Surprise!!

Friday, March 28th, 2008

A few days ago, my brother Brett asked if Ryan and I wanted to come over on Friday to have a ping-pong tournament. He said he was having some friends over and they were going to do a bracket-style tourney. I told Ryan about it and he was definitely up for it! Tonight (Friday)rolled around and I was waiting for Ry to get off work and come up. I got the idea that I wanted to make some of that gooey, coconuty, chex mix. When Ryan got to my house, I told him I wanted to go to Smith's to buy some of the necessary ingredients. We got to Smith's and I started gathering things up, and Ryan kept trying to talk me out of making it. I didn't want to go to Brett's empty-handed so I insisted. The bill came to $20 or so and Ryan said he would pay for it. I didn't understand why he'd pay when he didn't even want me to make it, but I thought it was very sweet of him. After that I tried calling my sis Kell to see if she was coming, but I could not get hold of her. I called Brett to see if we could come now and he told me he got caught up at work and would be late. He asked if I'd go and pick up two pizza's at the Little Caesar's in Clinton. I said I would, so Ry and I headed to Clinton. I didn't think two pizza's would be enough to feed everyone, so I got a third one, plus some breadsticks. We finally made our way to Brett's house and walked in.

"SURPRISE!" My sister Kellee, along with the help of Brett, and Ry planned a surprise party for me! My whole family (excluding my parents, who had Jazz tickets) was there, Laura, Kalani and kids, Amy Bedoya, Codee Jones and her fam, Thom, Tandra and Mason, and Chris (my old roomie) were all there! I was so shocked! I seriously had no idea. And me, being the big baby I am, started crying because it was so sweet! Kellee had contacted all these people weeks ago and planned it all. She even called my work to have the first couple hours of my shift covered! What a great sis! At the party they already had eight pizza's, and my mom had made a huge yummy salad, some delicious dip, and she also bought the cake. Needless to say, the Chex mix never came to fruition, and it's no wonder Ryan was trying to talk me out of it! I had such a great time though and was so grateful to everyone who came. It was the best birthday ever! Here are some pics from tonight:

What's that? Happy Birthday K i r s t a! Ha ha

My oldest brother Ryan and his family

Me and Ry in front of my birthday sign

Mason, Tandra, Amy, Laura and her daughter Autumn

Sisters-in-law Missy and RaNae. Niece Nicole.

Sweet sis Kellee, adorable niece Brookie, Thom and Ryan

I love these girls! Laura, Amy, me, Chris and Tandra

The Party Planners, Brett, Kellee and Ryan (Oh, and Amy and I!) Ryan looks so cute in this pic!

Girl's Night of Fun!

March 26th, 2008

Since our hilarious friend Nikki, was coming to town from Chicago we knew we had to have a get-together! On Wednesday, Laura, Jacky, Nancy, Nikki, Nikki's friend, Nikki's mom, and I all met up at the Cheesecake Factory. We had such a great time catching up, laughing, and eating a LOT of food. It's always a joy to have Laura around because you can count on her doing something to make everyone laugh. I can't believe she wouldn't let me get a picture of her when she dropped her cheescake right on her lap! We stayed for hours and had a thoroughly great time!

Jacky, Teri, and Nikki

Nancy, me, Laura

Jacky, Teri, Nikki, Nancy, Me, Laura, Rosemary (Nancy & Nikki's ma!)

That night, I invited myself to sleep over at Laura's (ha ha) so I wouldn't have to drive home from SLC. Her husband Kalani, had fallen asleep in thier daughters bed so Laura told me to just come in and sleep in the nice king-sized bed with her. Well, Laura woke up early the next morning to go to work. Around 6am, I heard an annoying buzzing in my ear and I tried to make it stop. The next thing I know, Kalani came into the room wondering why his alarm didn't go off. Oops! He was also wondering what the heck I was doing in his bed! Haha, good thing he's such an easy-going guy! Laura and I had a good laugh about it later in the day while we were getting our pedicures. I wanted a cute flower on my toe since it's been nice warm weather lately. The guy doing my toes started with this really cute little flower. I thought, "Wow, he's putting some nice detail into it." Then he continued, and continued and continued until I had this huge monstrosity on my big toe! The picture is blurry and has a glare, but this was the final result:

Whoa!!!

I guess I was feeling like I needed to spruce things up a bit cause I got my pedicure and also got my hair done this week. Hello Blondie!

Double Whoa!!!

Easter Sunday!

