love these cute girls

love getting together with friends!

***

wish we could do this more often!

and another thing for that matter

There are some amazing women out there.


these women are (to name a handful)




talented


funny


beautiful 


and


smart




ps all the women mentioned are all of those things and much more.  and i am super lucky to call them my friends!  
i know you're jealous. 


happy Wednesday!  

Ps Sorry I've been m.i.a. lately.  life has kind of taken over for the moment, and it's only going to get more busy from here.  Only 6 more weeks and I will be in Italia!  I've still got some posts up my sleeves though, so stay tuned! 


Ciao!

oh yeah, remember how I never posted this?

these fotos are from the rodeo 2011.. Oh, you know.. just 8 months ago!  (i totally dropped the ball on posting these... sorry friends!)

Mark and the gorgeous Amy!

"intently watching"...Marie isn't posing, though... Nor is Amy. Haha. Nice.

You can barely see my friends in their rainbow shirts... one is in a red cowboy hat.  Haha. They did the wild cow milking. what a treasure to watch.

Amy Marie!

I don't know why I'm the only blurred person... Erin=not photogenic.

Erin y Adelaide

Erin y mi amiga famosa Janet (love you girl!!)

Fresh Strawberry Shakes. Mmmm.

Just can't wait til Summertime!! It's going to be the bomb dot com.

night out

with a slightly crazy life right now, a much needed girls night was in order.  the spontaneous kind. my favorite kind.  we all met up and had way too many laughs over hot chocolate and hot baked ice-cream-covered cookies!  it was delightful to say the least!  Thanks ladies!

also, i'm trying this new thing where I document a little bit more with pictures.. we'll see how long this lasts!

tinsel 'round his neck

 sometimes my friends show up on my porch singing Santa Baby wearing ...festive clothing.

and sometimes they run away when I break out my camera

 but they always run right back.

 some are more willing to have their picture taken than others..

looking good, boys!

{ ENGAGED peeps! }

remember my dear blogging friend Jalene?

well, she is a most fabulous photographer.

{she photographed Anna and I 

and also our Family Fotos!}

check her out at j. taylor photography

***

well.

I have fantastic news! 

She is hosting a contest on her photo site.

for FREE WEDDING DAY COVERAGE.

FREE, people!

(valued at $1200!)

So. If any of you lovely readers are engaged or know of anyone who is engaged, 

I would HIGHLY recommend checking this out!!! 

I didn't think I would say this any time soon, but I sooo wish I were engaged right now so I would be eligible to enter.  

Like, even if you happen not to win, you should hire her as your photographer anyway.  Her beautiful photos speak for themselves.  I have told her on many occasions that I will be hiring her for my future wedding day.  She is so wonderful to work with!  I cannot say enough wonderful things about Jalene.

so what are you waiting for! Go! Enter!

i'm extroverted.

You are ready to talk at the drop of a hat. Whether you're in the office or at a party, you're likely to be found gabbing away in the middle of a group of people. If you have a high score on the "extroverted" trait, you are probably among those who enjoy communicating with their friends (on the phone, on line, texting…), hanging out, and finding the best parties.

You are not shy or unwilling to spend a fair amount of time socializing. People you meet generally do not feel they have a hard time getting to know you.

sunburn much?  this is at my cousin's wedding back in june

this. is so true! 

one of the gals i work with reallly dislikes me because i talk so much. (this is a true statement, believe it or not.) i'm just a people person, what can i say?

what do i do about this?  nothing.  i can't change who i am! 

what should you do about this?


call me! text me! tweet me! leave a comment! email me! i want to get to know you, my friend! 

allow me to explain

i just love my friends.  we do crazy things sometimes.  we are inspired by television shows.

like man vs. food.





find brad here or here

  sometimes we just make awesome food.  

 we draw pictures of each other.

find jordz here

we go on hikes together (yes, my dog rudy is one of my friends)

 we just mostly eat food together, let's be honest.

 we make awkward faces while other people pose in our photos.

 we get confused together

 we tend to attract lots of photo posers.

i photoshopped my cleavage out of this photo. y'welcome.

love my frenz.  thankz guys.

my childhood bff got married!

