reunited.

My baby sister Annette is home from her first year of college! We have missed her! Welcome home, Netty. We're going to have some good times this summer. Love you!

seriously?

snow? this is an outrage.

grateful for.

1. warmer weather.
2. american idol night.
3. annette coming home today.
4. island way fruit sorbets from costco.
5. my fan, the "blizzard".
6. my mom coming to work today.
7. jergens natural glow daily moisturizer.
8. a clean closet.
9. sean's big win last night.
10. gretchen making me be a good wife.
11. summer book club with my sisters.
12. using our grill.
13. prayers before bed with my hubby.
14. david cook rocking last night.
15. strawberry banana milkshakes.
16. my birthday month starting tomorrow.
17. lunch with sean.
18. nothing important to do tonight.
19. a finished backyard.
20. chap stick.

CordeValle.

We are getting excited for a trip to California in May! Sean's parents invited us to join them on a quick business trip for Paul. We will be staying at CordeValle in San Martin for the first 2 nights... and I'm very very excited :) Sean and I helped with a golf tournament at this resort last year, but didn't get to stay there. It was so green and beautiful and the weather was perfect. Going to places like that always reminds me of what a desert I live in! Anyway... we also will go to San Francisco. Sean and I have really wanted to go to Alcatraz, so that will be first on our to-do list. I can't wait!

settled.

ok i have finally settled on a background for my blog {and our photo blog too!}. you may have noticed that i change it like 3 times a week. i'm slightly weird about it... and a little bit of a perfectionist. but i am digging this. so i'm promising not to change it for at least a month ;)

bachelorettes.

I have been a blogging maniac these past few days... but we've had so much going on! Yesterday Sean & I went to the temple with my friend Kess who was receiving her Endowment. It was so nice to be there. Kess was the 7th and final one to go through the temple from our group of friends from high school... so it was really exciting! My little Kess is getting married this Saturday and I couldn't be happier for her.

After the temple I ran home & cleaned my house like crazy for the bachelorette party last night! Kess & Alicia are both getting married in the next couple of weeks, so we threw a combined party for them. We had lots and lots of fun, as usual! We went to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner... and the bacherlorettes had to dress up, of course :) I don't care HOW cheesy it is... it is a requirement! We went back to my house afterward & played games, opened presents & had cake & punch. Thanks to Jamie, Erika & Kim who planned the party with me! I think it was a success... we seriously spoiled the brides-to-be. Mission accomplished :) Now I'm looking forward to the weddings!

game 3 blues.

I felt a little like D-Will in this picture after the game on Thursday. I could tell Ariel was just as sad because when I came home from the game she was sound asleep! Time to turn that frown upside down D-Will. Jazz 3-1 after tonight.

21.

my sweet little heather is 21 today. i hope you have a very very happy birthday, heathy! let me tell you just why i think you're so awesome:

1. you play the piano more beautifully than anyone i know. i hope we always have time to sit down at the piano together. that's one of my favorite things!
2. you are a sweet heart. really. you are such a thoughtful & kind sister.
3. you have pretty pretty hair.
4. you like to go to bountiful music with me & play music on their yellow piano.
5. you are a great co-worker. it has been so fun working with you these past months!
6. you are super smart. i wish i had inherited your motivation to do great in school :)
7. you like to talk about books with me. you're much more well read than i am... but it's still fun!
8. you mix up your words sometimes and say things like... "it was so funny, i busted a cap!". hehe
9. you are a fabulous shopping partner. we have such similar taste... but you always have a unique style.
10. you are very silly. i love our sisters nights: watching dumb movies, laughing at nothing, eating lots of treats, etc. we always have so much fun... but somehow you are always the first one to fall asleep during the movie...
11. you look cute in dresses {no fair}. you're the only sheffield girl who got just the right amout of height to still be able to wear normal dresses. i have to search and search and search to find dresses that are long enough.
12. you took clogging lessons in your youth. it doesn't get much cooler than that :)
13. you STILL don't like your food touching!

i'll end on 13... i hear that's a lucky number. i love you heather! hope your day is wonderful. 21 is a big birthday... don't drink TOO much :)

relief.

