RHET AND JAICY

Aug 4

love is in the air <3

So it's safe to say that this past week/weekend was amaaazing. One for the record books.

And it all started because two people fell in love.....

<3 precious, right?

This is my dear friend Lauren and her sweetheart... they got married on Saturday!

Friends starting arriving by planes, trains, and automobiles (okay really no one on trains, it just sounded great... unless you count E on a bart train!) on Wednesday, and the fun began.

Here's how it all went down....

Wednesday, 3:40pm

Oakland, California

Tell me what you know about Oakland... How would you feel about four beautiful girls driving around the hood of Oakland, completely lost? YUP, lucky we didn't grasp the severity of the situation til we made it to safety. (Yeah we did make it OK).

It all started when Courtney (the birthday girl from last week) came over and decided to join me for an afternoon in Oakland! Alysse was arriving at 4:10pm, so we were headed to pick her up. Traffic wasn't too bad, and we made it there just a few minutes early. We were thrilled to see her, of course! We had made plans to travel a few miles up the road to an outlet mall where we would visit the GAP outlet (because who doesn't love gap :] :] ).

Long story short, we were lost for about 10 minute - not a big deal. We found it and shopped our hearts out til Rach's flight (which ended up being delayed til 6:10 instead of 5:40 :/) got in. Once we got her we were on our way. E called me and I got distracted and missed our connection to the right freeway, I got off to turn around. Then he told me to pick him up at BART in Oakland... so we spent the next 25 minutes lost in some of the worst parts of Oakland. But we survived! (I wouldn't pull over, so finally I got ahold of my dad and he told us where to go, yikes!)

Wednesday, 7:45pm

The Great Impasta - Danville, CA

So we ended up back in Danville, safe and to the Great Impasta. We enjoyed bonding and great pasta of course.

Thursday, 10:15am

The Bilte's - Danville, CA

We headed off to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Thursday, 12:00pm

Pizza My Heart - Capitola, CA

pizza. tshirt. wind. love

Thursday, 1:30pm

The Boardwalk - Santa Cruz, CA

I forgot how much I LOVE rollercoasters! "sneak attack"!

"sneak attack"!

Thursday, 8:30pm

Oakland, California

Alysse's boyfriend, Cody, called me earlier on Thursday asking if I would be able to pick him up at the airport so he could surprise Alysse. His flight was scheduled to land at 7:20, but got delayed til 8:30 (turned out to be a good thing since we didn't get back from Santa Cruz til 7:45) but then he got stuck on the runway for another 30 minutes, and didn't make it out til 9:30! Rach came with me, and we left Alysse's at 7:45 and told her we were going to my house to get swimsuits. We didn't make it back til 10pm and to say she was upset is an understatement, hahah. But in the end it was worth it, we were all excited to have Cody join the party!

Thursday, 11:59pm

BART - Walnut Creek, CA

Spotted: E wearing a ridiculous beanie with his hoodie at the BART station in the middle of the night. I wish I had a photo, what a crazy kid. He had the 'hackathon' at work so he was there suuper late, but I guess it was worth it! They won 'most useful'! (I guess it's more legit than it sounds... they only give two awards!!)

Friday, 9:30am

The Selland's - Alamo, CA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

To celebrate, I went in to work for a few hours :[ and she went to a birthday luncheon. Basically some lady in our ward tricked her into thinking just the two of them were having lunch, but then invited the whole ward. Haha it wasn't that many people though and I think she had a great time.

Friday, 1:30pm

The Selland's - Alamo, CA

The cookie baking machine went at it again! Lauren (the bride!) asked if Rach and I could make 4 dozen cookies for the wedding. I decided my cookie recipe probably made ~2 dozen, so I'd double it. We didn't make the cookies particularly thick or large though, and accidentally ended up with 10 dozen... woooops!!

Friday, 7:30pm

All in the Kiln - Walnut Creek, CA

As a bachelorette party, a ton of us girls went to All in the Kiln. It is a place like Art from the Heart, or Color Me Mine? Where you paint ceramic pieces that they then fire for you to enjoy as a momento of the occasion forever. Sooo we all made our own dessert plate for Jeff and Lauren to stock their cupboard with. It was a way cute idea, I'll post pics as soon as someone else does.. (Yeah, btw, I am stealing all these pics, I didn't take a single one! But everyone else is so good at it I am allowed to slack :])

Friday, 9:30pm

The Blatter's - Danville, CA

We went for a little after party treat of chocolate cake. It was delicious, of course, and we got to spend some last minute time with the bride!

