Photo Dump: California Style

Hello my lovely bloggies! Have you missed me? 

Operation bring Amanda home is in affect. I flew out to California on Monday morning. Early. I woke up at 3 AM California time. I've been here almost a week and it's been lots of fun. I don't know how she keeps up with her three kiddos every day. 

On the 25th we drove 3 hours down to San Francisco to cross one off of both our bucket lists.... Walk the Golden Gate Bridge. It is 3.5 miles round trip. We also had three children. We had to carry the double stroller up a huge staircase to get the side you walk on.  Hunter walked one way and on the way back all three kids were in the stroller. I pushed them, it was definitely a full body workout. 

 Overall it was super fun and way cool. We saw dolphins and a huge cargo ship from Hamberg, Germany. 

Tomorrow we start that daunting drive back home. Hopefully we'll make it there in time for the wedding. Also it would be great if the 3 year old niece wouldn't scream the whole way like she did when we went to San Fran. 

Till next time! 

Birthday Bash

Today was my 20th birthday. 

Let's be honest, I don't really like my birthday on account of the past few years... let's recap

16: got chased by the neighborhood psycho. 

17: got dumped.

18: at nationals in Indiana. Spent most of the day in the motorhome. 

19: Found out The Scene Aesthetic canceled their Living Room Tour. Cried most of the day.

20: got dumped (relatively close to my b-day/close enough that it counts). 

So let's be honest, I wasn't too hopeful for today. I had to take a test for school. I was supposed to take it Friday but didn't. Based on the fact I woke up puking I didn't exactly see myself in the testing center in my current state. I woke up this morning at 7. Got ready and headed to the library. My test went. I guess that's all I was really expecting anyways. 

When I came home I opened the door and walked into a wall of balloons.
If you remember this post you know how I've always loved balloons and how I've kind of wanted someone to do this for me. Well basically my roomie is the greatest.

 Each of the balloons had a card on the bottom with something written on it. 

A little while later we ventured down to my parentals home. My mom took us all to lunch and then to get pedicures. It was SO relaxing! I could've stayed there all day.
I'm not much of a cake person so I decided to do mini bunt cakes instead of a typical cake. So after pedicures we headed to Nothing Bundt Cakes and picked up some cake.

After our afternoon venture we headed to Desert Star Playhouse. It was my mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, Jess, Peter, and myself. It was SO much fun! It was probably one of the better plays. Definitely the best this season. We got pizza, chatted, and just hung out at the show. It was super. We also ran into my aunt and uncle there, which was a pleasant surprise.
The Olio was the best I've seen. Basically the fact that they had Sweet Caroline in it made it amazing. Pretty sure Jess, Peter, and I had the loudest table. Talk about audience participation! We had a blast.

After that we headed back to my parent's for cake and ice cream and of course presents!  Somehow they (my mom, Peter, and Jess) managed to fit 20 candles on one little cake. It was awesome.
Peter serenaded us with his mad piano skills for a good hour or longer. He's basically incredible. The next Beethoven. I swear I could listen to him play for days! We played the whole duet book together which was definitely a highlight of the night, even though my sight reading skills could use some work.

I was definitely spoiled. I got flowers! (psh, who needs guys!?) A five year journal, which I am super stoked about! A mini gnome, yes I have a weird liking for gnomes. A fossil view finder key chain. A gnome charm and a Polaroid charm for my bracelet. Some sweats (SCORE!!!!). Jeans. TOMS. Dresses. And a few other things.

When we got home we checked the mail and I had a package from my dear friend Mary!
And bills.
I opened the package and loved it but I refused to open bills on my birthday. Psh, they can wait till tomorrow.

Overall it was a very successful day and the best birthday I have had in nearly five years.

Job Descriptions

What does one do when sleep does not exist in their life? We're talking not falling asleep till 6:30 AM here people! Gotta love going through tough times. Anyways, I like to think I'm being productive by looking for a job. Not that I'm desperate for a job, but it would be something for me to do. But let's face it... between my blog, Pinterest, Facebook, Hulu, and Netflix my schedule is always slammed! So, on yet another sleepless night, I headed over to Craigslist. Here are some of the jobs I found. . . word for word.

- Ride Operator (at a park) .... what rides are there at a park?

- Freelance Bosnian Medical Interpreter

- Bluetooth Programmer

- Youtube Video Finder

- Superstar Appointment Setter

- Mystery Shopper

- Pet Nutrition Specialist

- Bounce House Attendant

- Part Time Chile Peeler

And my very favorite that I found, no joke, read...

"Are you a Bronze God or a Super Tan Man?" .... Oompa Loompas require within.

Hmm I'm thinking I'll definitely go for the Freelance Bosnian Medical Interpreter.

