An unforgettable summer...

Moments like this make life worth living :)


I am not sure how a feel about summer coming to an end.

I LOVE summer...

I love the sun

I love the pool

I love being tan

I love relaxing

I love sunglasses

I love the beach

I love late nights

I love shorts

I love swim suits

I love flip flops

I love it all

This summer I worked like CRAZY! Every single week of the summer I worked 50+ hours...it about killed me! This is why I might be ready for fall. I spent most of my summer teaching kids how to swim. A dream job right? It is pretty fun until you spend 6+ hours in the pool everyday, live with a sunburn, always have wet hair, never getting to dress up, dry skin, and being so tired from spending ALL day in the sun. The kiddos make it worth it :)

My summer was very busy. I didn't have much free time but when I did I embraced every second of it and this is what I did...

I took naps (well not really)

I swam on summer nights

I played games with my family

I went on dates with the hottest guy ever

I went to San Diego

I went to the Lake

I went paddle boarding

I went surfing

I tanned

I wore shorts

I went blonde

I shopped

I looked cute

I worked out

I played

I loved it all!

So as I embark a new school year I look forward to the many adventures ahead of me. This summer has been unforgettable no doubt. I am ready to take on new tasks and new things but sad to see summer of 2011 drift away.

Beach trip with the Hansens :D

This is Kennadi doing a back flip off a cliff. Lakes trips are the best :) Mine consisted of yummy snacks, tubing, wake boarding, friends, family, cliff jumping, and memories.

Shopping!!! With my favorite girls.

One of my favorite parts of summer...spending time with my man! Part of the reason I am unsure about summer ending is because it also means Jake leaving, I loved having all summer long :)

Wish me luck as I take on a new year, new friends, new challenges, new memories, and new experiences!

Dates!!!

So pretty much I go on some of the best dates EVER...

Here is a little glimpse of the wonderful life I live and the most wonderful man to take me out on dates...


We go the the temple! Some of the best dates are those we take to the Temple :)
This may be a little foreshadowing... :D He has said I look good in white ;)

We get active! We go snowboarding and love it! I am better than Jake because I pretty much jump, do tricks, whatever!

Okay, okay...so I may not be doing that just yet and Jake may be the better one...
We go to the STRIP! Umm hello we live in VEGAS and LOVE it! On our very first date we went to the Strip so it has a tender place in my heart.

We live on the edge! This is on top of the Stratoshpere. Man we do some sweet things!

We saw Believe! It was interesting to say the least...

One of our favorite dates to go on is to the park! We love the park because we can play and then stay until the sun sets and watch the stars and talk :)

We've been ice skating! This was a fun winter activity and totally cheap!

Recently we went to THE VOICE concert! This was awesome because we are faithful watchers of the show and we love them!

Other dates we've done and loved are: going to the movies, going to dinner, renting a redbox, runnign together, swimming, raquetball, double dates, and we can't forget Jousting tournaments!

These are only a few of the many AWESOME dates we have gone on! There is never a bad date when you get to go out with Jake :)

I should have put some photos up from some of the double dates we've been on...

I am so lucky that we have so much in common and have so much fun together.

I look forward to the MANY more dates to come!

Flashback, summer, and lovin'!

Sunday is one of the best days. It is a day when I always wake up stress free and excited because I get to dress up and get ready for the day (I don't get to do that being a swim teacher).

I kind of love my outfit today. Mostly because when my dad saw it he said I look like my mom did 20 years ago. My mom says she's pretty sure she had this same outfit :) It makes me happy because my mom is the most beautiful woman I know. I love that my dad liked my look!

I am having a happy day because I feel cute today!

This pictures kind of cracks me up! I love it because it makes me look tiny and I love tiny! I look like a little happy ball full of love and I love it!
This past week I got to go on TWO dates with Jake! What a week!

Okay so we went to BJ's and they have this deal where you get two salads, pizza, AND a pazookie all for $20! THEN if you eat there you get movie ticket for $15. DEAL!

