One Half of a Roper Twin's Life

Annapolis

2011-11-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving - The Tree Hunt

2011-11-29T14:24:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. Including the family tradition of going a cutting down our Christmas Tree. Can you find everyone in the picture?

This is the whole gang that was Christmas Tree Hunting. We had a lot of fun!

Halloween

2011-11-01T15:08:00.001-07:00

Halloween seem to last forever. Maybe that was because it was celebrated the whole weekend.

We dressed up twice.... this holiday is not my favorite. But, maybe one of these days when we are super rich we can have extravagant costumes.

We dressed up as Wonder Woman... yup.

Then we dressed up as a good twin and a bad twin.

We switched are usual rolls. ;)

Van was having a rough night. He had the best costume made by his mom that was a bib that said, "These fools put my cape on backwards."

He had been crying and upset all night. So I skyped with him for a little bit. He stared right at me, didn't cry and listen to me talk to Bam and Co. Isn't he so cute? I can only imagine how much his parents love him cause I love him a lot. All I want to do is snuggle him and kiss him. I think Van is use to hearing my voice from when I was in DC and I talked to him over the phone (ya he was still in his mom's tummy but I had to start winning the favorite Aunt somewhere).

I can't wait to head home this weekend for his blessing and to snuggle with him.

Van Russell Roper

2011-10-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

We have a new little nephew. He is the cutest thing in the world. I love him, a lot.

We were headed home to Idaho for some water skiing and family this last weekend when my phone rang an hour into our drive. Brandon said the Co was headed into the hospital. We were able to get in some water skiing before heading to the hospital. He was born at 1:01 am. Everyone was hoping he would be born on Gabby's birthday. Luckily he did!

So we had an 18 year old and a new little baby.

He has the longest toes! He loved having his feet free! We spent most of our weekend planning trips up to snuggle the little man.

Van would get passed around to all of us. Isn't he adorable. I love the little wrinkles in his forehead!

I wish I could be snuggling and holding him right now! Being on speaker phone and hearing the little noises just isn't enough for me. I love his new baby smell! Mom and Dad are so cute with him.

Congrats Bam and Co! You guys are going to be great parents! But don't worry I will keep spoiling him rotten. We will have sleepovers and we will stay up past midnight, drinking soda, eating treats and candy, watching TV, throwing balls at Amanda, scaring her (you just say boo and she screams), making prank phone calls......

Washington DC

2011-08-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

This is one of the coolest paintings. The wood of the frame is from the battleship from this painting.

I have some great pictures from DC but too bad my computer has some issues....

I'm Alive

2011-08-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

The family made a 'flat Amelia' instead of a 'flat Stanley' for me during the yearly family vacation to the cabin.

I am alive.

Super busy, all the time.

I have tons of awesome pictures.

Lots of crazy things happening.

Crazy things happen on the metro and on the streets all the time. Crazy man 'preaching' and rapping about Jesus on the street corner.

I am headed to Utah to work out of that office next week. So excited to see my twin (and drive my car)

I get over heated really easily.

I have some life saving friends out here in DC: Megan who will always dance with you. Lisa who will do your laundry and go to Chipotle with you. Sarah who will go on adventures with you (where ever you want to go on those adventures) and eat a full box of jojo's.

DC is great. Its humid.

Virginia Beach

2011-05-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

I took a little trip down to Virginia Beach. It was well needed. My whole gang left for Jazz Fest in Louisiana so I headed south.

I saw a friend. ;) It was great. Let's be honest, he's a big reason why I am able to be out here with out my family (My name's Amelia, and I am addicted to my family.), seriously it would be so hard for me to be out here on the other side of the country with out a family member or someone I really liked and trusted 3 1/2 hrs away. I need to get my mom to come live with me. Or one of the sister's or my dad (he could work from here), or the bro or my niece or nephew (we should know at the end of this week! wahooo!).

This is rad. Boots and the beach.

I love the beach. The vitamin d wasn't much but just being there made me happy. Stress from work was gone.

Now I just need my kids to come visit me.

Boats. I love boats. I love water. I want to go on a boat. I want to go sailing away, far away.

Before I Left

2011-05-16T17:26:00.001-07:00

The night before I left this little guy came over with his family. He brought me a cafe that said we will miss you Amelia (they really wanted to say "see ya later sucker" and lots of treats.

He pretends he doesn't like my kisses but he really does.

He did a dance for us. The rocky dance. He was way into it.

It was a good thing that these guys came over the night before I left. They distracted me. I only teared up like 5 times. I think the parents were afraid to call me because they knew I was on an emotional roller coaster.... But sleep over's with your twin on her floor are worth it. It was a good thing I didn't ski the day I left (they closed the canyon for hours).

Easter Sunday we drove out to the Salt Flat for friend pictures. It started pouring rain right when we got to where we would go out onto them to take pictures. The salt flats were covered in water. We drove all the way Wendover. For no pictures. Rain and more rain. Water covered salt flats.

So we went back to the beginning on got some pic's. Love all these girl's. Miss these girl's. Glad they are there for my sister. Glad that Amanda was there to celebrate Melia's birthday, to make it special for her.

But this girl (Special - K) will be the first to come and visit me. Yea, I can't wait.

Twin's

2011-05-16T17:19:00.001-07:00

I have a twin. She isn't with me right now. It stinks. But I have pictures that we took together to keep me going. Or the baby twin pic she gave me before I left for DC.

She's not here to read my mine. She's not here to finish my sentences. She's not here to work out with.

But we can skype while we work. We watch each other work so its like we are working together like we use too

Washington DC

2011-05-10T19:50:00.000-07:00

I work in the building next to this one.
Its our nation's capitol.
No big deal.

I spend most of my time in an office. But every once in a while I get out.

The Capitol has great light fixtures.

Look closely. Curators are slowly going around the capitol and peeling off layers of paint back to the original paint.

This was down by an office in the Capitol.

An amazing place. That people fought for and died so we could all have our freedom's. Pretty incredible. You can still parts of the Capitol that burned during the war.

Come visit. I can get you lots of tours.

I'm On Sabbatical

2011-04-27T20:13:00.001-07:00

I'm here in DC. I am living in an Old School in a sweet apartment with our Office Manager. This is my view from my desk. I am the constituent coordinator. You want a tour, need something from Senator Lee's office, I am your woman. I will coordinate taking care of you with the staff.

This is what I saw when pulling in. Awesome. Come visit.

Wish my twin was here!

BRANDON

2011-04-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to our brother. He is the man. He can wear 70's swimming suits, while sporting a birthday hat and tear it up waterskiing.

He can handle his crazy sisters (which really means he joins in on the craziness with us by sporting awesome sunglasses, having certain contests, skiing..)

He has some of the best dance moves. He married an awesome gal who allows him to get crazy with his sisters and family.

He will drive 6 hours late one night because a huge snow storm is coming, but then when it doesn't dump nearly has much pow as planned, he is not mad.

He is also going to be the best baby daddy (who wouldn't if you learned from our dad)!

He is also a LEGIT LAWYER!!!!

Moab

2011-03-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

Went on a little trip to Moab. We had crazy weather.

We never had rain showers they circled around us.

But, we had a rainbow.

We rode Cliff Hanger one day.

Home

2011-03-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

Yup, that's right I'm going to be an aunt. I might be the most excited about it. I've already bought the baby presents. I might always look in the baby sections when I'm shopping now. I can't wait. Enough said.

While home we played gestures. Its a family favorite.

We get into.

We make faces.

Grandma Hansen was also in Boise for our visit home. We ate lots and played hard. We shopped and baked. Trips home always fill up the battery.

We saw the little one's who aren't so little anymore. Its crazy how big these two are. I started watching these two when Lilly was a newborn. Its crazy how much I love these two.

