the schwaBarnes bunch

Mommas island dress!

2011-07-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Eriks helping Mom with her French flare!

He and Mamie Lucie picked this dress out for mom!

Phillips family reunion

2011-07-18T01:44:00.001-07:00

The pictures are all kind of out of order and this definitely isnt all of them but its enough for you to see what everybody looks like now! :)

I couldn't resist. haha.
Awww...Nick and Jacque!

Sibblings
Dick and Camie came to visit!

Angela and Christinas kids really loved Kevin...
You cant really see her but thats Angela!

Baby Kenzie
So precious, right?

and maybe a little more...
Just a little editing :)

Davien

Man!

This is at breakfast the first morning when Dick and Cami were there! The boy behind Chelsea is her Fiance Logan!

I graduated!!!

2011-06-06T11:21:00.001-07:00

The pictures are kind of out of order, but they are from my party, the graduation ceremony, and seminary graduation! I'm all done!

Cruise to Alaska 2011

2011-05-15T23:30:00.001-07:00

Worlds Largest Snow Blower! Skagway AK

Dad doesn't miss a shot!

Girls ready for showtime!

Looking at the Icebergs floating in the water! So beautiful

Sarah Sr Prom 2011

2011-05-15T23:26:00.001-07:00

Annalicia and Aaron Graduation May 6 2011

2011-05-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

Dining Room Addition!

2011-03-20T23:52:00.000-07:00

Cabo Trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-03-06T21:00:00.001-08:00

How many can we pile on the cart? Great memories!

Finally Here!!!!!!!!! Many requested Pics! love you all

2011-03-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

Nice!!!!

"Kimchi"

Happy Birthday Annalicia! So glad you could be home!

Presents from Chrissy!

So Chrissy could proof it..so please..dont make fun : )

2010-11-08T23:57:00.000-08:00

Stand By Me

2010-11-07T22:01:00.001-08:00

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

Everyone needs to watch this: So good.

Even you, erik!

Love you,
Sarah

Hike to Bitteroots!

2010-08-08T23:36:00.001-07:00

Thank goodness for a bar of soap and some waterfalls!

Ready to get out of Triple Lakes area! Mosquitos ate us alive here!

Enjoying our freeze dried icecream sandwiches overlooking the water fall

Ready Set Hike! Day 1

Phillips Family Reunion

2010-08-08T23:28:00.001-07:00

Gotta love the Egg Toss! This is what you do when you have leftover eggs from breakfast!

Cooper turned 1 at the Reunion

Can you believe Elder Derges was at Fishook Park with his current Richland Ward for a party! So Great to see him!

Kids headed to the boat! Lots of fun tubing!

A bit of what we've been up to on the Home Front!

2010-06-16T23:02:00.001-07:00

Taylor's Graduation!

Grandma's Quilt!

Taylor's Final Soccer Season!

2010-06-16T22:55:00.001-07:00

Taylor was voted "Most Inspirational" and a Captain's Award.

Senior's give their gifts to the under classmen!
The team went further that any other boys soccer in SHS history. They had a great season and gave it a good fight at Districts! I'll miss it next year

Sarah Tennis Awards

2010-06-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

Sarah was voted "Most Improved" player! She had a great season as she only started playing tennis last year. She went to districts and played 2nd team doubles. Lots of fun to watch!!!!

Samanatha's 10th B-day

2010-06-16T22:31:00.000-07:00

Sarah & Kathryn's Piano Recital!

2010-06-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Love making quilts for my grandbabies!

2010-06-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

She's so adorable
Ang was such a trooper to come down for graduation
Not sure she likes it

Izzy is so excited to welcome Baby Kenzie!

2010-06-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Jourdan Nicholls

2010-06-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Jourdan now has the longest pole in the neighborhood!
Our poles look so beautiful when the 6X8 flags are flying!

Icecream with Davien

2010-06-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

feeding the ducks

Beautiful Baby Kenzie Emma Griffey!

2010-05-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

Born 5-10-10
I couldn't stay away! Had to drive to Spokane to give her loves
She's perfect
Finally opened her eyes for me
She's got the Schwab feet. Big toe and little toe spread! Makes grandpa proud. Pic doesn't show it very well.

Angela is so glad to have Kenzie here. It was a long night and morning, but all are well! Izzy was very excited to tell us over the phone that she got to hold Kenzie's hand and take a picture.
Dad and I plan to drive up to visit this weekend.

Sam's 16th B-day

2010-05-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

couple more

2010-05-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

Entry closet door

More of the almost finished house!

2010-05-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

Love my kitchen
Waiting for the drawer that goes on the right side.
We have more stain on order to finish the trim

Almost Finished!!!!!!!

2010-05-11T23:41:00.001-07:00

The kids computer desk will have a drawer and an end panel. Still on order
Dad surprised me with this beautiful table for Mothers Day! It has a cool bench in the back. Seats 8 plus

We have to wait to put down rugs down on the new floor
Just a little trim left

Installing Cabinets!

2010-05-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

These Bar Stools are gonna be so Awesome!

2010-04-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

One More Time!

2010-04-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

Kitchen is so Pretty
Sanding the floors one more time
Buff in up

Cabinets Arrive!

2010-04-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

New Fish Tank Cabinets in Living Room
Girls Bathroom

Master Bathroom
Kitchen Pre Cabinets
Love the Entry!

The cabinets arrived during the day. Sam & JC skipped school to meet the truck.
John came home that evening and worked through the night to get them all in place. Jourdan & Lisa helped open boxes and carry the heavy cabinets. They have been such great support through this whole ordeal. He was under time pressure for the Granite guy to come take measurements the next morning.

Finally Seeing the Light at the End of the Tunnel!

2010-04-07T22:13:00.000-07:00

We love the Finish!
Check out the suspend it seating. Sam was under the house bolting these to the floor.
Dad's so AMAZING!!!!!!!

We're totally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Cabinets will be here tomorrow and Countertops and sinks will be installed on Fri. YAH!!!!!!!!!
Goodbye Hotel.....House here we come!!!!!!! hopefully very soon

It's So BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!

2010-04-07T22:07:00.001-07:00

Dining Room & Family Room!
Kitchen minus Cabinets
Rainforest Brown in the Entry! This was a last minute change of plan!
I wanted this somewhere in the house. The entry WON!
Hallway!

SANDING!!!!!!!

2010-04-03T01:06:00.000-07:00

I think dad can do this in his sleep. He'd probably rather, cause at this rate he's getting no sleep!
Then he or Sam or Jourdan Nicholls vacuum up all the dust! I know he appreciates all the help!

Good thing these Wood Floors are So Beautiful!

2010-04-03T00:51:00.000-07:00

We love the wood
view from dining room to laundry room
3am Celebration!
Working hard clear to the end!
No choice but to paint the ceiling! UGH... I'm so sick of painting! We have so many walls.
The fridge in the family room came in quite handy for the real high places! haha

There's so much more to wood floors that installation. Once the 13 & 21 hr days of installing are over, you get to sand and putty and sand for the next two full days (You being Dad of course) Sam has been right by his side most of the way! Dad is still sanding tonight. We've been getting to bed after 3am since Tues night. We are definitely going to appreciate these beautiful floors.

