texas : part two

annnd here we have the photos taken with the nice cam, which i remembered to pull out every once and a while.

these two little boys are so funny. they were loving playing in the christmas tree box but by the time i got my camera out sam's meds started wearing off and he began hating his life, hence him kicking ben and being sad.

but oddly decided to kindly cooperate when i asked them to hug each other.

that big head of his just melts my heart.

as i moved away from the boys i walked in to find my father playing the piano.

can you believe a few years ago he just decided he wanted to play and taught himself?

so proud of that dad.

then i heard sam crying and found these two faces haha.

i guess the meds were really starting to wear off.

the kitchen brought preparations for thanksgiving

annnd again some sad boys.

ben got sick first and then sam. this is basically what i saw ben doing the whole time i was there, just drinking egg nog since his mouth hurt too much to drink anything else (they both had a bunch of cankers in their mouths :( ..it was awful)

guess my dad got real sleepy from all that piano playing and i couldn't help but take a picture of the tree. tricia let the kids decorate it themselves this year and their placement of ornaments was so funny to me. such a nice mom to let them do that haha

i liked walking in the office and seeing madi and haylee just laughing and loving their life while they simultaneously texted and played games on the ipad. the next generation is just so tech savvy!

then sam and i had a photo shoot in his bed while he watched cars 2.

do you not just want to eat him?

and then all of the sudden it was thanksgiving day!

the morning was spent looking through ads and getting ready

and then i took pictures of the food

and decor

and more pictures of the food

gaaaah i need that food in my body right now.

we forgot to take a picture of the whole gang at dinner so i forced this to happen afterwards.

thanks self timer!

and then sat and chatted and listened to haylee play pretty songs on her violin.

it was a very lovely thanksgiving day and i'm so happy i got to spend it with my texas family!

this is random but i thought it was so funny that the kids loved that they all got their own roll of wrapping paper for christmas presents

and some pictures to show you just how sad baby sam's mouth was

and i was thrilled to see this terra cotta warrior in the front of the chinese buffet place.

and of course had to get myself in there so as to feel like we were taking a picture together.

after chinese buffet the whole fam went to walmart which tricia might have regretted later but i thought it was great. and i don't even feel bad that every worker i passed gave me dirty looks while i was in that cart. hey walmart, i do what i want! 

can you tell who i liked photographing most this trip?

here is something weird about becoming an aunt when you are 6.

it is the fact that at 24 years old my nieces and nephews are getting to be teenagers who drive, date, have jobs, etc so seeing my niece with her boyfriend was definitely..different.

like i said (or think i said?) in my other post i went out with dale and tricia a few times and each time always included dinner and then shopping at walmart or sam's club.

which brings me to this gem! it was the biggest stuffed animal i'd ever seen! i loved him.

i said it once and i'll say it again, i was so grateful sam was happy for a day or two before i left so he would be my friend.

he is the funniest baby!

see? happy sam is the BEST.

annnd that is the end folks. thanks for joining me on a journey through the random pictures i took this trip. go texas 2011!

texas : part one

so unlike my usual self, i am not going to separate texas into 100 posts but rather just two so as to actually blog and not talk myself out of it like i've been doing the last few days. 

so here we are - the pictures taken on my handy point and shoot that i felt like posting. 

first off. 6am flight to dallas (xie xie priceline) and arriving at 10 am and feeling starved to death.

i walked past pizza hut on the way to baggage claim and it called my name. 10 am too early to eat pizza? no way.

i don't feel like this has ever happened before in my life so it felt very necessary to document.

such a nice momma to clean up the mess i made haha

i took a few pictures of thanksgiving on my other camera so we will jump right to black friday but really thursday night activities. i'm never one to care about black friday and i was really tempted to just stay home but decided i never regret going on an adventure so i went and it was so entertaining.

since i was with a mom we did a classic kohls, walmart, and target run. walmart was my favorite because everyone was being absolutely nuts! sooo many people shoving and pushing and grabbing everything they could. i couldn't help but join in and ended up buying a lot of dvds. not because i really cared to have them but how could i really pass up them up for only $1.99?

and that boy would be my nieces little friend dorian.

i was so happy he came and just carried everything for everyone. a true gentleman.

after getting home around 4am we went to sleep for awhile and then got back up to hit up some texas grown thrift stores! they were all 25 - 50% off and i found some real gems! double win.

we tried finding another thrift store but the gps took us to this nice neighborhood instead.

 are you obsessed with those trees as much as i am?

i liked it so much that i got out of the car to take a look around and left mickayla to

 figure out our whereabouts. doesn't she look so happy about it?

i was really so happy we stumbled upon this west oak historic district

and so happy that after we made a loop around the town the gps brought us back to this quaint street and it turns out God just knew how much i love historical homes because that thrift store didn't even exist.

so because i'm always very into making the most of situations (yes b this will have the change of plans tag! i was just excited i remembered) i made her park the car, get out, and stroll this street with me.

then i made her take pictures like the one above so as to create the illusion that she was loving her life.

while in reality she was probably bored to death because what 17 year old likes that stuff?

the next day we went to tricia and dale's favorite chinese buffet and might I say it did not disappoint!

of course none of it was very authentic but i could eat their cream cheese wontons and spring rolls all day every day. i gave them two thumbs waaay up.

twins

this was really exciting. i always fail at yogurt places but i finally got something delicious!

mine is on the left. blueberry and vanilla yogurt mixed with raspberries, blueberries, and almonds.

i have rarely felt more successful than i did in that moment.

another exciting thing is the new "gift of lights" which really isn't a gift since you have to pay to go through it. so we just drove as close as we could without paying, stared at the nice lights and massive speedway, and called it good.

this was definitely a highlight. sam was so sick most of my trip but the last day or two he starting feeling better and he was a completely different baby! i cherished the short time he was willing to be my friend.

i really enjoyed my time at night by the christmas tree either trying to finish the april ensign or having such nice chats with my sister. and having to wear that flannel every night because i didn't pack appropriately and froze the whole time.

next up would be the pictures i took at the airport since i had an hour and a half to kill. i took one look at everyone just sitting at the gate and decided i would rather go exploring and i'm so glad i did!

such a fun little adventure with myself.

and who knew terminal D would bring so many fun things!

real life shoe shining chairs! andy anyone?

and to end the trip i saw not one but two std bears* in both airports.

i'd say that was the icing on my texas trip cake.

