oh the places we go...

Oh the places we go...in such a short amount of time. I don't know why we drive to California (9ish hours away) and then spend a few days driving all over Southern California then drive back to Utah another (9ish hours). We do it often too! Even though it's a ton of driving we absolutely love it and love being in warmer (usually) weather, plus we get to spend time with my parents, which I love.

We left Thursday afternoon and drove straight through to my parents house in Lake Arrowhead.

The next morning we woke up to this

so beautiful!

and this

I thought we drove all the way to California for warmer weather?! 

Well, since the weather clearly wasn't too spectacular in Lake Arrowhead we took off Friday morning with my parents and drove down to Los Angeles. We did a little shopping then drove out to Studio City and ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant

mmmm delicious!

After eating we drove over to the house my dad is building, I've heard so much about it and finally got the chance to see it. And it is beautiful!

(sorry for all the vintage pictures-I forgot my camera so I used Logan's phone all weekend as a camera)

The home is gorgeous. Dad really knows how to build a house!

The owners are sparing no expense-lucky them! They have 2 kids and check out their bedrooms!

Jungle Book

Cars-these murals are incredible in person and cover the entire room, even the ceiling! Crazy.

We drove on the famous Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles and saw some incredible homes and views. 

stopped at an outlook that overlooked Universal Studios

We spent the rest of the night driving around, eating ice cream and hanging at the hotel.

The next day we got an early start and drove through Beverly Hills, wow. I have never done that but it was so much fun. Now that my dad builds down in LA he knows everything about the area, we had our own personal tour guide ;). After driving through some really cool neighborhoods we drove up PCH a little ways since Logan had never been on it.

We saw some beautiful homes and green hillsides (so jealous of how green it is).

We stopped at the Santa Monica pier to soak up some sunlight and it felt great!

Santa Monica Pier

who's that handsome guy? ;)

love them so much

By then we were pretty worn out from all the driving so we headed back to Lake Arrowhead. 

The whole reason we went to California was to get a TV stand Logan built with my dad over Christmas. So we spent the rest of the evening staining it.

I saw my friend Darlene for a bit on Saturday night, she's getting married next weekend! So exciting! The next morning we were off on our way back to Utah. We had a great trip and saw so much. It's surprising I haven't seen most of it and I lived there most of my life! 

Thanks again for the great time Mom & Dad, we had a blast!!

"groopdealz" of the day

Have you seen the groopdeal today??

 

 A cute erasable vinyl sticker, great for last minute messages. Only $7 normally $14!

And the MOST adorable earrings ever, only $8 normally $14! I bought some other ones a week ago and kinda wished I had waited til I saw these, SO cute!

Check out the dealz here at GroopDealz.

If you aren't familiar with GroopDealz you're gonna love it-it's similar to one day deals but it's all to support the handmade community. Enjoy!

We're off to California in a few hours and we're so excited. Good news-that means a new blog post finally is coming in a few days!

cutest video ever

I heard this dad/daughter group a few months back on Ellen but forgot about them. At work today my co-worker had Pandora on and this song came on, by the original artist. So I looked up the movie again and had to share it. I think it's so sweet! 

Enjoy!

It's official...California in 9 days!! Woohoooo!! Can't wait for some warmth :)

just the usual everyday stuff

I just realized it's been a very long time since I posted last. Nothing new has really happened so that's probably why I haven't posted.

We have been packing all day and I needed a break. We are moving a week from today and our apartment is a disaster! We are literally moving across the street. It'll be a nice easy move...minus the piano that has to go from the third floor down and back up to the third floor at our new place! Oh well, it's totally gonna be worth it. Our contract is up here and we decided not to sign here again so we found a bigger nicer place right across the street. We are beyond excited to move, 

I think it's gonna be a long week.

Logan is busy with school, pretty much non-stop with how many classes he is taking. And I am busy working full time at Silhouette. We're very happy and can't wait for Logan to graduate this December. It'll be interesting to see where we end up a year from now, but we're pretty much open to move anywhere Logan can get a good job. It's gonna be an adventure and we can't wait to see what happens!

