... that we had Sisters' Weekend 2.0!

Kim was finally awarded her LCSW license from the state of Nevada, so Byron planned a sisters' weekend in Vegas to celebrate! And he was even nice enough to let Matt tag along when he volunteered to help Byron with the kids all weekend! Just kidding, but Matt really did help with the kids, which Matt and the kids both loved, and it helped Kim relax, and I was happy that Matt was there too, so it was a win for everyone. We started our trip with a little stop at Fatburger which surprised me with the most delicious pumpkin pie shake I have ever had

And then us girls left to check into the hotel!

It was awesome! We had a suite up on the 51st floor and Byron had stocked it with TONS of candy and treats for all of us! We got cleaned up a little and went out for our first round of shopping at the mall across the street, then met Jamie and the boys for a great dinner of tapas plates at Firefly.

The next day, we slept in and took our time getting ready, finally making it out of the hotel for brunch on the strip at The Yardhouse. Then we hurried back to the hotel for some pool time!

It was so fun!! The pool was really crowded, but we eventually found chairs for everyone and spent a couple of hours lounging, reading, swimming, and drinking pina coladas! Tracy and I signed up for a couple of massages in the hotel spa, so we took off for our appointments while the other girls did some shopping.

We met back up with the rest of the girls for a late dinner then limped back to the hotel exhausted. The next morning we got up and ran back to the house to pick up the boys, then caught a little sacrament meeting before Matt and I headed home. It was a short weekend, but a ton of fun!

I love my sisters!!!

... that we went to the fair!!!

BBQ Pulled Pork and Mac & Cheese Sandwich
Corn Dog & French Fries
Root Beer
Kettle Corn
Pineapple Dole Whip
Animals
The Zipper

I love the fair!

... that it's summertime?

The last few months, Matt and I have been doing a lot of this,

and a little of this.

We celebrated Matt's birthday with a new set of golf clubs

And dinner at Tucanos.

We got to go to my work's fall retreat again, which was up at Snowbird this year and included passes to all of the rides and roller coasters at the resort

It was pretty fun! We decided to stay two nights this time, and the day that we left, Matt was so sweet and treated me to a massage and visit to the resort spa. Then we also took a quick trip down to the Octoberfest party that was happening at the resort that weekend and grabbed a chocolate dipped German Waffle. Delicious!

I love my work and summertime!

... that I love Camarillo!

The rest of the weekend was just for the Rexs!!!

There was lots of cooking time, Lego time, Princess Games time, Establos breakfast burritos time, cereal-box-hat and backwards-inside-out-tshirt time,

Easy Bake cookies in the microwave time,

And also Hello Kitty face drawings and impressions time.

I begged Kell to go to the beach, and she kindly obliged because her bestie was going too she loves me.

And what is this???

Since when do Blickenstaffs boogie board?? I was completely astounded.

I also begged Kell for a trip down to Orange County to visit our favorite Wingers. It was good to see Kar, even if she has ABANDONED me all alone in Utah! I hate her and her stupid perfectly gorgeous California house. We grabbed some food at the 4th Street Market, played at the park, and then ran to Afters Ice Cream for a treat.

It was pretty good, but I couldn't get over this conversation I had with the girl behind the counter:

Me: "What is the 'Milk and Cereal' flavor?"

Girl: "It's a dairy based ice cream flavor that is topped with frosted flakes cereal."

Me: "So it's vanilla ice cream with frosted flaked on top?"

Girl: "No, it's a dairy based ice cream."

It was vanilla.

Too bad our OC trip went a little downhill from there... Madden had a little incident of the poop variety in his car seat on the way to Jake and Jacky's apartment which required an emergency bath upon arrival, and all three of the kids were a little wired from being kept up waaaaay past their bedtime. Madden finally fell asleep in his loathed car seat on the way home after Kell told me to "just stop making eye contact with him."

But he was all smiles and giggles the next day at the pool.

I love my little stinky Rexs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... that Jazz Girlz are for life!!!!!

Months and months ago, there was talk started about having a Jazz Girlz reunion in Camarillo.

Best. Idea. Ever!!!!! I had also been talking about wanting to visit Kell since she cancelled her trip to Utah, so I decided to take an extra long weekend off so that I could do both! The Girlz had decided to meet up for dinner at the famous Camarillo Wood Ranch, then reconvene at Eliana's house for some singing time with Doc!

I tell you what, Doc hasn't changed a bit in the last 12 years!!! He was even wearing his "I Climbed The Great Wall" t-shirt. He brought a suitcase full of old yearbooks, pictures, CDs, tapes, and sheet music and we spent a couple of hours reminiscing about our high school glory days. It was so much fun!!! Then we gathered around the piano and sang all the songs we could remember. It was amazing how much of it came flooding right back! Even with just the four of us, we still had most of the parts to each of our songs and we didn't sound terrible! It took me right back to my most treasured memories of high school, and there was so much laughter and happiness that I didn't want the night to end.

