Ducks Gone Wild

I am BEYOND excited that Miss Jeslyn has jumped on the bandwagon and moved out west! Can't wait to have some adventures with her! :)

I decided to give her a tour of the Y, and we ran into this impressive collection of Rubber Duckies in the Bookstore! Elvis ducks, Glitter ducks, Halloween ducks, Christmas ducks, all kinds of ducks!

Here we are sportin' our Rhinestone and Marilyn Monroe duckies! So, funny story. Jeslyn is dropping me off at work, I tell her to pull into the carport of the Wilkinson Center after the light by getting into the turning lane. Apparently she was getting a little impatient so she drove right over the sidewalk, where it dips for the crosswalk. Thankfully there were no pedestrians. Let's just say University Police were involved....we told them it wouldn't happen again. ;) Lookout Utah! We're introducing some Flo Ridin' skills onto these streets!

Barbecues & Baby Showers

The Baby Shower has begun!! Backyard Barbecue style :)

Uncle Dan manned the grill...

AND made this totes adorbs baby carriage, all out of fruit. What a dad!

 Some peeks at our delicious options

Brooke made these AMAZING bite-sized desserts. It's a small waffle cone filled with cream cheese and chocolate mousse, topped with one raspberry or blueberry. Literally heaven in one bite!

Lauren's favorite present of course! She didn't say that, but I'm just inferring ;) 

The idea to make her the Diaper Sushi platter came from her and Ryan's love for sushi. Supposedly it's their favorite place to go together. 

I love this lady and the many memories we've shared! I'm so glad I was able to road trip out to good ole Reno to see her pretty face! Baby Bryson is one lucky kid! His next present will be a mullet kit for babies per request of his daddy. It's already a given that I will be Baby Bryson's favorite Auntie.

DIY Sushi Platter

I originally got the idea to make a sushi platter baby shower gift here, but I decided to make a few modifications of my own to make a cheaper, yet just as effective version! I took a trip down to the local dollar store and got all of the supplies I needed except for the diapers. The dollar store is a magical place.

Supplies Needed:

-Scissors

-Black Electrical tape

-Wooden Skewers

-Bows or Ribbon

-Baby Washcloths

-Small Fish

-Pack of Diapers

Eating Good & Flying High

After Tahoe, we met up with Lauren and her Ryan for All You Can Eat Sushi at their favorite local spot. It was delish and the sushi just kept on coming! Here's some more shots of our feast.

After we were sufficiently stuffed, Uncle Dan insisted on taking us to "The Swing". A Virden tradition. 

What can I say, we're just a family full of daredevils.

Rylee, Elysse and I flew together.

 The Swing

Suiting Up

Here's the behind the scenes play by play. The way up was TERRIBLE! It looks high from the ground, but having them slowly lift you higher and higher while you're basically attached to just a harness is more than a little nerve-racking. We got to the top, they blew a little whistle and Rylee pulled a string that let us loose. In the beginning you just drop, similar to the feel of free falling, until the length of the rope catches and you start the swing back up again. It was awesome!!

Ryan and Jake flew together. This is their victory shot after their turn. According to them, they were completely nonchalant, and shared small talk during the whole process, arguing over what song was playing when they were back on the ground, discussing their uncertainty at when to pull the rope once they reached the top, etc. I think this "small talk" was just to hide their fear, but we'll stick with their story. ;)

Lake Tahoe

To start off our day, the crew got up early to drive up the winding roads leading to Lake Tahoe. We arrive and the first glimpse I get is this. Pretty good, eh? I could get used to this.

The water was freezing and the sand was super grainy. So different from the beaches and lakes back home.

Cousin Shot :)

Rylee Roo caught a little fish. Not quite sure if it was dead before or after the catching... but it kept her quite entertained. Her and Ryan thoroughly enjoyed taunting Elysse with it until it was thrown as far into the lake as possible. Some say poor Elysse, I say poor fish.

There's something in the wiring of boys that doesn't allow them to sit and enjoy a view for more than five minutes so of course these two goons went and bought themselves a little styrofoam football to throw around and prove their manliness.

 Sunshine and sand are always a good combo. <3

Since this was only the morning portion of our day we had to head out early, but not before I captured this awesome shot. G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. Lake Tahoe hasn't seen the last of me yet!

Road Trippin

Below is Caleb Blood, our closing performer for the first event I have worked for STAB. Steven and I were running around like chickens with our heads chopped off all day, but in the end it was a major success!!

