It's that time of year

We got a problem people...a big one. What is it you may ask. I MISS UTAH. It is official I am going through the usual it is fall time in Utah, but not in California, withdrawals. In Southern California Fall does not really exist. It comes around December. Sept/Oct are actually the warmer months of the year due to the Santa Ana winds. Anyway, so I am missing Utah as a result of this. And the problem is once I start thinking about one thing I miss about Utah the list starts to get super long. I was talking to Aaron tonight and I think the problem is that my heart is still in Utah. It is where I moved after high school and started out with such a rough start in terms of liking Utah. But then I made it my home, grew so much, fell in love and started my life with Aaron there.

So just to rub in my sadness as much as possible I am going to make a list of all the things I miss tonight about Utah.

1. -Our house
2. -Bombay House
3. -Matt, KT, Liam and George
4. -The crisp fall air
5. -Sugarhouse Park
6. -Eggs in the City
7. -Our neighborhood
8. -Dilworth elementary park
9. -Walks through the tree lined streets
10. -Leaves changing
11. -BBQing in our back yard
12. -Playing in the front yard with neighbor kids
13. -Bikram Sugarhouse studio
14. -Ash
15. -Mazza
16. -Mountains
17. -Watching the dogs play in the backyard
18. -The charm
19. -Aims
20. -Utah Utes Football
21. -ARTEC and my friends there
22. -Snow

(okay not a ton of it, but I do like the change, I know remind me of this if I ever move back)
23. -Cutler's
24. -Great Harvest
25. -Rivers
26. -How close everything is
27. -REI on 33rd

So I know this list seems long and may make it seem that I do not like Los Angeles at all, which is not true at all because I really do love Southern California. It's just the fall is a really hard time to not be in Utah. Luckily me and my girls, Ash and Aims, have a girls trip coming up in Utah in November so I can squeeze some Utahness in to hopefully fill me up.

Santa Barbara with the fam

Last weekend we took a Steenblik vaca up to Santa Barbara. I must say that I had been wanting to go to Santa Barbara ever since we moved to cali and I am so glad we finally made it there. The town of Santa Barbara is just as charming as can be and the scenery is not too shabby either. We stayed in a home that was on top of the hill overlooking all of Santa Barbara and the beach. The location was just perfect and the home was beautiful. We made trips to the beach, the local farmers market, the old Mission, the Natural History Museum, the Pier, and played many of games of Hide and Seek with Liam. It was just great being with the family and I will admit I cried when I got in the car to drive home. Life is stressful right now and our weekend trips are making things more manageable. I am so happy that we were able to do this trip together.

I am so glad we were all able to get together for a few days. I know I say this often after time with my family, but really and truly spending time together is the greatest.
I am so thankful for the family I am a part of.

Weekend away in AZ

Aaron and I headed to Arizona for this past weekend to enjoy some time away. It was a great weekend to head away from Los Angeles, as the fires have been making the air here so nasty. I really wanted to have a nice lil summer monsoon while we were there and my wish was granted Saturday morning. We had a great weekend away with my parents. We hiked Camelback Mountainn 2 times, which is a crazy nice workout. It is the mountain (like a hill when compared to the Wasatch Mountains) that my parents live at the base of. We were able to meet up with the Johnson's who moved to AZ this last year from grad school. It was great to catch up with such great people. We of course spent time in the pool, one of Aaron's favorite things to do. Bear became proficient and retrieving his bumper from the pool and he loved playing fetch to his hearts content. The only problem was on Sunday it was pretty hot, so we found him laying down in our shower to cool off. We went to the Hale theatre in Gilbert and saw a nice local production of She Loves Me, which is the broadway show that You've Got Mail was written from. We took a nice 3 hour nap on Sunday and it felt so great. We didn't come home until the early evening on Monday so we were able to enjoy almost 3 full days in the Valley of the Sun. I always love going home. Now it is back to life again meaning back to work. But I am not feeling too bad for myself since I had Monday off and we leave for Santa Barbara on Friday for a weekend getaway with my family.