Tic Tac

I would first like to say that, yes, I am well aware that this story is going to make me sound super bratty. But I'm sharing it anyways because it shows how sweet Brandon is.
So don't judge me.

I open this letter from my missionary man (don't mind the stickers) and I find a half eaten box of tic tacs. I immediately turn to Laura and say "Ugh, why would he send me an opened box of candy?".... thinking that he just threw them in the envelope to be funny, and he probably found them somewhere. So I open the letter and immediately feel guilty because I read this:
"I sent you a half eaten box of tic tacs because we always share things so I figured you could share these tic tacs with me."
Kill me now, how stinkin cute is that?

Lesson to be learned: Don't judge a book by it's cover.
a.k.a. I need to stop being such a brat.

(In my defense I'm about to start my . )

Let the Letter-Writing Begin...

So Brandon decided to ditch us all and go on a mission. He was called to Pocatello, Idaho (yes, he was really excited) and reported to the M.T.C. on December 9th. Of course his family, friends, and I will miss him dearly but we are all SO proud of him and the decision he made to go! Anyways, the last few weeks he was here we tried to do as many fun things as we could squeeze in! Here are some of my favorites:

Since Brandon will be spending Christmas in the M.T.C. we decided to celebrate early and exchange gifts before he left. I guess it's true that the more time you spend with someone the more you think alike; we both got each other a Sony cybershot, memory card, and case. Of course the one he got me was way nicer, but what missionary needs a nice camera, right??

Brandon's farewell partaaaaay! It took about 10 attempts to catch him doing a real smile.

Went to the duck pond and realized how GROSS ducks are. Got bird crap on my camera case, keys, and ALMOST on both of our heads. SICK.

Of course we had to spend some time at the happiest place on earth! It was so fun, not crowded, and a nice day out. Perfect way to spend our last day together!

(This is the annoying couple who cut in front of us (the girl is in front). They just walked straight over the ropes because we left a small gap in between us and the people in front. So annoying. But not annoying enough for me to let Brandon say anything...I'm a baby.)

He would find ice cream in a desert.

The afternoon before he got set apart we went on our last date to B.J.'s.

I had a countdown going in my head the whole day.

Josh, Brandon, and Mike reminding us all to CTR.

...After he was officially "Elder Hoyt".

So I guess for the next 2 years I'll learn how to become an excellent writer. Any gift or other cute ideas I could do for him while he's away, please tell!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Cool

The only things I have to blog about are my sister's birthdays. I need a life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITNEY!

So my sister Whitney's birthday is today...holler. She is BY FAR my favorite sister that lives out of the country. Here are a few reasons why I love Whitney: (She wants her age to be kept a secret so I'm only listing 10 reasons, because she's not turning 10, obvy. And Cassie, don't get a big head-I love Whitney just as much as I love you, I'm just not listing all the reasons because she's secure enough to know that without a huge list.)

1. She lives the coolest life of anyone I know-I live vicariously through her.

(She usually lives in downtown San Francisco, and has travelled all over the world- Asia, Peru, England, to name a few- and is now living in Abu Dhabi for work.)

2. She's one of the smartest people I know. She graduated from Cal Poly as an Architect. Hehe JK I just said that to make her mad. She's a Structural Engineer, apparently they are two different things.

3. I always wanted to be just like her when I was younger. I even chose my soccer jersey number after her.

4. When I was 6 years old she pushed me and I hit the corner of the piano bench and cut the corner of my eye and had to get stitches. That's not a reason why I love her, I just wanted to tell that story.

5. She's the only sister that doesn't live close to us, but she ALWAYS comes downs and visits, and never misses an important event.

6. Whenever she comes to visit we have pillow talk at night time, i love it.

7. She always discovers the best music before I ever hear it on the radio, tv, etc.

8. She's SO bossy it's hilarious-but a nicer way to put it is that she cares so much about me and my sisters that she constantly tells us what to do. But we love her for it.

9. Extremely reliable and will do anything for me

(On a completely unrelated side-note, I really wish someone would buy me a car...)

10. She ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS puts her family first. It's something we take for granted sometimes, but she always has us at the front of her mind.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHIT! I love you tons and wish I could've spent your b-day with you and given you your present that is WAY better than the present Cassie and Laura got you.

xoxo,

Your Favorite Sister.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSIE!

