An Eventful Trip to Utah

I haven't had my SD card for my camera for about a month now due to leaving it in Utah, but there has been much happening in the Robinson home.. as Jered said to me earlier today.. "We've been partying hard"

On the 11th, we flew into Utah avoiding the normal pesky 12 hour drive and left immediately for Moab.  We got there Saturday night and stayed until Wednesday.  It was such a fun trip, one last hurrah before three of the five kids went to opposite ends of the country and world; us to California, Tay and Ash to Nebraska, and Cam to the Philippines.  

 

This was our cutest little bedroom we stayed in.  The whole condo was adorable and I think we were like the second family to ever stay there.  It was brand new.  

My parents about killed us with all the activities planned.  For starters, it was pushing one hundy outside and Saturday night we hiked some of the arches, i think they are called the two windows.  It was gorgeous but just the beginning of my realization of how our of shape I am!

I LOVE these profile pics I took of my family.  I think it represents everyone so well.  We stayed on those arches until really late, all of us playing with our cameras and chatting about life. It was such a fun night. 

Sunday night, we hiked delicate arch which is always beautiful. The definite highlight of the night was Tay and Ash taking a picture in the middle of the arch kissing when the people on the other side starting hooting and clapping only to have Tay get on one knee and fake propose to Ash.  It was classic.  They were the talk of the look out.  Everyone totally bought it and were asking Ash to see her ring and stuff.  Leave it to Tay 

Monday morning, we rented mountain bikes for all of us.. but these weren’t just any mountain bikes.  They were like the $5,000 mountain bikes that felt like you were sitting on a mini trampoline because of all the suspension goin on.  They were ridicules.  You could go straight up a mountain covered with boulders with those things and it felt like you were on a paved road.  So many times I would see what I was about to go up or down and think..

“Well, it was good while it lasted, I’m a gonner.” And close my eyes and go up or down whatever tretchery there was at the moment and that dang bike would ALWAYS get through it!

   We are serious about biking

The first night, we did some smaller trails just to get a feel for what the bikes were like and then Tuesday after playing in the river, we went to dead horse point and did an amazing trail.  It was so hard and so terrifying and scary but at the same time the scenery was so incredible and it was so fun to be able to do something hard core like that as a family.  I really loved it.  The trail had the perfect variety and was the perfect length, any longer and I think I might have cried a little bit. 

The days are kind of getting jumbled together but I think that night we went to a little community pool.  Good times were had by all and then packed up and left Wednesday morning but not before a three hour journey into the fiery furness.  That place was nuts.  We wound down through the deepest parts of Moab and saw gorgeous slot canyons and learned all about formations for Ranger Dave.  It was a really unique thing that I think you could only experience with a guide because that place is like a maze.  It was a great end to an exhausting but blast of a trip.  

***

 The rest of the week was spent getting ready for the Gould-Hawkins wedding.  We went to a shower for Ash, went to the temple with her when she received her endowments, met the Gould family and did all the last minute running around for the wedding. 

Tay and Ash's actual wedding day went so smoothly. My mom and Ash were extremely organized and had everything ready to go so it made for easy set up.  The sealing was beautiful, they day was gorgeous, and Tay and Ash looked so great.  The luncheon went off without a hitch and the only tricky thing about the reception (besides walking in four inch wedges) was that the weather started to look very threateningly like rain.  I was soo worried about it but no one else seemed to be and for good reason; we didn't get so much as a drop.  

It was fun to see so many people there I hadn't seen in ages and Tay and Ash seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves; a mark of a great night.  For me, the highlight of that night was definitely watching my dear husband dance his little fanny off with a fellow home ward member in her late 50s to a Michael Jackson song (i can't remember which one) that lasted about 8 minutes. That woman was loving life and everyone made a circle around them and bless his heart, Jered danced with her until the last note was played.  It was hilarious.  I wish I would have filmed it because it's something  you have to see to know how funny it was. 

 The picture quality is horrible but i had to kipe these from my mom's blog because I forgot to take pictures that day

***

The next morning, we woke bright and early to get ready for, you guessed it.. Cam's farewell!  The poor kid had to write a talk in the mist of all our chaos and he did wonderfully.  The talk was just so him. He is such a good kid.  He reported July 7th and it has been so fun getting his emails these past two weeks.  He will be a blessing for the Philippines and to his mission president I'm sure.  

Girls.. he's single and totally open to you writing him

Long Beach and a new table..

