Brea and Leah for ideas of what I do, they suggested that I go with red (I'd done red low-lights before). I was a little nervous because I've never done complete hair color before and wasn't too sure about red but I trusted Leah and Brea and went with it.

The Before's---the top was my natural but the ends of my hair was parts of two previous highlight job's.

The first After Picture's! (extremely straight!)

Curly Hair

Hair a month after it was done

I was really shocked at first and definitely did not know if I was going to like it or not. I knew that my hair was different but could never picture it so every time I would look in the mirror for a couple of days I still continued to be shocked. I really like it now and am so happy with it!

Living Off the Land

2011-09-25T21:12:00.008-08:00

We had been talking about camping for a couple of weeks, we finally were able to pick a date, even the rain couldn't deter us. Brea and I spent the morning getting everything prepped and ready, gathering food, games and camping supplies.

The campground may not have been the nicest one that I have ever been to, but Brea, Darrell, Clark, Addie, me, Kimmy, and her roommates had fun anyway.

Clark getting the fire started.

Only part of the stuff that was shoved into the car.

Brea prepping the meatballs for the tin foil dinners.

Addie and Uncle Clark

Darrell and Clark (with the help of Addie) setting up tent #1.

Dinner cooking.

An interesting mix of burnt that Kimmy and her roommates made.

A quick way to clean out tents before taking them down.

I didn't remember how much work camping was but I still love it and am looking forward to the next opportunity that I have to go.

Swinging Monkeys in the Trees

2011-09-25T20:22:00.006-08:00

August 31st was my niece Sarah's 6th birthday! Sonia planned an outrageously awesome party full of jungle animals and lots of fun.

It started out with a puppet show filled with all the local animals coming to join.

There was animal tag...one of those pigs sure were wild :)

They even played animal attack, one person was jumping and trying to get the other person to be hit by an animal, if they got it they were out.

There was even yummy food.

Sonia and I made adorable jungle cupcakes, they were a big hit!

Lots of cute and fun presents, even a pink tutu from Grandma and I.

My Eeyore that I made for pin the tail on the donkey.

It was a great party and all the kids had lots of fun, unfortunately 4 days after surgery made me very tired-I went home and visited my bed.

Bye-Bye Appendix

2011-09-25T18:24:00.004-08:00

Now for the story I know that everyone has been dying to hear. On August 26th at about 5 in the morning I was woken up by this intense pain in my lower stomach. I got up and went to the bathroom, tried drinking some water and it didn't go away. I've had lots of problems with my stomach for years so I figured that it was just a continuation of that and decided to ignore it going back to sleep.

I had to go to work at 9:20 so got up at about 8 to shower and get ready, my stomach was still hurting so I tried eating something but it still did not help. I took my shower and when Mom woke up I mentioned to her what had happened. Despite being only half awake she immediately jumped into Mom mode, asking where it hurt, how much it hurt, should we go to the doctors right then, was I sure that I really wanted to go to work, etc. I wasn't a very good sick person when I was little, I was a very big complainer and not fun to be around so I tried to play it down and said that I was fine and I was going to go to work.

My car was currently out of commission so my Mom drove me to work, she said that if I needed to be picked up to call immediately and she would come and get me. I went into work and laid down on the couch, because I hadn't really said anything to anyone everyone knew that something was wrong. My supervisor was so nice the whole shift, he would come check on me and see if I needed anything. When the 1 o'clock shift came in he sent someone to where I was working to tell me that I was going home as I looked green. I called Mom to come get me and laid back down on the couch while I waited.

I arrived at home and Mom told me that I had two hours to sleep and unless I was feeling immensely better she was taking me to the doctors...one and a half hours later I was rudely awaken and asked how I was feeling, when I flinched as I was getting out of bed she told me to get my shoes on and that we were going to the doctors.

I am a person that avoids the doctors at all costs unless I have to, so I was terribly excited as you can imagine to be going. The doctor was really kind and gentle and after I had explained to him was had happened that day, he pressed down on different parts of my stomach and seemed to find it great fun to watch me wince.

He immediately expressed that he was concerned that it was appendicitis, he asked some questions and because of some of the answers that I gave he felt that I still had sometime before it was going to rupture, but he still felt that I needed to get it taken care of.

I was sent to Timpanogos Hospital in Orem (I was very impressed with this hospital, they bent over backwards to be kind, helpful, give me the best, and cheapest bills possible) to have a CT scan done to see what insides looked like.