Saturday, 11:30am

Oakland Temple - Oakland, CA

What a beautiful place. Lauren and Jeff were sealed at 12pm and it was great. Even though I didn't get to have many friends at my sealing, it has been soooo cool to be able to attend all of my friends'!

Saturday, 1:00pm

Oakland Temple - Oakland, CA

Yayyyyy!! <3 Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Thompson. Adorable.

Saturday, 2:00pm

Oakland Temple - Oakland, CA

And we would never miss an opportunity for pictures!!!

Cute coupleeessss....

We are in love...

Us too :]

These girls are ahhhmaaazing! <3

She lives at my house. Cody wishes he did..

Saturday, 4:30pm

The Selland's - Alamo, CA

I frosted the cookies in the morning so they were ready to pack away and come with us to the reception! We even snuck in a quick nap after the temple, so we were rested and ready to party!

Saturday, 6:00pm

Wildwood Acres Resort - Lafayette, CA

Rachie, Richie, E and I arrived for the ring ceremony. We delivered the cookies and grabbed some seats.

Saturday, 7:30pm

Wildwood Acres Resort - Lafayette, CA

It was all soo beautiful. We mingled, we ate, and then we danced!

E even dance WHILE he ate his cake. Him and Steve had a little too much fun I think...!

Saturday, 9:45pm

Wildwood Acres Resort - Lafayette, CA

There they goo...!

Saturday, 11:00pm

The NEW Danville Bowl - Danville, CA

The evening wouldn't be complete without bowling... right??

Sunday, 9:00am

LDS Chapel - Danville, CA

Mollie, Steve, Alysse, Cody, Nichelle, Rach, E and I all made it to the Danville 1st ward for 9am church, and we even stayed awake!!

Sunday, 10:40am

The Bilte's - Danville, CA

Cody made us all waffles from scratch and they were DELICIOUS. I am totally craving them already. We hung out for a while just talking and then finally had to say goodbye. Mollie and Steve were flying back to Utah and Alysse and Cody were driving to San Diego. Sad day.

Monday, 5:45am

The Selland's - Alamo, CA

I got to keep Rach for one more night, but bright and early she was flying back to Utah as well. I am excited that in a few weeks I will be back there with some of them!

Wednesday, 4:00pm

The Selland's - Alamo, CA

I miss my friends. Going back to work has been a drag, and I am tired and sick. Only two more weeks til we make the trek back to Utah - so now I have to get packing~! It was a wonderful weekend, I loved being with all my friends, and wish we could do this more often!! Next summer? I can't wait. xoxoxox

p.s. THANK YOU Rach and Alysse for your beautiful pictures! <3

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Jul 23

TWENTY TWO

22 years and 2 days ago (a little late on my posting, lol) my bff Courtney was born. It was a lonely 57 days until I was born. And we've been best friends ever since. I wish I had younger pics digitally... Here are a few I have now:

Click here to download:

TWENTY_TWO.zip (150 KB)

I was so excited to finally get to spend her birthday with her, and she celebrated the day with a party. Wonderful chocolate cake, triple decker brownies, of course! and plenty of other delicious eats. I love getting to hang with her all the time, and so glad she had such a rockin birthday.

Did you already calculate that my 22nd is in 55 days!! Can't wait. <3

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Jul 16

I should be clear... I do love California too!

I wouldn't want to be misunderstood. I love California. I love Danville. This is where my heart will always be.

I just think at times that though my heart is here, my life is there. It's a really weird feeling but that's the best way to describe it?

After all, California has it's upsides too :]

Family.