I know most of you (3) people who are reading this probably won't care, but we were soo stoked.  Since we've been married, we have been using a borrowed card table for our dining room table.  I must have looked at tables on craigslist 34 times but have never actually bought one.  The other day, Jered's aunt Lori said she had a friend who was giving away her table and did we want it.  You can guess what we said.  I came home on Friday from work to this..

I have never heard Jered talk about a piece of furniture like he does this table. Every time he walks by it and says, "Boo..I love this table!" It's so funny. He says he loves anything that makes our apt seem more like a home.  You gotta love that kid.  You never know what will tickle his fancy.  

***

Contrary to what I thought before we went there, Long Beach is not all ghetto.  The city center is pretty cool. We went last Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  There are all kinds of little shops and restaurants a lot of which are right on the water front. My camera card was missing but I was just able to take these pics of us in this amazing book shop we found where everything was a dollar.  Everything!  If Jered hadn't talked some sense into me, I would have bought their entire young adult section. They had all the classics.  

We ate dinner at this old school diner and picked songs from the nickel juke box.  Fun day.

A trip to Utah and Lil G

Things around here have gotten a little hectic as of late. I started my last two classes to graduate.. yes I realize I've been out of high school for almost 7 years but between two years off for a mission and my teacher being on sabbatical for the last year things got a little behind schedule. I've been doing homework every night until midnight this past week and I don't think it's going to let up soon because one class is only 7 weeks long. Once I finish these classes though I'll be done for good. It will be so great not to have the whole degree thing hanging over my head.  


In other completely different news, two weeks ago I got a chance to go up to Utah very unexpectedly.  On May 1st, my sweet Grandpa Hawkins passed away.  I wanted to go to his funeral, but didn't think it would be possible between work and the price of a place ticket. Luckily, despite my more often than not negative attitude about my job, I do have amazing benefits and they offered me three days bereavement.  That along with my wonderful parents who offered to fly me up.
My grandpa's funeral was wonderful.  So intimate and personal.  It really let me in on this whole other life he had lead before I knew him.  He was buried with military honors which was such a touching thing to witness and he was so deserving of it.  He was such a patriot and risked so much to fight for our freedoms. I walked away from that experience more convinced than ever of what a great man he was.  Saturday I totally took advantage of my time and went to the gym and shopping with my mom in the morning, to a good friend's baby shower in the afternoon and to dinner with some dear friends that night.  As I sat at dinner and caught up on life from like 3 hours with those girls, I felt so grateful so be able to spend time with people who have been such a big part of my life that I hadn't seen in so long.  It was also soo great to get so much uninterrupted time to spend with my family. Just to be able to sit and talk about life.  There are few things I value more than those one on one conversations with my parents and siblings.  On top of all that it was mother's day so I got to spend all day with my wonderful mama and even cook her a little dinner.  It was a fulfilling trip in so many ways.  Jered was sweet to be so supportive and keep things going down here while I was away.  


Right after I got back from Utah, we made a really spontaneous purchase.  I had been bugging Jered for awhile about getting a kitten or something like it and he was 100% against it.  He's not really an animal guy and neither really am I to be honest.  But I just have been wanted something to use some of my mothering instincts on.  Well, we were parusing the LA garment district a couple of weeks ago when we came across these little tiny dwarf bunnies they were selling on the corner.  I about died. They were seriously the cutest things ever and I know from growing up with them that bunnies are really easy to take care of plus they don't stink or make noise.. two reasons we're not such a fan of most other animals..  Somehow, I convinced Jered to say yes...

Since then, I think Jered has really warmed up to her.  We named her Goliath but call her Lil G for short.  She is about the most cuddly thing in the world, follows our feet around until we pet her, never makes a peep, and eats like 1/4 cup of food a day. We just let her run around the apartment now and she always goes into her cage to sleep.. well almost always... 

Jered found her curled up in my pile of clothes this morning.  I about died when I saw this pic. 

I brought my heart to San Francisco..

So much is happening right now with life but I wanted to give San Francisco a post all its own since really, it deserves it.

With my family living in Utah, most of my PTO at work goes to visiting those lovely people which is wonderful but leaves very little time for Jered and I to take trips just the two of us, so we decided to go crazy and take two days off of work and play in San Fran!!

Day 1

We decided to drive up the scenic route by taking the 101 and stopped in Solvane (Solvang?) this cutest little village that is straight from Denmark complete with tons of adorable shops, restaurants and Danish folks.  We tried the famous Danish Pancakes and then went into a bakery to try their more famous Ebelskivers and found out that Ebelskivers and Danish Pancakes were the same thing!  They were delicious none the less and Solvane totally deserves to be famous for them. 

