Disneyland

LACMA and Richard Serra

California Sun

We had such a good time visiting Andrea, Evan, Jack, and Dave for a week in Palmdale!!! It was a spur-of-the-moment road trip with Mom and it was awesome. We drove into LA almost every day, hit up the local urgent care and made many Islands of Sodor with Evan which Jack promptly destroyed with one swoop of his hand.

California, January 2009!!
-Saturday, January 24, 2009: Arrive 

-Sunday, January 25, 2009: Go to church.

- Monday, January 26, 2009: Went to Pasadena. Shopped on Colorado Blvd then ate lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Went to Huntington Library Art Collection and Botanical Gardens.

-Tuesday, January 27, 2009: Went to Hollywood, The Grove shopping mall and Farmers Market with great Gyros.

Adorable Jack looking victorious as he crawled up onto a panton staking chair in a dressing room.  He is just too cute for words!!

We got to take a trolley ride at The Grove and Evan LOVED IT!!!

-Wednesday, January 28, 2009: Stayed in Palmdale, sick, set up Evan's Big Boy Bed.

-Thursday, January 29, 2009: Doctor, Went to Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Sprinkles Cupcakes.
Only Evan would be able to find a stick on the street in Beverly Hills :)  

SPRINKLES CUPCAKES- They really are THAT good.  Lesley said the red velvet trumps her's but I'm not 100% convinced.  They were really expensive for cupcakes but they might be worth it.  

Here we are on Rodeo Drive. It is short and doesn't live up the hype but I still liked it.  

This was a really weird experience.  We stopped again at Rodeo Drive after our trip to the LA Temple and as we were walking back to the car from Tiffany's, he stopped us and asked us if we wanted to take a photo with him.  He was wearing a red morning coat and top hat and sort of looked official so we took a photo with him, no money was involved.  It was weird to say the least.  

-Friday, January 30, 2009: LA Temple

It was 80 degrees in LA that day and it felt like Spring- what a rude awakening I had when we got back to Salt Lake!  

-Saturday, January 31, 2009: Drive Home.

Thanks for an amazing time Andrea and Dave- It really was so much fun.

It might be a twin thing

Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit the family ranch. Unfortunately, after just a few years, they are in financial trouble.

In order to keep the bank from repossessing the ranch, they need to purchase a bull from the stockyard in a far town so that they can breed their own stock. They only have $600 left.

Upon leaving, the brunette tells her sister, 'When I get there, if I decide to buy the bull, I'll contact you to drive out after me and haul it home.'

The brunette arrives at the stockyard, inspects the bull, and decides she wants to buy it. The man tells her that he will sell it for $599, no less.

After paying him, she drives to the nearest town to send her sister a telegram to tell her the news. She walks into the telegraph office and says, 'I want to send a telegram to my sister telling her that I've bought a bull for our ranch. I need her to hitch the trailer to our pickup truck and drive out here so we can haul it home.'

The telegraph operator explains that he'll be glad to help her, then adds, 'It's just 99 cents a word.'

Well, after paying for the bull, the brunette only has $1 left. She realizes that she'll only be able to send her sister one word..

After a few minutes of thinking, she nods and says, 'I want you to send her the word 'comfortable.'

The operator shakes his head.. 'How is she ever going to know that you want her to hitch the trailer to your pickup truck and drive out here to haul that bull back to your ranch if you send her just the word 'comfortable?'

The brunette explains, 'My sister's blonde. The word's big. She'll read it very slowly ... com-for-da-bull.

Attitude of Gratitude

My bishop challenged the ward to keep a gratitude journal throughout the holiday season.   Here is mine.  It was really hard to do as my life kind of got unforseeably crappy in December and it took me a lot of time some days to figure out what I could possibly be grateful for.  Looking back, a lot of the time I was grateful for my family and friends (aka my blog readers, you know who you are!) I love you all and thanks for being the things I am most grateful for.

