mesa mesa mesa....

so here are a few updates for my life here in mesa:

:: boys actually take you on dates here! such a refreshing change from the normal "let's hang out" routine in utah

:: i have found a total of 5 scorpions so far in my house. 3 of them were in my room.. awesome. (and random fact of the day, scorpions actually glow under black light. as if they aren't creepy enough!! why they gotta glow under black lights too??)

:: sunsets seem to be more beautiful in arizona than i've experienced before! i find myself lost in them when im driving home from work!

:: there is a pack of havalena that live in my neighborhood... whats with the killer pigs?? they are disgusting and my friend jesse told me they eat small dogs and can hurt people pretty bad.. so i run from my car to my house as fast as i can when i come home at night because i am terrified of them! haha

:: i went shooting the other night with my friends jesse, adam, and kari. we drove for about half an hour into the desert, and it was a full moon. let's just say now i see why coyotes howl at the moon, its gorgeous!! (and don't even worry about it, i totally howled for fun, and a whole family of coyotes answered me, even the little pups! it was awesome haha)

:: i've noticed the lds crowd here in mesa is on average around the age of 25 and older. kind of nice! but its weird because probably about half of them are divorced.. it's actually pretty sad!

:: the weather here is beautiful.. and i might even say perfect? yea august was pretty smoldering, let's be honest. but right now, it is perfect. it gets to about 80 during the day, and at nights its cools down to the low 60's. i have come to realize that i am definitely a sun baby and not a snow bunny! snow is ok when i want to snowboard or go sledding or something, but besides that i dont see any need for it :)

:: i miss my family! its been hard some days being so far from my family, especially since i lived right down the street from my parents and 20 mins away from heather jess and the buddy for over a year. i havent even seen my brother rob and his family since the middle of the summer! so that has been kind of difficult... but i definitely am glad i listened to the promptings i received and moved here! it has been so fun being in a new place, and experiening so many new places and people. i will be heading up to utah tonight after work for my friends kim and van getting married! i'm so excited for their wedding, its going to be really fun! it will also be nice to see my parents, since they will be my only family in town (rob is in greenriver, and heather and jess are on their way to hawaii right now those lucky ducks!)

i'll post again after this weekend, and definitely have pics to put up from the wedding :)

xoxo aly

so its been awhile!

i know its been SO long since ive written and im sorry! actually i dont know how many people actually read my blog but whatever :)

so... i came home from the east coast and i got ready to move... to mesa, arizona! i had been praying for awhile about where to go in my life and what to do, and i had been continually receiving answers to go to mesa. so i decided to listen to the promptings faithfully, and pack up and move! i have to say, it was honestly nerve-racking.. i even almost tried backing out the night before i was supposed leave! but i came, and i have been in mesa for a little over a month :)

about 2 weeks after i moved down here to mesa, i went on a HUGE trip to lake powell with my group of friends. there was actually about 190 people on our trip, and we had 3 house boats, 15 wake-board boats, a zip line off of a cliff, a giant slip-n-slide, and a fully functional dj set (for nightly dance parties, of course). we went for labor day weekend, and stayed for 4 days. it was amazing, and i couldnt believe how much fun it was! it was especially fun because 99% of the people there were lds, so before each meal we would pray, and on the sunday we were there we had a little mini devotional. :)


this was taken on top of one of the houseboats on the second night (sugh a gorgeous sunset!) bottom:mandy, steph, britt, me, kasey; top: james and jesse
us girls had a joke about being some of the originals from the "family", so we made shirts that said first wives club because last year at lake powell we all joked that we were the wives of mike and jared (who plan everything). left t0 right: erika, me, mike, andrea, britt, jared, karissa, kim, van, mckell
another pic of our shirts... and of course we made capes haha: l2r: karissa, britt, mckell, me, kim, andrea
its been interesting to see the blending of the utah girls vs the arizona girls. i guess i am a part of each now... :) l2r: heather, elise, kari, britt, becca, andrea, alyssa, diane, kim, candance, me, jessie, karissa, steph, mckell, megan