(hanging out waiting for the results in my scrubs after having the CT scan done)

It was a very unique experience having the CT scan done, they put this dye into an IV, the nurse had told me that when it entered my body I would suddenly feel like I need to pee (even though I wouldn't need to) and that my body would be washed over with warmth. When it happened I definitely knew what she was talking about, I asked her how long it was going to last because I felt like I needed to pee so bad, luckily it only lasted about a minute or so. After the scan was done I was sent back out to the lobby to wait for the results, I was sitting waiting for a long time when all of a sudden the nurse came back out and told me that she was supposed to be taking me to the ER, we immediately were worried and asked what was going on. She said that she legally wasn't supposed to tell me anything but that I had appendicitis and that was supposed to be taking me to the ER.

I arrived in the ER, they didn't have any rooms available so I was put in a nice curtained off bed, where I got to change into my very first backless gown. I was told that I was really lucky, the surgeon was in the hospital and that I would be able to get in very quickly. He came in and introduced himself and went through the whole procedure with me and answered all the questions that I had. After talking to him I was still a little nervous but felt a lot better about what was going to happen, I felt comfortable with him and that everything was going to be ok.

I tried to power nap before I went into surgery, I'm not sure how well that worked.

The surgery went very quickly, I was done in less than an hour and I don't remember any of it :) Besides when I came out of recovery I remember Mom trying to talk to me but I was so tired and could barely keep my eyes open. That night at the hospital was very long, they had to come in every hour and check my vitals and replace my IV's. The IV was put in kind of weird on my arm so if I moved it an alarm would go off and it wouldn't stop until the nurse came back in and cleared it. I'm not sure that I really got that much sleep so I was kind of glad to be going home.

Beautiful flowers from Leisa in my Relief Society, she came over Sunday and visited with me.

My very own hospital band

I even got an awesome hospital water jug!

A cute card that Brea made me.

Two weeks ago I went back to the doctor to have a check-up, he looked at all of my incisions and asked how things were going. He made me laugh when he said that you could barely see the incisions, when I agreed with him he said "man, I'm a great surgeon!" :D He told me that I am all clear, I still need to be a little slow at lifting heavy weights and I can't jerk my body to the sides quickly. I mentioned to him that I had been so tired lately, he said that it will probably be something that will go on for a couple more months. Besides being exhausted everything seems to be all better, I'm so grateful that everything turned out a lot better than it could have and everything is healing perfectly.

I now can say that I am missing a body part :)

It's Raining Men (I wish!)

2011-09-04T20:36:00.009-08:00

I had the day off and day passes to spare so I invited Leah, Jamie, Brea, Darrell, Candace, Anna, and Janet to all come spend the afternoon at Seven Peaks. Unfortunately the weather had other plans. We rode in the lazy river a couple of times and then got out so the others could ride the slides. They had only gone a couple of times when everyone had to get out of the water because of the potential rain, thunder, and lightning that was going to happen.

We got to spend lots of time sitting and waiting (law is if it rains, thunders, or strikes lightning you must wait 30 minutes once the last happens), sadly they felt it wasn't going to go away anytime soon so they closed the park for the rest of the afternoon. If only the park could have been 4-5 miles north of where it was---they had perfect weather!

It was a fun afternoon to just get everyone together but a bit of a letdown as it was my last time to be able to go before they closed for the season.

The Fun in a Cake

2011-08-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

Somehow all of my interactions with Candace and Anna involve food (it IS a great world :D) I had a Friday off and sort of invited myself down to their place to play and have fun. Candace was awesome and made a super yummy pineapple upside down cake (I'm not sure I had even had that before), we watched a movie, talked tons, played some cards, slept, went shopping, and had just as much as ever. I love these two girlies and am so grateful they were my roommates this last year and that we can still keep up the friendship!

Candace making sure the product was going to be good :) (or maybe just cleaning out the bowl)

I'm not sure with Anna (of course we never are)

Candace with the CAKE!

The beautiful finished product :)

Three A's and Their Mamas

2011-08-15T19:28:00.005-08:00

January 2010:

A very exciting month, I was talking on skype with one of my best friends while I was in Taiwan when she dropped a bombshell on me...she was pregnant! (I know it probably shouldn't have been a huge bombshell for me but I hadn't really put 2 and 2 together that now my friends were getting married they could also get pregnant and have babies).

A couple of days later I got an e-mail from another best friend that she was pregnant too!

I told my sister about both of my best friends being pregnant...she had a secret that she didn't share with me for another couple of weeks. She was pregnant too!

Fast forward to August 2010:

I get a very exciting text on August 24 Erin had had her baby...a little girl!

