Midway and a little more...

Last weekend I was able to spend a great weekend with some of my most favorite people in the world: my mom, Emily and her mom, Vera. What a fun time we had!!! We spent all of our time chatting, laughing, shopping, eating, and more laughing and talking! I love these three people so much. I have known Emily for as long as I can remember. We grew up together, and have stayed really close even after we graduated. Emily and I have kids the same ages and genders, so it's been fun to hang out more and more as our kids have gotten a little bigger. I can't get enough of Emily! I always have such a blast when she's around. She is so dang funny, so much fun, a GREAT listener, just an all around great person. I am so lucky to have known her all these years. She really is one of my best friends.

As I was preparing for my speech at Stacie's wedding, I spend several days reading through my journals trying to find some funny memories from my past. I have a horrible memory, so was really hoping my journals would pull through for me. Needless to say, I read over and over again about fun memories with Stacie and had a major blast from the past...but I couldn't believe how much of my journal had Emily in it! I had forgotten how close we were even as youngsters. I feel like I'm way closer to her now than I ever have been before, but I guess we had our fair share of good times growing up! It just goes to show that where you live is such a huge deal. I was lucky enough to have a neighborhood full of fun girls all my age. I want the same for Amber. All my years of girls camp and weekly activities, sports, all with my ward friends was priceless. I was so lucky to have such good girls as friends growing up.

I wish Emily and I lived next door. Our kids are already pretty good buddies, but think of the fun they could have if they were neighbors! Think of the fun Emily and I could have! Here are a few things they've enjoyed together over the past year (thanks Emily for the photos...with a broken camera luckily Emily has kept good track).

Soccer...The Golden Giraffe's this past fall





Parker and Jackson playing "kitchen" or something like that.

Bailey's Fancy Nancy Birthday party a couple weeks ago.

Swimming Lessons with "D"





Dance recital last winter/Christmas

Aubrey is close to walking

Aubrey took her first step yesterday, and how appropriate too...she turned 10 months yesterday! I can't believe she's ready to walk though. Amber didn't walk until 13 months, and Parker about 12 months, so this is rather soon! When she walks, she is totally stiff legged, and won't bend her knees, so she has some work to do, but she's there! It's amazing!

Quick Trip to Texas

Just over three years ago, Carrie, Joan and I flew down to Texas to be with Joyce for "girls weekend" and to celebrate Joyce & Joan's birthday. We were all pregnant at the time (some more than others as you can see). We had such an amazing time. It was such a fun memory I will always cherish, and one of the many miracles that took place during Joyce's battle with cancer.

Joan just celebrated her 28th birthday a couple weeks ago, in Texas. Carrie and I were fortunate enough to go down last weekend and spend some time with Joan. We decided that from now on, we'll meet every year around this same time to celebrate Joan's birthday, and to remember our sweet sister Joyce.

We started the weekend off with a few good laughs (my doors aren't automatic...) We wished my mom (Carol) could have been there, and thought it was quite appropriate when we saw this sign:

We spent Thursday hanging out, eating lots of food, and relaxing, and laughing! Joan let Carrie and I sleep in until after 9:00 on Friday, and then made us a yummy breakfast. We then left to go get pedicures and shop!

I saw my first real mall cop on a segway. I was baffled they existed. I thought the movie Mall Cop was just a spoof.

We got some great deals while shopping, but not all stores were offering great deals...

We had to take a trip The Cheesecake Factory. Carrie, Joyce, Joan and I went to dinner there three years ago when were were out for our girls weekend. We thought it was such a coincidence that of all the places to sit in the restaurant, we ended up in the same place as before. There were a lot of moments we felt like Joyce was with us. Any time I'm around Joan, I automatically think she must be hanging around!

We spent Saturday eating, shopping more, and saw the Michael Jackson "This is it." movie. We over ate on all sorts of junk, yummy food, and crepes. What a fun memory! I love spending time with my sisters, and wish I could do more of it!

Here we are after a fun weekend of shopping. We all bought so much (for the kids of course!). Carrie and I had a really tough time fitting it all in our suitcase.

Thanks for such a great weekend Taylors! We sure LOVE being in your home, and can't wait for the next one (next time I'll be sure to bring a bigger suitcase). Oh, and just for the record, I think I gained at least 5 pounds. I honestly can't fit in to my "skinny" jeans. Thanks guys, real cool!

Broken Camera

So I've been out of touch because our camera broke, so it's tough to post cute pictures when you don't have any! Amber got a cute haircut. We cut it pretty short, and it looks so good!

