cupcakes.

So my mother and I share a love for baked goods, what girl doesn't? We love cupcakes and I have been bugging her about my need to try these Sprinkles cupcakes everyone keeps talking about! So we decided to start a cupcake tasting contest. Since La Jolla just opened a Sprinkles store and I knew I was going to be in San Diego, we planned a date for it! So I had my first ever Sprinkles cupcakes... the verdict? They were divine. I LURVED them. I also loved that they had an SD Padres Sprinkles cupcake, I couldn't get over that haha.

Next up was a place down in Hillcrest (down town San Diego) called Babycakes! This place was great and we actually had lunch there too that was incredible, I will share about that later. These cupcakes were great and unique (I even had a PB & J one) but I think the true winner was really Sprinkles in the comparison test.


Next up? My mom keeps on RAVING about a place called Crumbs up in Malibu? Heard of it? What do you think? Where is another great cupcake place we should go and try?!

beach days & girlfriends...


Of course one of the top things to do when I vist home, is THE BEACH. Der. The best thing to do is go with my friends :) Thankfully my friends were super available the week I was down and we got to hang out lots; bridal showers, bachelorette partys, indian food date nights, beach, you name it, we did it the week I was home :) I couldn't really complain about anything, the weather was perfect &I have been missing my friends so much.... it was exactly what the doctor ordered.

  Michelle had to have an ice cream before we went and got Mexican food.... this girl eats so much she is hilarious :) &if you ask her, she will give you a long lecture about how much food you should be eating for a proper breakfast! haha

Oh it is always a joy to have good times &laughs with friends :)

Where you going, Eh?!

Tops: f21 Jeans: Silver Shoes: Forever Young

I know I have been horrible at updating you all on my 30 for 30, but I will try and be better after the next few weeks of traveling are over! If you think this outfit looks too hot for summer, just remember that I am in Canada and will be freezing at night :) haha
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So I am off to Canada! In fact by the time this blog posts I will already be in Canada. I can't wait to come home and share my fun month of July with you all. But I wanted to kick off Monday with the things I am celebrating in my life right now! &I can't wait for the rest of the great ladies that will be guest posting to participate in the Life Should be a party Series 
 So here we go folks....
+ reading a book while laying out on the beach :) the best.
+ staying up late with my parents watching old t.v shows, haha.
+ roller coasters that make my stomach jump! LOVE THAT FEELING :)
+ SLEEPING IN!
+ getting to attend 2 bridal showers for amazing friends, and a bachelorette party! woot woot!
+ sharing amazing indian food, with amazing friends. oh and discovering Sushi Korma, where has this dish been my whole life?! UH-mazing.
+ getting sucked into a great book.
+ finally getting a new prescription! I am going to be able to see next week! :)
+ seeing my husband after not seeing him for  5 days
+ traveling with my mother, sister and nephews :)

Come back this week to meet some of the first bloggers I ever discovered and started reading :) &see all the things they are celebrating in their lives!


summatime.

 What do you do when life hands you lemons?! LICK THEM.
(okay that was really random, but I couldn't help myself)

As you can see I have been having a blast in San Diego, and I have lots to catch you up on! But I will soon be leaving for Canada! I am SO excited :) My mother and I will be going to SMA camp with my sister and her two boys. Since I wont be able to be on the computer, I have planned something fun for you guys all next week. I want to introduce you to some of my favorite bloggers! They will be participating in the new series Life Should be a Party! So you guys will get to meet some of the first blogs I ever read that sucked me into the blogging world :) Hope you are all enjoying your summers so far... I can't believe we are over half way done! Have a great weekend!

we are family!

You are supposed to sing the title post I put up. You know, "WE ARE FAMILY!" 

My beautiful little sister Sarah graduated from High School last month. It was great to be back home in San Diego :) It was also great to be surrounded by family. It was very exciting because EVERYONE was there, except my little brother who is serving his mission. Even my sister and her family who live in Canada came! Besides my little sister graduating, we had four other graduations this year. Yes people, that is a total of FIVE graduations in the family this year. As you know I graduated from the University of Utah with my undergrad. My older brother Brandon graduated from Pepperdine Law School. My other older brother Ben graduated with his bachelors from Fullerton, as well as his wife Sharley from Long Beach. Since we were all going to be in San Diego to attend Sarah's graduation, we decided to have a giant family graduation party where we all invited anyone and everyone. It was great to have family and friends all together to celebrate and really just to have an excuse to hang out. The house was packed and it was a great day, and a great trip home :)

 
 We had a Woody Pinata from Toy Story at the party. After it was all broken up we put the broken pieces of the pinata together on Evan haha :) It was hilarious.
I started to act a little crazy near the end of the night! haha
how to make gifs

No babies were harmed in the making of this post :) haha 


Looking for the Good.