We got to our hotel about 9:00 that night and got settled in.  We booked the cheapest hotel we could find and at $33 a night we brought our own sheets and expected to find peeling wall paper and a stained bath tub. Instead, we were totally surprised

I guess I should have made the bed before I took this but you get the gist.  Clean, remodeled quant, it was like a little tiny bedroom with a maid that cleaned up after us!  I couldn't believe how nice it was!

DAY 2

The next day we just spent exploring the city.  It was so fun because Jered had never been to a big city other than LA and he loved seeing all the cool stuff a big city like that brings.  We walked like 27 miles at least that day went from one end of the city to the other to the most ghetto to the fancy smansy from China town to the financial district to the Warf to back again... we saw it all! My two favorite things that day were getting these rings made:

and accidently finding the most gorgeous flower show going on at Macys

Real flowers inside those ball things. Incredible!! 

I REALLY hope this video finally worked because this is Jered and I at the top of this 37 story building scared out of our white because of how insanely fast the elevator went.  SERIOUSLY FREAKY. But also sooo fun.

DAY 3

We rented bikes all the way down at Pier 40 (the farthest possible pier from the Golden Gate Bridge but all in the name of saving money) and rode along the shore stopping at an amazing Saturday morning Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building and at Fisherman's Warf to eat yummy clam chowder and fish and chips.

Then we continued our trek to the bridge and rode across it which was no easy feat.  The wind was blowing like 1,000 miles per hour and I had to fight to stay on my bike.  I loved the bike ride up to the bridge but as soon as we got on that thing.. I was ready to be done. It felt like any minute my tire was gonna blow out from under me.. no me gusta.  BUT once we got to the other side and Jered talked me into getting back onto my bike that I'd left on the ground for dead, we had a lovely ride into Salsalito and spent the afternoon there and took the ferry back.  Over all.. WAY fun day.  Seeing the city on a bike is such a cool thing to do. love

Day 4

Sunday was mostly driving day but we stopped at Muirwoods on our way home, kind of (they're  like 45 min the opposite direction) to take in some nature before heading back to the OC and fell in love..those things are incredible!.. anytime I have to strain my neck and almost fall over to see the top of a tree, that thing automatically gets a lot of respect from me! 

It was so fun going up there just me and the Boo.  It made me excited for the many more trips like that to come!  

What I want to be when I grow up..

When I was younger, I never had a niche.. that thing I was really good at.  People would tell me what was important was being kind or obedient or whatever else, but it bothered me nonetheless that whenever I would look at charms for a bracelet or things to decorate my room or nick knacks to hang on my rearview mirror, I sort through basketballs, ballerinas and pianos, pick them up, and realize I didn’t have a real connection to any of them.  I had played basketball, practiced danced and taken piano lessons, but I hadn’t put my heart into any of them.  I felt I was talent-less.

Now, roughly 10 years later, I am faced with the same thing.  I have realized in my older age that being able to dance or play basketball aren’t necessarily the keys to happiness, but I still have a desire to excel, to have a niche, something I’m really good at.  Here’s my problem.  I want to do everything…

I want to be crafty.  Like really crafty.  Etsy status crafty.  I want to be one of those people with the fancy schmanshy blogs that has advertising and is oozing with creativity.  I want to be clever and think up all these cute, frugal, beautiful things to do with my apartment.

I want to be fashionable.  Uniquely fashionable.  Not fashion that revolves around brand names and fashion week but a special fashion all my own that is both chic and inexpensive. I want it to be something that fits my personality that I can grow and develop.

I want to be into photography.  I want to have an expensive camera with lots of lenses and spend my days studying the way light falls on a flower or the shadows in casts on the face of a stranger.  I want to take beautiful pictures of beautiful things, everything from nature to people to delicious food. 

I want to learn about everything.  Art, science, history, music, dance, you name it. Then I want to experience it.  I want to be able to go into an art museum and know something, understand the artist behind the art.  I want to travel THE WORLD and know what I am looking at, it’s history and what it means.  I want to listen to beautiful music and have an appreciation for the composure, watch moving dancing and be moved by its soul. 

I want to develop my art skills.  Learn to paint and sew and pottery.  I want to take community classes and make beautiful things. 

I want to be a health nut and shop at only Trader Joes and farmers markets.  I want to grow a garden, live off of the land, and become a cooker of delicious, healthy food.

