It's Christmas!

I can't believe it is almost the end of 2012. So much has changed for me this year, and I'm excited to look back and reflect on all that happened.

My last Broncos game performance was in my Santa outfit, which the girls actually wore in their game today - and the Broncos won! I may not be the best football fan, but I'll always be a Broncos fan at <3. 

My last post was FOREVER ago, back when I first started work at my new job. Just a quick recap - I work for an affinity network of Global Fluency called the CMO Council. I'm learning new marketing skills daily, and am getting closer with my co-workers. 

We just had our holiday party last Wednesday, and we had a lot of fun meeting significant others and hanging out - outside of the office!!

Kamilla, Me, Crystal, and Mary Anne

All the office girls getting photo bombed by Matt and Gabi's husband! Too funny!!

Kyle and I both miss Colorado a lot, but had fun visiting. He is actually there now visiting with family. I can't wait until he flies in tomorrow and we can spend the holidays together :)

This was our first time spending a Bronco's game together in the stands after my 20th anniversary cheerleader alumni game back in September. We both had fun visiting friends, Bryan, and I had fun dancing again too (even though my neck was sore for WEEKS afterwards!)

Even though I'm not dancing anymore, I'm loving my SCU spirit squad! They help me out so much and make my job so much easier. I love getting to know them more and more everyday. Our Vegas trip in March is definitely going to be a lot of fun!

Here they were all dressed up for their Halloween half-time performance. They should be so proud of their creative music edits, choreography, and costumes! What a fun way to begin the season.

Halloween at the office was another fun day. Kamilla and I really got to know one-another by planning, shopping, and decorating together. Work is so much more fun when you love the people you work beside :)

Here is Bella as a pumpkin...so cute!

Alex and I won the awards for Best Costume. I had never heard of the annoying orange before, however once I watched the youtube video, I had had enough!! My costume was easy and creative! Thanks Megan Brooks for the idea. Good thing I own way more than 50 Shades of Grey in my closet!

Thanksgiving was different this year. The family all traveled to New York! Kyle and I got ready early with our turkey hats. Caroline ended up wearing the one I have on the whole trip! Everyone on the streets would stop her and admire her funny hat!

Bringing in Christmas with the Santa balloon! We really missed Matt's commentary on the Today Shownand wished we had a tv broadcast with some of his balloon and band descriptions!! It was a great experience none-the-less. We went to two musicals, Once and Rock of Ages. Both were amazing in different ways and I couldn't have had better entertainment, food, or company on the trip :)

My first New Years Resolution has to do with food! Kyle and I are really trying to explore our new home town (the actual area we live in, not the buffet restaurant I used to love as a kid because I could eat as many cinnamon rolls as I wanted!). I told Kyle I would love to try one new restaurant per week. 

We'll see how long that can last...

There are so many fun things to do and new places to try. I'm done with doing the same old and am ready for some new experiences. 2013 here we come!

This is Kyle's breakfast! I think it is his new favorite place. The Black Bear Diner had the biggest biscuits I had EVER seen. This is why I want to keep having new experiences like this one!

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Tomorrow is Jonathan's 21st Birthday!!

This is Jonathan, Michael, and me going on our Coor's Brewery Tour. Jon wasn't old enough to try anything and that will all change here at midnight! I can't wait until he opens his presents!

On Christmas we will celebrate the morning here at my dads and then head up to Mammoth to celebrate with my mom. We have all their gifts here with us, so the celebrating can't start until we get there! It'll be fun to ski and relax for a week and then celebrate New Years with Pookie too! What a great way to end a great year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happiest Post of My Life...thus far!

Hi Y'All!!

Guess What? I am finally a member of the work force! Today was the first day of my first "real" job, and I couldn't be happier. I'm working for the CMO Council which is part of Global Fluency Marketing Agency as a Junior Marketing Coordinator. I didn't do much today, except wear fancy business clothes on casual friday ;-), but it was so nice to know that I will now have stable pay checks and busy days. Also, the office is so laid back, I can really see it becoming a second family. There are about 7 girls who are all around my age that I'm already getting along with, and everyone brings their doggies to work! I met Mickey the Bulldog, Bella the Pomeranian, Riley the ... (maybe a toy fox terrier? it looked kinda like a rat to me!), Satchi and ? (another Japanese name I can't remember now!) the Akitas, and Heidi the miniature schnauzer! They were all so cute and lovable!! It's Kyle's Birthday tomorrow, but he has finals, so we'll keep it simple until he is done with school. Until then...!

Belated...Heather's B-day!

OMG I've been so distracted lately with job interviews and such, that I totally forgot to write a post for Heather's Birthday! Heather...you know I didn't forget about you! Even though I've been either in a different state or hours away, we have still managed to stay in touch after all these years. Gosh, I think we've known each other for about 15 years! That's such a long time! Fun fact, Heather and I were president and vice president of chorus in elementary school (was it fourth or fifth grade?). We designed *baby* blue t-shirts that we thought were "soooo cute!" The saddest part was, if you know me well enough, you know how terrible my voice is! But Heath always loves to belt out our favorite songs with me, like Moulin Rouge's love song or our favorite, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! Some of our best memories were reenacting Grease's, "Summer Love" in Lake Powell, singing in my bug, Jitter, and our best brunch in Vegas for Pookie's birthday when we drank mimosas and sang 80's classics! I love you Heath and I know we'll get to do something fun together here soon! XOXO

Get ready for some classic pics!