Last night was our concert at Libby Gardner. I thought it went very well. We only sang one song by ourselves and then we sang Lo, The Full Final Sacrifice with A Cappela {about 30 pages long... takes a good 20 minutes to sing}. Cameron encouraged us not to use music if we didn't need it, so I didn't! It was weird. I didn't know what to do with my hands. Especially since I had to stand on the FRONT row for my solo! I don't think I have EVER stood on the front row because it is always tallest in the back. And there was at least a foot difference in height between me & the girl next to me! My last minute solo went well, I think. It was only 2 lines, but in my opinion the prettiest part of the piece :) I get nervous every single time I do anything like that. I wish my stage fright would go away! But I actually think I sang it better at the concert than I did at rehearsal... which never happens for me. It was a fun concert {for me... I don't know about the audience}. Our director is graduate student at the University of Utah {that's why we sang with their choirs} and this concert was helping him fulfill one of his final requirements for getting his Doctorate. It was fun to be a part of that! We have been so lucky to have such an awesome director and I'm getting nervous for the future of our little choir! Who knows where Cameron will go now! I guess I will just be glad for the rehearsals & concert we still have this year & stop complaining about how late rehearsal goes sometimes :)

Thanks to Mom & Heathy for coming last night! I don't remember a concert that my mom hasn't made it to. Love you both.

lemon obsession.

i am on a huge lemon kick right now. i have always loved lemon everything... but lately i can't get enough! here are some of my favorite lemony things:

1. the c.o. bigelow lemon lip tint from bath & body {i also have the hand wash, hand treatment & body cream... love them all!}.

2. lemon delight cookies from parson's bakery. heaven.

3. lemonheads :)

4. pretty much any lemony baked goods {lemon cheesecake, lemon poppyseed muffins, lemon bars, lemon meringue pie, etc.}

5. lemon on seafood.

6. lemon meringue snack packs.

7. lemons for decoration. i like to put them in a big glass canister on my counter.

8. lemon in my diet coke... classic.

there are a few lemony things i don't like {starburst, jolly ranchers, lemonade, cough drops, etc.} but for the most part... i'm obsessed.

{lemon}

boooooooooooooooo.

I guess it was a good game to miss.

home.

So I don't really care about sports. But I do like the Jazz. I bought Sean playoff tickets for his birthday for the first game at home.... which happens to be tonight! And I can't go. I'm so mad! It would have been SOOOO fun. And they're giving away 20,000 free t-shirts or something like that. I want a shirt! Anyway... Dave gets to take my place. Lucky guy. Poor me.

very professional.

happy administrative professionals day to me! Arbinger had these beauties delivered to the office today. thank you thank you. tulips are my most favorite.

good wednesday.

i'll take you up on that tag, katie. 10 things that make me happy today. it's early, so i hope i can pull it off!

1. i slept great last night. Sean and i traded sides of the bed so i wasn’t by the fan.
2. i ate a paradise bakery cookie for breakfast.
3. i’m wearing a springy outfit & it feels great! i’m so ready for some warm weather.
4. i get to clean my entire house today. i like cleaning.
5. wendesdays are awesome. i don’t have anything on wednesday nights so i get to catch up on the things i never have time for.
6. brooke forgot her words :) {technically yesterday… but whatever. i’m still happy about it today.} she has got to go.
7. i am especially grateful today for my amazing husband. i couldn’t ask for a better spouse.
8. it’s administrative professionals day! i feel so professional.
9. the trees have all blossomed! when did that happen? must have been when i was in seattle.
10. only 3 more days until the bachelorette party! i’m so excited to see my girls.

{spring magnolia}

happy birthdays!

Happy Birthday this week to Jaimie, Stephanie & Heather!

2 sisters-in-law & 1 sister. Love you all!

p.s. sorry it's late, jaimie!! your gift is late too. sean was in charge of getting it... and i was out of town... and you can guess the rest :)

spring concert.

Our first Spring concert is this Friday. Hope to see you there!

English Masterworks

Utah Master Chorale

with the University of Utah A Cappela Choir

Friday, April 25th

Libby Gardner Hall

University of Utah

7:30 pm Free

seattle.

I'm back. And it's very nice to be home. I sure missed my hubby, but Heather & I had lots of fun! Here are some highlights:

we didn't go to the space needle. we read some reviews that said it was a waste of $16.00. but we did see it from the freeway. and that was good enough for me.

.

we ate WAY too much. i need to have a post-travel fast.

.

it was green & beautiful. it was also very cold, wet & windy.

