Swim '09

Modbe introduced their Swim '09 line the other day. I have been patiently waiting for it...not because I was anxious to buy one, but because I follow the swim suit industry closely:) I have my own opinions about their new line but I want to hear yours...

This one (black & white polka dot) is my favorite. I would consider purchasing it.

So what do you think? Do you like the prints? How about the cut/styles? Would you buy one? If so, which one?

Cooler than Ice-Cool

This upcoming weekend is going to be a good one. Ya wanna know why? I am getting together with a couple of my super-cool roommates from BYU. I thought this would be a good chance to talk about them. We were a pretty big deal...people knew us. Paige and I dressed up for the Halloween dance party at UVSC.

This is Paige Nielson (now Cordon). Paige has a way of spicing up conversations with her witty comments and sense of humor. She also taught me grammar (or at least tried). Paige was one of the first people I met at BYU. She lived in the dorm right across the hall from me. Let me tell you, we had some good times. One thing we shared in common was that we were both very boy crazy. Freshman boys? Yeah right, we were going for the older men. Somehow we managed to be at almost every dance party on the weekend even though neither of us had a car. We ate at the canyon center together almost every meal. We enjoyed lots of "studying parties" at the library that were really quests for meeting guys. Sophomore year we roomed together at Liberty Square. The summer after freshman year was one of the most fun summers of my life. We worked part-time at the mall and spent the rest of our hours lounging at the liberty square pool.

Here we are all grown-up (kinda) on my wedding day. Now both married women.

Then there was Karyna Smith (now Bousloug). We met at "Club Style" which was a hip-hop dance class/club. We hit it off as we prepared for and danced in the Provo parade. Then we took our friendship to new limits when we attended the "Llamapaloosa" party together. We could bust out the dance moves. One thing about Karyna, you will never be as tan as she is. Even if she sits indoors for a month while you are outside.
Karyna has a fun and easy-going personality. She was always up for a good time and having some spontaneous fun. One of my favorite memories with her is when we road tripped to Vegas together. We wanted to visit Niel and Marshall in Vegas but neither of us had cars. We decided to post an add on the ride board in the Wilkinson center. Can you believe that we car-pooled with some girl we had never met to Vegas? It was definitely worth it though, because we had a blast. Karyna and I at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Can't wait to see these gals!

I Heart Weekends

Ever since my hours changed from 8:30-5:30 to 8-5 my commute has been horrible. Lately it has taken me 40-50 minutes to get home each night. Sometimes it even takes me an hour. Most of my commute is sitting in stop-and-go traffic going about 5 miles per hour. It drives me crazy. On Friday night it was so bad that I resorted to listening to the country station because I have every song that plays on KISSFM memorized. My car's CD player doesn't work and I don't have an ipod adaptor so I am stuck listening to the radio or wallowing in silence. SO by the time I finally get home from work I am grumpy from sitting in traffic. Trust me, it is getting old. I really don't know how much longer I can do the whole commute thing. I don't know how people do it their whole lives. I will never take a job or let Niel take a job that has a commute longer than 20 minutes. Anyways, by Friday night I was ready to have a fun and relaxing weekend...which was exactly what we did.

Friday night we watched X-Men. Niel had to explain everything to me about it.

Saturday morning we went to Mimi's Cafe for Breakfast. Delicious.
Then we went for a long bike ride. We found a bike trail that goes all the way from our house to along Newport Beach. Don't worry though, we didn't go all the way to the beach. We only biked several miles. After our bike ride we washed both of our cars and vacuumed them out. Actually, Niel washes the cars while I turn the dials and yell out how much time he has left(we go to the self-serve car wash). This time he spent 75 more cents on his Lexus. He spends alot more time on his Lexus than he does on my Civic so I threaten him by saying I won't put any more quarters in the machine.

Then we went to play tennis for the first time since we moved here. We played all the time when we lived in Utah. Yes, I busted out the tennis skirt and Yes, my arm is really sore today.