 (Yes, I am actually in San Diego right now, hanging out with my best friends :) be jealous, the weather is perfect.)

Normally I would do my 30 for 30 post along with my Life Should be a Party post, but today I just wanted to share something along with my new series. I have always been an extremely social person. I am as far from shy as someone could ever get. I am loud, talkative and I always want to be around people. I am a people person. When I moved from San Diego to Utah for college, I was excited to meet new people and get a different experience. A new experience is something I sure got! My freshman year at a very small college in Utah gave me a new taste in life I had never had. In the long run, the small town and small school was just not the right fit for me. I never felt completely comfortable there, and while the people were great, I just didn't feel the connections and clicks  that matched the strong group of friends I had back in California. Some of the friends I made at that school still stay in touch, but ultimately we all all went our separate ways, as I transferred on to the University of Utah.
Literally my first week in Salt Lake City I met Trevor. I pretty much hung with him for the next year. I did make some girlfriends in Salt Lake, but they all had "their group" of great girlfriends and friends, and I couldn't help but always feeling like the 5th wheel. But I didn't care so much, I was enamored with my new boyfriend and was having a blast. So at the end of that summer Trevor and I got married, and started our life together as husband and wife. The first year of our marriage I was so focused in my school work and being married, I didn't focus too much on the fact that I hadn't really made any close friends in Utah. I almost feel bad saying this because I have made friends in Utah, some great people! However it just didn't feel comparable to the handful of amazing friends all in San Diego, that I wish I could just call and hang out with and be with again. In the past six months I guess you could say my sparkly, bubbly, friend making personality has taken a turn for the worst. I don't want to say I have been depressed, but I have been having an extremely hard time being away from my friends. I had never seen this side of my personality because making friends and having friends has NEVER been difficult for me, and here I was, having problems with feeling like I didn't have any close friendships outside of my marriage. All my friends were gone, and I felt really alone.
A month or so ago our home teacher came over and gave us a lesson about looking for the good in our lives. He expressed how too often we focus on the bad things, and the things that are upsetting us, that we don't realize all the good things around us. He challenged us to look for the good in our lives. I realized that I had been so focused on missing my friends, I was making myself sad and upset all the time about it when I had so many wonderful things going on in my life. I am not saying that I am 100% better right now. I still miss my friends back home like crazy, and wish I was closer to home to spend time with them. But I have realized that life does go on, and there are new adventures out there for me, and it is up to me to change my state of mind. I have always been good at doing that before, so it has been hard for me to accept that I have let my emotions take over my actions like this. I think this is something I will be working on for awhile, but I am excited to try and enter our new situation of moving to Provo as a fresh new start. I want to try harder to create those friendships and make some life lasting relationships with people around me. I know my friends from California are not going anywhere, and when I come home I can always have time with them. I wish I could have more time sometimes, but I need to focus on the life I have and why I have so much to be happy for.

So here we go my list of little to big things I have been celebrating in my life as of late....
+ having a loving and supporting husband that cares about how I feel.
+ getting to have some alone time with my parents! I have never been alone with them before for over 24 hours, it feels kind of weird but I like it :)
+ having friends that love me and care about me, no matter how much time has passed, and how much distance there is between us.
+ perfect weather.
+ the beauty of the earth. seriously. I went on a run with my parents the other night and the canyons are just breathtaking.
+ summer vacation :)
+ FRESH TANGERINES! yum
Pinterest YES, I am going to celebrate Pinterest because I am in love with it haha
+ my parents 30 years ago TODAY getting married in the Cardston temple :)

Oh and here is something for all of you to celebrate.... I realized last Friday I forgot to put an end date on the giveaway post. So lucky for you guys, you all get until Wednesday to still enter the amazing Rainy Day Dangles Giveaway! :) haha


it runs in the family...

