Randomocity

Not actually a word, in case you're wondering, but this is the word that Aimee came up with to describe Dylan's knack for being completely random, kind of a game. But in keeping with my tradition of posting monthly, I have a ton of things/pictures to post about, most of which are not necessarily related. First of all, I passed POST! I was so nervous for the PT test, especially because 2 of the girls in the class who went before me didn't get the 15 pushups. I didn't think I would be able to do them because I was shaking. But good news--I busted out 16! I thought I would go ahead and throw in an extra one, but that was all I had. Then I shaved a minute and a half off my mile and half run, so that was cool. So I made it through POST, and now I am officially certified as an SFO (special functions officer), which means that I have all the police powers of a regular officer when I am in the court room. How impressive is that?

Then I had a week and a half off after we ended POST, and it worked out perfectly for me to be able to celebrate my birthday. We went camping the weekend after POST was over, and this is what I woke up to:
Our tent is totally open on 2 sides (just mesh)--we usually sleep with the rain cover on, but that night we didn't because our campground was pretty secluded. I woke up to this, looking straight up at trees with the sun coming through. And this was a pretty good view too.
There was a scenic lookout up the road from our campground and Blair and Jeff found a shopping cart and a big box down in the ravine. First they were just chucking rocks at the box to try and make it in, but then they went down and got shopping cart, loaded it up with rocks, then pushed it back down. So we thought it was appropriate to get a good white trash pose.

On my birthday, I went visiting teaching and then baked myself a really fantastic birthday cake. Here is a picture of it the batter, which consisted of flour, sugar, eggs, and whipping cream (yum!):
Then I made a pastry cream/custard to go in between the layers and threw some raspberries in the middle:
Then I frosted it with whipping cream mixed with cream cheese and sugar plus a few more raspberries on top. Needless to say, it was really good! Here's a pic after we had eaten a lot of it since I forgot to take one when I finished frosting it:
One of my friends felt bad that I had to make my own birthday cake, but I told her that it was great because then I got exactly what I wanted. Plus, we got to hang out with our new friends Scott and Candice that night and play games, so it was way fun and a great way to celebrate the big 2-6. It seems weird that I'm that old and that Blair is 28, especially since most of the people we know our age have a kid or two. And I know that late 20s is not even old at all, but it's weird that we are nearing 30 in the next few years... Anyway, Blair got me the Manti Temple picture that he gave me a few weeks early, plus a little statuette of a couple that is really cute. He did a great job, as usual.

So the day after my birthday I went down to Fool Creek to hang out with my parents a little bit and babysit Ella and Isaac while my brother Andre and his wife Brooke went to Las Vegas. They are so stinkin cute. I told Isaac to pull some good faces for Nicole, and here's what he gave me--a lame one at first and then a series of good faces:
Seriously, I love this kid! Not only is he stinkin cute, but he is also really smart and says some really funny stuff. His latest thing is telling jokes and then laughing hysterically, so we were having a good time on Wednesday with him trying to tell me and everyone else jokes. Ella is a little more serious than Isaac--she doesn't smile as often, but when she does, it is great! She loves when my mom does patty cake with her too.

So cute!! And I better throw in a few of Taryn since I have some pretty good ones on my camera of her right now. These were taken in May, I think.
She is so smiley, and I love the faces she pulls! So stinkin cute! And how cute are Ian and Brenda, though! What a cute little fam. I'm so lucky to have such cutie little nieces and nephews.