Howl's Moving Castle

a japanese anime love story to die for...


This was such an amazing movie. I love the creativity. I love the hidden meanings. I love the themes. Hayao Miyazaki directed this movie and also the movie Spirited Away, which I love too so very much. I deeply wish that I had this kind of imagination. I love the world that is created in this movie (and secretly, I wish I could join it) and I just fell in love with the characters and the story that I honestly feel I shared a part in with them. I love the type of escape I felt while watching this movie.

Bravo Broadway!

Last Friday (November 13th) Justin and I were in for a real treat as we met my aunt and uncle- Suzanne and Neal- in Salt Lake City at Abravanel Hall to see the Utah Symphony perform in a production called Bravo Broadway! Oh my goodness it was so very much fun! The symphony played while a set of three singers sang to some of the most popular Broadway musicals. My very favorite of the whole night was that Stephanie J. Block- Elphaba!!! was on of those singers and she not only performed some very fun songs like Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid, but she also sang a couple of songs from Wicked! Oh I loved every last second of it. It was such a great night. I have such a very sweet husband to let us get tickets to go to this super fun performance. :) Thanks Suzanne and Neal for coming with us it was so great to spend time with you!

Selena Gomez

My haircut inspiration. I love Selena Gomez so much. (What can I say I'm a huge Disney Channel fan!) The first time I saw Selena's new hair cut I fell in love. So once I worked up enough guts I took these pictures into my hair lady, Allyson, (the only hairstylist I trust) and although I will never be as gorgeous as Selena I think she did a pretty good job at cutting my hair like hers. What do you think? :)

24 going on 4!

On Saturday I went home to West Point for a few hours for a bridal shower for Justin's cousin Brittanie and once the shower was over Justin's mom had a surprise for me. Birthday presents! I was very surprised and excited and Justin's family got me some way fun presents.

Some of the girls were still at Shauna's house after the shower and they were there to watch me open my presents. It was lots of fun to hang out with them. I love these girls!

On Saturday night, back in Orem, Justin took me out to dinner. And our great friends Jordan and Heather joined us with their gorgeous baby girl! (I miss babysitting Kherrington so much already! Good thing that the Wong's live next door now!) We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner and then went looking around at the mall after.

I couldn't get her to smile for the picture, but believe me her smile is so stinkin' cute!

I made dessert for us for when we got back home and Justin bought me candles to blow out. The dessert was Reese's no-bake pie stuff and it was very yummy.

I forgot to make a wish but Justin said that that was okay cause I wasn't able to blow out all of my candles in one breath so my wish wouldn't have come true anyway! Justin gave me my birthday presents from him a day early. I was so excited cause I knew that his present was going to be a big surprise- I had no idea what he was going to get me but I knew he was excited to give it to me. The first presents I opened weren't a surprise though- I picked out a new coat from Aeropostale (which is gray and so, so cute) and the movie Lilo and Stitch. And then I opened my surprise present... a new phone! It's a touch screen and I love it so much!

My real birthday day was yesterday and I got to wear my new outfit that my Grandma Craythorne bought me. I think it is so cute I love it!

After church my family came to our house for dinner. My mom and I made haystacks (one of my favorite meals and a family favorite of the Norman family) and I decided to put on my new apron to cook in. Justin's family gave it to me for my birthday and I think it is just adorable! Thanks Shauna!

Our small table set for 7. We didn't even have enough chairs for everyone. Maddie and I shared and Talon sat on my exercise ball. It was hilarious!

But our dinner turned out really very yummy!

Then I opened more presents! My mom gave me some shoes that I wanted real bad and a couple other really nice gifts that I was way excited about. :) :) :)

This is BreAnne's present that she sent with my mom for me. She is just so stinkin' crafty with stuff like this. I love Christmas decorations! I can't wait for Christmas!

Scentsy refills that smell like Christmas!

Talon can't get enough of the pine tree scent. He held it like this in front of his nose pretty much the rest of the night!

