Big Bad BBQ/ Arts Festival

My great group of girls and I decided that we needed to try to plan more activities with guys. So on Thursday June 25th we threw a BBQ up Millcreek canyon. We figured a little networking would be a good idea so we all invited different people that we know that the other girls might not know. It turned out to be a huge success and each of us met a lot of new people. I'm pretty sure a lot of digits were exchanged that night.

Jessie and Kimi are kind of like the same person. Good thing they are some of the most likeable girls so it's nice having two of them around.

Yummy 'smores

Great dogs and brats.

Lots of cool guys

Alli's special hot dog roasting device. I'm pretty sure she dropped several hot dogs. Good thing we had plenty.

On Saturday June 27th we ventured down to the Salt Lake Arts Festival. I would have liked to stay longer than we did but it was still fun and very crowded.

Father's Day

Here are the three R. Lynn Nielsen men. My brother Ramsey Lynn Nielsen, my dad Richard Lynn Nielsen, and my grandpa Roland Lynn Nielsen (although he goes by Lynn). What a great group of guys. My grandpa was putting a little pressure on Ramsey about how he is the only one to carry on the Nielsen name so he better have a son. That prompted a discussion about what R names Ramsey might use. Well I think it will be awhile before they have to really worry about names.

It was good to be able to spend Father's day with some of the most important men in my life. Although Ramsey's not a father yet we let him and Tyce get in the picture. I love how my grandpa is grabbing Tyce's hand and looking at him. Sometimes it's just as hard to get my grandpa to look at the camera as it is for a little kid. But it does demonstrate how much he loves his great grandkids and really knows each one of them.

I have to give a little shout out too my dad who always takes such great care of his family. He is a hard worker and is so patient! I think he learned that from growing up with 5 sisters and being the only boy and then having 4 daughters and only 1 son. He usually is a pretty quiet man and doesn't say a whole lot unless you get him on a few specific topics then he can carry on a conversation for hours. I love when he shares stories from his past. Thanks Dad for all that you do for me!

Lagoon

On Tuesday June 16th we had a fun day at Lagoon! I went with my sisters and their kids along with my cousin Mica and her family. Luckily I didn't have to spend the whole day by the kiddy rides, Griffin makes a great ride partner at Lagoon and Sydnee is just about able to go on all the rides. Plus Seriah and Carson were fun to hang with.

I had to post this picture because Mandy looks like she is having so much fun.

I couldn't resist posting this picture because it illustrates the high caliber of ride operators at Lagoon.

Taegan looks like she loves Lagoon. She is a mommy's girl so I'm sure she was content in the sling with her mom.

Taya, Megan, and Sydnee getting ready for a ride.

It was fun to take Tyce on the Odysea. He's not so sure about the rides yet. At least it's fun having him be a little cuddly during the rides.

Cute Ava

The Highlight of the day was discovering that Sydnee and Taya could ride Wicked. I don't think they knew exactly what they were getting into and agreed quickly to go on the ride. I think they loved it but didn't want to ride it a second time. They were having a sensory overload after the ride. Taya's face was priceless, she said she will ride it again. They loved bragging about being able to ride Wicked. Poor Ella is just a little shorter so she'll have to wait another year or so. I always love a good day at Lagoon.

Thunderbird Air Show

On Saturday June 6th I met up with a lot of the Nielsen family to watch the Thunderbirds Air Show in Layton. Thanks to Jackie for getting everyone together.

I would love to be a pilot and be able to fly that fast. It looks absolutely thrilling. I bet some of those pilots are pretty hot in their flight suits too. Maybe someday I can go for a ride in a fighter jet. I'm sure I would have to build up my stomach to handle the flight.

Tyce didn't love how loud the jets were. I think it made him forget how to suck on his binkie for a minute.

I was completely thrilled with all of the action but the kids grew tired of it quickly. At least they had a lot of fun playing together.

