Memorial Day With The Family

It wasn't much of a holiday weekend with all the chaos of moving, but I at least got to have one night of relaxation and fun with the family. The perfect end to the long weekend!

Back: Lori, Pat, Todd and Nicole Front: Natalie, Keira, Sue and Joe
Back: Nicole and Natalie Front: Shaelin, Makenna, Baylee and Sparkle
Ferrin
Grandpa Louis and Grandma Barbie
Nicole, Todd and Barbra
Austin
Nicole bein' a dork ;)
Keira and Lori
Shae and Lori
Nat, Shae and Pat
"Look! They named wine after us!" ;)
Toddy
I'm so glad I got to come home this weekend and spend time with my family, I would be lying if I said I didn't miss being able to do this all the time! The way I see it, the distance will make nights like this all the more special! :)

What We're Up To-May

The first half of the move is over, and we got to California yesterday after an 11 hour road trip through 4 states! Time for a little rest and relaxation before the movers arrive and unload!
-Kiki 5/9


Just got off the phone with the movers, they'll be here on thursday to unload and then the madness begins! I have way too much stuff, I don't know how I am going to get all this to fit! Wish us luck :)
-Kiki 5/11


I have walked into hell, and its name is Lowe's Cardboard Boxes. No where to put my stuff anymore, I have been relegated to 3 1/2 x 6 feet of space. At least the TV is hooked up!
-Ryan 5/14


Time to road trip it again, I am heading back to Utah tomorrow for the weekend! Looking forward to seeing my family and friends and getting some things done... It's also Madi's sweet 16, so I will be helping her celebrate that as well! :)
-Kiki 5/27

Saying Goodbye... Err... Hello!

Wow what a weekend! The day started out fantastically, I got to go to breakfast with Stewart and my girls at our usual place, which was wonderful. I am really going to miss seeing them all the time! After that, Madi got some driving practice running errands with me and loading the storage unit, couldn't have done it without her! My condo is officially empty now and ready for its new tenant. It's so weird seeing it empty like this! I am really sad to be leaving this place, I truly loved the years I spent here, and it was so close to my family and friends. At the same time I am excited to be on this journey in a new place where I will create new memories and meet new friends! And it's not goodbye forever, I am sure I will be back lots to visit, I just don't think it will be often enough for me! ;) So now that I have said goodbye, it's time to say hello to Alisha, the new tenant!

Alisha and Casey
Alisha came by today to start moving in, but the big move for her happens tomorrow! It's a bit surreal to see different furniture in the rooms of my former home, but I hope Alisha and her children are as happy and comfortable as I was in those rooms! They really are getting to live in a great place with great people, and I wish them the best of luck here! :)


Now on to some of the highlights of the final day of moving, like Rilee finding my awesome boots and hamming it up all over the house!




The boots now live with Rilee, which I am sure Ryan will be ecstatic about because it means one less pair of shoes will be living with us! It was also a gorgeous day today, and Madi and me got to hang out on the deck a bit and enjoy the sun with Slater :)


After that I took a break over at my mom's and hung out with her and Auntie Susan, I got to tell Susan all about California living, and share the stories of box city with her! She got a pretty good laugh out of it! My dog Bambi was in heaven, because the whole time we chatted Susan gave her lovin'!


Even with all the craziness of getting the place cleared out, it was an awesome day, and so nice to spend it with the ones I love! As much as I will miss this place and everyone here, I think I will miss the view from my bedroom and my bathroom more... Don't laugh, I had a pretty awesome bathroom! ;) I can always come back and visit, but an awesome bathroom is a rare find!


C'mon, admit it... It was a pretty freakin' sweet bathroom! ;)




It's not really goodbye, because I'll see you soon!

Oh! That's DIRTY!

I think I need to wash my car, what do you think?


If you look closely the window actually says "WASH ME PLEASE"! One of Stewart's girls was being a comedian lol

I Miss My Boys!

Ryan sent me this earlier tonight... And as much as I love being here, I miss Ryan and our furry little boys! I can't wait to get home to them!

My Adorable Family!

The gorgeous hiking weather I enjoyed friday morning disappeared and mother nature took a very wet and cold crap on us! There was no warning either, sunny and warm one minute, cold and rainy the next! That's Utah, to spend one day here you need to prepare for 4 seasons, no joke! I must admit, it is so nice to be back home spending time with my family! I had an awesome time tonight with them :) I have missed them immensely. I went to my sister's for dinner, where I was promptly put to work by the kids making them bracelets, at some point I was designated the official bead lady! I didn't get to see Shae, she was off camping, being a teenager, but I got to spend some good quality time with Baylee and Makenna.

Abbie (Baylee's Friend), Baylee and Makenna hamming it up for the camera!