March 23, 2008

Sunday morning after I got off work I headed home to get ready for church. We were heading down to Payson, UT for a farewell. My mom, dad, and I met up with Ryan in South Salt Lake and continued on our way. My cousin Dave's son (Jordan) is going to Chicago in a few weeks on his mission. He did a very nice job and afterwards we all headed to my Aunt Jean and Uncle Marriner's for lunch. It was a very nice lunch and it was really good seeing some extended family I hadn't seen in a very long time! We stayed and visited for a few hours and headed home.

Once we got home I tried to take a little nap, (since I'd been up working all night long) but realized there was too much excitement going on. The whole family came over for dinner and Easter festivities. My mom made an excellent meal of ham, au gratin potatoes, asparagus, bread and salad. We all played a few rounds of Lightening in the back yard, where Ry and Brett went head-to-head a few times in the finals! After dinner we had the Easter egg hunt and let the kids hit open the previously mentioned egg pinata! My mom also made "Resurrection rolls" for the kids. She put a marshmallow inside some croissant dough and compared the marshmallow to Jesus and the roll to the tomb. When she baked the rolls the marshmallow disappeared, leaving the roll "empty" inside, just like the resurrection. It was a really cute idea but perhaps somewhat inappropriate, especially when Lexie took a bite out of a marshmallow and said, "So, I'm eating Jesus?"

Addie hitting the egg

Ellie's up next

Swing, Bracken swing!

Where's the pinata Lexie?

Dallin finally broke it open!

Grabbin for the goods

Everyone with their loot

Much of the gang

Krista and Ryan

Ellie, Nicole, Lexie and mom with the "Resurrection" rolls

Ellie, Brookie, Me, and Tayson

Brookie, Hollie, and Avery

Happy Easter!

And another week passes....

Saturday, March 22nd:

Dance night. Had fun setting up and preppin for the dance. The girls were very creative and decorated the cultural hall in Easter decor. Only about 20-25 kids showed up, but it was still a lot of fun. Addie was at my mom and dad's and she wanted to go to the dance SO BAD, so I let her come. She was a sweetie. Preston was also there and he was quite hilarious dancing all over the place! Now I'm at work catching up on the weeks events! Can't wait for the Easter egg hunt at my parent's house tomorrow. I love seeing all the nieces and nephews get excited for that!


Friday, March 21st:

I've been serving as the 1st Counselor in YW's since November and it has been a lot of fun! For one of their value projects, the Mia Maids decided to plan and put on a dance. They were supposed to do all of the preparation and planning but I told them if they needed me to take them shopping for decorations, I would. One of the girls Meg, called and asked if I could take her and a few of the other girls to WalMart. I borrowed my bro Brady's truck so I could fit us all. Turns out ALL the girls wanted to go! We had me and seven Mia Maids packed in. Probably not the best idea, but they all wanted to go and who was I to turn one of them away? Our trip to WalMart went without a hitch and I reminded the girls to keep it on the down-low about our seatbelt-less ride. I dropped off four of the girls and rounded the block only to see our Bishop down the street. We stopped to say hi and the bishop asked what we were up to. Almost immediately one of the girls blurted out, "Krista took us to WalMart and we had eight people in here!" Hahaha. Oh dear. The Bishop looked at me and said, "Are you serious!?" We all got a good laugh out of it and the Bish was way cool, but I really don't think I'll be doing that again!

Thursday, March 20th:

I tried sleeping in since I had to work Thursday night. After I got up I did some house cleaning, practiced some music, and got ready for our Kaye Starr Performance. Kellee, my mom, and I headed down to Salt Lake where we met up with Ryan (who is always supportive of ALL my performances) to go to our performance at the Lion's House. We got to park in the lot under the Church Office Building (which, I'm told is where the General Authorities park). We went in a back door to the Lion's House where we waited before we were to sing. The group we were singing for is called the DinOrators. They dine and listen to orators, or speakers, and/or musical groups. They were established in the 40's and Bruce R. McConkie was apparently one of its first members.

We'd been practicing new songs for the past couple months from one of Kaye Starr's newest programs, "Voices From the Dust." I think things went very well, (if not a bit long) and it was cool to sing there. Kellee and I did a duet called "As A Child," and on one verse I decided to make up my own harmony. Whoops! I don't think anyone besides KS noticed though! The people were very nice, especially one older gent who patted my cheek and said to me, "I loved looking at your face, you exuded the Spirit!" How very nice!


