Thanksgiving in Cali- 2011

Im way behind, but life has gotten to me. Work, school, (anatomy class ugh), and of course being sick.... honestly, who gets sick on the FIRST day of school?!?!?! I would have rather been sick over Christmas break :( anyway- here's what Jordo and I did over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Hung out with these awesome people (not pictured, Jared and Amy)

Spent awesome time with the hubs

ate LOTS of yummy food

Got to see these peeps :) -don't ask me why Jordan and Jared are hard core in all their pics....

Walked around

Spent time on the beach!!

haha love this little guy

smile :)

me and jordan before he went surfing

Jords and Jared about to hit the waves

Nice butt

Yay for family and for having time off of school and work to celebrate with them!!

Makes you think....

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little..
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Any questions class...??

New 30 days challenge I just might actually finish

Here is my new 30 day challenge. Im 100% positive I can finish it.

Absent

Sorry for my absence..... School has gotten to me. I have had MULTIPLE 10-20 page papers due these last few weeks, and I am BEAT! Update on our Thanksgiving in California coming soon :)

Here is a pic of the Christmas tree I wish I had to keep you entertained for a bit:)

Oh how I just LOVE this Pink Christmas Tree

BFF

This little pic reminded me of my best friend Kristan. She is in my heart forever... I miss her.... a lot

Dear Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,

Sincerely,

The Girl in Pain

Surprise Adventure

So for fall break I really wanted to do something special for Jordo :) He has been working so hard in school, studying ALL DAY, spending countless hours in the library and at labs. So I came up with a plan... and with the help of My bro in-law & sis in-law I was able to pull off the ultimate surprise.

It started out on Wednesday. Jordan came home after taking 2 (very long) tests. It was about 7 pm, and I had our bags packed and waiting by the door. I told him he had 10 minutes to do whatever he needed to do but then we would be out the door.

We started heading South, and he guessed right (for the most part) that we were going to St. George. It was a fun drive filled with laughter, constant "AMBER WHERE ARE WE GOING?!" questions, and the book "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" on CD. We arrived in St. George around 11 pm and went straight to bed.

I woke him up the next morning at 9:30 and said we had to get going. He was beyond confused. He thought we were staying in St. George the whole trip. We packed up the car and started heading towards Vegas. Jords was so excited when I told him we were going to Vegas! Little did he know that would only be the beginning of our wonderful adventure.

He was driving while I was giving him directions. Lets just say he was completely shocked when we pulled up to the Las Vegas Airport. Here is where the real excitement began. I told him the truth... We were going to visit his family in California. He was not allowed to tell his mom or dad (because they didn't know we were coming), and Jared (his older brother) would be waiting at the airport ready to pick us up when we landed.

*** Side note: we flew from Vegas cause it is like 1/5 of the cost***

When we got to Cali we met up with Jared and were off to the Swarbrick Family House. When we arrived we snuck into the house and surprised his mom. She was so shocked!! It was AWESOME! We then saw his Grandma and Grandpa and had a big family dinner.

Friday morning Jordan went to Lake Tahoe with Jared to go biking. They had a great time! (I wish I had pics/videos) I spent the morning with my amazing sister in law Amy! We picked Cadance (my niece) up from school and I got a tour of the Waldorf School ways. (I totally want to put my kids into the Waldorf School!! Utah needs to get one!)

Here are the kids on one of the Swings at school

Cadance even made me a little craft from school :) Here I am with her and her little brother Brody.

Then we went home and started setting up for the "Harvest Party" Cadance and Brody were having. It was so much fun. Grandma Teri (Jordans mom) had a bunch of fun activities planned, and I helped Granny and Amy with the food prep. The kids played games, had a tractor ride around the farm, and even got to see a puppet show. What a fun day!

Me, Jords, Amy, and Jared were lucky enough to go out to this AMAZING sushi restaurant. We had such a fun night spending time with the two of them. I really wish we could do it more often :(

Saturday was Waldorf School Harvest Festival day. The boys went golfing while all us girls (and Brody) went to the Sacramento Waldorf School Festival. The kids had a blast making crafts and doing fun activities :)

Saturday afternoon me, Jords, Amy, and Jared went shooting. I absolutely love shooting!! And it was nice to get some tips from the experts (aka: Jords, Jared, and Amy...yes Amy is awesome with a gun!)

Saturday ended with a big family dinner and a movie. Our weekend FLEW by, and we were so sad we had to make the trip back home the next morning. We had a wonderful time with the Swarbrick Family, and we hope we can do it again soon.

haha oh Jordy :) What a Handsome Man you ARE!