Whats been goin' on...

I feel like I havent been doing a very good job of blogging. Its so much easier just throwing some photos onto facebook and updating your status every once in awhile, but I guess I will still blog for now. So if anyone that looks at this is also a facebook friend and you just see the same things in both places...sorry!
I am definately more of a picture taker then a writer lately so basically here is my month in review with mostly pictures.
My work had a pumpkin carving contest and I work in the accounting department which for the most part is a bunch of duds, but the girls came together and decided we would participate this year..and we won! So the nerd heard pulled through.
Here is Alejandra and I carving the pumpkin

The finished product. Yep! Real gold fish :)

For Halloween this year I was in such a weird mood. I LOVE dressing up, but I just wasnt feeling the whole party scene. But I did throw out a couple costumes for some low key events.
I was a Chinese take out box one night, but didnt get a picture.
The second party I went to I was Oprah Winfrey

And then for work I was a Roller Derby girl named Punky Bruiser.

The night before Halloween my mom had us all over for her famous soups and doughnuts and apple cider. I love that tradition. Its so fun to see the kiddos in their costumes. Could they be any cuter?

Quite possibly my favorite photo of the year. He is a horse jocky. Love it.

Right after Halloween, my Grandma had a really rough week and ended up back in the hospital. She is still not doing well, please keep her in your thoughts.
I was pretty sad about my Gram and my amazing friends sent me these the next day at work. Such a great group of people. Thanks everyone!
I also attended the David Gray concert at Kingsbury Hall. Such a great concert. Lisa Hannigan opened for him and I loved love loved her. I would recommend looking up her stuff if you like more of the chill indy kind of thing. A few of us before the concert

I went to Pats BBQ for my first time ever this week. I love a good BBQ place, but I would have to say I wasnt thrilled with the food. But the company was great!!
We celebrated Sabrinas birthday and had a grand ol time.

I love meat. I couldnt be a vegetarian to save my soul.

I found this amazing video online yesterday. I watched it about 10 times and just laughed harder and harder each time. I thought I would try and recreate it in my office. With a little help from Ale and I think we about got it!

We are in work out clothes because our work had our annual Turkey Bowl yesterday (Flag football tournament). My team took second..more picture to follow.
Thats about my month in a nutshell :)

Disney park take 2.

This last weekend some friends were going to Cali to visit Disneyland and our friend Emilie. I decided last minute to join the crew. I was kind of hesitant since I was just in Disneyworld last month,but So glad I went. It was a good chance to take my mind off of things and go have fun with an old friend!
We boarded a jet plane on Thursday evening and off to Long Beach we went. Once we got there we decided it would be fun to all try and fit in one car. Great idea...for the most part. Getting to the hotel was a bit tricky with all of our luggage on our laps!

Once we got settled into the hotel, we headed off to dinner. We went to this place called Dave and Busters, because everyone had seen it on TV. Basically it was like a Chuck E Cheese for adults. Lots of fun arcade games with a restaurant right in the middle. And then TVs all around if you wanted to watch sports. This was my favorite game...mostly because I won.

Its like skee ball and horse racing mixed. Loved it.
The next morning we went to Disneyland. My friend Mason is a DIE HARD Disney/Halloween fan so we were there BEFORE Disney land opened up until it closed at Midnight, and I am not kidding. My feet killed.
Mason made us these great shirts that I thought were hilarious.

Em had to work here and there over our trip and just decided last minute to come, so we didnt have a shirt for her. But I loved it because we got to ride the rides together :)
The lines were crazy long, but we made the best out of it. One of the lines I threw out the idea of Down by the banks and they took it right up. I was pretty happy.
I hate to brag again...but I won :)
Here's the final 3

We also played Telephone, and made up some sweet handshakes.
I had the first experience of riding Tower of Terror. And the dirtbags wouldnt tell me what to expect. I took a picture of the picture, so its kind of blurry, but if you can see my face I was terrified.

Probably my favorite group photo of the trip.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast in Huntington Beach at a little restaurant called Sugar Shack.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have spent my fair share of time at the beach. Never in my life have I been to a beach where I was laying out in the middle of a cloud. It was the weirdest thing ever. You could feel little beads of liquid and couldnt even see the ocean from a short distance. It was still great though. Em and I threw the frisbee, and Sabrina and I quoted FRIENDS episodes.
Playing Frisbee

Surprisingly enough, I still got some sun!
Then we went back to the hotel, got showered and ready and went to In & Out for some dinner and then onward to Universal Studios for their Horror Nights.
If you havent been to Universal Studios its where they make movies and TV shows...so everything is so real. Well they turned the whole thing into a haunted house. It really was scary. But so fun. It didnt open until 7 and we got stuck in traffic for 3hrs due to a wreck so we didnt get their until late.
Simpson Ride

The lines were insanely long. By far the longest lines I have ever stood in.This is one line, in one section. This line went on for hrs..

