Birthday Girl

I still haven’t edited all our pics from California yet but I’m working on it! I forgot I had these cute pics from Steph’s birthday last week. We went to Texas Roadhouse and she got to ride on the saddle while they sang to her. My little sis is 21!

Isn’t my husband so cute??

Dan looks a little tired or drunk here…

Happy Birthday Stephie! I love you! (Remember when we sorta hated each other and fought every day when we were little? Hahahahahaa!)

Awesome.

I love to read. I always have. I started reading when I was really young and I went through all the Baby Sitter’s Club, Goosebumps, Boxcar Children, Chronicles of Narnia, Little House on the Prairie and much more. I’m so happy that I gained a love for reading from a young age because I think it has taught me a lot and I still love it!

I can sit down and read for hours and not even notice the time passing because I’m so engrossed in my book. It takes over my life and I think about the story and I have to keep reading!

I hope I don’t offend anyone here, but I’ve always felt like the Harry Potter and Twilight books are a bit overrated. They’re good books and I read them and enjoyed them a whole bunch, but I’ve read TONS of books that I absolutely love. A lot of people think that those are about the only good books out there and that drives me nuts!            Anyway, I have read just about all the James Patterson, John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks, and Patricia Cornwell books and I’ve enjoyed them, but this book was much different. It was so amazing and definitely one of the very best books I’ve ever read. I dare say it is a life changing book (for me at least). My sister recommended it to me and it was a pretty long read considering that I usually finish books in a few days. But wow, it was a beautiful, moving and inspirational story. Good enough that I had to post about it!

I’m sure that some people think I’m exaggerating or don’t think it’s as good as I did, but that’s okay; hopefully you can find a book that moved you like this book did me. I wanted to share one passage that I couldn’t stop thinking about after I read it:

“Funny things, roses. Folks tend to think they’re delicate, fragile. But some of them are right tough little [things]. Give them bad soil, bad conditions, they still grow. Insects, spot, drought-doesn’t stop them. Prune them down and they’ll come back at you twice as hard. Some roses are real fighters. Roses like that ought to be encouraged, I’d say.”

This passage defines the book for me and especially the main character, Fiona Finnegan. I highly recommend reading The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. I hope you are touched by it as much as I was. If you have any other great reads, let me know!

**Disclaimer: This book has some swearing and a few heated love scenes. Just FYI**

Vegas baby

Steph and I went to Vegas last weekend and even though it was a quick trip, it was really fun! I drove to Cedar on Friday and we made dinner and stayed at her house. Then we got up and drove to Vegas on Saturday. We stayed at an awesome hotel/resort (it was half price!). We laid out at the amazing pool, went shopping, out to eat and soaked in the hot tub. It was tons of fun and I’m so lucky to have a sister and a best friend in one!

We had a little too much fun in our hotel…I promise we weren’t drinking…

 

This is our sweet hotel. The pool was amazing, and we just wish it was a little warmer! The wind was blowing and it was chilly so we jumped in the hot tub!

We ate a delish dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.

We shopped til’ we dropped! We got a ton of cute stuff and we got to go to H&M! Love that place!

We had a blast together and I just love my little sis!

Dan, Steph and I went to Stockton, CA to visit my mom’s side of the family and we just got back last night. We had a great time (except for Steph getting deathly ill and barfing 12 times) and I’ll post pics of that great trip soon!