Happy Birthday Dad!

I realize I'm a day early on wishing my dad a happy birthday, but we will be traveling on his actual birthday. I wish I had a picture of my dad to post too, but that will have to come later.

I seriously have THE BEST DAD in the world,I know that everyone says that about their own dad, but seriously, mine's the best. Other people, non-family members, even tell me how lucky I am to have such a great dad. I am so grateful to have been raised in a home where I knew my dad loved me, my siblings, and my mom, unconditionally. I always knew I could talk to my dad about anything and that he would always, listen, be patient, be empathetic,and understanding.

Growing up in a house with my dad was a lot of fun. I remember Sai-Soo (however you would spell that), Doggie-Doggie Find That Bone, The Tiger on the Stairs,"Help,Friends,Cousins,come quickwee!", Bow-Wow-Ski-Whatindoddle, and Knee Football. My dad had nicknames and still keeps coming up with nicknames for everyone.
His nicknames never really make any sense but I think everyone gets excited when they get one. :)He's very creative and I've always loved hearing stories,songs he's changed the words to, new nicknames, slogans he's come up with, jingles he's made up, and the different voices he uses. I think he's pretty funny too.

Through my dad's example, I've learned that it's important to always listen to both sides of the story and to not be quick to judge. While my dad was bishop of our ward I would notice him at youth activities always talking to the kids who didn't have many friends in the ward. He's a friend to everyone. It seems like everyone is instantly attracted to my dad and likes him right off the bat.

When I was in high school, I got grounded, A LOT! It was my own dumb fault of course, but at the time I thought it was totally and completely unfair. I remember I would cry and feel way sorry for myself, and my dad would be in the same room as me and I could tell he was trying not to laugh. I hated it at the time, but he would make me laugh too because I would realize how ridiculous I sounded. Now, I really like that quality about my dad though, he never makes things more dramatic than they need to be, and doesn't take life too seriously. He doesn't sweat the small stuff.

My dad is super generous with his time,services,and money. He's mentioned to our family before how he wishes he could give us more. I always feel bad when he says that, because he has no idea how much he has truly given us.

My dad set a great example of how a husband and father should treat their family. In dating I always looked for someone with qualities like my dad.(Good news, I found a winner.)

This tribute doesn't even come close to describing how much my dad means to me. Dad, I think you're the best, funniest, nicest, most generous, loving, creative, patient, understanding, BESTEST man. Happy Birthday! I love you!

Paris

Anita's birthday present to Seth was an all expense paid trip to Paris! We had such a great time. We started off seeing Notre Dame, then headed over to the Eiffel Tower. Of course, we got panda picture there. After the Eiffel Tower we saw a place that was renting bicycles for only 2 euros an hour! We all got bikes and rode up Champsd' Elysees, past the Arc de Triumphe (the roundabout was pretty scary), and up to Montmarte. We saw all the artists, got a crepe (yum!), saw the Sacre-Coeur,and then headed back to return our bikes. After all of that we still had 2 hours to spend it the Louvre. It was such a great day! Thanks so much for taking us Anita!

WICKED!

Seth, Nicole, and I spend the last two days in London. We saw all the major things like, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament,and the London Bridge. The biggest high point of all was seeing Wicked! I loved it so much I almost cried and Nicole loved it so much she did cry! It was a surprise from Seth, I knew we were going to London but I didn't know we were seeing a play. He told me the week before we came out to Europe. I was so excited!

We saw Stonehenge and that was pretty awesome too. We went mainly for, you guessed it, a panda picture. I'm way glad we went though, it was cool.

Greece Photos

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The Panda

When Seth was living in Houston, his friend's mom made him a panda bear suit. Since then, Seth has taken the suit on all major vacations to get postcard shots in front of famous buildings, bridges, monuments, etc. So far he has Mount Rushmore, The Golden Gate Bridge, The Parthenon, The Colosseum, and a few others that I can't remember. By the end of the summer he will also have the Eifel Tower and Stonehenge. I was first introduced to the Panda when Seth and I were dating last summer and went to San Francisco for his Ironman Triathalon. At first I thought it was really weird but I think the pictures are hilarious. I think this is the best one so far...look how much air he got!

Ewwww!!!!

One of the first things I noticed at the beach in Greece was how many gross people were walking around half naked, boobs exposed, back hair all nappy, and people popping each other zits. Nice. I decided to start a photo collection entitled: The Grossest Things I Saw in Europe. Here's a sneak peak...

Off to Europe!

We're leaving tomorrow morning, bright and early, for our European adventure! I will try to post some pictures while we're gone. Love ya'll!