This next picture is from our second date. I love it because Jake and I have this inside joke...when one of us doesn't fully understand something or are slightly confused we make it a huge deal. It doesn't get old! So this is when Jake picked up his spoon to eat fries! HE WAS SO CONFUSED!

We love swimming! This is when we were trying to be like the scene from Pirates when they were under the water breathing in the canoe...we tried it with this pot..totally works.
This is my favorite! Umm...look who I get to stand next to :) I get to wait for this boy while he Serves our Heavenly Father. He is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I am the luckiest girl in the world. I pretty much worship him :)

Shout out to Emmanuel!

If you are reading this you probably know Emmanuel. Everyone knows him! He is one of the best men walking this earth right now!

I have known Emmanuel for about 6 years now. We had a few classes in 9th grade together. He always stood out to me as one of the nicest guys I have ever known.

Throughout high school the swim team sold burritos during lunch. I hunted Emmanuel down because I knew he would ALWAYS buy a few, and he ALWAYS did.

Last summer Emmanuel was baptized and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. "The best day of my life" -Emmanuel

The path he has taken since joining the church has not been easy. His family did not support him, as an 18 year old buy that had to be VERY hard. Emmanuel knew that he had made the right decision and continued to remain faithfull. I am so proud of him for continuing to stay so strong when it got so tough!

The day that Emmanuel was able to he entered the Lord's house and did over 100 baptisms. He truly is an example.

When the 2011 school year started Emmanuel got together a small group, myself and Jake included to go to the Temple every Friday morning. We arrived every Friday at 7 a.m. which meant we had to get up at 6! Yes, crazy but worth it! As the school year went on the Friday morning group grew and grew. By the end of the year there were over 20 students involved all because of one man, Emmanuel, was such a good example.

Emmanuel invited a guy from school (Steve) to join in on group activities like UNLV football games and movie nights. Because of the leader and spirit Emmanuel has with him he influenced Steve in such a way that he too was baptized. Steve is now one of my very good friends.

Emmanuel is the kind of person that everyone wants to be around. Just about everyone who knows him feels like they are his best friend! I want to be that kind of person!

Today he enters the MTC to serve a two year mission in Mexico. He will without question be one of the best missionaries the world has ever had.

Emmanuel is one of my best friends and I love him! I am so proud of him and the influence he has had on my life. I am a better person because of him.

"Missionary--someone who leaves their family for two years so others can be with theirs for eternity" Emmanuel's favorite quote!


A few friends getting together to celebrate Emmanuel!

Jake, Emmanuel, me! We love him!!!

His farewell talk! What a great day :)

Me, Emmanuel, Jake, and Steve! 3 of my favorite people and 3 of the most influential people in my life! I love you all SO much :)

My awesome family!

My family is seriously SO cool! On Tuesday my dad decided that we should drive to California for some Chick-fil-A for lunch. For those of you who don't know, the 3 hour drive for lunch at Chick-fil-A is more than worth it! So my mom, dad, kennadi, and myself drove to Upland, CA for lunch. It was a great day!

Kennadi was REALLY excited :)

Kennadi brought this for her, but being her older sister I had the rights to it. (the neck pillow)

The Chick-fil-A cow! He is our near and dear friend!

Me, Kennadi, and the cow!

Me and the cow! (He is so HOTT)

Jake took me on a date :) This is after the date and funny picture time.

This is my dresser. I have a new addition :)

Jake gave me a few studly pictures of himself!! I have been looking for just the right frame and then today at Target (gotta love that place) I found the most perfect frame! A purple one! My room is purple and green so this was a wonderful discovery :)

AND THEN...I found the second most perfect frame! A green one! This is my night stand so now every morning when I wake up I see his handsome face :)

This is Jakes little picture on my vanity so when I am getting ready I can remember the reason I am trying to look so good :)

Oh, and that might be the Justin Bieber perfume I just bought :)

This is the pink penguin Jake got for me when I was having a not so great week. He wrote the sweetest poem to go with it! WOW am I lucky or what :)

I am truly so blessed to live the life that I live. I have a great family and an awesome boyfriend :) I am so thankful every day for the blessings I continue to get.

