a spiel about playmill

Not that I am taking a break from my extremely busy schedule right now or anything

but it is still a long weekend and a reason to get out of town!

I'm heading up to Island park for a weekend with my family & some friends

and so so excited to go back to my home of all last summer, 

West Yelli!

The Playmill Theatre opens this weekend with High School Musical and I can't wait to see it! 

{If you've never been to the playmill––GO! you won't regret it}

It'll be a little bittersweet sitting in the audience after a whole summer of working there.

I might have to restrain myself from flirting with 80 year-old men and little boys during the sing-a-long. 

It'll be strange to just sit back and enjoy the show without having to sell concessions or do a set change.

...alright, maybe it'll be really bittersweet.

But when you sleep, live, eat, sweat, and breath Playmill it becomes a part of you forever.

 A summer there is a mini year. 

I mean, you celebrate the 4th of July, Halloween/Prom, Wildlife, and even Christmas there!

Maybe that's why I feel like it's Christmas Eve.

Enough of my ranting on about Playmill. 

I know I know, I'm a little obsessed...

over & out!

happy earth day

this post is all organic.

hence the title of it being all lower-case and no period. just raw.

why?

hello, it's earth day!

i don't think an earth day has ever been quite so pleasant in my life.

i woke up to sunshine and warm in logan.

miraculous! yesterday it hailed three inches!

looks like mother nature wanted to be nice to logan on this day.

i even ran today.

––okay, i ran to the old main steps, made it to the top and then turned around and walked back.

but i couldn't believe how beautiful and green the rain (and hail) had made everything look.

my car is getting repaired right now from hitting a coyote (long story.. sorry mother nature)

so i carpooled home with a few friends (very eco-friendly!)

on our way, we stopped at a factory. the pepperidge farm factory.

and we made sure that none of those rejected goodies went to waste!

lala, one of my best friends in the world was in town for a couple of hours so i stopped by jess's and got to spend some quality time with her and also with a few furry friends. zoe and sammie.

ever since i saw disneynature's Oceans last earth day i have been looking forward to African Cats.

so i called up my dearest cousin ali and we set off to a late 9:45 showing of it.

I was not dissappointed.

my parents sat next to us. (yeah, we met them there.... haha)

and the whole show was super entertaining mixed in with my dad's cheesy reactions + me and ali's extremely inquisitive question about cats.

we were way too into it.

my favorite part had to be the end when it told where "the cats" were today

and it stated that the cheetah Sita is one of the most successful cheetah mothers to roam the african land.

how do they know that stuff?

haha oh disney.

i'll admit that we did a not-so-earth-friendly thing after the movie.

we went to taco bell.

had to.

and then we had some good cousin talk.

if you don't know ali, you need to know that she is a pretty witty lady.

she makes me laugh.

she gave me bunches of fun finals week ideas for study breaks and i can't wait to do them.

you will just have to wait until finals week to find out what they are.

i cant wait though.

all in all,

earth day was full of organic (for the most part), natural, kitty-catty fun.

i can't wait for chimpanzee (please watch the trailer)

Sneaky Spring Break

Spring Break this year sort of crept up on me.

It didn't really help that Utah State scheduled it in the middle of winter

but hey!

 maybe they did that to throw a little spontaneity in our lives.

(Actually pretty considerate of them considering Logan's random weather patterns)!

Anyways,

I swear all my friends that I could have possibly attended Spring Break with were either 

married.

engaged.

 boys.

 on a mission.

(couldn't she have waited a week or something?)

 or going on a cruise.

no joke. 

all. of. them. 

So I thought to myself, 

Shelby, do you want to go on a cruise? no. not really

Shelby, do you want to go to Seattle with 5 boys? mmm..nope.

Shelby, do you have friends? Yes. Trick Question (just had to remind myself that I'm not that big of a loser)...

––back to the point––

Shelby, who could you go with besides Jennika that you would truly enjoy doing anything with?

Ding Ding Ding! my sisties! 

(well, one of them, ShaLyse had to work and hang out with her boyfriend or something like that)

So I very promptly called Jenna and my Spring Break was arranged.

Our original plan was to go to the Redwoods because we've been talking about it for literally years.

But... once again, we changed plans last minute because our time was limited.

Instead, we took a little road trip to LA.

Long Intro. Short Story.

We had fun.

I could not have chosen a better person to go with!

So glad she came too (Otherwise, I'm not sure what I would have done... for reals)

 (first time to the Santa Monica peer... kinda cool, kinda ghetto, super fun!)

 We ♥ the Ivy

and apparently so does Eva from ANTM (we accidentally covered her face with our heads)

 'twas my lucky day and Sprinkles had Lemon Coconut in their selection. my faves.

