Jiminey Cricket!

Friday night, or rather Saturday morning, I woke up around 2 AM. The crickets were chirping outside, but there was one in particular cricket that was rather loud. I instantly knew that somehow, this cricket had gotten into my room on the second floor of our house, in which the windows are always closed in the summer. I traced the chirping over to a large dresser by my desk. I couldn't see the critter when I turned on the light and I figured it was probably under my dresser but I was too tired to check and it had stopped making noise at this point. I got back in bed and was almost asleep when I heard it again. In my half-conscious state, I remember telling the cricket "nooooooo" in a threatening voice as if I were talking to one of my dogs. Well, that didn't work and so, all through the night, I was constantly getting out of bed and making a bunch of noise by my dresser to shut this thing up. But inevitably, the cricket would just wait until I had gone back to sleep before it began chirping again.

Last night, I enlisted the help of my dad to get this cricket out of my room so that I could have uninterrupted sleep. I got a flashlight and my dad got a stick to try and chase it out. All he seemed to do was stir up a bunch of dust and I saw no sign of the cricket. My dad left the stick with me so that if I woke up to chirping, I could use the stick to scare the cricket. I told my dad that if I woke up to chirping, that I would go and wake him up and use the stick to hit him. I was just joking of course. Luckily, I did not wake up to chirping. I have no idea where the cricket went. Maybe it jumped down the stairs and found a way outside. It's more likely that the cricket just died. I don't know what they eat, but there probably wasn't any in my room.

One last thing. Today is my brother, Briton's birthday. I just wanted to wish him a happy birthday. We celebrated his birthday last Sunday because more people were here. Now Emily and Kate are gone and we won't see either until Christmas :( But here's a picture from last week. Danny, another we won't see until Christmas, is the only one who is missing.

Back row: Emily, Kate, Me, my mom, Jacob, and my dad.

Front row: Melissa, Caroline, Cole and Birton.

A pictures says 1000 words

I stole this idea from my friend, Heather's blog. I thought it was a fun tag, but I won't make anyone do it. The idea is to answer the questions with pictures, but I kind of cheated because some of my pictures have words in them.

My first name:
My middle name:

My last name:

My age:

The year I was born:

The place I was born:

A favorite place:

A place I'd like to visit:

A favorite food:

A favorite place to shop:

A favorite pastime:

My college major:

A pet I've owned:

A weakness:

LA & San Diego

I went down to Southern California this past weekend for the wedding of Michael Esplin, a really close family friend. The picture above is just outside the San Diego Temple. It's Emily, Danny, Aaren Esplin, Me and Kate. I drove down there with my parents and my sister, Kate. Luckily I had Breaking Dawn to keep me entertained plus my dad bought a bunch of crap for us to eat (seen below) along the way so it was a pretty nice trip. We went to Emily's apartment in Westwood and then went over to the nearby mall for dinner and dessert at Pinkberry. Danny flew in that night so her apartment was pretty crowded and Emily was getting ornery.


The next morning we drove down to San Diego and checked into a hotel called Catamaran. It is really near the beach and that's where the majority of us headed as soon as we got there. That night, there was a rehearsal dinner at a restaurant in La Jolla where the bride and groom showed their wedding video. The next morning, they were married in the San Diego Temple and then we had lunch at The Melting Pot. I've been wanting to go there for a long time, but I must say that I was disappointed. For the prices they have, I was expecting something amazing and I was let down. It was, however, a unique and fun way to eat.

Emily, Kate and Me at the rehearsal dinner.

Later in the afternoon, there was a ring ceremony on the beach. It wasn't exactly the beach though because it was on a bay. My brother, Danny, was a groomsman so he had to walk down the aisle and wear a tux all day long. Lucky! It was pretty casual though and Michael's dog was the ring bearer. To wrap everything up, there was a reception on a boat in the harbor. We were pretty worn out so we left right after we ate and didn't stay for dancing. Darn it!

Danny with one of the bridesmaids walking down the aisle after the ceremony.

Michael and his new wife, Haley at the reception.

Kate, Me, my mom, and Emily on the "Berkeley."

Some random building across from the boat where the reception was. My dad took this picture and I thought it was a pretty building.

We went to the beach the next morning and then drove back to LA that afternoon. We went to a gelato place in Beverley Hills after dinner that night. The next morning, we dropped Danny off that the airport and drove back to SLC. This time Emily came because she still has another week and a half of vacation. And that was pretty much the sum of our trip. It was short but I had a great time and loved spending every minute with my family, though not everyone was there.

My dad, Emily, Kate, Me and Danny.

Sparkle Toes

My sister-in-law's Mother opened a Spa in Lehi last December called Journey's End Spa & Salon. I do all the graphic design work for the spa so I like to go down there every once and a while and check things out. Kate and I went there on Saturday to get sparkle toes. Sparkle toes? you ask. Let me tell you a little about them. Basically, they pour pure glitter on your toenails, in almost any color you can think of, and then cover it with acrylic so that they are hard and last for 6-8 weeks. I know that they really do last that long because I've gotten them one time before. They are awesome and even though my feet aren't even remotely attractive, I've taken a picture so you can see, but I don't think it captures how cool they really are.

Kate's are the green toes on the left and mine are the purple toes on the right. Click on it to make it bigger and then you might be able to see the sparkles better. Also, on the 19th of August, Journey's End is having a grand opening. If anyone is interested, the information is on the flier below which you can also click on to make bigger.