Amanda played dress up with Jack and then played nerf guns.

Vegas Part 2

2011-03-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

To say the least we had some fun.

As our mom says she is glad we don't like the clubs and to stay out all night because "that's where the guys who are cheating on their husbands go." Our mom is awesome.

Meet some Sweeds who live in Norway.

Saw friends from High School in the Bellagio.

Had a photo shoot on the strip.

Vegas

2011-03-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

We took a little trip to Vegas for some time in the sun. We finally got Special K to jump in our jumping picture.

Here are some random shots from the weekend.

Cutest Kid Ever

2011-03-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Stella and Landry came up for a day of lunch and shopping.

Stella sleeped while Amanda worked. She woke up and she watched movies and ate popcorn with Amanda.

Isn't she adorable?

Pinnacle Performance

2011-03-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

I have always known my body was out of alignment ever since the car accident 5 years ago. I thought I had tried everything I could to not be in pain every day. My back has hurt every day for 5 years. Some days are better than others. A friend who is a physical therapist told me I needed to try this place that does physical therapy but also manipulation and pilates.

Long story short, went once to one lady who was just a PT. Wasn't anything different from the other PT's I have seen. Then they were able to get me in with the owner. A little skeptical (its pricey) at first but went anyways. I went and I am so happy I did. For the first time since the car accident I have hope that I wont always be in pain. For the next three weeks I will be working with these ladies three times a week. I can already tell a difference. Not to bore you but, I knew in my lower back that my bones were all scrunched together. I was right. My innominate and coccyx are jammed together and both sides of the innominate are jammed with one in front of the other. Hip joint and everything else are twisted to the right, causing problems in my knee (which showed up this last summer, IT band to be exact). My upper spine curves in order to keep my head and eyes level. In short, it equals pain, but soon I will be able to set myself back straight and do pilates every day to keep my muscles tight.

Hope.

I wish I would have heard about this lady sooner. All of my health care is being provided together. A chiropractor, PT, and massage therapist all in one.

This will be the new way PT's are trained. You have to first fix the anchor of all pain. You can't just focus on one thing. If you have back pain, check these ladies out. Worth every penny. Pinnacle Performance in Salt Lake.

Powder Mountain

2011-03-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

This one time we got to go to Powder Mountain skiing. We got to Cat Skiing to be exact.

Seriously so much fun.

Jo Jo was able to join us.

The first picture is one of my favorite.

It was a great day, seriously awesome. This pic is awesome because you can see me in the back ground taking the pic.

Such an awesome pic.

Christmas

2011-01-21T00:42:00.000-08:00

We were Santa's Sleigh. Mom and dad got a garden gnome for their new wooden glen in the backyard. He moves around a lot. He was an arm rest for Klomp and Wylie. Notice what is on my lap. Someone got me a gift that was not expected.

He is always throwin his attitude around and workin the camera.

Amanda was so lucky.

They got some new sunglasses from us...

Notice what his headband says.... Amanda got it from Olivia... it has a background story.

Christmas was great. Us girls are going to sew ourselves some purses (really mom is going to do it at least for Amanda and I).

It was a break filled with lots of pies and family fun. Now that Co and Brandon are in Boise we can have parties with the whole fam when we head home.

Life is great. Many decisions to come. But until then, why not live it up?!

Maaco Bowl

2011-01-21T00:23:00.000-08:00

Someone had a 30th birthday. Someone else go tickets for this person's birthday to the Maaco Bowl to watch his team (Utah) get killed by Boise State.

We had a great time. Hung out on the strip. I got to see the Christensen's. So glad I got to see that family.

We ate at Serendipity 3. It has nothing on New York.

Kristen came along with us. She wanted to be wearing blue but had to wear red because of who she got her ticket from.

This is when Boise State won. Look at all those sad Utah fans.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T16:17:00.000-08:00

I should be working on my resume, but Amanda and I just got back from a great Thanksgiving Break in Idaho.

Drove the Roper family's new Cruiser, hung with Solomon, and hate 9 homemade pie's!!

There is one thing in the Roper house that is always homemade and that is pies! Mom is a magician when it comes to making pies. She even made another pie two days after Thanksgiving because dad wanted another chocolate cream pie. We are blessed in our house for a mother who makes homemade treats and a father who makes homemade rolls. Everyone be jealous, I know you are.

The Roper family went Christmas tree hunting. We ended up not going towards Banks and instead went up to Idaho City due to weather. Its true I thought we were going to get stuck on the road, but one should never doubt Father Roper. Not only can he laso 4 Christmas trees on top of his car, he can put up with 5 back seat and 1 co-pilot driver. Everyone need's a Tab Roper.

(Wood statues at the Idaho City Visitors Center, that woman is blessed)

Gabby and I had a photo shoot while sitting on the couch Sunday night. We had a blast.

Lake Powell - Round 3

2010-10-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

I got invited on a family vacation to Lake Powell for round 3 in a month. This trip top off one of the greatest summers.

We went and saw Rainbow Bridge. It was a great little boat ride to Dangling Rope Marina. Where we ate ice cream.

We went up an awesome secret canyon to get glassy smooth water that made for awesome pictures and great water skiing.

We stayed in an awesome cove by buoy 23 so we could have awesome water skiing water, and easy access to Dangling Rope Marina for gas. We had three awesome boats to enjoy the water with. Little girls to play hair with and have dance parties with. A hot tub on top of the houseboat to warm up after the early morning water skiing and home cooked meals every day.

2010-10-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

We went to Lake Powell try and fix the last trip that was not too fun.
Its a long story, so you will get the quick version.

- Powellpalooza was going on. Lots of hippies, mostly old.
- We hit a rock bar with a boat the first day, we didn't end up on the house boat.
- We stayed in a Motel 6 for three nights.
- We had tons of fun with our little group.
- We were serenaded multiple times at Antelope Point
- We meet an awesome couple who:
- Took us out on the lake
- We stayed at their guest house in St. George
- We had tons of fun even though the trip did not end up like anyone was expecting.

Wasatch 100

2010-09-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Jordan decided to do the Wasatch 100 again. He is crazy. Here are pictures of his feast before, and at different miles and then at the end. Jo Jo stayed that night with us so we could ice and elevate his foot and make sure that he was well taken care of. To celebrate we had pizza at the Ward house which included dancing for hours, and volleyball. You can see me volleyball injury in the hand picture. Ouch.

Water Canyon

2010-09-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

The morning after the awesome garage we woke up at 5 to go on a hike. I know you all think I hate hiking. I haven't loved it until this point. I also will do anything (moral that is) to make the boss happy. We meet a different Representative in Hurricane and drove up through Colorado City (where the polygamists are so creepy and wrong) to the trail head of Water Canyon. 2 miles and 2,000 vertical (my work people made fun of me for using the correct language.... whatever).

You would never think this is behind Colorado City.

You can't even see all of the crazy canyons, and rock points etc in this picture.

Nothing is complete without the 'fake' smile from me! I was just happy to have gotten to the top.

If anyone knows how to make a collage out of my pictures for my blog I would love to know.

This One Time...

2010-09-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

For work I had the opportunity to see the coolest garage. For work we took a little trip down to St. George. In Santa Clara we meet a Representative at his 'garage' (I thought it was his work garage). I recruited this Representative to allow our company M 51 (new things to come about this) to run his campaign for him.

He has a garage just for his cars that have been completely restored. I was in heaven. He had old restored gas pumps. Old school candy. He has a whole other garage for the cars he is currently working on and restoring.

We did just get back from an awesome trip to the cabin. More on that.

Baby Stella

2010-08-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

Our bff Natalie left for PA school with her husband for medical school in Ohio last week. So we had a girl night at Landry's with Megan, Natalie, Amanda, Landry's sweet mother, and I. It was so much fun (no picture of the girls yet).

