cadbury eggs and nickel slots

with easter being in richfield this year, it was a unanimous decision to head out to vegas for the weekend, and then stop by to see the family on the way home. one thing about me and kendrick is that we love las vegas. yes, it's probably not the most upright city out there (far from it), but if you take if for what it is and stay out of trouble, it really is such a good time.

we decided to stop in mesquite on thursday night, as a way to break up the drive a little bit. kendrick and kamiya headed out to the casino for some guy time, and i opted to stay in the hotel room with the laptop (but let's be honest, i was asleep within thirty minutes). once morning came and after a quick breakfast at mcdonalds, we were on our way to vegas!

we have a wonderful tradition of stopping at the outlets right before we hit the strip, which is always one of my favorite parts of the trip (especially because there is a kate spade that always has the best deals!) it must have been my lucky day because almost everything in kate spade was half off, with an additional twenty percent off the total price. it was then that i decided that i had to get a new bag. i mean, it would just be rude not to... right? kendrick and kamiya were so patient with me as i waltzed around the store, grabbing every purse in sight, and holding it up in front of a mirror to see how it looked. one particular sales associate kept on checking up on me, and each time she did, i had a different bag in tow. i also tried on a kate spade dress- i've always avoided trying them on, seeing that they run four-five hundred dollars, and the temptation of buying one just wouldn't be worth it- but i decided to give in and try on a dress anyway. yep, now i want all of them. who needs savings anyway?

i finally ended up deciding on a bag that had caught my eye when i had entered the store- a beautiful buttery-smooth beige leather bag with the cutest bow at the top. it's a classic color and silhouette that will last me for ages- definitely might be a new favorite!

i ended up picking up a few more things, like a skirt from j.crew, and a blouse and dress from francescas. i think the find of the day was made by kamiya who scored a pair of john varvatos shoes for fifty dollars- pricing at around five hundred dollars originally.

after shopping, we headed out to a sushi place that i had purchased vouchers for off of groupon. long story short, this place had a four-five start rating on yelp, so i figured it was safe. well, that hour and a half ended up being the worst dining experience of our life. the place was dirty, the service was the worst we've seen, and the fish was far from fresh (some of it seemed like it was going bad). luckily, we were able to get the groupon refunded and all we can really do now is laugh about it. (also, we realized that the reason they have a high rating on yelp is due to a poster in their facility asking people to write them reviews for free desserts. so, they are giving out free sugar for good reviews- go figure). 

we checked into our hotel after lunch, had a quick power nap, and then were off to the strip! i absolutely love walking down the strip (as long as you don't look at the ground, haha). the casinos and hotels are absolutely stunning, and not to mention they offer some prime people watching. 

sporting my new skirt from j.crew in this picture- the color made it impossible for kendrick and kamiya to lose me ;)

after touring the casinos, we headed out to downtown las vegas to do a little gambling (they offer fifty cent roulette over there rather than the twenty dollar buy-in at the larger casinos on the strip). neither kendrick or i had ever been to fremont street before, and let me tell you, that is where the party is. the place was INSANE. the entire street is covered by an interactive video screen that displays an on-going light show. and to top it off, there are live bands playing at every corner, crowds dancing everywhere, and a zipline that goes from one end of the street to the other. like i said, insane. 

we spent a couple of hours at the cortez casino, and by "we", i mean i stood by and watched kendrick and kamiya kill it at roulette and black jack. kendrick ended up walking away with an extra twenty while kamiya cashed out a hundred- he was all smiles the rest of the night.

we were all back at the hotel and in bed by three am... i think the last time i stayed up that late, i was nineteen. 

the next morning started with an uh-mazing breakfast at a small place called "egg works". seriously, the place was overflowing with people and the wait for a table was about thirty minutes. once seated, i ordered the strawberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast, and kendrick decided on a egg and sausage croissant skillet, and kamiya was so hungry that he ended up ordering one of each! the food was fantastic and the service was top-notch- definitely throwing that into our agenda for each future vegas trip.

next, we headed over to fashion show mall to do a little shopping. i haven't shopped at forever 21 in a while due to the quality of their clothes, but it would have been a crime to turn down the sale they were having. All of the sale items were priced down to ten dollars and under... and then an additional fifty percent came off at checkout. i scored eight cute dresses and tops for spring and summer for twenty nine dollars. 