So if you guys haven't picked up on it yet, my husband plays guitar. This isn't just a random thing, Trevor's father is a very accomplished professional guitarist, and makes his living doing so. He has opened for the Styx, and the Beach Boys just to name a few ;) 
If you are from Utah, you may know what I am talking about when I say that he plays in the orchestra every year at the coveted Tuacahn shows. Another cool side note for those of you who have been watching The Voice on NBC, Lisle Crowley had Dia Frampton as one of his guitar students.
I really did luck out in the father in-law department, because he is sweet, caring, passionate and the nicest guy. All these characteristics make him a great guitar teacher, so if you live in the St. George area you should check him out for some lessons, and if you don't live in St. George... well you should still CHECK HIM OUT, because he offers some online lessons, as well as tons of other great musical resources. See for yourself.

www.stgeorgeguitarlessons.com
Mostly info about Lisle but also has some good guitar tabs on the his e lesson tab, that's right lessons online!

www.ldshymns4guitar.com
This is Lisle favorite site he has, and is very proud to offer some great LDS music.

www.classicalmusic4guitar.com
A good resource for classical music.

ENJOY PEOPLE :)

Blog Swap Party!

As mentioned in my Sopapilla post, last week I went to a blog swap party! I must admit, I was really nervous to meet people whose blogs I stalk and don't actually know in person haha! But it was a blast and such a great idea. Everyone brought different items to swap with, and then everyone was just let loose on the grub! People were going at it and there was some really great stuff there! People scored for sure. It was just a fun evening all around and I was happy to get to know these ladies better. I think we need to do another one soon! It was also nice to meet some people from Provo.... I might actually have some friends when we move down there now :)
I look scared to jump in haha :)

 This is pretty much what I did the whole time. TALKING AWAY! haha

 
I never thought in a million years I would be going to a blog party. My blog just started off as a way to document my life. But since then it has grown into so much more, and I am really happy it has. I have joined a whole new community that I didn't even know existed. You are all so great! You guys are the most creative, supportive, inspired people. I love getting to know you, and I can't wait to get to know even more of you! YAY for the blogging community :)

Life Should Be a Party!

 Top: F21 Skirt: Down East Shoes: LuLus Bracelet: F21

If it hadn't been for the 30 for 30 I would have never thought of putting this outfit together &I think I like it :) I added the last photo even though it isn't very flattering. I was laughing really hard and did one of those head thrown back laughs where you can see straight up my nose. But I thought it embodied the right spirit and attitude for my first Life Should Be a Party post! haha :)
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So if you read my post yesterday you would see that I didn't realize that the first day of the new series Life Should Be a Party was starting on July 4th. Which isn't a bad thing, I mean talk about starting off with a BANG :) (haha bad joke) but it just means most people wont be around. So if you want to post it tomorrow, then coolio cool. But I figured since I said I would be starting today, I will. Plus today should literally be a PARTY for you, so you guys should have tons of things this week to talk about!

Little to Big things I am celebrating in my life lately...
+ Learning how to use this portable laminator at work, haha, we need to celebrate our small victories here people! haha
+ I love how every time I go home to San Diego, I instantly feel the moisture soak up into my skin, and hair. That is the BEST feeling ever.
+ I love the smell of salt in the air, I didn't realize how much I would miss it until I moved away from home.
+ Watching my little sister, the baby of the family graduate from high school. CRAZY to think she is becoming an "adult."
+ Being with almost everyone in my family. 15 out of 16 of us were there to celebrate graduations together as a family.
+ Spending time kissing and squeezing my nieces and nephews!
+ The way Trevor talks to me in the mornings, haha. It is my favorite time of the day.
+ Deciding that instead of hating my new second job where I sit alone for the whole day, I should take advantage of that fact, and start doing fun little dances in my cubicle  to wake me up a bit, have fun, and in attempts to not die from boredom.
...... then getting caught doing this said dance. HA! :) The laughing that ensued after made my day.
+ The fact that I am free. I know I could never truly comprehend what it would be like to not have my freedom, because I have always had it. I am so thankful for all the people who have and do make that possible. God Bless America. Happy 4th people.

You will find whatever you are looking for in life.
LOOK FOR THE GOOD.
(and you will find it.)

4th of July Ideas

I hope you all have some fun plans set for tomorrow! I thought that I would share some fun Fourth of July ideas found via Pinterest.
I am full on addicted to this site, and I can't get enough of it! Happy Fourth of July, and thank you to all those who have, are, and will be helping serve our country. We have a freedom here in the United States that we to often take for granted because we have always had it. Thank you for giving us that!
 
P.S. I kind of forgot that the first Monday that I am going to start doing the Life should be a Party series is a Holiday? I think we should still do it, even though most of you will be gone having too much FUN! :)