Shout out to Kami and Jordan who are currently in Wyoming on a pioneer Trek!

A week full of events

This past week has been on of the best weeks of my summer :)

My aunt Kim also known as Bobo and her lovely daughters were here so there was lots of shopping, pool time, and games played! It was awesome!

The fourth of July was fabulous! I love having family :) We made lots of food and had a really relaxed day. At about 8 p.m. my family (there was 8 of us) went over to Jakes house :) It was great to have both families together and they have a perfect view of the fireworks show. It was probably one of the best fourths ever!

Look at my hott parents! Today is their anniversary and they have been married for 20 years! I love them :D
A day at the Stratosphere! This was sweet, we all got the unlimited ride passes and rode for over 5 hours...money well spent!

Gettin' ready to ride!

This is my beautiful mom and aunt :) These two hotties are SO much fun!
I finally got my toe ring!

Jake rockin' the shirt I got him when I went shopping. Okay...um...he is SO HOT! He totally owns this shirt :D

Date night with my man! He took me to see Transformers 3.

We were so brave riding the Big Shot!
All the girls and Jake went to see Monte Carlo, what a great sport :)
This is why the fourth of July rocked! Look at who I got to watch the fireworks with :)
One of these things is not like the other...
Me and my girls :)
Aunt Bobo and I...I miss her...
The awesome cake that my mom and Bobo made...this was one of the best parts of the week :)

I absolutely love having family in town, shopping, watchin movies, spending time with Jake, eating, and playing! These are just a few of the reasons why this week has been so spectacular!

old car-new car

Many of you know I drove a 1990 Mazda. This car was older than I am. I drove her for over 2 and 1/2 years and she finished with a grand total of 157,388. We have some wonderful memories....

One day I went to drive my car to school. I got in and noticed a few things were not quite right. For example: I did an awful job of parking, when I turned the car on the radio was off (I always leave it on), she was left in 3rd gear, and was lower on gas than I thought. Since these few things were slightly off, I asked my parents if they had driven my car, both of them didn't do it. Turns out my 14 year old brother decided to go for a drive to 7/11. Not surprising.

My car has been decorated for dances, swim meets...everything you can imagine!

This car has been so good to me.

1) I have made multiple road trips in this car, including through snow storms. She doesn't have cruise control so often times my leg would be pretty tired after long drives.

2) Once the radio went out so the kids in auto shop at Sierra Vista High fixed it for me.

3)This car is a stick shift...I kind of pride myself in being able to know how to drive one. The air conditioner was totally sweet! It did this rotating thing where it would change directions on its own. However, for whatever reason, it seemed to favor the passenger side.

4) This is the back. There is a hitch...not quite sure what this little car can tow....

5) Here is the driver window that has been stuck this way for over a year now. When it first broke my dad thought he could fix it...it's been this way ever since

6) This spoon me sticker is from a frozen yogurt place in Utah. I LOVE frozen yogurt. Whenever my dad drove my car he got lots of stares and texts from people who saw him. The "Itri" sticker my dad got for me after I did my first triathlon...which I won :)

7) This is the front of my car...cool huh?

8)There is a missing hub cap. Last summer my tire blew and the hub cap got lost along the way....

This car has been such a blessing in my life! I have driven friends all over and she has smelled strongly of chlorine and burritos.

Every once in a while something would go wrong and she would break down. My dad ALWAYS came to the rescue.

I cried a little when she broke down for good.

This was the perfect first car!

Hopefully my new car will be the perfect second car!

This is my new (new to me) 2005 Hyundai with only 40,000 miles! And in perfect condition!

1) An arm rest. I didn't have any of those before. Cup holders. Didn't have those either. Automatic.

2) Side view. Note that this car has all four hub caps.

3) No hitch. I don't know how I'm going to tow my boat now...

Now when I pull up to places, I don't sound like a go-kart.

I am VERY excited for my new car. Jake says it is little and cute just like me :D He's so sweet!