California Fun and More

I know, I confess its been FOREVER since I have blogged...I'm sorry. But I do have good reasons I'm usually gone from home everyday from 8-7 either at the school student teaching or teaching piano and by the time I get home I have to prep for the next day of school and then I try to squeeze in other stuff and blogging has just not been high priority as of late. But I'm going to get back into the groove of it. For those of you who may not know Bryan and I decided to head to Los Angeles this past weekend for a quick trip and we had so much fun. It was kind of on a whim and totally worth it. We left Friday as soon as both of us got out of school and headed for Vegas. We stayed the night in Vegas with my Grandpa Keate and headed out early the next morning because we had a full day ahead of us. The first thing we did was go to the Los Angeles Temple.

The temple grounds are HUGE! It was gorgeous.

This was one of the tree's on the temple ground. I just thought it was cool.


Then we headed to Venice Beach. It was one of the weirdest but coolest places ever. There were street performers everywhere, crazy old guys singing jingle bells, and little shops everywhere. We didn't get to stay for long but we got to get in the water for a little while at least.


We headed to the Dodgers game next. We missed the first inning because the traffic was ridiculous, but hey...everyone else was walking in just as late as us so we didn't feel like we missed out on that much. It was so fun to go to the Dodgers game....I had never been to a MLB game so it was a lot of fun. They played the Giants and the Dodgers totally crushed them... the final score of the game was 12 - 1. I want to go to another game! I'm a new and converted fan of Major League Baseball. Some highlights of the game were: 2 home runs hit by the Dodgers in a row, the Dodgers totally dominating the Giants, this guy purposed to his wife during the game and they showed it on the big screen so I thought that was pretty cool, singing take me out to the ball game with a whole stadium of Dodgers fans, and much much more. We were praying for Bryan to catch a ball from Manny Ramierez but Unfortunately that never happened. Maybe next time.



I know this picture of this man is random...we had to take a picture though for the pure memory of him. He sat behind us in the game. For those of you who want to know more about this I will tell you sometime. haha.Me and Bryan at the game. If your wondering why my hair is all wavy and weird...its because it was. It was SO hot and humid at the game and thats what happens. Oh well...we had to get at least one picture of us at the game.

We had a ton of fun even though it was a quick trip. I had to be back by Sunday morning at nine because one of my best friends is leaving on her mission and she was having her farewell. Anne is leaving on October 14th for the Naga, Philippines Mission.

Yeah, I know this is a forever old picture of us but it works. I'm so excited for Anne. She is going to be an amazing missionary. I will miss her a lot. We have been best friends since we were eleven. She did a great job in her talk and is going to have an amazing 1 1/2 years!

I also just finished piecing, tying, and binding a quilt. I thought I'd post a picture of it. I've been on quite the craftiness roll so I thought I'd keep going and now I'm crocheting around a couple baby blankets as well.Thanks Mary and Bryan for helping me with the quilt and letting me use your house to make it!

I am now up to 13 piano students and am half way through my student teaching! This semester is flying by but I'm absolutely loving working with my cute 1st graders! I will try to post again soon!

Party time!

Hey everyone! I thought it was about time for another update. This month has been a good one. I have about a week and a half until I start student teaching! I'm trying to do as much as possible before than because I have a feeling as soon as August 20th comes around I will have very little social life. I have figured my schedule out and with 10 piano students and the contract hours for student teaching I will pretty much be gone everyday from about 8-7 and then come home for prep the next day. It will be good...but 3 hecktic months. Anyways...back to what I was really here to blog about...August Updates. Here are some pictures from the party my family had a couple days ago for my niece and nephew. It was a lot of fun...all the kids played on the slip and slide, we went out to eat, and basically played games all day. Here are a few pictures from the party.All the kids in their swimsuits before the slip in slide started.

Kamree coming down the slip and slide

My cute nephew Gavin...I think he is contemplating if he should go down the slip n' slide.
My nephew Frank and I.

I love this picture...haha I think my nephew Gabe was cold and had had enough at this point.

One of the games we played.

This little guy (Logan) didn't get to participate in the slip n' slide. But he was still happy.
This is baby Eli... He is a little too young to do the slip n' slide. He just hangs around and looks cute.

The stars of the party. It was Scotlynn's birthday on July 26th and Gabes on August 1st so we combined the two and had this birthday party.
I just love this picture of my niece Eliza. She is so cute.

All my nieces and nephews are adorable. I love being around them and my family and spending time with them. They keep things interesting and fun. I am the luckiest aunt in the world.

I have also had a bonfire with a bunch of friends this month but unfortunately I don't have any pictures from it...as well as going hiking at Kanaraville falls with my family home evening group tonight. It was a blast but I forgot my camera in the car. I hope you all enjoyed these pictures though... Thats all folks. But I will be back.

Quick stop at Cedar Breaks

Hey everyone! It was my friend Anne Decker's birthday this month AND she got her mission call to the Naga, Philippines Mission and I am so excited for her! She leaves October 14th ... it will be sad to say goodbye to her because she has practically been my other half the past 10 years...but she is going to do great and what a better way to spend one and a half years of your life? Anyways...she had a party up at her Cabin and on the way up everyone in my car decided to make a quick stop by at Cedar Breaks to take some quick pictures and to look at the beautiful view! It had been a very long time since I had stopped there but it was fun! Here are a few of the pictures from our stop.

Everyone that rode up in our car. We met some nice people from... South Carolina I think it was... that took the picture of the whole gang.

A picture of just the girls.

Annie G. and I


A shot of Cedar Breaks

Mary wanted a picture of us that sat in the backseat of the truck.