After the event there was still no stopping for me. I packed my bags, and Jake and I set off to start our Road Trip to Reno with Elysse and Ryan.

 The entire drive looked pretty similar to this...

After our long drive we ended our night at the Bowling Alley.

Ryan got a little too into his routine and split his pants. I also love Laurens feet in the shoes pic. Notice how my feet and Jake's feet are close together while Lauren's prego belly keeps her from closing hers all the way. :)

Elysse and I decided we would sport the prego bellies too. Lauren still looked the best of course ;) Reuniting with these pretty ladies always means a good time!

Weekend in West Jordan

Dad and the boys were staying with Aunty Momi and Uncle Robert so, I spent the rest of the weekend there with the cuzzos.

RJ and Ayrus, my true Ride or Die Team were the cutest as always. Besides getting entertained by these two, Liadra, Azia and I decided to hit up Taylorsville Days. We had a BLAST! 

The Zipper ride was INSANE! (Bottom left picture) They lock you into the cages which rotate around 360 degrees while the entire ride is also spinning. Wildest ride I've been on in a while! Liadra and I also hit up the Ferris Wheel. Between the rides themselves and the men working them, it was a super sketch night. Kinda makes you wonder who hires these Carnival Ride Workers... Of course the night ended phenomenally with my funnel cake. What's a carnival without funnel cake?

Early Saturday morning, we hit up the new City Creek Center. It was HUGE! It's crazy to think they fit all of that in the middle of downtown Salt Lake. After those adventures it was finally time for Iva's Baby Shower. :)

The theme was "Cute as a Button". We decorated with pinwheels, garland and paper chains. Uncle Rob's niece also made the adorable cake, cupcakes, cookies and brownies custom for the occasion. Super cute. 

MTC & Mini Golf

This morning Aunty Kalo, Uncle Lona, Dad, Lami, Ia and I dropped Elder Tuiketei off at the MTC. I could not be more excited or grateful for his example and desire to serve the Lord. I am so glad I got to experience dropping him off with my Dad and brothers. All the Mission Presidents and General Authorities happened to be in the MTC today, and you could feel their presence. Coolest experience ever. I would say that I'm going to miss dear Elder Tuiketei but I won't since he's exactly where he's supposed to be, doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing. He is awesome, and I know his family will be blessed for his service.

After that, Steven and I ran our Mini Golf event, which was the first event I worked as an official employee. Everyone had a blast. We built a Windmill for our last hole with a rotisserie chicken cooker on the inside to turn the blades of the fan. This was Steven's idea after taking a shopping trip down to the DI. We named her the Windmill of Doom and she is a beauty.

We used t-shirts as prizes for those that made in through the blades of the windmill and a Jamba Juice certificate to those that made a hole in one. Each player had three shots to make the magic happen. We didn't give out too many Jamba certificates, but we did get rid of a lot of t-shirts. It's hard to believe I get paid to do this. Best job ever.

Brown People Party

Everyone has reached their final destination of good ole Provo. Thankfully Lami and Uncle Lona made the drive safely from Florida to Utah with Rhonda all in one piece. (Rhonda is the name of my '06 Toyota Corolla. It's perfectly normal to name your car right?) Upon their arrival, we of course had to make a trip to In-N-Out Burger upon the request of Taleki. 

Taleki then decided to hop on the back of Tim's bike, against the discretion of Aunty Kalo. We weren't sure if that itty bitty bike was gonna make it, holding up those two...

Lami adjusted to Provo quite well and thoroughly enjoyed the Creamery.

He also thought it would be funny to play a prank on his sister and tell me that my bike fell off the back of the car on their road trip up here, and that it was somewhere in Wisconsin. Funny kid.  Especially since Wisconsin isn't even on their way up here. Of course I believed him, thinking my  loving little brother would never deceive me. I was wrong and he's officially a punk, but I love him anyways. Taleki and I got him back by thinking they were going to drive his brand new truck back to Florida. Really Dad was just borrowing it while they were here in Utah. When he asked if it was really his truck we told him "No, your truck's in Wisconsin with my bike." He didn't think that was very funny, but we were both good sports.

With all pranks aside, Daddio fixed up Sheila (it's perfectly normal to name your bike too right?) and got her back on the road again. Can't wait to show her my charming college town. :)