Back to School Blues

I think I could just eat her up!! (and all her rolls)

Lorin went back to school today. I'm kinda glad that we will get back on a normal schedule of things, but I'm also so sad that once he's home at night he'll be busy with homework, projects and all that boring stuff. We've had a little too much fun this summer enjoying our nights together as a family and I'm sad to say that that's over til December. Bummer!! Fortunately, Lily keeps me busy and we have fun playing together. I feel like she is growing up WAY too fast. She already has her two front teeth!! Time flies by way too fast!

When Lily isn't keeping me busy I try to check out one of my new favorite websites. It's called ETSY (etsy.com). Have you heard of it? My sister in law, Kristi, told me about it and now I'm obsessed! It's a website where different people can post things they make and they can sell them. There are so many talented people out there. I love 'em!! If you haven't been to it, check it out. There are thousands of sellers on there and they are awesome!!

My current favorite seller:
pumpkinseedmama - She has some tags I'm getting to use as ornaments on a black tree I have for Halloween. I LOVE, LOVE her stuff!

My New Hero

I LOVE the Olympics! Every night since August 8th, Lorin and I have found ourselves staying up way past our bed times so we could watch the exciting Olympic games. I have always loved the gymnastics and track events, but I had never really considered myself a big Swimming fan. Well, that has all changed. I don't know if it's all because of Michael Phelps, but I LOVE LOVE watching swimming now. This may sound super weird, but I almost feel like he's my son and I am so proud of him after each race. I always get teary-eyed and Lorin just looks at me like I'm a nut. Any who, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Michael Phelps break so many records and win so many gold medals. I felt special watching history take place. Michael Phelps is such a stud and is my new hero!!

Fun in the Sun

Lily loved the Sand!
Lorin and his brother, Ryan, spent a lot of time building this on the beach. Silly boys.
Our fam on Ocean Beach.
Isn't this beautiful? I absolutely loved the sunset!


Lily loved the waves. She would have just walked out into the ocean if we would have let her.
Gotta love that girl!
It was sort of impossible keeping her from eating the sand, so we kinda just let her have at it. She loved it so much!
At the science center Friday. That place was amazing and it had lots of toys to play with. This was Lorin's favorite part of the trip.


We went to the USS Midway Thursday. It's a huge army boat that is next to Seaport Village.
The beautiful temple... it was so amazing inside. I loved it.
After the temple, Lorin and I were able to go to Pat & Oscar's, one of my favorite restaurants. Their food is sooo yummy! They used to have one in AZ, but they closed it down. :(

I think I had too much fun at the zoo. I just love the monkeys and could sit and watch them all day.
This orangutan was huge!

Is that a close up or what?!?
Gotta love those monkeys!Lily was beat after a long day at the zoo.


Lily was ready for Sea World. She had so much fun!

Shamu rocks!! BELIEVE!
Lily was enthralled with this sea lion until it started barking at her for food. That kind of freaked her out.
I had to beg Lorin to get in this pic with me. Don't we look lovely?
Lily loved watching all the shows.
This was Lily's favorite part. She just stared and "wow-ed" at the Beluga Whale. It was so beautiful and amazing!

I need to preface by saying that I REALLY did like Breaking Dawn, I just didn't LOVE it like I loved Twilight and Eclipse. I've gotten a lot of crud about my last post. I obviously enjoyed enough to not want to put it down. I just thought it was weird at points and was a little upset that if it was made into a movie it would probably be R... that's all.

That having be said, I wanted to post some pics of our vacation to Cali last week which was much needed and was lots o' fun! We were able to go to Sea World, the zoo, the beach, the temple and the Science Center, and we had a blast!!

It's also Olympics time, and I LOVE the Olympics. Lorin and I had a goal to be there this year but that was quickly changed when we decided we wanted to have kids and it would be way too hard. I love that it is in Beijing, and it makes me miss all the people there that I grew to love so much. Our next goal is to maybe go in 2012 when it is in Sochi, which is a place Lorin served at in Russia. Wishful thinking I know, but I think it would be awesome!!

Breaking Dawn - 1.5 stars

SOOO....
I've been dying to blog about this book all weekend. I was able to get it at midnight at Deseret Friday night. I'm stupid and never went to bed that night. I read from 12:30 to 6:30 in the morning. We were busy all day long with family things so I didn't get to finish it til last night. Now, if you don't want spoilers PLEASE don't read below, because there are a ton... SORRY :(

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. I felt like the book was VERY different from the other three. I think it was just too much of the vampire/werewolf world for me. In the other books, she still went to school and associated with the humans and what not, but this book had none of that except for the wedding in the very beginning. Don't get me wrong... I thought it was very entertaining but it was just a little on the... WEIRD side for me. I think they talked too much about the horizontal tango... The whole pregnancy thing was just a little much, not to mention how she actually births the baby. I also was a little freaked out about Jacob imprinting on Renesme (which by the way, I HATED that name... too long and dumb). I know I'm just complaining a lot here. I told myself I would be happy as long as Bella & Edward were together and they were so I shouldn't be complaining. I think it was just a disappointment. I feel like Stephanie Meyer could have done this book very differently and it would have been better. She should have had more of the humans... there should have been fewer characters to introduce... the whole J Jenks thing could have been left out (just pointless and unnecessary)... the whole immortal children thing was dumb in my opinion... I just feel like it could have been such a better story! I feel like peoples' theories as to what would happen in this book were so much better than what actually happened. Does that make any sense? What does everyone else think? Am I the only one who really didn't like it that much?