HIGH SCHOOL DORKY/AWKWARD YEARS!

Singing on Heather's Birthday!

Barbie Halloween! ...who knew heath would really become nurse barbie?!

Football Fun! Orange and Blue for life!

Our infamous lunch table!!

Supporting our friends at Footloose, we definitely were being too serious!

The Dance Concert! Heath and I will always be singing and dancing partners :)

 Our fun trip to Lake Powell! (we had to do our Charlie's Angels pose!)

High School Dances!

Graduation was so sad! But good thing we still have fun together!

Like....

Going Country Dancing!

Hanging out in Pook's game room...

Having photo shoots in Heath's back yard with her mom's beautiful garden..

(please tell me why heath is proposing to me? at least I'm not the boy!)

Or photo shoots in Pookie's backyard!

As we grew up we started having the best adventures! Here we are in VEGAS BABY!!

(heather's hair is always crazy when she dances! and I know she will never forget my crazy boa moves from this night either!!)

Traveling to Hawaii!

Then Heather and Pookie visited me in Colorado for New Years!!!

No matter where we are or what we are doing, we always have so much fun! Happy (belated) birthday to my best friend!!!! Love you!!!!

My Loving Nana

I wanted to write a blog posting dedicated to my loving Nana. I thought I might as well write down my prayers, and hope that the love and support will help her through this hard time. Today she found out that her previous cancer has now spread to her brain. She is in the hospital and as of right now, doesn't have anyone with her for love and support. I wish I was closer to Phoenix so I could go right now!

I miss Nana being close-by! Since she's been in Arizona, I haven't been able to see her as much as I would have liked. I haven't seen her since my Aunt Christine's funeral! When I saw her last, I made her a reusable coffee mug with a bunch of pictures of her and I on it and I know she looks at it all the time to remember the fun times we've had together.

I love you Nana and I hope I can come see you soon! XOXO

New Meals...I'm getting creative!

So last night I decided to pull out a cook book and make something new! (Kyle and) I have gotten really good about saving money by cooking every night. I'm usually doing my same old chicken, veggie, rice, turkey chili, pasta with meat sauce, or tacos! I decided that since I have some free time, I should be trying new recipes! Here's a pic of what I made last night...it was DELICIOUS! 

Ok...so kind of hard to see, but I made corn bread muffins that turned out fabulous! I took the box recipe and added frozen corn and then spread a little bit of honey butter over the top. Yum! Of course we ate of ton of green beans too! Now on to the main course:

Turkey Meatloaf!!

I sautéed onion, green and red bell peppers, and baby leaf spinach. At the same time, I toasted two pieces of whole wheat bread, and crumbled it into a bowl. I then poured 2/3 cup of skim milk over the crumbles. Then I add the onion mixture into the bowl with bread crumbs and also added salt and pepper, nutmeg, one egg, and 2lbs of ground turkey. I mixed it with my hands, and then formed four mini loafs on a cookie sheet. I baked it for 45 mins at 375 degrees! So easy! 

Kyle and I will definitely be eating this at least once a month!!

Hopefully more good recipes will be on here soon!

Today is Janelle's Birthday!!

This post goes out to my BESTEST friend, Janelle! It is her birthday today, and she definitely deserves to see some g.r.e.a.t. pictures that she probably forgot about. I'm pretty sure this is the first birthday I've missed of hers since we became friends FIVE years ago. I have some great memories from her past birthdays that I thought I would share...

Memory #1

Best Birthday Hat

Memory #2

Best Ice Cream Cake

Memory #3

Funniest Dinner Choice

Janelle is a funny girl. I was very honored, once, to get her signature. It was awesome.

Now Janelle and I danced together at CU and on Broncos. She is great with a camera, and I am not. She always MADE me take pictures, which now, I am so thankful that I have iphoto full of pictures of Janelle and me :)

Here she was not only a team-mate, but my assistant coach too!

One thing about Janelle is that she is always so creative. She comes up with some great ideas for Halloween, party planning, and stays on top of it all! You can always count on her to not only find an outfit, but make sure we have matching eye shadow, socks, and even underwear!!!!

(Let's just say, orange eyeshadow is NOT my best look!)

Here are some fun facts about Janelle...

#1

Janelle LOVES to take pictures of herself (with others!) by sticking her arm out with the camera!

See the arm?!

...and most of the time they turn out terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#2

Janelle (and I) love SLURPEES! We have definitely driven to 7-11 at some very late and odd hours! When that 7-11 closed on Walnut, our hearts sank :(

(If you are wondering why this is a "slurpee" pic, just look at Janelle's tongue! We were drinking slurpees even in Daytona!

#3

Random funny things always happen to Janelle...

...need I say more?!?!

Come to think of it, maybe she creates some of the funny things...

haha.

#4

She is a great host. She is always so thoughtful and caring and would do anything for her friends.

#5

She ALWAYS lets me borrow her clothes!

It was hard to find just ONE picture to represent this fun fact. But I thought this was good because she hadn't even worn this dress before she let me wear it!

#6

She is SO CLEAN! I may not be clean or organized, but I know it when I see it!

But more important than any birthday memory, fun fact, or Halloween photo shoot, she is a great friend. I hope that you (Janelle) had a WONDERFUL birthday today and I'm so sad that I'm not living closer to you to be able to celebrate in person. Blow out those candles for me!!! XOXO Lauren