Mia.mia.mia.mia.

One of my dear friends, Mia Sullivan, sang last night at the Velour. She was so amazing. I remember when Mia first sang to me and I was blown away with her voice. Not to mention, she has insane guitar skills and lyrics to die for. She is so talented! As the years have progressed she has sung to me and my friends countless times in my basement, I swear we could listen to her for hours. It's about time that she started preforming to the world though, her stuff is way to good for just my basement. I'm so proud of you Mia, you killed it last night.

3 strikes, you're out.

 See these little cuties?

While teaching them dance, they weren't always so cute :), so I came up with an idea. I gave them each something to work on during class, aka: always have strong arms, point toes, no talking back, etc. and every time they weren't doing their goal, they got a strike. Game Plan: anyone who gets 3 strikes before each competition, loses the end of year party for the whole class. Sounds strict right? Well let me tell ya, it worked wonders. Who knew the words "I'll have to give you a strike" could transform a little jibber jabber chica, into a girl who didn't make a peep for the rest of class?! Genius. I kind of feel guilty using bribery against such adorable girls...but trust me. It was needed. Great news! They made it to the end of the year without getting 3 strikes (mostly because of my giving nature...once I gave a girl 7/8 of a strike because she already had 2 on her record. 7/8 of a strike.... what is that?!) Anyways, last night we partied, and we partied hard. I'm pooped, but look at how much fun we had!

Dinner outside....

Sidewalk chalk...

Crazy dress-ups (provided by me and Nik's stellar costume collection as a result of 14 years of dance concerts...)

Dessert at The Chocolate...

PLUS... a Jeep ride, shoe fashion show, gang-up-on-rik-and-tickle-her fights (yes...multiple of them), treats (soooo many treats), chitchats on my bed, late night neighborhood walk, the movie "tangled", 7 am wake-up call (whaaaat?!), krispy kremes for breakfast, and a whole lotta hilarious comments and memories.

I love you Senior Company girls, thank goodness no one got 3 strikes so we could party hardy last night!

Heart Throb.

Last night I had a girls night with some of my favorite chicas. Ever heard of the game called "Heart Throb"? I thought so. That's because it is a homemade game. The clever Barbara and Becky Dayton invented it, and let me tell you, it's genius. I would tell you all about it, but I'm waiting for them to put a patent on the game, sell it to the world, and make billions...so it has to stay a secret for now. We played it last night, and laughed our brains out. In 5 years when Heart Throb hits the stores, you'll understand why last night was hilarious. I sure love G.N.O's. Hope you all had a splendid weekend!

Durrants.

I guess you could call the Durrants my second family. Ever since I was in elementary school the Laws and the Durrants have been very close. We would have movie nights, family home evenings, lunch and dinner dates, go on vacations, etc. etc. Some of my fondest memories have included the Durrant family, I LOVE them. This past year, Devin and Julie were called to serve as mission presidents in the Dallas, Texas Mission. You couldn't pick two people more fit for the calling, they are two of the most Christ-like people I know. Today they entered the MTC and will soon fly out to Texas for the next three years. I sure am going to miss Devin, Julie, Joseph, and Deanna. Texas is so lucky to be getting them.

New Mexico Lovin'.

This past weekend, my family (minus the brothers) packed into the car and headed to New Mexico. My Grandpa Jerry passed away last week, so we went to be with my Grandma. It was a short, but fun trip. Nothing like eating out, shopping, and watching movies with the fam bam.

Part of the New Mexico partying consisted of us cleaning out my Grandma's house. Boy was that fun. Who knew that a sofa was the prime place to hid, shove, and hold 20 boxes worth of used tissues??

Road trips are one of my favorite things ever. I think we ended up spending more time driving than we did actually visiting family, but it was so worth it. Nik is my favorite travel buddy. She's a sweet soul for listening to my singing, letting me sprawl all over her, and sharing all her treats and goodies with me.

Dad day.

When I was little, I was convinced that I had the best dad in the entire world. As I have grown up, I have only become more and more convinced of this idea. But you know what I've realized? There are a lot of great dads in the world, so many wonderful men who have had a positive influence in the lives of others.  I'm sure that my dad thinks that HIS dad is the best dad in the world and so on and so forth. Of course the "best dad in the world" title is biased, who doesn't think their dad is the best?? So I've come to the conclusion: my dad is the best dad in the world, because he is the perfect dad for ME. I love you Dadio, I hope you have a splendid dad day.

Meet Mr. Parks.

This is Mr. Parks...

I HATE Mr. Parks.

Kaniki brought him home from girls camp last year and he has found a home in the Laws Residence for the past year. One year too long in my opinion. Niki girl, in her twisted ways, has found it seemly funny to hide Mr. Parks in my room, bathroom, closet, etc. and every single time Mr. Parks has scared the royal crap outta me. Imagine getting out of your shower late in the night, opening your closet to get some clothes, and BAM! Mr. Parks is just standing there staring at you. Hahaha kind of funny now that I look back on all those encounters with Mr. Parks, but soooo scary in the moment!

Late, late last night I was walking through my backyard to get into my house (which scares me every night) and I see the shadow of a man on the side of my house. I just froze. Game plan? Stab the creep with my car keys. Any guesses who it was? Mr. Parks. Oh how I despise Mr. Parks.

I guess he was outside by our garbage cans last night because the mother has forced Nik to throw that thing away. About dang time. I think a celebration is in order.

We sure enjoyed the goodbye photoshoot with you Mr. Parks, but you will not be missed. Adios amigo!

Operation: healthy household.

I love my family. They are the best. However, I have found a flaw. A major one. Let me direct your attention to our pantry...

Surprised we haven't passed over dead of a heart attack? I sure am. The thing is...our pantry is infamous for the crap we put into it. The neighbor kids LOVE it. My two best friends even made up a song for the Laws pantry titled "party in the pantry". I guess it's true, our pantry truly is a party. Party in your mouth. Too bad all these parties will soon result in overweight individuals who are fused to their couches with zero energy to do anything productive in life but to continually experience such delicious, yet unhealthy, parties in their mouths. Change is in order here people!

I have a theory. Because my family is going one hundred miles an hour, all the time, we resort to the quick fix food items. That's what our pantry is....on-the-go delights to feed our bellies. So...I started an experiment. Operation Heathy Household is what I call it. 

Plan: buy healthy food and make it easy and accessible to my family so they can grab it on the go.  I think they like healthy food, they just don't have the time to get it ready. Now, my mom said I have to start out easy on them. I guess it's hard to quit junk food cold turkey. So....I started out with fresh fruit cut up in the fridge for them. I think it's a good step one, don't you?

I brought some fruit into my mom's bathroom so she could eat it while she was getting ready this morning...

Looks like Operation: Healthy Household is gonna be a hit. 

Miss This.

Last year I lived with the most lovely ladies. I miss them. I miss Stoner talking to herself while she studied, Kynsie girl doing the wall stretch in our living room, Jness and our talks in the bathroom, Halee and...everything she did, never a dull moment with Halee. I sure do love these chicks.