Girl's Weekend

Last weekend, I got to have a girl's weekend for my 30th birthday. My girlfriends from college all flew in from various places and we had a blast. We stayed in he Hilton downtown for 2 nights, went shopping, ate lots of yummy food, saw the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU, walked around BYU campus a little bit, shopped at the bookstore, did I mention eating?, got to watch Sarah do a practice scrimmage of roller derby...she rocks!, watched a play at BYU, and got our nails done. We haven't all been together for like 6 or 7 years I think, so it was so fun to see everyone. I actually didn't take that many pictures, I'm not really sure why, but here some of the ones I did get.

Andi, Barbie, and Emily

Sarah, working it on her skates.

Emily, Andi, & Gloriana, hanging out watch watching the derby.




My mom made me a birthday dinner and dessert on Friday night. This was dessert. Pavlova...so good. Yum!

At BYU this exhibit wasn't finished yet...but I thought it was crazy! A wall of books, so big, perfectly square, perfectly straight. It's just insane. How did they do it?
Being silly in front of the bookstore. On the far right is Gloriana's sister Heidi who currently goes to BYU, it was her play that we saw, and she was amazing!
Last but not least, Emily & Barbie in the bookstore. I love all you girls! thanks for an awesome weekend!

California

Oh my goodness, did we have fun in California last month!!! We got to see lots of friends, and do lots of stuff, and not pictured but still thoroughly enjoyed, was LOTS of Mexican food. Oh, yeah, and Disneyland! It was Jack's first time at Disneyland, and he had so much fun. His favorite rides were Pirates of Caribbean, and the roller coaster in Toon Town.

It's so weird to go home to where I grew up and not stay with my parents, but it still felt like home because we got to stay with some awesome people. First we stayed with my friend Val. She has a gorgeous house in San Clemente with a backyard that Jack actually thinks is a park. Jack LOVES her kids that are still at home. Walker, 15, Jack, 13, and Vienna who is 9. Here are some pictures of Jack and jack playing in yard.

Hi Val! I love this picture of you because it's one of your classic Val faces:) Also, I think you were maybe slightly annoyed that I was taking this picture? Even if you were I still love this picture.
More of the kids...Vienna, then Jack

My Jack wanted to do everything the other Jack was doing. Can't you just see his wheels turning trying to figure out how he was going to do that?
Well, since big Jack jumped off the wall, then so can little Jack. See him trying to get to the top of that wall to do the same thing. Don't worry, I didn't let him jump, or get past that pot actually, cause it tipped over when he stepped on it.
We also got to see my friend and her daughter that I have known since I was 5. She has a little girl that's close to Jack age, Madelyn. She also has a really cool play house in the back yard that Jack LOVED! It was decked out with all the stuff on the inside, a kitchen table, a couch, a stove, a microwave, pretend food, and windows that opened.




I think this is Jack's..."mom stop taking pictures of me please" face.
Then when we said goodbye, Jack was all about the hug. It was so cute. I love the second one cause you can tell Jack is gritting his teeth a little bit because he is hugging Madelyn so hard, and Madelyn kind of doesn't know what to do.

Then, the beach. Ahhhh the beach. It was heaven. So warm, and lovely and uncrowded. We went with my cousin Beth and her family.

Here's Gracie and Paige playing the freezing water.



And Claire. I love little Claire, and her blue eyes are my favorite.



Then it was time to go home, and Jack really didn't want to. He would live at the beach forever.

The Singhs

We got to go to California this last month for a family vacation, and while I was there I also got to do a photo shoot. It was a friend of mine that I have known since I was 5, and her family. Suzanne and I grew up together, pretty much on the same street. We spent our days swimming in her pool, riding bikes on the greenbelt, roller blading in her cul-de-sac, playing Mall Madness, listening to music, and doing homework together. She's really more like a sister, and it's so cool to be able to see her with her family and her adorable little boy now. I love that we have gone through so much of life together, and now we get to be mom's together, and we both have boys! She is one of those friends that you can be away from for a long time, but when you get back together, it's like you were never apart. So thanks Suzanne for having me take your pictures, it was so much fun to see you again, catch up, and to photograph your family.