we headed out to do a little bit of gambling at a nearby casino, but i couldn't get the sale at forever 21 out of my head, so naturally i decided to let kamiya and kendrick have some guy time and i headed back to the mall. i ended up shopping for a solid three hours. i think collectively, i walked away from forever 21 with eleven dresses, nine tops and some leggings for fifty dollars total- i kid you not. however, i'm not the only one who killed it, as kendrick presented me with a hundred dollar bill that he won from black jack. so basically- his gambling paid for my shopping all at the same time. ;)

afterwards, we walked down to the other end of the strip to circus circus. let me just say... that is a weird crowd that hangs out there. we grabbed some dinner at mcdonalds and then headed into the casino for some more fun. i put five dollars into the nickel slots, won my way up to nineteen dollars, got confident, and then lost it all. i was honestly devastated, haha. 

kamiya, who was super bummed that he had lost his hundred earlier that day, was anxious to get some winnings back in his pocket. kendrick and i then made a deal with him that he could gamble with twenty dollars from us, and if he lost it, thats fine. but, if he doubled or tripled it, he could keep the winnings and we would get our twenty back. at first, he was able to win an additional six dollars at black jack, but decided to call it quits and find something with a faster pace. finally, kendrick grabbed the twenty five dollar chip out of his hand, threw it on black at the roulette table- and it won, tripling his money! and just like that, kamiya was able to walk away with fifty and we got our twenty back. win, win, win. 

we tried to make it to richfield for easter with the family the next day, but ended up in one-lane traffic for about one hour. we also ended up hitting traffic a large portion of the rest of the way home, and didn't get in until eight o'clock. definitely not an ideal easter sunday, as we spent most of it in traffic.

however, i am so, so grateful for the opportunity to remember the Savior and his atonement this time each year. because of Him, I get to move on from my past mistakes, become a better person each day, and be a forever family with kendrick, which is more than i could ever ask for. i love the gospel of Jesus Christ with all my heart, and i am so proud to be a member of a church that teaches loves, kindness, forgiveness, and joy. 

happy easter!

miracles

a couple of fridays ago, i received a disheartening call from kendrick, letting me know that his dad had just had a stroke. he wasn't clear on the severity of it- all that he knew was that his dad was on his way to the hospital by ambulance. it was a long day of work, eagerly checking my phone every five minutes, waiting for any updates on paul's condition. once four o'clock hit, i quickly made my way over to the imc hospital to join kendrick and his mom. 

(quick humorous story- knowing that they might be hungry, i stopped at the chick-fil-a across the street to grab a few chicken sandwiches, fries, and a couple of large drinks. once at the hospital, i was unfamiliar with the parking situation, and had no idea where to park and what entrance to use. i ended up parking pretty far away, and walked as quickly as i could to the entrance- while balancing a large bag of food and two good-sized drinks. when i got to the front, i had a feeling that i was at the wrong place, so quickly turned around to head back to my car. this is when the lid flew off one of the drinks- it was a very windy day. now, being even more careful with my food haul and one compromised drink, in heels, i hobbled my way across the street to my car. halfway across the crosswalk, the paper bag started to rip and then before i could make it to the sidewalk alllll of the food poured out and the diet coke spilled all down my pants and blouse. mind you- there were two cars waiting for me to cross the street- so they got a front row seat to my graceful performance. embarrassed and sticky, i gathered what was left of the sad meal, quickly made my way to the correct hospital entrance, and tried explaining to kendrick and his mom why the sandwiches were smashed, the fries were missing, and why on earth i smelled so strongly of diet coke).

anyways- luckily, at this point, paul's condition was stable. the two main evidences of his stroke were his pounding headache and his inability to get out words. turns out, the bleeding happened on the side of his brain that controlled speech recognition, so while he knew what things were, he could not say them. frustrating, right? the biggest hurdle for him was saying what month it was- each time the nurse would ask, he would reply "i know it- i just cannot say it!". (about an hour after a nurse gave him the quiz on what month it was, paul exclaimed out of no where "it's march!"... it was pretty dang funny)

we ended up staying with kendrick's mom until about ten o'clock that night, eagerly trying to comfort her and give her any assurance that she needed. kamiya came around this time so that he could join kendrick in giving paul a blessing. while the blessing was said, i felt the spirit so strongly and started to tear up. the power of the priesthood really is so incredible- how you can go one minute from feeling helpless and afraid, to the next knowing with all assurance that God is mindful of you, loves you, and is there for you. 

long story short- after a couple of days, paul was talking normally and walking around, as if the stroke never even happened. he was discharged from the hospital after only a few says, and the doctors even commented that recoveries from strokes really don't happen this fast. we all feel so incredibly blessed. miracles do happen and prayers are answered!