.

we rode in a "town car" {whatever the heck that means....} into downtown & went shopping! our driver's name was hamlet and when we called him to pick us up, we couldn't understand a WORD he said. it was embarrassing.

we rode in the hotel shuttle to the local shopping mall on wednesday & thursday. we were the only ones on the shuttle, and our friend hong {the bell man slash shuttle driver} was playing hilarious romantic r&b music both times he picked us up. we think he was trying to pick up on us.

.

katie told me we should go to the nordstrom in seattle. we just had the driver drop us off at a convenient place and surprise surprise, it was right in front of nordstrom. it was enormous {5 floors}.

.

we watched half of men in black and half of the truman show. now we need to rent them & watch the other halves.

.

the seminar was fun. it was nice to have heather there to help me! sean usually sits in the hotel room all day :)

.

heather and i got a whole lot of grief from several participants about our lack of skiing experience {neither of us has ever been!} given that we live in Utah.

.

i saw more homosexuals than i have ever seen in my life. we also saw a transvestite with fire-engine-red hair. i am so sheltered here in utah :)

.

Heather got sick on Friday night. She woke me up out of a deep sleep to ask me if I was sick too :)

oh, how i've missed you!

Hello blogging world! I just discovered the computers in the Lobby that are free to the public! I brought a laptop, but I haven't been able to figure out the internet. It has been rough, to say the least :)

Well I just needed to say something... anything... but the time limit is 15 minutes on the public computers. And Heather is reading over my shoulder... which makes me feel awkward.

More to come on my Seattle trip. I'm very excited to come home tomorrow and see if my cute husband has destroyed the house :) Miss you, Sean!

i guess that makes me a queen.

I went to the dentist yesterday {yes, i scheduled an appointment on my husband's birthday for some stupid reason} to get a cracked filling replaced. When I got there, the dentist studied my tooth for a good 10 minutes, and decided to give me a crown instead! This seriously freaks me out. Bad teeth run in my family. And at 22... a crown! They actually put in a temporary and I'll have to go back again to get the real one. To make matters worse, they scared the heck out of me by telling me to be VERY careful about what I eat for the next few weeks until I get the permanent crown. I haven't chewed on that side of my mouth yet. And last night before bed I got scared that my crown would fall out in my sleep & I would choke on it. I hate the dentist.

{queen}

28 reasons.

Today is Sean's birthday... so I thought I would do something really unoriginal and make a list of 28 reasons why I love him. The number 28 has no relevance at all... just a completely random number I chose :)

1. He is super hot.

2. He could not care less about what he wears or being in style. I love that {sometimes}.

3. He's not very romantic, but he remembers to do sweet things when it's important. Like bringing me flowers after my choir concert. And making my birthdays extra special.

4. He will always be 5 years older than me... so I'll always feel young!

5. He makes me laugh like crazy.

6. He says he is going to retire after every basketball game he loses.

7. He is a great story-teller.

8. He loves the gospel.

9. He is a hard worker.

10. He is loyal to his family, friends, coworkers, etc.

11. He loves his garage & backyard.

12. He brought me a book instead of flowers on one of our first dates. I thought that was pretty much the sweetest thing ever.
13. He loves kids & will be a great dad someday.

14. He gets along great with my family.

15. He is very easygoing. He is content to stay home & watch movies or play battleship on a Friday night. He probably would prefer that, really.
16. He apologizes first when we have disagreements at least 50% of the time :)

17. He has a tender heart, though he probably won't admit it.

18. He has been collecting disney & other kid movies for years that he says are for his future children.
19. He doesn't get TOO mad about my shopping habits.

20. He always drives. I don't like to.

21. He can be handy when he wants to be.

22. He tells me he loves me every day.

23. He is a true child of the 80's. His favorite movies of all time are Back to the Future & The Karate Kid.
24. He has an amazing memory.

25. He has a cute cute smile.

26. He makes sure I take my multi-vitamins.

27. He teases people all the time. He preys on the weak & gullible. It hardly phases me anymore :)
28. He is the best husband I have ever had, by far :)

I love you, Sean. Happy birthday!

happy happy birthday...

shannon & morgan!

summer memory.

I was looking through my folders and folders and folders of digital photos and found this one. It was taken last July. Sean and I had driven up to the Bountiful temple to walk around. It was a really beautiful summer night with an amazing sunset. On the way home, we noticed a bunch of people pulling off the road and setting out blankets. They were waiting for fireworks. We pulled over, opened the back of my car & sat in the back with our feet dangling out. I took the picture while we were waiting for our impromptu fireworks show to start. After the show, Sean slammed the back door down and accidently caught a blanket in the latch. We couldn't open the trunk for months. The dirt roads on the way up to the cabin finally loosened it :) All of the memories from this single photograph!

fun fun friday.