so after lake powell i came back to mesa and began to substantially build up my social group and to find a job. i have met alot of amazing people here, and i have been so spiritually uplifted in my ward and in my group of friends, its been so great! unfortunately it has been pretty difficult to find a job, so i have had a lot of free time. i've been spending alot of time with my roommates andrea and steph, and some of the boys that are like brothers to me: mike jesse and james. i dont mean to brag... but i have some amazing friends! :)

this past weekend our "family" took a trip to vegas to have a joint bachelor/bachelorette party for our friends van and kim who are getting married on october 10th! it was an incredibly crazy and fun weekend!
friday night was girls night, so us girls all dressed in shirts that kayla (kim's sister and maid of honor) made for us accessorized with cowgirl boots and we hit the strip. we first hit up the stratosphere ride, which is so fun and extremely scary!! then we proceeded to walk around the strip and make kim fulfill ridiculous dares that we thought up for her to do to embarass her!

so friday night was pretty tame considering the fact that we were in vegas. us girls stayed at andrea's parents' house in henderson just outside of the city. in the morning we woke up and ate some breakfast, then got all our stuff together and went and snuck into the palms hotel pool. it is a posh little pool, and is supposedly hard to get into if you're not staying there. but we had no problems getting in.. in fact we just walked in! but then we had to flirt shamelessly with some guys inside and borrow their room keys so that we could then get all the boys in. we laid out and played in the pool for a few hours, then headed to our hotel. we all got ready, and headed to an overpriced buffet and ate some amazing food! (i seriously almost threw up i ate so much!). then we walked down the strip a bit and watched the fountains in front of the bellagio, then headed to club tryst in the Wynn hotel and danced the night away! it was seriously such a fun weekend, and i love all of my friends! we really are like a family, and i am so excited for kim and van to get married!!

here is the whole group of us in front of the bellagio :)

this pic was from friday night with the girls! we were bowing down to kim at the end of a fabulous night
another girl group shot right before we rode the stratosphere ride! :)
aaaand another girl shot, right after dinner at the buffet (i seriously had a food baby in my belly haha)
just taking some random pics after dinner. l2r: andrea, mike, me, james, mckell, karissa, and zander


so now i FINALLY have a job after searching for a month!! i start monday at my brother-in-law's pest control office based out of chandler az. ill just be workin in the office, and it wont be glamorous or anything but im just so greatful to finally have a job! i also have my eye on a few fellas down here, so ill definitely keep things posted on that as well :)

xoxo aly

baltimore and dc: reunited and it feels so good!!

i was definiely most excited about getting to balitmore to see my twin sister heather!! she has been out there with her husband jess and their adorable little baby calvin since april, and i have missed them like crazy!
we arrived by chinatown bus (haha yes... it was definitely an adventure) to baltimore in the morning and my sister came and picked me up from shawna's boyfriends' place and we were finally reunited!! it always feels like we have never been separated when we see each other, and it was so fun getting to hang out!

this little guy is calvin!! i love him to death! he really liked me too, but it probably helps alot that i look just like his mama :)

for one day we walked around dc and met up with brittany shawna and her boyfriend brian. it was really fun looking at all the museums and riding the metro!

here are me and britt inside the natural history museum. they have some pretty sweet displays in there, like all the rare gems including the hope diamond!

here we are inside the air and space museum! we were having a pretty good time in the corner of the planet room, and i love this pic because even baby calvin is making a funny face!

all in all baltimore was a great stop, and i loved spending time with heather and calvin! i sure miss them with all my heart! thanks for everything while i was there sis, you know i love you beyond words!!

virginia is for lovers

i just recently went on a really fun vacation with two of my roommates shawna and brittany to the east coast! for the next few posts ill put up some highlights from each stop we made, starting with richmond virginia!

we landed and immediately went with shawna's family (she grew up right outside richmond) and they were so welcoming and hospitable! they grilled us some steak and shrimp, took us to busch gardens, and hung out with us at virginia beach. at night we went out with some of shawna's highschool friends, and some of our friends who are out there doin summer sales. richmond was fun, and definitely had some good moments :)

here me, shawna, britt, and ashton (shawna's niece) took a photo break at busch gardens

we got to the front of every line and got to ride twice in a row thanks for shawna's bum knee from her acl surgery! :)

bryan me and ganes! these are two of my favorite summer sales boys :)

we really enjoyed our day at virginia beach! the weather was perfect and the water was warm!

