Merry Christmas!

The BEST time of year!

Pretty Sure I'm Not Supposed To Have Favorites But...

This little cutie is by far my favorite little red-headed guy.

I can't hardly stand it.

We Survived!!

David and Jordan's wedding was absolutely perfect.

It was the best day/weekend.

This is all the 'crap' Jordan and I had to take to Salt Lake:

We stayed at The Kimball which is a condo complex right across the street from Temple Square in Salt Lake. It was so great to be so close. Good friends of my parents have a time share there and let us use their time which is the nicest thing ever (Thanks Chandlers!). We had 4 rooms the first night (Thursday) but my room ended up being the hang out spot so was pretty noisy/crowded most of the time. I didn't mind at all. I have the best family so it was awesome to spend some quality time with everyone.

It also turned out to be the messiest place on planet earth because so many people were in and out and there was a lot of chaos with getting ready. Here's one photo of the destruction. Pretty sure the good people from Hoarders came over while we were at the wedding and filmed an episode.

(It actually looked worse than that towards the end, but I didn't take another photo).

Anyhoo, the day was awesome. I wore these shoes (well, I attempted to wear these shoes)

I
I
I
I
I
I
V

(yikes).

I made it as far as the parking lot, then had to get my other shoes out of my car. They ended up causing me major pain anyway, but somehow I survived...just barely.

It was a very great ceremony. David and Jordan were sealed by his grandfather and it was super special.

Here are a couple shots I got after the sealing.

(I wanted to get many more, but I could not walk in my stupid shoes. My feet were literally bleeding. Gross, I know. I had to take them off and walk barefoot through Temple Square and across the street to the condo).

I'm such a classy gal.

They both looked amazing and said that the day was 'perfect.'

I'm so glad.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Prescott!!

Wedding Bliss

So, remember how I used to blog on a semi-regular basis?

Yeah, neither do I.

I have been so, so busy lately. It turns out that I now plan weddings. For real.

And, to be honest, it's not really by choice. I'm so glad that I can help and be a part of Jordan and David's (we decided that their couple name is Joda-mama - it was a family decision via text) big day, but I must be an easy target because I have sure been signed up to do a lot.

4 more days to go. I think we're gonna make it!

The crazy part is that Jordan is not stressed out at all, which is good, but not at the same time because it means that she's leaving it all to me and others - and I am stressing enough for the both of us, no worries.

I can't complain though. I'm so excited for them to get married that I will help out in any way I can.

My favorite part has been the pictures - of course. Here's the one they chose:

How can you say no to those faces?!

Clearly, I can't.

Here are a couple more of my favorites:

Okay, it's more than a couple. It's so not hard to take pictures of beautiful people.

And, it helps a lot that they are more than willing to model for me.

I gotta go work on place cards and cocoa tags. Wish me luck!

Trader Joe's

Guess what finally found its way to Utah?!

Trader Joe's!!!

I have been waiting for this store for a very long time (well, like a year, but it has felt like forever) and it's finally here! I'm really, really happy about that.

Amelia and I braved the opening day crowds and headed up to Salt Lake yesterday after work. There were so many (crazy) people just excited to enjoy the general splendor of Trader Joe's. 

We headed up after work on Friday and arrived just in time for a pretty rainy walk across a large parking lot. There we so many people!

(what's going on with her ----> hair?!)

But it was fun to see all their cool products and get involved in the excitement of the grand opening.

I'm such a fan of these Mango treats.

They are really good...


...but, hands down, my favorite Trader Joe's treasure is cookie butter.

Literally, heaven in a jar.


So, so good.

It's the same consistency as peanut butter but has crunched up ginger cookies. Mmmm, so good!!



This will be a regular stop for me each time I'm in Salt Lake. So many great things to try!

Just What I Needed

I had a pretty crummy day at work on Thursday but got the best text message on the way home - from one of my 2 favorite sisters-in-law.

It made my whole week!

Guess What?!

JORDAN'S ENGAGED!!

And it's about time! - you know, because she's been home a whole 4 months.

She's just almost an old maid. Geez.

I really am super excited though! She's so, so happy and David is just awesome. (We've actually known his whole family my whole life and they are great. They've basically always been family, but now it's official!)

I got to help out with the whole proposal thing, which was super cool. David sent Jordan on a scavenger hunt that ended up the mountain by Squaw Peak. We set up a table and chairs with battery-powered Christmas lights and tea light candles in mason jars hanging from the trees. It turned out super cool.

 

After we had set up and we saw Jordan coming, I drove up the mountain a little way to wait. While I waited, I got into my Flo costume because I was going to a Halloween party right after. They called a little while later for me to come back to take some more pictures.

They laughed so hard when Flo appeared out of the forest. It was pretty funny.

It was a great night and I am so, so excited for their new adventure - together!

Happy Halloween!

I sure do love this holiday.

I have been planning this year's costume since Nov 1st, 2011.

Here it is:

The reason that it's so funny is because I work for a competing insurance company.

It's a simple costume but I put a lot of work into it. I actually watched a YouTube video (a few times) to get her make-up just right.

I won 2nd place for best all-around costume at work.

I'm #2! I'm #2!

I was robbed for sure.

Now I have to start planning next year's costume...

Such A Great Day!

Guess who I got to SEE/MEET again?!?!

LIFEHOUSE!!!

woohoo!