Karen & Brad's New Baby!

2010-03-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

I was able to go visit the cute little guy on Monday! Talk about lots of long dark hair. He's beautiful!
They named him, Taylor Edward Dane Jaeger. After the grandpa's and Brad.

Installing Hardwood is such a BIG Job!!!

2010-03-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today they really got it going! Very Beautiful! They figure by midnight they should have the kitchen and family room completed!
Only took them a few hours to get to this point last night, until the nail gun broke.

Dad and Sam have teamed up for the passed day and a half to install the hardwood. It's looking so nice. They're still hard at it. No Pun intended!

Carpets Installed and Hardwood arrives!

2010-03-31T19:42:00.000-07:00

Dad drove it all the way from Seattle!
Hardwood Arrives! Yah!!!!!

Sarah's room!
Kat's room! The boy's got the same carpet upstairs. Guess I haven't taken a pic of that yet.

Paint, Paint, and more Paint!

2010-03-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

Afraid of heights?
Sarah's room all ready for carpet
No more green in Kat's room
Say goodbye to the Red Wall!
Dad painted this section. He now has one arm longer than the other. Our ceilings are so high!!!

Washer, Dryer & Toilets!!!! YAH!!!!!!!

2010-03-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

Master Bath Floor
These babies have been running all day long!
Girls bathroom floor turned out very pretty

Sam & JC

2010-03-16T23:29:00.001-07:00

Three New Floors!

2010-03-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

New Marble in the Master Bath
Beautiful Marble in the Laundry Room
Girls Bath gets Marble too
Thank goodness for great Neighbors!!!!! They're behind us all the way!
John had a productive weekend. He was able to tear out the upper kitchen cabinets and back splash tile and put down three new marble floors. Quite Amazing!!!! I'm sure he's ready to go back to work so he can get some rest! I love him:-)

This is the tearing it down for today

2010-03-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

Are we tearing it down or building it back?

2010-03-15T21:03:00.001-07:00

Old Kitchen Back Splash, but notice the new drywall
New accent wall in the Living Room
Lighter accent wall in Living Room
Can't wait to get this laundry room finished!

Tear it up!

2010-03-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Tearing it down to build it back again!!!

2010-03-14T17:03:00.001-07:00

Dehumidifiers along with fans made quite a wind storm
Still can't figure out why it broke?
Goodbye to the sheetrock
Say goodbye to John's beautiful Marble entry!
Cutting out the sheetrock

"Mom! The Tank Just EXPLODED!!!!

2010-03-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

Taylor's phone call was the last we thought we'd ever hear. He was the only one home when the fish tank decided to give way, under the two tons of pressure it held ,with three hundred gallons of water. We were all in shock and so sad. We all rushed home as quickly as possible. John was an hour and a half out. (Longest drive of his life! This tank was his baby!) Taylor was frantically trying to find and save corals, after placing what we thought were dead fish into a bucket. He took the corals to Petco for Refuge. Sam and JC rounded up shop vacs and went to work sucking gallons of water. Sam became very strong with the adrenaline rush, he was picking up huge furniture items to save them from the water. The girls and I got home ASAP and joined in the efforts. We were all in shock and now I wish I had taken more pictures of the kids and their reactions. I was totally amazed at the way they worked and helped!!! I of course was crying over the dead fish, etc and Taylor with great sympathy rushed them to Petco. He learned that there is such a thing as Fish CPR. He managed to save seven of our fish. They along with our corals have been placed in local tanks. A few hours into the disaster, Kathryn found "Jailbait" our black and white striped fish under her bed:-( I called the Ins and NW Restoration, and within an hour or two they were at the house tearing things up!!! They worked into the night and returned for six days, each day tearing out and removing more walls, cabinets, floors, and sheetrock, etc. Now the reconstruction begins!!! Thank goodness for Insurance and for John and his great talents and abilities. We will have an almost brand new house when we're finished. I've never seen John quite so sad! His countenance changed as soon as he got a new tank set up in the garage keeping his rocks alive. Our big Hermi crab survived and even on anemone!! Quite amazing!!!

las vacacciones invierno

2010-01-13T10:23:00.000-08:00

kat and i are ready for cabo... what about you?!

new work

2010-01-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

Sarah Schwab now works at Dr. Jourdan Nicholls Podiatry Office. She likes it very much. She has quit her job at Orange Julius. No more smoothies. But speaking for Sarah Schwab, I would like to inform all of you that she loves you oh so very such. The END.

Cabo

2009-12-29T12:11:00.001-08:00

Were going to Cabo!!

gobble gobble gobble

2009-11-27T21:14:00.000-08:00

happy thanksgiving weekend familia!

i realized that this was my very first thanksgiving where i didn't have any family around... but luckily i've still been able to spend the entire weekend with people who i really love and care about! i spent the weekend at aaron's parent's house with his siblings and their families... chrissy can attest to the fact that aaron's family can be quite entertaining when they all get together so i was definitely in good hands! here are just some fun pictures from the weekend that i wanted to share with you all! love and miss you and can't wait to see your faces next month! xoxo

my darling little emma face flew into town wednesday night for a friend's wedding this weekend so aaron and i picked her up and got to spend some time with her before heading off to his parent's house.

aaron and i before thanksgiving dinner... i have the cutest boyfriend ever!

probably the best picture of aaron i have ever taken.

aaron's cute neices playing in their pj's before we all went to bed that night.

even baby ty got into his cute pj's... he's getting so big! he can walk all over the place and talks in his own language all of the time! ahhh i'm so obsessed!

the next morning aaron and i actually woke up at like 3:45 am to run to wal-mart in hopes of snagging a good deal on a flat screen tv. the first store was already out of stock when we got their at 4:30 (even though the sale didn't start until 5!!!!) so we jetted over to one in downtown salt lake and ended up getting the 5th to the last one they had in stock after waiting in line forever! totally worth it though!

anyways, after aaron and i got back to his parent's house, we all went up to this cool privately owned forest place and cut down this christmas tree for aaron's parents. the boys couldn't even fit the tree on aaron's truck so we had to drag it the whoel way back. (and no, aaron doesn't always look so white trash.... hahaha)

this picture is too funny for so many reasons. yes, aaron and i both look realllyyyyy white trash after not sleeping all night and getting dressed for cutting down christmas trees. aaron's dad made me take this picture after he put his hat on my head so that my hair wouldn't look so poofy.... so considerate.

that night we went to temple square to see the light display (by the way, the light display really isn't worth seeing anymore... they cut back on the amount of lights by a lot, so i think this will be the last year we all go for awhile.) here is aaron's pretty sister, sara, and her baby boy!

this picture describes aaron's family perfectly... me, aaron and aaron's dad and sister being silly. this picture is just one of the many silly ones we took inside the conference center. all of us were laughing and being sooooooo loud in there, so i'm pretty sure all of the volunteers were happy when we decided to finally go back outside.

aaron and his beautiful mother! i tried to get aaron to make a normal face with his mom but to no avail...

aaron's dad and baby ty! hahahah i love his dad's face in this!

post pictures of all of your fun adventures! missed you guys this holiday!
xoxo

2009-11-14T01:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I made it to Korea and am loving it so far. Go to my blog at www.chrissyrenae.com for the fulllll update. I would lovve it if everyone updated the blog like once a week so that I can stalk all of you and keep updated on what's going on back home. Plus it will be a good habit to get into since Erik is leaving soon too and I'm sure will want to know what's up as well. I know everybody's busy, but a few updates with just whatever random stuff you're up to would be very much appreciated!!!

