Poker Face

Last week was Ryan's company Christmas party. We had a delicious dinner at Thanksgiving Point then a sweet casino night! It was the most fun we have had in a really long time. Ryan won mad amounts of money (too bad it was pretend) on the tables and I took 2nd in the Wii ping pon tournament. SO much fun. It was just another reminder of how grateful we are Ryan has had this job since we have been married. They have been really good to us and definitely know how to throw a party!

I won that sweet silver medal for ping pong and we won some restaurant gift cards! Hooray!

Hate on me haters...now or later...

Ok I understand I am in the minority when it comes to winter being my favorite season. But can we show a little mercy? I understand snow sucks to drive in, I understand scraping your car is annoying (no garage, i get it), and I understand having to bundle up just to get the mail can be a set back. But is is not beautiful and peaceful to watch? Is winter gear not adorable to bundle in? Is cuddling in the cold not way more enjoyable than the sweaty summer? Is firing up the cocomotion not a joyous event? I could go on forever. If after considering all the possible good about winter you still hate it... please move to a year round warm climate asap and stop hating. Yes, please migrate. Thank you and happy shoveling!

PS

For a limited time only my favorite item is back at Taco Bell. While packing for our trip Ryan and I took a break to fetch one. Crunchy, chewey, cheesey yum. Try it. But only for a limited time. I am such a sucker.

Magical

Thanksgiving this year was unlike any other I have had before. We spent it in the happiest place on earth! I LOVE Disneyland and the older I get the more I seem to love it. We were gone for an entire week which is simply magical by itself. We spent two nights in Vegas to break up the drive and four whole days in D-Land! To some this probably sounds like torture but to me, it was a truly magical holiday. We went with Ryan's entire family. It was so fun to have everyone there and spend so much time together. We saw great shows, ate great food, and rode every ride there was to ride. Getting a whole week with Ryan was fabulous and the break from reality (though we love our lives) was just what the doctor ordered. Thank you Lundgreens for a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We took a ton of pics but most of them are just random shots while waiting in line or something. I don't have any whole group shots back yet but here are a few of the highlights. We returned Saturday afternoon just in time to head to Cougar Stadium where we brought home a VICTORY! Truly the perfect end to the perfect week. Oh and if you haven't seen Disneyland during the holidays... definitely worth checking out. I won't spoil the magic but its worth the trip.

a must have and a must see

BUY THIS!!!

and then admire this most adorable picture ever of my neice and nephew.

Thanks Elton

Today I remembered how much I love this song. The louder its on, the better it is. Call me crazy. But I love it.

Change of Seasons

So it seems that many people out there get itching to change their hair with the seasons. It most commonly goes light for the summer and darker for fall and winter. Well I have been pretty busy with this season change going on and I thought I would post a few favorites. Keep in mind I am a stylist not a photographer... and it shows. These are just me with my not so special camera trying to capture the beauty of these ladies new looks.

We forgot a before pic on Stacy but we just added some dark red blocking to welcome fall into her life and add some interest to her super blonde hair. SO fun!

Mare wanted to keep her length but go darker and add some fun layers for a more versatile look. Doesn't she rock those bangs?

Mel wanted the biggest change with inches and inches chopped off and a whole new look. Love it on her!

Fall Fun

This weekend I got a Saturday off for Fall Break. We knew we had to take advantage of having a day off together so we decided on one of our favorite things, hiking! We went up to Silver Lake with some friends. Its a little 4 mile hike that is pretty steep but not too hard at all. It was beautiful with all the fall colors and required a little off roading which is always a blast. Here are a few pics!

Beautiful!

Our amazing lil car that made it all possible

Ryan and Kevin had a rock throwing contest...

We packed hot chocolate and the thermos worked so well it was still too hot to drink hours later!

There were never such devoted sisters...

One brother. One sister. 8 year gap. Some assume this means I am not very close with my siblings. Oh how wrong they are. I often ponder how much I love and admire my sister (and brother) but on THIS day, her BIRTHDAY, I think about it a little more. There is really no one else like her. She always has been, and always will be my hero. My entire life I have wanted nothing more than to be just like her. Luckily she is pretty amazing so me trying to copy everything she did (even down to the clothing) never lead me astray. As long as I can remember she has had time for me. She will drop everything to be there for me. Because of the age gap I tended to beg for attention from my older siblings. Michelle would always drop things to build a fort, play a game, or read a story. This has never stopped. She is always there. She helped me with everything. She taught me so many lessons I still remember to this day.

This post could go on for years listing all the amazing things she has done for me and all our fabulous memories but I will just list a few of my favorite Michelle memories (in no particular order).

