Phone pics

I've realized since I got my iPhone that I don't use my camera as much for everyday uses... So I decided to upload the best pics from my phone into my blog, genius!

This pic is from when I was in Lodi. My parents have a garden, but they don't know that you have to pick a zucchini before it grows to be too big. Aubrey is illustrating how massive it truely was!
My family had lots of fun playing with the picture editing on my phone during church. Noelle edited this pic of Shannon and made everyone laugh for like 5 minutes!
I went to Coco's with my dad, Colin, and Aubrey and Colin had me take this pic for Noelle's benefit. Wished she were there!
Our pet gecko (Ginny) sheds about every 2 weeks, usually during the night and she eats her skin (EW!) before the morning, so we never get to see it. I came home in the middle of the day one day and saw her like this, so I snapped a quick pic and then let her alone to finish up and eat her snack (EW!) in peace.
Every once in a while at the museum I have some down time and I like to bring Oatis out onto the grass to roam around. It's usually unsuccessful, as he is so obsessed with eating that he will just chow on the grass the whole time, but we get to know each other... and I get paid for chilling outside, so it's cool.
The reptiles at work get fed mice once a week and the best snake to feed is always Elpheba, she thinks the mouse is live so she'll strike at it and squeeze it for a bit before immediately gulping it down. It's cool to watch.
Chase and I went to the farmers market yesterday and he bought some of these Dutch Waffles that he used to eat on his mission with his Dutch companion. They're crispy and filled with caramel, Delicious!
Tonight Ashlee came over for dinner and I made hamburgers. I like everything so much that when I make my hamburger I always think, "Tomatoes? I like tomatoes, I'll add a few extra... Pickles? I like pickles, I'll add a few extra... Avacado? I like avacado, I'll add a few extra..." and before I know it my hamburger is HUGE! Chase and Ashlee laughed a lot when they saw my burger and Chase had to take this pic.
Yesterday I was reading my craft blogs (not to be confused with my cooking blogs...) and I saw a picture of these awesome bracelets made out of old t-shirts, so I pulled some of Chase's out of the DI bag and made these. I love them! I've already made about 10 with the hopes of giving them to my friends. Unfortunately I don't know many people who wouldn't think I was weird in trying to force these bracelets on them... :( Maybe I should sell them for $2 each? I have 6 colors so far: pink, navy, green, white, gray and red. What combos would you like?

Mission Video

I have been working on making a scrapbook of Chase's mission and I ran across this sweet little gem. Make sure you watch to the end!

Fall Semester

Summer has ended and Chase and I are into our Fall semester. During the two weeks between semesters I went to California to "play mom" while my mom and Noelle went to Europe for about 10 days. I took care of Aubrey, Colin and Zaya and helped things run normal while my mom was gone. I was excited to spend time with Aubrey and I had many craft projects planned weeks in advance :) Here are some picks from making rainbow cupcakes with Aubrey. She loved to decorate them and I taught her how to put the right amount of sprinkles on them.


Lets just say if Aubrey doesn't want to take a picture with you, it's hard to force her. This was the best smile I could get, and it seems a little sarcastic on her part!

While I was in Lodi, Chase went on a pack horse camping trip with our Bishop. Chase's brother, Alex, flew in to go with him. They had fun and I heard a lot of funny stories when we met up in Bakersfield for the second week of our break. We had fun down there and got to see Nicole, Phil and Tori and celebrate Janelle and Phil's birthdays. Chase's mom also gave us tickets to go see Brian Regan in concert as a belated birthday present to Chase. It was awesome.

After 2 weeks of vacation school has started up again. I'm taking lots of classes for my major, including a sewing swimsuits class, advanced cooking, and floral design... so you know, pretty tough classes. Haha. Chase is in his last semester of undergrad and taking a few last GEs and holding strong! He complains sometimes, but he still studies hard and gets good grades.

I still work at the Bean Museum giving live animal shows. It's a fun job and I LOVE it! The coolest part is that all my co-workers are my age, I've never worked anywhere like that before! Chase is still doing research for a professor on campus which will turn into his graduate research, so that's a win-win!

The bottom line is that we don't have much free time, but we want to say congrats to all our friends who have had their babies! Cameron and Mitzi, we need to see Noah immediately! Ryan and Tamie, I'm excited to be an Aunt that spoils her neice! Beth and Mark, I love visiting Spencer and I wish I could come over every day!

Chase's Birthday

Yesterday was Chase's birthday (26!) and it ended up working out because it was a reading day in preparation for finals, so neither of us had anything going on. We went to the mall and out to lunch and finally fishing up at Salem Pond for some catfish. Well as it turns out, fishing until 10pm the day before a 7am final is not such a good idea as I still had to study, so I ended up having to pull an all-nighter. Yawn!

Anyways, here's some cool pics from yesterday.
Popsicle tongue, driving to Salem Pond.

Chase is getting his hook ready, it had to be baited with chicken liver, gross!

We had fun hanging out together, but next week he gets to go pack horse camping with our bishop! And the best part is... I don't have to go! But I'll miss him :(

Camping

A few weeks ago Chase and I decided to go camping on a Friday night. He found a campground and we headed out after our classes.
Here is our meager campsite.
Next time we'll remember to bring a few more things, such as:

• Chairs
• Matches or lighter
  
• Paper towels or towel
  
• Toilet paper
• Flashlight or lantern
• Sweatshirt for Chase
• Shoes besides flip-flops
• Hatchet for firewood

Oh well... it was still fun!

Our New Pet

Chase and I also got a patternless leopard gecko about a week ago and we love having her as a new pet. Chase just build her this shelf today so her cage could have a nice place to sit.
She doesn't have sticky pads on her toes, but she has tiny claws that help her grip onto clothing. We are having problems naming her, so any suggestions?? She will be bright yellow when she is full grown.


Here's a video of her eating a mealworm, for some reason my mom thinks it's gross...

Re-upholstery...

I just turned this old ottoman...

Into THIS!!I got the fabric from IKEA forever ago because I made our living room curtains out of it. It's really sturdy and so I wanted to re-cover our nasty ottoman. We always tried to cover it with a blanket, but as you can see from the picture above it never worked very well. So today I ripped off the old fabric and put this new one on :) It ended up being a really easy no-sew project. So much prettier!