This Christmas, i decided to make our tree a little more personal, so i printed out Polaroids of our favorite memories or places we've been and clipped them on our tree... and you know what?.... i think it turned out pretty cute.

so... here is our house.
sorry its taken so long to put up pictures. It was built in 1950 and is in a super cute neighborhood. We've done a lot of work on it and still have a TON more to do. Sorry you have to see it in its Christmas state. But we are loving it, and loving not sharing a wall with somebody else, and having our own driveway.. i could go on, but i wont.






This huge window is what sold me when we were looking at this one

We just barely put up this wallpaper in our hallway last week

The kitchen not bad, but we definitely want to re-do it.



We did this magnet/chalkboard and its been a lot of fun

our office

our huge backyard

I don't have the attention span for technology.

sometimes when i think about this blog, and how i haven't posted anything in a while( i think i lost November somewhere?) and how i have been meaning to add people/friends to my side thing and i still havent posted pictures about our house ....i just want to NOT think about it. Is it really my attention span or is it just plain laziness?? I think it is blog pressure. I dont know. So why have a blog? I feel like if i dont document my life, it will get lost somewhere. I can just see my 80 year old self, who has the memory of a gold fish, just wanting to kick my 25 year old self in the head. so im going to just keep on going doing this and ive decided when i get around to it, i get around to it. yeah, im taking the pressure off myself right now.

so,


while i am already sitting here...

for the last, who knows how long, i really thought i was still 24 years old. I'm not. I'm 25. I have been telling people i am 24... and seriously believing i was still 24?! Forget about losing November somewhere, I've lost an entire year somewhere! I'm shaking my head at myself right now. unbelievable.

i want to go to this. i found the perfect dress for the occasion.

The other day, we purchased Decemberist tickets. Im so excited! it kind of, sorta of, maybe, makes up for missing sufjan stevens.

Toy Story 3...sobbed. i wasn't going to even try and hide it from abe, he was eventually going to feel his shirt wet. i was kind of embarrassed .. but seriously, lets get real.. i get teary eyed from walmart holiday commercials.

This is how things are done in the Reyna household.....

Not really, but i was really tired and Abe knew how to win me over. But i would probably be lying if i said we didn't write up these contracts often. Its kind weird, but it sure saves you from having the "no, but you said/promised..." conversation. Lots of things can be negotiated and written up in a contract... Its how i got my living room rug from west elm.

I've had the flu the last couple days.... and its 33% my fault. Last week, i was saying" i haven't gotten sick in so long, blah, blah, blah", i jinxed myself. The other 67% is just because its flu season. But either way, its not even close to fun.

On a lighter note, we didn't die from our bathroom sink. But after all that our sink still wouldn't drain, so we ended up calling a plumber. Oh, and while this plumber was at our house i was watching private practice and he told me what was going to happen in the end of the episode! who does that? what plumber does that?! Thank you, but just fix my sink please.

Sufjan Stevens is coming to mesa and i will be in Colorado at the time!What? I cant even tell you how sad i am! Years ive been wanting to see him, and when he will be down the street from me, i will not even be in there. Sigh.

i been noticing lately, that i have been a really negative person. I need to snap out of it! i was blaming it on the heat but its been nice for a week and i have still been pretty negative.(example: everything i just said above! see what i mean?) So it is my goal, to be more positive.
some positive things i would like to talk about:
I just finished reading These is my words, and it was so good! i loved it! If you haven't read it, you should. Now I'm kind of obsessed with pioneers. It just amazes me, all the stuff they had to go through and just how hard working they had to be.
I have been listening to a lot of Mumford and Sons this week. Good band.
I have a great husband. Seriously. He is the most thoughtful and caring person i have ever met, and I'm so happy to be married to him.

we are going to die from our bathroom sink

so our bathroom sink has been trouble... it hasn't been able to drain normal for months and months and no amount of drain-o was fixing it. So tonight, Abe decided he was going to bust out the big guns: Crystal Heat Drain Opener. Yes. Something from Home Depot that only professionals should use. I mean you should have some sort of license to buy this stuff, because before we know it, it was like some science experiment gone horribly wrong. i mean blue stuff shooting from the drain, Abe getting first degree burns on his arms. Its smoking and fizzing and there is a cloud of who-knows-what. We are coughing and our throats are burning, our eyes are burning and why is my skin itching? As Abe in going back in there with a shirt tied around his head and sunglasses on, he tells me he thinks he used too much(ya think?)! we couldn't get any windows open(cause we live in an old house and they are painted shut) and there was more smoke and more coughing, and more burning and i am forming some freakish cancer as i type this..... i just think that if no body sees us in two days, we are probably dead and you should send in a search crew.... oh and turn in our blockbuster movies by Friday. Thanks.

Best. Trip. Ever.

