a pretty cool fam.

now that finals are over and knowing that i never have to take american heritage every again (my hear is singing) i can enjoy the break & holiday. so far it's better so so great. really. full of work, family, and friends. lovely. however before the break really started us henderson's thought we needed a big bang to start out the month, and what better way to do so then to go to a raider game?! my dad grew up in santa rosa and the raiders practice field was just right across the street. when he was young he would go with his dad and so we decided to go to one ourselves. it. was. awesome. so so fun. we first went to san fran and couldn't ask for a better day. clearer and warmer then ever. we went to Boudin, an amazing sourdough sandwich and soup place and then of course to see the sea lions (side note: if katie was an animal she would be a sea lion. she loves them.) anyway. it was lots of fun. we missed the big brother kyle but were able to take the main squeeze sis-in-law liss lou with us. plane and car rides with catching up, random conversations, and basically peeing our pants laughing. we then went to the game and it was seriously like walking on to a pirate ship! someone would yell "RAIDERS!" and the whole line would echo it back. even my lovely mother was yelling it! hilarious. even though we lost it was still the best experience. at half time they recognized the hall of fame and my dad just about died. it was all the players that played while he was growing up. we had no idea this was going to happen but it was awesome. the night ended by going up to the oakland temple which looks over basically the whole bay area. lovely. amazing. then we went back to the hotel, crashed, woke up to a lovely view, and sadly flew back home. the weather was lovely. and the quality family time was priceless. now we are all sitting in a big cabin up in heber. i love love love my family and like i said before, the break has been a dream. here are some pictures of the san fran trip.

sorry for the picture overload. 

much love.

a happy birthday.

about a week and a half ago was my birthday. it just so happened to land on black friday of all days which just added to the fun. of course the day before was thanksgiving and having my birthday around that holiday has always been fun. surrounded by family and just being able to relax, talk, laugh and feel so so loved. needless to say it was a wonderful weekend.

so here is what i did.

at midnight i went to katie's show at the south towne mall. we actually got there around 11pm and got to go right in since she was with her band and i was a groupie. a little story for you: we were hungry so around 11:58 we went and got food and a pretzel place. as we were walking back we started to hear roars or people first quiet then louder and louder. it was like that scene in lord of the rings where they are in the cave and they hear the people coming at them (han aren't you proud? i made an LOTR reference!) but it was just like that. all of a sudden people were sprinting towards us. we grabbed each other right there and waited a few minutes trying not to be trampled! it was madness.

after getting home at 2 in the morning i had to be ready and at work by 5:30 am. then that madness started. thankful i got some of the best birthday singing I've ever experienced and i love the people i work with so it wasn't a bad way to spend most of the day. after work my family and i went to texas road house! one of my favorite places where i eat way too much food. it was so fun being with everyone and once again laughing and just talking. after eating we went home and watched the BYU women's game. it was so intense and even though they lost, it was still a great game. that night ended with one of the best presents ever. we all went to kyle (my brother's) show. he is in a band called desert noises. if you haven't heard of them go look them up!!! they are incredible. anyway we jammed to his music and sang along all night. his last song he said, "it's a very special day. my little sister is turning 19." everyone cheered even though they probably had no idea who i was. "and my brother just returned for his mission and he is going to come up and sing with us" now trevor used to be the drummer of this band and would harmonize with kyle. if you have heard them together you know it's gold! anyway. he got up there and they started playing oak tree. my favorite song! i was dying. it was the best surprise and end to my birthday!

the next day i went shopping. of course. and just my luck anthro was having the best sale! again, dying. that's really all i wanted for my birthday and my mom was all for it. after lots of shopping at city creek we went back and i headed to dinner with tiff and han. of course tiff was late.. :) but we had a lot of fun. laughing way too loud and telling stories while stuffing our faces. it was great. just missed our lex. after dinner we all headed back to my house for treats and games and of course ended the night with disco skating. one of my all time favorite things.

just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes and the love. it was a good one. here's to my last teenage year! yikes..

(and of course an iPhone photo dump)

 much love.