Birthday cake number 3. My mom asked me what kind of dessert she could bring up and I told her I would love some homemade oreos. SO YUMMY!

Darn it! Justin and I are looking at different cameras!

Failed attempt number 3 at blowing out all of my candles. I'm just getting too old I guess- they are way to many candles to blow out!

I love this picture! Even Talon has a great smile on his face. I'm going to miss Talon so much when he leaves. I am so glad that he came up for my birthday it meant a lot to me. :)




My best friend. Seriously, Maddie is such a great girl and she makes me so happy always. I love hanging out with her. I love talking with her and I love it when she texts messages me just to say hello. I'm so lucky to have a best friend like her- plus she's a great sister too!

happy happy BiRtHdAyS

Ryker, Me, Neal, and Jil all share the same birthday month and on Sunday, November 1st we celebrated together at Grandpa and Grandma Craythorne's house.

It took lots of teamwork to light the candles so I must be getting old!
Waiting to blow out our candles..."Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you..."
And immediately after the candles are blown out everyone sings "You've had a birthday!" I anticipate and love this family birthday tradition that the kids started a few years ago.
Ady helped me open my presents.

Here is Neal trying out his birthday present! Grandpa passed it down to him. Neal turns 50 next week!
Ryker showing off his new shirt. :)
I just can't help but smile every single time I see these adorable faces. These girls make me so happy. I can't even explain it really. I can't believe how big these little girls are getting to be. Maddie and Brooklyn are both growing up so quickly and both have such huge personalities. Brinnlee and Ady I feel closer to each time I am with them and I love when Lexi wants to just sit on my lap, even if it only lasts just a minute or two. I just love when any of these girls wants to be close by me. They make me feel special. I don't feel a few days away from 24 years old I feel closer to 4. Maybe that's why I feel so comfortable around these girlies.

PICTURE OVERLOAD! - Halloween

On Friday (the night before Halloween) Justin and I headed home to West Point to have Witch-A-Leena dinner with Justin's family! The rootbeer cauldron's were my favorite item on the menu for the night. Justin's mom always puts together such a fun dinner and we all had tons of fun!

Justin's cousins- Lindsey and Jessica.

Miryka and her friends.

After dinner Justin and I had the opportunity to go to the movie theater and see Miryka and her friend dance before the Michael Jackson movie. They did such an amazing job! They danced to Thriller and man did they fit the part perfectly!

This is Miryka and I in our costumes just before Justin and I left for my family Halloween party.

Miryka and her cute friends again. Halloween night they were also having a big Halloween party with a bunch of friends. I just had to take a picture of their unique costumes!

Halloween night we spend mostly with the Craythorne family at my Grandma's house eating and doing a little bit of trick-or-treating. I dressed up again for this party but Justin couldn't figure out what to be so when he was asked why he didn't dress up he said, "I'm already dressed up as prince charming!"

And he is my prince charming for sure. :)

The girls just thought it was great that I was dressed up as a princess too! We just had to get a few pictures together!

Hunter's costume was a hit! Isn't it just great! This was Justin's favorite costume for this year!

But everyone had really pretty great costumes!

Little Count Dracula!

Maddie was the cutest Batgirl ever and she sure wasn't shy to show it!

Ben...(I honestly can't remember what he is but I think he looks great!)

Easton was Stitch! His costume was probably my favorite this year! I love it!

Ryker was a construction guy. :)

Lexi and Brooklyn- aren't these just the sweetest pirates you've ever seen!

This was Maccoy's first year trick-or-treating! And he was so cute. I'm sure he had no clue what was going on most of the time and could care less about the candy but he looked just so stinkin' cute in his dragon costume!

I just had to get a picture of this. Underneath Ady's Belle dress there was a big hoop so everytime she sat down the hoop would come flying up right to her face!

I just absolutely love Halloween! It is my very most favorite holiday of the whole year! And this year turned out just as great as ever. I love being with our families and getting to participate in all of the traditions that come along with each Halloween. And I'm always sad when it's over. But atleast I now have to look forward to the rest of the holiday season!