(a picture of my grandma with her kids and grandkids at our family reunion/birthday party in april. we are only missing my sister kristin and my cousin kyle - steve in the middle? his son)

Did I mention how much family lives close by here? I have attended two birthday parties and countless get-togethers with my Aunt/Uncle, their four daughters who all have husbands and darling kids running around. My Aunt Gloria comes over on Monday nights to watch the Bachelorette with my mom and I and sleeps over! Plus we get to play make-up all the time and go to the movies. And remember my cousins I visited in Melbourne? My cousin Milli (was already in the States when I was there) is living here just up the road. I love that seeing her is a regular occurrence, not a twice a decade ordeal. We went and got pedicures just for fun. I love it. Plus I live at home, so you know all the family time that means! I got to spend some quality time with my brother before he left on his mission, and Kristin is living here too so I get to hang with her and take advantage of that hair school education she's getting :] We also have seen my dad's side of the family for parties and such, it has been so nice being around everyone! It's also very comforting that we are a five hour drive away from La Crescenta. We stopped by on our San Diego trip before, but I am also planning to just go down on a whim one time, just for fun. (I know, I'm crazy. I can't say planning and on a whim, but hey - that's how it goes in my world. :]) I love that they are so close... (except for now when Sierra is in Utah and Mike/Deb are in Texas... at least there are plenty of Milam relatives there too!).

Plus it's beautiful here. My old boss used to ask me every time I came home, how was the beach? I don't go to the beach. It's northern california, and I live close to the city.. I'm not sure he ever understood why I liked it so much without the beach. :]

I love Danville. I know I live in Alamo, but Danville describes the place as a whole, and the happiness it brings. E's only comment is that the roads suck. Which they kind of do. The freeway is torn up like you wouldn't believe. It's funny but just being here makes me happy. Plus there are plenty of friends coming up to visit all the time. And did I mention Courtney is living here this summer? For once I feel totally informed on her love life and other happenings. AND we went to dinner with Shane who is living in Alameda too. Summer of all time besties (maid of honor and best man). I'm loving it.

Who doesn't love BJ's? And their genius Pizookie?!

I seriously haven't gone here enough. This needs to be like a once a week thing at least. I love it. E and I found one in Maui on our honeymoon, went to one in cupertino on our first anniversary (he was out there for a conference, remember?) and I make it a habit every time I'm in Glendale too. They recently put one in Concord and I'm loving it.

HTB. Have I mentioned E only refers to restaurants in abbrev? HTB was the original for that here. Some of their stuff even says HTB! And E loves it. They have this child's burrito called the Itty Bitty Beanie - delish.

Bay Area Rapid Transit: BART. I love that I can drop my husband at the station and that he gets to read a book or play on the iPad for 35 minutes when he arrives in the city, with no traffic hassle. It really is super nice. Then I get a text sayig he's hopping on a train and I have a 35 minute warning, I know exactly when he'll get in. Genius.

E is interning at Yelp. Did I mention that yet? Woops. He decided against PwC and is working a lot more hands-on with programming at Yelp. He loves it. There is unlimited soda too. Bad news bears...

There are tons and tons of other things I love, these are just a few. I don't want to portray that I am not loving it here, I just miss my life sometimes. I am happy and rolling though. Ready to enjoy the next 4 weeks while I've got them! I do have three weddings, two bridal showers, and one birthday party planned so far. So I definitely have lots of fun to look forward too! <3

always a california girl, jaicy

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Jul 16

Sometimes I miss Utah...

THERE. I SAID IT!

But it's true. I really do especially on days like today. Alysse and Cody are coming into town, to spend the weekend with my Utah friends (Mollie/Steve, Rach, etc.) and Nick and Derek are visiting Shmike as well. Sounds like a weekend of partying to me. If I didn't already miss them terribly, a weekend full of love and quality time with California friends TOO makes it even worse. Plus they might even get to visit Rachel's house in the DAYLIGHT (something I have never done :] ) Oh man I miss her.

But not only could I spend time with them, there are plenty of places I would like to visit...

Outback with Brett and Annie!

So I get the irony that the first one I list is a chain and could be visited in California, but we still haven't... There is something to be said about good company, eh? I miss them sooo much. They are our next-door neighbors and I wish every day that5 I could look out the window and see them drive-up, then run outside to chat. Or that Annie and I could go on walks. We love going out to eat with them, and Outback is one of our fav's. I believe Brett was the one who introduced us to raspberry butter, props for that :] They seriously are the best.

Bailey's

Oh man do I wish I could go get a sandwich and say hello to John. I do feel good knowing when I get back I bet he'll remember us still, and ask us how our summer was in CA. Best sandwiches ever, E asks weekly if we can just go to Bailey's because that's what he's craving. Nothing like it.

