Why I love California...

Because you don't know if "Happy Birthday Jesus" is for the Christchild or just a guy who works in the store.

Update Time!

Apologies to my loyal readers... It has been awhile since my last update. Lots has been happening! Sisi pants decided to make the drive to come out and visit Matt and I for Thanksgiving. I was so excited to have her here! We got to spend a lot of time together cooking a "feast for three" and shopping on Black Friday (which is a lot less exciting in California... Turns out Mormons have a lot more fire in them when it comes to getting great deals) and we went to the National Sequoia Park. I'm not sure if you have heard of Sequoia trees before, but they just so happen to be the largest trees on Earth. Yeah, the LARGEST TREES ON EARTH. Now I'm no Arborist, but I can tell you they are big ass trees. Sister and I found ourselves overwhelmed in giddyness. Here is a small documentary on our adventure. Have you ever noticed there are always a ton of Asians at places like this? This was no exception. And you can bet your booty I bought an annual pass so I can pop over any chance I get.

The next Monday we drove to Las Vegas for "Alex and Abbey's Trip" to do some recruiting for USU. It was so good to see my Aggies again! I forget how hilarious everyone is. After 4 days of non-stop binging (minus the purging) I felt like I had gained at least 10 pounds, but nevertheless I was happy about it. After a quick lesson in Craps, most of us ended up with a little extra money in our pockets. Naturally, I had spent all of my winnings by noon the next day. Oh well.

My little brother turned 23 this weekend. It was just another reminder that we are getting old! This was confirmed when I bought a new pan yesterday and got pretty excited about it. Anyway, back to the topic... So Curt and some of his friends met me in Vegas to celebrate. Happy Birthday little Bro! While the boys were on their way home, some Ass Hats robbed them while they were in a store and cleaned out the car... I'm not kidding. Completely empty. Even the ice scraper. Now I don't know if it snows a lot where thieves live, but I'm pretty sure they might be able to afford their own ice-scraper and not have to take someone elses. They also took the Panini Press I bought for Sister for Christmas. Sorry sis, someone needed deliciously grilled sandwiches more than you I guess. Hopefully everything gets worked out. I'm banking on Karma to come trough for us.

But now I'm home, and everything is back to normal. Except I'm pretty sure my new neighbor might have a deviated septum because I can hear him snoring over Matt at night. I wonder if I should tell him they do surgeries for that... I mean, I'm really concerned about his health.

Walk it out...

I couldn't help it...

Matt's Day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BOO!!! Matt turned 22 yesterday so we decided to make a little vacation in celebration of his birth. It all started on Wednesday, when we got an enormous box in the mail from my family full of presents. The boy is so spoiled! Despite my mom's request to wait until his birthday to open them, he tore into them the minute he walked into the door. My mom insisted he send the presents back, but he has already worn some of the clothes so I guess that is probably not going to happen.

Thursday after I got off work we drove up to Menlo Park to visit my cousin Erin and her husband John. It was so good to see them! We went to dinner and got ice cream and they showed us around their city. Erin is hilarious and we laughed all night. They were so nice to let us stay with them (John even blew up air mattresses with his lungs lol) Thanks guys!

In the morning we got up and drove the rest of the way to San Francisco where we spent the day sightseeing and shopping. We spent most of the time walking around Fisherman's Wharf and on the piers. I had the best clam chowder ever made!

Matt wanted to go on a tour of Alcatraz, so we took a boat out to the island to see the prison. At first I was not really that interested (mostly because I thought it was still an active prison) but it was actually really cool learning about Al Capone and all the history. Here we are with the headphones on our self-guided tour.

San Francisco is such a unique city. It is so different than any other parts of California I have seen before. We live in a great location in California where we can make little trips like this. Here are more pictures from our trip! Enjoy :)

Little Bit of Magic

Something changed my life today. Inspired by my surroundings, I decided to prepare Mexican feast/fiesta for Matt and I for dinner tonight. I was watching TV when a commercial came on for Carl's Jr. (or as Trent calls it - CJ's) Guacamole six-dollar burger. As I watched the avocados bounce around in the blender on the commercial, I thought to myself... "I have something even better than that - I have a Magic Bullet". Now, the infomercial for the Magic Bullet is something that I have watched countless times (don't ask why) and I have been lusting after this machine for years so I was elated when I received it as a wedding gift. Tonight, however, was the first time that I put it to use and I couldn't be happier with the results. Turns out the Bullet is just as easy as it looks on TV... One, two, three - GUACAMOLE! Mmmmmm....

Setting up in Visalia

We love Visalia! This little town in California is too adorable... I finally got everything unpacked in our apartment. It feels so good to get that out of the way. Here are some pictures of our place!

(Insert a couch here)

One nice thing about moving to a new place is that there is a lot of exploring to be done. I went to Downtown Visalia today. I actually found this street by mistake one day, so when I had the day off I decided to check it out. The whole street is filled with little boutiques, cafes, and furniture and art galleries. Trollies drive around the area picking people up and dropping them off. I spent the afternoon in 80 degree weather walking around shopping and soaking up the sun and I couldn't be happier about it!

He liked it so he put a ring on it...

I love LOVE!!! Just wanted to share some of our wedding pics. I'm such a lucky girl!

Big Fresno Fair

I LOVE going to the fair. Mostly because I find the fair brings out the most odd group of people that coexist with us - and Fresno's fair was no exception. Matt and I both had the night off on Saturday, so when I heard the ad on the radio that the Carnie's were in town you bet I dragged his booty there. I knew we were in for a great night when they frisked us at the gates before we went in... At the county fair? Really? My prophecy was right. It was an awesome night.

We ate smoked turkey legs and funnel cakes (my fav) and popped in to the Lloyd and Colby O'Donis concert. You know you live on the West Coast instead of Utah when all the booths are rims.

But mostly we just watched the people. California has an interesting mix. People were wearing costumes... I'm talking full-on Halloween kind of stuff, I really could not figure it out... We still have two weeks! Another observation - people were usually dressed one of two ways - beanies, coats and gloves (even though it is like 60 degrees) or they were dressed in stilletto heels and booty dresses for the club. All in all though, we had a top night in the ghetto. Matt even got a new "grill" that lights up. I think he was trying to fit in but I can't be sure ;)