I miss you all already. Love!

missing summer

2009-11-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

How precious is this picture???

where are you?

2009-11-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

it's a little lonely up in here. i'm feeling a little disconnected. talk or come home, all.

2009-10-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

OK.
There has been a little questioning about the cruise we are trying to put together for next year. Yes, we are definitely considering making this happen. It has and will take quite a bit of time on my part to make it all happen, so just be patient. So far it looks like all of our immediate family, along with Linda, Butch and some of Linda's friends that we have cruised with before are all up for it. The more the merrier. But remember, it takes a lot of planning to make it happen the way we all want it to.
So, with that in mind, I have a favor to ask all of you. Both family and non family. Please give us just a little of your time. Whether you agree or not, I would like you ALL to spend just a few minutes of uninterrupted time and watch just two of the General conference talks that were given a week ago. This isn't a trick just to get you to watch them. I just think that with all of the complexity of our family, these two talks are what we need to answer some questions that I hear so often about some of our family. It's not asking much of you. You don't have to agree with any of it, but please, at least give us this much. We don't ask very often from any of you, so please, just this once. If you care for any of our family, you will not want to mis this. Trust me on this.
The first is Elder Jeffrey R Holland, Sunday PM. Just click on this web page and when you see the conference line up, click on Sunday PM and look for Jeffrey R Holland. Please turn off your cell phones, computers and TVs. Please, just give us this attentive time. I will ask nothing of you in return. Here is the web page. Just highlight, copy and paste it to your browser. If it asks you to download the player, do so. It only takes a few seconds for the download.
http://www.lds.org/move/index.html?type=conference&event=Oct179&lang=english

After you have all seen this one, I have one more for you to see. After that, I will not question or bring it up again. This is only for you, not for me. I have already seen them.
The second one is from Sunday PM, Elder Dallin H Oaks. This one will answer all of your questions about our confused family relations, and will help all of us. Again, please give these two talks ALL of your attention and try not to cut it off. It is only a few minutes of your time and will help you understand so much of our family. And please send in your comments on this!!!!!!!
Love you.
Dad

"would I were steadfast as thou"

2009-10-10T22:09:00.000-07:00

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art---
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors---
No---yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever---or else swoon in death.

-John Keats.

***Just watched Bright Star. I am romantically inspired...

i say a little prayer for you

2009-09-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

forever, forever, you stay in my heart
and i will love you
forever, forever, we never will part.
oh, how i'll love you.
together, together, that's how it must be.
to live without you
will only be heartbreak for me.

gotta love me the sweet tunes of janis joplin.

the point of this post, however, is to show you all how incredibly lucky i am! i photographed this gorgeous praying mantis just a bit ago outside my house! i don't believe i have ever seen one in person before so it truly was an exciting event in my life. it was the easiest creature i have ever photographed because it stood completely still the entire time i was taking its picture. fantastic, yes?

So here goes my life....

2009-09-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

I'm just gonna jump.
Okay so hears the down low for all of you who don't live at home....
hmmm where to start? Well I'll start with school. Its my junior year and the toughest so far for me. I have 2 AP classes: English and US History. And US history is tough to keep up with but so far i'm doing really good in all my classes. A's on all my assignments and i made it a goal to not SLACK off in school this year. AT all. I want to get into a good college (nto sure which one yet) and plus if i was doing bad in school, i wouldn't be happy. Thats just how it goes. Yesterday Damon Faichild called me (He quit his job at Realife photography and is starting his own business-Damon Fairchild Photography) and he needed my help shooting senior pictures for someone. So i went with him and got paid and so now i kinda have a job like that. Its a cool experience working with photography and i get to help him once or twice a week. Ever since i turned 16 i've been looking really hard for jobs and did a few applications. None of them have worked out, but my friend Emmily works at Orange Julius and her grandma is the manager so i might get a seasonal job there during the winter holidays and get paid lots. :) But its not for sure yet, she still has to talk to here gma. But yeah i hope i get it. I just hope it wont interfere with Christmas plans (which aren't decided until erik gets his mission call!!!). So recently i've been playing a lot of tennis after school. Like i have everyday. Hoping it will get me more fit. And better at tennis. Which i have improved and hope to until tennis season where i kick butt. haha just kiddin. And just a p.s. i'm totally going to save up for the cruise because i know i should help i'm going to be earning money. WHICH I WILL BE, hopefully. But it sounds like so much fun and i'm happy that all you guys are going (sorry erik). Now for personalizations:

Erik: I can't WAIIIITTTTT for thursday when you come here and get your mission call. I'm so excited. But i have mixed feelings because i am going to miss you more than you will know. But i know you'll be back and on a legit spiritual high. haha you'll be a great missionary. Loves.

Jacque: You basically live at home. haha.

Leesh: Sorry i suck at calling you back and i really have been wanting to talk to you. I love you and can't wait to see you when you come for erik's farewell. Tell aaron i say hi and i love him too! haha

Chrissy: Are you excited to go to KOREA! Ahh i'm so happy for you. Come say bye to us. I love you and i hope you have fun over there and are happy. I know you'll love it no matter where you go. haha You little traveller, you. haha

Ang, Ken, Christina: COME VISIT US! I love you!

And i love you all, again and again.
xoxo, sarah.

2009-09-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hi all! It's been awhile since I've posted anything. I hope you all still visit the blog here. Mom and I are throwing around the idea of setting up a cruise for next Thanksgiving. Nov 2010. It is an 8 day leaving San Diego for Acapulco, Zihuatnejo and Manzanillo. Saturday through Sunday. These are ports that you haven't been to and are fun ports, plus it is way warm down there. Right now the cruise is only $439 on the Carnival Spirit, which is less than half of what we paid over three years ago. This is the first cruise mom and I went on. Great ship! The only catch is that with Erik going on a mission, Taylor may be too at that time, and with times as they are, we are asking for you all to save money and try and pay your way. It shouldn't be too hard to do. We will probably have to pay for all of our homies. You can bring anyone you want as long as they also take care of their own expenses. We really just want to have as many there as we can. We are also thinking of inviting any of the Phillips family, Ang and Christina and my Bro and sis, if you all think that would be ok. Let's hear it!!

More Crabbing!

