unblogged bloggable-#bearlakedladies

I don't know how it happened, but somehow this post never got published. In fact, I have quite a few posts from last year I will be catching up on over the next few weeks. One of my goals for 2019 (more on those in another post) is to get and stay caught up on this blog.

Back in August I went to Bear Lake with girls from book club. We have the best time together, but we hadn't spent a lot of time outside of book club together. Some of the girls live in the same neighborhood so they spend a lot of time together. Some of us know each other from other things, and some of us only know each other through book club. This weekend was so much fun and made us wish we could spend lots and lots of time together always.

We left after work on Thursday to drive up. Utah was basically all on fire this summer, and Bear Lake was no exception. This fire seemed so close and big (probably because it was so close), but luckily it was quickly contained. We spent the first night watching the fire and chatting about the weekend.

Some of us (me) like a lot of makeup. Some of us like a little makeup, and some of us don't care so much about makeup. I like to wear makeup especially when I know there will be a lot of pictures. Pretty soon we were all in the bathroom doing our makeup and trying to convince everyone to put on lipsense.

Bonnie made our lunches every day to take to the beach.

The air pump didn't work very well so we ended up blowing up several rafts and floats. It was worth it when we were out on the lake for a few hours floating around.

We rented a water trampoline and found out it is pretty hard for several adults to stand up at the same time. It was ridiculously fun, and we laughed a lot.

Playing crack the egg and other funny games

I'm not exactly sure what happened here except I know we convinced a kid to get on our tramp and take some pictures for us. Somehow the phone survived.

Even at 7 months pregnant, Dylan was not about to miss out on the fun.

Kendra left and Aubrey came (with baby Rosie)

We tried really hard to get the perfect jumping picture.

But we just couldn't quite all get it together.

Aubrey and Aubrey (and baby Rosie)

Bear Lake is beautiful! We had so much fun and can't wait to go back again.

friend holiday celebration

with everyone's busy schedules and my birthday celebration later in the month, we celebrated Christmas over the weekend. we drew names this year which is kind of nice. 

we met for dinner at the mandarin. the restaurant is a little small and a local favorite. the food was delish and we had fun chatting and chatting. 
we went back to Laurann's to exchange gifts. for some reason Michelle was really nervous about giving me my gift. 

i LOVE everything she got! I'm glad we celebrated early. it makes the holiday extend all month long. do you celebrate Christmas with girlfriends? do you draw names or give to everyone?

weekend happs...it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

in my opinion it's really never too early for christmas. i love christmas decorations all the time. even though i have seen them for a while now and even went to a tree lighting last weekend, this weekend it really started to feel like christmas.

i met friends for a quick dinner on friday evening. they went to see mockinjay after dinner. i read all the books, but i haven't seen any of the movies. i might be the only person on the earth that doesn't really care for them. the content is a little much for me so i skipped the movie and did some christmas shopping instead.

i run all winter long and have for years. i always tell people if you are dressed appropriately, it really isn't that cold. i thought it was warmer than it really was on saturday morning. i wasn't dressed appropriately at all, and i was so cold.

after running i went over to laurann's house for a lesson in making pies-really pie crust. i don't actually really like pie, but i feel like it's something i should know how to do. she had the dry ingredients measured in ziploc bags and the butter and shortening measured and cubed in bags too. it made the process of making 10 pie crusts so smooth. i learned everything has be to really really cold, and i also learned pre measuring and prepping ingredients before is really smart.

i met sage, tiffany, and laurann for dinner at the cheesecake factory. after dinner we went to the bell choir christmas concert. i went for the first time last year and loved it so much. they are so amazing. i have no idea how they get to be so good. they are so talented, and the music is amazing.

after the concert, we walked past the candy windows at macys. there has been a long tradition in downtown salt lake of having window displays made all of candy. the theme this year is peanuts. it was so fun to see them.

sunday I went to church with tiffany and sage for their primary program. there is something so amazing about hearing small children testify of our Savior Jesus Christ through music and talks. i loved it! i also got a few coats out of storage so i can quit being so cold all the time.

how was your weekend? any exciting or festive happs?

blogger no sleepover...what we did

it's been almost a month since the blogger no sleepover. i've talked about what we ate and what i wore, and now it's time to talk about what we did.

we started with a delicious meal. everyone brought food and it was perfect.

 bonnie cutting bread for dinner

 our lovely hostess jen-i can't thank her enough for opening her home to us

 fun, casual chit chat during dinner

agnes and dora leggings in our swag bags

sponsor list-i couldn't have done it without the help of these sponsors

 swag

after dinner we started more organized discussion. we went around the room and each shared something we think we are doing well with our blogs/businesses. it was interesting how difficult it was to come up with positive things. it showed me how important it is to recognize your successes and celebrate them. we then discussed challenges we face. i love blogging, and i have no intention of stopping-ever, but there are many challenges, and it's easy to be really hard on yourself. the discussions were amazing and what we all needed.

kaylynn and sarah mid discussion

 tayler and bonnie mid blog talk

 jen's house was completely decked out for halloween

 jen and jordan

 after a break for dessert and another discussion session, we took some quick photos

jordan, jen, me, sarah, tayler, bonnie, kaylynn

 pretending to laugh

 funny faces-i missed the memo

 i completely missed the photo booth. i think i was getting dressed.

 we all changed into our matching leggings/pajamas

 love the bump

 leggings shoot on jen's bed

photos jordan bree photography

after the pictures, we had a little more organized discussion followed by hours and hours of chitter chatter. we literally talked the night away. we talked a lot about blogging but also a lot about other personal things. i think it was very therapeutic for all of us.

saturday morning we got up, jen made the most delicious oatmeal i have ever tasted, we chatted and chatted some more, jen gave us a few makeup tips/washed my brushes. we ended talking about our take home goals. everyone left with something to work on.

things turned out a little more informal than i originally planned, but it was absolutely perfect. i love these girls, and we had the best time. i left completely exhausted and also completely inspired.