Memorial Day Weekend

We certainly took advantage of the 3 day (8 day for me, woot woot) weekend!  

The past three days have consisted of:

Family

Friends

BBQ's

Lotsa Tennis

Food.  Tons of food.

Visiting Ted Bundy's house

Volleyball

Movie watching

Surprise massage for me (thanks hubby!)

Too much studying for Dawson

Shopping

Dash

Bachelorette

And also ZERO pictures to show for any of this... 

However, I'd like to to take some words from one of my favs, The Format:

"When we would take trips 

We swore we'd never take pictures

Pictures only prove you can't convince..."

And convince you we shall, that we had an UH-mazing time. 

(Even though we were on a staycation, not a trip)  

And now I'm ready to go back to work on Wednesday!  

NOT 

I'm not even close to ready, I hope no one believed that.

Like my mother-in-law taught me this weekend,

This whole work thing is really interfering with my life!

(AND vacation plans, grrrr)  

Crew Anthony Snow

One of the luckiest things that ever happened to me was sitting by Brittany Johnson 

in 7th grade Utah Studies at Butler Middle School.  

What was even luckier was having the next 4 periods with her, 

and finding out we were pretty much the same person and becoming instant best friends.

2001

I never would have guessed that 12 years later I would be watching Britt have her first born child.  

If you had told me that the popular boy that "asked her out" 

while we were chatting with him on AOL instant messenger 

in 9th grade was going to be the daddy, I probably would have laughed.  

Not because there was anything wrong with Matt, 

but because we were painfully shy and didn't plan on getting married.

2004

Well surprise surprise!  

Matt and Britt Snow are now PARENTS!  

I'm so grateful that I got to share the experience with her.  

It was well worth sitting in her hospital room all day just to see little Crew pop out at 7:21pm, 

all 8 lbs 6 ounces of him.  He is the absolute cutest newborn I've ever seen, 

and I am just so dang excited for our friends I can hardly stand it!

And yes, she did look that beautiful after giving birth.  

She made the whole birthing process look the easiest thing in the world, didn't even break a sweat.

Yeah, I know, you want to hate her but you just can't.

So stinkin proud of her!

Nerd Alert

8 days.

That is how many days I have until I have to go back to work again!  I am so excited, especially since I got called off from my last night shift last night.  You have no idea how amazing sleeping in bed with your husband during normal sleeping hours is until you have to sleep by yourself from 8am-3pm six times in two weeks.  It's so lonely!

Let me just tell you the one other thing I'm most excited to do during my break:

READ, READ READ.

Ok I realize how nerdy that makes me sound, but remember my hubby is still studying 8 hours a day for the LSAT so I have some free time.  But if you want to know a secret - I really am the ultimate book worm nerd.  Now that I'm married and have some self-confidence I have no shame in divulging this.  The facts:

• As a child, my momma had to ground me from reading, because if she sent me to my room as "punishment", I would just curl up with a book for hours perfectly happy and content.

• I would go to the library once a month with my book bag, and check out 30 books at a time (the maximum allowed), and I would easily get through them all before it was time to go back.

• I have ruined my eyes I think from the hours I spent as a child reading by flashlight under my blanket... and then reading by the light of my clock when my flashlight got taken away.

• I can't tell you how many nights I have said "just one more chapter" until I can see that light peaking through my window and I can hear the birds starting to chirp.  I read Harry Potter 7 in one night, and I started it at 5pm.  And then I cried because I read it so fast and didn't want it to be over.

• My husband now knows that if I have tears streaming down my face while I have a book in my hands, I'm probably ok.  I happily cry during books, cuz usually those are my favorite ones.  (Who wouldn't cry when Big Dan saved Billy from the mountain lion in Where the Red Fern Grows, when Beth died and left poor Jo in Little Women, or when Anne loses sweet Matthew, the first person to really love her, in Anne of Green Gables?)

