Baby Wooden Blocks

I just love these blocks... I'm thinking this little project is in my near future (craft night girls.. what do you think?) I love the idea of making a customized vintage block set.

Get the directions and watch a "how to"video here. 

Just Another Weekend

We were a bit on the dull side this weekend... Friday night our YM/YW from our ward had their roadshow. Brooke and I did the girls makeup and Cameron hauled around props. I must say... the YM and YW did a great job. 

Saturday I realized how bad I am at serving in tennis. By the end of the lesson my instructor had me basically just serving the ball over the net with a high volley. Can you even learn a new sport at age 28? Oh the frustration... 

Uh, Oh.... 3-0

It's true... Jason is 30!! Brooke planned a surprise party for him at the A's game.  We had a super great time and Jason was surprised to see us all show up. Good job Brooke! Despite the A's losing (I think that is what happened... I didn't watch any of the game), and freezing our butts off... it was a way fun night!!  

Our birthday boy

Jason, Nicole, Becky, and J.T.
Me and Cameron
Brooke (the party planner), April, and Matt 
Of course Brooke would have handouts for every inning... so cute! We learned all about the year Jason was born, his favorite things, his least favorite things, and his most embarrassing photos (which happened to be my favorite handout). 
And of course there were gift bags with baseball game treats. 

And the best part- she hired us a private band. Just kidding, because I would have killed Brooke if she hired them. You know those people that feel its necessary to bring their own instruments like whistles and drums to the game? And then they feel it necessary to toot their whistle and bang their drums the entire game? Um, that was them. So ANNOYING!! The best part was listening to the chants that they created and then watching them try to get the whole crowd involved. Go A's!! 

Cheap Date

I'm finally getting around to posting these pics from last weekend... we pride ourselves in having such a fun night for so cheap! 

First up, dinner at In-N-Out and a free hair cut for Brooke.  

Next up, the driving range. The girls mainly held the clubs for the picture... and then spent most of our time talking about shopping and other girl stuff. 

The boys did the golfing... 
And the night wasn't over, we finished the night with some serious rocking out. Who knew we all had such hidden talent? What's really funny about Rock Band is that you really get into it... facial expressions and all. Ty watch out, I have some great back mail photos. 

Fortune Cookies Really Do Speak The Truth

I think this is hilarious... Cameron's friend Travis got this fortune in 2006, saved it, and wrote the date on the back. 

And the fortune came true... we were married April 7, 2007. Weird!!! Note to self: do not disregard fortune cookie fortunes.  

Magnetic Flowers

I just love these magnetic flowers... when I decide to use (and buy) a tablecloth... I'm definitely making some of these! 

Jimmy Eat World

I don't know how big of a fan I am of Jimmy Eat World... but Cameron is. Tuesday we went to their concert with the Halls, minus Jason. He had to entertain work clients last minute... we missed you. Anyhow... we had a good time.

The best part for Brooke was discovering Paramore, the opening band. 

The best part for Cameron was of course Jimmy Eat World. 

And the best part for me was seeing 95% of the concert goers wearing skinny pants, hoodies, black eye makeup, and flats. We totally dressed wrong. 

Ruth's Chris

Cute Cameron suprised me with dinner reservations at Ruth's Chris for our anniversary. We had our wedding dinner there last year and were too busy socializing to enjoy the amazing filets... so Cameron thought it would be fun to go back, only not in La Jolla. Dinner was awesome and it brought back so many good memories! Now that I'm going on year two, I have made a year two marriage resolution. Cameron is absolutely obsessed with chocolate chip cookies. Frankly, I don't see the point of plain chocolate chip cookies when you can have so many other great kinds of cookies. So for one year I have made countless low-fat chocolate chip cookies and they are never that great... big surprise. So my resolution was to find and make a great chocolate chip recipe- full fat, full calorie, and really good. Lucky me, I found a yummy recipe through blog stalking and there was good news and bad news about this recipe. Good news: Cameron thought they were great and the best I've ever made Bad news: they come in second place to some lady that made him cookies on his mission. At least I'm in second place. 

Conference And Waffles

Brooke sent me this photo with her iphone. Um, I REALLY want one of those!! We were privileged enough to be apart of "conference and waffles" at her moms house on Sunday. Having no family around means we just get to join other families... I love it (but miss ours too!!) Brooke requested pink waffles...I don't know if you can tell from the pic? I have never had pink waffles before but I'm now determined they just taste better because they are pink. Everything is better pink. 

