Bret Michaels and Wendover

This past weekend I went with some friends to the Bret Michael's concert in Wendover. We braved the Friday storm and headed out hoping to make it in time.....don't you worry, we did!

Me, Bobbie, and Rachel crammed into the backseat on the way to Wendover.

Jess, Heather, Me, Rachel, and Bobbie waiting for Bret to come out.

Here he is! It was a really good concert except for the fact that it wasn't very long. He did play all of our favorite songs so that was a bonus.

Of course, we had to purchase t-shirts because Bret was going to come out and meet everyone. Until he went into a diabetic shock....at least that's what she said!

Bobbie had to get a picture of jumping from bed to bed....this is about picture number 57! My camera has a long reaction time.

And the car ride home....notice how happy I am....I won $400 playing Three Card Poker, Roulette, and Blackjack. I was on a roll!!!

Christmas Sing-A-Long

Last night I took Cooper to the Christmas Sing-A-Long at the Energy Solutions Arena. It was quite the activity. Basically you go and sing Christmas songs with everyone. The best part was it was FREE not to mention we got a free drink and hot dog, plus a free ticket to an upcoming Bee's game and Nascar race at the Miller Park Speedway. It was pretty sweet.

Rachel, Cooper, and I eating our hot dogs.

Santa Claus came and so did the Jazz Bear. Cooper loved when they got out the machine gun looking thing that shot out t-shirts. He wanted me to catch one for him, but I failed.

Rachel on the train....they give everyone a program with the words to the songs so you can "sing-a-long". The Utah Symphony played the music that we sang along to.

Cooper and I riding the train back to our car. I think this was really Cooper's favorite part.

Who wants the stall with the shower curtain????

So I went to the Broadway Theater tonight to see the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and after the movie we all had to use the bathroom. We walk in and this is what we saw.....I guess the door broke so they replaced it with a shower curtain. Who, in their right mind, is going to choose (out of 20 bathroom stalls) the one where someone could possibly walk in on you? What were they thinking?!? I definitely laughed really hard and had to blog about it.

P.S. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" was an excellent film and very sad. Go see it or rent it (when it comes out on video) if you have the chance!

Sleepover at Aunt Aly's House

Last night I had Sophie, Cooper, and Kara over for a sleepover. We went to dinner at Noodles & Co., rented a movie, built a fort, played some nintendo, and ate lots of treats!!

Sophie and Cooper posing inside the fort. We were going to put up my tent for the chillins' to sleep in, but it was slightly too big for my bedroom. Maybe if it wasn't ice on my main floor we would have done it down there. The fort was still super fun though.

Playing some nintendo....Kara definitely needs to work on her nintendo skills. Mine, of course, were amazing!!!! (Okay, not really. I need to work on mine as well.)

Kara eating some treats. What's a sleepover without potato chips and cream cheese dip?

Sophie and Cooper watching "The Last Unicorn" inside the fort. They had to watch their movie on the small laptop while we watched ours on the big screen. Cooper did manage to make the movie full screen all by himself. He surprises us everyday!

Girls Night Out

Last night was our monthly GNO.....Bre, Dianna, Alicia, Char, Rachel, and I went to dinner at Chili's and bowling. It is always fun to get together with these girls and hang out. I didn't capture any photos from dinner, but I did pull out the camera at the bowling alley.

Bre, Dianna, and Rachel

Alicia and Dianna

Char and I

We missed you Val and Angie!

California

About a month ago I went to Southern California to visit my Uncle Rand and his Partner Bradley. I thought it was about time to update everyone on my trip. Rachel and I drove out there on a Thursday and then headed back home the following Sunday. It was a very short trip, but it was extremely fun. This was actually the first time in about 4 years that it hasn't rained when I've gone to visit. I think the curse has been broken!

We stopped just after Vegas to fill up the car with gas and they had this weird pay station thing. Usually you pay at the pump, but not at this gas station. You had to go to a central credit card station, put in your pump number, and then pay. Rachel was super confused!!

We stopped in Vegas and ate at Pink Taco in the Hard Rock Casino. We actually stopped to play "War", but the table was closed both times we stopped so we ate dinner instead. We were very disappointed with the "no war", but the food was delicious.

We spent all day Friday laying out on the beach, but we forgot to get some pictures so we headed down Saturday night to get a picture. We wanted one of both of us so we asked some other tourists that were taking pictures to take one of us. Unfortunately we found one that didn't speak English and has apparently has never worked a camera. This is the picture we got!