Wednesday, March 19th:

Wednesday was a day of seeing old friends and family. I decided to call my dear old friend Adie. We talked for a few minutes catching up when we decided we should go out to lunch. She came and picked me up and we headed to Cafe Rio. We ate and talked and laughed for a really long time. Afterwards, we went to Target and spent a nice chunk of time shopping. Sometimes I don't know if I know anyone nerdier than her. She went through the aisles calling for her dog Harley! She didn't just call out to the dog (who was in fact, at home) in a normal voice, oh no, it was in some strange Adie tongue! Ha ha, what a crack up. It def took me back to some of our High School/early college days! Since we had such a great time, we're going to make more of a habit of hanging out!

After I got home I was supposed to have a meeting with the Stake Young Women's Presidency but found out it was cancelled. Since I didn't have anything to do for the rest of the night I called Ryan to see when he'd be off. He was getting off soon so we decided to meet up in Bountiful and go hit a bucket of balls. On the way there, Carrie called me from the hospital! She'd just had her new baby boy the day before. We hung up before I pulled into the golf course. I pulled up and asked Ryan if he minded a change of plans. I wanted to go down and see Carrie and the new baby! Ryan is so sweet and was up for it too! So we drove down to Orem, went to K-Mart to get an outfit, then went to the Timpanogos Hospital. Owen Gunther Bean is so adorable! He is soo tiny and sweet! Carrie looks great for just giving birth too! We stayed for awhile and even played a game similar to SORRY, which Ryan won! After we left the hospital, we stopped by my cousin Julie's in American Fork. I love her and it was so great seeing her, even if for only thirty-minutes!

More Family Time!

Today was a fun, full day! My mom watched Brookie early this morning for Jed and Hollie. When I got up I took her with me over to Brett and Melissa's to watch Tayson. That means watching two babies under two years old. Luckily, they are both angels! Brooklyn is such a sweet, smart, sassy little girl! She will be two next month and can already sing The ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star, and The Wheels on the Bus. She loves her baby cousin Tayson too! About 1:30, Becky (Jed's sis-in-law) came and picked up Brookie. After they left, Tayson and I went for a long walk with the stroller. He fell fast asleep and stayed that way for a few hours. Melissa got home from class and took a nap since she had to work a night shift at the hospital (Crazy, me too!). A few days ago, she made a paper mache of an easter egg for the kids to hit open this Easter Sunday and told me if I got bored I could paint it. It sounded like fun, and it was! Here are some pictures:

Even though my family made fun of me for taking pictures of my "artwork," I think the egg turned out cute!

It was a fun little project! Later that evening, Brett, Kellee, Jed, Mom, Tayson and I went to eat at Wingers. We had a fun time, and as usual acted like nerds laughing at the dumbest things. Especially when Kellee trapped me in the booth with the table!

After dinner, we got in the cars and headed to say farewell to Paige. We had a really nice visit with her. I will miss her very much but I'm really proud of her and I know she will do great!

Niecey-Auntie Time

On November 19, 1990 I became an aunt for the first time. I was SO excited when Paige was born! She was the most adorable baby! She had a perfectly round, bald head and was the happiest, sweetest little girl.

Holy cow, she is now 17 years old! She is going away to finish up her schooling so I wanted to spend a day with her before she left. We decided to take a fun "day-trip" somewhere around the Salt Lake valley. I mentioned going to the zoo and hit the jackpot! She immediately sent a text to everyone in her cell informing them of her zoo trip. After forgetting my purse (twice) at home and stopping to pick up Paige's paycheck, we were on our way. Our first stop once at the zoo was the Zoofari Express. We hopped aboard and were on our way. We passed some goats, birds, and a few other animals before coming into the Buffalo knoll. My first thoughts were, "Wow, these buffalo aren't behind a fence or caged at all. That's really cool to see them so up close." As one of these large male bison charged the train and started bucking up and down mere feet away from us, my next thought was, "Oh my gosh, we're going to die!" We continued on though and made it safely out of the knoll when I then turned to Paige and said, "Did you get a picture of that?!" She still looked like she was in shock and replied, "No, I thought we were going to die! I didn't think of it!" Ha ha. Maybe we were being a BIT dramatic, but it did get our hearts pumping and made the train ride worth the one dollar entrance fee!

(Scared to death right after the buff incident! Ha.)

After that we went and checked out the rest of the animals. We saw the elephants, rhinos, black bears, zebras, penguins, giraffes, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, alligators and many more. Paige's favorites were the monkeys though. She especially loved the oraguntans and gorillas, even though the baby orangutan fell in love with me. I hadn't been to the zoo in at least ten years and it was really fun to see all the animals. To anyone who hasn't been in awhile, I highly recommend it! Here are a few more photos of our day at the zoo:

Thirsty elephant

(Eww!)