If you are wondering if I developed any social skills as a child, don't worry.  I still had friends, and by the end of middle school reading had taken a back seat to "hanging out".  I even took an almost 2 year break from reading for fun during nursing school.  Talk about a sacrifice.  But now I am married and can read as much as I want guilt-free!  Whoop whoop!

So here is my list of books to read in the next week, and then this summer.  If any one has any books they just loved, please let me know so I can add it to my list!

Must Reads

Sons of Fortune (Book Club book!)

East of Eden

Persuasion

On the Corner of Bitter & Sweet

Love in the Time of Cholera

11/22/63

Mom

Happy Mother's Day to my amazing Mom!

 I saw this the other day and it describes me perfectly:

My Mom is definitely the most used number on my phone.  Just SOME of the reasons I call her:

• questions about cooking or to get a recipe 
• whenever me or Dawson are sick (having a nurse for a mom is AWESOME) 
• advice about Dash (she gave Dash a haircut this weekend, just add Dog Groomer to her list of talents)
• to go to a Crossfit class together 
• when I'm at the grocery store and don't know what brand to buy
• just to chat while driving
• to go shopping 
• if I'm having trouble with my computer (she could work at the Apple store)
• when I'm "frustrated" with my husband
• to gossip about something I heard or saw on Facebook
• when I'm in a hair crisis
• to help me with gardening (she has the ultimate green thumb) 
• advice on what I should buy or need for the house
• to come over and hang out
• Etc, etc, etc

I honestly could not survive without my mom!  I don't think I could ever repay her for everything she has done for me and continues to do.  That woman is a saint to put up with everything she has with me and the rest of her hooligan children.  I'm so so so lucky to have her as a best friend, she is the absolute best mom I ever could have asked for.  She loves all of us unconditionally, and always puts us before herself.  I have a LOT of work to do if I ever want to dream of being as amazing of a mom as she is!

I  also want to say Happy Mother's day to my mother-in-law Diana!  I could never thank her enough for raising such a wonderful son.  I still don't understand how she raised 4 boys to turn out so well-mannered (and handsome!).  I don't know if I could have survived being the only woman in a houseful of boys, but she did and with flying colors.  I know I am DEFINITELY going to be calling Diana with parenting advice when we have our kids.  She is one of the most selfless people I have ever met, and I'm so glad that our future kidlets are going to have such a fabulous grandma!

Love you guys!

3 in 1

This past week was awesome... I got to see all 3 of my best friends in 1 week!  

Movie with Ashlyn and our sig figs.

We are legit girlfriends... didn't even plan our matching purple pants!

 Fondue with the Matt and Britt (oh and baby Crew)!

and that wasn't enough of course...

So while the boys had a golf day we had a G.N.O to watch Zac Efron in The Lucky One

And lastly, a Cinco de Mayo party with the one and only Jenn Jones!

Lincoln and Stew threw the most legit Cinco de Mayo party ever, right down to the authentic Mexican Taco stand that was in the front yard.  Even though we were a married couple surrounded by what felt like hundreds of singles, I think we fit in ok.  The only thing that might have given us away is the fact that I was exhausted and we left the party by 10:30pm (but it was a very fun-filled 2 hrs). 

Awesome and Awkward

Awesome... My amazing momma babysitting Dash for us while we were in Cali
Awkward... Asking her to send me daily videos and pictures with updates on what Dash is currently doing

Awesome... Deciding to eat healthy and get into shape for summer
Awkward... Gaining 4 lbs due to eating waffles at 3am on night shifts

Awesome... Being able to deep clean our cozy apartment in less than 2 hrs
Awkward... Being able to mess up our cozy apartment in less than 2 minutes (mainly when I'm trying to decide what to wear or trying to cook some sort of edible meal)

Awesome... The new flavor we tried at Nielsen's, Oreo coconut.. mmmmmm....
Awkward... Eating a Nielsen's concrete for dinner

Awesome... A Saturday matinee with the Nicols to see the AVENGERS!
Awkward... How much I loved that movie... I'm already planning the next time I can see it in theaters (Thor = YES)

Awesome... Having free time to run errands with the hubby
Awkward... Being so exhausted by errands that we have to make an emergency stop at Little Caesar's and get a $5 pizza that we can't wait to eat so we scarf it down in the car

Awesome... Seeing Brittany twice in one week!
Awkward... Getting almost emotional each time I say good-bye to her because I always think the next time I see her she'll be in labor

Disneyland!