A week later (exactly- the 31st) I get another call/text (while out celebrating my niece Sarah's birthday) from Brea that she was at the hospital, her water had broke. As soon as I was able I caught the bus to Provo to be there and part of when she had her baby...a little girl!

Now as Brea kind of barely slipped into August with her baby being born there was no chance of Libbey having hers too. Originally all 3 had been due in September, Erin towards the beginning, Brea more middle, and Libbey the end of the month. Erin and Brea had theirs early and Libbey came late with an October baby (yeah we get to share birthday months!)

I found out their names and instantly loved them and the little girls which they belonged to...

Allisyn

Addilyn

Alexia

It's not very often that we have all 3 together so when we were all at Seven Peaks we of course had to take pictures (in order, youngest on left, oldest on right)

Ones with Mommies are always good too!

I love these 3 Little A's and their Mamas and am so happy of the part that I get to have in their lives!

Libbey, Brea, and Erin I have many, many more pictures of them and you guys if you want copies just let me know :)

Fun On A Wave

2011-08-15T18:59:00.007-08:00

One of the perks of working at Trafalga is that I get to have a free Pass of All Passes which includes getting to go to Seven Peaks as many times as I would like to without having to pay. I also get some free day passes to share with friends and family. Two weeks ago when Kyle was here I had Friday off and we decided to go to Seven Peaks. We invited Libbey and kids plus my friends Erin and Brea (plus their babies). We all met up and had a comfortable spot in the shade and had a fun day until it was nap time and time for work.

Allisyn all ready to hit the water again (she even had the sunscreen out and ready for someone to help her :D)...P.S. that swimsuit she is wearing? I gave it to "her" the day after she was born.

Erin looking all cute and smiley. I missed her so much while they were in New York and it was so much fun to see her again and catch up.

Addie-Bug, poor baby we accidently put the wrong sunscreen on her and with the water it got into her eyes...they were a little red :(

Kyle, it was kind of a long day for him---he had some dental work done a few days before that and was a little bit drugged up.

Brea

Allisyn was so funny! I had brought a bag of goldfish to share with everyone, it was in my lap and I kept on giving her a couple at a time. I looked away for a few seconds and looked back to find the bag was out of my lap and in hers instead. The best part was at the beginning she would just sit and watch as Lexie and Addie would get goldfish out of the bag but she quickly got over her "shyness" and grabbed them herself :)

My HOTT sister :)

Jacob got a little cold every time after they got out of the water. Good thing he had Aunt Lily to help warm and dry him up.

Our "spot." I hadn't realized how much space we were taking up until we all got up to leave.

We took some pictures of the girls all together and their moms as soon as they were done Addie and Alli decided that they wanted to walk down to me.

We went on the lazy river and both Addie and Alli fell asleep...if only my life was that easy.

Arrrggg Me Matey's

2011-08-15T18:17:00.005-08:00

August 2nd is my nephew Jacob's birthday...he turned 5 (how did that happen??!!) I can't believe that is he getting so big! This year Jacob got to have a friend party and Libbey went all out with awesomeness for him! It was a pirate party and so much fun :)

When they first got there they got to make pirate hats and eye-patches (with special help from Uncle Nathan and Grandma).

Even little Lexie got to have her own pirate hat.

Lib made a cute ship cake, the cupcakes had things like sharks, treasure chests, and other cool stuff on them.

There was an awesome story they got to hear (written a couple of months ago by the birthday boy himself).

JACOB!!!

They had to walk across the plank to the pirate ship.

The ship had a hole and was quickly filling up with water, the pirates had to race to save their ships and other pirates.

There was even a treasure map!

Of course there had to be some front jumping (love the smile on Claire's face)

You couldn't have a post and not have a cute picture of Miss Lexie :)

Searching for the treasure (Libbey even had a treasure chest full of the candy bags buried in the sandbox---sorry the pictures are on my Mom's camera).

It was such a fun party and the kids had a blast...a sign of a good party :)

Lunch of Awesomeness!

2011-08-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

Something that amazes me is that even though we don't all see each other everyday or all talk all the time whenever we get together it's like we haven't been apart. I love that we continually are a part of each others lives and that I will always have friendships from growing up. Lindsey was visiting from Idaho and so we all joined up for lunch in Orem. It was Mandy and Jamie's suggestion--a really yummy, cheap Mexican restaurant, we all felt like we were back at Mazatlan in Newport.

Mandy and Jamie...I can't believe that they have almost been married a year---oh how time flies!

