What lip gloss I would be--if I were lipgloss

You Are Strawberry Kiss Lip Gloss

When it comes to life, you want the best of everything: The best clothes, the best friends, the best guy - and you usually get all three. You impress most people you meet with your genuine class and style Strawberry is a classic, admired flavor that goes with many things. Sound familar?

What Flavor Lip Gloss Are You?

More random thoughts. Try this survey out and let me know what lip gloss you are!

Ode to Sunday Morning Waffles and questions for long car rides

Is there anything more luxurious than a slow, relaxing breakfast? Mack and I made homemade waffles before church this past Sunday, and just savored their yumminess! Mack, Shane and I had them for breakfast (with blueberry syrup), for lunch (made into sandwiches with turkey and provolone) and this morning for a quick breakfast. Thanks for inspiring me with these waffles Joey! I am including this recipe from Joey's famous cookbook for all to enjoy.

The best Waffles ever
2 eggs
1 and 3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Beat eggs until fluffy. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Batter should be lumpy. Pour into hot waffle iron.

On another just plain random note, got this little survey emailed to me to make those long summer car trips more interesting. Hope it comes in handy!

If you had a car that could go anywhere on earth, where would you drive to?
If you could eat only one thing the whole trip, what would it be?
What is your all-time favorite song to sing along to while in the car?
If you could pick anyone to be your personal chauffeur, who would you pick?
If you could paint a car any way you wanted, what would it look like?
What sort of special feature would your dream car have? A hot tub? A roller coaster? An ice cream parlor?
If you had to guess … How many times do you think you’ve been in a car in your life? (Think of a number and see if anyone can guess it!)
How long do you think you could spend in a car without ever getting out?
If you could design the ultimate drive-thru restaurant, what would it serve?
What is the one thing you always take with you when you go on vacation?
Of all the animals on earth, which would you least like to share the back seat with?
If you were going to give your car a nickname, what would it be?

My top five favorite things right now...

Thanks Joey for the inspiration on your current Top 5. Here is mine...

1. Summer - used to be my most unfavorite season. The heat alone just seemed awful. But, have just loved the last couple summer seasons. Ashley's pool has definitely been an added highlight to beat the warmth. It has been great to feel lazy. Laying around by the ac vents, wearing summer skirts and eating Snowies just can't be beat lately. I have been telling Shane I want to retire to St George or Mesa. Can't wait for year long heat:)

2. Mack's little friends - love this circle we live in. Mack had a built in friend base when we moved in last year. Each friend that comes over has such a unique personality and outlook on life. From the reserved, thoughtful Stockton, to the brash, hilarious Brakin, they have just made our life so sweet. Love you guys!

3. The Assault on Reason - have been reading Al Gore's book this summer. Really inspiring and interesting. Can't wait for the election season to begin! Man, it is looking so interesting. Can't wait to hear the debates and platforms. Really want an Obama for peace shirt I have seen a couple people wearing.

4. Philosophy Melon Daiquiri lipgloss - oh, just so yummy. I could live on the smell alone. Never gets gross even when I leave it in my car on a hot day. Shimmery, fun and just the best beauty product I have used in a while.

5. autotrader.com - I have been looking for a car to replace my Jeep I have to turn in next month. I have been obsessing over mileage, options and prices for the last month. I think we have settled on a BMW X3. Ian has proclaimed it one of the ugliest cars on the road, but I love it's solidness and gritiness with a little splash of style. We test drove one this week and really liked it. Okay, I agree, it is a bit of a soccer mom car, but I think it will totally suit our purposes great. Will post a pic of the one we end up with.

Thanks again Jo for the inspiration!