Sunday morning, Rachel woke me up screaming that there was a critter in our "condo". I had a shopping bag laying next to her bed (luckily I had taken the clothes out!) and she kept hearing something moving around inside. I didn't want to grab the bag so she went in to get Rand and Bradley and this is what they found inside.....a Jerusalem Cricket. The really funny thing is Rachel was sleeping between the door and the shopping bag so I'm sure it crawled right up over the top of her. It made the trip home with us because I had to bring Tim and Cooper a present.


Bradley, Rand, Rachel, and I standing in front of Diddy Riese. It is a place where you can choose two freshly baked cookies and any type of ice cream to go in the middle. Very delicious!!

Thank you Rand and Bradley for letting us come and visit. Hope to see you again soon!

Halloween 2008

Hope everyone had a great Halloween. I, of course, did because I absolutely love this holiday! Here are a few pics from our night out on the town.

Rachel, a vampire, and her sister Rebekah, a tootsie roll.

Kristen (a black cat), Rachel, and Me ( a 60's flower chick)

Rachel and Angel piano man, Troy

Shane sported Kristen's toga from last year! It was pretty hot!!

Me and Colt (dressed as a nerd)

Bodies on Exhibit

Last Thursday I went to see the Body Worlds Exhibit at The Leonardo. I have to say that this was absolutely amazing. They had tons of different people posed in different positions showing off different muscle groups. They also had an exhibit displaying fetuses going from conception up to 35 weeks. It was cool to see that by 9 weeks they have fingers and toes. Very cool! About half of the bodies were in cases and the other half were just displayed out in the open. They said you weren't allowed to touch them, but I have to admit that I wanted to very badly. I was very interested to see what they felt like.

They wouldn't let us take any pictures so we took some of ourselves displaying the different body positions.

Me

Rachel

Rebekah (She thought we were dumb when we did this and she was mad that we made her get into a position. She got over it quickly though!)

Brian

Anyone like the new shades???

Rachel and I went to Wendover this weekend and found some new

shades at the gift shop. You like?

Kelly and Reba in Concert

Friday night I went to the Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson concert. This was probably one of my top two concerts....of course, Tim, outweights this one by far. Anyway, they both have amazing voices and sounded fabulous live. The concert was at the Energy Solutions Arena so the accoustics on a few of the songs were not very good, but their voices made up for that.

Rt. to Lt. (Rebekah, Rachel, Relissa, Me, Reonia, and Megan)

Rachel and I with the stage behind us....you can't see it though.

Relissa, Rachel, and Rebekah waiting for the concert to start.

Reonia and I just chillin'

Kelly on the left and Reba on the right.

They did the whole concert together and sang most of their songs with each other. There were a few where they took turns being a back up singer. It was a fabulous concert!

A Sad Day in the News

I don't know how many of you love these cookies, but I do.....especially when they have been sitting in an air tight container and get really soft. Well I have some sad news for you all. Mother's Cookies is going out of business! :( Yes I know this is a very sad day. Apparently our economy is really bad (Shock, I know!), but the company can't afford to buy the ingredients to make the cookies or the gas to ship them to different areas in the country. I just thought I would share my sad, sad news. I guess I better go stock up on Taffy's and Iced Oatmeal's.

I need help....

Okay....I need your help! Halloween is getting close and I am struggling to decide what to be. If you know me then you know that I love this holiday and I love dressing up. Last year I ended up being three different things. I have had a few ideas, but I want your opinions and maybe one of you would have a great idea for me.

My first thought was Wonder Woman. I was struggling a little with this idea because I was thinking the costume was going to be a lot more scandalous. (i.e. leotard type) Since this costume does have a skirt I may be more up to wearing it.

I also thought of just being a tootsie roll like last year. (Mir, I would need to borrow a costume). It would be very simple and wouldn't cost any money because I have everything available.

Any additional suggestions or opinions about what I have posted?

Tag....You're It!