The Oregon Coast

Seth and I just got home last night from our Oregon Coast bike trip. We had so much fun. We went with Dan and Lara Herway, Seth's good friend Jerry Mulholland and his wife Jen, her dad Flint, and Seth's old roommates Morgan Eldridge and Jake Tanner. Seth planned the whole trip, booked hotels, figured out logistics, the whole shebang. He did such a great job! At the end of the trip I felt really bad that I hadn't helped with any of the planning, but Seth did awesome.

The first day was not the greatest day for me. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day, but physically I wasn't doing so hot. I actually had a break down.:) I cried, no wait, I sobbed. It was really weird, I felt like a little kid. I was a little frustrated at the beginning of the ride because I felt like I was a lot slower than everyone. I ended up quite a ways behind everyone. I ended up getting a little lost and that's when I first started to cry. I think it was mostly out of frustration. Then, I was having a bad back ache and just didn't feel well and that's when I started to cry more. It got worse though, I was feeling pretty tired (oh and we weren't even half way yet!) and every time I saw a hill up ahead I would start crying more. Seth had stopped and waited for me and we rode together for a little bit. We got to the top of the hill, I stopped my bike, leaned over my handle bars and lost it. I was SOBBING! It was so weird, I knew I sounded ridiculous, but I couldn't help it. Lara was in the support van up ahead and she came to pick me up. I had gone about 35 miles out of 80 and was pooped. Not a good start. The day got better though and I started taking a liking to be a support van co-pilot. That was Day 1. Day 2 was much, much better. At the end of day 1, I decided that I would be satisfied with only riding half-day each day. So when we got up that morning I already knew I was only going to be doing 40 miles. I also rode Lara's bike that day because Dan (bless his heart) tried to raise my seat on my bike and ended up at a bike shop paying a guy to fix it. I loved Lara's bike and had a blast riding that day. Day 3 was way foggy and cold and had tons of hills so I opted out of that day. I had the intention of riding later that day but got way too comfortable driving in the car. Lara and I took it pretty easy that day. We made beds in the back of her van and put on a movie. That's MY idea of a vacation, not riding a bike to the point of an emotional breakdown.
Really though, the trip was so much fun. The Oregon Coast is absolutely beautiful.
Seth and all the boys did great on the ride, but the super star of the trip was Jen! She totally kept up with the boys and rode every single mile of that whole trip! She was awesome!
I would do this trip again for sure, but I am still convinced that I would only ride half days and enjoy the other half riding in the car, windows down, a diet pepsi in my hand, and having girl talk. (oh, and candy)

Goodbye Goodwood!

Well I never thought the day would actually arrive, but I had my last day as a server at Goodwood BBQ. It was pretty dramatic, everyone was crying and hugging, begging me not to go, but the time has come for me to move on. Okay, it wasn't too dramatic but one of my managers really did shed a couple of tears. I didn't know I was so well liked! :) The weeks leading up to my last day I was getting pretty excited, but it is a little sad that I won't be working with any of those people anymore. My managers were all so great to work with, the were so flexible with me and really bailed me out on a few occasions.

Now I'm off to work in the social welfare field. I had my first interview today and it seemed to go well. I think it was more of a preliminary screening thing because it only took like 20 minutes. I'm not counting on anything to happen, but I'll keep you posted. Also, if anyone has friends or family working in any social work/welfare area hook me up!

Last weekend we had a bridal shower for my cousin, Courtney Bluth. She's getting married to Austin Little, in the Salt Lake Temple on August 10th. I am so sad that we're going to miss it! Courtney is so happy and she's going to make a gorgeous bride! We are all so excited for them! Here are some pictures of the family, both Bluth and Little sides.

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When everyone was getting ready to leave my cousin Carrie couldn't find her two little girls Emma and Grace. We later found them in the basement playing Mario Tennis with my dad. He's gonna make a pretty fun granddad one of these days. Here is he with my cousin Tim's little boy Max. He's so cute!

What the...?

I was looking through pictures and came across this one from last summer. It is so funny to me, maybe not to the rest of you though. We were in Seattle here with Seth's friends Jason and Ryan for Jerry Mullholland's wedding. We were on one of the piers and I guess the seagulls love french fries. I was super scared to feed them just holding it in my fingers (and it looks like Ryan was scared too) but Jason was brave enough to put it in his mouth.

My Super Talented Seth

Seth and I took a quick trip to Vegas when the race was over. We spent time relaxing at the pool, played the slots for a minute (we had vouchers for the slots, it wasn't our money, so technically it wasn't gambling), and indulged ourselves at the Cheesecake Factory. After feeling a little chunks, we headed over to play the over sized piano and FAO Schwartz (you know the one from BIG?). Here's Seth performing a beautiful rendition of "Chopsticks"...with his feet.

In case you wanted to see...

Seth and I are moving out of our apartment into a condo we just bought. We never really had anyone over to see our apartment except of couple of people. Here's what it looked like! We're going to be better about having people over in our new place once it's all put together.

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