2009-09-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics I missed of Kat and Beth tubing on the raft! They were drenched, and it wasn't exactly hot that day. They hit the showers while dad and I put the boat on the trailer.

Crabbing!!!!!!

2009-09-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Kat and Beth from their camping spot

Going hiking

Dad's always fixing something

This is a small catch

Nothing like some Organized Chaos to Calm the nerves

Friday Harbor with record high temps 96+

Sarah and Lauren

So Yummy!!!!!

Beautiful Sunsets!!!!!!!!!!!!

How many people can say they've pet a deer?

Good Times!

Chillin on the bow of the boat

We love it out here!

We have been able to do lots of crabbing this summer! Dad's been working and making new improvements to the boat with each trip! We definately found a great place to catch the crab! They're HUGE!!!! and very YUMMY!!!!! Some of the kids have been lucky enough to bring a friend and join us. We've had great weather for camping on the islands. The San Juan's are very beautiful! Taylor is hoping to bring his SR buddies in a couple weeks. Enjoy the highlights!!!

Love you all!!!

baker baking

2009-08-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hi!!!!

I've been lucky enough to see you guys LOTS this summer so I feel like everybody pretty much knows what's going on with me. But I promise I'm going to be better about updating, and everybody else better promise too because once I leave for Korea I'm going to be so out of the loop!!! I miss you guys already.

This week Ian and I went on a BIG HUGE HIKE with his Mom, his brother Austin, and Austin's girlfriend Roxanne. We drove out into the forest by Mount Baker and then hiked up up UP towards the top. Of course we didn't get to the top of Mount Baker or anything, but we didddd make it all the way up to the snow level. Here are some picture of our little journey...

soooo pretty up close!

rox, me, ian, anne, austin

me and ian!

We were also lucky enough to go crabbing with the parents and Sam last week and lovvved it. Our camping spot was great, the weather was beautiful, and I ate SO MUCH CRAB!!!!!! Thanks to the parents for inviting us, we had a blast. Mom has all the pictures from that so I'll let her do the honors.

OK everybody else update too, I MISS YOU ALL.

Love love.

anuuuttthaaaaa one!

2009-08-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

i'm sure you all remember this post from last december... well ladies and gents, this little lady will be starting a new school on monday- the university of utah! and quite honestly, i couldn't be more excited!

thanks to sheri for all of the lovely family pictures from the reunion. i posted A TON of pictures on facebook from it, so check out my facebook to see them.

not much new here... i hope the rest of you take a second to post a blog about what you are up to... remember how we all used to be really good at it? yeah, let's try that again!

k, love you all bunches!!
xoxo

p.s. hope you all like the new header :)

More Pics from Reunion!

2009-08-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

You're all sooooo Beautiful!!!!!!!

Family Pics

2009-08-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Thought you'd all like to see some of the pics we took. You all look so great!

I have copies for you! Thanks for all your cooperation getting this task accomplished. It was real

fun for us to have all of our kids together, even if for only a few hours. Love you All!!!

hello everyone,

2009-08-12T23:07:00.001-07:00

well hey :)

so it's pretty awesome that we ALL got to see eachother at the reunion huh?

but uh...that doesn't mean that we should all stop talking on here! haha so....let's here it!

what's everyone up to now?

nothing new for me really...still making greasy pizzas, although i'll probably start working for dad soon (once he can find enough stuff for me to actually do over there...bahaha)

OH! (this is mostly for leesh, as she is the cosmetic designer of this little blogspace), i was thinking that you should get a hold of our new fam picture we just took, crop it up, spice it up, or whatver, and update our blog's headline title thingy! that way we can have the p-rents up there too ya know.

or i can do it, i just don't have the picture on my comp.

well that's all for now i guess,

i would lerrve to see more posts up here about all of everyone's lives,

i love you all verrry verrrrrry much,

eeeeeeeeeee-ROCK

Oklahoma!

2009-07-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

murtle
i am the peacock.
Erik sucks at these. haha
k beanie monkey.
awkwardfamilyphotos.com ???

Sorry I heavn't gotten on Blog for ehh, a few months. I miss the crap out of all of you. Ang, Ken, Christina, Chrissy, Leesh, Izzy and Davien. And erik when he leaves tomorrow, haha. But for real. I love you all. Me and Erik got back from OKLAHOMA on friday. It was way hawt. No literally. HOT.. haha but I had a lot of fun and so did erik. I have Girls Camp this week and its my first week of being a YCL so I'm pretty pumped. We are going to Camp Zarahemla. Yes, you are all jealous. I can't wait to see you guys at the reunion in a couple weeks. Oh yeah. The Phillips reunion that just me and the parents went to was way FUN! I met all my long lost....step...1st cousins once removed, second cousins once and twice removed, great aunt and uncles were there. haha it was awesome, But yeah bruce's family was there so i wasn't allll alone. haha it was good. And i love you all. And i'm doing great! Here are some pikshures from Oklahoma above. Obviously you already looked at them. i sucks at life and forget how to make them go BELOW my writing....hmmm. You could also look on Facebook at them. haha

say 'ello to my little friend

2009-07-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

hello darlings! since no one else is blogging lately, i figured i should liven up the party a little with some grand news about my life.

meet my new cannon rebel x SLR film camera:
yes yes, i still have, LOVE and use my glorious nikon DSLR that the parents got my for christmas, but i just took up a film photography class and i needed a good camera for it. i figured this would be a fun investment anyways and didn't feel too bad spending the money on it. plus, it's a cannon and cannons have always held a special place in my heart :) (okay, okay, i totally looked EVERYWHERE for a nikon SLR but i COULD NOT FIND ONE that was under 150 dollars... mehh..)

so anywho, the class i'm taking is a black and white film class and i'm learning how to develop my own film and print my own photographs- WITHOUT any use of the computer.. crazy, i know.

this picture above is an example of a contact sheet that you make everytime you shoot a roll of film. You basically just copy all of your negatives onto one sheet so you can get a better idea of the pictures that turned out. all of these are kinda crappy since it was just a test roll but next week i'm shooting landscapes so i am sure to have some pretty pretty pictures for all of you! and if any of you like any of the pictures that i post on here, just let me know and i can make a large copy of it for you!