Our old roommate Landry has a little one named Stella. She is so stinking cute. Amanda and I were all over this little one. She didn't know quite how to take all of the hustle and bustle of the twins. She started crying while I was holding her, twice. The first was because Amanda said something to her.

But, then she crawled over to me later, gave me this look. She loves me secretly. She will love me more after we have a pool day together.

Look at those eyes. She is so cute and beautiful, and those checks I can't get enough of them!

Stella loves the Popsicle. Please notice how cute that rug is. Our lady Landry has such a cute house and she is so cute!

Landry also has chickens. Those feet/talons scare me. After the Gwin's chickens and having to capture them (or having my dad do it for me) I am terrified of them!

Update

2010-08-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

Melia came to town with her family. They stayed up at Snowbird. We spend some time up at the pool on top of the Cliff Lodge. Pool, mountains, cliffs, waterfalls, and Melia, nothing better.

Shelly came into town. So, the "girls" minus a few key ladies went to a party and then hit up Greenstreet for some dancing. Nobody was on the dance floor when we got there, we started the dance party with our crew, which followed up with the DJ coming back.

Line of the night to me, from the big black bouncer who was lovin us, "no booty calls on the dance floor!" "Show me your stanky leg."

We needed a late night snack of lucky charms.

After my weekend in McCall the little sister had shoulder surgery. Mom and I spent two days taking care of this one. There was no sleeping for us. We had a sleepover in my room so we could give Gabby her meds all night long and be there if she needed something, which happened a lot. Solomon was worried about the little sister, but he was scared of her too, he would check on her and then run away.

Little sister was a trooper through it all, she even stopped with her pain killers two days after. Most people who have this surgery say its the worst pain of their life, Gabby was lucky.

Mom and I had so much fun while I was home, Gabby was also pretty fun ;)!

Sending Good Thoughts To This Kid

2010-07-26T23:11:00.000-07:00

So he is not really a kid but the big brother to a whole gaggle of sisters. But we are sending good thoughts and prayers to him tomorrow and Wednesday.

He is the man. Or as we say Brandon 'the shiz' Roper. Not, Brand 'em Russell them and Rope them Roper!

McCall

2010-07-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

In June I got to spend a weekend in McCall with my two "kids" with the help of the little sister.

One night I got out of the shower and Jack said "Melia, your hair is crazy like my hair!"
So we decided to take some pictures of our crazy hair with crazy faces.

We had a party the whole weekend for Jack.

Including dinner at Chapalas with a sombrero and singing.

The night before we sang happy birthday and ate cake at the end of the dock. Jack is dressed in how he always is for McCall. Shorts and nothin else. Ready for the water!

We cut Jack's cake just right so it said his name! Love that kid.
We have had some great times together.
From when he was a newborn baby.
He is like me, he loves his sleep, he could sleep until noon some days!
He loves to snuggle and watch cartoons.
He loves sleepovers.
He use to not be able to say my name, so he would just make a bunch of noises when he would call for me. Then it transformed into Meli. Well, that has stuck.
Jack always gets super excited when I show up at his door. He loves to run and jump into my arms and wrap himself around my legs. Always puts a huge smile on my face.

We spent a lot of time on the beach hanging out. As you can see I am teaching Lilly well. It has only taken me 8 years but i have succeeded!

We had to perform a little surgery on her foot. But, who got the sliver out? Gabby. She is so good!

What We Saw At A Party...

2010-07-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

We covertly took a picture of something we saw at a party. Notice man in blue shorts. Fashion no no. Even if you are super confident. That was a scary sight.

Rodeo's

2010-07-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

We have been to a lot of Rodeo's lately!

We were lucky enough to go to the Oakley Rodeo with the Van Den Akker Family.

We went to the Ogden Rodeo.

The next night we went to the Days of 47 Rodeo

What can we say. We hold true to our last night, ROPER!

We live and love rodeos!

A Few Duck Pictures

2010-07-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

I will post more duck pictures once I can get my pictures from my camera and not my phone... but for those who are waiting... Ok Susan this is for you!

Father's Day

2010-07-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

The Twin and I are alive, my computer died so my iPhone has been mode of working.

For fathers day Cody and Brandon were headed to Boise. So we loaded up the volvo and headed home.

I had a little friend sleep over one night. He got to go up on the lake with us and sleep over with 'Meli'. Lucky Kid.

Oh and did I mention I have the world's best father. If you anyone knew everything he has done for myself and the siblings you would say wow. Anything I ask my dad he some how gets er done. Who do I call at 2 in the morning from the side of the freeway? Dad. Or after the car breaks down when Flying J fills my tank with water? Dad. When Amanda doesn't want to fly? Dad. Worlds Best Dad.

BRR = JD

2010-06-10T10:46:00.001-07:00

The whole family meet in Denver to see this crazy kid graduate with his JD and Masters in Real Estate Business or something fancy like that.

I flew from Las Vegas to Salt Lake were Amanda got on the plane and we flew to Denver. Where we meet the 3 stooges from Boise (Mom, Dad and Gabby).

From then on it was a party!

Which included dancing, like always.

Shopping, which included dancing.

I'm Back

2010-06-10T10:42:00.001-07:00

I am home from my month long extravaganza. Vegas was lovely, Duck Beach was heavenly.

More to come on both....

Who else can say....

2010-05-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

They were able to walk down the Las Vegas strip in a parade?
Well we can.

Who can say they rode down the strip in the back of the dump truck? We can.

We will soon be running against Reid!

Dump Reid! Vote Chad!

Elvis still lives. In all races.

My Digs For The Next Month

2010-05-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

That's the strip and all it's lights. Our view.

It's campaign season. We do crazy things when we are working. We have an arsenal of nerf guns.

Changes

2010-05-07T14:54:00.001-07:00

Update:
- Amanda is alive.
- Half of my face was numb at one point also.
- We skied fresh powder two days. 7 feet in 7 days. Again. Look at those lines we just skied (in the picture)! We were the 4th and 5th person to ski down. It was heavenly waist deep pow. I tore it up for Amanda, she witnessed it. Showed all the guys up!
- Changes are coming to the twin's house come Monday. Hopefully we both survive.
- We head to Denver in a few weeks! Party! The whole family is coming! So maybe I will have to sit at the airport and wait for 2 hours for the rest of the family, who cares, I will play on my sweet phone!
- I have bought a new set of plane tickets
- BYU's Family Home and Social Science Newsletter decided to write a spotlight piece up on me.
- I am getting ready to leave my sister, for the longest time in our 24 years of being alive.
- I meet President Samuelson, after having bought 100 BYU footballs.
- Meet Karl Rove, got a picture with him and a signed copy of his book.
- Did I mention I skied waist deep powder in May?

Just Call Me Nurse Amelia

2010-04-28T01:02:00.000-07:00

Please notice how only part of her mouth is going up.... she has amnesia of this little car ride home.

It use to be Amanda always taking care of me.

Well today Amanda had to be sedated to have a root canal done (not your typical one, think really really bad).

Wylie had to scoop Amanda up and carry her up the front steps and into the house because Amanda was just falling out of the car and could not stand up.

Melia came to help me too. She stayed with the sedated girl so I could go get Amanda's prescriptions and what not. Those two saved my life tonight.

This video is long, but well worth a little watch. It is soooo funny! The last bit is the best part!

Update

2010-04-27T00:54:00.001-07:00

We got our hair cut. I love mine. Amanda's looks hot. We are planning for our trip to Duck Beach. I buy things for the beach. I am counting down the days. Plus, May is 'vaca' month! To Denver we go soon!

I Could Use...

2010-04-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

We were going to go here this weekend because the weather was suppose to be bad in Salt Lake. But, it doesn't look like its working out.

