some things

1. My sister Steph made a really exciting announcement on her blog today :) She's making me an auntie again ... this will be #16 for me and Luke, pretty exciting. She'll be making her (or his?) appearance at the beginning of February. Any suggestions for names?

2. It was my birthday last week. I'm 28, if you were wondering. Lucas is a dream, he got me tons of great camera stuff, including a new lens and a fancy bag ... now if only I was a really great photographer. Then we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse with some of our favorite friends, it was the perfect day. (thanks babe!)

3. I feel like I've mentioned how much I love Brandi Carlile here before ... she's just the most awesome. We got to see her last week at the Red Butte Garden Amphitheater, which was super cool. One of the best shows I've ever been to, and she made me cry when she played The Story. It's our song. Here's a lovely live version of it from her new album, Live at Benaroya Hall (which you can get for only $5 on Amazon.com this month!). Watch out! This song might make you cry.



PS Brandi likes girls (not that there's anything wrong with that), so there was some really great people watching. AND, Ivan & Alyosha opened for her. Maybe Luke's new favorite, and they're coming to Kilby Court next month if anyone would care to join us.

4. Has everyone seen this? It's incredible.



5. School started this week. I don't know how to express the joy felt by this. I can do anything I want in the mornings (except sleep in ... I have to drive one of the boys to school in Provo every morning at 7:20). It just feels so nice to get my office hours done in the morning again ...

6. 2 weeks from today we will be picking my baby brother at the airport. He's been serving a mission in the Philippines for the last 2 years and I am dying to see him! He's such a great missionary, and he would probably stay longer if they would let him, but I'm really excited to hang out with him. September 8th can't come soon enough!

why do I love this?

I don't think I'm terribly vain, but for some reason I love answering questionnaires, especially about myself. Feel free to skip this post if you're just not that interested in my life....

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:15

2. How do you like your steak? on the more rare side of medium rare, but not RARE

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema: Crazy, Stupid, Love - loved it.

4. What is your favourite TV show? right now? Friday Night Lights. obsessed.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Texas, duh.

6. What did you have for breakfast? a greek yogurt

7. What is your favorite food? avocado on toast

8. Foods you dislike? mustard, onions, fatty meat

9. Favorite place to eat? Texas Roadhouse :)

10. Favorite dressing? ranch

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? Honda Pilot (I know I'm not a mom...)

12. What are your favorite clothes? jeans and a t-shirt and chacos. every day.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Thailand. Or Egypt. Or Ireland. Or South Africa. Or Alaska. Or Spain. Or Russia. Or Fiji.....

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1/2 full!

15. Where would you want to retire? on a ranch full of long horned steers in the north of Texas with a huge porch and horses.

16. Favorite time of day? 10:30. kid's bedtime.

17. Where were you born? Logan, UT

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? tennis :)

19. What is your favorite fragrance? Thierry Mugler - Angel, for men

20. What is your favorite face cream? mint chocolate chip, breyers

21. Favorite baby/kids products? ummm.....

22. People watcher? yes.

23. Are you a morning or night person? morning. I would go to bed at 8:30 every night if I could.

24. Do you have any pets? Brok and Artemis

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? not new ... but Adam comes home in less than a month!

26. What did you want to be when you were little? a veterinarian, an architect, a lot of different things ....

27. What is your favorite memory? road tripping with Luke on our honeymoon

28. Are you a cat or dog person? dog person

29. Are you married? yes

30. Always wear your seat belt? of course!

31. Been in a car accident? yes.

32. Any pet peeves? yes- mean or stupid people. animals dressed as humans.

33. Favorite pizza toppings? olives and mushrooms

34. Favorite flower? eh.

35. Favorite ice cream? mint chocolate chip

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? arbys I think.

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? zero

38. From whom did you get your last email? Steph

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? anthropologie or target

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? not really, I feel like I'm pretty boring...

41. Like your job? which one?

42. Broccoli? absolutely.

43. What was your favorite vacation? I loved my honeymoon- it was perfect. honorable mention to the Coast Rica week in paradise with the girls!!

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? Megan (happy birthday!)

45. What are you listening to right now? Charlie Winston pandora

46. What is your favorite color? green ... any shade

47. How many tattoos do you have? just one.

48. coffe drinker? nope!

Sorry I'm a total nerd.

baby

Luke's brother and his wife Emily (maybe our favorites, unless Ellen is reading this, then our second favorites) had their third baby yesterday! (a home birth with not so much as an aspirin according to Dad...)
Welcome Pepper Kane to the family:


Isn't she a doll?

another new favorite song

Maybe I'm that annoying person who always has a new song that I'm obsessed with. And the only place I have to tell people about it is on my blog. Well, here's my latest:



A - I have a huge crush on the boy, mostly because of his hat.
B - I love this kind of music.
C - Please pay special around minute 2:25, it gets crazy.

Also, I finished season 1 of Friday Night Lights. For some reason I thought there was only one season, so how excited was I to see 3 MORE on my Netflix! Score!

I might have cried several times during this show, it's so great.

family vacation time

A month ago we went on a sweet road trip to Mount Rushmore. I know, I month? I'm ridiculous at blogging ... in my defense, summer is crazy busy! Anyway, the trip was so much fun, and tons of driving. We headed up through Wyoming, stopped at the Wyoming Frontier Prison, which was super cool. I know that touring an old prison doesn't sound super cool, bit it totally was.....








1. an actual gas chamber!
2. water tower from inside
3. cell block B - Lucas scared the H out of some kids on the tour with us ... one of them fell on the ground
4. Lucas
5. cell block A - I love the lines ...
6. the prison

Then we headed up to Keyhole State Park and camped by Keyhole Reservoir. It was SO pretty, we even got up to swim in the reservoir early in the morning before heading to Devils Tower....



Devils Tower was pretty awesome, with lots of history. We hiked around for a while, saw plenty of wildlife (and some awesome rock climbers!) then headed to



Mount Rushmore! Smaller than I expected, but I guess that's what I get for living in the Rockies. It was super cool to see how the faces were carved and everything. We'll take the kids in 15 years probably.



We spent the next couple of days in that area, saw some other sights (some caves and other mountain carvings and WALL DRUG) then headed back through Wyoming. We stopped in Thermopolis and stayed at a pretty trashy quaint motel owned by the nicest Mormon lady in the world. Lucas commented on her huge stack of B of M's and she fell in love with us.
The next morning we checked out the Thermopolis Hot Springs (sorry, no pictures), and they were super awesome! We'll go back there for sure...

We headed West and spent most of the day in Yellowstone. We love that place.




Had dinner and did some shopping in Jackson, then drove to Idaho for the night.
The next morning we drove through Bear Lake then stopped in Logan to see the kiddos for a while, then headed home.



All in all, great trip.