And even though our plans of going to the beach were crushed by Tsunami warnings

we still soaked in a little sun and enjoyed the time away from

Utah's frosty temps.

Plus we learned a lot from our favorite App "How Stuff Works"

If you don't have it, get it. 

So entertaining and informative.

Also, it will keep your brain from turning into mush while taking a break from school!

Oh and random tidbit that I almost forgot, 

we stopped at this place in the Middle of Las Vegas to LA because both of us were dying, we had to pee reeeeal bad and that desert has a dryspell for gas stations or bathrooms, and it was something straight out of a movie. No one there had any teeth. It was a "farmers market" created out of an abandoned gas station. The bathroom had 2 toilets but no stalls. Weirdest and Creepiest place I've ever been to!!

SB'11 yay!

a most magical christmas

I still can't believe that Christmas has come and gone so quickly! 

That seems to be the theme for this year.

I was lucky enough to have two christmases this year. 

One of which was this summer. 

It's tradition at the Playmill to celebrate Christmas on August 25th (or in our case, the 22nd) 

and the owners gave everyone a trip to Disneyland. (Best bosses on earth)

It was so much fun to be reunited with the people who I spent every second of this summer with!

"team churro"

(I think the name describes itself)

We just happened to go during one of the biggest storms in California in years.

But honestly, besides our soggy feet and mildew scented clothes. It was pretty great.

Yes, I wore the same outfit for 4 days in a row

No lines more than 10 minutes! 

I appreciated the Christmas spirit there as well. Every inch of the park was decorated with 

garland, lights, ornaments. I absolutely loved it. 

 I got back home just in time for a sleigh ride with the family!

The rest of Christmas was spent with family. Meeting the newest little babies on Christmas Eve. And eating lots and lots of delicious Christmas treats!

(My Christmas Breakfast, Too beautiful NOT to take a picture of)

I love this Holiday and everything it represents, 

and I love the comfort of a warm and happy home to come back to.

I hope everyone had a 

very merry christmas

Now I am headed back to "sunny" California for my best friend's wedding!

5 things to be extremely happy about this week.

Here are a few things I picked off of my happy list this week. enjoy.

#1

making a successful batch of sugar cookies and watching them be gobbled away! They were seriously delicious.

#2

skyping to "do an assignment" (but really.. just to have fun)

#3 

My tinsel Christmas Tree 

and

Snow over Christmas Lights.... just thinking about it makes me happy!

#4

New friends coming together over old friends!! For the looooove of Brittany

#5

Cinnamon scented Glitter Pinecones & homemade snowflakes

P.S.

I watched a grand total of 7 movies this weekend.

How? Welp, there were some late late nights.

In order..

1. House Bunny

2. The Duchess

3. The Family Stone

4. Girl, Interrupted

5. Young Victoria

6. Pride & Prejudice

7. Elf

Don't judge.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Here's a list of things I was thankful for over the Thanksgiving break

• The so-called Blizzard warning that got school canceled
• Elf Yourself
• Siblings
• Being so close to family that we can eat Thanksgiving together
• My sweet grandparents who are perfect for each other
• New little cousins
• ...and old cousins
• Thanksgiving Dinner
• Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches (YUM! I want one now.)
• Pecan pie
• The Apple store
• Seeing old friends
• A car that drives safely in the snow
• Playmill's "White Christmas"
• Warm boots
• Take-out
• The new Taylor swift CD
• The ability to read

And that was just over the break. I am thankful for so many things in my life. Making a list would probably take hours. 

While I was in Salt Lake this week, I saw a book that my sister had called "14,000 things to be happy about". The author had started writing little specific things that made her happy in a notebook starting in 6th grade and continued to do it for a long time I am guessing... 14,000 is a lot! It made me start to think more about things that made me happy everyday.

 Little things and Big things. 

I wish I didn't take things for granted but I do. Every day. Little luxuries like having a warm blanket (or in my case, a Snuggie) next to my bed that I can grab when I get cold. So from now on every time I notice something that makes my day a little bit brighter I am going to write it down and on Sunday I'll make a list of 5 things that made me happy that week.

Sound good? 

Happy 4th

The 4th of July is a Big event for my family.

We love sitting out on the lawn with family and friends 

to watch the parade and especially love the barbeque after!! 

YUM!

... I have firework photos on my phone but 

I'll admit it..

I'm too lazy to put them on the computer but here you go...

OUR 4th!

FAMILY&FRIENDS

Finn:

Finn & Preston:

Ali:

Katie, Grace & Finn:

McNeil:

Tayler & our festive Vespa's:

Pangea at Battle of the Bands: