End of Summer BBQ Extravaganza!

I just like saying "extravaganza." We neighborhood/ward friends got together last night for a fun BBQ at Megan and Gillis Sessions' house! It was sooooo fun. It was "B.Y.O.M" (bring your own meat) and we all brought sides. We ate and then played Catch Phrase. It was HILARIOUS, as usual!! We just LOVE our friends!!!! Thank you so much, Meg and Gillis for your wonderful hospitality :)

Megan, Rachel, Natalie, me, and Jenny

Rob and Natalie

Rachel & Megan with Claire and Megan's little boy, Porter

Jordan with Gillis at the grill--Megan and her hubby, Kyle in the background

Claire with Megan

Family Photo :) Rachel took this great photo (great = Claire is looking AND smiling!)

Peter and Jenny!

Natalie's amazing watermelon cupcakes! (they don't TASTE like watermelon, they just LOOK like it) So, Megan Cross got me this cookbook called "Simply Desserts" by Betty Crocker, and ever since then, all of my friends want it. I think they'll be ordering it soon. Or keep borrowing mine.

Anyway, good times!!!

Kika's Little Bundle of Joy!

Olivia Vila Nova Windhorst

On Tuesday, I had the great pleasure to visit one of my best friends, Kika, and see her new baby!! Her cute little girl was born on Saturday, and looks JUST LIKE her mommy! It was also wonderful to see Nely, Kika's mom, who flew in from Portugal.

Claire and Olivia--they couldn't believe how BIG Claire has gotten in just two months! Olivia is on her way!

Kika is the only friend I have that I have known since I was 14 or so, and STILL keep in contact with on a regular basis. Crazy. We met in Brazil, when my dad was a mission president. The missionaries brought Kika to church--she was investigating the church at the time. We became friends, and she was baptized, has served a mission, and is now married to Trevor Windhorst, an american, in the temple, and I'm so lucky she lives so close by!

Goodbye to Jonathan!

Monday night we had the BEST time with some of our neighborhood friends! Rachel and Jonathan wanted to go out because it was the last night that Jonathan would have in town before he goes to Iraq this week! We are so sad!! Rachel won't see him for the next 6 months or so, but then he'll be DONE!

It was so fun to hang out with everyone and eat some REALLY GOOD sushi at Mikado. Jonathan is basically Jordan's twin...they love the same things--you know, nerd stuff, machinery, tools, camping, etc.--and they also worked together at ICU Medical (Jonathan introduced Jordan to this job, so we are very grateful!!)

Jonathan, Rachel, Megan, and Gillis

Jordan, Janessa, Natalie, and Rob

Happy New Year!

This year, we had the "Second Annual New Years Eve Party" at Natalie's house :) Natalie and Rob are our wonderful neighbors and such good hosts! She made a big pot of chili, I did twice-baked potatoes and mint brownies for dessert, and everyone brought sides. We had so much food... (leftovers!)

And we played the best game ever...."Catch Phrase" like a million times until midnight. It was SO FUN!!! And this year, Garrett didn't win the whole time! :) Yes!

Natalie & Rob Lund

Brittany & Garrett Best (Garrett doing his "Edward" pose)

The new move-in's, Britton & Aubrey Howell!

Gillis & Megan Sessions

Rachel & Jonathan DenBeste (Jonathan being a total dork in the photo, as usual :)

Jordan & Me

Another nice random shot

Some of the night's highlights:

* Janessa is losing her mind. Due to the sheer volume of items she was bringing to Natalie's house (walking there...she's just a few houses down the road) she decided to slip her cell phone into her...bosom :) TOTALLY forgot it was there, used Natalie's phone to call Jordan at one point, because she couldn't find it (although she heard a text message at one point, was looking around...it seemed so close by!! STILL didn't pick up on that) until during dinner when someone texted her again, and she looked down. Yes.

* Natalie calling the language "Afrikaans" "Africonics" haha... it was just really funny.

* Garrett pretending to be a HUGE fan of Twilight, and us gullible girls TOTALLY believing him...he was simply regurgitating what his wife had said (in the most convincing way!) about the books and the movie (yes, I also hated Bella's prom dress in the movie!)

* Janessa calling Ryan Seacrest's dumb earmuffs "ear mufflers..." yes, Jordan looked at her really weird.

