california with the elder crew! part I

we're back!! and praying the tan will stick with me longer than tomorrow.
it was so fun! a lot of beach, a lot of good food, an all around good time. these pictures are just of everything else that we did besides the beach. hollywood, the crystle, 6 flags, disneyland (only some went), swap meet, walking to bubba gumps on a perfect sunset night, and other randoms. poor russ got his head smashed against the bottom of the pool....hence the bandage. and i don't know why i have so many pictures regarding marilyn monroe. i'm really not that huge of a fan, but oh well, what the heck...she's hot.

how about brads perverted mustache eh? all the brothers grew them out for the trip.  

didn't kiss once.  because he's still a boy in certain aspects, it felt like little toothpicks against my skin. 

maybe when he's a man with a flowing stash, i'll love it then. 

but for now i prefer his baby-smooth lips.

new port, here we come!!!

we are off to new port with the elder family!

i happily quote the words from lisa's (brads mom) text this morning,

 "i can't wait to feel the sand in my toes and smell the ocean air!"

1. if you're looking for something fantastic to watch this weekend, me and brad highly recommend the sherlock holmes series from netflix!! we're hooked!!

2. this song has become my absolute joy in my day. i highly suggest buying it and listening to it right when you wake up. it will get your day started right.

3. this week for mutual we had to deliver fliers for a ward party.  me and one of my youngest girls was partnered with me.  we came up to this adorable little house and when we walked up to put the flier by their door we could both hear the man and woman screaming at each other, "f" word and everything. i cringed so bad.  my little young woman said, "it's weird how something so pretty looking can be so ugly inside." that was profound to me.

brad loves him some tooth fairy.

brads only request for his birthday was sweet toothfairy cupcakes and cakebites.  

go figure. i almost felt like it was my birthday too when he asked for that.  

although i did surprise him with a sufjan stevens and brasil t-shirt. 

he's a simple joe. don't mind it one bit.

smash burger.

we have a sickly obsession with smash burger.....and the sweet potato fries. it's unnatural.

if you haven't been, then get your skinny butt over there.  you won't regret it.

happy birthday booradley!

your my best friend, my lover, my biggest diabetic supporter,

my entertainer, my comforter, and most times my strength when i'm weak.

you turned out to be quite the man.

gosh i just appreciate you.

 happy birthday brad, i love you so much...

fhe in slc.

jax biffed it so hard right before this picture, i almost peed from laughing.

me and brad invited our family out to salt lake for some good game night time. 

we got into the games pretty fast.  

we love us some open fields.  

for a big, hyper family open fields suit us perfectly.

my family was never a fan of board games. 

instead we did things like hands up stands up, crab races, 

running backward races, and sprinting.....and we're talking for like.....hours.  

when we were younger sunday was a game/race day, 

and my dad would pick the race (ex. skip, crab, relay, hop, all fours) 

and we would just race and run for hours and hours.  

i think that's where we get all of our big, thick bums from. 

i'm just happy we all enjoy it still.

 

it was so great having them here. 

we might be the most dysfunctional family known to man, 

and we all have our problems individually, 

but when we're together.....we are together.

and it's always a hilarious, chaotic blast.

that's one thing we can always count on.

my grandma.

me and brad were hanging out the other night.  talking about what we should do.  and then we brought up what if we were our grandparents, what do you think they would do on a friday night at our age.  probably go dancing or to the nearest parlor shop to get some ice-cream.  who knows.  there's something about their time that seems so intriguing and innocent.  then i ached to see my grandma.

i sat there feeling bad for myself for not having the chance to live close to my grandma and grandpa.  there's so many grandkids. so many great-grandkids.  so many kids.  how will she ever know who i am. sometimes i wonder if i would have been a better person if i lived closer to her. lived by her sweet example.

for that moment it made me want to live a simple life.  move out to the open fields and have brad farm all day.  the only thing to worry about is your own family out in that open space. making dinners from the garden. sounds so appetizing to me right now.

my grandma is so beautiful eh? inside and out.  i can't wait to have all that time with her after this life and learn about who she is/was and all the juicy details of her and my grandpas life.

please bless i grow up to be a third of the woman she is.

the garden.

we were lucky enough to be offered a spot in the garden this year. 

there are 4 couples.  one giant garden. tons of seeds. 

 plenty of garden love.

we take turns watering every week. 

 meet on saturday mornings to weed........ 

and occassionally creep by during our walks to check on our growing plants. 

who knew brad would be so in love with gardening?

 it's a little cute to me...i'm not gonna lie.

and when it's time for us to be able to have our own garden,

i will pressure him into gardening with nothing but a speedo on.

so then he can show off his green bum...i mean thumb.

sleigh bells.

i owe you a huge thanks lester p, yet again.  

you have introduced another sweet tune into my life. 

it's been the perfect road trip song for me.

windows down, hair blowing, and this song blazing.

(disregard the music video, it sucks. a little too weird for me.)

shoreline trail.

for family night we thought we'd take a walk and get some fresh air. there's a trail a little passed the zoo that we've grown quite fond of. the view is spectacular. there's something about a stunning view that for a brief moment puts all priorities in perspective. i had a thought come into mind while we were up there staring at the view.

bad things happen sometimes.....in everyones life...... and for that time everything else in the world seems so dark. but when things go good, everything seems like there's nothing wrong in the world. i think a big key to a happy life, is to find the good when things go dark.  there is always good.  no matter how low or dark things get.  there is always always good in the world. the hard part is taking the time to find the good, or making the effort to make good happen.  for some reason when this thought came to mind, i felt a sense of peace.  almost as if that thought gave me power.  almost as if i had the answer for the next time things seem to go sour.

then immediately after that thought brad perked up and said, "we have to get out of here, i've got to find a bathroom asap."

cabin fever.

 we have this incredibly awesome senior missionary couple serving in our ward right now.  they were cool enough to offer up their huge cabin for youth conference. so to get a feel for it and plan out youth conference they invited us up to check it out before hand for a couple of days. so a couple of the bishopric, my other young woman counselor and her husband and me and brad (we are both in the young woman/young men) made a trip out of it.

they spoiled us rotten.  long rides on their 3 wheelers (promise i thought they didn't make those anymore), hikes to beautiful views, dinner, breakfast, lunch, movies on their slide projector, hilarious games that involved a paper bag and not being able to bend your knees (it would take too long to explain..) and a huge swing set that the adults loved more than the kids.

something i thought would be a few days of simple planning, turned out to be one of the funnest couple of days. i only wish we could have invited more people:). thank you thank you thank you bro and sis cheney. it was a blast!