(and every time we drove past the crosswalk that had a small trail of french fries leading to the sidewalk, i couldn't help but laugh). 

wedding season

earlier this month, kendrick and i got to attend my cousin maddy's wedding. it was held at noah's event center in south jordan (same place as my senior prom!) and was such a beautiful ceremony. maddy and chase's vows were so sweet, and i'm honestly so excited for them to experience marriage! (i'm clearly a fan.)

funny story- we tried having my mom take a picture of us together outside...and by the way she acts around an iphone, you would think she's never seen one before. i kid you not, we took at least forty pictures... and every single one was blurry. i ended up grabbing my phone to show her an example of taking a picture of kendrick... but she still couldn't get the hang of it. so, here we are, our one good (and clear) picture taken outside of my incredibly handsome husband. :)

the luncheon afterwards was delicious. to be honest, i don't exactly remember the menu... but there was chicken, and it was good.

the reception was later that night, and my whole family showed up which was such a blast. i'm pretty sure the best part was watching zoey dancing all by herself.  as my sister says "dance like no one is dancing with you".

 

i love wedding season!

two sets of new wheels

we finally did it- we got new cars! this was a long time coming... as we've been having issues with our previous cars for quite a while (infact, when we traded them in, kendrick's wouldn't even start and my brakes were hardly functioning).

so far, we looove our new sets of wheels. i ended up leasing a 2016 toyota corolla, and it has that heavenly "new car" smell and a nifty back up camera. we bought kendrick a 2013 toyota camry, and some days i feel like he loves it more than he loves me.

(joke).

so long mazda 3 and toyota 4 runner, you will not be missed.

(okay, the 4 runner will be. that thing used to climb the hills of richfield like a champ)

the oriental twins

when we visited  hawaii a couple of years ago, kendrick and i landed across some childrens' hawaiian outfits at an outdoor flee market (complete with leis and all.) we immediately decided to get keegan and zoey, the family "twins", some matching outfits. i mean... how could we not? (i have been desperately trying to find pictures of them, will post them when i do).

anyways, while walking through chinatown, we passed a shop with dozens of little oriental outfits hanging outside the door. instantly, i knew that i had to carry on the tradition.

and this was the outcome:

 

 

 

we told zoey to smile....

then we told her to smile bigger...

...bigger, Zoey!

 BIGGER!

 sadly, keegan wouldn't keep the hat on, but the whole family was busting up regardless. it was way too adorable and now i'm just trying to think of where we can go next that will allow me to top these outfits. harmony said we should go to ireland and get a couple of little kid kilts.
we'll see, harmony, we'll see. 

san francisco, part three

it was an unanimous decision to keep our second day low-key, and with a lot less walking (we ended up walking nine miles the day before- so very, very sore legs).

our first stop was mr. holmes bakehouse for some delicious breakfast pastries. i've seen plenty of pictures of this place pop up around pinterest, and the cool neon sign always caught me eye. so obviously it was a must-see. i ended up getting the peach danish while kendrick decided on one potato and one boysenberry, and they were all seriously so good. 

as we stepped out of the bakery, we were greeted by a homeless man who gave us a shpeel on how "he wasn't raised like us', and that he'd "rather be working than on the streets". seeing that this was the first homeless person to acknowledge us on our entire trip, we decided we had a few dollars to spare. kendrick pulled out a small wad of cash from his pocket and handed the man a few one dollar bills, the man then noticed the five dollar bill in kendrick's hand that was not given to him, and then proceeded to ask for that too. 