Here's a better picture where they don't look so freakin' deranged!


I am pretty sure My girls are the cutest on the planet! I'm just sayin'! ;) My brother, dad and step-mom came to join the little soiree too!

My darling sister Lori and my step-mom Sue... The Hanley/Berchtold women!

My brother Todd, my brother-in-law Pat and my dad Joe... The Hanley/Berchtold men!

Dad and Sue :)

Later on in the evening the girls decided to to do make overs...

Baylee

Makenna

After dinner with my family, I went to visit my other "family" to celebrate Madison's sweet 16! Here are the girls with their schwag, I couldn't come to visit empty handed! For Madi's birthday we got her an awesome new wallet to display her freshly minted driver's license in, and we got Rilee and Em origami kits... We didn't forget Stew either, he got hooked up with some honey teriyaki jerky from Alien Fresh Jerky, my new favorite outpost in the boonies!

Rilee, Madison and Em

Here are some more pictures from our evening together...


Rilee and Stewart

Emi and Zoe

Emi and Zoe... And my freakin' sweet new Vans that Madi tried to steal off my feet!

It was so nice to see everyone tonight! I feel so incredibly lucky to have such amazing family and friends :) No wonder I miss them so much! Ok, enough with the mooshy stuff! Time for me to get to bed, I have a busy day tomorrow (Well, technically today)! Goodnight! :)

Welcome Home/Eat Your Heart Out!

The road trip is over and I made it back to good old Utah, 11 hours and 4 states later! Leaving Los Angeles was quite a chore, apparently when it rains people lose the ability to drive... Really not kidding on that one! It literally took me three hours to get out of the city! A huge thank you to my amazing neighbor Jasna for packing me a delicious care package for the trip and cooking me her turkey spaghetti omelette for breakfast! :) That care package really came in handy, especially the pears! Once I made it out of the city I did make another stop in Baker for more delicious alien fresh jerky, that place is so weird I couldn't drive through without stopping there again! Other than that the drive was pretty uneventful, lots of traffic for the holiday weekend, so I am anticipating that my drive home is going to be an absolute nightmare. I got in last night around 11pm, I tried to take a picture of the South Ogden exit, but when you're traveling at high speeds it's very hard to snap a photo, so that attempt was an epic fail, but here's the picture anyway!


I also made a stop at the water towers to grab a picture :)


I finally got to my mom's around 11:30pm, and as soon as I walked in Tanner was all over me like I was her personal kitty condo, I really have missed that little goober these past few weeks, and it was nice to kick back and cuddle with her. I managed to snap a late night photo of her after she stopped acting so psycho! What a little sweetie (when she's sleeping)!


I can't tell you how amazing it was to wake up to my mountains this morning, I seriously took them for granted while I was here, and you never know how much you're going to miss them until you leave them!




I also made it home in time to see the little tree I planted as a child blossom, absolutely gorgeous!



All in all it is nice to be home, but I am missing Ryan and my boys already, as nice as it was to wake up to mountains I was sad that they weren't here :( I know, I am being a total wuss!

Now on to the eat your heart out part of the blog! Ryan and me have long been convinced that the In-N-Out by our house in Woodland Hills is the greatest on the face of the planet, I am now convinced I just found one that is by far better! And it's in Washington City, Utah of all places!


So here's a picture of the amazing fare... Eat your heart out! (Warning: Viewing this picture will clog your arteries.)



That's it for now, I am off to enjoy a hike in the foothills with some friends :) It really is nice to be back!

Frick and Frack

As you can see the boys are getting along better :) And Jack has made an awesome recovery and is settling in fantastically, he has even found himself a designated spot on the couch!


We have still had a few tiffs and turf wars here and there, but nothing like the apocalypse of fur we were prepared to face! Box city is still slowly shrinking, it seems like the unpacking process will take forever, but I think we are getting close to the finish line... Maybe ;) We did take another break from box city this weekend, this time to go to... Where else... DISNEYLAND! Hooray for those annual passes, and yet another gold star for Ryan! It was nice to have a mini break from the endless sea of boxes that have invaded the living room! When we got to Disneyland we were greeted with the news that strippers had been added to the cast! I am totally kidding, but there was a woman who decided to put on a little dance for the crowd with the fireman band, and she got so inappropriate they actually stopped playing until she left! Always a fun time, here is a picture of the hilarity!


And as I posted before we also found out that Star Tours will be no more :( All in all it was still a fun time! I posted a cute little video from the Tiki Room, one of my Disney faves (If they ever close that I will seriously consider boycotting the park all together), and of course a slide show of some of the sights! Enjoy! :)

We'll end this post with Jack's furry as hell toes! LOL