Happy Humpday!

Letters

"Everything is gonna be alright

Just don't look back 

Keep your head up in the sky

Your heart is in good hands 

Everything is gonna be alright" 

                                                          -Letters, The Scene Aesthetic

Dear Sev Lev: When I want ice cream at an incredibly ridiculous hour of the night, it is not okay for your ice cream freezer to look like this. 

Dear Childhood: Come back, I miss you. Life was so much easier when I only had to stress about how to arrange the furniture in my doll house. 

Dear Summer School: You aren't nearly as bad as I had once anticipated. I'm owning you. 

Dear Jess : Welcome to the "constantly changing your blog" Addiction. It's hard to get over. Let me tell you. But I'm proud to say I've been clean for over 2 weeks now. Wink face. 

Dear Target bras: Thank you for keeping me thoroughly entertained while walking through the delicates section. It's good to know you have spill-proof bras. I'll alert the media. 

Dear Eyes: You keep getting worse. It's making my homework very hard. Please stop. Thanks. 

Dear Sir: Thank you for putting a big BMW sticker on your back window just in case I couldn't tell what kind of car you were driving from the normal logo permanently on the back. I'm very informed now. 

Dear Birthday: Please be a good one. The past 4 years have been a let down. Let's call a truce? 

Dear TOMS: I am extremely disappointed in you. I can't find any of these pairs anywhere. I'm beginning to think most of your shoes are merely abstract ideas that do not exist in reality. Boo. 

Dear Life: Give me a break? Mmkay, Thanks! 

Dear Ky: 

'Cause Baby You're A Firework!

Happy 4th of July! 

We went and watched Fireworks at Murray Park... well actually it was more like the Costco parking lot but still. We actually had a pretty great view. 

I also made chocolate pretzels...complete with red and blue sprinkles. 

You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in "awe, awe, awe"

Happy 4th! 

Now go blow something up. 

Summer Bucket-list 2012

Oh yes. Yes I did.

We walked to Maverik tonight to get ice cream

This was in our elevator. 

Before: 

After: 

Yes, yes I did. 

And then I got pounded by the Maverik sprinklers. Drenched. 

And then we were approached by a homeless guy who just got out of jail. 

True story. 

Karma. It's real. 

I lived a little today, did you? 

Wearing Clothes is Hard

After a week at the lake... wearing clothes is hard. I'm thinking I'll drop out of school, commandeer a houseboat, and move to the lake. Anyone care to join? On second thought maybe it will be an invite only type of deal. I'm selective about people as of lately. 

Well remember this post?

Let's just say that this trip was basically round two. But to be honest, I don't have the patience in me to sit here and relive the memories of how stupid some people can be, let alone write about it. Let's just say some people should not be aloud to reproduce. Basically their children make me want to overdose on birth control.

We were down there nearly a week. Most of the time it seemed to be much longer than this and other times shorter. We had 4 boats which really was only 3 because my dad's dad's boat is a hunk a chunk o'crap. 2 of the other boats were pretty much full with their own family members and so that left us dealing with the nana generation. It was a joy. I have never wanted to scream so badly in my life. 

Here's some pictures. . . 

On Thursday we went and saw Rainbow Bridge, which was actually really awesome. I'm glad we went. It was also a bonus that there was no one under 5 foot on our boat and we actually had room to breathe. This was one of the more enjoyable moments of the week. It was nice to just be on the boat in the sun and have it be a stress free situation. While we were at the bridge the rangers, who were probably bored to tears, decided it would be appropriate to give us a history lesson. At one point he sounded like he was going to take us up closer to it but low and behold he walked us right over to where we were standing before. Talk about anticlimactic. I didn't really feel it was necessary to stand in the 110 degree + heat and hear him talk about the indians (who feel this is so sacred) got lost for five days before even finding the dang thing. 

Also while we were standing there sweating to death this random guy comes running up the trail, snaps a picture, and takes off running back down the trail. Well sir, I hope you enjoyed Rainbow Bridge. I guess this is one of the times that you hope a picture lasts longer and is worth a thousand words. 

The scenery is amazing down there. With the humungous red rocks, the water, and the blue sky it makes for some visually appealing terrain. 

I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I had but I did have some of the wake kite. It was way cool to watch the guys on it. 

Sad to say the highlight of my trip was probably a trip into Page, Arizona with my older cousins. You know, the ones I actually like. We went to Maverick to get ice cream and it was quite the event. You see they have this shake machine. You pick your cup and put it in the machine and it spits you out a shake, well, it's supposed to. It didn't really work at first. It was nice to get away from camp for a little bit and a good way to spend our last night there. 

Hopefully we can go again next year but with a much smaller more enjoyable group.