k, time for ALL OF YOU to blog about something... the parents last cruise, sam's new go-kart, crabbing in seattle?! the possibilites are ENDLESSSSSSSS

xoxo, leesh

my beloved B

2009-06-12T11:36:00.001-07:00

Dear Erik,
How did you get so cool? I realize that your birthday was like a gazillion days ago, but I'm way behind on the bloggin train. SO HERE I AM I DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT YOU. I just had to take some extra days to think about how awesome you are and what cool things I could say about you. The problem is that you are SO cool that it's past the point of words. So a few lame lines will have to do. I'm glad that we are always next to each other in family pictures and that we have so many of us together (below is just a fraction of a sampling). I am also glad that you are so much taller than me cuz I fit right under your shoulder. I'm also glad you are not be offended when I boss you around. I am also glad that you don't judge me and I can always tell you things and that you always give me good advice and encouragement. I am also glad that you dress so rad cuz it makes me proud to know you. I am also glad that you and Kari are so hot (sorry I had to throw that in). I'm also glad that you're going on a mission and are such a good example to the whole fam in everything you do- seriously, you rock. I'm glad that you are so funny and that when we are together we can just laugh and laugh. I'm glad that we are part of the misfits. I'm glad you have freckles too. I'm glad when you send me picture texts cuz they're always hilar. I'm glad when we talk about church stuff cuz you have such amazing insight. I'm glad when you talk about music cuz I wanna be you. I'm glad when you let me borrow your awesome beanies. I'm glad when we sleep in the same bed on every Christmas Eve (I mean that in the most non-pervy way possible). I'm glad when you send me awesome birthday presents. I'm glad when we laugh really hard at the same thing and everyone else thinks we're crazy. Mostly I'm just glad that you're my brother and I get to keep you forever! Happy late late birthday dude, I love the crap out of you.
Sincerely, Chrissy

2009-06-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the perfect example from an email sent from Grandma Francie. For those who didn't get it or bother to read it...

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

v for vendetta

2009-06-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

this post is dedicated to you, precious prince.

you are a prince
and we think it's cool
that one time in mexico
you almost kissed a mule.

you are nineteen
or maybe you are not
but no matter your age
you are still hawt.

we have crazy laughs
that are sometimes our foe
but at least its not as crazy
as the mom from that 70's show.

one year older and wiser too
happy birthday to you.

k love you!!!!

* it's a shame you wear those glasses so often.. covering up those luscious brows of yours...

to save everyone the trouble:

2009-06-04T21:28:00.001-07:00

i am going to be the first to wish MYSELF a very happy birthday from all of you guys....to me.

so here it goes:

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY ERIK!

happy MOMMA'S day!

2009-05-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day, Sheri!

Each and every one of us are so grateful for all of the hard work you put into keeping our family together and happy! We appreciate the thoughtfulness and kindness that you show to all of us through your example.
Thank you for being such a wonderful mother and grandmother!
WE LOVE YOU!

With love...

Angela and Christina

Chrissy

Leesh

Jacque

Erik

Taylor

Sarah

Sam

Kat

Izzy

and Davien

xoxo

calling planet earth

2009-04-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

If any of you haven't seen this movie yet, then get your little tushes to the theater and watch it. Chrissy and I saw it last night and literally smiled and laughed the entire time. Don't wait for it to come out on DVD because I don't think it will have the same effect on a small screen. The images are absolutely stunning and the shots that they got of the animals and scenery are TO DIE FOR. Seriously you all should go as a fam bam and see this incredible movie! Oh oh! And for next year's Earth Day, watch out for Disney's next film called "Oceans." Sheri...Dad... I think it's going to be right up your alley.

GO SEE IT NOW!

So

2009-04-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

I finished Harry Potter!
That's really the only happy I can think of right now,
But then it's still kinda sad because now I have nothing to waste my time with.
Blah.
Love you all. Rep it real.

gigity my birthday

2009-04-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

it was awesome!!!! thank you everyone for making it a special day!!

SAMBO RAMBO!!!

2009-04-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAAAAAM!!!!!!!

i cant believe you're so old! ....well actually, i can. i guess i can't believe you are so young. haha you just seem alot older for some reason. anyways, i just wanted to let you know that i think you are turning out to be a pretty awesome guy, and that i love you ALOT. you have always been so much fun to be around. whenever i was feeling down, i knew that i could always talk to you to make me feel a little better, and you always listened. i realize that im probably not on the top of the list of older brothers to look up to, but i want you to know that i've always looked up to you, even if you are my "little" brother haha. thanks for being such a great bro, and an even better friend sam. i love you so much, and i'll miss you alot when i'm on my mish :)

love erik

the bunny

2009-04-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

I put up a bunch of pictures from last week in San Francisco on my personal blog, so I'll direct you there rather than post them all all over again. Go to www.chrissyrenae.com, and check back regularly for updates.

I just got back from Easter weekend in St George and it was great! I went down with my roommate Whitney and stayed with her family. Yesterday it was rainy so we just hung out at her place, but today was beautiful and sunny. We went on a long family hike all morning and then went over to her Uncle's for dinner and festivities. Then we packed up and came home and now I am back in my lovely bed. Short, sweet, and simple, but we had a great time. Andddd I ate way too much sugar because the Easter Bunny found me even way down south. What a sneaky guy...

mobbing in moab

2009-04-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

this past weekend aaron, andre, andre's friend from georgia, jake, and i traveled down to moab in southern utah. it's an amazing red rock desert with crazy rock formations and great hiking- sheri and dad, you guys should totally come camping here sometime- you would LOVE it. seriously, the pictures do not do the place justice- it's so incredibly beautiful there!
balanced rock.
the landscape around our camp site.
wall arch- i think? team picture- me, aaron, andre and jake.
on the night we got there we went on a hike up these crazy canyons- the views were spectacular and the dark skies made for amazing pictures.
there were these holes made by erosion all over the place- water would get trapped inside of them so they looked like little hot tubs.
hiking up even further...
we hiked up to the highest point all around us- it was pretty scary up there because it was SO windy and cold.
this is delicate arch! once again, pictures do not do this place justice. the hike up is amazing and we were so lucky to have blue skies on sunday morning!
lover face!
ah incredible!
this is called newspaper rock. it was like 40 miles south of where we were camping but we really wanted to see it- it's this crazy huge rock that has petroglyphs all over it. experts can't tell how old some of the pictures are but they guess that some of them date back to b.c. times. it was fun to make up stories about why the people had carved these pictures.

i had a really hard time choosing which pictures to put up because i have tons of them, so check out my facebook album for more! love you guys so much!

Look, leesh. I'm blogging!

2009-04-03T14:45:00.001-07:00

Okay so here's the deal. Being sick sucks a lot. That's all there is to it. Picture this: It's the friday that spring break starts and it progressively starts becoming more of a vacation feeling for everyone around me, i'm bound to my bed, like in a cave. Stuck there. Sick there. I can't talk. As my brother, erik, comes home to visit, i was excited all week to see him, then it happens and i can't even hang out with the guy. Throughout the week I miss out on a concert that I had wanted to go to, I don't go to a sleepover with jacque, kat, bubba, and maryann to watch a movie at the pitt's house. I have to turn my friends away and tell I can't hang out. Lauren brings me a smoothie and a picture she drew for me. That cheered me up. The next day she drove me all over for her erronds. That mad me not as sick. Then the next day is shopping with my grandma and other sick cousins my age. Whoo-hoo. Got some cool stuff. That's my story. But on a better note, I'm getting better. Yesterday I got to go out to lunch with Lauren and then come home make a CD and play it in the car while talking on the phone with jaxon who is currently visiting in Utah. Yep. Real fun break. Hopefully something exciting happens. Tonight there is the fo sho possibility that I might go bowling or just do something fun. Yeah that's me. Happy leesh? I have successfully posted a blog. Everyone cheer.

