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!!!

Summer Adventure 3: Salt Lake Parade of Homes

Yesterday I headed out to Salt Lake's Parade of Homes with Rachel and Rebekah. We saw only 12 out of the 35 homes, but with them spread out all over the valley it was difficult to hit them all. It was fun to dream a little bit and see all the "crazy" things people have in their homes.

Here we are standing in front of the winner of the Parade of Homes. It had an Egyptian theme with all the "mummy tomb" paraphenalia included.

This is a picture of the actual home that won. We were so excited to go in until we walked up to the house and the sign said "This is not a home in THIS years parade of homes." Now tell me why you would still have the sign up in your yard a year later!! We just headed next door to the other 3 million dollar home and saw that one instead.

During our adventure we discovered that Rebekah has a phobia of walk in closets. Apparently they make her claustrophobic. How could you not love a walk in closet??

Here is Rachel standing on the back porch in the 3 million dollar home with the cars (Lamborghini and Mazeratti). I was standing next to the pool with fountains when I took the picture. It was pretty incredible.

This was in another million dollar home. The children's play castle on the end of the basketball court. The ladder inside goes up to the slide.

Here is Rachel on the basketball court (inside the house next to the gym with the drinking fountain) trying to be a "baller".

The most expensive home we saw was about 5 million dollars and it had a Gothic style. All the doors looked like these. I think these ones went in to the office. This house had an elevator, four levels, a theater, three kitchens, and so much more. It was incredible! It put my house to shame.

Sweet's Candy Factory

Today I went with my mom, Kara, Cooper, and Sophie to the Sweet's Candy Factory. My Aunt had told my mom about the tour and so we decided to go on the tour ourselves. They wouldn't allow any cameras into the factory so you only get pictures of us outside.

We had to wear these stylish hair nets on the tour. It was really cool to see how they make all the different types of candy. They took us to the taffy room, jelly bean room, and chocolate room. They have all the ingredients such as sugar and chocolate running through large pipes in the ceiling. It is very interesting.

At the end of the tour we each got our own free bag of taffy. Here is Cooper and Sophie displaying their bags. We also got several samples throughout the tour. Cooper was in heaven!

We didn't think that the free bags were enough candy so we bought some from the store. The funny thing is I bought tons of candy and I don't even really like it that much. If anyone wants any chocolate peanut clusters, boston baked beans, burnt peanuts, etc. come on over!

Here is a final group shot. It was tons of fun and very interesting to see how everything was made. The kids loved it (and so did the adults)!!

Yuba Lake

Friday Rachel and I left to go down to Yuba Lake with her family. We went had tons of fun camping, boating, laying out by the lake, and hanging out with her fam.

We, of course, had to take a road trip picture. We actually took a few more, but I only posted one. I made an educated decision not to take any on the way home. Swimming and camping at the lake for three days does not do good things for me!

Here we are laying on our lounge chairs trying to get tan. Friday it was hot and sunny and we spent a lot of time in the water on our floaties, but Saturday it was too cold and cloudy. We spent most of the day on our chairs.

Here is Rachel and her sister Reonia hanging out on the beach.

We decided to take some tent pictures. I kept having half closed eyes (aka puppy dog eyes) so I made sure to open them really big in this picture. This is the best one of the bunch!

Here is Rach displaying her "weenie wound". We went on the water weenie and someone must have scratched her face. There were several more injuries on the water weenie....I broke my rib (not really, but it felt like it), Relissa got punched in the face, etc, etc, etc. It is a deadly toy.

I kept forgetting to take my camera on the boat so I didn't get any pictures of us wake boarding and knee boarding. The water was super choppy and it was very windy, but it was still a blast. And yes, I reached my goal of getting tan!!! (Or at least as tan as I can get.)