Wing Nuts

This is probably E's favorite place to eat. We haven't found any good wing restaurants here in NorCal, so he holds WingNutz near and dear to his heart. And a trip to WingNutz wouldn't be complete without.....

FARR'S FRESH!

Amaaazing frozen custard, can't be beat. Lots of delicious toppings.

I also crave things like Cafe Rio, Smash Burger, and such that I have gotten so used to. Makes me glad I am going back soon!

I miss neighbors, I miss having Alondra and Christian nearby, I miss our primary class as crazy as they were, did I mention I miss neighbors? I miss my house...

I hope that my San Diego buddies enjoy the time in Utah. I never really appreciated it enough I think, and I'm glad we're moving back and I'll get a second chance. I love you all. See you in 4 weeks and 3 days (but who's counting? :]) xoxox

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Jul 13

HE SURVIVED

YUP, today we sent E in to the periodontist to get his gums cut up. I felt sooo bad.

They told us it was a really simple procedure, that it would only take around 30 minutes. Basically before E left on his mission he had braces and they pulled two teeth to make room for his other teeth. Then he was leaving on his mission so they took his braces off and left the spaces. Once he married me, my mom (who has worked as an RDA at the orthodontist for 20+ years) told him he should get braces at her office. He was excited too though, the health of his teeth would be way worse with the gaps. Plus he is going to look fabulous (if you can imagine him looking any better :] ...brownie points?) Anyway, he got his braces on almost two years ago, and now it is almost time to get them off! The teeth have closed in on the gap, and it looks great, but the gums have been smushed in, and once the braces come off, they could stretch back out and push the teeth apart. Sooo he had to get some of the gums removed so that wouldn't happen.

Totally gross and sounds painful to me, but he seems to be surviving. They put in stitches that he'll check on in a week. I got him a jamba juice and then dropped him at BART so he could go straight to work. I felt terrible, he could hardly talk and I talked to him an hour later and he hadn't touched his smoothie because he was still numb. I guess he seems to be doing okay. I'll make him a fabulous puree dinner tonight... or maybe just a muscle milk? :] We'll see. But he is fine. We survived. He wouldn't let me come in the office at all, for fear I would faint (not too far off, it happened when we picked Adelaide up from surgery once!!) but I was fine too, hilarious that he had to worry about me too.. :/ And now we only have 3.5 weeks until he gets his braces OFF for good. I am so excited for him. Hopefully you'll get a few more posts before then? :] All the best, J

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Jul 9

Beach Bonfire Bridal Baptism weekend with my Besties

YUP. You read it! It was a marathon weekend in San Diego with 10 girls from my hometown. We spent a day at the beach, bonfired at the beach (haha I think I just made that a verb?) had a bridal shower and a baptism. It was insane. Tons of love, girl talk, tears, and friendship. It was amazing.

We drove down on Thursday (June 17th - and I'm just now getting around to posting :/ sorry!!).

It was my two friends Courtney and Emily who joined E and I in our car. E wasn't invited to the girls weekend, but we decided to drive down and drop him in LA on the way to San Diego. So we dropped him around lunch at BJ's and met E's parents and Sierra, and Craig/Chris/Molly for some pizza and pizzzoooookie. I love it. I was only half grumpy about the burned pizookie platter and the two-hour wait, but I couldn't be too sad because we had too much fun coming!

We played games, hung out at the beach in La Jolla, shopped and just bonded until the rest of the gang arrived Friday afternoon. It was a wonderful reunion, it had been ages since we had all seen eachother! Saturday I got to go to them temple with Lauren, Mollie, Chelsea and Sam which was beautiful...except they had scaffolding all over the temple! I think I might have been sad if that was what it looked for my wedding pictures... :/ Still beautiful though, and no leaks is good news?

While we were templing the rest of the gang cleaned and set up for the shower. We had a beautiful bridal shower, games and food included of course. Then we practiced singing and headed to the church for the baptism. Afterwards we headed back to the house for a post-baptism dessert party turned dance party. Haha it was such a wonderful day.

Sunday the festivities continued with a visit to the Mormon Battallion historic site, confirmation and two speakers in church and then we all had to leave :[.

Lucky we will all be back together at the wedding on July 31, so it wasn't goodbye forever! We made it home by midnight, and I definitely slept well!!

also, we love taking pictures.... I love these girls so much.