1. Spending Sunday afternoons in the closet forts she built for me and always being invited to her room down the hall for sweet parties. (ie: open craft box)

2. Getting my hair done in french braids and the famous "wicker basket" on summer mornings.

3. Reading the Ramona books before bed each night.

3.5. Going to Jack in the Box for a shake when she got her license.

4. Going to visit in St. Louis during senior year and standing in on "parent night" on the WHS football field.

5. Driving around jamming to radio disney since the car only had an AM radio.

6. Strapping random toys to our ceiling fan and counting how long they held on before flying off.

7. Sleeping over in Campus Plaza then going to clean the Wilk at 5 am. (I will boot you)

8. Being allowed to tag along on dates with her and Chris at least once a week.

9. Staying over in CO and AZ

10. Having someone to call every 10 minutes during my freshman year at BYU. Also having Michelle always uplift and encourage me no matter how rough her day was. She has never let me down and really is the most selfless person I know. She has always acted like every little thing is huge and important (volleyball sugar cookies).

11. Playing the bird face game and laughing til we cry.

12. Watching FOTB and laughing til we cry.

13. WHERE IS ALL THE ICE CREAM? and then laughing til we cry.

14. Sending each other random hoops and yoyo cards just for fun.

15. My most favorite thing about Michelle and I is that it has been years since we have shared the same country, but I still love her more all the time and know she is my best friend.

Thank you for endulging all those inside jokes and random rambling. I love you sister! Happy birthday! I hope its one of the last few we won't be able to celebrate closer. And now just for fun, a few old pics to show how far we have come.

My Best Friends Wedding

Yes friends was meant to be plural there. Two best friends married each other... that works out nicely! After years of waiting it finally happened this past week. It was a wonderful day and I couldn't be happier for them. It was fun to spend time with old friends I don't get much time with anymore and so fun to see how happy the new couple was. I was lame and didn't take any of my own pictures so I stole this one from Ambs blog (hope you don't mind).

C.A.R.D.S

Nothing is better than the Cardinals making the playoffs... EXCEPT being there to WITNESS them do it! We went to Denver this weekend to catch two Cardinals games. It was such a blast. A big thanks to Rich and Erica for hosting us! Erik and Whit came too so it was a ton of fun. We had great food, great company and Ry even caught a ball during batting practice! We loved every minute of the trip and are still coping with being back but hey, GO CARDS!

School Spirit

So it was no secret I wanted to attend hair school since I was really little. I got distracted from this desire and after 3 years at BYU I was reminded just how badly I wanted hair school. Its my "passion" if you will. Well when I started to look seriously into fulfilling my dream I was shocked and discouraged. The cheapest school I could find was over $10,000. There was no way I could justify that debt to get my dream education. So I kept searching and hoping I could find a way. MATC was that way. At less than half the cost of the cheapest school, hair school became a dream within reach. It sounds cheesey but without it I could have never been able to do it. Well now I have been attending since January and I absolutely love everything about it. The program is fantastic. My instructors are simply incredible. I get the attention I need, the training I need, and most of all I love going every day. When I first saw how cheap tuition was I thought there had to be a catch. I was wrong. It is really an incredible school and I feel like I am as well trained (if not better) as any other hair school student out there.

Why this MATC tangent you may ask? Well all the private hair schools have banded together and hired a lobbyist to try and shut my school down. They claim we are too much competition and some other things. I don't really understand the specifics. I do understand that this is a serious issue. Excuse the cliche phrase but MATC really does make dreams come true for people like me who felt their dream was out of reach. It is a great program and needs to continue. I just needed to get that out there. Thanks for humoring me and reading.

On a more exciting note, there is a new MATC to be built at Thanksgiving Point! The ground breaking ceremony was this week and we got to go! The governor was even there. Ha it was a lot of fun. Here are a few pics we took while waiting for it to start. Oh also- another blessing of MATC and starting school when I did- I met Stacy. School would never have been the same without her. Yay for hair school (and for getting our hair as blonde as possible!)!

Allow me to explain...

Why the new blog? Why socanary? Let me tell ya real fast. New blog because the old one was malfunctioning and so why not? The url takes a second longer to explain. Most people who know me very well know I have an uncle who is a major part of my life. Even when we lived in St. Louis I saw him regularly. I love him very dearly. He is very big on nicknames. Mine is Canary. Lately when I do or say things only I would do or say he describes them as "canary". Thus it is a name and an adjective that describes me better than any other word I have happened upon so far in my life. So I thought it would be good. Probably a longer explanation than you all wanted but there ya have it. Hopefully soon I will have something of interest to post about for all 5 of you readers out there!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! That's all for now!