High School Friend Sleepover

On Friday June 5th I got together with some old high school friends. I don't get to see these girls very often because we are all in such different places. I love that we can get together and pick right back up where we left off and can still have a ton of fun together. We went to dinner at Frederico's and then stopped by Albertson's for a lot of junk food. We then went out to Michelle's house for a sleepover. Her husband was nice to take their kids and go have a sleepover at his parents house so we could have the place to ourselves. Her house was so beautiful and was fun to see. I'll admit it made me pretty jealous of her. I love where she lives and that she is so settled. That seems so far off for me. It was fun to hear about their families. Emily showed us how to do the worm and tried to teach all of us, that was awesome to witness. We stayed up most of the night talking and laughing. I'm pretty sure this picture was taken at 4 am. Poor Kelli had fallen asleep on the ground and we woke her up for the picture, good thing you can't tell:) I wish we could do this more often.

Palm Springs

Brace yourself for a super long post about my Memorial Weekend in Palm Springs. What can I say I take a lot of pictures and it was a fun trip. I want to make sure that none of you miss out on the details of the weekend events. We made some good memories!

For Memorial Weekend I went to Palm Springs with the Girls. I seriously love this group of friends! We have so much fun together. Elissa was so nice to let all of us go stay at her family's place where her Grandma used to live. We were all excited for some sun and a whole lot of relaxing! We thought we might find us all a sugar daddy as well, but no luck. It was a great kickoff to the summer. We flew into Long Beach on Friday May 22nd rented some cars and drove to Palm Springs.

9 girls means a lot of luggage and we only had 2 cars so we were having a tricky time trying to get all of it in the trunk. I think we rearranged things at least a dozen times. Kimi decided just to climb in to get things to fit better.

Once in Palm Springs we had lunch at a great little Italian restaurant.

After lunch and some grocery shopping to stock up on some good treats and a few other things to eat we headed back to the condo. I put my swimsuit on and thought I would head out to the pool with the crew but I also had to finish a statistics assignment that was due on Saturday. I realized quickly that I couldn't see the screen on my laptop pool side so I ended up staying inside to work on it. This was the biggest downer of the trip for me. It was brutal doing homework and having to ignore the pool and fun until it was finished. I did take a little nap in between but I seriously worked on it the rest of the afternoon, evening, and early into Saturday morning. I felt like the biggest loser doing homework and missing out on the fun conversations in the other room. I was determined to finish it so it wouldn't ruin any more of my trip and so I could enjoy the day Saturday. I finally wrapped up my assignment at 4 AM! It was torture and it was only the second assignment in the class so I was still really struggling figuring out some of the basics of statistics. Luckily I did end up doing really well on the assignment but it obviously took me a LONG time.

When I was looking for blankets in the closet I found this awesome thing. I guess it is a sleeping bag, kind of cute and creepy. So Jessie saran wrapped it on herself and decided to scare the girls in the other room while they were sleeping. It didn't even phase them apparently. She came in and gave me a good laugh while I was working on my assignment.

This is where we spent a lot of time on our trip. We started early on Saturday relaxing at the pool. It was fantastic!

After a long day lounging at the pool we went shopping and to dinner. I love how Kimi tries things on at the store. Who needs dressing rooms anyway? We both bought cute sundresses at this store.

Our shopping trip was obviously a success. We all left with about 3 bags each. I'd like to say we are doing our part to help boost the economy.

Dinner at the Daily Grill was exciting. We sat out on the patio and witnessed a drunk couple getting out of a cab and getting into an argument. He seemed like a huge jerk and she was pretty wasted. They were oblivious to all of the diners at the restaurant that were staring at them. They gave us all a good show. I guess that is one reason not to get drunk:) We also learned not to put Kelli in charge of figuring out the bill. I think she was trying to get more money out of all of us:) Love ya Kell Bell!

On Sunday we hit up the swap meet. We found some awesome stuff but made very few purchases. I was really tempted to buy this hair piece.

It was incredibly hot so we enjoyed a little frozen lemonade. Notice Kelli's awesome silver sequinned fanny pack, compliments of Elissa's grandma.

Some day we might have to start a red hat society, at least we know where we can pick up some great hats.

Elissa's looking Hot.

Kimi found true love with the parking lot shuttle driver. Isn't he a Hotty! There wasn't a lot of single guys our age around to choose from.

After the swap meet we went back to the condo to get ready for church. We found the singles branch and went to Sacrament. Wow did we make an appearance. I am pretty sure we doubled there numbers that day. We were hoping to find some quality guys to invite over for a BBQ the next day but unfortunately there were hardly any guys there and most of them were quite young, pre-mission and fresh off the mission age. Everyone was so nice to us and several people came over to greet us. The best part was that we were invited to be part of the program with a special musical number. We sang Love One Another with the Relief Society. The bishop thought it was so beautiful that he asked us to sing it again. I think there were 4 girls from the ward and 9 of us.