1st Anniversary

Happy 1st Anniversary to us! What a great year its been and here's to many more to come! 

Costa Rica.. The Longest Post Ever

We loved Costa Rica... it was such a fun vacation and the beaches were so pretty. I have this problem where I only like to go to places were there are beaches... because that means lots of laying in lawn chairs, reading books, and sipping diet coke. What more could you ask for in a vacation? Heres a few highlights:

We stayed at The Marriot in Los Suenos... the view was amazing. The staff was great, good restaurants, and they all spoke great English (thats was a definite bonus for us).



The first night we were there we laid out in a hammock... so romantic. Needless to say it was our first and last romantic night on the hammock because our backs were eaten alive by mosquitos... I think Cameron only had about 30 bites.



Zip lining through the jungle was a blast... and a bit scary. The first run I went down I didn't quite understand the "break system," which turns out to be your back hand. I feel bad for the guide person that I basically took out on the platform. Cameron got all adventurous on me and went upside down... that looked a bit too scary (or stupid) for me.






We loved taking a cab into town and trying out the restaurants. Lets just say some were good and some were very bad. Some were literally on the beach... others had cats roaming around licking our legs. Some had great seafood... others came with human hair cooked inside. I guess that is just part of the fun when leaving the country?



One day we checked out this surfer beach called Hermosa Beach. We were one of the few on the beach... apparently because its not to safe to go in the giant waves and huge sea current unless you are on a surf board. But we still had way fun and we felt a bit heroic trying to safe the puffer fish. We found him washed ashore and still breathing. We found this big stick and Cameron tried to get him back to the water. Despite our life saving efforts he did not swim back out to the ocean.





We had a blast horseback riding. We rode for about 45 minutes and our tour guide rocked. He knew so much about Costa Rica and we learned so much. Then we got off our horses and went on this hike to a waterfall and natural pools. He could spot wildlife out of nowhere and he even made me eat a termite for some protein (I think he thought we were on Survivor Man). He held a poisonous frog and clipped a lizard to my ear. Here's the bad part- we had to hike back and there was no stopping to see wildlife on the way back. It was like we were training for a marathon or something. Word of warning... it hurts to be riding a horse when it is galloping.

We took an hour and a half cab ride to Manual Antonio... a national park. The cab ride there was super scary since the roads were so bad, the cab drivers are the worst ever, and ours only knew how to say 'hello' in English. I was racking my brain back to my 8th grade Spanish class but was not coming up with much. But we made it and it was so worth it! The beach was so amazing and we saw tons of animals! We found us a tour guide and he took us through the jungle... pointing out animals and telling us all about them. We spent the next few hours hanging out on the beach.

Monkeys were climbing all around in the trees right above our heads.

This little guy is a sloth... he was very sleepy.

And now we can say we have been in a car accident in a different country. Our crazy non English speaking cab driver was on the phone and writing down a phone number (no, I have NEVER done that) when he slammed into a cab in front of us. He blamed it on the cow running across the road. I blamed it on the fact he was looking down and writing while driving. No injuries though... just some great pics and memories.





This was a great steak house but we were the only people there... which made us bit nervous. Maybe the cats drove people off?

After dinner we went across the street to go to Pops, this little ice cream shop. The only problem... only high school students with no intention of helping non Spanish speakers work there. Somehow we ended up with 3 cones? But give us some credit... we got 2 of them chocolate dipped.

After enjoying 3 cones some giant rain storm blew in. We had to run across the street to catch our cab and we were drenched... not to mention that my feet were so slippery that my sandal went sliding across the road.

Our favorite day was when we chartered a boat to go over to Tortuga Island. We rode in this speed boat and the captain was not about to go slow over the giant waves. We were literally taking air off our seats for 35 minutes- it was quite the experience. But once we made it to the island it was so beautiful and fun. We hung out on the beach, climbed the rocks, swam around, and just relaxed.


One day we went to check out the crocs... they were huge!

We spent our last 2 days lounging by the pool... gotta love vacations! I think the thing I loved most was having Cameron all to myself for 10 days... I loved it!

Wimbledon Wannabes

Today Brooke, Michelle, and I started tennis lessons. Yes, we are in the adult beginners class and loving it. I must say though, Brooke has a killer serve and is very competitive. Here we are on the first day of class...