 Suzie Q and I were instant friends since I moved across the street from her in the 2nd grade. We were joined at the hip for years and years. We don't see each other as often as we should, but I love her dearly and I am so excited for her new chapter as Mrs Combs. In all the years I've known her I haven't seen her as happy as she is when she's with her now hubby. It's very sweet. I had the honor of doing the flowers or her wedding. View pictures{here}.

and i am now officially the last of my friends growing up to get married.  holla! 

best moment of the night?

"and now the exchange of the rings"

maid of honor, "uhhhh....i left the ring in the dressing room?...."

(note her embarrassed face...)

the entire crowd bursts into laughter

while the father of the bride ran to find it

too funny!

congratulations suzie and jake! love you guys.

my new best friend

have you ever been introduced to the brilliance I like to call the schedule button?


it's great.



especially for insanely busy people like me.


all you do is create a post, then when you're finished select "post options"


You can schedule when the post is posted!

schedule!

It's great because I can do 5+ posts at one sitting, then spread them out between 5 days and you all don't get 5+ posts from me all at once!  (even though I know your news feed would just loooove that... not.)


You should try it!  It's the only way to blog! 
at least i seem to think so!


(This post is even scheduled!  I wrote this days ago!)

pray for shea

I've known Shea since we moved to Utah over 16 years ago.  Her father and mine were college roommates and my mother and hers were instant friends and have stayed so all these years later.  Shea's my age, 23.  She is awesome.  My dear friend  Shea has been going through a really hard time lately.  I can't even imagine what she's feeling right now. 


you can read her story/updates here

please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.  Never underestimate the power of prayer!

Love you, Shea! 

.guest posts.

i am looking for lovlies to guest post on this here blog

if you're interested in writing something about

dreams/reaching goals

or

what you know for sure(this can be about nearly anything)




just shoot me an email

marierin @ gmail {dot} com



i look forward to hearing from you!

berries and cream

this little lad reminds me of some old friends of mine.
(i say old because i haven't seen them around in quite awhile. we still good friends though)

isaac
charles
jake

to name a few...

enjoy.




and friend janet showed me this video afterward:

22 great things about jordz

Happy Birthday Jordz! (2 days late.. sorry) I told you 22 great things about you were coming your way soon.  Here you go! Enjoy :)

1.  He taught me how to tweet.  #ithinkheregretsitnow

2.  He's got a great smile
3.  Jordan is a good friend to anyone and everyone 
4.  He wears sweaters and matches with his friends.  It's cute, really.(thanks bridge for the image)

5.  he teaches me how to be funny with simple rules.(more on that later..)
6.  Jordz does nice things for me without complaining
7.  I like watching basketball games with him.  We both scream at the tellie together.
8.  You can hear his laugh in a crowd.  He has a very unique laugh.  We all love it.
9.  He's only made me cry a few times.  I hope not on purpose..

10. Anna and I call him a best friend.  Don't be jealous. He's best friends with everyone. (see 3)

11.  His last name is great for blog titles.  MakinUVBetter

12.  Jordan can make just about anyone laugh (see 5.)
13.  He keeps me company in Sunday School
14.  I think he's got great style.  He's one of the only boys I know who wears purple.. it looks great on him!
15.  Jordan is smart. He's going places in life (my words.. and my dad's)
16.  Jordan's family is the greatest, also.
17.  Jordz makes any situation fun/funny
18.  He makes ironic observations. Which make people laugh.  (more on that later... see 5)
19.  He isn't afaid to tell me totake a chill pill.  And I appreciate that.
20.  His basketball knowledge is awesome.  He and my bro are like two peas in a pod.
21.  Jordan's also a good coach of many things... mostly basketball.
22.  He can pull off red hair. Just like Ariel.



Oh.  And he is quite the artist.