I feel like the title should just explain the whole trip: best trip ever. period. maybe fifty or so exclamation points after that... but for everyone else who wasn't there i guess i will fill you in.

last weekend i went to California with my best friends and it seemed like it was exactly what we all needed. Whenever we all get together, its like we are sixteen again...a little immature and think we are really funny. funny like, I'm-laughing-so-hard-i-have-tears-rolling-down-my-cheeks-and-might-of-peed-my-pants-a-little-bit-funny. you get it, right? I hope so.

i stole all these pictures from brittneys blog(which everyone should have a friend who is a professional photographer, because your guaranteed to get great pictures..thanks Britt!)

Fashion District L.A. and Hollywood

love me some Harry Potter

The Park
It was the most dreamy park, you have ever laid a picnic blanket down on. I think we spent like 5 hours there. I would go to this park once a week if a could. Dang California and its good weather!

Out to dinner

this place was by balboa Island

Newport Beach

(eating a corn dog without judgment..yeah that's right, I'm talking about you, Abe.)

this just might be, the ugliest picture of me. bad angle, maybe? or weird face.

Disneyland
Im going to brag and tell you that we went on the best day... we walked on every ride. no joke. One ride just let us stay on and go again because there no one was in line. jealous? maybe a little? OK, you are.

I'm not wearing socks, those are my white, white ankles.

Funny story about this picture, On one of our trips from California Adventure to Disneyland Jade overheard a little boy say to his parents "I want a picture in the A hole." After we heard that, we all wanted our picture in the A hole.

World of Color
At California Adventure they have this water, light, music, fire show. It was like the fountains at the Bellagio on Disneyland crack. It was awesome, and when i mean awesome, i mean totally awesome. These pictures really don't come close. Just know that next time you are at California Adventure, you HAVE to go to this show!!!( yeah, that's right i used three exclamation points)

still here.

man. summer went by really fast, which i guess im ok with, since its a bazillion degrees outside. sorry, i really stink at keeping this updated( i don't even know if anyone reads this??).

Things that happened in the last couple months:

- i cut off all my hair.Yeah. Think really short, like you-can-see-my-ears-short. i just decided and did it. i cant believe i did it, inches and inches gone and I'm REALLY glad i did it. i cut off at least 15 minutes off my morning routine. ill put up pictures soon.
-Abe lost 30lbs, yeah that's right.. 30lbs. a small child really. i didn't know he could lose that much. amazing.
- i have a new calling in church. The nursery. ummm, i just don't feel like i am the most motherly person. but i guess I'm suppose to be there for a reason? right?
- im going to california next weekend with some of my best and oldest friends. I feel like this trip is much needed. there is something so great about being with people that know you so well. Its effortless. I'm thankful for that, because sometimes your just too tired and I'm in need of a pick-me-up.
- i watched the first season of Felicity. Does anyone know how great that show is?
- Hair-Do moved to its new location, at Dana park and we are loving it! everyone should come by and check it out.
- Oh. i had a client freak out on me about not getting in sooner and it resulted in losing 10 great clients in one day. I'm serious. They are never coming back to me, because this client told them not to..it was unbelievable, and there was nothing i could of said or do to fix it. It was such a bad day.
-i went through a lot of books
- i finally joined a book club. It comforting to know that there are other people out there who stay up to three in the morning reading.
- i need to talk about the Mockingjay with someone.
- somehow we became the "eye sore" of the neighborhood... with all this rain, the weeds in our front yard have grown at a freakishly rapid pace, and then we became "that" house. we finally pulled them out this weekend.( you know when your a home owner, because you are talk about your yard)
-I'm really into Ray Lamontagne.
- i am now familiar with the pride cycle. i hope it cycles back around soon.

havasupai

Have you ever had one of those nightmares where you are lost in the dark, wandering, and cant find your way? And with every turn you take, you feel more and more panic? WELL I LIVED IT.
It was 1:30am and we were in the Supai Villlage at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was pitch black, we only had our flashlights to guide us and every turn we took, lead us to a dead end. We had been wandering for a half hour, trying to get out and i was on the verge of losing it! I couldn't believe i was actually living out one of those nightmares, and i thought we were never going to get out. Thankfully, we had ran into these two Indians(at two in the morning, weird right?)named Quaid and Long Hair who had showed us the way out. The whole thing was so weird( and scary), i still don't believed it really happened.
Yesterday, we had just gotten back from hiking Havasupai. We had hiked about 25 miles in a little over 24 hours(which is crazy). I have bruises on my shoulders from my pack and Abe and i are walking like we are 80 years old, because we are so sore...but it was ALL worth it.
I forgot how amazing and beautiful it is down there! If you have ever been, you know that it is this unexpected little paradise, with huge waterfalls and this beautiful clear blue water. We had met up with my parents, at the bottom, and it was so much fun(other than that whole getting lost thing)! here are some pictures:

my mom and my step-dad, Charlie

Abe in the mist

To get to one of the falls, you have climb down the side of a cliff, only having chains that are nailed in, to hold on to.

our campsite

sorry the videos are sideways.. i dont know how to fix that, just tilt your head.

ps. i know everyone wants to see pictures of our house, but i feel like i cant until i am done decorating/unpacking...soon though