Taking SLC By Storm

So how have I lived 19 years and never been to Fashion Place Mall? This was the question on my mind Saturday morning. Answer: I really wasn't missing anything and I could probably go another 19 years without going there. Either I got old really fast and I'm already out of fashion or I'm really going to hate all the spring fashions. I'm sorry but there is no way I'm strapping my fat butt into bright red skinny jeans. That's just not happening, I'm sorry. And 7 inch glitter heels? Yeah those aren't happening either. I learned that the hard way and so did that wall that I rammed into trying to get them off. My sprained ankle is still yelling at me for that mistake.

I have to say, the highlight of Saturday was not Fashion Place Mall as I thought it would be. I'll give you a couple of choices as to which was my favorite part of the day.

A: Tatted mountain men with walking sticks that clearly have no purpose?


B: Smoking gingers with longer ponytails than mine?


C: Stretch limos in the middle of the ghettos in SLC?


Normally, I would be happy with any of these but I think my highlight of the day would most definitely be...
D: Chipmunk faced nephews


You know those mothers that drive you crazy when they go off bragging about how cute/smart their child is? I'm one of those aunts. I see a baby come through my line, I start off talking about how cute they are and suddenly I find myself bragging about my nephew. I don't know how it happens and I try to stop myself but it still happens. Honestly, can you blame me?


Get a load of this lovable scamp!


It's tripping me out that he's going to be a year old soon. He makes me laugh so hard already, he's definitely his mother's son. We had a wicked sweet time walking up and down the mall together and I think we both got our exercise for the day. I can't wait until I get to see him and McKell again, it was a fun day!

My Ultimate Teenage Girl Night

Ok, so as much as I try to repress my teenage girl instincts, they come to the surface sometimes. Twilight is one thing that triggers these instincts and I have no reason why. I don't usually like chick flicks, I hate Edward and I think the whole story is so ridiculously far-fetched that I want to pull my hair out. But you bet your cheese I was the fifth person in line at Walmart on Friday night to buy Breaking Dawn. Why? I'm seriously such a mess of contradictions. It's that dang Jacob and his abs. Yeah, we'll blame it on that. Maybe I'm really just sappy deep down. Anywho, I talked my friend Breanne into coming and waiting in line with me for 3 and a half hours with the other 4 million Twi-hards. I don't think she really wanted to be there but I know that we had fun in the end. She had just driven 3 hours home from college and was probably dead tired but was a good sport and stuck through the night with me(I think the Lunchables I bribed her with helped). Some of you that have either been to one of these premieres or maybe to Black Friday know that waiting in line for that long can get extremely boring but don't worry, we kept ourselves entertained.

Which brings me to a very important question: What can you do with a 10 pack of Crayola markers? Answer: Design wicked sweet tatts.


Or possibly give you that hair color you would never permanently dye? (P.S. this is our Beiber-esque hair, we were listening to Baby at the time)


So, anybody that has ever spent any serious time with me knows that I was meant to be black. Thus the thug life tatts on my knuckles, unforch this pic doesn't show the life part of the tatt but Breanne's forever adds to my thug, thus making it the best knuckle tatts in the history of this world.


Around 11:40 we got an awesome surprise, Breanne's little sister, Juli, showed up! It was super fun having two of my best friends in the same place and those last twenty minutes of waiting went by super fast.


And last picture of this post needs a little explaining, I swore to myself I wasn't going to be sucked into all the "special" Twilight merchandise that tends to hang around these events. I failed. I just had to buy the special edition of Breaking Dawn with the fabric poster, it was only 3 dollars more and I liked the sound of "fabric poster". I had no idea what it was, but it sounded really cool. So I am now the proud owner of a flag featuring Bella and Edward cuddling. Nice. I tried to take a picture of it but I was getting tired and I am really horrible at taking mirror self-portraits so this is the best I could do. P.S. don't judge me for my stalker-like collection of Hayward pictures.

Happy Birthdays!

Ok, I seriously thought I was getting this blog stuff down. But in reality, I kind of suck and I've already gotten behind. Where to start? Birthdays because that is generally when I take pictures and I think it's super boring to read a blog if there are no pictures. First birthday on the list: Grandpa LaRue. What can you say about that man? One of the most selfless and kind people I've ever met but has a little bit of ornery old man buried underneath. And by little a mean, kind of a lot of ornery old man and it's not so buried. Still, he's such a sweetie and he cracks me up constantly. We had a family dinner for him on his birthday and ended up inviting my other grandpa over too. Of course there was a random photoshoot in the kitchen, who doesn't have one at a family gathering?

Here's the birthday boy with his cake (mind you, this is the most successful picture)


And here's one of the dozens that didn't work out, poor Grandpa, I kept talking to him telling him to look at me but he thought it was my mom talking to him so he kept looking at her.


Here's Grandpa LaRue with most of the grandkids, it all looks good except for him scowling.


And here's Grandpa Blaine with some grandkids.


Overall, it was pretty fun night and it was fun to sit around as a family and talk. Plus an 11:30 dance party and midnight Walmart run were involved so it was doubly fun.

Next birthday was my little big sister McKell. Although I didn't get to see her on her birthday I was able to wish her a happy birthday through Facebook and texts.She probably deserves her own post but I'm lazy and so I'm just squishing this in. I'm warning you now, this is going to get seriously mushy here. McKell is one of the most amazing people I've ever met. She can talk about hunting and guns as good as any guy AND knows more about makeup and skin care more than anybody I've ever met. She is hilarious, tough, and one of the best mothers ever. I don't know where I'd be without her and even though I don't see her all the time, I want her to know that I love her and how much of a difference she has made in my life. She's definitely one of my heroes. Happy late birthday Meech!