What amazing photography skills I have! (Inside the alligator hut)

Paige's favorite of the day! The gorilla was so cute just sitting there posing for the camera!


After the zoo we headed for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I got my usual, (Bang-bang chicken and shrimp) and Paige got the chinese chicken salad. They were quite delish. After dinner we hurried out so we could babysit Tayson so Brett could play in his recreational basketball game. Just about the time we hit the congested SLC traffic, Paige decided she HAD to go to the bathroom! Like I said, traffic was slow and we weren't going anywhere fast and she could not hold it much longer! We took the next exit at 2300 North, which had no facilities. We found a secluded spot on the road and pulled over because she wasn't going to last. For some strange reason, when she got out of the car she took her cell phone with her and placed it on the hood.

It was about the time we were to the first Bountiful exit that she realized it was missing. We took that exit and headed back south. We found the phone lying in the middle of the road where we had been pulled over! Luckily it wasn't squashed. :) So, once again we headed off into the thick traffic and made it just in time for Brett's game. Brett's team doubled the other teams points making for a huge victory. After the game we all (including my mom) went to Brett's for a few games of ping pong.

The day was a lot of fun and I'm so glad I got to spend it with Paige! Here are a few more pictures from Brett's house.

Paigey and Tayson-the oldest and youngest niece and nephew.

(Oh great! Another kiss!)

Chubby baby! Tayson's new 4 mo. old picture.

Saturday Night Fun

Even though Ryan really wanted to go the Jazz game on Saturday night, he (sweetly, albeit reluctantly) agreed to go to dinner and play games with my friend Nancy and her husband Michael. Nancy and I have known each other for years, but I'll get to that later.

We met up at the Sizzler on 2100 S. and 1300 E. Apparently Sizzler is Nancy's favorite restaurant (really?!) and it was her birthday so she got to choose. Ryan had once met Nancy and Michael at a BBQ at Laura and Kalani's but didn't really get a chance to talk much. And actually, I think it was only my third time meeting him. After stocking up at the salad bar we got down to the business of getting to know each other. Turns out Ryan and Michael have a lot in common. I have to admit, some of the conversations flying around at that table were over my head. Who knows anything about The Yardbirds, Stargate SG-1, and The Justice League? Certainly not me! Oh, and I musn't forget Firefly. Apparently FOX did something to really mess up that series. :) It was fun though and cool that they had things in common! Nancy and I, of course, did our fair share of reminiscing and laughing about the good ol' days though.

Nancy and I go way back. I think since '97 or so. LONG story short, she was Laura's (my best friend) roommate and we sure had some good times! Here are just a few of those memories:

-Annalisa, me, Nancy and Laura in the hot tub at the ski rental house:

The boys in the next hot tub over: "Hey ladies, how you doin tonight?"
Annalisa: "Oh, nothin much. Yo, are you homies just kickin it in the pad?"
The boys in the next hot tub over: "Uh, yeah. OK, bye."
Annalisa: "Peace out brotha's from anotha mutha!"

-Nancy skippin class so we could hang out and watch movies while Laura was at work!

-Our trip to Kentucky! Nancy, Laura and I flew out to Nikki's in KY. Despite one teeny-tiny knock-down, drag-out fight, (ha ha) we had a lot of fun! It was great staying with Nikki (hilarious sister of Nancy), Alif and Justin. We went horseback riding and Nancy fell off a horse, producing the world's largest bum bruise! We went and explored a really neat cave where I stupidly wore sandals and gashed my foot open on who-knows-what. We also went swimming in a pretty lake I don't know the name of. Our trip to KY was because Nancy was buying Nikki's car. We then got to drive it cross country back home. We stopped and stayed in St. Louis with my friend Kara and her husband too! Fun mems!

So...back to Saturday night. After dinner we went back to Nancy and Michael's to play a fun game called Dicecapades. Even though Ryan and I were crushing them the whole game, they came back in the final minutes to win. Dang. I would've called a rematch if I didn't have to rush off to work!

Next time. :)

First Blog Ever!

I never thought I'd be a blogger! As of late, however, I've realized quite a few of my friends have blogs. Not only are they fun to read, but they keep me up-to-date on their lives. Maybe for me it'll be a good way of keeping some kind of personal history since I'm terrible at journal writing! I'll keep it short and sweet for my first time around, but watch for more to come soon!