The bros--Darrell and Clark

Cutie-pie Addie who thought she was one of the big kids and felt that she should be part of it all.

Lindsey and I...her hair looks awesome with the new color and extensions!

What under Addie, Brea, and I looked like as we were getting up from the table.

The whole group...Darrell, Clark, Jamie, Mandy, even Lance joined us, Lindsey, I, Addie, and Brea!

Ummm...

2011-08-11T18:49:00.002-08:00

I bought this swimsuit top at Target for $6 on Tuesday...

and this dress for $6 at DI on Wednesday...

I think I'm getting more than a little excited for our family CRUISE in JANUARY!

Cheap Happiness!

2011-08-11T18:44:00.003-08:00

Someone cleaned out their shelves and that made for my supreme happiness! I went to DI yesterday with Mom and found all of these plus many more! I bought all of these for a little over what I would normally pay for one book. Thank you person who felt that they didn't need these barely used books anymore!

Old McDonald Had a Farm

2011-07-31T20:46:00.007-08:00

Saturday we decided that we need not sit around all day until I went to work that we had time to do something, so we talked through all the options of what we could do. Sonia had mentioned that at Thanksgiving Point they have something called Farm Country where you could go and see animals and lots of other fun stuff. We thought that sounded like a great adventure and headed out.

There were so many different animals to see and pet (many of which Claire knew the sound they made)

I never knew that there were so many different types of turkeys and that some of them walk around like they are very regal and puffed up (one even made this noise as it would puff up).

We wanted to pet the horsies very much but had to be very careful of little fingers.

We bought some feed and all got a chance to feed the chickens. Claire was really good at it (you can see the popcorn flying through the air).

The baby colt...so cute and wanted to play!

Nathan and Claire in jail...oh no! After we walked away I guess Claire laid down and wanted to take a nap, apparently she wasn't against being in jail.

Grandma and Claire walking by the duck pond. (they were very noisy!)

Enjoying the limited shade while waiting for the horse ride.

The horse ride was so nice and soothing, we went on cement and the hoofs on the road had a nice lulling sound that could have quite easily put all of us asleep (the driver said that she has done that before--not while at work! but when she was driving with a group she tied the horses up and let them follow the wagon in front of her while she took a nap).

Cute Miss C and Sallee for one last photo shoot before we went home for naps all around.

Rise and Shout...

2011-07-31T20:32:00.005-08:00

...the Cougar fans are out!

Friday afternoon we all went down to Provo for the sole purpose of buying the 2011 BYU football $5 T-Shirt (which they actually bumped up to $10 this year...can you believe it!?) and some ice cream of course! It was a fun, quick trip down and back.

Who can see this and not take a picture?

Not Mom!

2 Completely Awesome things about this picture.... 1-Claire's super cute bumblebee hat and 2-She is carrying around her swimsuit (she is a big fan of water, swimming, swimsuit, etc.). It went all through the bookstore, across the parking lot, and to the creamery.

Stud of a brother.

Mom and Nate eating the yumminess that is ice cream.

A-DOR-A-BLE!

Splish Splash

2011-07-31T19:11:00.007-08:00

This past Thursday Sonia called up everyone and invited them to go to the Highland Splash Pad with her and the kids. I had just enough time to go with everyone before heading to work...it was so much fun and I love that it was free. The kids loved it and loved playing with each other (even the adults got wet! :D). Even though it's designed mostly for kids I would totally be for going again (this time with swimming suit underneath my clothes and ready to get wet).

Claire was immediately ready to go in and wanted to wander around all of the shooting fountains.

As soon as Lexie saw the water she wanted to be no where but there.

I loved that the water was deep enough to sit in but not overly deep where it would be scary.

We sat Lexie down by one of the shooting fountains, she was so funny. Every time it would stop shooting she would try to look down the hole and put her fingers in it. Whenever she would get wet she would make this face but she kept on wanting to get wet.

Sarah and Jacob were also there but there are not any pictures of them because they were off playing the whole time and had no time for pictures.

One thing that really impressed me was that they turned off all the water for about 10 minutes at the end of the hour to make sure that kids took a potty break, checked in with parents, had a snack, and it gave parents some time to leave if they wanted without having to drag their kids away screaming because the water was still going and everyone was having fun.

Endless Words

2011-07-31T17:18:00.005-08:00

They say that a picture is a thousand words and I believe that they express many emotions also. Somehow when asking Kyle to take a picture for me it ended up as these pictures and many more (where lots of words and emotions were expressed).