International Salon & Spa Expo

Once my youngest brother went on his church mission, my mom decided to pursue a dream she's been talking about for years. She signed up for cosmetology school :) She graduated from cosmetology school and passed her test back in December, and I'm so proud of her for it! 

Missed The Fitness Marshall

(Shoes // Pants // Laptop bag)

Oh hey guys, long time no see! I am going to work on getting on the blog better to say hi and give ya some quick updates :) 

A couple weekends ago I flew down to California to go with my mom to dance with The Fitness Marshall in LA. I was so stoked because I absolutely love his cardio dance videos, they are a blast and I work up a total sweat. Try out his "Me Too" dance video, it was the gateway drug for me ;)

It was only supposed to be an hour and a half drive, and we drove for over 2 hours and were still an hour away from the venue...

I was insanely bummed, but that's California traffic for ya! Missed the whole thing, lameeee. But when I complained via Twitter (cause what else is Twitter for), Caleb Marshall responded and said that he was bummed that we missed it and said thanks for supporting him! So that made it a little bit better ;) 

The next day we soaked our sadness away at Glen Ivy Hot Springs and Spa which is only a few minutes down the road from my parents place. Aka no crazy traffic was happening! haha

We dipped in the saline pools, mineral water, had some fun at Club Mud, and finished off with a pink drink from Starbucks and reading magazines by the pool. It was the PERFECT day! 75 degrees outside, not a worry in the world, and a fun day hanging with my parents :)

The rest of the visit was going out to eat, chilling at my parents house watching recorded episodes of Real Housewives, and enjoying the warm weather. A solid weekend! 

Yosemite National Park

Back in August Ryan and I went on a trip with my family to Yosemite National Park, since Ryan had never been. We stayed in Curry Village (which is now Yosemite Village) and went on a hike to Mirror Lake then biked around the ground floor. It was BEAUTIFUL. How would I even be able to explain the grandeur of all the mountains and trees? That's why I took lots of pictures ;)

Unfortunately since it was towards the end of summer, there wasn't enough water to fill up the lake or to do some river rafting :/ We still had a blast by driving up to Glacier Point to check out the view of Half Dome from the top of the mountains. Then we hit up our reservation at the Grand Yosemite Hotel for their amaazzzinnggg brunch. OMG. It was delicious, wish I could eat that all over again! 

After hiking, biking, and brunching; we decided to make a detour for our family trip and hit up Santa Cruz which was only a 2-3 hour drive from Yosemite. I'll save that for another post, but in the meantime, here is a huge picture dump ;)

^ Of course I needed a picture of my mountain-inspired nails next to Half Dome. All the hardcore hikers thought I was crazy haha

^ Half Dome!

^ Where we had brunch, it was breathtaking. A massive grand hall with all-you-can-eat brunch, live piano music, and a view of all the trees outside. All the heart eyes! 

Santa Monica Pier

This past Christmas break was a blast and much needed. Evan, Ryan, and I drove down to stay with my parents and we just crashed. Almost immediately after Christmas day we all got sick with some form of the cold or flu. It pretty much sucked,  but it couldn't have come at a better time. We got to chill on my parents couch watching movies, taking medicine, and just getting some (apparently) needed rest. 

My mom asked at one point "are we going to do anything this break? Or is everyone going to stay sick?" Towards the end of the trip I was the only one who was still sick, so I brought a bag of cough drops and some medicine and we went to the Santa Monica Pier. 

No one in my family had been before besides myself, which I think is crazy cause we've all lived in CA for years and years! It was a pretty chilly and busy day (we went on a weekend), but we rode the ferris wheel and got the most gorgeous views of Malibu and Santa Monica. 

Ryan enjoys ruining my pictures, but he's cute when it counts ;) We had a blast and since Ryan has never been to the tourist-y things of LA, we are going to make it a point to hit something new every time we're down there visiting. Especially with Ryan's favorite team, the Rams, moving to LA I have a feeling we'll be making weekend road trips down a lot more often for game-time :D

60th Diamond Anniversary Celebration

What's a Disneyland trip without a truckload of selfies? This past weekend Ryan, Evan, Amanda (cousin), and I drove down to California for a short weekend getaway. I read an article that some attractions would be shut down starting in 2016 to make room for Star Wars Land, anddddd it's the 60th Diamond Celebration anniversary. Which was the perfect excuse to make a Disneyland trip before the end of the year :D Also, my Grandma was at the opening day of Disneyland when she was 10 years old, that is so crazy!! I'm totes jealous of her haha

I made sure we hit Tom Sawyer Island because it's one of the attractions that will be closed starting next year, and Ryan's never been on it. Also, when the heck did it become "Pirate Island"?! That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Does no one read Tom Sawyer anymore? Or is there too much racism in the book that Disneyland decided to be politically correct and change the name of the island? Too ridiculous. I will always refer to it as Tom Sawyer Island. Can't change my mind! 

