need to CATCH up!!!

So, here's the 411. I have a niece! Her name is Brylee Grace King. She was born Nov. 4th. I am now a brunette too! :) I am working at Ridgeview Gardens Assisted Living, and i am moved into my apartment at Raintree. (yes! no more sleeping the the couch!) All my roommates are really nice and chill, which I am so happy about since I haven't always had the best of luck when it comes to roommates and apartments! Ashley cooked Thanksgiving dinner for everyone, and I mean everyone-Mom, Ro, Alexa, Me, Brian, Bryton, Papa and Grandma, Uncle Michael and his family, PLUS Suzy and all her family! It was pretty cozy. So here's a couple pictures to go with this extremely brief summary! :)

me and Brylee Grace

Ashley and her new baby girl home from the hospital!

The girls together for thanksgiving!

Lunch w/ the Girlies & IDAHO

I was so happy to be able to get together with my girls for the first time in way too long, before I had to go to Idaho for a month. Good food. Good laughs. Good friends. What makes a better day?

My October was spent in Boise, Idaho helping my aunt and her family. A month with my 5 little cousins, but it went by so fast. So I had

to make sure I was gettin kisses from my cute lil cousins.

Nurse to be...OFFICIALLY!

As if October 5th, I am officially a nursing student at Dixie State College of Utah! Got the acceptance letter into the program! Yay! Nursing, here I come!

No longer a TEEN

The only two pictures taken for my birthday....fantastic aren't they?! haha I had a good birthday! My mom baked me a cake while Me and Lex were eating dinner at a good family friend's house. Got a Macbook since my PC broke. My dad took me shopping for a few things. Friends baked me a cake and made dinner as we watched a movie. Went to El Coyote with a bunch of people! (and I didn't have to pay!) I'd say it was a pretty amazing 20th birthday (week lol) even though I only have these two ridiculous pictures! :)

San Diego Zoo/ Sea World :)

Ashley, Brian, and Bryton came to California for a weekend. Friday, I went with them to the San Diego Zoo. Saturday, I went to Sea World with them along with my mom, Ro, and Alexa. It was a good weekend. Got to see my sister, and the cutest boy in the world!

Bryton loved the monkeys/gorillas. We got

lots of exercise all over. :) Bryton and Brian got to feed

giraffes before leaving too!

The day at the zoo was

worthwhile!

Saturday at Sea World was fun. I hadn't been there in AGES. I felt like I did way back when, when I first went to Sea World. I just wanted to jump into the water and swim with Shamoo! haha Don't worry I

restrained myself :)

It was very hot

that day, so luckily

we sat in the soak zone at every show!

Piggy Visits with Noah!

I got to see Piggy's son, Noah, for the first time this summer. Piggy, her husband, and her baby were doing a cross-country trip to visit friends and family. Noah so cute, and so chunky! We went out to eat at Olive Garden, got dessert at Pinkberry, and Ro took Noah on the carousel. It was a good day.

Bryton's Birthday//4th of July

My mom, Ro, Alexa, and me went straight from the Volleyball Festival in Phoenix to St. George for Bryton's 1st birthday.  The weird thing is, the second we got all packed into the car and started driving me and Alexa both got this huge spurt of energy.  We we singing songs, laughing at everything and nothing, and just simple being the biggest dorks alive.  The picture below is a perfect example of the dorkiness I am talking about.

On the drive from

 Phoenix to St. George, you drive by the Hoover Dam.  As we are coming up to it, we started to talk about it.  I said some stupid joke about it being built to keep Megatron.  But then.....Alexa said the most hilarious thing.  She said, "Wait don't beavers make dams???"  Ro and I just started busting up laughing.  So when we got to the Hoover Dam, Ro pulled over and let us get out and get a good look at it (as good as we could at midnight in the pitch black haha).  Smart mom took a little picture of us :)  We then piled back into the

car for the rest of the drive...with Ro still cracking jokes about beavers and the Hoover Dam.

We got to St. George and celebrated Bryton's 1st birthday (his birthday is the 4th of July).  Ashley made and decorated a Nemo cake for his Finding Nemo theme swim 

party.  Bryton was so cute playing games with me while his party was getting set up.  He got more

presents than I think I have ever gotten in my life...and he loved them all.  He had his first bite of cake,

which ended up all over his face and chest and lap...let's just say it ended up everywhere.  At first he didn't know what to think of the cake, but he found he loved the frosting, and insisted on sharing it with "Mom."  Since he was then covered in frosting, we got into the pool, which was probably his favorite part of the party.

After getting cleaned up from the party and the pool, and it started to get a little darker, Brian, Ashley, Bryton, Alexa, and I got into the truck and headed towards the St. George temple.  We were gonna watch some fireworks from a parking lot just across from the temple.  It was fun, but after the long night and the long day, I was ready to get back to Ashley's house and get on my comfy clothes.