Then we went to our favorite dessert place called "Ohanas". It is self-serve frozen yogurt. The best thing about it is that you can sample all of their flavors yourself. You don't have to ask a wenchy employee to get the sample for you. Then you pick whatever toppings you want from cookie dough to fresh fruit and mix them in yourself. You get charged by how much it weighs and not how many different toppings you get. It is AMAZING. When we got home we watched X-Men II.

Me and my Valentine

On Thursday, one of my co-workers asked me if Niel and I liked motor-cross. He had two free tickets to the show in San Diego. My first thought was, "Motor cross on Valentines? How un-romantic". Since we had zero plans for Valentines, we decided to go for it.

But before we left, Niel came home with these beautiful flowers. He even helped pick out the flowers and colors to go in the arrangement.

I think Niel did a great job picking out the flowers. I love gerber daisies and the bright colored flowers he picked. I also like the heart dangly things thrown into the bouquet.But that's not all...he bought me a box of See's chocolates, and the lip glosses I wanted from Victoria's Secret. Niel said, "I didn't know which flavor to get, so I got you five different flavors". Now I have a large supply of lip gloss.

I bought Niel the movie "X-Men" and a bunch of candy. I was a little embaressed that he out-did me on the gifts thing. BUT, I was the only one who abided by the budget.

We journeyed to San Diego Saturday afternoon and hit up Costco for pizza, hot dogs, and a very berry sundae for our Valentines dinner. Super cross was at the Qualcomm Stadium where the Chargers play. They opened the show with fireworks, flaming fire, and loud music. It was quite entertaining. Those motorcycle dudes are like jumping beans. We couldn't believe how high they could jump.
We stayed the night at a very nice Marriott hotel that Niel insisted we stay in, "because it was Valentines"(I am the cheap one). This morning we got breakfast at burger king, walked around the beach in San Diego, and then drove home.

What I thought was going to be a boring Valentines, turned into a really fun and unique Valentines day. Thanks Niel!

Free jeans

Yes, I got the hookup. There is a guy we know who is a fashion designer in L.A. He asked me what size of jeans I wore. He said they usually have extra sample jeans in my size and asked if I would like some free jeans. Of course I said yes. Next time we saw him he gave me three new pairs of jeans-even with their tags on! These two are my favorite and they fit great. Fashion designers are good people to know.

At a glance...

Lots of things have been going on the last two weeks but unfortunately I have been forgetting to take pictures. After debating whether or not to do a boring picture-less post, I decided to go ahead with it. Here are some things we have been doing:

-Valentine gift bags for the children with cancer at Loma Linda University. This was an activity we did at church with the young men and young women.

-Attended two bridal showers. Both of which I participated in "making a wedding dress with toilet paper" game (and lost both times). The first bridal shower was for my co-worker Courtney. The other bridal shower was for Nikki.

-Invited Eric, Lindsey, and Kailey Cortez over for dinner and a round of Phase 10.

-Had a youth planning meeting at the church. This included dinner, singing, church broadcast, and HUMAN FOOSBALL.

-Gave the lesson in young women's (and stressed about it).

-My second girls camp meeting...here we go again...year #2 as assistant Girls Camp director!

-Niel finished his surgery rotation. He got perfect reviews from all of his preceptors and several of them offered to give him letters of recommendation. What a stud.

-Went to two discussions with the missionaries for Joanna (a girl who wants to become a member of our church). This has been a really neat experience to share this with her.

-Soaked up some American Idol, The Bachelor, and of course The Office in all of its awesomeness (the last three episodes have been exceptional).

-Taught the girls at church how to make enchiladas, salad, and cake. Then we ate it all.

-Niel and I went to a couples Valentines Party that Sean and Lindsey Barney hosted. We ate dinner, played some really fun games, and got to know 7 other couples.

In the last couple of weeks I have spent more time than usual with the girls in the church. I love getting to know them better on an individual basis. They really inspire me with their sincere faith in Christ and love for the gospel. They are a great example to me and sometimes I think I was called to be their leader so that they can inspire me.