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

Shep came and visited!

Although only for a very short trip, Shep came and visited Kyle and me this weekend! On Saturday, Shep and his buddy met us in San Jose for a fun lunch. We went to place called, "Wing Stop" and it even had one of the cool soda dispensers where you can choose from 100s of drink combinations. I definitely enjoyed my hawaiian boneless wings with a diet cherry vanilla dr. pepper! Kyle of course had atomic wings (when does he NOT choose the most spicy item on the menu??). Kyle enjoyed seeing Shep and talking about how school was going, and I know he is excited to show him what he learns each step of the way.

Saturday night Kyle and I ventured out to the land of the unknown! We're still trying to find our way around town, and although it took us a few wrong turns, we eventually made it to Santana Row. It is such a cute street full of expensive stores like burberry, gucci, and some fun ones like lululemon. I would probably describe it as a smaller, cheaper version of rodeo drive ;-)

Anyway, we went and ate at the Yard House. I would've liked to walk around a little more than we did, but getting anywhere fast is out of the question with Kyle's knee. It IS getting better though, his PT told him that he no longer has to wear the brace in the house and in about a week he'll get to get rid of it all together! He's so excited!

The rest of the weekend wasn't too exciting, we rented "Rum Diary" with Johnny Depp and it was a pretty good movie and Kyle studied for a good majority of Sunday. I have a phone interview on Wednesday I'm looking forward to with our apartment community and of course teaching my dance classes. Hopefully I have students this week!! I also wanted to give my brother Austin a shout out, he ended up qualifying for State with his speech for speech and debate! He'll be in San Fran the weekend of April 28th, and hopefully he'll let me go and watch!! Toodles!

A Fun-Francisco Weekend with Drew!!

This Easter weekend was definitely one to remember! Kyle enjoyed one of his best friend's in town, and he experienced his first trip to the Golden Gate City. We definitely had a blast and wont forget all the crazy and exciting adventures we had...even with Kyle's bum knee!

Drew flew in on Wednesday night and Kyle and I went to pick him up at SFO. On Thursday I took Kyle to school and Drew to work at Disney Interactive Studios in Palo Alto. I felt like a soccer mom dropping her kids off for the day!! That night we ate at Pedro's Mexican Restaurant. Kyle and Drew were convinced the restaurant looked like Pablo Escobar's Columbian Compound!! I just thought it was a pretty building :)

Friday Drew took the CalTrain in to work at his San Francisco office and Kyle had the day off for Good Friday. Kyle and I ran errands, he went to physical therapy, and we got the oil changed in my car! Then we hit the road and met Drew in San Fran!! We had fun going to Fisherman's Wharf for some fresh seafood and then to an Irish bar to listen to a fun keyboard player/singer. Then we stayed in a hotel for the night and Kyle ordered pizza at 1 in the morning!!

Sea Lions on the Pier

We saw a fun 49'er car!

Dinner at the Wharf...I'm not a big fan of clams, but the boys loved them!

On Saturday, we slept in (it was much needed), checked out of the hotel, and made our way around the city. We originally parked our car in the MOST SKETCHY parking lot I've ever seen in the MOST GHETTO neighborhood, which was only about two blocks away from Union Square. Drew was worried about his computerS (plural.) and I was worried about my car, so we quickly changed our minds and parked in a more expensive lot that was in the nice part of town. We definitely all had our adrenaline pumping as we walked a block through sketchville!! Kyle thought he saw graffiti written in poop and Drew thought he saw a man about to pull a gun out of his pocket. I thought I was going to cry any second!

After leaving the hood, we got coffee and headed to Chinatown. Kyle had never seen the shops and store fronts and we had fun trying on hats and looking at their crazy items for sale.

We stopped at the Imperial Palace for beer, soup, and eggrolls. I thought it was good, but Kyle and Drew were convinced their soup tasted "fishy"

Next, we walked around Union Square and went into a few (not enough for my standards) shops. We even stopped to get the boys a beer at a place called the Irish Bank which was sandwiched between two high rise buildings. It was a true "hole in the wall." Then we walked around some more, heading slowly toward the cable car so Kyle could take his first ride ever. I could not believe how big Banana Republic was!! These two boys had too much fun trying to be preppy inside the store!

We finally made it to the cable car!!

Once again, the boys wanted to stop for a quick beer before dinner!

Drew had his mind set on eating crab before he left the city. After walking in the freezing cold, the guy standing outside the restaurant we had eaten at the night before gave us an offer that if we went their again, he would give the boys free/extra crab legs. Their plates came and were full of crab! I've never seen so much on one table in my life! They ate until they were sick. It was a great way to end a fun trip!

Drew cracked Kyle and I up when he had an innocent smile on his face in the middle of dinner. He told us that he "got caught." What he got caught looking at was the funny part. He was starring at this huge black woman's butt! He was admiring it when she turned around and notice him looking and they locked eyes. The moment was priceless.

On Easter morning, Kyle wasn't feeling great (which we now know was the start of the flu), but we got up and went to Bill's Cafe for breakfast. It was Drew's last day, and we had to make it special. I ordered the most amazing french toast I've ever had, it was banana pudding french toast and it was delicious!

We tried to take Drew to IN-N-OUT for lunch, but it was closed for Easter! We were shocked! But the trip ended and we had a lot of fun memories to show for it. Thanks for being our first visitor Drew!!