By then it was like 1 in the morning (The park started closing at 2) and anyone again who knows me, knows I am a pretty early to bedder. I like sleep. I am in bed on average around 10. So by this time with all these people and being 1 in the AM and already have been scared for a couple hrs I decided to bow out of the line half way part way through and wait for them to go through one of the haunted housed. Sabrina decided to come with me. We sat there for what seemed like forever right by the exit until a cop came up to us with a flash light telling us we need to leave. We looked at our watches at it was 2:45 AM!! We told them we were waiting for our friends in the haunted house. They told us there was no one left in the haunted house and then we realized the streets of Universal Sudios were dead. Sure enough, the group had walked right past us and we had no idea. At least we had the keys so they couldnt leave us!
When we walked to the car we found this...

We didnt get home and in bed until like 4 in the AM.
The next morning we woke up and went to a local singles ward. Then we grabbed some food, and went back to the hotel where we watched ET and had a little nap. I snuggled right in between Sabrina and Emilie and was OUT.
We woke up and headed to Sprinkles, a little cupcake shop.

Then we went and saw a movie. This is at Fashion Island outside of the movie theatre.

The next morning we were up at 4AM to take back the rental car and catch our flight back to SLC. We flew in and straight to work I went! Look at this pretty sunrise from the airplane...almost worth waking up that early for.

Great Story

I was driving to work this morning and heard this story on the radio. They were talking about a picture of a little girl who didnt want to let go of her dad that was getting ready to depart to Iraq.

I looked up the story when I got to work and thought it was a good one to share.

I think its easy to forget all the men, women and their families that are sacrificing for us daily.

This is a good reminder.

By Tom Henderson:

Some things are just not allowed when soldiers are standing in formation. One of them is 4-year-old girls.
However, there was no soldier stern enough to pry Paige Bennethum of Laureldale, Pa. from her father as he prepared to leave last July for a year-long deployment in Iraq.
Abby Bennethum captured her daughter's emotions in a photograph that she passed along to the Reading Eagle, the newspaper in Berks County, Pa. The image immediately captured many other people's emotions.
Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum was preparing to depart from Fort Dix, N.J., for Iraq, leaving behind his pregnant wife and two little girls. His family was there to see him off. His commanding officer didn't have the heart to tell Paige she had to let go of her daddy.
"I didn't want to let go of him," she told NBC Philadelphia.
Sgt. Bennethum, 30, is scheduled to return home next July. Until then, he's transporting supplies across the Iraqi border. He serves with the 733rd Transportation Company based in Reading, Pa.
Abby Bennethum said she got pregnant right before her husband left for Iraq. "I've heard of deployment babies, but I never thought I'd be having one," she told the Reading Eagle. The couple's other daughter, Lena, is just 10 months old.
Staff Sgt. Bennethum got a four-day pass so he could spend some quality time with his family and they could make the two-hour trip to Fort Dix to see him off. Almost immediately upon arrival, his commanding officer ordered the soldiers to fall in.
"Gotta go," he told his family. But Paige walked up behind him in formation, grabbed his right hand and would not let go.
"I called her a couple of times, but she wouldn't budge," her mother said. She still wishes she was holding her father's hand.
"I just miss my dad right now," Paige told NBC.

So Long Sweet Summer

I know I am only like a month late, but this is my formal goodbye to summer.
I love summer with all of my heart and I have finally come around to the idea of fall. Fall is such a beautiful season and I hope we get to enjoy it before more snow hits!
I am now saying so long also to my Summer List. I almost accomplished all of it!
The Zipling in Park City I attempted 2 or 3 times. One of the times I got a fun group together to go up and we were pelted with Hail and then the other time we got rained out. So I at least tried that one. The Zoo....I was kind of anti zoo this year. I dont know why. And then the horseback riding I want to move over to my fall list.
So if anyone would like to take a beautiful horse ride with me and my sister in law Kami, let me know. Should be a killer time.
I hope you all had as fun as I did this summer!!

Very Inspiring!

I have a cousin named Burgon who is blind and deaf. The Desert News did an article on her that I wanted to share with anyone that wants to be inspired :)
She is an amazing gal and we love her.


