Saaaan Diego!

For Thanksgiving break this year my family headed out to sunny California. Our final destination was the result of some last minute planning, but it ended up being one of my favorite vacations so far! It has always been one of my biggest dreams to go to the San Diego Zoo and that was how we spent out first day! I woke up excited. The night before was similar to the 'I can't sleep before Christmas' feeling.

Dream come true I tell you!!

Walking up to the front where we bought our tickets was a giant plant shaped like an Elephant. We went on Thanksgiving day and they had Christmas music playing. Now I am a person that likes my Holidays to be celebrated separately, but the Christmas music just added to my excitement. Once we were through the gates we wasted little time before getting started.

By some lucky chance the turtles happen to be near the entrance. Talk about starting the day off right! [For those of you who don't know I have a turtle obsession, it's probably not healthy, but we won't go there]

These ones were big enough that you could ride them! They were the most active turtles I have ever seen. We spent a good 30 minutes just watching them. I was in turtle heaven!!

Fun fact: They like to have their necks scratched. I don't do the whole touching animals thing, but my dad sure does. He said they felt like an old piece of worn leather. 

The turtle pictured below looked something straight out of a Dinosaur movie. Probably the coolest underwater animal I have ever laid my eyes on.

This picture does not do it justice

After the turtles we explored the rest of the amphibians.

I kissed this frog wondering if Prince Charming would appear, but no one did. I'm pretty sure that means my Prince Charming is in New Mexico, but who really knows :)

Another favorite, the elephants.

My favorite animal ever since I was little has been a lion. They are so majestic and powerful. I just love them. Isn't she gorgeous? Please excuse the fence

The Polar Bear exhibit was another place where we spent a good chunk of time. Say hello to the newest Sea Lions in California.

We ended the day at the Zoo with a ride across the park on the Skyfari. The Sun was just starting to set and it was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Love these kids

The next day we spent some time at the beach. My dad, Jenn, Emily, Josh, and Jayden went kayaking while Ashley and myself stayed back. We wrote lots of things in the sand, built a sweet sandcastle, and tried not to freeze.

These cute kids played in their wet suits for hours after kayaking. We ended up waiting in the car until they were done. Good thing they're so darn cute!

The water would get stuck inside, so their pants would get bubbled up.
For some reason we all found this hilarious.

And you can't go to San Diego without making a stop by the beautiful temple. We finished our trip with a stop by the Mormon Battalion, which was way cool, go if you're ever in the area, and also stopping by the Temple.

She made a great soldier

Panning for Gold

The long car ride was definitely worth it. Thanksgiving 2012 you were great!

October is my favorite month

Yes, yes I am aware that it is no longer October, but it still deserves to be talked about! So many great things happened this October.

First things first. Birthdays.

Scott-my step dad

Me

My amazing mother

Dakota-my step brother

I have always loved that my mom and I were born in the same month! After all she is my hero. Then we got to add Scott and Dakota to the mix and now it's just a down right party! My roommates made it a wonderful day for me. They decorated our apartment.

One of the best things that I unfortunately did not get a picture of is they wrote honk it's Britt's birthday on our sliding door. From what I heard there were people honking all day long. They're the greatest. They made a large number of cupcakes and invited some people from the ward over. It was a grand ol' time. 3 special friends popped in for a visit and it was definitely one of the highlights of the day! 

I have this weird obsession with clocks. And because I have the best roommates in the world they gave me one for my birthday. Love them. 

It is now proudly hanging in our family room.

I had two other fun birthday surprises. 

A package and flowers from my missionary! For reals I snagged a gem. Luckiest girl ever. 

The next most exciting thing was my mom's birthday. She is honestly my all time favorite person. It's too bad that all growing up I didn't fully realize how great of a mom I was blessed with, but thank heavens I'm beginning to understand now! I honestly do not know where I would be without this amazing woman. She has been my rock. She always has the best advice and the best listening ears. When I am crying for no reason she makes me feel validated. She encourages me and helps me see that I am competent and that I can do the things I set my mind to. 

Best. Mom. Ever.

A part of October that is always exciting is Halloween. I always loved Halloween growing up because my grandma had some of the best decorations. I was over at her house one night and she gave me a few things to spice up my apartment. Best grandma award was readily given that night. For some reason I have really loved decorating this year. 

They're my favorites

I have never been one to really get into dressing up for Halloween, but this year my work was having a costume contest and I was provided with a pretty sweet idea, so I decided to go for it. I put together a pinata and it was pretty rockin'. It took a couple of hours, a large amount of hot glue, tissue paper, and an old hoodie and leggings. 

The final production turned out better than I thought. Add some tissue paper to my hair and glitter to my face and I was feeling ready.

I didn't end up winning, but the girl who did had the sickest costume. She is pictured below. She made every part of her costume except for the wig from scratch. Isn't that a sweet costume?!

The best part of Halloween this year was that my brother got his mission call!! Now that deserves a post all by itself, but who knows when the next time I'll be posting is, so here we go. 

John wouldn't let anyone see the postage of his call. He held everyone in suspense. He brought his call out in a large brown box, so that no one would look at it. Being very much like John, he dramatically opened his call. It's a good thing I really like him or else he would be in so much trouble. Watch the video and you'll know why. 

Naturally because it's Halloween they came
dressed like this

Cute siblings

A few of the supporters

(p.s. sorry it's sideways. I don't know how to fix that)

And there you have it! Santa Rosa, California. Leaving February 6th, 2012 speaking English.

We ended the night by eating some delicious cupcakes made by my beautiful sister.

They tasted even better than they look. Which is pretty hard to beat!

Congratulations to my best friend and little brother! I am so excited for you and I am so proud. Love you!

So as you can see this October was rather eventful, and I only hit on the major things. Boy am I glad for the people in my life who make life so great. And now we've moved on to the month of being thankful, how perfect!