BiRTHDaY DiNNeRS & WaLKiN' THe HoMe WaRD

I don't remember where I was or who asked me, 

but sometime in the last week I got asked what my family's birthday traditions were. 

MY RESPONSE:

"We go out to dinner for our birthdays.."

HIS RESPONSE:

"Well everyone does that."

Ok it's true, maybe we aren't that original.

But we still go out to dinner! 

I LOVE IT, 

And today was the day we went out for 

MY BIRTHDAY :D

But here's the problem:

Every year without fail, 

for weeks before my actual birthday, 

 I always have this internal debate. 

It's a tough one!

Texas 

has been the prominent winner for the last couple years. 

+

Last month Taylor picked Texas for his birthday. 

So I decided to switch it up. 

CHILI'S

won the 2012 debate. 

  

Please enjoy this 

STORYBOARD.

It is about a boy named 

TANNER

who all of a sudden decided that 

MUSICAL PLATES

is how dinner should be done. 

I'm pretty sure he ate off of 

eVeRyoNeS PLaTeS.

I kind of love my family,

A LOT :)

Now, FAST FORWARD.

We are at my parents. 

In my purse are are TWO-HUNDRED & TEN flyers like this

THRILLIONAIRES: an IMPROV COMEDY group who also happens to have a piano player. Which means IMROV MUSICAL COMEDY. 

It's going to be epic :) 

So these awesome siblings of mine 

helped me put every last flyer out in our home ward,

 and then some.  

They are so great :) 

and maybe this is tacky, but I am super excited for this show! 

So if you want a good laugh, please come on Saturday! 

(click on the flyer for more info)

100% 

of the donations go to

PHiLiPPiNe IMPRoVeMeNT GRouP. 

Which means 100% of the donations are going to help better the people of the PHILIPPINES. 

Salamat Po :) 

a DaY oF SuMMeR TRaiNiNG

Today was the day officially dedicated to 

SuMMeRTiMe PReP.

I didn't even have to plan it that way. It totally just happened!

SUMMERTIME PReP

= 

EFY TRAINING + PIG RETREAT

You want to know what's odd?
I have worked 20 weeks of EFY,
11 of which were Health Counselor weeks, 
and I have NEVER been to a day of 
HEALTH COUNSELOR TRAINING 
in my life.

2009: Hired 9 days before my first session.
(aka: there were no more trainings)
2010: Had to turn down the position, 
but ended up working for 2 weeks anyways :)
**FOUND OUT ABOUT BOTH THE DAY OF**
(aka: no time to train)

So TODAY I attended my FIRST
HEALTH COUNSELOR TRAINING

and it was GREAT!


1. There are only 3 Health Counselors that have ever worked for EFY before.
2. Of those three, I am the only one that has ever been a Health Counselor before.

I'm so excited! 

My Co-Counselor 

SCOTT,

he ROCKS. 

And we are gonna  

ROCK EFY!

THEN...

it was time for 

THE PHILIPPINES RETREAT!

DoM and I went down to CoLe's PaReNTS down in LaKe SHoRe.


There we...

 met up with the rest of the
PIG Crew
(minus three girls).

Yes, you counted right.
RYaN + CoLe + 11 GiRLS.
They definitely picked the right job. haha

We ate some dinner,
witnessed a BoTTLe RoCKeT WaR,
got our ITINERARIES & PACKING LISTS,
talked about all the stuff we get to do, 
and even learned some
TAGALOG.


Then we had a BONFIRE @ CoLe's 
just like old times :) 

Thinking about this trip makes me so GIDDY :D

If I could,
I would just on a plane right now!
But since I can't, I'll just go study up on my
TAGALOG
instead :)

18 DAYS

FHE+PIG

Once upon a time 

MY FHE FAMILY

took a trip to 

If you haven't been, 

GO!

RIGHT NOW! 