I'm awake on a Saturday morning at 7:30am... why can't I ever sleep in? I guess I'll blog for a while... I had a very fun day yesterday. After work I went to Gina's baby shower. We had lots of fun soaking our feet, spoiling Gina & Lincoln, eating yummy yummy food & talking & talking & talking :) Gina is due on May 9 and she is the most gorgeous pregnant woman I've ever seen. I can only pray I look that good when I'm pregnant!

.

After the shower, Gretchen & Brady picked us up for the basketball game. Sean & Brady play on a Bountiful Rec league team. They lost, unfortunately, but they seriously dominated the second half! If only they hadn't been down by 25+ at half time :) My baby sister Annette came too, and we had a cheer-off with the opposing team's fans. They were ridiculous! They were cheering when we missed a shot even though they were up by like 25!! And it was 3 of us to 20 of them! We didn't like them at all. But we had lots of fun! OH and Sean got a technical, AGAIN. I don't know what the deal is this season... either Sean has an anger problem OR the refs are insane! I'm leaning toward the latter.

.

Annette {who, by the way, chopped her hair off... and it's WAY cute} spent the night at our house last night. I am shocked at how late I was able to stay up! We went shopping & to Wendy's at like 11:30pm and then came home and watched our favorite: america's funniest home videos. I don't know why I love that show so much... I think it brings me back to the olden days when our entire family would gather to watch it. I miss Bob Saget, though. Has anyone noticed how dirty the new guy is? It's a family show, for pete's sake!

.

That was my friday. And there's still lots of fun to come today!

.

{friday's child by AliciaBock}

love these.

Notecards by time2cre8.

{simple girl} {singing songbirds}
{alice & her chatty friends}
{let's party}

space needle.

I'm getting excited for my trip to Seattle next week! Sean and I went last year, but didn't get to see much. We rented a car and were too scared to go exploring :) This time I'm going with Heather. We're not renting a car because I don't dare drive in a strange city... so we are taking a cab to the Space Needle on Thursday night. We're going to eat at the restaurant, but they told me the observation deck will be closing early for a private event :( I did a little research on wikipedia about the Space Needle for fun. This may bore the daylights out of you, but here are some tidbits I found interesting:

*The Space Needle was the tallest building west of the Mississippi when it was completed in 1962.

*It was built to withstand winds of up to 200mph and earthquakes up to 9.5 magnitude. It also has 25 lightning rods on the roof to prevent lightning damage.

*In Spongebob Squarepants, there is a building called the Sea Needle, a parody of the Space Needle :)

*It was built in 1962 for the Seattle World's Fair.

*The Legacy Light or Skybeam shines skyward from the top of the SN to honor national holidays and special occasions in Seattle. It has generally been used fewer than a dozen time per year. It remained lit for 12 days in a row from 09.11.01 to 09.22.01 in response to the September 11 attacks.

*Originally there were 2 restaurants atop the SN: Eye of the Needle & Emerald Suite. These were closed in 2000 to make way for a larger restaurant, SkyCity.

*The restaurant revolves 360 degrees in exactly 47 minutes.

*3 people have committed suicide by leaping from the SN's observation platform {all in the 1970's}.

*On May 19, 2007 the SN welcomed its 45 millionth visitor. The visitor won a trip for 2 to Paris which included a VIP dinner at the Eiffel Tower.

*The foundation alone weighs 6000 tons and there are 250 tons of reinforcing steel in the base. The concrete base weighs the same as the above-ground structure.

*In the novel Invisible Monsters by Chuch Palahniuk, the characters visit the top fo the SN. They write secrets on pieces of paper, which they throw off the deck.

*There are 832 steps from the basement to the restaurants on the observation deck.

smitten.