Nov 25-I am grateful for cheerful customers!
Nov 26-I am grateful for best friends who understand me and accept me 
anyway.
Nov 27 -I am grateful for the miracle of life and the Plan of 
Salvation. I am also grateful for my grandparents being able to come 
to the Best Thanksgiving dinner EVER!
Nov 28-I am grateful for my iBook laptob and a Wi-Fi connection.
Nov 29-I am grateful for dance parties with my 2 nieces and 3 nephews!
Nov 30-I am grateful for the chance to meditate and become clean 
through the ordinance of the sacrament. I will never forget what my 
savior has done for me as he cannot forget me in the nail prints in 
his hands and feet. (I am a part of him as he is a part of me).
Dec 1-I am grateful for sparkly lights and honesty, even brutal 
honesty that crushes my life.
Dec 2-I am grateful for appreciation from my 5 and 4 year-old nieces.
Dec 3-I am grateful for space heaters and my wonderful big sister that 
brought them over at 11:00 pm!
Dec 4-I am grateful for Hulu and ABC.com.
Dec 5-I am grateful for HEAT! I am also grateful for my loving 
Grandparents who offer everything to me. I love them almost more than 
life itself. I am also grateful for obediant babysitees (which were 
hard to come by tonight!).
Dec 6-I am grateful for great conversation.
Dec 7-I am grateful for gospel doctrine chats with my mother.
Dec 8-I am grateful for cuddle blankets.
Dec 9-I am grateful for having an intelegent and observant niece.
Ashley at EAB: "Auntie Alli, babies come out of mom's bum." I have 
never laughed SO hard in my life!
Dec 10-I am grateful for laughter with my bffs: K&L!
Dec 11-I am grateful for bridal showers for deserving friends.
Dec 12-I am grateful for the cutest nieces in the entire world! No joke
Dec 13-I am grateful for snow plows, shovels, and ice melt.
Dec 14-I am grateful for Christmas carols!
Dec 15-I am grateful for Haley and Steve asking us to stay for dinner.
Dec 16-I am grateful for the blessings of my temple covenents.
Dec 17-I am grateful for the kind shoe salesman at Dillards. He was 
beyond kind and helpful and kept Kendra from crying in public! No joke!
Dec 18-I am grateful for Christmas lights set to music and cousins :)
Dec 19-I am grateful for the idea: king for an hour.
Dec 20-I am grateful for candyland with my nieces and TiVo of doctor 
who at my parents.
Dec 21-I am grateful for my faith in Jesus Christ, redemption, 
ressurection, eternal life and for eternal families. Faith proceeds 
the miracle.
Dec 22-I am grateful for my parents.
Dec 23-I am grateful for safely arriving at the cabin and being able 
to "rescue" Haley.
Dec 24-I am grateful for the oppritunity to celebrate the birth of 
Jesus Christ with my family at our cabin.
Dec 25-I am grateful for generous parents and my external hard drive!!!
Dec 26-I am grateful for cable tv and watching movies with my mom. 
Also grateful for chatting with Laura about her fiancé through 
Facebook :)
Dec 27-I am grateful for days in my jammies and watching "the secret 
garden"- reminding me of my childhood.
Dec 28-I am grateful for pedicures in the kitchen sink :)
Dec 29-I am SO grateful for healthy parents.
Dec 30-I am grateful for jet tubs and advil and awesome sledding.
Dec 31-I am grateful for change and progression- the gift of 
progression and the chance to improve yourself.
Jan 1-I am grateful for family and fun.
Jan 2-I am grateful for spending time with my generous mother.
Jan 3-I am grateful for temple ordinances and the oppritunity to 
support friends in righteous decisions.
Jan 4-I am grateful for friends to sit with at church.

Austen Heroines

Lesley is:

Take the Quiz here!

I am:

Take the Quiz here!

Even in fiction, we are still sisters!!

Twas The Greatest Thanksgiving That Ever Was

This is the girls at my mom's birthday last week.  They just HAD to match :)

Lesley and myself with Grandpa.

This is me stirring the cranberry sauce... yummm!

Lesley is checking the temperature of the turkey and IT'S DONE!!

Mom and Lesley with the turkey right out of the oven.

Mom and Grandma getting the 23 lbs turkey out of the roaster.

The stunning dinner table.  We even got to use Mom's fine china and crystal goblets!  

The gorgeous center peice. Aaron kept trying to blow out the candles, from the opposite side of the table :) Boy can that boy blow!

Happy 30th Birthday Cameron!!  Lesley made him an ice cream cake.  

btw: the girls conspired together and both brought leotards so they could do "ballet" at Gi Gi's during dinner.  It was kind of shocking to see them come into the dinning room while we were still eating in their outfits.  So funny!!!

Lesley cutting Cam's ice cream cake with cream cheese frosting.

Steve and a waking Aaron.  He just is not him self until about 20 minutes after he wakes up from his nap.  

I was laughing so hard in this photo.  Haley came up to us with 2 cameras in her hand and I thought she was going to take a photo with both at the same time!!  

Aaron eating pumpkin pie.  Aren't his eye beyond blue?!

