One Very Very Cute Baby Girl!

My niece Braylee was born on April 14, 2009. I am a little slow on getting these blogs out, but I need to do an ode to that sweet little girl! She is quite the angel and I love her so much already. She smiles alot and is the most adorable baby you could imagine. She is probably the cutest thing you have ever seen. I just love her!! The best thing about it is she is only a couple of minutes away. Here are few pictures of the beauty. (An ode to Eventide is coming soon!)

Proud Auntie!

Craft it forward? vote yes!

Craft it forward? vote yes!

The first 5 people to leave a comment on this blog will receive something made by me. However there are some limitations:1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make.2. What I create will be just for you.3. It will be done this year.4. You have not a clue what it is going to be; poetry, shoes, bags or a little invention of my own. I may even bake something and mail it you! Who knows? Not you that's for sure!5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. It may blow your mind!Here's the catch... if you choose to do this, you must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for five people too. This will be fun! And, when you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog. Or if you don't have a blog, send me a photo and I will post it!Ready....Set....Comment!

San Francisco Again!!

Yes, I went to San Francisco again. I just love that place! This time I owe it all to my very good friend Holly! I was able to be a chaperone for a high school that she works at. We took 41 students and I had such a great time! We literally did not have a moment to spare on this trip. We went from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next.... We got there about 1 am Friday morning. Here is a quick review of our trip: Friday morning at 9 am we started at the Exploratorium. At about 11, we ate down at a place called "Squat and Gobble" in the cutest little part of San Francisco. By 12, we were back on the coach bus and on our way to Golden Gate Park where we spent time in the Conservatory of Flowers and then walked over to this AMAZING art museum. This museum was absolutely huge (I think it was 6 or 7 floors). I have never seen an art museum like this. I could have spent an entire day in there and still not seen half of what was in there. I loved it. After the museum we went over to Pier 39 where we visited the Wax Museum. Then headed down to the Aquarium, which reminded me of 'Shark's Reef' at Mandalay Bay. We then took a couple cabs and went down to Chinatown. We didn't stay there too long before returning back to Pier 39 where I got the best caramel apple ever from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I, of course, had to have the clam chowder in the bread bowl and about 10:30pm, everyone got back on the bus and we head back to the hotel. And that was just day one...

Day Two ... Started at about 8 am and we went down to Alcatraz. You have to take a ferry to reach the small island that Alcatraz is on. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what Alcatraz is, I will give you a brief history lesson. It was, at one time, a prison that felons went to. It was not usually the first choice for most felons. One person you might know of is Al Capone. You are able to take a tour of the prison and you wear these head phones that have the voices of officers and prisoners that spend time there. I highly recomment going to see this if you are ever in San Francisco. After returning back from the island, we headed down to Six Flags/Marine World amusement park. We had a blast there and spent time petting elephants and riding rollarcoasters. By this time, I was pretty beat, but we still had one very special place to go...Union Square! It is such a unique and beautiful place to shop. It was just one store after another. It was a great time. Finally by around 1030, we went back to the hotel. On Sunday, we headed back and all were exhausted!

I really had a great time and I have to thank Holly for ALL OF IT!! Thank you Holly! The pictures are out of order, but that's okay.

I definitely wasn't suppose to go over that fence and sit on the elephant...

Holly and I at Alcatraz

Scary, huh?

Some of the girls in front of Chinatown

Aquarium Museum

Just a little show from the Art Museum

Conservatory of Flowers...read the sign, it's a pretty scary plant

Exploratorium...the place was filled with crazy stuff

Like I said...crazy stuff

On the Island, looking at San Francisco

Cleveland, Here We Come!

I decided to post as many as I can at one time! Colby and I took a trip to Ohio where we spent some time with some wonderful friends and just had a good 'ol time. Colby actually surprised with the tickets and since I've never been to this side of the country, I was so excited. This is where Colby went on his mission, so it was fun to see where he was for those two years. Our good friends Amber and Doug just bought a house there and Doug is currently in podiatry school Cleveland. It was so great to spend time with them and we also got to know some of their friends. I am not sure how this happened, but we didn't get any pictures with them! Colby and I went to the Nauvoo temple and did a little sighseeing (as much as you can in Cleveland). You wouldn't expect this, but they had the best malls there! So needless to say, we did a little shopping. We also went to Macaroni Grill with Amber and Doug and some of their friends and had a blast. Amber and her two good girl friends all had birthdays within days of each other so they brought out three huge desserts, which were sooo good! All in all, we had a great time!

