Queen of California

During the Presidents Day weekend Austin, Chandra, Colby and I decided we were going to take a adventure home to Riverside. Austin had the weekend off, Chandra had never been to Disneyland, Colby was totally okay with skipping his Friday class and lets face it, I love going home and I had felt like I hadn't seen the sun in weeks!

We made the lovely 10 hour hike to Riverside.. which actually felt like closer to 4 hours to me because I ended up sleeping the majority of the way. The first thing we did once we got home was go to a Car show downtown Riverside that happens on one Friday each month! Dad had gotten the 37 and the Mustang washed and polished and we cruised in style :) 

Saturday morning we headed to the Happiest Place on Earth.. no I'm not talking about Lake Powell (wish I was) I am talking about Disneyland! Colby has a friend that works at Disneyland and was able to get three of us if FOR FREE and then we all just split the last ticket. Knowing we were going on a Saturday and a holiday weekend we knew it was going to be really busy and we sure were right. Lines were longer than I had ever seen before. Space mountain was about 80-90 minutes along with Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones. Since we had all gotten in for free and got free parking it didn't bother us very much, we still had a blast!

^^ Classic Disney pic

^^ Loved seeing cars land for the first time!

We said goodbye to 80 degree weather and made the trek back to P-town! It was a great small vacation away from the craziness and the cold. 

School has settled back in and we are now looking foreword to being in Northern California this coming weekend for Eleanor's baby blessing.

Just one adventure after another :) 

Aunt NieNie and Eleanor

After a month of counting down days and constantly requesting pictures of Eleanor from Aaron and Caroline I met my beautiful niece Eleanor Ruby McKell. The moment that I saw her and held her in my arms my heart melted like a popsicle in the middle of July. She has already grown so big and I love her dearly!

^^Aunt NieNie and Baby Eleanor. Can't wait to see her grow up

^^I imagine she is thinking... "Okay now who the heck are you?!"

^^ Love Austin's face in this picture

The count down begins again until the first Sunday in March where Austin and I will be flying to San Jos é  for the baby blessing :) Mom surprised us with plane tickets!! Thanks Momma! Love you!

Catching up

The last time I posted was December 10th and it is now February 3rd. I guess you could say life has been pretty busy! So many things have happened. Let's just start with Christmas…

I was so grateful that I was able to go home for Christmas break, it was great to have the McKell team back together again, even if it was just for a week. We played laser tag, went to the Bishops Storehouse, played Settlers of Catan, saw the lights at the mission inn, watched BYU sporting events together, drove classic cars, took funny pictures and sang songs around the piano. It was great to be home :)

^^Bishop storehouse 

^^Enjoying singing songs around the piano with Mom and Christy

^^ Just missing Austin.. he had to go back to Provo to start work. I suggested we use the cardboard cut out of him that we took to Lake Powell while he was on his mission but as you can see.. I lost that one.

Now lets skip to January 9, 2014. This was the day that beautiful Eleanor Ruby McKell, coming in at 7 lbs. 2oz. and 20 inches long entered the world and I became an Aunt, aka Aunt NieNie. I have not met Eleanor yet but look forward to holding her for the first time this weekend and then attending her baby blessing in San Jose. These are all pictures that I have received from Aaron and Caroline. 

^^She is reaching for the sky! She sure is a McKell

^^ Welcome to the family Baby Eleanor! :)

Moving now to January 30th.. I turned 19! I was kidnapped the weekend before my birthday by my best friends, Jenna, Hannah, Kayla, Rob and Berlynn and boyfriend Colby. I thought that Colby and I were going to the movies to see Saving Mr Banks but when I got into the car Jenna said in a very creepy voice.. "Well hello there Annie!" I screamed and I was then blindfolded. I was driven around Provo and we ended up at Shirley's for dinner. We got back in the car and I was then blindfolded again and they surprised me by taking me to a BYU Vocal Point concert! It was an amazing concert and I was certainly surprised!

I have been blessed with close friends that I have no idea what I would do without them. I know that they would do anything for me and they made this birthday the best one yet :)

^^ Vocal Point in action!

^^ Colby and I after the concert

I have now gotten into the swing of things in school and looking forward to warmer weather in P-town! Cannot wait for the day when it hits 40 or 45 degrees… who would have thought that a girl that grew up in sunny Southern California her entire life would say that. Utah changes ya. 

Looking forward to the next adventure…