My FAVORITE 25 year-old sister had her birthday today! WOO-WOO!
Here are 25 reasons why I love Cassie:
1. You can't help but love Cassie-if you don't, you're weird
2. She brought Violet into this world
3. Most generous person EVER
(anyone who knows Cassie can attest to that)
4. HI-LARIOUS
5. Has helped/done all my art projects for school
(I won a contest in 7th grade for the poster she made..and my teacher put "excellent artistic abilities" on my progress report; Oops!)
6. SO creative and always has good ideas for projects, presents, etc.
7. Has trouble standing up for herself, but has absolutely NO problem what-so-ever going to bat for someone she loves
8. Is practically my same size (okay, she's a little smaller) so it makes it easy to share clothes
9. Always knows the perfect present to get you
10. Self-taught herself on the piano, and it's amazing
11. Her artistic skills are ridiculous. Seriously, ask her to draw you something
12. Such an amazing mom to Violet and wife to Josh-they are beyond lucky
13. Does P90X with me and yells at me when I stop to rest
(or is that a reason I hate her?)
14. Gave birth with NO epidural
15. SO feisty
16. Has always let me drive her cars when I get sick of mine
(or when I just want to look cool)
17. Convinced Josh to let her buy a house 5 minutes away from my parents so I can see her and V EVERYDAY!
18. Loves frozen yogurt even more than I do
19. Played a huge role in getting Brandon and I together
(her and Josh love him just as much, if not more, than I do)
20. Always puts her family first
21. Most self-less person I've ever met
22. She bought me my 1st cell phone because my parents said I was too young, and she had me on her phone plan until she got married and Josh kicked me off
23. Will always be strong in the gospel which will keep our family together FOREVER!
24. I never, ever, ever, get sick of her. Never.
25. She is the best friend and an even better sister anyone could ask for!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSIE!
Love you times TWENTY FIVE!
hehe.

Galveston

A few weeks ago (I know I suck at blogging, whatever) Brandon and I went with some friends down to Galveston for a nice Sunday activity. I seemed to have forgotten that Texas is unbearably hot and humid, but by the time we got out of the car and remembered, it was too late. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Brandon and I didn't drive ourselves down, so we didn't have the option of leaving immediately after we got our Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. We all decided (my vote was overruled) to rent these bikes and ride around the beach. At first I was so mad that Brandon took the 2-seater one because that meant I couldn't sit in the back and not pedal. But it turns out he's the smart one because it was so much easier with only 2 of us! On our family vacations, my parents would drag my sisters and I to every tourist attraction imaginable (even though we were complaining/sleeping the entire time) and my mom would always say that even if we are hot/tired/mad/grumpy/uninterested during the trip, we'll be glad we did it. Well mom, you were right (for once). Even though I was DRENCHED in sweat, sunburnt, and thirstier than ever, I am glad we went and I had a really good time!

Dear Iphone Games,

You are going to be the death of me.

Literally.

Sincerely,

Claire

Little Taste of Home

I'm lagging on my posts lately, so this is from 2 weeks ago.  My best friends Jana and Courtney came to visit me out here in the armpit of Texas (Houston).  It was so amazing to have them here for a few days, I realized how much I missed having friends to hang out with!  (Yes, I have my sister and Jenna here, which is great, but a girl as popular as me needs more than 2 friends to surivive)   

After swimming at the pool we headed to the mall to do some damage to our bank accounts.

1 great thing about Houston is the malls-we have carousels...

...and ice skating rinks

As always, we have to take the driving pictures.  

(Nobody show Brandon, I'm driving his car-he would not be too happy about the picture taking whilst driving the Beamer)

Of COURSE we went to Schlitterbahn!  It wasn't as great compared to last year, when we went to the park in New Braunfels, but still lots of fun.

Saying our goodbyes at the beautiful George Bush Airport.  I drove around this dreadful place for 45 MINUTES trying to find the dang terminal.  Curse you International Airports.

THANK-YOU my dear friends for coming to visit me.  I know it was expensive, but it was a much needed break from my monotonous life here in Houston.  Who thinks I can convince them to fly out again for my birthday?...Yeah, probably not, but it's worth a shot. 

B.P.