P.s. I am currently reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. It's getting good. Harry already made out with Cho and now theres a possibilty that Voldemort sent a snake to kill Arthur Weasley while he was on Order business. Yep. Real intense. Love you all

art art art fart art art art art art

2009-04-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

hi! i have literally been studying for two days straight for an exam that i have tomorrow, so i thought i would break it up a little by sharing with all of you my recent art muses. i'm taking this absolutely fabulous art appreciation class right now from a fantastic professor who makes me love art even more every single day! so i thought i would share some of it with you!

the first two painting are by my absolute favorite artist of all time- gustav klimt. he was an art nouveau painter and has created some of the most stunning and alluring paintings i have ever seen in my life! his use of rich, vibrant colors and intricate shapes makes for the most amazing artwork.
painting 1 is called- the kiss, and i'm sure almost all of you have already seen it! amazzzzing!
painting 2 is called- adele bloch-bauer, stunning, right?!

recently i have become absolutely obsessed with this artist, caravaggio. he was actually a painter during the baroque period, but what's so fascinating about him is that he was the first artist ever to utilize the dramatic contrast between light and shadow. the first!! without him, so many famous artists from today would not even exist!

this painting is called- the supper at emmaus. it's hands down my favorite picture by him of all time. it's a depiction of christ after he was resurrected at the exact moment where he revealed to his disciples that he was the christ. there are so many amazing things about the picture... but i won't even go into them because i know it will bore you haha. anyways, he was a GENIUS!

of course i have monet here as one of my favorites! what's not to love about him? i think what i love so much about monet is his talent for depicting nature in such a beautiful and dreamy way! monet was an artist during the impressionist era, which i believe was one of the best eras during the histroy of art. i love how mysterious the artwork was with its murky, blended together colors. it's wonderful how they were able to make everything look so soft while still allowing the viewers to figure out what the scene was!

1st painting- coquelicots- probably his most famous painting of the beautiful field of poppies!
2nd painting- the stroll- i love this one for the viewpoint. we are looking up at them into this beautiful scene of swirling clouds and waving grass! looovely!

this last artist is actually still alive, and i've just recently learned about him from my ethics and values teacher. his name is andy goldsworthy and i think he is brilliant! he creates are and sculptures from rocks, trees, leaves- pretty much anything nature has to provide him. i love him because he was able to look at a rock and figure out that it has so much artistic potential. his work takes so much patience and a love for nature and the world around us. i recently watched a documentary about his work and saw the calm frustration when one of his rock formations falls before its finished. i also love the humbleness he brings to art- all of his artwork is done in nature therefore leaving the possibility of it to be ruined.

1st picture- one of his famous rock cones. they take him hours and hours to build and he builds them anywhere from in the tides of the ocean to forests in the mountains.
2nd picture- of on his stick webs. they are sooooo beautiful!

well, i hope you all enjoyed my rabble (if you cared to read it that is hahhah). this world is just so absolutely beautiful! so i hope each of you can find things in life that make you smile and appreciate it- whether it be a sunset, a blowing tree, a child's smile or whatever... love you alll!!!!! xoxo

2009-04-02T00:35:00.000-07:00

hey guys!
well i just thought i throw somethin up here. I work at subway A LOT!! i'm makin good money and gettin a lot of hours, so thats great. i'm definately starting to see why i was supposed to come back home. grandma and grandpas is great. i have only been there a couple days because i've been house sitting for the pitts. so yeah. thats all i do now, is work. i'm still planning on moving to utah in august and going to the Utah College of Massage Therapy in the spring. I'm really excited, but it is definately nice to have this time off. I love you all, hope your doing great.

festivul uv culurs

2009-03-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

wooh, so stoked to see dad post something on here! i feel like i'm always babbling about something on here so it's nice to see something else every once in awhile.
welp, on saturday there was the annual festival of colors or holi festival which is put on by the hare krishna people just a couple cities south of provo. the festival of colors is this fabulous indian festival that celebrates the coming of spring and the awakening of your consciousness. so they burn a fake witch and throw colored powder at each other and chant:
hare krishna hare krishna
krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare

it's great fun, trust me. and what's even more lovely is that kamryn shupe and her boyfriend came with me, chrissy and aaron to the fest!! sooo much loove!!

oh yeah, and aaron and i crowd surfed, which was exhilarating.
and if you wanna see more pictures, just check out my facebook! hollerrrr!

2009-03-29T03:28:00.000-07:00

Since I had to stay in San Jose for the weekend, Kevin and I were told of a car show at the Alameda County Fair Grounds, in Pleasanton. There were some beautiful looking rides.

This is the Bat Mobile that was on the 60s TV series

Very nice gangster!!!

One of my favorites

They just don't make them like this anymore

Chevy totally dominated this show. This was one of the nicest 57s

This one was my Favorite!! Sooooo cool

Gangster!

west coast lovers

2009-03-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

it is also true that chrissy, aaron and i ventured to carlsbad this past weekend. it was a super short trip in honor of ioana's baby shower. let me just say that she is the absolute cutest pregnant woman you will ever lay eyes on! the mini vaca was filled with a long scenic drive, nights at an exquisite resort, windy walks along the beach, awkward valet parking experiences, bubble tea, deep conversations, an outrageous speeding ticket, and a couple near death experiences. all in all, it was a nice little getaway, but this sister won't be up for another all night drive for quite some time.

it's true!

2009-03-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

i went out on a total limb and let chrissy chop off a ton of my hair! although i was absolutely terrified during the process and just a little bit in shock afterwards, i am happy to say that i love love love it! it's super easy to do- aka i don't have to do it at all- and it feels so healthy! thanks chrissy!

ps. sarah- you are NOT allowed to follow in my example. hahah.

she trusted me with the scissors

2009-03-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

Annalicia decided it was time for a change, so we busted out the shears and went to work. And to no surprise at all (due to my mad skills and Leesh's perfectly in style face shape...) we made magic!!! SHE LOOKS SO HOT.

BEFOREAFTER!!!

Ahhh I love it. And you should too!

2009-03-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

YEAH....so its been a while since i've done, uh...anything on here. i know i know. so HERE IT GOES Y'ALL:

oh HEY family! well recently, the life of EROCK has been pretty nice. i just finished my winter quarter last week (ALL A's!!! woooo), so now im just workin at lil ciz like crazy during the week, and....PARTYin on the weekend! haha GOOD partying though so dont worry haha. oh! hey speaking of partying, look at what me, janessa, scott and our friend kari did last weekend...

so we heard about karaoke night at denny's last week, but when we got there...we were a tad too young to play :( waaaay bummed out about that.

so we left the den den, and went to this...uh party? haha we were basically the ONLY white people there, and everyone was kinda jealous of our dance moves (and my rad shirt...)

believe it or not, i've never had dick's burgers before...so we went! and it was RAAAAD! good shakes too. thanks scott for the cash (they dont accept visa...by the way)

janessa + scott + dick's shakes = hawt, almost married crazy people haha

thennnnn we went back to jan's house, and chilled for a while, and all gangsta'd up for....

