Road Trip

On 12/17 - we headed on a road trip to UT for my grandparent's 60th Anniversary. We stopped on the way and stayed the night in Vegas. We got a GREAT deal from Vegas.com (i recommend using this site if you're going to Vegas.) We stayed at the Excalibur for $28. you can't get a rate that good at the Motel 6!! Plus, Excalibur is a pretty castle!

I might have annoyed Gabe with my tourist-y behavior, but I have never been to Vegas before. (I've been through it TONS of times....)

I LOVE the lions at the MGM Grand. I've decided I want one as a pet.

We love how EXCITED this chick is for the buffet....

(had to take that picture for Liz)

Of course we had to check out the strip at night. With all the lights, it was hard to get the right settings on my camera. there was too much light to use the night settings, but too little light for day settings and the flash ruined everything.

cool shot as we drove by the Paris hotel.

the strip.

we finished driving the rest of the way on 12/18. We got to SLC around 1:30 and had lunch with Natalie and Brett (USU friends).

here's the first sign of snow...

Once we had all arrived in SLC, we had dinner at Tucanos (delicious) and went to see the Christmas lights (cold but fun).

Emily looked so cute in her puffy, sparkly, mint-green coat.

we took Trax along with everyong else in downtown SLC. i got to sit next to this lovely sign...

mike must've been a popcicle in his sweatshirt.

we were nice and cosyin our winter coats/scarves/gloves. and we won't wear them again for another year, i'm sure!

Saturday night was the party....

We headed out on Sunday morning at 7:30. We had to scrape frost from our car that morning and by the time we made it home to Anaheim, it was 70 degrees and sunny.

It was a fun & quick trip.

Catch-up, Crafts, & Christmas

We had so much fun at Thanksgiving! it was great to have everyone in town. there was so much going on, I hardly had time to take pictures, but here's what i did get....

you can see the back of mike's head in this one.

i loved that we kept telling mom to bring dumbo lower and she just smiled & waved!

brian went running straight for the yellow teacup. :)

this is from the science museum. they were all very put out by the fact i wanted them to take time away from exploring to take a picture.

choo choo matthew.

For my birthday, mom & dad gave me a gift card to go buy myself a bike. we finally got it! it's pretty blue. I haven't had a bike since elementary school and i will admit that i got a little nervous as i got on top of it... but i'm very excited about my pretty Blue Birthday Bike!

now we need to get Gabe a bike so we can go for rides together. :)

last saturday, we had some crafting time. it was great to catch up with becky - we missed her at thanksgiving. and it was funny that she accidentally called sam and he heard us talking about him in the background! we made Christmas Cards... here are the fruits of my labor:

this one was my least favorite, but i think it's still OK.

this one is my favorite. :)

this one kinda copies the one above.

we got our (real) Christmas tree and we decorated with lights on the porch.

we're excited for the road trip next week - although we're going to freeeeeeeze!!

Color Me Impressed!

last saturday, as an additional birthday activity (yay me!) we went to Color Me Mine. We just picked up our finished products and they turned out so great!!

Gabe did the Santa Box....

(before the Kiln)

(finished product)

I did the little Snowman...

(before the kiln)

(finished product)

It was so much fun and we definitely want to go back and paint for fun things... but it is a little expensive.

also - please note my kitchen iPod dock. it rules.

so excited for Thanksgiving Fun!

Birthday Fun

a few days ago i turned the big 2-4. it was a great day. below is a pic of my new do... not birthday related, just thought you'd like to see the darker hairs...

(courtesy of Kelsey Crosby)

Wednesday was my birthday! Growing up, I always got my birthday off from school because it's Veteran's Day. In the past, i have taken my birthday off from work... let's face it, it's more fun to play than to work! But, because i'm such a responsible adult, i did not take off my birthday. I went to work and was so surprised to find my cubicle all decorated and pretty... observe:

After working hard, Gabe rewarded me by taking me to Disneyland!! yay!! i showed them my Birthday Voucher and i got my $72 gift card (if you have a pass, you can get a gift card for the price of admission instead of a free ticket.)

We enjoyed a DELICIOUS dinner at the Blue Bayou Restaurant (the one inside Pirates of the Caribbean), went on a few rides, and headed home to open presents...

I love all the presents i got!! Above is all the stuff Gabe got me... (Left to right: a purse, a necklace, an iPod dock for the kitchen, a calendar kit of crafty goodness, a silly movie, an iTunes gift card and a Target gift card.)

I also got a Target gift card from my parents to put towards a pretty pink bike. :)

We're continuing the fun this weekend with a trip to Color Me Mine.

Thanks for all the presents and wishes!!