Seriously?

kendrick quickly snapped back, "come on man, i just gave you money." and the man then quickly backed off and scampered away. it's safe to say we didn't donate to anymore street walkers for the remainder of our trip. ;)

we continued on down the road, when we came to a banana republic right off the street. seeing that we didn't have anywhere to be, we decided to check it out. with hundreds of edison bulbs hanging from the ceiling, this was instantly one of the coolest stores i've ever been in.

our next stop was grace cathedral, and it was just as stunning as all of the pictures.

there was a park directly across the street with a beautiful large fountain and benches, and we decided to sit for a while and enjoy our surroundings. we decided to head over to the golden gate bridge next, but realized that would be a very, very long walk. so, cue uber!

turns out, taking a car across town rather than walking is much, much more enjoyable. ;)

obviously, the bridge is absolutely gorgeous and we probably could have sat there all day enjoying the view.

we then took an uber over to an ice cream shop called "over the moon" that was recommended to us by chris and jade. this place had custom ice cream sandwiches, you guys, kendrick and i both picked chcocolate chip cookies for our base (they were SO chewy and thick), and i decided on chocolate raspberry cup ice cream for the filling, while kendrick went with rocky road. hands down best treat of the trip.

there were plenty of restaurants surrounding the ice cream shop, and every single one had a line out the door, so obviously we had to grab a bite to eat. we decided on a sandwich shop right across the street called "the barn". the decor was very rustic and flee market-ish, and i kept thinking how much my mom would love it. i ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich and kendrick got the club- both were fantastic.

seriously drooling while looking at this picture.

we then headed on over to our last main attraction of the day- painted ladies. i'm going to be completely honest with you- i was not exactly "wowed" by these houses. don't get me wrong, they are absolutely gorgeous and overflowing with that san francisco charm... but then again.... every house in san francisco is! i guess after walking all around the city for the past two days, and seeing hundreds of charming houses, i didn't exactly understand why this particular row of houses were famous. kendrick ended up searching online, and we discovered that after an earthquake years ago, these were the only houses that were still standing of their kind. also, they are in the opening credits of the show "full house", so i'm sure that has something to do with it.

the rest of the night was spent walking along the streets on the less-busy side of town. we discovered a really cool underground boutique, that carried sample sizes of designer brands at discounted prices. i tried on a few pieces, but ended up leaving empty handed. we also stopped at a cute cafe and enjoyed some amazing hot chocolate while sitting at a little bistro table outside. this was the perfect low-key night to end our wonderful vacation.

this vacation went far too quickly, as it was back to the airport the next day. is was surprisingly hard to leave this city, as we both could see ourselves living there.

eh, maybe later on in life when we are like... millionaires or something.

doubtful.

san francisco, part two

we were up and ready by nine, excited and anxious to do some exploring. after a small and pretty flavorless complimentary breakfast from our hotel, we were in the car and ready to go. luckily, i had done some parking garage research the night before, and found an $8/day location in the city- which is amazing as most charge $2 per fifteen minutes. however, we soon realized this miraculous low rate was due to the garage being stationed on the opposite side of the city from all of the main attractions. but isn't the best kind of city exploring done on foot? we think so, too.

the first attraction that we stumbled across was china town, and it was just as interesting as i imagined it would be. i had to keep reminding myself that we were infact still in san francisco and hadn't somehow been instantly transported into asia. we decided not to do too much exploring in this area, as most of the shops carried the same merchandise and neither of us were hungry enough to sample some ethnic food. 

while researching places to see for this trip, i came across a picture of the gorgeous grace cathedral, and i knew it was a must-see. while walking past china town, i could see a beautiful cathedral in the distance, and was sure it was it. however, as we got closer, we quickly realized that it wasn't the same one- but still equally stunning! (we literally ended up passing about three other cathedrals on this trip until we finally landed upon grace cathedral- san francisco is full of gorgeous churches!)

Saint Peter and Paul church

lombard street was up next on the agenda, and neither of us were prepared for just how steep that street really was and how physically exhausting it would be to make it up the entire  thing. i'll spare you the details, but seriously, everything burned! what's funny to me is just how many tourists don't view that as an actual street, and have no problem standing in the middle of the road just to get a perfectly centered picture, even if it meant holding up the traffic coming down the hill. um, no. i refuse to be that kind of tourist and my slightly-angled picture will do just fine, haha.

the top of the street had a view of the entire city that was absolutely remarkable. we really did luck out on this day- the weather was beyond perfect!

we continued on down the road until we found a street that was nearly empty and it was so refreshing being out of crowds for a little bit. i think it's fair to say that my favorite thing about this trip was looking at the houses- every single one had so much beauty and charm, and no two houses looked the same. i particularly loved the ones with thick white trim, vine-covered trellises, and black iron lamp posts- they almost make you feel like your strolling down a street in paris.  