* Rob STALLING during his turn in Catch Phrase so that Natalie would run out of time!!

* Natalie, Rachel, and Janessa talking about ovulation cycles and Rob accidentally getting stuck in the conversation :)

OK I can't remember any more...we just had so much fun, and that's all there is to it!! AND, I didn't have a baby!!! YES! That means cheaper delivery here I come! I think maybe this weekend....we'll see!

Visiting with the Old Roomies!

So, my dear former roommate, Amanda Dabney, now "Amanda Nay" has just had a beautiful baby bay--she named him Henry! Love that name! Anyway, our other roommate, Heather Morgan and I went to visit. Henry is just a week old and super cute!

Here's Heather with Henry!

And here am I with Henry...hmmm that sounds weird...maybe "Here I am with Henry?"

And here we are, all three!!

Henry looks SOOOO much like Amanda!! He has the same profile--it's crazy!! It made me excited to think that my baby will look like Jordan and me from the beginning--I always think that babies kinda all look the same, so Henry gave me hope that our baby may look LIKE US!

We had such fun times as roommates. Heather and Amanda, although they didn't know each other before, had just returned from missions in Korea (different missions though) and I had just returned from my mission in Chile! (Heather and I were room roommates, and I used to call her "Hermana" all the time, or instead of "roommate," "companion" haha) Heather loves Kenny G's Christmas music, and I loved listening to it with her in...July...yes, we're weird!!! She was also the "spiritual giant" in the apartment--if only more people were like Heather...the world would be...well...taken up, like the City of Enoch, I guess!

Amanda is so funny--she always had different jobs--one at a bakery, where she had to wake up SUPER early and really hated it...she didn't stay at her jobs long :) She also loved to change majors--but now, she's doing her MBA!! What a smartie! Heather is also getting a graduate degree--an MPA!! I was like "I totally don't want to go back to school" but they said it's a lot more fun than getting your bachelors' so maybe one day I'll take them up on it!

Amanda also made her FAMOUS chocolate chip cookies!! (she was ALWAYS cooking, and GOOD cooking!) Her cookies are the BEST. She used to make them seriously 3 times a week when we were roommates, and I told her that when I graduated and moved out I would lose like 10 lbs. :) That didn't happen, becuase of course, my bad eating habits just continued on to other things, but hey...I think I tried to be good for at least a week!

Next gathering--Bridal Shower for Heather!!! Right?? Heather, he's out there WAITING for you...at FHE...or something... :) Get your flirt on.

2nd Annual American Idol Finale Party

So, I was thinking for weeks and weeks that David Archuleta was going to win... all because I kept hearing about those 12 year old "supervoters" that would vote for David A about 450 times a night. And the people who liked David Cook were more people my age who would either not vote at all, or only vote a few times a night! But looks like I was mistaken!

I honestly couldn't care less..they're both winners. So, Jordan and I (he doesn't watch it at all, so it was really my party...that forced him to watch American Idol for the first time this season) had a party with my coworkers to celebrate the finale. It was really fun, and even Jordan's Dad came! Unfortunately, by the time I got the camera out, I didn't have many takers for pictures! But here's one I did get:

Ashley Detro & Matt Schilleman

Habitat for Humanity

On Friday the 16th, I signed up to work on a house for Habitat for Humanity. The company I work for donated money to them, and we can volunteer (during work) for a day to finish up a house.

So, I spent the day caulking door frames and filling nail holes with putty. Tried to stay away from painting (see future post :))

Camilla & Chris

Carl & Tim

Judd & Me

Goodbye to Kerri

So, my good friend, Kerri, that I used to work with at iBAHN (we used to go to tradeshows together, watched a show in New York, and have had a lot of fun seeing her boss "loosen up" over a few "Amaretto di Serrano's...")

Well, she's moving to Indiana. A few weeks ago, her boyfriend of 9 years was tragically killed in an accident involving a gun that went off. She just needs a change of scenery, and moving back east to live with her dad for a while will provide that.

We love Kerri, so we wanted to say goodbye, at lunch here at TGIFridays...

Kerri and Me

Kerri, Sarah and Joe

Heidi, Larry, and Dalia

Dianna, Dana, and Mike

Chris and Me

Terry and Donna

All of us!!