THIS is what i live with.

Collage (no I'm not trying to spell college, I really mean collage: an odd arrangement of photos)

As you can tell from the title of this post, this will mostly consist of random photos from my break. First up, some photos from DJ's birthday party. We went bowling again! Bowling has always been one of our favorite birthday traditions! That night I finally broke 75. Yes, yes I am proud. Nevermind that dad, DJ, and JD were way over 100. They're boys, of course they're going to be better.

Here's me with padre and JD


Toe, Mami, and DJ waiting patiently for our lane to open up.


Warning: If you ask Toe to take a picture of you, be prepared for a lovely closeup with some freaky lighting that makes you look sickly white.


The birthday boy!! Happy 23 DJEE I love you!




One of the biggest highlights of my trip: Suns game!!! Woot! JD has a pretty awesome friend, Chris, who hooked us up with seats to the SUNS-vs-HEAT game. I've never been before. It was great! I was a little tired from travelling, but trust me, it was awesome.


Our seats were the first row of the second level.


Big thanks to Lindsey and Kodi for letting us crash at their place twice this break!


Random picture, but way beautiful sunset!


I got lots of time with Toe this break!!!



I love her! She's beautiful



Just a few pictures from Christmas morning. Andon and Jori and the boys spent Christmas with us!


Yes, I know we kind of look like death in this picture. In our defense, we were running on very little sleep. We spent Christmas Eve in Snowflake with just a few of his family members (65 is all...). We finally got to bed around 2:00 am and woke up at 5:00am to drive back to Joe town for Christmas with my family. It was a great Christmas!




Here's a normal occurence in my house. Toe and Mami wrestling.


Bryan and all his little friends sang happy birthday to me! I was overjoyed!


My new favorite necklace!!!! Love it! Love him!


Me, madre, and Kambria


US girls...


OVerall, I had a fantastic break!! I spent the majority of my time going back and forth from snowflake and Joe town. But it was great.

Yeah, I loved every second of it.

Birthday party (Joe Town)

Toe and DJ are pretty dang awesome and planned a surprise birthday party for me. Dj, TOe, Holly, JD, and I went to Mr. G's for dinner while all my friends gathered at my house. They surprised me and then my mother announced that we were all going bowling! It was awesome. I seriously have some of the best friends. I consider myself spoiled and very lucky. Here's a bunch of photos from that night. Oh you noticed my necklace and earrings? They're gorgeous right? It was a birthday gift from JD. I'm in love with it!

PS: the blogging gods are cursing me right now. I can't see any pictures after I download them. SOrry there's no caption for each picture... If anyone knows how to fix this problem please let me know!

Birthday!

I'm way behind on happy birthday wishes to some of my most favorite people!

Today Jaden turns 4!Sweetest, craziest, most kind little boy!



Miss Kambria is one today!!! I love my best friend, because we surely are best friends. Honestly. Don't you just love her face!?



Bryan Conner is five! What? Where does the time go? This picture was taken December 19. One day after I turned 20 and one day before Bryan turned 5. Happy birthday you crazy alligator!


BROTHER!!!!! Djee turned 23 last saturday. I love him dearly! When we were in high school we tried to tell people we met that we were twins. It worked most of the time. Happy birthday bruder! ....one duck, two duck... it's been ages!


This kid turned 2 back in November. Troy boy, the chubby cuteness, bull-in-a-china-shop, the destroyer, the boulder. Whatever you prefer to call him, he's still cute and lovable!

pants on the ground

the following is an actual conversation that just happened:

ashley: i just removed my sweater in a provocative way.

natalie: i'm glad i missed that.

ashley: you threw your pants at me!

background story:

we have been singing the pants on the ground song pretty much all night, even though the only part we know is "pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground." i went in to the bathroom after a round of pants on the ground, and when i came out, i got a pair of pants thrown at me. not just any pants, the pants that had been on natalie's body only seconds before.

was it awkward? a little

was it the funniest thing that has happened to me in a long time? most definitely.

disappointment of the day

i was gleefully reading 1000 awesome things (which i found on some chick's blog that is HILARIOUS and i kinda check it a lot even though i don't know exactly who she is. don't judge- i'm totally not a creeper.) when i thought of something that i find pretty awesome.

peach-pineapple salsa. sure, sure. it sounds WEIRD, but don't knock it till you try it. it's delicious. even people who normally don't like sweeter salsa - aka natalie- like it. (fyi: we pronounce salsa with a z sound - salza. it's jessica's fault. they make up words in that family. since she's my sister, those words inevitably become a part of my vocabulary.)

it just so happens that i made mom buy me some of that delicious salza just the other day at safeway. i was so happy! what could accompany my reading of 1000 awesome things better than an awesome snack!? the answer? nothing.

i made my merry way over to the cupboard to get out the chips, and that's when it happened.

i searched high and low, but to no avail. the tortilla chips. they were... (gulp)... GONE! those darn nephews of mine must have ate them all last night at dinner. (i say nephews here, but i really mean hayden, tanner, mason and brigette. i thought i'd clarify here and add brigette's name, since she technically isn't a nephew, but a niece. whatevs)

well, needless to say, i got real sad when i saw how bare the cupboards were. commence lame walk to the couch.

what? you don't know HOW to lame walk? yeesh! where have you been? i'll give you step-by-step instructions:

1. let out a big breath, which can be slightly whiny-sounding if you wish.
2. drop chin to chest.
3. let your arms dangle by your side. kinda like dead weight. make no attempt to move or control them.
4. slowly lift your foot just enough to move it forward (may result in some shuffling of feet)
5. repeat step four with alternating feet until you reach your destination.
6. if your destination is a place where taking a seat is an option, flop down on that seat and feel sorry for the lameness that just invaded your otherwise happy day

there it is... my morning in a salza-less nutshell and instructions on the ever useful lame walk.