So instead I could use some of this....

and this

little bit of that

and a piece of him

(Please disregard the ugly hair and stupid facial expression)

I Want To Be Here

2010-04-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Bro and Sis-In-Law

2010-04-14T18:40:00.000-07:00

The dough heads for Denver decided that they were sick of hearing about out it snowed 7 feet in 7 days!! Yes its true, so last week they jumped in the car at 5, after skipping work to come party and ski with us! Yes, we had another day of powder. So last week we had 3 days of powder. This week it has been 2.

Heaven = Utah!

So Brando, Cody and Jeff all think they are rockstars and should jump off of everything... whateve

Spring Skiing

2010-04-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

Now isn't that just precious. We had another sick ski day. We had another steep day of powder. But it was a bluebird day today! Don't be jealous!

Twin Moments

2010-04-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

We have had some ridiculous twin moments in our lives, I will be adding to this...

1. Amanda and I are standing facing the inside of a store, a lady (who clearly is on something) walks in from behind us. While she is walking up from behind us she says, "you guys are identical twins huh?" Creepy, what do our bums look the same?

2. Do you guys wake up in the morning and forget which twin you are?

A Love Me A Good Spring Day

2010-04-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

I love a good spring day of skiing.... 14" of freshies (that is an understatement of how many inches).

Just Manda and I spending a day of skiing. I love skiing a hundred dollar day for free. I love skiing lots of powder in April. Be jealous all. And please look closely at how deep the snow is. Thigh deep powder baby!!!

One Day

2010-04-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

I will have a bathroom like this. Seriously, I will own nice bags and awesome shoes to fill the storage areas with. But, my bathroom sink will be much higher.

Melia Came For A Visit

2010-03-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

Melia came over for a visit and sleepover. She brought us Easter treats. Yum. We all ate dinner together.

Then we got bunny shaped marshmallows. We celebrated a little early for Easter. Yum. Love it when Mel comes to town. When ski season is over we will be shopping and working out together! She may not know that yet, but now she does! :)

Family Came to Town

2010-03-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

Dad hung this new beauty for me.

The family came to town for spring break. Mom and I went shopping on Saturday. Only in Park City do you see hats like this, or Sun Valley. This lady was so east coast. Yelling across the restaurant, talking way too loud, and out of control.

Love it when family comes to town. We decorate and got a new couch and chair.

Boise

2010-03-31T20:31:00.001-07:00

At the end of the session I flew to Boise. I got the kids after a day only I could have. I was able to do something I didn't think I would be able to do. Mom put someone in their place, my hero.
Kids told me they were in need of a snack after I picked them up from the bus.
We went for ice cream.

Manda only wanted some bites of mine...

Jack went with 'playdough'.

The most colorful ice cream he could get. He was on fire!

To distract ourselves we played some rockband, Beatles style. Jack is focused here.

A trip to the costume shop.

A trip to the Stagecoach Restaraunt. Apparently a Boise landmark.

The Roper family + the Gwin Family = one heck of a party!

Their coconut cream pie is amazing. I crave it daily. Thanks to my family and friends for being their for me.

Skiing Adventures

2010-03-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

Amanda always wonders why we tell her to dance for us and then turn on music.

What Work Looks Like For Me

2010-03-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

This is a week late. But, this is a sweet view. Look at those awesome mountains and the colors in the sky.

This is a week late.

This is what we saw at lunch, while sitting outside eating. There was a a cop car speeding into the park. Then there was a big old fat cop chasing this guy in the gray sweatshirt, yelling "stop him, stop him." Guy from restaurant runs out and throws the guy down. 20 seconds later a bunch of undercover cops speed up. The cops mission to catch this guy went really wrong, bad communication apparently. The cops were looking for the drugs the guy had thrown onto the grown while he was running. Sorry for the bad picture iPhone zoomed in.

Then we went back to the Capitol for some of this...

This is what we do at work, we have sing-a-long's for birthday's, people sing you would never expect to know how sing....

I could of died today...

2010-03-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

I am thankful for my helmet today while skiing.....

The reenactment of the fall by Jordan Ward...

After that crash, I was slammed face first onto the hard snow causing whip lash. My body hurts needless to say and well it was quite funny after the fact.

Update: Bruises are still here, still hurt.

But I was elected a State Delegate a few hours after my fall. Awesome. Except for the phone calls that keep coming in now...

We Had A Birthday.....

2010-03-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

We (the twin and I) had a birthday:
- We had a birthday weekend.
- Dad came to town for some cat skiing.
- No new snow so we ended up at the resort with good food, Snowbasin. My new favorite resort. I will be skiing there a lot more.
- Our ski group included dad, Amanda, Jeff, our own tour guide (ski patroller - he showed us the good spots) and then Lindsay's brother Eric, and dad came and joined us for a few runs. The picture below is of Amanda and Eric crashing into each other.

- We love Snowbasin and the awesome cliffs, the "beer can", and the awesome snow.

- We love Snowbasin because of its amazing lodges, nothing is better than an amazing toilet and an amazing view for lunch!

- We had birthday lunch with the Grandparents, Uncle Craig's family and the Gerrards, I love me some Goodwood!
- Mom sent us some awesome presents with Dad which we waited all day to open. I love my new apron and dish!! I have an awesome family!
- On Sunday our actual Birthday we hung out with Dad then headed over to Gerrards. This pup greeted us.
- The Gerrards make us feel special.

- Max made me a penguin. I am so lucky!
- After birthday lunch with them we headed up to Lindsay's parents house for birthday dinner. Little did all of Kelly's friends know what they were getting. Eric made us an awesome birthday cake and sung to us! The Larsen family is awesome. We could just hang out with them all the time, all we do is laugh!

- Nat came to town the next weekend. So we celebrated again. We went to dinner and Macaroni Grill with lots of friends. We had an awesome friend treat us to dinner, thanks Dave!
- Melia is awesome, that girl makes me happy!
- Then we went to a white trash bar for some karaoke, everyone there was way into it.
- We ditched that after 45 minutes and headed to Greenstreet for some dancing! Love it.
- When Nat comes to town I feel as if I can talk ghetto, Nat please come all the time cause I love talking ghetto.

- Then we all had a sleepover at our house! I love it when friends come to stay! Everyone please come and stay with us!

Thanks all of our friends for making our birthday special! Thanks all of our family and family of our friends for making our day! We love you all!

President's Day

2010-02-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

This is the first day during the session I have been bored...... Some girls got a hold of my iPhone while I left the room for a second. This is what I found.

These girls are crazy, I love that I found these on my phone.

I am also craving a day of skiing and this to end it off with. We had so much fun spending President's day skiing with these girls, there dad was also there. Who was the one that took these two girls back up for another run after the other two were too wet and cold... that is right, I did!

Porcupine Grill

2010-02-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

Dinner last night. Lots of laughing. One of us forgot we were in public...

This spicy, popping, firecracker chocolate from San Diego caused this video below.

Boise for 24

2010-02-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

I flew to Boise for literally 24 hours. Let's just say "whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger."

I called and stole my two "children" for the evening. These are the kind of pictures you get when Jack takes your phone. Jack is the one with the long surfer blond hair.

The picture below is while Jack and I were leg wrestling.

Jack took this picture of Solomon. He wanted to be able to take a picture and shake the phone, (the Polaroid ap for iPhone).

Taylor Swift came on. Jack made this comment. Lilly, Mom, Gabs and I made him redo his comment so we could get it on video. It was hilarious.

Just a little video of our trip in the car.

Another Day on The Job

2010-02-08T19:51:00.001-08:00

Today was an awesome day at work.

We had some exchange students from Russia, Moldova, and one from Tajikistan. So we went to lunch and had an inside tour of the Tabernacle from the President of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Mr Mac, from the Mr Mac commercials. He was awesome, a volunteer who show's up to work at 7 am to 7 pm.

