utah happenings

so..it's been a while. this i know. BUT here i am to update the world on our recent happenings.

sometime in october when i was wallowing in self pity over the move, i purchased a plane ticket to see my family for a month and a half. november seventeenth came around and i ventured--without husband--to utah. i then proceeded to participate in activities such as:

..new moon premiere (which i've now seen three times and have come to the conclusion it won't be like twilight where i just keep going back to see it. it's TOO long and TOO emotional. but i did indeed enjoy it the three times i did see it..haha)..

..spent time with christopher's family..

..thanksgiving dinner with my family..

..VEGAS with holly and jeremy's family..

..panda at least five times, rubio's once and indulged in IN-N-OUT(i found a new love for this place--i now understand the hype after eating a burger "animal style")..

..spent much needed time with my dearest alix..

..finally got to see miss sarah beth and her hubs after SIX months(way too long)..

..shopped a little..

..read a few books (wuthering heights, the host--again, the rescuer)..

..wrote a little(got 25,000 of the 50,00 words i wanted done because my computer broke. that was a good day)..

..had lots of sisterly and motherly bonding time..

..and missed ryan way to much to ever spend more than a couple days away from him ever again..

i will post pictures for each event in a different post with a little more detail if i can remember.

fourth of july

i hate that i've waited so long to blog because now i can't even remember the details of that weekend! only important things i guess are that we went to utah..watched the fireworks on my parents deck from the golf course for the third of july..shot off our own firework show on the actual fourth and spent time with the familia!

memorial day weekend in CALIFORNIA

this past weekend weston and whitni went home to CA for a camping trip and invited us. it really was so much fun and SO nice to get out of rexburg..completey worth the 13 hour drive!

all the things we did in no paticular order:

..camped in santa cruz with whitni's family..

..spent a half day in san francisco..

*went to peir 39/the wharf (saw the infamous seals, alcatraz from across the way and ate delicious mini doughnuts)

*drove down lombard street

*drove across the golden gate bridge(and back)

*ate at boudin's (best sour dough bread bowls ever)

..went on a mile a half hike through the redwoods..

..licked banana slugs...yes you heard me correctly (apparently a mangrum family tradition that's been going on for years. every time they go on this hike they lick banana slugs. it apparently makes your tongue numb. and yes i did it. i guess i give into peer pressure when it's persisant)..

..the guys went to see the new terminator(and liked it, but not that much)..

..spent a couple days at seacliff beach(and got NO sun..how? i don't know!)..

..ate at a taco truck in turlock (i was feelin sketchy about it, but again..i give into peer pressure and it was really GOOD)

..went to the boardwalk and went on a couple rides-"fireball" and "giant dipper"(85 year old rollercoaster)..

..had a nice bbq with weston's family on memorial day..

thank you mangrums for letting us tag along..we had a lot of fun!

<3

I'd like to say that i'm the kind of girl who doesn't care about valentine's day. I'd like to say that I'm the kind of girl who find's it overrated and that there shouldn't be a set day to express love to you're loved one...that it should be something done through out the year...that it shouldn't just be some excuse. I'd like to say that but i can't. i'm a hopeless romantic..i love roses and chocolates..i love surprises and grand gestures..i love romantic candle lit dinners..i don't find vday to be overrated...so sue me.

it's my party and i'll cry if i want to

Well...i'm not crying i just realized yesterday that once you hit 22 there are no other birthdays to look forward to. it's all down hill from here..haha..let me explain.

if you belong to the church you'll understand most of these..

8 years old-you look forward to your baptism

12 years old-you're finally out of primary and moving onto young women/young men

14 years old-you're finally old enough to go to stake dances

16 years old-you get your drivers license and you are finally allowed to date(even if you did it a little before that ;) it's offially legal now..haha)

18 years old-you're officially an adult..and you get to smoke legally if you're interesting in that sort of thing..haha

20 years old-you're finally NOT a teenager anymore

21 years old-actually feel like an adult and you get to gamble and drink..once again..if you're into that sort of thing...

where do you go from there? you get to rent cars when you're 25..something to look forward to if you need to rent a car. and then 60-something when you're a "senior citizen" and get discounts at restaurants/movies/stores...haha..but really people..i think more things to look forward to need to happen through of the years, rather than just getting old...wouldn't you agree?

I woke up to a bouquet of gorgeous flowers on the kitchen table, even though ryan HATES buying them...quote-what's the point in spending 50 bucks on things that are just going to die in a week anyway-end quote. It's true, but i LOVE flowers! and appreciate them nonetheless. so against his principles..because he loves me, he gets them for me:) BUT he refuses to on vday..but that's a post for another day..

And just when i thought i was going to be alone all day, ryan skipped school to be with me. :) The only other thing i wanted to do yesterday was see "he's just not that into you" which i enjoyed very much so. after our large popcorn and DP we weren't hungry for dinner so we just went home in time for...GREY'S and PRIVATE PRACTICE. i couldn't have asked for a better birthday...

happy birthday hubby!

Ryan turned 26 last week! so crazy to me...i'm slightly late on the post, but i thought i should publicly wish my love a HaPpY BiRtHdAy! Sadly it was on a wednesday and he had his same lame schedule of 5am-5pm work and school. I tried to make the day the best for him as possible. I made him his favorite french toast breakfast and one of his favorite's-spaghetti for dinner. We waited until the weekend to go out to eat. On saturday we finally tried stockman's because that's what ryan wanted. Stockman's is this all-you-can-eat steak place in between rexburg and idaho falls. It was a lot different then we all expected. (and by we all-wes, whit, me and ryan) We expected more of a chain restaurant feel inside, but it was more like a log cabin. It was pretty cool.

my family stole my cake platter..haha..the cutting board was the only i had

"i'm only smiling so you'll stop taking pictures" face

holidays in SC

This year for christmas ryan and i went to south carolina to spend the holidays with his family. Ryan of course was excited to go home for christmas, I, on the other hand, prepped myself for a difficult first time away from my family for the holidays. But i really have wonderful in-laws who helped the holidays go by smoothly. I feel at home when i am with them. It was difficult on christmas day, but i just tried not to think about it. And also being used to white christmases, it didn't necessarily feel like christmas when it's 70 degrees outside..haha..crazy i feel that way since i spent 16 years in CA for christmas.

The trip was a really nice break from rexburg. Rexburg is a depressing place in the winter time and ryan and i don't really have the best attitudes about it. We can get pretty bitter actually. So going to SC, during the winter time and actually seeing the sun and being able to see green and go to the beach, helped A LOT! It was nice to be able to go boating while my family in utah was sledding...slightly ironic. We did need light jackets though..it was pretty breezy. On christmas eve we went to james island to look at the lights and saw santa's shop sculpted out of sand..it was pretty sweet. We enjoyed delicious fresh seafood which ryan and i love to do everytime we go out there. We go through withdrawals not living near a coast..haha. We ate at Hyman's seafood and sat at the table that sandra bullock and neil diamond sat at..we thought that was kinda cool. Ryan and i enjoyed playing with oscar and he slept with us every night. And not with my consent by the way-i even woke up to him throwing up next to me one night..haha..it was lovely. We went to mt.pleasant and went to the beach and ate at this place called five guys. We fell in love with their burgers and fries. It was no in-n-out, but it was pretty up there.

It was a nice relaxing getaway and great to spend time with family. We are grateful for ryans parents who flew us out there..we love you guys!