Boutiques, Books & Beaches....

Bahaha! This pic makes me laugh. Isn't it pathetic? Who could turn down a face like that?
Once again, her hair always manages to surprise me. She had just woken up from a nap. Her hair was perfectly straight before. I have no idea how it got so crazy.
My little chunker.
Rob, me, Lily and Darrell Ankarlo

So much has happened or will happen this month. . .

1 - I've started a boutique as most of you know. I had a poll for the name and decided to go with a name that didn't win. The name is: The Tattered Trunk Boutique. It was a close second in the poll. It's set for November 8th, and I'm VERY excited for it.

2 - Lily is turning 10 months!!! She is growing way too fast. She makes me so happy and we have so much fun together. She has started taking steps and loves to talk. I wonder where she got that trait from. ;)

3 - Last week, I dragged Lily and my mom with me to Chandler Fashion Mall to meet Darrell Ankarlo. He's a radio talk show host on 92.3. Lorin is actually in his little Diversity Posse so he's met him before, but this was my first time meeting him. I also met his producer, Rob. If you have listened to KTAR at all during the weekday mornings, you know who these guys are. They crack me up! I was there to buy Ankarlo's new book, "Another Man's Sombrero" for Lorin. It's about illegal immigration. Gotta love it!

4 - Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in the Twilight series comes out Friday at midnight. Tara (my sis) and I will be getting it then. I plan to stay up and read all night because I have a busy weekend. WARNING: Please do not check my blog this weekend if you don't want any spoilers from the book. I can guarantee that I will blog about it. All I know is that if Edward and Bella do not end up together, I'm gonna be TICKED!!!

5 - We're headed to Cali next week. It's our first vacation since Lily has been born so we are very excited!! We'll be in San Diego and plan on hitting the beach, the San Diego Zoo, Sea World and a few other places. If anyone has any suggestions on MUST SEES there, please let us know. We don't want to miss anythin'!

The Latest...

Whoops... Lily looked down at the last minute... I was so bummed!

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to blog. Sorry. Right now, I am in the process of starting a boutique... crazy, I know. Fortunately, I have about 40 vendors who want to sell stuff so that is awesome! I am also closing in on the location for the boutique. I just need to get a few more quotes on places to make sure I pick the best one. My big dilemma right now is that I am having a hard time thinking of a name for the boutique. If anyone has any cool ideas let me know. Every time I think of a good one, I google it and it's already taken. Bummer! Any who, please also let me know if you would be interested being a vendor or if you would like me to add you to our mailing list for when we send out the info in the future. Right now, the boutique is set for November 8th. We have some AWESOME stuff to sell. As soon as I can get more pics gathered, I will start a blog for it.
We are also trying to enjoy the HOT summer. It's nice to have Lo home at night and not have to worry about him having homework. We are heading to Cali at the beginning of August, and we are hoping the weather is a lot more bearable there. A short few weeks after that, Lorin starts school again. :(

TICKED!!!! : Z

Dumb Deanna

I am so ticked off right now that I knew I had to blog to blow off some steam. So, what could I be so ticked off about?!? Let me preface by saying that I have never watched The Bachelorette before this year. I only watched because I was curious since I had heard this chick was blown off by the Bachelor, Brad Womack. Any who... I know you're probably thinking, "uhuh, sure, whatever...." BUT it's true! Tonight was the season finale and it was down to two guys. One guy named Jason and the other Jesse. Jason is the nicest guy and is a father of a little boy. Jesse is nice also but he snowboards and isn't very cute. I REALLY REALLY wanted Jason to win. He was cute, nice, romantic and everything a girl could want. Well, when the show started Lorin decided to look online to see if there were any spoilers (he did this in hopes that if he found out the winner, I would stop watching....good idea, but it didn't work). He found a website that stated Deanna picked Jesse. I didn't know if I could believe it, but then my friend, Desiree called from Oklahoma and she had just finished watching it. SHE REALLY DID PICK JESSE!!! Grrrr! I am so mad. Both of the guys are nice but Jason is a lot better looking and seems more in love with her. It also ticked me off because Jesse is so "dude-ish" that he could never say things like, "you're beautiful" and "I am starting to fall in love with you." Instead he would say, "You are so hot" and "I am soo digging on you." LAME!!!! I am just so mad right now. I know you all think I'm a nut but I guess I am. Deanna Pappas is WHACKED!!! I really am ticked off... I think I will go cry myself to sleep now... ;)