The first picture is a view of the Tabernacle, from the front.

The second picture is of the organ in the Tabernacle.

President Christiansen told me I needed a gold star on my forehead for working for my boss. He also took us into the President's room, where every President from Brigham Young on up sat in the room before Conference or other performances. An amazing day is only describing it lightly. The 8 of us in the group all got the new Motab CD. We saw the dressing rooms for the choir. The practice room for the Orchestra. We meet Clay Christiansen one of the main organists for the choir.

3rd Day of Session... and its already crazy

2010-01-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

*I do not care what your political views you have, but when either side obviously deceives the other side you are wrong. Reed Cowan was trying to get his meal ticket for the rest of his life, well Reed you are a liar. I don't believe everything my boss from a different era does but I do dislike liars.

Please go to this link. I hate the Salt Lake Tribune, they are clearly biased in everything that they report on. I was in the office during this interview. I told my boss not to do the interview because I could "tell" that it was a setup, I had a feeling... I was right. Wearing a BYU jacket does not matter, should not matter on how you would trust them. But when you and the lady next to you are wearing wedding rings, and you act like you are married, you talk about your daughter, you hold your "wives" leg, she rubs your back, you say you are doing an EQUAL comparison of the entire Prop 8. You tricked my boss you didn't trick me. He wont resign.

My days of sleeping in until 9 and working out for 2 hours, working on my own schedule has changed dramatically. To waking up at 6 and being to work by 7:30, working late, not having time for myself, having my phone die by 2 in the afternoon, having to park a mile away, having my job changed but working now for a fantastic boss who knows everything that is going on. To going to bed at 10 and feeling great about it.

FHE Last Week

2010-01-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

For FHE last week after our day of skiing Megan made all of us dinner, the girls had an awesome lesson and we had a competition with playdough. The first picture is of what 4 of us sculpted. I did and outhouse, Amanda's was next, you can guess what that is and then the artist Megan and Max did the last.

20 bucks for whoever can guess what the one on the left is. Someone couldn't get past the potty talk. Don't judge.

Syde's teeth with braces!

MLK Day

2010-01-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

What do you do when kids don't have school? You take them to Wolf Mountain. Too bad we didn't get any pictures of Syde, she now doesn't do the pizza! Hardest terrain I have ever skied.

She wanted a tram.

He was sad he wasn't at snowbird.. but they are lacking in snow.

That is Jeff doing a jump. It hurt....

Amanda started dancing at the 'barn' at Wolf... she had been dancing before this with even better dance moves. Everybody was watching her and laughing at her. Hilarious.

Melia

2010-01-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

When life throws you a curve ball, for example work changes, or you get strep (for the 2nd time, 5th time of being really sick in the last few months) that turns into a nasty cold... everyone should have one of these smiling faces to meet you when you get home work.

She:
A. Goes and works out with you.
B. Wears workout pants and a white V with you to lunch.
C. Buys you lunch.
D. Lets you get a diet coke.
C. Goes to consignment stores with you.
E. Cancels her plans for the evening.
F. Does homework while you do yoga and doesn't laugh at you.
G. Goes to the sauna... and teachers you sister new dance moves.
H. Her name is almost like your name, just add an A at the beginning.

Melia. Melia Harris that is

I. And she brings you cheesecake on random days.

We Had Lessons Last Night

2010-01-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

Just a picture into what happened at our house last night.... yes Christmas tree is still up. We don't want to take down our tree that is still alive and beautiful, it will be coming down this week. Watch at your own will, its a recap of what we all learned last night. If you want to see the other video's (that are even more hilarious) come visit.

Christmas Day One

2010-01-06T16:53:00.000-08:00

We made it home the day before Christmas Eve because a huge snow storm came the day we were suppose to head home. We were greeted at home by not only the fam but Brandon and Cody, also Lily and Jack.

We all went to dinner to the best Mexican place. It tops Cafe Rio, Costa Vida, Bajio, anything in Utah. La Tapatia is what I crave almost every night for dinner. It is nicknamed La at my house. "So, are we headed to La for dinner?" You would easily know its our favorite if you just went there once with our family. They know the family. The owners always come out to shake my dad's hand, ask him how life is, they know about when each other are having surgeries on knees, they pass each other on runs. We always have the same waiter. The kid is awesome, he knows exactly what my little sister, mom and dad usually want. We went there twice while we were home.

These two were doing weird things with there hands while at dinner. Okay, so little sister Gabby can stretch and twist her hands in crazy ways.

We then went home for the annual dance off. This is the first year I participated. Don't judge by our awesome costumes. Jack wanted me on his team bad, so of course I couldn't say no. Amanda and Lily were on one team. Jack and I on a team with Gabby joining later. My team had awesome costumes, Amanda's team had awesome dance moves.

April (Jack and Lily's mom) was busy wrapping presents but didn't have time to clean up before she went out. This is what the kids and I found when we got home from dinner and the dance off. We all thought it was hilarious.

Adventures of the Panda

2010-01-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

Amanda got his Panda Bear from our cousins. They were so excited to give it to her! I was so excited for her to get it. Amanda's nickname is Panda, she does what the Panda does. They were meant to be together.

The picture above is of the lovin Amanda got after she was given her Panda, or it was after the other pets were given to Max. Not sure. Max loves us, guys watch out you have some major competition.

Here is Panda being loved and buckled in by Clay while we are on our way to drop Clay off and head up to Huntsville to go see Lindsay's family. It was a party. More pictures of that later.

WATCH THE VIDEO!

Panda found its baby. Panda went to Idaho for Christmas. Everyone loves Panda.

The video of why the Panda was given to Amanda.

Oops

2009-12-17T23:18:00.000-08:00

So maybe my gas gauge is broken most of the time (as of recent). So maybe I thought I had gas in the car. So maybe I usually use my mileage but I thought I was going to costco soon... So we ran out of gas coming home from Provo.

This is Ryan, everyone needs a friend like him. He came to our rescue after the trooper (no it was not 'my' trooper, oh but I wish it had been) who pushed us farther off the road. Ryan brought a milk jug of gas. Glad it wasn't a 5 degree night.
The battery died, the jumper cables that I thought were in my car weren't. So, after the stranger stopped, we also needed tools. So these two guys also drove out to help (below).

Luckily, a volvo's battery is in the trunk. Good thing our friend Gosman has strong muscles to get the cover off the battery. Dean always likes to have dance parties, we love that. Thanks guys for coming and not judging!

Everyone decided that they should fill up on gas while I did. Just to be safe.

How many people does it take to fix a car that has run out of gas?
- 2 Girls
- 3 dudes
- 1 stranger
- 2 troopers stopping
- 4 cars (6 if you count the troopers)

Sorry folks, thought I had gas, don't worry the volvo is getting its gas gauge fixed over Christmas.

Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert

2009-12-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

We got some not so great tickets to Mo Tab's Christmas concert featuring Natalie Cole and Peter McCullough. Then, I got some tickets with great seats. Natalie and Stephen meet us also.

We may have valet parked the volvo because it was so cold outside. So we could enjoy a flaming turtle at the Melting Pot. Yum.

New Favorite Thing

2009-12-13T22:20:00.000-08:00

These are my new North Face Akira Sport Pant. Amazing. I live in them all day. If I am home I am in them. I work in them. I could work out in them but I want to keep them nice and clean. Love them. Get yourself a pair, you would be disappointed.

Lazy Sunday

2009-12-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

(My new iPhone app. Love it. Addicted to it.) This is our wreath that I had the genius idea of decorating it with ornaments, Amanda actually did it, I told her too. I got the idea from the decorating job I did last Christmas time with Kimmy when my job for the UTGOP had just ended and I was taking a breath after the 12 hour days during election time.

