Busy but FUN weekend

Each flag represented someone who had died due to 9/11.
Getting ready to walk the 5k.
Lily was so good during the walk and either played with this flag or slept. It was great!
My bro, Tyler, was in charge of the event.
The newly painted kitchen... you can barely tell it's green in this pic.

You can see the green better in this pic... kinda. :(

The living room is a pale, antique-ish yellow. Can you even tell?

I had to break out the cobwebs and halloween decorations. I know, I'm sick...

I am a little obsessed with the vintage Halloween decorations. Fortunately, you can find them for like $5 at most stores now.


Aren't these skeletons the bomb?! My aunt made them for me for my bridal shower. I love them!


This weekend was crazy busy (as always) but super fun!! Friday, Lorin and I hung out with our good friends, the Turleys. We played some fun games with them, and I enjoyed kicking Justin's bum in a game that was very similar to Boggle (you can pass that along to him, Sus). Haha ;)

Then, Saturday we were able to participate in an Amputee Walk that my brother put on. It was great to walk the 5k and to see all sorts of amputees and supporters, including the Mayor of Tempe. It was at Tempe Town Lake which was also cool cuz they were having their 9/11 Memorial there. They have displayed a flag for every person who died due to 9/11. Each flag had a picture and some info about each person so it was an emotional reminder of that fateful day 7 years ago.

Later that day I realized how much my husband really loves me because he said we could paint the living room and kitchen. I have always wanted to paint, but Lorin really likes things plain (I know, he married the wrong person), but he lost the fight Saturday. We spent the rest of the day painting. It was A LOT of work, but I LOVE the finished product. He even let me pick the colors (a light yellow for the living room. and a light lime-ish green for the kitchen). Lorin really does not like yellow so he was so nice to let me paint with that color. ;) He also let me put up Halloween decorations. I know it's a little early, but I have a very busy month and a half ahead of me so I knew this was the only time to do it. Like I said, Lorin must REALLY love me, and I am so grateful he does. He was such a sport working all day and night to get the painting done. He is the best - I love him SOO MUCH!!

That's right... we put her in the big girl carl seat, and she loves it!

Say buh bye to the small car seat... it has now become a toy for her.

I know, I'm crazy, but I had to try...

The curls lasted for about 15 seconds...

Man, I love this little girl. We have so much fun together and I'm trying to soak it all up, because she is growing up waaaay to fast!!

KTAR Talk the Vote - LIVE with Glenn Beck

On Friday, Lorin and I were able to go to the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix with some friends to see KTAR's Talk the Vote Live. This consisted of an hour of the "War Room" with Pat McMahn, Darrell Ankarlo, Mac Watson and Glenn Beck discussing the presidential race and the war. This might sound really boring, but it was actually VERY entertaining. After the war room, Glenn Beck spoke for about an hour doing some bits from his show that he has been touring for. He was awesome! If any of you know him, you know that he's a little extreme, but I REALLY like him. He's a convert to the church and is a little rough around the edges but he was so much fun to watch. I haven't always enjoyed politics (and sometimes I still don't) but they made some great points tonight that helped me realize who I needed to vote for. I haven't really been a fan of either politician (when it comes to character really), but at this point I've realized I need to vote for "the lesser of two evils" as Lorin tells me. It's not that John McCain or Barak Obama are evil, I just don't agree with any of them whole-heartily. Any who... as you can see from the pics, you know who will be getting my vote. :D

This is a snippet of his show. It was hilarious!!!

I wonder....

Whenever I watched Back to the Future II I always wondered if any of the things in the movie would actually be invented. So... yesterday Lorin, Lily & I went to Chandler Mall and we found this pair of glasses that I made Lorin put on that ended up being a movie screen. Can you believe it!? I tried it out myself and low and behold, a movie played right before my eyes (and for only $200)! The glasses reminded me of Back to the Future II (remember... they are sitting at the dinner table and the sister puts them on to see who's calling.....). Any who, it got me all excited. I mean, technology these days truly is amazing. I still can't even figure out how texting, cell phones and emails work, but they do, and it's awesome!! I wonder if the hover board is next.... you might think I'm crazy, but maybe I'm not. I found this article about some scientist in Scotland who have solved the mystery of levitation. If you don't believe me, check out this article. I wonder...

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!!