Dawson hadn't been to Disneyland since he was 6 (or possible 8, it's still being debated), and I was sooo excited to go with him to witness his first experience with the Happiest Place on Earth that he would actually remember.  I LOVE Disneyland.  Not in a weirdly obsessed way that makes me dress in Disney apparel on the reg, but in a normal "it's impossible to be in a bad mood when I'm there" way.

It was especially fun to go with Colin and Jamie and the girls!  Presley knew ALL the best rides in Disneyland and made sure we went on them.  She was so brave, and even went on scary rides (even though she had to shut her eyes sometimes).  I really am such a proud aunt, I love that little girl!  

And what Disneyland adventure is complete without a ride(s) on the Teacups?!?!  I could have gone on the teacups every other ride probably, they are my absolute favorite.  And even though no one can spin those teacups as fast as my dad did when I was little, we did a pretty good job.  Maybelle definitely rivals me though in love for the teacups... Watching her face while we were spinning was quite possibly my favorite part of the day!

While the little girls loved Disneyland, they still needed their naps.  So when everyone went to the hotel for a little break, Dawson was kind enough to humor me and stay at the park with me so we could get a solid 12 hours in.  I was worried he would get a little tired, but nope.  Disneyland Dawson was SO much fun! (Not that School Dawson and Work Dawson aren't great too, but...).  The fact that we can laugh together even while being hungry and waiting in super long lines definitely proves something about our relationship, right?  I think it does.  Although the corn dogs after did make us feel a lot better.

Fav Ride! 

And what Disneyland experience is complete without seeing Mickey and Minnie?  Well thanks to Diana, we not only got to see them, but got to have breakfast with them!  

We're convinced that Disneyland has to be breaking child labor laws because the person dressed up as Mickey had to be a 12 year old girl cuz he/she was so small, but whatevs.

I loved our day at Disneyland so much.  It's so sad that the best days always seem to go by the fastest!  Oh, and on a gloomier note- it's ALSO so sad that someone decided to steal my bag and Dawson's backpack right before we went to the airport.  It's even more sad that I had my iPod, new make-up, favorite shoes, and Disneyland mug in my bag.  And it's the absolute saddest that Dawson had his computer and all his notes for finals in his backpack!  But... even all that is worth how much fun we had (Dawson might not agree with me right now, but trust me, he will eventually).  

Summa is here!

My handsome hubby surprised me with a day date to celebrate him being done with finals... sounds backwards, huh?  That's just how sweet he is.  I love day dates so much, they remind me of when we first got married and had no responsibilities and just got to hang out 24/7.  I can't even begin to describe how excited I am that finals are over for him... I know he aced them, and now we just have the dang LSAT in June and we are home free!

We picnicked, we shopped (to replace everything I had stolen in California, more on that later), and watched the sunset from an amazing view with our favorite Aryan couple.  It's officially the start to our first full summer as a married couple, and I can already tell it's going to be one of the best ones yet!

He even got my fav sandy and drink!

California here we cooooome!

We want to give a big shout out to Colin for graduating with his MBA from Pepperdine!!!

And also give him a HUMUNGO thank-you for giving us a chance to go to 

DISNEYLAND (But that deserves a blog post all on its own).

We love any excuse to go see our favorite Californians, and this was a pretty good one (thanks Blair and Diana!).  We got to get a break from school and work, stay in a beach house, eat amazing food, and be with the best people ever.  You can graduate again anytime you want Colin!

My twin sista!!!

Oh and don't mind me and Presley, just bonding 21st century style on our iPads:

I just adore Presley, and it breaks my heart that she lives so far away.  Someone seriously needs to invent teleporting already, come on, it IS 2012.