I think Mom looked so cute today so I had to sneak photos of her.  I feel SO lucky to have a such a great mom!

Haley, Grandma, and Lesley eating dessert.  Grandma makes the best pies ever- chocolate cream and pumpkin.

 
Aaron loves to wrestle (and sit on his cousins!).

Poor Jack!

Tag Team Back Again... Whoop There It Is

Thanks Jenny for the tag. I'm not quite sure what to do, so Lesley and I are just going to talk about our top 10 favorite fabulous things about/in our house along with photographic illustrations.

10. Andrea left her dried wedding bouquet in the house and so it sits on a shelf in Lesley's boudoir which really adds a needful feminine touch. We love it along side Lesley's art nouveau card collection.


9. Our fridge is the cutest thing ever and our neices love to dress-up Barbie and organize our magnents (well up to the point they can reach). We know our fridge is "old" but we choose the term "vintage"! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us steal it out of your garage, I'm sure you don't miss it.


8. Lesley's yellow KitchenAid mixer and Alli's architectural photo collage makes its debut at number 8! Lesley cannot live without her mixer (I mean what 13 year-old gets a mixer for Christmas and was thrilled?!) One time, she left it in Rexburg and only realized an hour later that it was not in the car so she turned around and got it. CRAZY!! My mom got me the photo frame after my study abroad in England 3 years ago. Sadly, I am lazy and never put any photos in it even though I loved it and it sat in a cupboard for over a year. Then two years ago, Les took the initiative to photoshop, uploaded, and print some photos to put in it for my Christmas present. It was so sweet and touching that I burst into tears when she showed it to me. I had just finished my first semester in grad school and had felt so alone and frustrated and this present was something so special to me.


7. Cakeplate Cubby! As you all may know, Lesley enjoys baking and baking leads to cake plates and cake plates = pink. Below the delicious decorative accessory is one of my personal favorite photo. It is of the two of us in Kensington Gardens in London, England. I just adore this photo! We both look so cute.


6. Lesley's dresser/dressing table used to belong to our beloved cousin Sherry Burke. She loves that is simple and has subdued French accents which match her daybed perfectly even though they were not made to go with eachother. It is special to Lesley and she enjoys opening the drawers everyday.


TOP 5, ARE YOU EXCITED?!

5. The Chair of Wonder: This is a simple Ikea chair for $99 but with the help of a brilliant mother, is was transformed by a stunningly chic, couture slip-cover.


4. Lips that Touch Whiskey Will Never Touch Mine: We bought this sign in our last day in London on Portabello Road. We really like Art Nouveau art and this was just too adorable to not take home from study abroad. The color scheme fits perfectly with all of our stuff, like the coral hand towels and the daisies. It sprouses up our rather masculine guest bathroom and really shows our personality.


3. Mantel: My friend painted this and I bought it from her in a charity auction. Unconciously, our entire living room matches the color palette of this painting. It is a fun way to add a bit of contemporary art into our floral and damask couch and chairs and the dark Ikea wood. It really brought the room together. Also on the mantle is Boucher's Four Seasons. We got these at the Frick Collection in NYC. We want to frame them, but can't seem to find an awesome way to do it. Lesley loves her mercury glass candelsticks that she got herself for our birthday- she spoils herself (lol!!!)


2. The Glorious Atomic Mirror!! This is Alli's favorite thing in the house. She bought it at TI Imports on State Street last fall. It was an ugly brown color, but I painted it silver to leave the focus on the glass. Sadly, I did not hang it properly (who knew Command Strips wouldn't hold up a 10 lbs mirror?) and it fell, which bent some of the sprongs and broke one off completely. With some prayers and magic glue, you can hardly tell where it has been damaged. I LOVE this mirror; if the house was on fire, this would be the first thing I'd grab.


Drumroll please.....
1. Coffee Table as Exhibition Space. Lesley fell in love with this table in an Ikea showroom. It has a glass top and pull out drawers on the side; we like the idea of hiding all the US Weeklies when our Home Teachers (or mother) comes by to visit. Lesley and I have a silly but serious tradition when we go to museums. We study each painting carefully and pick out our favorites. Then we head to the museum shop (as there is ALWAYS a museum shop) and purchase the post cards of our favorites. One strick rule must be adhered to at all times, the postcard must be of a work that is in the museum and we have seen it that day. This is a small sample of our collection and it is so fun to display them in this mannor. We used to have it up on our walls in college but I prefer the coffee table- it treats them with respect even though we use the table to put our feet up :)


The only thing I don't like about the house is that it means Andrea is living in California :(