STEP UP 2! the craziest awesom...est dance movie EVER! pretty awesome. it inspired us to form a dance crew. what what!

jan and kari got mega bling on.

then, on sunday jan cooked dinner for scott and his parents...and because im a starving bum, she invited me! haha and let me just tell you, JAN CAN COOK! she made the best enchiladas ever! wow it was a bomb meal

ALRIGHTY, so that was kinda an overload of pics, but im trying to make up for my lack of posts hahah

I LOVE YOU ALL AND I'LL SEE YOU SOOON!!! well, ill see the young ones (and jack) this weekend, and c-money and leesh soon also. haha uh....yeah ill see you guys. haha k well BYE!

haha sorry for my lack of finesse in my writing, im just kinda tired...and dont care. haha

PEACE

jumpin jackson

2009-03-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

SORRY that last post was like major overload of pictures. It seems much more fun that writing about all the boring details. So.. I'm about to do it again! Oops. Last weekend I went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with all of my friends from the Uganda trip. Jackson is beautiful and it was so fun to be out in nature and not around so many people. We all drove up there together and stayed at our friend's condo. We sleep in, read, hiked, hot tubbed, watched movies, and stayed up late together. Even though we all live nearby, I miss the good ole times of living together in Lugazi! Here are a couple pictures... although I'll try not to overwhelm you with a plethora of them like last time :)

Yupp I turned 22

2009-03-19T16:24:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! I just wanted to share a few birthday pix (or a lot...) and tell you about my fun day. I had friends and co-workers take me out to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and frozen yogurt and I felt very spoiled! There was a freak blizzard during the day which I didn't appreciate, but the sunshine this week has made up for it. Thanks to all of you for your cards, packages, and birthday wishes. Love you lots!!!the hottest

libby and shay

sneed!

the dayleys

ian and james bonded over map-making

amy, whitney, ashley, lexie , kristen, leesh, me!

the roomies
my boys! andre, brandon, and tyrone
the africa crew.. James, me, Amber, and Ashley

xoxo

Look Ma, that's me!

2009-03-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have heard, my very first story was published in my school's newspaper today! I'm really excited because I'm now on board as a Life Section writer, and just did another story that will be published next week! I'm sending a copy to Sheri as requested but I would like to post the original text that I wrote on here because the Life Section Editor made some changes to my story that I didn't really like that much :) I was in the right place and the right time and had the lucky experience to do a one-on-one interview with the owner of this new cafe in Provo. So if you feel like reading it, go ahead!
xoxo

"Inside the Pennyroyal Café

As soon as you walk through the doors of the Pennyroyal Café, you are instantly smitten by the classy yet fun ambience that is so apparent there. Antique couches, crystal chandeliers, artwork-filled walls, and a red carpet down the middle make for the perfect place to unwind after a busy day. The owners of this joint, Nathan Robbins and Annali Kingston, opened the Pennyroyal back in November 2008 with the vision of creating “a place to feel at home and relaxed.” After a lot of hard work and a lot more remodeling, they have done just that. The space where the café is located used to be home to the, now relocated, Hookah Collection. When Nathan and Annali purchased this space back in June 2008, they knew they had a lot of hard work ahead of them. Acoustic ceilings, purple cut out walls, and a “garage” filled to the brim with junk were soon greeted by a demolition team with a purpose. After a comment made by Nathan’s father about “not knowing what they were getting themselves into,” Nathan replied with an eager, “You just don’t see the potential that we see. You just don’t see it.” With a lot of help from volunteers and friends, they were able to transform the place into a stylish bistro, art gallery and community center. The ingenious name comes from the vision of mixing upper and lower class styles together to form the feeling of “being rich with pennies.” “I mean, most of these couches are from DI, but then you’ve got those chandeliers too,” explained Nathan. The most obvious tribute to the café’s name is the giant tree mural made of pennies covering the wall as you enter the building. While Nathan focuses more on the events that take place at the café, Annali, a culinary student here at UVU, is the mastermind behind the food. “It was the day before we were set to open and we still didn’t have a side dish. On the spot Annali just created the idea of the peach side salad,” Nathan said, “She’s really gifted like that.” The menu is chalk full of delicious and unique sandwiches, including the popular “Pennyroyal Classic”, and inventive salads with adorable names like “Flower Power” and “The Goshfather.” The menu also offers vegetarian/vegan dishes as well as festively presented hot chocolate for those unexpected snowy days. So if you haven’t already done so, check out The Pennyroyal Café for some delicious food and live entertainment. Once you stop in, you’ll be feeling right at home."

beautiful

2009-03-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

chrissy's birthday was a total success! a night full of life, love and laughter! i hope she does a blog post about it so you can see some of the fun pictures from it!
the bottom collage is from saturday when aaron, andre, and some friends decided to go shoot their guns. i tagged along and was forced to use these two assault weapons. fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISSY FACE!

2009-03-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

she landed a phenomenal intership at the EU and backpacked her way around the european continent. she graduated from the rigorous BYU with a political science/ business degree. she traveled to africa as a volunteer to help with a human relief organization. she is the best friend and sister that anyone could ever ask for. she is absolutely beautiful from her stunning red hair to her pearly wide grin. and the best part about it is that she's only 22.

here's to you, chrissy barnes! here's to your enormous generosity and love for all mankind! here's to your incredible success and your pathway you have paved for all of the kids in our family!
you are the most incredible role model for all of us and we all look up to you for your passion for life and your zealous nature!
you are simply amazing and i wish you the best for this next year! i know it will be filled with love, compassion and adventure!

love you forever!
xoxo
gossip girl

hey there lil critter

2009-03-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!!

Sorry I've been so awful about posting. Things have just been so busy I guess! But I won't complain, I am a fan of staying that way.

So work is great. We just had some switches in our department so I feel like we're all finally starting to settle in again. So far, so good. The remodel on our house is ALMOST finally finished, and it feels so great!!! For anyone who hasn't heard, they have been remodeling my house for the past 2 months, and it's been a huge pain. They said it would be 2 weeks, but somehow that got stretched out to 2 months. So sometimes we would come home and there would be no toilet (not like no toilet working, but like NO TOILET... just a hole in the ground. Am I back in Africa??) and our shower didn't work for like 3 weeks. Haha gross. I DID shower though I promise, it just provided a better incentive to get to the gym every day :)

MARCH MADNESS has begun, and I am really excited about it. It seems like January and February have been a little dull, so I'm looking forward to the switch up. I have lots of trips planned for the month (which you'll hear about throughout the month!) and to top it all off, SPRING IS COMING!!! To kick start "March Madness", my roommate Whitney and I are on a two-a-day workout plan, so basically we live at the gym. We felt like we weren't seeing results over the past few weeks, so we are jolting our routines up. So this means we get up and are at the gym by 6am every morning, go to work, and then go BACK to the gym sometime in the evening. INSANE, maybe, but it's actually been kind of fun. Usually we only do the 6am thing like twice a week, so my body isn't sure what to think about being up so early evvvvery day. But hopefully by the end of this week we'll start seeing some progress and can return back to normal land. Haha, random side note, but remember when I got home from Brussels? And remember how CHUBBY I was??? (Haha don't worry, it's been a full year now so it's ok to joke about it... leesh makes fun of me all the time). The point is, I am NEVER going to get to that point again, so if mega gym obsessions is what it takes, I guess that's how it's going to be. Maybe someday I'll be as hot as MOM!!! ;) We will see...