Speaking of health, I want to be really active.  I want to raise an active family and do things like races and do relays and Ragnar.  I want to bike and hike and back pack and camp.  I want to raise my family to have an appreciation for nature and the beautiful country we live in.  I want to stay healthy so that I can keep up with my children and grandchildren. 

These are all just the temporal things; I want to do so much more with my life.  But this is enough for one post. 

I love that I live in a place that has so much opportunity and variety.  The options are endless. I can do whatever I want.  Be whoever I want to be.  How grateful I am that I live in a place filled with beauty and happiness that I can enjoy and be a part of.  And even if I may not be the perfect anything, I guess it’s not so bad to try a little bit of everything. 

The tale of the world's most expensive haircut

A tale of the worlds most expensive haircut….. Once upon a time there was a girl who hadn’t had her hair cut and colored for about three months.  Things were looking dull and stringy and the girl knew it was time to find a hair stylist  in…dun dun dun.. Orange County.  She started looking around and Yelping places and didn’t have much luck.  Then, one day, her prince charming.. wait.. was she a princess?.. was surfing the world wide web and came across a “Living Social” deal advertising $150 worth of stuff done for $65 dollars.  For the over-priced hair salons in Orange County, this was a steal!  The girl gladly agreed to buy the coupon and called to make her appointment.  The woman who answered the phone assured her that $150 dollars would be more than enough for a simple cut and color. 

The next week, the girl, excited and a little nervous (she had decided to try a shorter cut which she had been told was both “sexy” and “sassy”) went into the salon.  It was the swanky type in Newport Beach where the hair dressers have assistants to do things like wash your hair and hand the stylist hair spray and give you water in wine glasses.  As the girl sat down, her stylist explained to her that the cut alone would cost $80 dollars and the color would be another $120 dollars making it $50 dollars over the $150 she had to spend.  The girl looked at the stylist in the swanky salon and tried to keep her from seeing the wave of shock rolling over the girl.  Apparently, the stylist forgot the girl was not Lauren Conrad from the O.C. but simply a girl who works in a medical office who wanted a decent cut and color.. hence the reason a girl was using a coupon to even be in the salon in the first place.  The thing was, the girl was in a pickle.  You see, she had already laid down 65 big ones and if she just got a color here she would have to get a cut elsewhere and end up spending even more money.  She nodded her head in agreement trying the hide the “that’s my food money for the next two weeks” look in her eye. 

The stylist pressed on cutting about 5 inches off of the girl’s hair and giving her a lot blonder look.  The girl got compliments from all the stylists as she left and started to tell herself maybe the price wasn’t so bad after all and that she did feel sassier. She thought all of this as she searched for her keys in her purse. 

She searched high and low but found no keys.  That is until she went out to her car and looked through the passenger window and found them leering up at her from the car seat.  With a heavy sigh and a shake of her sassy head, the girl went out in search of a number to a lock smith.

 After talking to a movie usher who looked at her as if she were some spilled popcorn in his theater he needed to get rid of and trekking over to a restaurant, she found some good Samaritans in the way of two valet parkers.  They listened to her plight and used their fancy internet phones to find the number to the nearest locksmith.  They chatted with her animatedly about all the expensive cars in their lots until the locksmith called them back.  (to make matters more interesting, the girls phone was barely hanging on to its battery life and wouldn’t let her make calls out) The locksmith quoted her at $50 just to drive the 5 miles over to the car and told her it would be from $20 and up to get the car unlocked.  The girl was convinced it couldn’t be more than $20 to open her car since it was an 05 corolla and set out to wait for the locksmith.  The kind valet worker waited with her and soon enough a punk 20 year old kid came to unlock her car.  The girl was preparing for the worst… a possible 80 dollars to do the job.  You can imagine her surprise when the kid brought over the receipt and it was $129 dollars even.  The girl had had enough.  She said that was simply the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard and that she didn’t have that kind of money.  The kid nudged a centimeter and took off $20 but said that was the best he could do.  She signed the dumb receipt feeling extremely taken advantage of and proceeded to watch the kid get a blood pressure pump and bent hanger, stick it through the window, and unlock the door in a matter of minutes. The girl responded a little saucily that next time she would have someone bring her a blood pressure pump and a bent hanger and save herself $109 but that she thanked him anyway because he wasn’t the one who jacked up the prices after all.  She drove away from the salon in Newport Beach and looked in the rearview mirror. She crunched some numbers and realized that sassy new haircut had cost her $224.  As she pulled onto the freeway she muttered "this hair cut better last me a year."