shawna showed us a great time in her home town! our next stop was baltimore!! :)

bigger dreams and bigger wings...

i have decided that i am probably one of the worst bloggers ever! i have not written anything since january... wow! i promise i will try and write more often. But who knows how many people actually read this anyway?

so alot has happened and developed over the past few months. i started working for a company that works with another company which deals with internet marketing. my particular company is the call center which calls on the leads from the online ads. i am not on the phones, i work as an assistant for the three guys who run the place. its kind of an interesing place, and there are definitely some characters who work there (if you love people watching then you would love it here!). its not my dream job at all, being someone's assistant gets pretty old. sometimes i get frustrated because besides the HR girl, i am usually the only female in upper management; its very easy to feel like people talk down to me. but i just brush things off and do my work. it is a great opportunity for now, but i cant wait until i find my dream job down the road. someday i will be writing great things ( i hope!).

besides my job, i have tried to date a few boys. lets just say i am completely frustrated with my dating life! honestly, how can i expect to find a boy who will love and respect me if he doesnt even have any for himself? i tried dating one guy (who will remain nameless) and he put up this incredible front: sunday school teacher, college grad, sweet, charming.. etc. anyway turns out he was great at lying and had many awful skeletons lining his closet.

i recently met a great guy, who came with alot of great feedback from mutual friends. turns out he sucks too. (he liked to talk trash on our mutual friends, and be judgemental about everything.) i have just come to the conclusion that maybe its going to be harder than i thought to find someone that im completely compatible with. these two guys were great for certain things, and i definitely came away from both experiences realizing things that i do and dont want in a companion.

sometimes it feels like this is such a long road that im walking on to find someone, but i need to remind myself to step back and realize that i am still very young. people in utah have this annoying idea that girls need to be married when they are 19, while to the rest of the world this seems so young. now im not bashing at all, for some people it is right to get married young. look at my sister heather for example, she found her soulmate and married him when she was 20, and that worked for her, and they are one of the happiest couples i know. but there are some girls, like me, obviously, that are not meant to get married that young. perhaps i have more to experience and learn before i am ready to be with my soulmate. or maybe im waiting around for him to get his act together, (and in that case hurry up im gettin sick of waiting around!) i had this conversation recently with two of my girlfriends, one is 27 and the other is 24; we were wondering why everyone wonders why we are not married if we are over the age of 20 and in utah. my friend who is 24 said something that really stuck with me, which is a quote that her dad had told her: "some people just have bigger wings and bigger dreams and are not meant to be tied down until they are ready to stop flying alone".

i feel like im ready to stop flying alone, but ill just have to keep riding this current until a new ones takes me. i have been having alot of fun with my friends, and i have taken several trips down to mesa arizona. i love that town, it would be so fun to live there. sometimes i think about making a change and going there, but not yet, im not ready! my sister and her husband and super-adorable baby went to baltimore for the summer (sadness...) and i am so excited to go visit them in a little over a month! besides that, i have a few california weekend trips planned to see some of my boy friends who are doing summer sales. i have a good feeling about the next few months, i feel like this could be one of the best summers of my life. i know i complain alot of dating, but honestly life. is. good. i am so blessed and i know i can overlook that sometimes.

heather me and baby calvin... i LOVE them!! (this is right when i got back from mexico for spring break, thats why i am so tan)

me kim erika and stephanie goin boatin during our most recent trip to mesa (it is 90 degrees.. soo nice! i cant wait for summer!)

brit jensen, shawna, and me at the hare krishna festival of colors in springville. its a hindu tradition that signifies the beginning of spring! it was so fun, we all threw colored powder at each other for over an hour. lets just say i had purple snot for 2 days!

this was from our most recent trip to mesa, this is some of our "family" of friends starting from top left: steph, britt, adam "pooch", james, andrea, van, kim; bottom left: erika, mike, me, jesse

