Thanks and Giving

I was thinking about our thanksgiving and really, for us, it was pretty much selfish. People were giving us stuff and we pretty much just said "Thanks". At least we're grateful right???
Every two years we get with my mom's side of the fam and go to a cabin in Zion National park. It is pretty much one of my favorite things, to go there and be with my aunts/uncles/cousins/siblings etc. We play games, ride dirt bikes, watch movies, eat, shot guns and chat it up (pretty WT, I know, but its nice to get back to your roots sometimes). SO FUN! It was Brett's first time, I don't know if he enjoyed himself as much as I did, but we all loved having him there!

This was our FAVORITE thing this weekend. My 3 year old cousin Cate, would make a turkey ANY time you held up your hand and said "turkey". It was adorable!





My mom....Chinese. A little weird, but mostly a good time.



I saw it SNOW...you can't really see it, but I really felt like it needed to be documented.


Pretty awesome view!


Little Montgomery Nugget:
We were able to see Brett's family on Sunday afternoon. And it was "extra special" because we got to meet our future sis-in-law Eleece. She was great, I think we're for sure going to the wedding now :)

And....Brett holding the special Christmas "Chalice" that holds the names for the ACNE (Annual Christmas Name Exchange) where we pick our holiday fate. Yeah, I got Cass this year!

WHY?

Why must those movie people make me want to turn to the dark side (literally the darker skin) and be team Jacob...NOOOOOO!!!! How dare they make Jacob gorgeous, kind, loyal, funny and have excellent teeth. WHY!!! Don't get me wrong I am "Team Edward" all the way, actually that is the one thing I regret about my new moon experience, not having a team edward tee shirt....shame.

Anyway, it is with regret that I say I am now 40/60 (jacob/edward). Go ahead mom say it "I told you so." But really, could they have made Edward anymore English-grunge at the end of the movie?! After staring at Jacob for an hour and a half, one look at Edward's teeth in Volterra and I was about ready to bump the percentage up to 50/50 :). They really did our poor Edward a disservice in this movie. Did they tell him NOT to workout? Did they ban him from a gym? Really, the comparison was extremely unfair.

So, in conclusion I was in total shock at my feelings for Jacob in the movie, that didn't exist AT ALL in while reading the book, what a surprise.

Familia at Torrey Pines

My family has NEVER been to Torrey Pines...weird. My mom was so upset I hadn't taken her there sooner....my bad. But, there was fun had by all. Even for the ones that didn't want to go in the first place (Dad, Kassidy, Brett).

Mom, you know you like this one, since they're doing the same thing "matching."


Oh, he is just so handsome.

Sorry I didn't get any pics of you parentals.

Costumes

I was a 50s girl, and Brett decided to be a jellyfish...The only stipulation I gave him was that he had a make it for FREE. Because mine was just an old costume I had and it was free. He did well, he's so industrious and creative :)

Brett as a jellyfish.

My friend June at work.

Me by lots of glasses.

Some of my peeps at work.

Blurry

Here are the two blurry photos I took on our recent ward camp out. Maybe I need to learn the different modes on my camera. But, we did have a great, memory making, time. There's just something about everyone being a little uncomfortable and in a different environment, that tends to bring out the crazy in people.


My crazy. At 3 in the morning I say to Brett, "I have to go the bathroom really bad. But I don't want to use that gross one. I just want to squat. I think we can make it work if you hold my legs." WHAT?! How would that even work?! But it totally made sense in my messed up camping mind.

Brett's crazy. Loud house/techno music starts going somewhere in the 4am region. All of us in our tents wake up, a little ticked. Brett and our friend Tim decide to go "check it out." They find the music coming from a truck up the road. They flash their flash lights at the car, the music stops. But, this is not enough for Brett, this man should not be allowed to play his loud music again. He goes and taps on the stranger's (who might have a gun) window and politely tells the man, who happens to be listening to loud music, by himself, in the wilderness, in his truck, to stop playing loud music. Luckily, this man was not a pyscho-killer and Brett and Tim are alive to tell the tale...and we got 2 more hours of sleep, thanks guys.

Conference Weekend...in Vegas???

Well, when my mom called me up a couple of weeks ago, and like a little girl, invited me to her all girls birthday party, I was ecstatic to say the least. Three of the coolest girls I know are My Mom, and My Aunts (her two sisters). So, what better setting could there be for 4 party people like ourselves then Vegas?! Don't worry, we did get a little conference in...no really. Plus we saw the Donny and Marie show so that was kinda church-ie right?

Plus my mom treated us like celebrities by giving us all "goodie baskets" full of her favorite things...they, were, amazing.

In addition to the sweet gifts, we went the spa and had massages. Great food and shopping topped off the list.

Love you mom, that's for being born!

Magical

That's right, disneyland. We met my fam there...but you really can't tell. We decided to take pictures of ourselves kissing instead. Go figure. It was quite the whirlwind going from 8-11pm. But, it, was, AWESOME! We will definitely use our passes post-work/school again, totally worth it.

Brett

Tomorrow is mine and Brett's "all-important" 6 months anniversary :) So, I thought I'd take a second to brag about my husband. First, he puts up with my "stares of death", is so fun to be around, does things for me all the time...just for fun. He's so good in fact that his brother overheard all the things he had done for me one day and said, "Why did you do all that, are you in the doghouse or something?" To which my humble husband replied, "No I'm just a freaking good husband." And that pretty much sums it up...I have a freaking good husband.

(Just wanted to include this pic of an old-school boat in SD Harbor, from when we went on a friend's boat a couple of weeks ago. San Diego is so great.)

We love you Avery!

Our little baby special one, niece Avery, has turned one. Her birthday was "magical" too ;)

This party was awesome! My sis in law Cass sent out the CUTEST invites and made the party favors to match.

We had cupcakes, and one of the best parts was seeing her dive her face right into the frosting, so fun.




We love Avery. That's pretty much what we say about 1,007 times a day when we are with our cute little cupcake. Can you blame us?


I couldn't resist posting this one from our avery photo shoot.




PS: I found the adorable (if I do say so myself) little shirt Avery is wearing. I just couldn't resist, it has cupcakes on it...AND the party was cupcake themed, too ridiculous!!! (luckily Cass had the perfect matching cupcake clip...so meant to be)

Birthday's Are Magical

So, I am one of those people that absolutely adores their birthday...really. Brett even told me (as I was a little sad at mid-night) after my "special day" was over, that he had NEVER met anyone who loved their birthday, more then me. Its true.

But can you blame me? In my house growing up birthday's were amazing. You got to do whatever you wanted and force whoever you wanted to join you. You got to eat on a special plate, select your fav dinner, you got presents, you didn't have to do chores and...you got to pic out whatever cake you wanted. In short, my childhood birthday's were pretty magical.

My 24th birthday was no less magical. Brett really stepped up to the plate. Well...in all areas, but one.

I came home from work and brett had slaved away making me a beautiful cake for my birthday. What a man. I thank him and then examine the cake. "Brett?"...yes..."What kind of cake is this?" Brett-"Its fun-fetti cake with vanilla frosting"..."Brett, isn't that YOUR favorite cake?!" And thus started a heated debate about if birthday people really get to select their own flavor of cake...THEY DO! It was a pretty good time, and it will definitely be a good story for the children.

Other then "the cake" and the fact that I was "deathly-ill" my birthday was amazing! We had a fabulous lunch in westwood, good delicious ice cream sandwiches, and went to one of my favorite places in the world, The Getty Museum (in LA). And (being serious) the best part was that I got to spend the WHOLE weekend with my sweet husband...bliss.