Amanda smells the wreath every time she walks by. I will be sitting on the couch when she gets home from work, she gets home, stops at the door and takes a big whiff of it, then when she comes downstairs she does it again.

Kimmy also helped me in buying the snowflakes, berries, and some of the ornaments for our tree last year. This is our tree this year. Yes home grown in the mountains of Idaho.

I made these today. They look like big globs. They are delicious big globs.

This is what we have been doing all day. We woke up at noon, maybe. Have been watching Christmas movies all day, blog stalking, looking for Christmas presents, and wishing it would snow more.

Governor's Christmas Party

2009-12-09T18:33:00.000-08:00

The Governor had his Christmas Open House last night. This Governor is awesome compared to the previous Gov. The new LG is the former Senator Bell. When we walked into their line to say hi, Bell said "hey, I know you" while he was pulling my hair. Awesome, level headed thinker. During my time while interning up at the capitol he was always so nice to me (even though he didn't fully agree with my boss). I am so happy for him and his sweet wife and their new adventures in leading this state.

Not the greatest picture of me... I think I need some highlights... Practice the camera smile, Amanda always makes fun of me, I am working on it. The Governors Mansion has a lot of walls this blue color.

Governor's Gala

2009-12-09T18:30:00.001-08:00

Just a little late.... these are 2 of the 4 pictures we took. The boys wanted to make an awkward prom pose... they did it.

Christmas Tree's and Family

2009-12-01T05:53:00.000-08:00

We went up into the land of the snow. Lots of snow.

We brought home five trees. Heaven.

Haha, Amanda thought it would be funny to take a picture of the dads wrestling the trees. So I took a picture of all three of them...

We were lucky enough to have the Gerrard family family come visit us for tree hunting and some shopping!

Powell's candy shop. They yell at you for taking pictures, or at least Amanda but not me. Those are awesome chocolates we usually only get when at the cabin.

The Gerrard family. Look closely. You can't fit anything else in that car. Jeff was lucky enough to get to drive with 2 Christmas trees! Thanks for bringing it back for us!! Look at the poor dog.... the back of the was like a den...

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T05:49:00.001-08:00

Amanda was tired after cooking pies..

We love nicknames at my house. We love fancy china with the awesome place cards made a long time ago. We were missing two people at our table this year....

The pies....

This is how we remember seeing a certain person in our family while we (the twins) were getting ready for school in the mornings. Solomon hadn't joined the family yet, but look how cute he is. I wish all vents were still on the floor so I could curl up with a blanket and have this massive puff!

Seattle Trip

2009-12-01T05:28:00.001-08:00

So, I don't have the energy to post a lot of pictures from the trip, but lets just say it was an awesome trip. Here are the pics from my iPhone...

I made it to Seattle, even though the Doctor told me to cancel my trip.. Jenny flew in from Yakima and meet us. Amanda found cardboard and made Jenny a sign for when she meet us at the luggage carousels.

The typical Seattle picture.

We played a lot of turbo sequins and Nertz.

Our plates of food at lunch on Friday while Jenny, Amanda and I went shopping were ridiculously long. Did I mention how I love shopping in Seattle.

We were on a search for lighthouses the entire time we were in Seattle. This is the Mukilteo lighthouse where our friend Shelly is from. Loved it. We saw another one... a rad one, but it was 10 degrees outside and dark, no pictures.

We had an awesome trip. Partied. Shopped. Ate. Had a Colony reunion with all the old roomies. And lots of other fun things.

Already planning our trip this summer so Lindsay can start on the 'places she is taking us' list!

Can't Sleep

2009-12-01T05:22:00.000-08:00

When I can't sleep I make myself an omelet, eat almost an entire thing of pomegranate seeds (not really but I ate a lot), look at blogs at how to decorate my room, try and build a table I bought in Boise.... that is how it is looking right now, I will have to wait for a man to do it. I have always wanted to build furniture.... but its not in my genetic make up.

Oh I also blog....

This Months Ensign

2009-11-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

My family is talented. My cousin Jeremy did this painted that is the front cover of the Ensign. I wish I could paint. I can't draw a straight line, but I can play an instrument here and there.... I had a news story wrote about me once by and ABC 4 Anchor, I was not proud of that one... just because I worked for a certain Senator did not mean I deserved a news article.....

My New Baby

2009-11-22T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well, this is the old one that I still have...

Bur, from this little baby from a boss 2 times ago...

To this:

My new boss got me one of these. He is great. The new iPhone 3Gs 32G. Its amazing. It entertains me. Its easier to get online from my blackberry. The email is a little bit more of a bummer. But, nertz on my phone, is awesome. I am addicted. I love it. I carry two phones. I have 3 phones but the one stays in my briefcase... Apparently, people really need to get a hold of me...

Brando don't be too jealous, when we come to visit in January (and over Christmas) you can play with it. Oh and sorry we forget to tell you we bought plane tickets.... :)

1 1/2 Years later and.......... A MIRACLE

2009-11-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

I AM SLEEPING ON A BED!!! After my car accident well... 2 1/2 years ago I have had major back problems. Everything hurts, I am like an old lady, I have an old lady lumbar pillow I drive with, sit at work with... I always have ice handy somewhere, my liver might be dead at some point, I am always bending funky ways to try and pop my back. After being in so much pain while at school, and 3 days a week at a PT while living downtown I decided to sleep on the floor one night, I never went back. After having gone to every mattress place, taken many a different person with me, purchased multiple beds, which is the funny part. Trying to get a queen mattress and box spring home in a jeep, doesn't work. Many people helped, the beds all went back. A miracle trip to Seattle. Lindsay had a futon from Ikea. I slept on it one night and did not wake up once from my back hurting. In the last 2 1/2 years that's amazing. So I spent 90 bucks on my mattress. That is right read that again. I spent roughly (I'm really bad at math) 10% of what I was going to on a bed. Ikea's bed frame's work with the futon mattress.

I can not get asked anymore, "did you just move in?" No I've been here over 6 months. I love sleeping in a bed! I love it is even heaven. I am not on the floor, spiders can't easily get me. I am getting ready to decorate, I am addicted to shopping now. Shopping for clothes and decorations.

My room is a disaster. So don't mind the picture. I am still getting my life back together from h1n1. I still have no energy from the swine, I still sleep in until 10, I can't get myself out of bed, seriously, don't get the swine.

Its snowing. We felt like decorating for Christmas.

Co, once my room is cleaned up and its a clean slate for decorating (I am hoping tomorrow I have the energy to clean my room I will post more pictures for you.). I am on the hunt for bedding, side tables, and a dresser.

I love having a bed.

I am currently listening to the snow plows outside. Heaven.

A Trip To Costco

2009-11-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Costco is like home to us. We go there when we are homesick. We go there when we are bored. We go there if we are stressed. We go there is we want food. We go there just to go there. We go there to look at the ring that I want someday. We go there party. We go there to ride horses......

We do not go to get talked to by a married guy on a daddy daughter date forever. Married guys, stay away from me. You creep me out. I don't want to know what you do for work. Thanks to my friend Wylie (sister in laws bro) he saved me from this crazy man. Creep go away.

Joshua James

2009-11-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

Friday night we went to a little concert for this guy. Never heard him really before tonight. We have some fun friends. We had Davey J, Ryan (R-Dizzel), Manda, and Carl (Carly she is a girl) that went with us. Party

You Might Think I'm Crazy...

2009-11-12T14:28:00.001-08:00

Because I'm not contagious anymore, still don't have a lot of energy, but I am going to this city, (Seattle) to play with this lady and her husband.