Happy Birthday Shaner:)

We celebrated Shane's birthday last weekend. Had so much fun hanging out with family. We went to Tepanyaki with Shane's family on Friday night. I seriously can't remember the last time we went out with them. So glad we did. Had a blast laughing at all the craziness of the meal (fires, onion volcanoes, shrimp catches). I tried all weekend to attempt to make homemade ice cream with my cute new Cusinart ice cream maker just for Shaner. Bad news--it was kind of hard :( From having to freeze the bowl, to preparing the "custard" (separating eggs, boiling everything on low for 30 minutes, the $5 cream), to figuring out an accurate consistency--WOW! Made me really grateful for those hard working guys at Ben and Jerry's. For $3 you can save yourself quite a bit of headache. Thank heaven Smith's had some great ice cream deals this week. It completely bailed me out!

Thanks to all our friends and family for their support of Shane. It is nice to have birthdays to celebrate people. It made me reflect on all the reasons I love my Shaner and why I think he is just fab. This last couple of years he has just worked so hard at work. I guess being in HR and doing employment, sincere engagement in what you do just inspires me. This last year he has won the Officer of the Year for West Valley City, placed first place in a building search in a local K-9 competition, and started teaching at the Police Academy as an adjunct professor. He truly loves what he does, and it really defines who he is. He has also been so wonderful with Mack. What would I do without him?! Our schedules sometimes get hectic and crazy, but I know I can always count on him to be there for Mack, clean our house and take care of our yard. I am so blessed! Love ya hon!

Second grade is over!

Yesterday was Mack's last day of second grade. It was bittersweet for both of us--no more dragging him out of bed in the morning for me, but no more seeing Mrs Hall and his friends for 2 months for Mack. I have loved watching Mack blossom this year. From his funny new sayings (like, Mom!), to the friendships he has developed, it has been so fun. I would love to bottle eight years old forever.



My neighbor, Amanda, and I made these candy bar posters for our kids the night before the last day of school. I had never made a candy bar poster before, so wasn't sure how I would put it together. But, it ended up being a blast. Mack LOVED his candy bar poster, and I am so excited to continue this new, fun tradition for the last day of school. I ended up having enough treats to also make one for Shane that turned out really cute. Thanks Amanda for this fun idea! Love ya!



Last night to celebrate, we went to go to Ratatouille. I guess South Jordan (we went to the District) didn't do their city planning so well as the power went out twice during the movie. After the second outage, we were offered refunds and left. The first twenty minutes was really good though! I totally love Top Chef and the Food Network, so it was kind of like an animated version of that:)

Well, off to the pool today at Ashley's apartment--can't wait!

I left my heart in San Francisco...

I am so excited my first post gets to be about one of my favorite places in the country:) Not only does it generate lots of wonderful childhood memories (thanks Grandma), but it is just truly such a spectacular place! The weather, culture, shopping, food, family--just love it all!

We had a wonderful time last weekend spending time in the city and with family to celebrate Paul and Sherri's sealing. Here are some of my fave memories of the trip:

Our day trip into the city:

I forced everyone to go to the Cheesecake Factory in the Macy's building downtown. Luckily, everyone ended up loving it--even though Mel called it a tourist trap! This is a shot of me on the terrace the restaurant. If you ever visit San Francisco and want to go there really easily, take BART to the Powell Street exit and just head up to Macy's past the huge Apple store. After that yummy lunch, we trolled my favorite clothing store I have to hit every time I am out of Utah--H&M. It was just massive--three floors of crazy and cool goodies. Some of it is just way too out there, even for me, but if you dig around, you can find some real treasures. I found a super cute black dress that ties on the side, a yellow and striped linen skirt, and lots of fun summery shirts. We then took Muni down to the wharf--which is always a requisite of any trip to San Francisco. The weather again was just perfect. Always a perpetual spring there.

Our day at the temple:

Oakland was insanely freezing! Other than the low temps, the day was really wonderful. There was an amazing spirit at Paul and Sherri's sealing, and I loved seeing all the support from their ward family there. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Paul and Sherri's laughing and reliving old memories. Lots of fun.

Can't wait to go back soon! Thanks Karla A TON for keeping Macker for me all weekend. So nice to get away with no kids sometimes:)