Burgon's Article click here

Kel Kemp Golf Tournament 2009

My Grandpa Kemp died from cancer about 5 years ago. Since then, every year around this time there is a golf tournament played in his name. Proceeds go to The Huntsman Cancer Institute.
This was a great year! A great turn out, and so much fun!!
We play 18 holes of golf, and I am always with my wonderful Mom, sister, and sister in law. It would be safe to say we arent the best golfers, but we try hard and we have A LOT of fun.
My awesome team!

This year I hadnt picked up a club once. I was rusty. I hadnt played since last tournment and my sister hadnt played in 2 years and I think my mom and sister in law maybe once.
Yes, out of the whole grassy area my ball lands in this puddle. But dont worry, my mom had her trusty ball getter outter!

We made about a thousand of these little holes in the ground, but luckily we are so bad, it would take so much grass out that we could just go the 2 yards it went and patch up our little holes like nothing happened! The funny thing is, right after I took this picture I was up to swing, and I did the exact same thing right next to theirs. Oops.

We did however do a lot better then we have in years past. We even got one under par(how many times it should take you to get in the hole)which is the first time I think ever.

Kaysie was my cart partner. Its always a great time.

This story is going to make me sound like I am a 10 year old boy, but I bought a fart machine online that sounds exactly like someone is passing gas. I had it hidden in my purse and right as my sister Kami was about to hit a ball I pushed the button and got a nice little toot through her back swing. Oh....good times. My sister and I had tears we were laughing so hard at that machine. I got my mom once when she was bending over to put her tee in the grass. 18 holes is a long time! You gotta do what you gotta do!
Kaysie and I were adding up our score after and apparently we did it wrong. For the last 5 years we have always come in last. So when we came up with the score of 57 and saw all these people that were in the 50's we thought we did so good! Then we realized we did it wrong and actually got 95. The point in golf is not to have a high score. So, we were awarded the DFL(Dead Freaking Last). We did come out with some new golf balls (Kami will put these to good use as she lost about 50 balls that day haha) and a gift card to ColdStone!

After a fun filled day of golfing we go in for a lunch, and a raffle and silent auction. There were great prizes this year, and unfortunately I didnt win one of them. But its ok! Because it is all for a great cause.
The whole Fam after the tourny.

I have to give a HUGE shout to my cousins Annie & John. They organize this whole thing everywhere and put so much hard work and time into the whole thing. Its always very organized and such a great time. Thank you guys so much for another great year!!!

Road Trip USA

I went on my very first long road trip last week. I had the time of my life.
My long time friend Alex has been in Florida selling security systems over the summer and needed to drive home. He didnt want to drive alone, and anyone who knows me knows I will leave at the drop of a hat to travel...so the trip began.
I flew into Orlando Fl around 10 at night, so just went to bed from there.
If you know Alex, you know he is a goof ball, and that he is not afraid to talk to anyone. He met an old guy named Ray, and found out Ray was retired from DisneyWorld. Alex, not being shy asked if he could hook us up :)
Apparently Ray can get up to 3 people a day into Disneyworld for free. But, Ray is a smart man and likes to make money, so he charges $50 which he just pockets.
So we went to Walgreens to pick up Ray. I was slightly scared because It was kind of random to pick up a stranger and drive to Disneyworld.
Also, the car looked like this, and I didnt know how we were going to fit ol Ray in.

We get to Walgreens, and Ray is on his little scooter. We unpack the car, put me in the back and then pack it around me. I couldnt move and the only thing that wasnt covered was my face.

We loaded up Ray(even he was covered in stuff) and headed off to Disneyworld! While we were driving Ray announes to us that he is legally blind. And driving a scooter??
Ray pulled through and got us right in, free parking and a pass to all 4 parks for $50 total. So $25 a person. After he gets you in, he takes the bus back to Walgreens :)

And so the first day of an awesome Road trip begins.

We started off at Disneyworld doing all the Disneyworld things...Splash Mtn, parades, food, rides..

And then rode the rail over to Epcot.

I had never been before so I was really excited! It was so great! I wish I would have had more time. We spent the rest of the day there and wasnt able to make it to any of the other parks, but I wont complain! It was so great!
We tasted delicious drinks

Hung out in all the different countries areas

And closed the park down. What a fun time.
After that, even tho it was really late we decided to start our drive. We drove 2 hours and made our first stop..somewhere still in FL.
The next morning we woke up and had a big breakfast!
I wanted to see an aligator SO bad..but it just didnt happen. On one of our stops I did see this big stuffed one.

And we of course induldged in a yummy Fl orange.