The Start of a New Year

well it's been quite awhile since i have updated, so ill go over some of the major highlights of the last few weeks!

so... i graduated! i honestly was so excited to be done, and when i left my last final, i actually cried on my drive home! not that i'm really gonna miss all the work and all the classes... but it's such a big change! and i can't believe that this chapter of my life is over. people always say the best years of your life are in college, and i agree 100%. i have loved the past 5 years... ok 5 1/2... and yes it had its ups and downs but through it all i have gained so much knowledge, so many great friends, and most importantly i have found myself. what an accomplishment, i can honestly say i am so proud of myself for finishing, i wanted to give up so many times! haha

the break was wonderful, and i spent alot of time with my family and my friends. christmas i spent with my parents, and then rob and his family came through the awful snowy canyon to meet up with us :) heather and jess and baby calvin were in idaho, and i missed them so much! calvin is such a cute baby, and i love spending time with him! it is so amazing to me to watch heather and jess with their darling little baby, and i wonder when the day will come for me! haha.. not for awhile obviously, but it is so fun to watch them become parents and learn things right along with their cute little boy.

i went on a fun roadtrip with a group of my friends to california and arizona for new years and for fun.. and it was a great trip! we drove through vegas to get to cali, and decided to stop to take a stroll down the strip for a few hours.

left to right: johnny, jim, van, kim, me, sam, tonya, jared

then we spent the night in victorville, ca in a crappy hotel. we woke up bright and early to drive to santa anita to go to some horse races! i have never been, but they were really fun! i am not much of a gambler, but i tried my luck on one race (i bet 2 dollars..) and i won 4! so... yea i made a lot of money haha.

this is us girls and van waiting outside out hotel :)

me, kim, sam, and tonya watching the horse races

then we made our way down to san diego to spend the night and go to an lds singles dance for new years! it was so much fun, and i had an amazing kiss at midnight with my friend jim who i have known for 4 years! i guess you could say we are kind of dating... and our first kiss was at midnight, isn't that so romantic?? anyway ill keep you posted how things are going with that as they progress, for now we are still just hanging out and are in the beginning stages.. haha. so the next morning we woke up from our night of partying (mormon style of course) and drive to the beach to look around. i have never been to san diego, and la jolla was beautiful! here are a few pics from that afternoon:

me kim and sam enjoying the freezing water and exploring caves

the view from the bay was beautiful! me and jim were looking at the sea lions down on the rocks

this is the whole crew, lookin like a dang pac sun advertisement! haha

straight from san diego me, johnny, van, kim, and jim headed to mesa arizona while jared and sam and tonya headed back to utah. we got to mesa at about 1130 pm that night and were amazed to find our guy friends living in a huge mansion!! we stayed there with them for days, and had a great time seeing around mesa and just hanging out with some friends that we have not really seen since they moved from utah!

our last day a few of us went fourwheeling while jim and johnny went to the fiesta bowl. it was a ton of fun, and some of the views from the small mountains were incredible!

below, me and jesse. he has some sexy legs right? he is single by the way ladies.. any takers? haha

here we posed in front of the sunset, and it turned out to be a pretty cool pic! our trip was fun and i really enjoyed the 75 degree weather, and it was so depressing to come home to utah to snow! now im back to reality, and looking for a job with my fancy new college degree. wish me luck, i hope i find one soon!!!

100 things...

I did. I didn't.

1. Slept under the stars
2. Started your own blog
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (soon though!)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Possibly in two weeks!)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped (probably never!)
12. Visited Paris (i will soon!)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (and at lake powell it was amazing!)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (i have the worst luck with this!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (kinda not worth it.. haha)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (mental health days!)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (unfortunately there were pics to prove it hahaha)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (no but i plan on it)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language(my roommate taught me a cool one the other day! haha)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (its the best!)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (its DISGUSTING!)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (hahaha... it was so stupid!)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (my poor little pinky toe!)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Book of Mormon or Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (ugh it was not pleasant!)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Dead Sea
97. Been involved in a law suit (stupid abercrombie&fitch!)
98. Owned a cell phone (well yea!)
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day