we continued down this neighborhood until we reached a long staircase that lead to a lower part of the city. on the short stone wall that connected to the staircase, there was a sign asking people to "hold it", and not use the wall as a restroom. kendrick and i had to stop for a second and scratch our heads as to who on earth sees a wall and thinks to themselves, "oh finally, a wall! now i can relieve myself!"

it is a strange, strange world out there.

from this spot, we had a wonderful glimpse of the golden gate bridge in the distance.

our next stop was ghiradelli square, and i kid you not, the entire town smells like chocolate. #myheaven

kendrick was in need of a pastry, so we wandered into a small cafe that was filled with fancy, french looking desserts. we decided on a hazelnut cream puff and it honestly tasted as good as it looked.

while strolling around chocolate heaven, kendrick received a text from his cousin colin. who was also in san francisco for work. we soon realized that we were less than ten minutes away from him! hoping to surprise him, we headed over to fishermans wharf, and eventually saw him in a crowd watching a street performer. it was so much fun being able to hang out for a little and grab some ice cream, but i definitely wish his wife sara was there too! (she's headed out this weekend to visit him- talk about bad timing!)

colin headed back to his group, and kendrick and i decided to grab some lunch on the pier. it didn't take kendrick long to settle on a basket of fried shrimp and french fries. i'm really not one to eat sea food (mainly because i grew up on fish sticks from the freezer aisle at walmart), but i've realized time and time again that i definitely can do seafood when it's fresh.

we had a small audience of seagulls as we chowed down on our shrimp basket, and it didn't take long for one to swoop up and snatch a piece out of kendrick's hand mid-bite... so funny! i couldn't stop laughing!

right behind all of the restaurants, there was an old arcade that we decided to explore. this ended up being the coolest arcade that i've ever been to, as all of the games were antique. we cashed out a ten for quarters, and had a blast trying out some of the games. 

there were a few displays that honestly looked like they belonged in a scary movie rather than a kid arcade, see exhibit a:

no, thank you.

we headed up pier 39, where we were greeted with plenty more restaurants to choose from. seeing that we were in san francisco, we obviously had to get a small loaf of sour dough bread.

after our delicious snack, we headed back to china town, where we toured the golden gate fortune cookie factory. i have never seen fortune cookies made, and it is absolutely fascinating! kendrick and i decided to make our own fortunes, so wrote one for each other on little pieces of paper, then handed them to one of the ladies to place into a couple of cookies. (i really wanted to take pictures of the process, but they charge fifty cents per picture taken. but i'm not even mad, that's brilliant. haha)

we wandered through a few stores in chinatown, and decided to check out a souvenir shop that carried plenty of pretty vases and jars.  i absolutely love navy and white ginger jars, and kendrick insisted we get one to add to our apartment decor. seeing that it was chinatown, i put on my game face, ready to do some haggling.

the jar I wanted was originally priced at $140, but the asian man said he would do $45. i told him i would do $20. the asian women came over and told me it would be $35. i ended up grabbing it, brought it over to the register, and said i would take it. the main rang it up for $35, and kendrick, testing his luck, chimes in... "no, she said it would be $25". the asian man looked over at the asian women and asked her if it was really $25. she looked over at the jar and said ..."yes, $25!". the asian man, very confused, said "but, it's the bigger jar!" the asian women, well aware that it was supposed to be $35 quickly snapped, "just do $25!"

we officially haggled the hagglers.

(our pretty jar from chinatown)

we decided to finish our day off with some shopping at san francisco's amazing mall. the thing was seriously gigantic- about five stories tall, and there was a circular escalator that coiled right up the middle. my first stop was obviously kate spade, and i was sure to get my traditional picture in front of it.

i wanted to buy every.single.freakin dress in that store, but at $500 a piece, a settled on a cute light pink leather notebook and called it good.

after browsing the three story nordstrom for a bit, we headed out to the food court for a bite to eat. (you may be thinking- wow they eat a lot! but our one rule on this trip was to not get full by any meal, as to save room for lots of snacking!)

we decided on a ramen cafe, and kendrick ordered the spicy beef ramen, while i settled on some fried chicken pieces and a fruit drink (yes, I'm five).

(this meal actually ended up being kendrick's favorite of the entire trip- just look how happy he looks!)

at this point, it was starting to get dark outside, and we decided to call it a night and get some rest in for day two of our adventure!

stay tuned.