After church I decided to head out to the pool to do some reading and relaxing all by myself. When I came back inside this is what I found on the sliding door. Sorry it might not be the most appropriate thing to post but it was too funny not to. These girls were quite creative with some magazines and a bra. Such details.

I think they're just jealous:)

For dinner on Sunday night we went to Don Diegos. Haylie and I had to get a picture with Don.

While at the swap meet Kelli, Alli, and I picked up these sweet "Wuff" t-shirts. I have always made fun of shirts, blankets, and stuff that have things like this on it (really anything with wildlife, kitties, puppies, native american stuff, etc.). Kelli and Alli also share these feelings and think they are creepy. They have become quite obsessed with "Wuff" stuff lately. There was a booth at the swap meet that was classic with all of the kinds of shirts I described above. We hit the jackpot. It was hard to choose which shirt to get. I chose mine because it had all of the classic wildlife: a bald eagle, bear, deer, and of course a wolf. Alli's was great with the dreamweaver and Kelli's with all of the wolf faces. They don't get much better than this. Alli and Kelli had the guy selling the shirts so confused about how to pronounce wolf, he obviously doesn't know the correct way of saying "wuff".

We had to show our appreciation for our find by howling to the moon!

Here is a photo shoot of the crew:

Myself sometimes referred to as "Mo Money"

Elissa

Missy aka "Masty"

Kimi or Kimbi or Cob

Alli

Jessie

Jenny

Haylie

Kelli dubbed my little brother

Each night we would go for a walk around the condo's/golf course. Seriously we had to do something a little active after all the lounging and treat devouring. It really became more like a parade each night. Palm Springs was pretty dead but we didn't mind because we are our own entertainment.

I was so excited to take the cruiser bike for a spin one night during the walk/parade.

I was nice and let Kimbi have a turn.

We even held a speed walking competiton. I was the referee because I was on the bike.

Here are the champions.

The Losers

My favorite thing was the Golf Cart. Golf Carts are pretty much the main mode of transportation in Palm Springs. I had no idea that they made custom golf carts, apparently that's the thing around there. Elissa's grandma's golf cart matched her car. Isn't it AWESOME! I don't think I've ever driven a golf cart so it was fun to take it out for a Sunday Drive. The Golf Cart also became a part of the nightly walks so we could play music and have a little spotlight for all of the dancing/marching in the parade.

Kelli taught everyone the USU fight song actions since she cheered at USU. I was bummed that I was on the bike, I've always wanted to know them:)! I guess she'll have to give me my own personal lesson one day. Hey what is a parade if you don't have some marching group.

Of course we practiced our Toyota Jumps.

and our heel click jumps.

Elissa, Jenny, Kelli and I were pretty stoked to show off our cheerleading stunting skills. I'm glad I've still got the skills. I should since I've coached cheerleaders the last three years but I never stunt with them so it was fun to try it out with Kelli. We got her up first time. She wouldn't let us try a lib or a basket toss. What a chicken, doesn't she trust us? It's not like we were on pavement or anything that could seriously hurt her if we dropped her.

One night we played a pretty random game. Some of these girls come up with some strange ideas sometimes. I was pretty skeptical at first and was making fun of it but it was pretty funny in the end. We were each supposed to bring pictures of boys we've dated or kissed and then we tried to match up which one of us dated/kissed which guy. Hey you can't go on a girls trip without having a little boy talk right. A couple girls sure get around a lot, I won't mention any names:)

Here are a couple pictures from the pool. I was forbidden to post some of the pictures. Too bad because I had some awesome pictures. Sorry about swimsuit pictures of myself.

We each bought a raft at the local store. Thanks to whoever got us a sweet deal. I think the price was marked wrong but we made sure that we got the best deal.

A fun game of jumping onto our rafts stacked up

I was sad to fly home on Monday evening a day before the others but I couldn't miss another day of work. Once again being responsible gets in the way of my fun. Oh well I did pick up a really great tan to start the summer off right.

I can't wait to go back and look forward to many more trips with these gals!!! Thanks again Elissa!