Saturday, December 31, 2011

A Day in the Bay

After Jessica's wedding, Aimee and I thought it would be fun to stay the night at my grandma's and then go to San Francisco the nest day. Aimee had only been once when she was 8 years old, so I was excited to show her my favorite touristy spots. My mom and sister drove up for the wedding and then we all drove back to Los Altos.

We only had a couple hours in the city, so we were limited to one spot. After a long, inward struggle... I decided we should stop at pier 39 & fisherman's wharf. We walked around the pier, stopped in a couple of quirky shops, said hello to my friends the sea lions, and then grabbed some delicious soup to warm our bones. 

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Christmas with Instagram

Thanks to my fancy iPhone, I think I've successfully captured the highlights of my Christmas break.

Santa and Christmas lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside CA.
Downtown Riverside is one of my favorite spots, I did a lot of exploring in that neck of the woods while I worked this summer. The Mission Inn is one of the coziest spots in town, and its even better covered in Christmas lights. 
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Lots of baking going on at our house.
Mostly anythings with lemon.

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Running. I got the new Nike Free Run 2 shoes for christmas and I must say that I have never loved running so much. I love that in CA I can run at 12 in the afternoon with no problems... and by problems I mean weather problems... not animal problems. You see, I don't know what it is, but just about every time I go running at home I attract small {but vicious} dogs. I know people say you are supposed to just keep walking and not look threatening and they will leave you alone... but somehow I can't help but just start running as fast as I can as their owners stand there, leash-less, laughing at me. 

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Just so you know, my brother decided he wanted to join band this year! He is supposed to practice for half an hour every day of break... & the lazy little booger decided that its okay to save up all that time and just practice for 4 hours at the end of the week. Yayy....
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Also, someone please tell me when I got too old to sit at the 'little kid' table.

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I don't have a lot of shots from Christmas day because I pretty much left my phone in my room all day {I tend to do that a lot} but I managed to get a shot of Paige with her remote control shark. We had the missionaries over for dinner this year, and while one of the Elders was skyping with his family, the other couldn't give up this little guy.

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My mom, sister, and I took a trip to Pasadena to visit the Huntington, which has quickly become one of my favorite spots on earth. Anyone have any ideas on how I can potentially live there one day?

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& finally we got back in the car and headed up to the beach house.
Woke up this morning to salty air and a win by my Cougars. Its been a great day searching for driftwood on the sand and searching out authentic {& by that I mean dirty} taco places.

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But hey... It's not over yet.

My Best Friend's Wedding... again

There is only one thing I love more than weddings, & that would be my best friend's weddings. I thought that I didn't want Jessica to leave me, but this whole past semester I just wanted to get her married already... just because I knew how happy Tyson made her. So when that day came, there were lots of happy tears shed. 

So the day after we finished our finals, the three roommates packed our bags and headed out on a flight to Sacramento. It was kind of ironic because we had to change planes in Long Beach, where I usually like to fly home to. Not going to lie, I actually like flying. I don't know why but its so exciting to me, I always want the window seat so I can just plug into my ipod and stare out at the lights. But let me tell you... flying is so much more fun with your friends.

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Feeling like rock stars at the Long Beach airport. 
Seriously, the ramp up to the plane thing is just as much fun as it looks.

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We all got to stay together at Jessica's house {Thank You Bassett Family!}and we had so much fun getting ready for the day. When Jessica told me we were in charge of watching the babies during the temple ceremony I about fell over with excitement. We don't have any cute babies in our family, so I have to take advantage of every creepy opportunity I have to hold other people's babies. 

This baby doesn't look all that happy, but I promise it's an "I'm full" face. Feeding/burping a baby is hard work I tell you. Also, they had this grand idea to print out coloring pages of Jess and Tyson for the kids to color while the parents were at the ceremony.

(For those of you who are wondering why we weren't inside the temple for the ceremony... feel free to find out more information on our faith and beliefs here... or feel free just to ask me!)
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Then comes the part where I cried... a lot.
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Jess looked absolutely beautiful, and most importantly so happy.
& that is when I just lost it. You know those people where you are like "come on looser, hold it together"... well that was me. It was just so happy to see Jess get what she has always wanted. I remember her telling me {before I had ever met Tyson} that no matter what happened in her life, she would always love Tyson... and then just over a year later, here she was marrying that man.

Then after I got my composure back {mostly} we spent a lot of time taking pictures around the temple.

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Then we all went home and crashed for an hour before heading to the reception site. Jess had her reception at La Provence, which was absolutely stunning. I made everyone go out on to the terrace where the kids were doing smores because the lighting was absolutely incredible.


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Can you tell we love our flowy dresses?

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Amanda and Taylor
{Sister & Brother}

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President & Sister Bassett
{Dad & Mom}

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The rest of the night was absolutely perfect. We danced, ate incredible food, and watched our best friend drive away with her love.

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So Congrats to the {very} happy couple!
Jessica & Tyson Bowden, I can't wait to see where the rest of life takes you two together.