Their birthday desserts. These were two of Amber's friends. They were absolutely adorable!
He is just my kinda man!

We took a tour through the Nauvoo History Center. It was such a highlight of the trip! The spirit was so strong.

Nauvoo Temple!

School of Prophets

Cultural Leadership Retreat

So I am well aware that I am the worst at updating my blog! But in the beginning of February, my coordinator and I were able to go on the cultural leadership retreat as facilitators and it was such a great experience. It was up in Warner Spring in California and I had such a great time there. It was a great eye-opening experience and I plan on going doing more things like this on campus. We stayed in these little cabins and everyday our day was literally packed. Although I was exhausted by the end, It was well worth it and it will be an experience that I will always remember. We talked about so many different topics and it was great to get to know so many more students and faculty on campus on a whole different level. Here are a few pictures so enjoy!

This was my co-facilitator...she was amazing!

Here is our family group. They were such a great group!

These were two of the other facilitators there. They were absolutely hilarious!

A San Francisco Treat

I met Chuck Lidell at the Las Vegas Airport!

This is Lombard Street, the windiest road in the USA

This is the hotel we stayed at (Sir Francis Drake).

Oakland Temple!

We are standing on Pier 39 'Fisherman's Wharf' and Alcatraz is in the background.

This is the top of Oakland temple. The view is perfect.

Oakland Temple

A Red Bluff Thanksgiving

So we headed over to Red Bluff, CA to Colby's parents place for Thanksgiving. I absolutely love going there. They live on a 40 acre ranch so they have plenty of hills and a tremendous view around them. Not only are they located in an amazing place but the company was great too! I just love Colby's mom and dad and David and Tiffany were able to come down with their two adorable ( I mean really adorable ) kids, Liam and Asher. We went shopping, the boys went quail hunting and marked the lambs, golfing, we did our black Friday deal, we had a very delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and just had a great time catching up with each other and spending time with one another. I told Colby that I really wanted to go to San Francisco since I have never been while we were up at their parents home. It is about 3 hours from there and at first Colby didn't seem like he really wanted to go. BUT Colby surprised me and got a hotel room at Sir Francis Hotel for a night right in the heart of San Francisco (in Union Square) and we spend about two days there before we caught our flight in Stockton. I loved it in San Francisco! We went to Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square (GREAT shopping), Lombard Street, San Francisco Bridge, and the Oakland Temple. The view from the temple was sweet and since the streets in that city are so steep, you are able to see the whole valley once you get up to the top of the streets. I defintely recommend a visit there. There are a few crazies...but that seems to be the case everywhere you go. We were gone for a little over a week and we finally got back to the airport in Las Vegas Wednesday night. I was standing by the baggage claim and guess who I passed on the way to wait for our bags?? You ready.... Chuck Liddell! I just couldn't miss out on a chance to take a picture with him so I took my camera right up to him and asked him if he was chuck and we took a picture. It was great. Here are some pictures from the trip! enjoy!
This is thier 'driveway'. Even this is gorgeous! Me and Asher are running to the house.











Here is my little nephew Asher showing us the number five. He is not five years old, he's three but he wanted to show me the number. He is the cutest and sweetest thing you've ever met.















We went golfing in Red Bluff. Colby and Tiffany are lining up their putts.



















We went to this place called 'House of Design' and it was decorated for Christmas. I seriously have never seen such a beautiful shop. The lady who owns the shop came in 2nd place for flower arrangements in the world. She has talent like you coudn't believe.











Colby and David marking lambs...it's a different kind of experience....













This is my other nephew Liam, he is the cutest most active baby you will ever meet.













We went to the Red Bluff parade and here is Colby and his great dad!










This is a picture I took from the backyard, it is part of their ranch. It is so beautiful!