Hopefully something exciting happens soon so I can post about it...but til then...


p.s. have you noticed the three new pictures I posted of our nieces and nephew? We love them so much, we feel so lucky to be the aunt and uncle of such sweet little kids.

giveaway!

Don't miss the GIVEAWAY I'm doing on my other blog! My friend offered some adorable earrings as a giveaway...be sure to enter by tomorrow night! You can only enter by clicking on "giveaway" above and checking out my other blog.

Business Trip to LA

This past weekend I was gone for five days in Los Angeles. My company had a booth at CHA in the LA Convention Center. This show is for retailers to come and buy all the product for their store for the next six months til summer CHA. It was so much fun! I am still recovering from the little sleep I got but it was well worth it.
The first day I was there was kindof a free day, which I spent with my parents. We went to one of my very favorite Mexican Restaurants, Poquito Mas and then we spent the rest of the day in Santa Monica finished off with dinner at Pitfire Pizza...yumm.
I checked into my room later that day and found out I had been upgraded! You know it's gonna be good when the front desk tells you your room is on a level that requires you to swipe your card in the elevator! All my co-workers were super jealous cause I was placed in a suite, with a king size bed all by myself. I must say I truly enjoyed the luxury.
The next four days were spent working at the booth til 6:30pm then dinner somewhere near by after. I was glad I enjoyed the warm weather the first day I was there cause every other day was spent indoors. We went to The Grove one night, which was really fun, I hadn't been there in a long time and I really miss it. I just wish we could have spent more time there.
Other than that we didn't do too much, but I really enjoyed getting to know my co-workers and staying in a suite!! Logan spent the time doing homework, going to school, playing some video games and missing me :)
It's great to be home, even if it is freezing here in Utah. Enjoy a few pictures from my trip!


Santa Monica Pier



Beautiful sunset on the beach



The whole Silhouette Team at Cheesecake Factory



This is what I did the entire show...told people what the Silhouette is and how it works.



The Design Team-Me, Traci & Amy



Our booth at the show



Jake, Andy, Kris, Chris
Me, Amy & Traci
don't Amy and I look like 2 little kids with everyone else?! I cracked up when I saw this picture



The booth next to us had some fun paintings...

California Christmas

We spent Christmas with my family in California this year and had a fabulous time. We hadn't been to California for quite awhile so this trip had been a long time coming. Here are some pictures of all the fun we had!

We requested tickets to the Jay Leno Show back in September and found out we got tickets in November. It felt like we waited forever but we had the best time! My parents came with us and we made the most of the day. We ate at one of our favorite Mexican restaurant Poquito Mas before the show, it was the same restaurant we went to after my brother got married in LA. After the show we drove down to the LA Temple to see the Christmas lights and ate at a super delicious pizza place.


Logan & I outside NBC studios



On the set of the Tonight Show...it was freeeeeeezing cold in there, my mom and I had to keep our jackets on the whole time. It was such a fun experience, regardless of who your favorite late night show star is I highly recommend going to a taping of a show. It was great and now everytime we watch the Jay Leno show we think of when we went.

A day later everyone else arrived in Lake Arrowhead. Lake Arrowhead was hit very hard during the huge rain storm, so hard that the lake was overflowing like crazy. We went for a little hike down to a river where water from the lake flows out. Normally this is a slow moving river but it was roaring this time. The pictures don't really do it justice, there was an incredible amount of water flowing.










Random pics from the week...

Grandpa (dad) and Lola coloring Hello Kitty!



I sewed an apron while I was there for my aunt Nalini, Lani was the model :)



I have plenty of pictures just like this in my baby book, Lola loves my mom's shoes, as did I at her age!



I got a heart shaped waffle iron for Christmas, I've been wanting one for a long time and Logan surprised me and remembered. Aren't those waffles so cute?!



Logan and my dad built a TV stand while we were there for our place. This is the most complete picture I had, but they added a back to it and we still need to stain it.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!