Changing on the beach... Normal.

Steve borrowed E's sweatshirt.. with the hood on he confused me so many times :]

I love you all, thanks for making it such a wonderful weekend. Now I just have to wait for July 31! XOXO

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Jul 8

FOR THE WIN

E just said whenever he reads FTW he thinks For The Win. I just think Ft. Worth. My baby brother is serving in the Texas - Fort Worth Mission and he just flew out on Tuesday! We got his first email from the field TODAY and found out that his p-day is Thursday. I think it will be pretty fun to hear from him on Thursdays, I am excited for him!

Here is a shot of Trav and I in front of the MTC right before he went in.

(notice my tippie toes? ALWAYS. although they don't seem to help much...)

Anyway, I am so dang proud of him. I just put together a blog for him, so if you are ever interested in reading his letters, they'll be up at http://ElderSelland.blogspot.com!

Love always, J

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Jul 4

happy birthday america!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day! I know I have tons to fill you in on, but for now I'll just report on our wonderful day!

The Danville Parade starts at 10 normally, but they switched it to 11 because it was Sunday. It's a really big deal, the parade. So we went to church at 9 and actually stayed til 12 and then headed over. We left one of our cars at the end of the parade on our way to church so we started at one end and walked against the parade all the way down. We missed a bit in the first hour but there was still plenty of fun! We even got free yogurt shack! We ran in to the O'Connor's and stopped for a minute there too. I wish I had taken pictures there, it really is amaaazing. :]

For lunch we lived up American traditions and had hot dogs and lemonade. Then I snuck in a nap before we headed off to the FIREWORKS! I convinced E to wear a blue shirt with his red and white hoodie, perfect! I also had a blue and white striped tie with a red tank under. Soo patriotic!

Everybody goes to this park in San Ramon for fireworks. There are two huge baseball fields, tons of grass, and TONS of people! This is a shot around 8pm. The show didn't start til 9:30, so more people just kept coming!!

Look how perfectly their outfits go! I made them smile for a shot before we headed to the kettle corn line. Wayy long, but totally worth it!

We got way good seats and even had enough room to add the O'Connor/Greenan crew when they came by. It was perfect!

E got better photos on his phone, we'll have to add them later..

It really was a wonderful day. I am so grateful to live in America and so happy to celebrate in Danville! Tomorrow we have the day off so we get to play all day. I can't wait! I'll catch up with you all soon. Love you, J

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Jun 4

JUNE 3rd, 1984

It was the day my wonderful sister Kristin was born! Yesterday was her 26th birthday! She is at Paul Mitchell the School right now, and I am loving being home and taking advantage! She has already cut my hair, cut and colored my mom (we just haven't had time to color mine) she waxed my eyebrows, can do manicures, the whole deal!

She is a great big sister, and I am lucky to have her! Here is a shot of her and I on Easter one year... adorable, right?

Last year my dad gave my mom coupons for tickets to go see Wicked in San Fransisco, she just had to pick the date. Almost a year later, she finally picked the date! June 3rd! We wanted to do something special for Kristin's birthday, and we wanted to see Wicked before Travis leaves (in less than TWO WEEKS now, yikes!).

So we decided on the Thursday evening show at 8pm. My dad put E in charge of choosing a quick/casual/fun place to eat dinner within close walking distance of the theatre. He chose this place called Double Decker, can you guess why? (he loves wings - and one rating even said best wings in San Francisco) They had great burgers though too, so we were all for it. I was even pleasantly surprised! It was in this crazy unique building attached to a Days Inn but it was fun because it was round! The food was great also, and it was perfect timing!

After dinner we walked back over to the theatre to enjoy the show. It was all of our first time seeing the production, but we had obviously heard tons about it. It was everything everyone described it to be, it was AMAZING! The details were incredible: the costumes, the lighting and effects... and the singing! It was all sooo great!

I am running out of good adjectives to describe how outstanding it was, but I was very impressed. We didn't stay after to meet the cast like Josi would (my cousin who has seen the show more than three dozen times :]).. but we left totally satisfied!

Thank you Kris for giving us a reason to celebrate! Thank you to my parents for the idea, and thanks to Travis for leaving so we had a reason to make it happen soon! :] Love you alllllll!

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Jun 4