I feel justified in saying this, not because of my most recent trip here,

but because

I'M PRETTY SURE MY EXTEND AND IMMEDIATE KEEP THEM IN BUSINESS.

Actually, that makes them sound like they're struggling.

THEY MOST DEFINITELY ARE NOT..

WE JUST GO THAT OFTEN :) 

ANYWAYS..

WE RODE LOTS OF THESE

ROLLED LOTS OF THESE

WON LOTS OF THESE

AND GOT THESE ROCKIN' FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS

We even shared our tickets to do so. Haha :)

THEN

WE WENT TO

because

PHILIPPINE IMPROVEMENT GROUP

was having a fundraiser there. 

PHOTO: COMPLIMENTS OF RYAN

KATELYN, NATHANAEL, SCOTT & SPENCER

all came with.

That alone was great :) 

Then when we got there, we ran into

COLE & RYAN 

and even

DOM!

(they're three of the people I'm going to the PHILIPPINES with)

It was an

ABSOLUTE BLAST!

and from what I hear, the fundraiser was a major success!

I LOVE F.H.E. 

and 

I LOVE P.I.G.

that's all there is to it :)

FiLLiN' UP oN THe HuNGeR GaMeS

REWIND

to about

1-1/2 YEARS AGO

(Maybe a little more)

I was at work when 

JINGER 

walked in with her newest purchase for our library.

Had I ever heard of them before?

NOPE, NEVER.

But from what HER and SAVANNA started saying about them,

I WAS GONNA HAVE TO READ THEM!

A few days later, 

when the first one was free, 

I slipped off the jacket and started reading it.

Then the second one.

Then the third. 

No making fun, but this is how my FUN DAYS @ SEA were spent on our cruise :)

Yeah, it's MOCKING JAY haha

But hey, 

THAT'S WHAT GOT MY DAD READING IT. 

HE LOVED IT!

So when they announced 

THIS:

it was settled.

WE WERE GOING TO THE MIDNIGHT SHOWING! 

(if you know my dad, you know that's kind of a big deal. He HATES theaters!)

The day tickets came out, 

I may or may not have used my break to go sit in my car, on my laptop 

to order our tickets. 

It really could have waited 'til after work

except for one thing. 

We wanted D-BOX SEATS.

(aka super limited seats)

and that's what we got :)

After I got out of class, 

I headed over to my parents place. 

Dad and I grabbed some KNEADERS,

went to MEGAPLEX to print off our tickets,

and then went over to LAURIE & BOB'S to pick up 

BOB and MEGAN.

The theater had assigned seating too.

AKA no waiting in line! 

So we got to sit there and people watch and the people who wish they belonged to the capital

HAHA 

It was so great :)

The movie, I'm not gonna lie,

IT WASN'T MY FAVORITE.

I think it may have had to do more with the D-BOX seats though. 

Set that aside and 

ALL IN ALL, IT WAS A GREAT NIGHT :) 

LoNGBoaRDiNG PT. 2

After TIFF and her KIDS left

ELiZA and I

found ourselves on the couch.

It was pitiful really,

because

IT WAS SO NICE OUTSIDE!

That's when we had an idea.

LONGBOARDING!

We were able to talk 

KAESI 

into it even though she was oh so sore.

(I might have had to bribe her with food)

RYAN

did what he does best;

SKIPPED OUT ON CLASS. 

(that's how CALIFORNIA happened too.. haha)



IT WAS A BLAST!
and maybe just a little bit colder than we'd anticipated..
BUT I LOVED IT NONE THE LESS
and ALWAYS WILL.


THE REST OF THE NIGHTS AGENDA:
DINNER @ MY APT
HOT TUBBING @ KING HENRY
SHOPPING W. KAES & MATT @ SMITHS

Matt loves the 10 for $10 SALE

What I really should have done was get a picture of the cart when we left!
SHOPPING WITH MATT WHEN THERE IS A SALE
may just be one of my new favorite activities.