It was possibly the perfect day to hit Disneyland. The longest wait time was 40 minutes for Haunted Mansion (which is super weird imo). We did Indiana Jones in 25 minutes, Space Mountain in 20 minutes, Storybook Ride (Ryan's favorite, it's the one by Tea Cups with the open whale mouth), Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, I had my obligatory churro, and we ate at the French Market restaurant where Tiana from Princess and the Frog sang with a band. It was SO MUCH FUN. 

Disneyland will always have a special place in my heart. I'm so excited to bring my future babies here so they can experience the magic of Disney as well! All in all, it was a great weekend :)

Go Trojans: Game Day Food

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias #TeamJellO

We are a huge football family over here, but being from different states means that we have various alliances. Even though Ryan grew up in Texas and Montana, he was born in Southern California which means he's also a USC fan with me! He's already counting down the days until football season officially starts, which also means I've got to start thinking of some festive game day foods to feature at our football parties! 

I hopped online at www.walmart.com and typed in "USC Jell-O" to find my Jell-O Jigglers kit. It was easy to find and with picking the expedited shipping option, I had my kit within a few days. Score! 

This is Ryan & I from a couple years ago at the Rose Bowl watching USC play UCLA. We drove all the way from Utah just for the weekend and this game. We're some pretty hardcore fans! These Jell-O jigglers are so festive and the perfect bite-sized treats for all my friends and family. I'm so excited to show them off all season long! I paired these Jell-O treats with whipped cream and chocolate shavings for our little party, yum! Although, for our next USC football party I'll be using this recipe provided on the box to create the iconic USC Cardinal Red color :)

USC Cardinal Jigglers

-2 cups of boiling water 

-2 boxes of strawberry flavored gelatin

-1 box of grape flavored gelatin

Road Trippin' Home

After a ridiculously tiring and long night cleaning up the reception, we were overly excited to wake up the next morning to eat an amazing breakfast burrito with our friend Jaz. Chorizo, egg, potato and everything else delicious that belongs in the perfect burrito. Yummmm. After we chomped down we started our 10 hour drive back to Utah! 

As we were making our drive out of Sacramento, I kept on seeing people waving at us out of the corner of my eye. I looked over in the lane next to us and saw the newlyweds on their way to their honeymoon in Lake Tahoe. What are the odds?!

I saw this gorgeous sunset as we pulled into Utah, and I felt like this crescent moon was welcoming us home. Until we got off the freeway to gas up our car and it started to slooooowwww down. We were out of gas. Literally 15 minutes away from home. Luckily my brother Jesse was awake and he snagged some gas to fill up so we could scoot the car back to Budget rentals. By then, it was time for some Wendys drive-thru and to head home. As Ryan and I cuddled up on the couch, he gave me a sweet kiss on the forehead and we both agreed that we need to start planning our next vacation together :)

Beard-Mee Wedding

Last weekend was the wedding of one of Ryan's good friends, Braxton Beard. Ryan always refers to him by his last name because they served an LDS mission in Honduras together, so it's even weird just to type his full name! Beard's younger sister Jaz was one of my roommates sophomore year of college and she is seriously one of my favorite people :) So this was pretty much a family wedding! 

Here is Beard and his new wife Caitlin Mee coming out of the Sacramento temple! Ryan was one of the groomsmen like Beard was at our wedding. It's so exciting to see friends getting married :)

Rosa, myself, and Jaz; aka my Latina sisters...even though Jaz is Alaskan haha! Between the wedding and reception we stopped by Mels Diner which was AHHHH-mazing! I had a sourdough sandwich with a thick patty, bacon, onions, cheese, and thousand island dressing. Just droooooling right now. 

The wedding day was so peaceful at the Sacramento temple and it was a gorgeous reception set-up decked out in southern vintage-inspired decor. I'm just grateful we had the time and resources to not only make it up to the wedding but for a quick anniversary trip beforehand to celebrate our years of hard work and marriage :)