Day 07 – Your best friend

When I was 7 my family moved here, to Utah, where I met my very best friend Suzanne.  We moved across the street from her family and became instant friends.  We were in the same primary class, and eventually were in the same elementary school class.  (bummer we only had 4th grade together).  She and I loved watching movies, having sleepovers, cooking, watching Diagnosis Murder and writing our own murder mysteries.  We loved drawing, Backstreet Boys (Suz loved Nick, I loved Bryan), playing night games and making up our own games in Suzie's back yard.  She had THE coolest swing set where we built sleeping bag tee-pees and built a duck tape, tarp and stick tent...which our moms wouldn't let us sleep in--it's not our fault we didnt' build it with ventilation!..  We took trips together, to Wolf Mountian, Salt Lake, St George, Tahoe, Wyoming and Disneyland.  We wrote songs about the boys we were in love with.. Butterflies were singin'. (hah, Remember that, Suzanne?)  We picked up new hobbies together and made new friends together.  She was the best friend I could have asked for (here I go tearing up... man!) and made growing up in that cul-de-sac THAT much better.  Love you Suzanne!  We're still friends to this day, too!  Of course with both our families moving around the same time, graduating from high school and going to college we can't see each other every day like we did back in the day but she still holds that special place in my heart! 

like, whoa

hey

this is a very late post. 

But.

I was featured over at { kara's blog } a little while ago.


You should head on over and check out the post,
and then follow her because she is

brilliant
beautiful
and a very talented writer.

you all know my love of disney.  the animation, the theme parks, but especially the disney princesses.

my dear friend Bradley over at Why Blog? made a post about the Disney Princesses but really just focused on who your type is?

I don't really have a type, but I am most like one of the Disney Princesses!  Head on over to his blog and check it out.  Who are you most like, or who is your type?  Then check out his comments to see what I said about it.  Leave a comment yourself!  He is a funny kid; you'd like the rest of his blog, too! 

Love you Brad!

Also, Artist of this image is Brianna Garcia.  I am a huge fan of hers.  Check her out on deviantART {here}



There was a time when I had many girl-friends.  And we hung out all the time.  Most of them are now married.  Amilia is the most recent to leave the singles and join the married club.  I truly miss these gals.  I never see any of them anymore now that they're married.


Let us hold a moment of silence.



smurf

I don't know if any of you have heard of this fun group game.

One person leaves the room while the group comes up with a verb.

It can be anything.

Anything from popping a zit, to brushing your teeth, to running, to opening Christmas presents...

After you've chosen your verb, the person comes back in and asks yes or no questions replacing the verb with the word smurf.

example: How often do you smurf? Do you use anything specific to smurf?.. etc.

Through asking questions the guesser can determine what the verb is. it gets pretty hilarious sometimes. And sometimes you find things out about people that you normally don't ask or tell.

Well, on sunday evening we played this game at my house. The group chose the verb kissing. My little brother was the one to go out of the room.


If any of you know my little brother.. You know how awkward and creative this boy is. He is wonderful.


He comes back in and is asking the usual questions

Have you ever smurfed?
How often do you smurf?
Do you need another person to smurf?


After going around asking people usual questions, things started to get interesting


**side note** You need to know that boyfriend was sitting across the room from me. I was secretly praying the brother would guess the verb before things get awkward.

But you know my luck...


Things had to get awkward.


He kept going around now asking questions such as:

Does your dad help you to smurf?

Do you smurf in the shower?



Then he gets to boyfriend.

Have you ever smurfed in this room?



The room busts up laughing


Brother turns to me.

Have YOU ever smurfed in this room?


By this time Erin is BRIGHT red. (because... if you know me AT ALL I am not the type to share kissing stories. especially in front of strangers. especially in front of family. And I just get really weirded out talking PDA/Kissing/Affection in general.)

Everyone BUSTS up laughing..


My brother knew what the verb was OF COURSE but he had to keep going and ask us that question..

It was VERY embarassing. And it is now the butt of all jokes.

We'll be sitting cuddling in a group of friends...

Hey, you two, have you guys ever smurfed in THIS room?...
etc.

so.
embarassing.

the end.

Fun Group Games

Game night seems to be very popular in Utah County.

Here are some fun group games to try at your next game night. :) Enjoy!

Also, I tried to find instructions and put links to them. If you're interested about a game just let me know and I'll tell you how to play!!

1. Pass the Sign

2. King Elephant

3. React and Act!

4. Telephone Charades
*note: One variation is to play Clue style.. Instead of actions, play Who with What and Where? Trust me it's fun.

5. In Manner of the Adverb

6. Psychiatrist

7. Smurf

8. Vegetable Game (played without showing teeth)

9. The Name Game

10. Baby If You Love Me, Smile!