3 Names you go by - Aly, Al, Alyson

3 Things you are wearing right now - underwear, glasses, tank top

3 Restaurants I love - Empire Chinese, Happy Sumo, Chili's

3 Favorite things to do - Read books, Watch movies, Camping

3 Trips to plan on this year - Vegas, Alabama (yes, Ang, that is to see you!), camping

3 Things you want badly - To get out of debt, (that's all I can think of right now)

3 People who will do this - Rachel, Kristen, Heather

3 Pets you have/had - Dalmation (cat), Domino (cat), Izzie (lizard)

3 Things you did yesterday - Watched tv, cleaned my room, went to a birthday party (Happy Birthday Cayle!!)

3 Things you ate today - I haven't eaten anything yet, but I am getting hungry so I'll probably go eat cereal.

3 goals - Get my master's degree, getting out of debt, buying a house

3 Fears - Being alone, spiders........

3 Things you plan on doing today - I don't really have anything planned....it is Sunday

3 Things you plan on doing tomorrow - Going to work, going grocery shopping, picking up my laptop

3 Favorite Holidays - Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving

3 Favorite beverages - Mt. Dew, Mt. Dew, Dr. Pepper

My Most Recent Painting

When school got out for the summer I had decided that I would do some more painting. I wanted to get my collection up so I could look into getting an Etsy account. Well the 2 1/2 months went by and I still had not completed a single painting. I finally went and picked up a few canvas's and that night I painted the black background. Well, now two or three weeks after painting it black I have decided to finish it. What do you think? I really like how it turned out. It still needs a few touch ups in some places, but it could be one of my favorites so far.

Girls Night Out

It's that time again....Girls Night Out! (And thanks to my friend Alicia for taking pictures.) I went down to Char/Alicia's house for dinner/sleepover. Rachel and I didn't actually sleepover, but it was a fun time eating Cafe Rio pork salad, playing games, and watching movies.

Here is the big group shot.

(Lt. to Rt. Top Row: Dianna, Rachel, Me

Bottom Row: Alicia, Angie, Bre, Char, and Val)

Angie couldn't make it in person since she lives in Alabama so Alicia printed off a picture of her so she could join us in spirit.

Alicia and Angie chillin' on the couch.

Angie loves Cafe Rio so Char decided to give her a bite.

All of us watching the movie "Juno".

We played a really fun game (I don't remember the name and I wish I did so I could buy it), talked a lot about Vampires/Werewolves (Twilight), and reminisced a little bit of good old times at Snow and Utah State. See ya next month ladies!

My Trip to Phoenix

So I just got back for a weekend in Phoenix visiting my friends Cam and Ben. I would post some pictures, but sadly (and surprisingly) I didn't take any. I took my camera down there and it sat in my purse the entire time. So I will just tell you what went down.....

I flew down on Friday and Ben and his wife, Erin, picked me up at the airport. We went to this place called San Tan Flats. It is a an outdoor Saloon/Restaurant. There was a band playing, a dance floor, fire pits, and then a couple of little buildings that you could go into. It was definitely a fun atmosphere.

Saturday Cam, Nicole, and I went and played some mini golf, batting cages, and go carts. We made a bet on mini golf and guess who won.....ME!!! We BBQed that night and then went to a piano bar. It is kind of like the Tavernacle here, but they have the dueling pianos plus drums and a guitar. It was a good time!

Sunday Cam, Ben, and I went to a Diamondbacks game. They were slaughtered by the Dodgers, but it was fun just being there. Ben and I had a paper airplane competition and mine lost. It actually only traveled to the seats in front of us so I lost big time! The game was 8 to 0 by the 4th inning. It was kind of sad.

Today we did a little shopping and then I headed off to the airport. It was very sweaty hot, but I had a good time. Thanks Cam for letting me come stay with you!!!

Riding My Bike To Work

My roommate, Miriam, and I have had this great idea of riding our bikes to work. You would think that we are kind of nuts since we live in Salt Lake and work in Clinton, but we had a plan. We decided we had to complete this goal before the kids came back to school in case we got to work late. Yesterday morning we got up and left our house at 6:25! (Way to early for me) and rode our bikes down to the Frontrunner (about 2.5 miles). We hopped on the train and rode up to the Roy station. Then rode from the station to our schools (4.5 miles). I arrived at my school at 8:35. It took us 2 hours and 10 minutes (definitely not worth it). Here are some pictures from the trek.

After school we rode down to the Clearfield station instead of back up to the Roy station. This is us sweating our guts out!!! We had to have some sort of proof that we actually did it.

Miriam enjoying the scenery outside her window on the way up to school.

Me posing for my pic on the train. The pictures aren't too flattering of either of us. We are both out of shape (me more than Miriam) and it was hard work to finish this task. I am sad to say that I didn't get to ride the most difficult part (from the train station home in the Avenues) because I got a flat tire. I ran over a sticker somewhere up in Clinton/Clearfield area.

This was fun to do once, but I don't think I'll try it again for a long time!!!