a yosemite thanksgiving.

Let's just get this out in the open- YOSEMITE IS BEAUTIFUL. It just is. There are no other words to describe it. 

Todd and I drove up to Yosemite last week to meet my whole family for Thanksgiving! Growing up in the Bay Area, my family would go to Yosemite almost every year around Thanksgiving. Since my parents have moved we haven't been back in a few years. It was SO GOOD to be back in that gorgeous valley. It was Todd's first time to Yosemite which made it extra fun to show him all of my favorite things there. 

My whole family (including my two preggo sisters and five kids under 10) climbed all the way up to Vernal Falls and back! Then half of the group went another few miles up to Nevada Falls! These are not easy hikes you guys. Hard stuff but seriously the prettiest scenery ever. It was so much fun being with everyone on this hike! Such a great time.

The next day we went on the best bike ride all around the valley! We rode right under Half Dome and all of the other gorgeous peaks. 

We had our turkey dinner at the Ahwahnee hotel. Such a magical hotel! The dining hall looked straight out of Hogwarts. Hanging candles and all! 

SO grateful for my family this year and that we could all be together for Thanksgiving.

Also grateful for my best friend, my partner in everything, my cuddle buddy, my husband. Love him so much.

♥

disney trip.

My sister invited me to come along on her Disneyland trip last week to help out with her kiddos! She's about 6 months pregnant and couldn't ride most of the rides with the older kids so I came along to ride with them! It was a really hard job, but someone had to do it...;)

Laurel and I haven't been to Disneyland together since we were little kids so this was a long overdue trip! I loved riding the rides with my niece and nephews! Those kids have no fear. They rode all of the scary roller coasters and laughed the whole time! It was the best. 

Is there anything better than treats at Disneyland? Especially those corndogs by Main Street. YUM.

I love my family! 

♥

halloween 2014.

I love love love Halloween. I love thinking of costume ideas! Todd makes me keep a list on my phone for whenever I have a costume idea because I randomly think of ideas and then always forget. This year we decided to go as Zach Morris and Kelly Kapowski from Saved By The Bell! SBTB is one of my all time favorite shows. I used to watch it after school with my older sisters and I had the biggest crush on Zach. And who didn't secretly want to be Kelly Kapowski?? Did you know all of the seasons of SBTB are on Netflix? Love it.

We went to four different Goodwill stores to find Todd's clothes. I think we scored some good ones. Just look at those denims!

I made my "The Max" t-shirt with puffy paint and bought my wig on Amazon. I kind of loved wearing that wig all night. It made me wish that I had super long hair!

Sundance was a hot dog this year! He actually kept the costume on for a couple of hours! I eventually took it off of him because he was trying to sleep and I could tell it was bugging him. He's the best.

We handed out candy for the first part of the night and then headed to a friend's house for their Halloween party! It was so fun to see all of our friends and be outside in the 85 degree weather! Love this time of year.

♥

having a dog.

All my life I have thought about having my own dog. A little buddy. A shadow that follows me around the house. A pup that loves me even when I have to say "off!" for the 500000 time that day. I finally have that and it really is the best. This happened tonight:

I can't tell you how happy this made me! Sitting at my desk working and having my dog sleep by my feet. Is there anything better?? All you dog lovers will understand. 

{sometimes we give in and let him on the couch….}

♥

the BEST enchiladas and rice!

I've mentioned on my blog before that I try to make dinner at home 5-6 days a week. Most of the times I make our favorite meals and repeat them. But I love trying new recipes. Since my job requires me to be on Pinterest about 4 hours a day, I see a lot of yummy recipes to try. 

I have tried so many enchilada recipes and none of them ever seem to work out for me. They are ok and my husband ends up liking them, but they never taste how I want them to be. I recently found these two recipes and decided to try them last week. Oh. My. Word. They were both SO good! They were so good that I want to make them again this week! 

I decided to share them you with guys here so that you could try them out too! 

Green Enchilada Sauce from Our Best Bites: This sauce takes a little bit of time to make but is so worth it! I put it in corn tortillas with shredded chicken and cheese and cooked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 min!

Cilantro Lime Rice from Oh Sweet Basil: This paired perfectly with the enchiladas. All you Cafe Rio and Costa Vida fans will LOVE this recipe!

Try these ASAP! Just trust me;)

♥

fall wreath crafting.

Fall wreaths are pretty expensive. I've never put one on my door before this year so I didn't know how much they were. I was looking around Michael's and couldn't find one that was less then $40! Plus a lot of them weren't that cute anyway. I decided that I could probably make my own that would be cuter and way cheaper. I picked up a simple grapevine wreath and different bundles of fake fall flowers that I thought were pretty! Luckily all the flowers were 40% off so I got a pretty good deal.

If I ever do a craft, it has to take less than an hour or else I go crazy. I am not a good long term crafter (sewing and quilting is my nightmare)! This project was seriously so easy. All you need is:

-sissors or wire cutters

-fake flowers

-grapevine wreath

I layed out everything on my counter and started clipping flowers out of their bundles. I just kind of went for it and started to place the flowers in the wreath. Luckily these flowers have wire stems so you can just bend them around the wreath to stay put. I kept going until I thought there was enough. I didn't go all the way around the wreath because I kind of like it exposed on the side. But do what you think looks good!

I love the finished product and can't wait to hang it on my door! Oh and I spent less than $20 on everything! Fist pump!

♥

waiting for fall.

My favorite months of the year are coming up! I love love love fall time. Even though fall is almost here, it definitely still feels like summer here in the desert. The 10 day forecast still says at least 100 degrees everyday (hence the pool pic below!). But I can still pretend it's getting colder with my fav fall scents and pumpkin flavored treats. Wait, have you guys tried the pumpkin spice Eggos?! Seriously go try them. So yum. I am kind of a sucker for Eggos. 

Lately our whole life revolves around Sundance. Good news is that he is almost potty trained! Whenever he has to go, he walks to the back door and waits for us to let him out. Such a good boy! I feel like a proud parent whenever he does that. Also he is already so much bigger than when we first brought him home. Puppies grow SO fast. We just love him!

  

♥