Ok well I feel weird about the fact that I've just bored you with a million details about my life. And without actually sharing any quality stories or fun pictures. But I just ordered a new battery charger for my camera, so as soon as that's here I'll be up here postin pix asap!

I hope things are great with everyone. I love you all lots!!!

My Life Plan

2009-03-03T22:05:00.000-08:00

Well everybody word is getting around so i figure i should just announce it on this thing. I am not going to school next quarter. at the end of march im going to move in with my dad and try to work here in spokane. so far the job search has not been successful, but im trying. I applied for an internship at Disneyland for aug-jan, but i won't know if i get that for a couple more weeks. Basically i will live on disney property and work at disneyland...seems pretty cool to me : ]...also the reason for leaving eastern is so that i can go to massage school. i am currently looking at schools in seattle, california, and utah. I REALLY REALLY want to live in cali and that's my preference, so im looking closer at schools there. moving to cali will be very very very expensive, so i have to save up a lot until i can go there. pretty much once i have the money i'll do my best to go if it's what feels right. if you have any questions, you know how to reach me. love you all!

2 legit. 2 legit 2 quit.

2009-02-28T10:18:00.001-08:00

Holllaaa Hollllaaaa! So like I mentioned before, for Valentine's Day, Aaron got us tickets to the upcoming MC Hammer/ Vanilla Ice concert! Well last night was theeee night and here are some pictures from the show! We seriously had the greatest time! Love You Long Time opened for the legends but the lines we SO long that it took forever for us to get down to the main floor so we ended up missing most of their performance. Not gonna lie, Vanilla Ice was pretty gary. He played all of this new hard core rap crap and everyone was like "what the heck?!?" And then even when he DID end up playing Ice Ice Baby, it was some weirdly remake. BUUUTTT goodness gracious great balls of fire, MC Hammer IS THE MAN. He was sooo epic. He had rad back up dancers and played all of his hits and was super funnnyyyyyy. Did you all know he is a preacher now?! haha. Anyways, EPIC night. Word to your muthhaaa.Aaron and I standing in line in the freeeezing cold. Yes, we cannot take pictures
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The tail end of the Love You Long Time set. They were rocking out hard core!

Hawt Aaron.

Vanilla Ice Ice Baby. He looked like a wanna be Eminem.

I'm just gettin my grooooove on.

More Ice.

Dancing in between the sets. MC Dub Dee mixed for a great dance party!

The legend himself. 40 and still 2 legit 2 quit.

First time Hammer and Ice were on stage together in 20 years! Rad.

Verrrrrry tired us after HOURS of dancing!

Griffey Update

2009-02-23T19:44:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone-
Well just thought I should let everyone know what's been up with the Griffey Family in February!! We went out on the 8th to Hauser Lake, to celebrate Uncle Tim's birthday and check out their newly remodled bathroom!! It's going to look soooo good :) On Ken's Birthday, we went and watched Gran Torino, the Clint Eastwood movie. I like Clint Eastwood and it was a very good movie. Although, it has lots of racial remarks, so if it affends you, I wouldn't see it. Valentines Day, Dad, Sheri, Sam, and Sarah came to see us!! That was nice to see them. Oh Ya, the chocolate candy bar was gone in a day!! Yes, all ME!!! I need to stop eating YIKES!!! BUT it was soooo yummy!!! Anyways, Ken had an MRI done on his spine. We finally received news that he has to see a Neurologist (not sure how to spell it) because 3 of his discs are pert rating to his spinal cord. He's been in pain. So, we're thinking he'll need surgery, but not sure yet until he goes for his appointment. Izzy is talking, talking, talking......she's a very smart little girl!! She loves outdoors, I wish it will get warmer!! Besides that nothing new here, just staying home with the family. Love ya lots!!

VDAY in SEATTLE

2009-02-23T11:57:00.000-08:00

So this was the best valentines day ever! i spent the weekend with joseph and erik in seattle. it was a great time! joseph had never been to seattle, so erik and i wanted to show him. erik has definatley become a mega city driver. : ] well we got there friday and we went to eriks work and took the pizza to the water front and had a pizza picnic. we then went to a really awesome show (with absolutely nobody there..it wasn't that awesome) and hung out. if i was still in high school the place we went to would be way cool. um saturday we went downtown and hit up the westlake center and pikes place. it was fun. then we went to the club that night....ahhaah...now that was fun! it was a great trip and it sparked some ideas of what i want to do with my life. so anyways. that was my weekend, had a great time! i love erik and joseph a lot.

Vee Day Shmee Day

2009-02-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

oh hai everyone- it sure is quiet round here...
anywho, i figure i should update on my wonderful valentine's day excursions from last weekend. my wonderful day started off with aaron coming over to my apt and bringing me my favorite flowers (daisies) along with my incredibly awesommmeee present- tickets to the vanilla ice/mc hammer show in a week! i'm so so so excited! after that we headed to salt lake for a suprise day that aaron had planned. we ended up at the living water aquarium! i have seriously wanted to come here for MONTHS! yes we are nerds. so we had a wonderful time looking at all of the crazy sea creatures and wandering around with the rest of the three year olds that were there with their parents. we even got to touch a sting ray! after that we went to the children's museum which is this super funny place where kids can go to learn and play and whatnot. we did lots of fun stuff like build block towers and pretend that we were news anchors. after we got bored of that, we went and saw taken- RAD RAD movie! go see now! and then later that night aaron took me to dinner at the old spaghetti factory in downtown salt lake. this was no ordinary spaghetti factory though- it was faaaabulously decorated in vintage and antique style furniture and drapes. super gaudy. totally my taste.
yay happy valentine's day! what did everyone else do?

Madame Butterfly

2009-02-17T22:45:00.000-08:00

last friday my dearest lillian cancado invited me to the ballet, madame butterfly, with her, ricky and their uncle who lives in salt lake. oh my lands, it was the absolute most stunning performance that i have ever witnessed in my entire life!
first of all, the ballet was performed in the gorgeous gorgeous salt lake capitol theatre which is dripping with crystal chandeliers, victorian furniture, and gaudy, intricate raised ceilings. this place set the scene so perfectly for the beautiful ballet that took place.
that ballet tells a tragic love story set in japan during the war. i won't go into the whole story-line plot but the costumes and the dances were simply inspirational and touching!
i cannot even describe how amazing this ballet was! lillian and i just kept looking at each other with total shock on our faces- it was THAT good! if any of you happen to hear that a ballet company around you is doing this performance, i suggest you go go go! you will not be disappointed!