Our good friend Jenny is meeting us (the twins) in the airport to party with her. Hopefully, big sexy haired Shellese comes to join us also for one night. We wont be partying as much as if I was completely healthy, but we will still have a good time. Until Monday...... (that is if I survive)

Low White Blood Cells

2009-11-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Yes it is true I have had the swine. I felt like I had been run over by the swine flu bus at least 15 times. After going to the doctor on Thursday, being diagnosed with a sinus infection, getting drugs, going home and then all of a sudden feeling like I was dieing, to having a high fever all Thursday night, to go back to the doc on Friday to get swabbed and blood drawn; they knew in less that a minute I was positive for it.

Doc said apparently (for what I was able to comprehend, high fever makes me a little loopy) I had really low white blood cells and so I had the sinus and probably got smacked down with the swine. She wants me to get more white blood cells, I'm a politician, I don't know magic, I will pray for more white blood cells. The beginning of the days of hell. I didn't move until Saturday morning, even then I still stayed in my bedroom.

I have had this view for 5 days. Previous post would have been nice to of had during this time spent in my bedroom. I was highly contagious and Amanda didn't really want to get sick. Lets be honest, I was asleep most of the time. I can't remember the last time I slept this much. But, I could still sleep more. I still have no energy to do anything.

The line up of the drugs. Don't forget the mask.

This is what I ate for 5 days. The $5 dollar milk shake tasted gross. I couldn't taste it. The lovely TV that was placed perfectly for me to change the movies (the first 3 days I couldn't do it myself I was so weak), I have watched approx. 13 movies as of right now. I still have this evening to watch more.

I finally got some hot mexican food because I couldn't taste anything, it looks gross, but it sure tasted good. I slept the rest of the evening that night.

The only adventure out was with Amanda in the smart car I had all weekend to play with but wasn't able to. Lame.
My servant/nurse/sister/only one willing to risk getting sick to take care of me. If she wouldn't have taken care of me I would have withered away in pain, not made it back to the doctor, not been able to get my drugs from the pharmacy, not had any sprite, cheese and crackers, plentiful movies, or someone to call me a piggy. I owe her my life. She worked overtime for me. I love her. Thanks Sis for saving my life and making sure I stayed alive during the night.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise the swine is hell. To this day, the worst sickness beside pneumonia (which swine can turn into) was the swine. I felt like I can been run over by a semi truck and then had the truck back over me. If you can get the vaccine do it. I grew my little curly tail and will never do it again. Hopefully the doc says my white blood cell count is back up in 3 weeks.

I Need Help

2009-11-03T19:05:00.000-08:00

I want a sanctuary. Someone help me. Please.

This makes me laugh

2009-11-02T16:50:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2009-11-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

I don't really like Halloween.... This was from a few years ago.. Todd is fun. The three of us dressed up like pirates. We are original. Todd lives in New York with his awesome wife, Casey. I wish they were closer. You can see what they do here.

This made my night on Halloween. Waiting for Rachel and Amanda in my car outside of the 7/11. Big white car pulls up. Out jumps guys in suits and are opening doors, and out walks Obama. They have presidential music playing in the car. His secret service guys open both door into the Sev for Obama while keeping straight faces. How? I have no idea. I know Obama. They are walking past my car, and say "really? Obama?' He gives me a hug. Made my night. Next year, I want my own secret service.

Halloween is over. I am happy. Because this means soon Thanksgiving will be here. And we will be doing this. Getting a Christmas tree! I can't wait to bring one back for our house! I might want 3, one for each room. Heaven.

Yes, we are in old school snow pants. Yes we are siblings and this is from 3 years ago and we are sitting the same way. Ya for Thanksgiving. Then Christmas. My favorite Holiday!

Governor's Gala

2009-11-01T20:34:00.001-08:00

I have two awesome bosses. Seriously, everyone else is missing out. My one boss bought half a table and told me to fill it. Then last minute we had to fill the other half of the table. So, I was able to take some friends to the Governor's Gala on Friday night. Herbert raised over 1 million bucks, the only other person to do that was Mitt Romney (you all know my feelings on him). It was a great night. Fun friends. Good food. Taking cheesy photos, pretending we were on awkward prom dates, watching some Broadway songs and dancing.

These guys are always down for dressing up and having free valet parking.... If you would have asked me if I wanted to dress up a few years ago I would have said "what? I can't wear my shorts and t-shirts?" Times have changed.

Don't ask.

Dinner

Dessert

I May Have

2009-10-31T11:41:00.000-07:00

purchased another plane ticket....

Roper Twins = Boyfriend Stealers

2009-10-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

We went to a party tonight.

We heard from our friend Carl (her real name is Carly), that she knows someone who knows about us, because apparently we steal peoples guys. She said the girl lives with her. Carl said that her friend said "you know the Roper Twins?" (in a 'oh my gosh I can't believe that voice.')

This is how the conversation with Carl's friend/roommate goes:

Us, "we are the Roper Twins, whose guys do we steal?"

Girl "wait what? How do you know the Roper Twins?" She is way confused at this point.

Us, "we are the Roper Twins." (said in unison)

Girl (face like oh my gosh, these are the twins) "well it was my friend, whose roommate (at college) use to talk about the Roper Twins and how they were stealing her guy, and she would talk about you guys a lot." (she told us who was saying it but to no embarrass anyone, I wont say who.)

We start laughing at this because seriously, Amanda and I have never had a ton of "girlfriends", we are always hanging out with guys. We have never intentionally "stolen" any one persons man. We are too kind nice. If you are one of our "girlfriends" feel privileged and know that we truly love you, because otherwise we wouldn't be your friend. Brutal honesty right there.

I had no idea people talked about us. I try to be everyone's friend. Nice to everyone. I feel special now that I know people talk about me.

Ladies, if you feel like we have "stolen" your guy friends or boyfriends, don't take it the wrong way, we didn't mean to. We don't do it because we are trying to, we have no idea that it is happening. We might just be really fun to hang out with.
We are truly sorry.

Mile High City

2009-10-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

Flew back yesterday from Denver. Didn't really want to leave. I was having way to much fun with the bro and sis-in-law. After a lovely early morning flight that consisted of cranberry juice and only two of us in our row we landed in this great city to be greeted by two older volunteers dressed in tan with cowboy hats on. The old man helped us by telling us where out baggage claim would be, we already knew we just let the old guy help us. We got to play with this families little guys, such cute little boys. Who knew throwing tennis balls into a slide could be so much fun. Then we went shopping! Brando loved it. A girl has got to find a pair of shoes for the Governor's Gala on Friday night. Sunday = SNOW! Oh and primary program, haven't seen one of those in ages. I beat Brandon really bad in cards that night.

Monday was great, I had 2 work out partners. I got to spend the day with my 2nd mom! Beckers use to live across the street from us in Boise, they moved away something like 7 years ago. In high school they would hear us starting the cruiser in the morning, sometimes twins argue, Mary Jo and Kimmers would watch us. There little guy Jake and I use to snuggle and watch cartoons, he doesn't remember because he moved when he was to young, he might think I'm weird now because I like to hug him when I see him. Beckers use to watch us do our annual snow dance on Christmas Eve on our driveway. They didn't think we were that weird, they knew we just loved the snow. Van has grown taller than me, and man what a cute kid. Kimmers skates for Disney, hopefully Amanda and I will get to see here in Seattle if not in Salt Lake! Daddy Dave, well I've never told him thanks for the things he has done for me, but one of these days I will. My mom always said "Girls, you need to find someone like your Dad and Dave." Mary Jo and I had lunch and went shopping. I came away with more shoes than I could fit in my bag. I love spending time with Mary Jo! Picture is of only a few of the fam, I couldn't find a whole family picture.

Note: All pictures are from other times I have been in Denver. Amanda was not present on this trip. She missed out.