*this term comes from a trip we made back in 2007 to disneyland and saw a bear like this on a random bench on the huntington beach pier. it was so dirty and gross that we feared it contracted std's, hence it's name. now that i type that story out it feels somewhat uncomfortable but made so much sense at the time. i've come to realize they are all just rocky mountain chocolate bears but they will always be std bears in my heart.

the few days before i went to texas these things happened.

while uploading texas time onto my computer i found a few gems that could easily go unblogged which might have happened in my blogging past but not now! i don't let a photographed event go by without documenting it because let's face it - i'm a blogger now.

anyway. i tended cute lilly baby and janie while sister becky was watching jax get recognized for being awesome. the three of us had such a delightful time watching beauty and the beast until it stopped working and then various episodes of curious george and mickey's playhouse. i even stayed after they got home and watched the rest of the kids while becky and kevin went on a date so it was pretty much all day becks fest and i loved it. my nieces and nephews are the best. and did you know my sister's name is becky and her last name is beck? i forget that might seem weird to people since it has been her name for like 20 years but i think it has a real nice ring to it.

anyway.

the next day was spent meeting baby olive and getting ready to go to texas. at about 9:30 pm i realized that i hadn't had any dinner and finding something to make sounded like the worst idea. so as i brainstormed i realized i live like five seconds away from zupas and if i got there fast i could make it before they closed! so i threw my coat on and ran out my door and looked way dreamy, as you can see above, with my free USU homecoming 2010 sweatshirt that just screamed "i  have no idea why i'm here alone on a saturday night!". it felt kind of liberating going to a restaurant by myself and i felt so productive making a packing list while i sat and ate! i'd like to thank their chicken pesto panini for giving me the motivation to have a dinner date with myself that night. i thoroughly enjoyed it.

sunday night i debated going to visit sister kim and family but it was pretty late so i had a hard time deciding until she bribed me with her coldstone making ice cream skills and might i say it was delicious. and it was so good to see their cute family for a little bit! they had been in st. george for a triathlon the week before but somehow it felt as if i hadn't seen them in forever.

the early hours of monday morning were spent at the salt lake temple. since it was so early it was pretty slow  making it so quiet and peaceful. many of the lights were on coming out of the temple because it was still somewhat dark. i had never seen the lights at temple square in the morning! (nor did i know they even were on in the morning) so it felt like a completely new experience. it was just as quiet and peaceful outside of the temple as it was in, which was such a nice contrast from the usual holiday crowds. i wish i started more mornings like that.

next up = breaking dawn.

these pictures really have nothing to do with breaking dawn except for the part where i loved these life size chipmunks entering and exiting the theater.

now we debated about going to see this but finally decided we had to since we already watched the other three. since it had already been out for a few days i had heard quite a few reviews and had rather low expectations. i second the opinion of this blogger in saying this movie was BONKERS but yet felt entertained and didn't understand why everyone was being so crazy about it. i mean yeah, it really was nuts and i had to close my eyes during their honeymoon loving and every time gross pregnant bella came on the screen because i couldn't handle looking at her bony body and when edward ripped the baby vampire out of her womb with his mouth but how is that any different than any other movie?
and how about alice being on pan am the other night? anyone else recognize that little vamp?!

aaaaaand on to texas time.

my sister brought it to my attention that today is

walt's birthday!!! 

this is very exciting news and i'm glad she told me! also sad i didn't know that on my own.

happy birthday walter elias disney!! 

i did however know his middle name was elias

..so that should count for something

and speaking of my sister - natalie is her name - she so happened to make some appearances in some ensigns back in 1993 and my mom being the good saver that she is kept the issues! 

*to my knowledge she was just posing for this article and in fact did not have an eating disorder haha

i have no memory of seeing them before so it was a real treat when my mom showed me today.
as i looked at them i have to wonder if she was my subconscious inspiration for the photo taken below?

i mean it has been known to happen in the past. 

*disclaimer: i am not being serious in that photo above! i hate that i have to explain that.

i just have a thing for my sisters and how they worked the early 90's i guess! and walt of course.

sadder.

so.

once upon a time i took some music video stills for this music video by nik day.

fast forward a few months and i planned a lunch date with these girls

thanks for letting me steal this picture danielle!

well.

i was asked by tucker (who directed the last video) to take some stills of nik's newest music video that they would be shooting that very same date and at the very same time as lunch date with girls!

this was quite the dilemma but i knew this was probably my only chance to see girfs since danielle is getting married and leandra is moving to texas..so i declined.

i was so sad i had to turn him down (but the lunch was fantastic and 100% worth it just to throw it out there) and as i saw the pictures that were taken i was even sadder (get it?) that i missed it!

but the good news is it was released today!

i feel this is the best one yet and i just wanted to make it real easy for you to watch it, fall in love with it, and then watch/listen to it over and over as i have done this afternoon.

i present to you:
 "sadder" by nik day

Directed by Tucker T Dansie
Director of Photography Roderick A. Santiano

was that not so great?! tucker and rod have some serious talent. and nik of course.

..and how about that clown! i wonder who that creepy guy was