Girl time

Well, they may not be the hugest fans of us, but they certainly love each other!

Convict Lake

Spencer I just returned from a very quick, scenic, curvy, hot drive to Bishop, California for his cousin Devin's wedding yesterday! Although our trip got off to a rough start with lack of sleep and unnecessary roads built into and curving excessively through a mountain range for an hour, it was worth it! We got there and met up with Spencer's parents and drove to the wedding site, called Convict Lake, which is apparently where the Nature Valley Granola Bar commercial was filmed (I couldn't tell if that was a joke or the truth). We got there early enough that we had time to hike around the lake a little bit. It was very dramatic and majestic!
After our hike, we changed in the car and/or port-a-potties along the trail and headed to the wedding which was really beautiful!
Now let me just say, I feel very lucky on a pretty regular basis. I have a decent family myself...they are all loving in their own ways and very fun to be around and I'm glad I know them all as well as I do! I have a roof over my head and an amazing man to share it and the rest of my life with. I am also lucky because Spencer's family has really welcomed me in to their family from the start and made me feel right at home with them and I adore them. NOW...now that I have gotten a chance to meet even more of Spencer's extended family I feel VERY lucky that I am about to be a part of such a great group of people. I had a blast meeting each O'Neill that I met at the wedding and making connections and laughing and having fun with them! They are crazy just like my family and I love it! I can't wait for all of our aunts to meet each other one day! It will be OUT of control! :)
Spencer and I with his lovely Grandmary:

Then again....

...MAYBE NOT!Doors open.
Doors close.
These past 4 months I learned that sometimes doors swing open and shut smacking you in the face and rear-end.
I also learned there are some doors that you just have to walk away from.

VROOM!

Last week while cleaning in preparation for my Mom's visit, not one but two of my vacuum cleaners broke! I was devastated. I had the first little hand held one that I crawled on my hands and knees to vacuum with for 8 years! And the other one that didn't really work very well but I still used in emergency situations, I've had for about 6 years! So today I broke down and got a new vacuum cleaner with the help of my Mom. As soon as we got home, Spencer put it together and I vacuumed. It is bagless and has a see-through dirt trap and it was GROSS how much dirt I collected but I sure love my new vacuum cleaner! HA HA! :)

DAM fine day...

Today is our last day with Mom! :( We spent some time at the pool again...working on our tan lines and cooling off and then we came back and changed and headed to a fancy lunch at Taco Bell and on to the Hoover Dam.
Mom has never seen it and I didn't think anything of it until we got there and I realized how afraid of heights she is. WHOOPS! She liked it anyway, but we had a hard time getting her to look over the wall which is kinda the whole point in going to the DAM.
Spencer tried and tried to get her to back up and look over her shoulder but this is as close as we could get her:I wasn't scared though:
This would be Spencer spitting water over the DAM!Any DAM time we go to the Hoover Dam we have a DAM fun time!

Mama Mia!

Today was pretty relaxing. We all slept in (Mom wasn't used to sleeping in a house that is quiet in the morning past 5:00AM!) and hung out at the pool for a little while. Then we got all showered and dressed up and the three of us went out to dinner and to see a show. Mom treated us to dinner at our favorite restaurant...Yard House. We actually just had TONS of appetizers and drinks since it was happy hour!After dinner we went to Mandalay Bay and treated Mom to Mama Mia for a belated Mother's Day gift! I was a bit skeptical at first but despite its extreme cheesiness it was a cute show. Mom really liked it and so did we! :) We had a fun night.

Mommy in Las Vegas!

My mom arrived early this morning! Yay! I've been counting down the days for her visit for a long while now. I can't remember the last time I spent time with my mom without any of my other siblings around. Sometimes its nice to have her all to myself. And I'm glad to share her with my fiance now too! :) After I picked her up from the airport we drove around looking for a place besides McDonald's to eat breakfast. Surprisingly I don't think people eat sit-down breakfast too often here so this was harder than it sounds. We finally found a place called the Egg and I. After breakfast we went to David's Bridal and I showed my mommy the two wedding dresses I liked. Well, one of them I didn't like as much as the other. I dreamed the dress I wanted in my head and when I went to David's bridal, I described it to the lady and she came back with 3 dresses. I fell in love with the first one I tried on which was exactly what had been in my head, but I felt like maybe I should try on a whole bunch before I settled on the first one I saw. I kept coming back to this one so I tried it on, got Mom's approval, and since there was a HUGE sale going on...I BOUGHT IT! :) I've been engaged 2 weeks. My wedding is in 409 days (but who's counting?) and I already have a dress. But I'm SO EXCITED about it! :) Anyway, after all the bridal business we went to the Grand Luxe Cafe at The Palazzo and met Spencer for lunch and then Mom did some touristy shopping and then we headed home to relax and work on the invitations for my dad's upcoming SURPRISE birthday party! :) Now we're both exhausted and waiting up for Spencer and a midnight snack and then we're heading to bed! :)

Fred, Kim, and Tiger Cubs

Today I saw some old friends from Tampa who are always tons of fun to be around. We met up at my favorite place in the world (not really) Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. But this time it was ok, because a.) I don't work there anymore and b.) there were new tiger cubs that were so cute! It was great to catch up and be silly with Fred and Kim as well! Here are some pictures!
FredKim
cute little tiger cubs

Cute!

Well in all the excitement of our engagement and my house selling, I missed out on some excitement at my old work place. Apparently they got some tiger cubs! Look how cute they are!

My new boss...

...Kinda.

Dads!

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing Dads I know and love!

These in particular:

Have a great day guys!

My other little brother!

Happy Birthday Jason!I wish I could celebrate with you in person and annoy you by trying to give you a hug! Have a great day!

Happy Graduation Stefan! :)

Congratulations Stefan!So glad we could be there to share your big day with you! WOOHOO! :)

Good Day Sunshine!

Everyone talks and talks about how it rains in Oregon almost non-stop. Spencer and I must have brought them some Las Vegas sunshine, because we had absolutely beautiful weather. We woke up to the bright sun shining and the perfect temperature outside. We found Kyle in a tree and Colin helping Grandma and Grandpa in the garden.After breakfast, Spencer and I took Stefan and his girlfriend Sarah to their graduation practice and then headed to the Willamette River and the Eugene Rose Garden. Both were beautiful! :)When Stefan was finished with graduation practice, we went and picked him up and went out to lunch and shopping at the Ducks store. As most of you know, Spencer and his family are huge University of Oregon fans. Steve Prefontaine went to U of O and is a pretty big deal there especially since the olympic track trials are going to be there in a couple of weeks. I was pretty obsessed with him in high school because I ran track and so Spencer and Stefan took me to his memorial. It was pretty cool for me to see that and hit me with a little inspiration all over again since I'm training for my marathon! :)After our sightseeing and eating we headed to the park to play with Chelas, Kyle and Colin and then we headed back to the house to hang out and have a barbeque before the big graduation ceremony! It was a fun day! :)

Lollipops!

Against our better judgement we brought the boys GIANT lollipops from Las Vegas because that is what aunts and uncles are supposed to do...spoil their nephews. And even better to know that now Kyle and Colin will be my actual nephews soon! Anyway, they enjoyed them thoroughly. All over their faces and hands. Just before dinner. Perfect! :)

Tricia's Garden

My future-mother-in-law (that's exciting to be able to say now!) has an amazing flower and vegetable garden. Its one of my favorite places at the O'Neill house I've decided. So the first thing I did when we got back to Eugene was head out there to enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful garden and all of my excitement and good news! It was very peaceful and so pretty so I thought I'd share a little with you! :)