I will post again soon. Sorry for the quick post I will update you all a little later! Hope you are all having a great summer!... It's going by so fast so hurry and get that last adventure in!

Some Family Pictures

Hey everyone! It's been a couple weeks since I have updated my blog. I have been busy and have some other things I will post soon but today I am just going to post a couple family pictures. I was so excited today because I finally got some pictures that we took at my Grandma Keate's funeral today as well as some of my Grandma when she was around my age in her wedding dress and such! I absolutely loved the pictures (especially some of the ones of my grandma) so I thought I would post them. My Grandma passed away at the end of January. We all love her so much and miss her so much! I was so blessed to have her as my Grandma!

My family...and Grandpa Keate of course (in the middle)
on the day of Grandma Keate's funeral.

The whole Keate side of the family on the day of the funeral.

My Grandma Keate...I love these old pictures of her.

This is my all time favorite picture of my Grandma...this is her in her wedding dress. She is right around my age in this picture and I think she looks beautiful! I love having these pictures of her!

This was the last picture taken of my Grandma Keate...not long before she passed away. I still think she looked great!

Anyways ... I thought these were some cool pictures of my Grandma that I am lucky to have and also some family pictures of the day of her funeral that I thought I would post. I will post again very soon!

Footloose

Hello all bloggers! I know it has been about a month since I have last posted...for that I am very sorry. It has been a crazy past month. I have been super busy with...well life. On Tuesday my friend thee Krista Felice Isom asked if I would like to come to Footloose the musical with her and her parents and their friends at Tuachan. Of course I accepted the invitation...I am ALWAYS up for a good musical. It was amazing and I am so glad I got to go! I didn't even know the story of the musical at all... I had never seen the original movie and from what I hear I am definitely missing out. The people who were in the musical were very talented and it was an awesome show. I will have to get on watching that soon. Here are a few pictures we took right before we went to our seats. Enjoy! I'll be writing again soon! :)

Don't we look stunning? :)

We were so excited to go!

May Moments

There has been so much going on this month and I finally have time to write about it all and post some of the pictures. It has been a great month with lots of adventures. Time has just flown by. Let's start with Brian Regan...

My brother Justin and his wife Jen went with me and Bryan to Brian Regan down in Tuachan. It was really funny just like all of Brian Regan's comedy routines are and it was a lot of fun.

DISNEYLAND
All 20 members of my family went to Disneyland for 3 days. It was a ton of fun. The first day we went we all had matching shirts on. So if you can imagine 20 members all moving through Disneyland in a big pack with matching shirts on...yeah we stood out. But it was fun. Here are a few pictures from the happiest place on earth.

Me , My Mom and my sister Krista when we first got into the park. People say we all look alike...I don't see it...maybe you do?


This is the whole gang with Mickey. It is amazing we even got this good of a picture. Trying to get 11 kids to look at the camera at the same time is a real challenge...but we did pretty good. I would name everyone but it would take to long. But don't I have a cute family?

My sister in law Jen me and my very tired nephew Logan on the spinning ferris wheel ride.

This is me praying/closing my eyes waiting for it to be over/wishing my brother and brother in law didn't force me to ride this ride...The Big Shot. I am usually up for faster than the speed of light rollercoasters that drop you and flip you and anything you can imagine...but rides like this one (The Big Shot) and Tower of Terror I absolutely am deathly afraid of. They are just those rides that make you feel like your stomach is going to jump out of your body and fall all over everyone when you are free falling. But I decided this trip to be brave and finally try them and they weren't that bad. This was my first try at those kind of rides. I screamed like a little girl but they were fun.

Don't you love this picture of my Mom and Dad. Haha I absolutely love it. It is on the new Toy Story ride in California Adventure. It is a way fun ride very similar to the Buzz ride if you have ever been on that but I like it better. Its all in 3D and we were able to catch this lovely shot of my parents.

Well...thats all for Disneyland that I am putting up. I hope you enjoyed it. I have tons more fun pictures but these were some of my favorites.

After Disneyland I came back and tried to get back to reality. Another big thing that happened this month was I finally got my Student Teaching assignment for the fall! Woohoo! I have 2 placements. Both are at East Elementary in Cedar City and one is in the first grade and the second is in fifth grade. It will be an exciting exhausting fun experience for me. Now that I have the assignments I have to start preparing my big unit for it all. Other than that I have been busy stitching for my family, teaching piano ( I am up to 8 students now ), and even cleaning a house on the side for a small job. It's great and I'm loving life. I think thats all I've got for this posting but I will be back on soon!

The big 2 1!

My birthday was this past week...May 2nd. It was so much fun. All of my family came into town (not only was it my birthday but the next day my brother was blessing his baby boy Eli) so we had a full house. A house gets pretty crazy with 9 Adults and 11 grandkids...but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love my family. We had a BBQ, opened presents, and played games. I also went to the new x-men movie with Bryan later that night. It was a fun day. Here are a few pictures.

My all time favorite musical is Wicked. I got to see it when I was in London. My parents went to it about a month ago in SLC and they got me this shirt from it. It has a picture of the witch and it says "Defy Gravity" if anyone knows anything about this musical they know that that is one of the best songs there is on it.


I also got a Willowtree statue from my parents. They are the statues you always see at Deseret book that are hand carved. I love them so much and I collect them so I got another one to add to the collection!

A picture with me and 8 of the 11 cute nieces and nephews of mine! Aren't they adorable! I am so glad all of them were able to come to town to celebrate my birthday with me!

It was a great weekend. I had a great birthday and my nephews baby blessing was great!