I love my Jazz Girlz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... that we had to move?

A sad, sad day.

Tracy and Marc were incredibly kind to let us live in their condo for so long, and I was very sad to leave. But I am happy for them that they sold it! And now we can move on to bigger and better things. But sometimes I am still feeling a little bit like ChrisTina here:

Who kept her angry little nose in that corner of her cage the whole drive to Mom and Dad's house in quiet rebellion. Poor bunny does not care for car rides.

Matt was super sweet and said that we could hire a cleaning service to clean the condo for us when we moved out, and I was stupid enough to say we should save the money and just do it ourselves. Seven hours of deep cleaning later...

That condo was spotless and I never wanted to step foot in it ever again.

We are now living it up in the parents' basement while we are searching for a place of our own. They kindly allowed us to bring all 19 of our pets with us, and for that act alone they deserve the biggest mansion in all of heaven. I think they secretly like it though, because the grandkids all LOVE to visit the zoo at grandma and grandpa's house. 

Norah especially loved the "baby nakes" (though her face may suggest otherwise).

We love Tracy and Marc and Scott and Tanya!!! Thanks for making sure we are never homeless!

... that I don't even know how this happened?

Remember when I was the nicest wife in the world and I let Matt buy an expensive hognose snake? And then a few months after that, I was tricked into letting him buy another even more expensive one? I just can't say no to Matt. I knew full well that he had bought these snakes to breed them, and I only let him because I didn't really think that it would work. And also because I am the nicest.

Matt told me he wanted to "hibernate" the snakes for a few months, so he bought a mini fridge and stuck them in there. And I let him because I am the nicest.

Then after that, he wanted to put them together to see if they would "do the dance of love." And I let him because I am the nicest.

After a few days, he separated them again and told me that he doubted that it worked. And I consoled him and said things like, "Maybe it will work" and, "You can't make snakes fall in love," because I am the nicest.

Then a little while later, Matt said he thought that Abigail was looking pretty fat and he thought she had some eggs in her. And I didn't really believe him, but I tried to be supportive anyway, because I am the nicest.

And then this happened.

11 eggs (and one dud). ELEVEN. ELEVEN EGGS THAT EACH HAD THE POTENTIAL TO HATCH INTO A REAL SNAKE. WTF.

How did this even happen? I only let Matt put them together because I was SURE it would not work! And now I was stuck in a house with 5 adult snakes and a box of 11 eggs. THAT IS 16 TOTAL SNAKES PEOPLE. Who in their right mind has 16 snakes in their house???

Crazy people, that's who.

Matt was beyond ecstatic. Except he "didn't want to tell people quite yet, because what if they didn't hatch?" Seriously. He did eventually tell his coworkers, who were also ecstatic because they aren't the ones with a box of snake eggs at their house. They even came to the house to look at them and take pictures and put the "hatch date" on their calendars. Because they are the real crazy people, not me. Matt also decided that he was going to build a "snake rack" to put all of the new babies in once they hatched. So he spent many hours and dollars at Home Depot to build a rack big enough to house all 11 snakes, and I let him because I am the nicest.

Then one day, after months of incubating them in the aforementioned mini fridge, this happened.

It was disgusting. Matt was even more ecstatic.

All of the eggs did end up hatching, but sadly not all of them lived long after that. Three months later, only four of them are still alive. Matt thinks that the parent snakes may have been too small to start mating in the first place, and some of the snakes just wouldn't eat. But we still have four going strong, so now we have a total of nine snakes at our house.

If you never want to be my friend again, I understand.

I still love my husband. Because I am the nicest.

... that we love America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love the Fourth of July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt and I decided to switch it up a little this year and find a new fireworks party to go to. I searched the interwebs for other fireworks shows in the area, and found out that Sandy throws what looked like a pretty good party. And it did NOT disappoint!!!!!!!

Sandy has their party on a huge strip of lawn behind the South Towne Mall, and it was a blast! Half of the lawn was filled with food carts and blow up slides, and the other half was set up for people to listen to a live band. We got there in plenty of time to walk around all the stalls and finally settled on some food. I got a loaded potato and some Mexican corn, and Matt got a burger and fries. I also really wanted a Brazilian lemonade, but the lady at the stand said they were out. When she saw my disappointed face, she confessed that they still had some lemonade left, but they were out of cups. So in true Blick fashion, I asked if I could have some if I got a cup and she said yes! So I bummed a cup off of the teenagers at the snow cone stand next to them, and got myself a discounted lemonade! The lady was so glad that I actually came back that she told me to come back for a refill too. Which I did, obviously. #blickfolife

When it started to get dark, we set up some chairs on a tiny patch of grass right behind the stage and listened to the band finish their songs while we waited for the fireworks to start.

The show was great and the music was fantastic! I loved every minute of it.

I LOVE AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!