Brandon and I had our own little adventure after that... we went to the outskirts of Denver to rescue the land cruiser. We were definitely a minority out there. Good thing we had each other. We are both cage fighters at night. Its just a little hobby we do. After a little birthday party and some baked potatoes we stayed up until 1 playing a card game. Brandon beat both Cody and I. He had double my score. He got me back from Sunday night where I beat him miserable.

Denver is someplace I could live. I might need to own a plane so I can fly to Boise a few times a month. But we are talking TARGET land down there. Everywhere I went I passed a Target. Heaven.

Little do the Co Co and the Brando know, I might come live in there spare bedroom, sleeping on their wood floors with the hide-a-bed's mattress (from the 70s) the only thing I have yet to find I can sleep on.

Being Spontaneous

2009-10-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been up in the air. We were just in Boise. Gabby (little sister, who isn't so little anymore) is having her 16th birthday party. She really wanted us to go. We hadn't made a decision yet today, her party was tonight. I was going to go to Denver with a friend. We were going to leave tomorrow after "Game Day" in Provo. We started talking, looking online, found good flight prices for coming back. Then what pops up? A cheap flight tomorrow morning. How cheap you ask? 39 bucks. Round trip 99 bucks. A steal of a deal. It is only 19 dollars more than when we got our 50% off tickets. So I get to hang out with these two!

It is going to be a party!

Amazing

2009-10-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is amazing. On our trip to Seattle we will be doing this somehow. But maybe not singing, but maybe dancing. Plus, since Amanda and I are body doubles... we will have less work to do.

An Interesting Day

2009-10-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

Today was interim day. As of a few weeks ago I started working for a lobbyists. So, I currently work for a State Senator and a lobbyist. I am really, super busy. Today, was a crazy day working for both of my bosses. I had a few odd things happen.

1. I am sitting outside of a committee room waiting for a meeting to end, when out walks one lobbyist and is almost running up the stairs that were to my side. Another lobbyists basically runs out of the committee room and in a loud voice says "what are you doing Fred (name changed), you pull that and then walk away? That's it? You don't know anything about scenic byways!" The other lobbyist said "you don't know what the hell you are talking about." Then the 2nd lobbyist walks back down the stairs (mind you I know him well enough to not expect this) angry and upset. I don't know what happened in the committee but both sides were angry, there were still people in the hallway arguing for quite sometime.

Later in the day...

2. I had a state Senator who is an extreme democrat who had ordered a gun. The senator did not fill out her paper's correct, no id, and she was up in a committee. After this senator in high heels and I ran down the hallway to her office for her id. We walked into the Democrat offices and 2 other Senators were talking in the hallway (one of them is a know witch) and right when they saw me they stopped talking. Then the Senator that I was with said to me close the door while we were in her office. We were in there for at tops 15 seconds. When we walked out the other 2 Senators stopped talking. Seriously? They were standing right outside both of their offices, walk into your office to talk. I went down a floor to give the id to who needed it. Then, I had to go get her to actually pick her gun up. Because of all the different laws a certain party of legislators have passed I am not allowed to do that. So, she is sitting with another Representative who is also a democrat and I tell her she has to come and pick up the gun. As she is running out the door the Representative whispers rudely to me "can't you pick it up for her, we are up next (presenting in the committee)?" I say back "no, its a gun (while making a hand motion of a gun)." Seriously, it is because of them that I can't do that. The democrats were making the biggest fuss about what papers they had to fill out, etc. So, this Senator and myself are once again running down the hallway, the stairs and down another hallway (mind you my leg stride is much longer than her's), we get into the room and she yells at the group that are generously giving up of there time to help us "just give it to me!" Then she throws it at me to take to her office and is back out the door running down the hallway. Seriously? Chill pill? Maybe?

Quite a while later....

3. Sitting in my Senator's office when (I can't disclose who these lobbyists are but the two should never be friends or talk to each other), I heard the one lady lobbyist say "you are going to be getting a call from me later." She was mad about a bill, or the idea of a bill that was proposed this morning in a committee that was completely obliterated and smacked down. The lobbyist she was talking to, should not even be talking to her, seriously. He said "you know I always have time to talk to you." He should not be talking to her. Ridiculous.

To end the day, I am relaxing with Manda right now. We were watching a tv show and then what comes on Glee. All I hear is good things about this show. We love it. We were singing along. Already downloaded a few of the songs from the episode. It is great. We will be catching up on the other episodes.

New Jeans

2009-10-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

I bought a new pair of jeans the other night while shopping with Amanda and the cousins. I got home, put them on yesterday and what do I find to my surprise? A security tag. Not one I can take off. I buy a nice pair of jeans from Nordstrom's hoping I can wear them, but no. Just imagine, me walking down the street with a security tag on my jeans. Ridiculous. Oh, they clearly don't work seeing how I walked out of the store with them.

Real Salt Lake and the Jazz

2009-10-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday after spending the day on the couch, not being able to swallow we went to the Real Salt Lake game with some really cool people. They were nice enough to buy me a water, thanks guys, you saved my throat. It was a great night, plus SLC won with two goals at the end.

Our good friend Whitney got us free tickets to the Jazz game on Thursday. It was a week of sports. Then we had our good friend Emily come find us! Her and Blair joined us and talked to us for the end of the game. So much fun! Love her!

Amelia Erhart

2009-10-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

I can't wait for this movie to come out. I will see it opening night. October 23rd (which is already filling up with things to do). Oh Halloween costume... must look for jump suit, goggles, and a sweet flying hat!

oh I went to the Doctor today, its tonsillitis and strep throat. Doc said I should think about having them out. Nope, I will keep them thanks. But, I can't swallow today, I'm living on 7up!

Columbus Day

2009-10-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

This is how I celebrate Columbus Day. I was still feeling under the weather. So Amanda and I decided to go to a matinee of Love Happens. We were looking for a cheerful, upbeat chick flick. But, it was a slow moving chick flick. Worth a rent but that is it. The best line from the movie (one word replaced for censoring purposes) "I'm waiting for you to strut back to your pimpin rig." Best line. Amanda strutted out of the movie theater. We had guys yell at us when we were walking in, and when eyein us as we walked out... not sure why. We decided to go shopping. So we did.

Then we had some friends over for some BBQ. Of course in honor of Canada's Thanksgiving day and of course Columbus. I wish I had taken the day off for it. Ended it with some great card playing. Sorry I keep winning guys. Only Jenny Lowe and possible Lindsay Folkman can beat me. Amanda gives me a run for my money, too.

The Weekend

2009-10-12T13:26:00.001-07:00

I love going to home for a good weekend. Amanda and I left on Thursday evening. It was a miracle we made it. She was asleep in the passenger seat I was driving, curled up, trying not to move because my body ached so bad. I was getting sick. Again. 3 times in the last 2 months. Ridiculous. Instead of spending a weekend partying with friends and family, I spent a good deal of it in my bed. We (Amanda and I) had lunch with Dad a Flat Bread, then we went glasses shopping, and then Dad took Gabby, Amanda and I to Greenwood's to try on ski boots. Brandon and Cody flew in Friday night, from that point on I was quarantined to staying as far away from the brother as I could. He has midterms next week, can't get sick. Then the grandmother flew in on Saturday morning. I spent a lot of time in the corner, usually on my bed asleep. She couldn't get sick either. Saturday afternoon was mom's piano recital. My mom is amazing. She is the most amazing pianist I have ever heard. She stirs the soul with how she plays the piano. So after a great weekend of staying in my bed and living on Dayquil, while the whole family partied together, we made it back. We were lucky enough to have Wylie in need of a ride back to Utah so he chauffeured us back to Utah. The first time I have ever sat in the backseat of my car for a long period of time, it was great. Fell asleep, watched a movie, relaxed. Lucky us.

"It is what it is"

2009-10-08T12:01:00.001-07:00

This always happens. You look great one day, and you only see your sister. You always see your "one" when you aren't at your best.