Today I made a blueberry lemon cake. I saw the recipe on smitten kitchen and my mouth started watering! I love anything lemony. Usually I just look at the pretty food pictures on the blog, but I felt daring and tried it out. It turned out amazing. It didn't look as amazing as sk's, but it tasted delicious! And the best part... Sean hates fruity desserts... so the whole loaf is MINE. yummmmmmmm.

good monday

1. i took an ibuprofen & nice long nap in the middle of the day and my headache went away... finally.
2. i decided to take some clothes to plato's closet instead of the DI and i got $57.00 for a bunch of clothes and shoes i hate & never wear!
3. i wore my grapefruit blast lotion and smelled delicious.
4. sean took me to a romantic dinner at joy luck :)
5. i finally finished reading the book sean gave me for valentines day.
6. i wrote in my journal {3 days straight... going strong!}.
7. it rained. i love rainy days.
8. kansas won! i really don't give a darn about kansas, i just wanted them to win because that one guy hit that one shot to bring it into overtime. i like a good comeback.
9. i talked to seth on skype. good times.
10. sean & i went to walmart & he didn't even get cranky! miracle.

{rainy day feeling}

a northern light.

I can't decide if I liked or hated this book. It's definately not a warm, fuzzy book. Pretty much everything bad that can happen happens to all of the characters. And the ending isn't happy {in my opinion}. But I still laughed & cried {mostly cried}. It left me feeling kind of depressed, so I'm going say that I didn't like it. It IS very well written. And I did like the characters. I just wanted them to be happy! Maybe you'd like it if you don't mind depressing plotlines & endings :)

the egg hunt.

We weren't as successful as we had hoped... Dave & Kirsten found the golden egg {and every other egg that had a bill inside}. Sean resorted to adding $10.00 of our own cash to make it look like we found more :) I don't think he fooled anyone for long! GEEZ that family is competitive when it comes to the annual egg hunt!

my girls.

Yesterday I had a very long & fun-filled day with my friends! We threw a bridal shower for Kess in the afternoon between conference sessions. We ate lots of yummy food, opened presents and played a game {see below}. Jamie, Alicia, Tiff, Erin, Morgan, Kim & I went in on a new dining table & chairs for Kess & Ryan. Jonny & Ryan went over to their apartment & put it up during the shower so we could take Kess over and surprise her. I think she liked it! It was fun to see their apartment, too.

This is Kess's huge wad of gum after the game. I guess she doesn't know very much about Ryan :)
Since everyone was in town, we decided to go to dinner and celebrate Morgan's birthday. We had some time to kill between the shower & dinner time, so we went shopping! Then we STILL had some time to kill, and because none of us live in or near Layton, we went over to Tiff's parents house and hung out there for a while. It was fun hanging around, reminiscing, looking at Kess's engagement pictures, etc. We went to dinner at The Olive Garden, which was PACKED with women {including my cute sister-in-law Jaimie & her inlaws! Thanks for taking our picture, Jaimie!}. Everyone was having their ladies night while the men were at Priesthood. Despite the fact that we had the worst waitress ever, we had a blast! No one gets me laughing quite like these girls! I'm glad that I'll be seeing a lot of them in the next month!

{more pictures on the photo blog}

getting excited.

Our first Spring concert is coming up!

. . .

Friday, April 25th
Libby Gardner Hall

University of Utah

7:30 pm

. . .

{For details, visit our website.}

jamie nicole.

I'm pretty sure we did this on a daily basis back in the day. I have dozens of these. Those were two FUN FUN summers. Especially the second one! I ended my bachelorette-hood with a bang :) {were we obsessed with tanning a little bit??? i think so.}

yum.

Lindsay & I have made it a new tradition... once a month she takes me to a restaurant I've never been to. She's sort of a foodie and loves trying new/interesting/scary food & restaurants. So she's always got plenty of suggestions. Tonight we {and Heather, too} went to Royal India in Bountiful. It's a hole in the wall... but the food was yummmy. I wish I could remember the names of the dishes we ordered, but they were all weird. We got coconut shrimp something or other, butter chicken something or other and my favorite, eggplant something or other! Seriously, the eggplant was SO good. I'm always a big fan of eggplant, though. We finished off the meal with some delicious mango ice cream. I wasn't super excited to try Indian food because I don't love curry... but my first experience was a good one. I'll try anything once... and I might have to try Indian again! As always, it was fun playing with my sisters.

{my only complaint about the night is that my hair & clothes REEK of Indian food... doesn't smell so good when you're not at the restaurant!}

anyone?

Does anyone have the 1st season of arrested development on dvd and a burning desire to lend it to me??

some cowboy.

I found this picture of my grandma the other day. A dog. A cowboy leaning in. A horse's rear end. Orange polyester. What's not to love? But the best part is the label on the back of the picture: Thelma and some cowboy. My grandma was the coolest.

sean-paul.

I seriously can't get enough of these pictures! Sean was the cutest little kid! I'll be very happy if our children look like this.