Shout Out to SKYPE

I would just like to publicly announce how much i love Skype.  The fact that I can talk to and see someone who is thousands of miles away is amazing to me.  It makes the whole "summer sales, isolation for 4 months" deal a lot more bearable.  

Me in California and Brandon in Texas

Me in Texas and Cassie, Violet, and Breyers Slow Churned ice cream in Minnesota

Me in Texas and my mom in California

Me in Texas and Jay in California (he's obsessed with Skype...and he's 2)

Me in California with Violet, and Jenna and Quinn in Utah

I'm in Texas and my friend Spencer is in Iraq. 

Technology is ridiculous these days.  

Get Skype if you don't have one...and we can chat.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Welcome To Texas

I didn't know if I should tell her she forgot to take out her rollers or if she was making a fashion statement....

This was last summer, but still-ridiculous.

Not my morning

WHY did Revlon think it would be a good idea to put their foundation in a glass bottle?  Seriously, retards.  So basically if you're clumsy and are prone to knocking things off counters, you're screwed.  THANKS A LOT.

TIP: Don't bend down and try and catch foundation mid-fall, it will break and splatter up into your hair.

FYI: Foundation does NOT come easily out of hair.  And even if you spot-wash it out with shampoo, your hair will be sticky and greasy the rest of the day. Awesome.

So after my $13 bottle of foundation breaks, I go to the cupboards to get paper towels, and cut my thumb on the wood and it starts bleeding, BUT...

I didn't notice I was bleeding until after I touched my white shirt and got blood on it.  It doesn't look like a lot, but it's bigger in real life and either way, it stains. 

Then as I'm rushing into the office I get a sharp pain in my foot and realize there's a piece of glass in my foot.  I pull it out and keep walking, ignoring the pain.  Once I get to the office I realize my foot is bleeding.

And to top it off, blood got on my new sandals from Urban.  

Someone buy me a present.

1 Good thing about Texas...

Jenna and Quinn (and Andrew) are just around the corner!  We miss the Giddings family so we're just gonna pretend Jenna is Cassie, we'll put a bow on Quinn and call him Violet...and Andrew and Josh are both socially awkward so it's a perfect fit!

Hizzair

Hallelujah, my hair has style again.

I realize this isn't the greatest photo, but trust me in real life I don't look this to' up.

Well maybe I do, but at least I'm not sitting still long enough to notice.

Don't Call Child Services

So yesterday Cassie is lecturing me about how I'm not going to be a good mom because when Violet cries I SOMETIMES get annoyed. Then I look over and see this...

Apparantly Cassie HAS to put the blanket over V's head because otherwise "she keeps looking around and she's supposed to be sleeping"...heaven forbid the poor 3 month old should look around.
The moral of this story is that I'm going to be an excellent mother, and I'm going to save these pictures forever and show them to Violet when she's older.

My baby nephew, EW

My sister FINALLY had her baby boy, Eli Todd Walker.  So, that makes his initials either E.T., or E.W.-neither of which are very nice of his parents.  BUT, luckily for the little babe he is SO cute that it's only fair he has bad initials.  Eli was born on April 10, coming out at 8 lbs 4 oz, 20 in. long and the cutest face in the world!!!

MEET ELI...

My sister will probably hate me for posting this, but it would be weird to put a picture of me and Eli before him and his parents...and after 3 days in the hospital-we understand if you aren't looking like your usual hot self ;)

He may look like he's smiling, but he's crinkling up his face to start crying.  Cutest baby ever, whether he's crying or not.

Violet and her new cousin Eli.  She loves holding/eating his hand.

Seriously, he is SO beautiful I can't stand it. 

Don't mind my gross self..just focus on the sweet baby and how precious he is!

 He loves his bouncer from Aunty Whitney!

HAPPY EASTER!  Sweet baby's 1st Easter!...

 

and this is where the Prince will be sleeping!  

For the first time in basically 2 years, none of my sisters are preggers.  I don't know what to do with myself!  I guess I'll just play with my 2 year old bratty nephew, my 9 month old throw-up nephew, my 3 month old shifty-eyed niece, and my 3 day old jaundicey nephew.  But seriously, I am so obsessed with my niece/nephews I'm scared to have kids of my own out of fear I won't love them as much!

Well, I'm off to hold baby Eli.

He says to tell everyone "HI", it comes off as more of a snorting cry, but I know what he's trying to say.

Au Revoir.