We were basically on the border of FL/Georgia at this point so soon after we passed into Georgia. I was so excited to see Georgia. I wanted to sit down and have a nice meal and meet some Georgians with their southern hosipitality, and make life long friends...nope. They werent having it, and I never felt the southern hospitality. But their state was really beautiful.
Every 5 ft I swear we saw signs for PEACHES. We stopped at a million exits and they were no where to be found. Finally, after a couple hours of driving we stop at one last stand...ta da!

I think my exact words were "Finally, a fresh peach from Georgia". Then the man behind the counters says "These aint Georgia peaches! We all out of Georgia peaches, these are from South Carolina." That will do I thought. I only bought one tho.
Onward we went! I have never, ever sang so loud, and so proud before in my life. I am not afraid to say that I have the WORST singing voice in history, but a combo of comfort with my best bud sitting next to me and 2,400 miles ahead I didnt care. I sang Celine Dion, Salt & Peppa, and Moulon Rouge at the very top of my lungs.
Then we rang across this cute little town. We had no plans at all, just stopped where we wanted and when we needed to use a restroom. I have always loved the name Dalton so we stopped in Dalton, Georgia.
I Loved, loved loved Dalton Georgia. There wasnt a soul in sight.
This is the new house I picked out for myself..

I was there taking pictures for quite awhile when I noticed no one had even driven by, and there were stop lights all over.
So I had a Notebook feeling run over me.

Look at this cute little coffee shop that no one was at.

Words cant express how I feel about this little town.
After taking a lot of photos we had dinner at a little burger place and hit the road!
On to Tennesse!

We found signs all over the place pointing us towards Ruby Falls! For as much hype as they made it I thought it had to be good. So we stopped. And it was SO amazing.
Its this little castle on top of the mountain. The ride in makes you feel like you are in Hawaii, its so tropical and green and beautiful. When you get to the top there is this awesome building

Basically you go to the top of this building...

And start a hike. It goes into a cave that had a huge water fall falling into it. It is so beautiful. We missed the last hike by minutes, but the brochures were great :)
It had an awesome view of some city in Tennessee..

We stayed the night there in Tennessee and same story, new state the next morning.
We drove through Kentucky

By this time Alex gently told me we couldnt stop as much. So we drove all the way through Kentucky and it was so so pretty...but no stops.
We went through Illinois, same story, but I didnt even get ONE photo. We had no idea where we were or what direction we were going (Thank you GPS) so we actually thought we would go through Chicago and have pizza. Ha, Chicago was the opposite direction but its ok. So no pictures of Illinois.
Next up, Missouri! I have never had any desires to go to Missouri. Shame on me. It was so great! I loved it. We drove by the St. Louis Arch and river and had to stop.

We stopped at this cute little place that was playing the best old fashion music. I wanted to dance like a grandma on the boardwalk.

We got lunch and sat under the arch for a picnic!

I just found out today that you can actually go up into the arch. If only I had done any kind of research on these places! It was still such a great stop. After lunch we took a long walk to stretch our legs down the river and back in the car we went!
On our way out of Missouri from like a hundred miles away you could see this HUGE roller coaster. It was the biggest roller coaster I have ever seen. 400 Ft. I love crazy rides and told Alex I didnt care how much it cost, I would pay for both of us if he made one more stop. So we drove up...it had just closed.

So, to Iowa we went!

We stopped in Iowa, and it was pitch black. No lights no towns that we could see and then comes Craig, Iowa. It was tiny and we had to drive down a long scary road to get to a gas station. For some reason I was scared, I thought for sure we were going to get murdered and never found. We pull up to this TINY gas station, with a lady with no teeth working the counter. She didnt even acknowledge us when we went in. Well on the radio the song Mambo #5 came on and Alex started singing it to me across the gas station and for some reason I was inspired to say "Dance party!" and me and Al started dancing...sure enough, the scary gas station lady started dancing behind the counter. It was great fun. All the sudden Craig Iowa was a blast!
I dont know why I wanted to make friends so bad on this trip, but right after we stopped in another part of Iowa for dinner. There wasnt a lot to chose from, and it was like 10 PM so we stopped at another gas station that had a Subway that was still open. There was a MEAN gas station worker there, and she wanted no part of us. So that made me want to be her friend even more. Alex went to the rest room after so I thought it would be a great time to get to know her since there was no one around. She yelled at me, so we left :(
We drove on and crossed over into the....uh....nice state of Nebraska.

Here we stayed the night and caught some sleep for the long drive ahead.
Nebraska was nice and flat, but we ran into some great thunderstorms!


We had some great times on this trip.
We saw some amazing sun rises and sun sets!


And we would not have been able to make it through without my trusty blow pops( we had like 5 a day)and Funyons.
Thanks Al for a super fun trip!