Here's the story. A couple of weeks ago, I was watching The Vampire Diaries with my good pal Rachelle and we were talking about the new baby giraffe at the Hogle Zoo. It reminded me of a super funny photo bomb picture I had seen earlier on the My 99.5 radio station website. Go here to see it. It's a little inappropriate, but so funny.

As I got onto their website, the first thing I saw was a picture announcing a Lifehouse show. 

What?!

It said they were coming on 10/23 at noon to do a small show at the studio. The catch was that you had to win tickets, you couldn't buy them. So, (just about) every day, I entered to win and never heard anything. I was pretty bummed.

Well, Monday night as I was driving home from work, I remembered that they were coming the next day to play and was sad that I couldn't go. So, I called the radio station. What did I have to lose?

Nothing, that's what.



(Well, maybe a little dignity).

Unfortunately, all I could get was a recording at My 99.5, but that didn't deter me. I knew that My 99.5 and my other favorite radio station 97.1 were in the same building (I picked up some tickets I had won there once a couple of years ago).

So I called 97.1 ZHT.

And the DJ answered pretty quickly so I said, "I hear Lifehouse is playing at your studio tomorrow. How can I get tickets?" He said that I couldn't buy them, that I would have to win them so I asked him how I could win them. He asked me what I was willing to give to get tickets. Hmmm...A LOT! It's Lifehouse!! We chatted for a sec and I made sure he knew that I really wanted to go - that they are my favorite band. So, he took my name and phone# and said he would see what he could do and that he would call me back.

I only had to wait a few minutes when my phone rang (I was still driving home). As soon as I answered he shouted, "You're in! You're going to Lifehouse tomorrow!"

Hooray!!

Some might say I'm lucky and win tickets a lot - which I do, I guess. More than the average person, anyway. But sometimes it takes a little determination and willingness to make a fool out of yourself in front of complete strangers. I have no shame when it comes to seeing Lifehouse, apparently.

After I celebrated a socially acceptable amount, AJ (the DJ - ha, ha) said: "You'll have to get pregnant!"

Uh, excuse me?!

"What?!"

"Yeah, have a Lifehouse baby. You'll be set for life!"

Um, okay?

It was a little (a lot) weird, but I wanted to play along just to be nice so he didn't take the show away from me so I told him that I did have a mad crush on the bass guitarist so that I would see what I could do.

So. Awkward.

But I didn't really care because I was going to see my boys the very next day!

It didn't even cross my mind that he would put our conversation on the air. I mean, I called him so why would he?! Well, as I pulled into my driveway, sure enough, I hear this dorky girl on the radio say, "I'm Cali Scanlon and I have a mad crush on the bass guitarist of Lifehouse so I want to have his baby and be set for life!" Okay, I obviously didn't say that, but AJ did put a large part of our conversation on the air, including when he told me to get pregnant and I just went right along with it.

Yeah, pretty sure every Bishop and ex-boyfriend I have ever had was listening and heard me in all my glory.

Geez.

But, I quickly got over it and was so excited the whole night to see Lifehouse! There was the problem though of finding a friend to go with me - you know, because of jobs and stuff. Plus, it was really short notice. I was pretty sure I could go because I don't abuse time off. In fact, I've only taken 2 days this whole year. I did text my boss just to give him a heads up - I do like to be somewhat responsible. He actually never texted me back, but I wasn't too worried. After all, I can find a new job but Lifehouse doesn't play super small shows everyday around these parts.  :)

I sent a text to all my concert-going pals and none could go. Stupid things like meetings and trainings and injuries were mentioned...Just kidding. They all had pretty valid reasons and some really wanted to go, but couldn't. I actually went to bed that night without a LH buddy to go with. I was majorly stressing out. Was I gutsy enough to go alone if no one else could go?!

I honestly considered it.

This was my plea to my FB friends:

Pathetic, I know.

However - thankfully, my super adorable cousin Rachel messaged me the next morning and asked if I had found anyone yet. Yep - YOU! I'm so happy she wanted to go!

This is her and her husband. I stole this from FB.

Her husband doesn't really have a mullet - at least that I know of. They're so funny.

Anyhoo, we headed up to Salt Lake and totally took the most random route to West Valley because I'm an idiot and can't talk and drive at the same time. Rachel is super cool and the drive to and from was so fun. When we finally made it to the studio and went to the front desk. The girl didn't see our names on the list but before I could royally freak out, a guy comes around the counter and says, "Oh, they're mine!"

You must be AJ.

He was so nice and shook our hands and took us back to the waiting area. Super cool.

The show was so great. It was super short. Apparently the boys spent most of the day flying and played a couple of small shows. Here's a tweet from them that night:

So, even though they only played 3 songs and only answered a couple of questions (why can I never think of anything cool to ask?! I will be prepared next time!), it was so awesome. Totally worth the drive up and 3.5 hours off work. I'm so glad Rachel came with me. She is the perfect concert pal.

We got to meet them afterwards which is always a good time (you know, the ONE other time I've met them). However, this time a bonus was that Bryce (you know the father of my future child) was there. I didn't get to meet him last time. They're just so nice. Like genuinely happy to meet their fans which is really cool.  

They've actually posted the whole show on My 99.5 so here it is!

Remember the awesome photo I took of Bryce at their last show?

I totally showed it to him when I met him - remember, no shame! He thought it was cool and I'm pretty sure he wasn't lying. At least, I hope not!

***

That same night, I went to The All-American Rejects/Parachute/Boys Like Girls concert at UVU with Jordan. I will post about that later.

Such a great - and exhausting - day!