Matt has spent several of the past few weekends hunting. He hunted deer, then elk. He was able to get one of each (good for him, but sad that we have a freezer full of deer meat now...yuck!). Anyway, Parker and Amber have been obsessed with the whole hunting thing. In their prayers they say "and bless daddy that he'll shoot a deer..." it's on their minds 24-7. So a few weeks we were playing "teacher." Parker and I were the students. Amber was trying to teach us something and Parker was being silly and wasn't listening. Amber said "fine, that's it, you're going to time out!" and she grabbed his arm and started dragging him to the corner. He went limp of course and was laughing while she literally dragged him, and he said "hey look Amber, I'm a deer!"

I guess all the hunting talk of dragging a deer and elk wore off on Parker!

Girls Trip--North Carolina

After two flights, a 1 ½ hour drive to Dave and Ashley's, and then another 4 hour drive to Carolina Beach, we could finally say “we arrived!!” We spent the entire day swimming in the ocean and hanging out at the beach. Is there anything better than the beach, warm weather, good company, and NO responsibility? I felt like a kid again.

The first night we stayed at Dave and Ashley’s house. It couldn't be any cuter. It is in the most beautiful neighborhood. It is so charming. We stayed up until after 3:30 AM visiting and laughing. Anna slept through it all! It was a good way to start the trip. After we woke up we went running, took a drive around her neighborhood, ate some yummy lunch at a place called “Bricks” (I ate an entire pizza by myself, a HUGE pizza! Let the over eating begin!)

Brianne started this little list of funny things from the weekend…here they are (in no particular order!)

Things I have learned since being here

Jen follows the speed limit only on vacation
Trisha does not do well with multiple people giving her directions at the same time
Jill is a little fish
Jen drinks more Diet Coke than Vitamin Water
Half of us are not afraid of a little power ball action (which will be split 5 ways and is currently at 111 million)
Trisha will do ANYTHING for 5 bucks
Katy likes her closet to be checked before going to bed
Sara is afraid of spiders but not criminals
The cops still question us at 2:00 a.m.
NC has the biggest rocking chair
The downward dog is awkward on sand
That the only thing missing from Ashley’s house is the white picket fence
It is possible to consume 6000 calories in a day
That drinks taste better in wine glasses
Elevators which only hold 500 lbs are shady
Southern hospitality is real
Sleep is optional
That politics are very personal and between us we go from far right to far left
That you never grow too old for hair dye and bubble bath
Jen secretly works for the Mac counter
Trisha and Stacie continue to speak a foreign language together in the form of laughter

Best one liners of the trip
For future reference listen to the girl holding the GPS. –Rossi
Yes Sir, I knew the speed limit was 55 mph-Bri
“f”-BriAnd the journey begins! Here we are on the plane taking off...
Staying up late on the stairs at Ashley's. We were so happy to be together we didn't even bother going to the family room to sit on comfy chairs/couches.



This is Dave and Ashley's house. Cutest on the block, but all the houses are gorgeous!




First day at the beach!

Dinner in Wilmington at Sticky Fingers

More beach time!

Jen's cute toes...

Downtown historic Wilmington



























This was a restaurant right off the dock in Wilmington. It was the best food ever! Many of us wanted to get some seafood our last night there and we just happened to go to this place. The food was seriously the best ever. I ate tons and could have kept going.



Doesn't this make your mouth water?!




Why don't they have these in Utah? Car's pull on through to get drinks of any kind. How nice would that be...no need to take all the kids out, just go to the brew thru!


Mrs. Anderson






Our first night there we were surrounded by cops around 2:30 AM due to a break-in next door. It freaked us out a bit, but we were comforted knowing we were surrounded by police just for a small break in.





We stayed up until at least 3:00 AM every night. I never wanted to go to bed. We were all so hyper and laughed and laughed and laughed all night!

We made sure to use the wine glasses for all our soda drinking.

Anything for $5.00-that's all I'll say.



The last night we were there, Jen did make overs on just about everyone. She is so talented and should work as a make up girl I tell you. Everyone looked AMAZING! This is the only picture I got of her work (expect for Brianne's profile shot above...that is post-Jen makeup).












We just randomly pulled over to get drinks at a gas station, and lo and behold we stumbled upon the largest rocking chair in the world (that's not the official title of it, but have you ever heard of or seen a bigger one?)

This was such a fun weekend. I had such a great time, and never wanted it to end. There were no crazy fights or controversy (maybe a few heated political debates), but just pure fun. I have such a blast with these girls and can't wait for the next adventure! I really felt like I was a kid in high school again. I had no responsibility, I ate what ever the heck I wanted, stayed up late, and laughed my head off! I miss laughing that much! These girls can get me laughing like no one else can! I was hyper 24-7! What a fun trip...