Phoenix Volleyball Festival

        The little sis, Alexa, had a week long volleyball tournament in Phoenix the last week of June. (Yeah I know, I'm a little behind).  It was my Mom, my dad-Ro, and me staying in the Hyatt with the rest of Alexa's team. All of Alexa's games were in the afternoon/evening.  So, we

would sleep in way late, get ready, go cheer on Alexa and the rest of the girls, eat dinner, and go to bed in the early hours of the morning.  My dad-Dave, and the rest of his family, was able to get to some of Alexa's games as well.  Even though Alexa would probably never admit it, she was happy to so many people there to watch her dominate. :)

         I honestly didn't get to spend much time with Alexa at all while in Arizona.  She was busy with her teammates and friends.  Not to mention after playing game after game, after game, for an entire week,

she was pretty tired, and needed to save up her energy for the next game.  But it was ok with me

for the most part because I enjoy watching volleyball.  And even more, I love to watch Alexa play, and get to cheer her on.  She did well the whole tournament.  She dominated as middle hitter, and she did great with keeping her teams spirits up and keeping the girl drama to a minimum.  My baby sister all grown up...tear. haha

           On top of the Hyatt there is a restaurant.  It was circular and the outside

walls were windows, and it slowly spins.  So while you are eating dinner, you get to overlook Phoenix-- in all different directions.  Pretty cool.  It was a nicer restaurant, so we got to dress up a little, which was nice since we've spent the week in a stuffy gym.  It was a totally different experience for me though, because I had to sit at the adult/parent table. haha Not gonna lie, I felt kind of out of place, considering I wasn't even 20 yet, and of course have no kids. haha.  But overall it was a nice night, and quite funny.

Madi's Party!!

On May 30th Me, Alexa, and Ro went to Madison's birthday party. Her birthday is really June 5th, but Christine wanted to do it a little early. She is turning 3! She is 3 already!!! Wow, I remember it like it was yesterday: taking her to church with me, just a little baby. Madison just learning to take her steps.

When we first got there she HAD to show me her new giraffe pool. She got to open it a little early so they could play in it at her party. It was a blow up kiddy pool that had a giraffe coming up the side of it that would squirt water out of its mouth. She didnt like the spraying water at first, but she ended up loving it!!! (and was quite upset when it didnt)

Once I got out my camera Madi wanted to play the "You Can't Get a Picture of Me" Game. --But I clearly did! She is so funny. She can be such a crack up!

It was a Slip'N'Slide/Dora the Explorer Party. So there was Slip'N'Slides every where in the backyard. Funny thing...Madi doesn't really get the concept of a Slip'N'Slide. So just thought it was the greatest thing to walk back and forth on it. Then, she thought it was even MORE fun when Alexa joined in walking on "that"on and she walked on "this" one. They would just walk on the Slip'N'Slides side by side. I tried to explain to Madi how to slip and slide, but she just looked at me with this "Huh" look, and continued having this good ole time squirting water walking on it. I told her to be silly on slide on her bumm, but nope! She didn't get it. But she did end up sitting on her bum. Alexa ended up dragging her from one end to the other on her bum. haha. But Madi loved it.

She loves Dora the Explorer. So we got her a Dora the Explorer Sleeping Doll and a Nick Jr coloring book (so she can color Dora. ahaha). She opened our presents first before any of the others. She got so excited she forgot about all the others. Christine had to keep reminding her about the others. She kept going back to the Dora Doll. Right after opening the rest of the presents she had to get the Dora out of the box. The Dora was "trapped." She needed to be "free." So me and lex helped her get the doll out. Madi was too preoccupied with the Dora doll for her cake even! So we chose a pretty good doll apparently. Props go to Ro with that one. The final choice was his!

The Effects A Boy Can Have <33

I finished my semester at BYU and drove home. Ashley and Brian had a really crazy week coming up soon, so she asked if I would be willing to stay with them for a week to help watch Bryton. Of course, I said I would. Not only would they help me out in a heart beat, and they have helped me many times before, but being with Bryton is like nothing else. I could be feeling down. I could be stressed. I could be tired. I could be feeling any combination of emotions, but the second I am with him, I feel all of it lifted off of me. He is an automatic pain reliever. So, how else would I want to spend a week? I would not only be helping out my family, who has always been there for me, but I am also getting to spend it with the boy who makes all problems go away. Plus he's just so cute! I can't wait to see him again!

Bryton still LOVES outside. He loves to be in water, whether it is the shower, bath, little kiddy pool, or the regular pool. He gets so excited when he finds out he's getting in the water; he gets very hard to contain with all his excitement. He also likes the park. He likes the swings. He'll go down the slides too. Funny thing is, he is also content to just play with the bark too!

So I am FINALLY on break from school. I am back from my week in St. George helping Ashley and Brian with Bryton. I now have to get busy with work, getting back into shape (hahaha), enjoying the summer! Plus counting down until the end of June when I get to see that boy I'm crazy about again! I can't wait 'til Pheonix to see Bryton again! Would it be crazy to to make another trip to St. George??

5 Weeks Down, 11 More to Go

My winter semester has kept me pretty busy. I am already 5 weeks into it, which I must say, makes me so excited!! I have about 11 more weeks until I'm done for the semester! I just took a physiology test. There was multiple choice and short answer. On the multiple choice I got a 91%. I haven't gotten my score for my short answer portion of the test. My class section's average for the multiple choice was 71%. I haven't gotten my score for my short answer portion of the test. Which, that reminds me of what a moron I am. I actually took my physiology test and turned it in with the whole last page blank! So I didn't answer the last 6 short answer questions. I was able to talk to my professor, and he let me make it up in his office. But boy, oh boy, do I feel like a retard now!

I am planning a trip back home to California, right now, which I can't wait for!!! It will be so great to be out of Utah for a little bit, and back in California for sometime! I can't wait to see some California sky. I am hoping that the weather will be nice enough that I can go the beach for a day!